frightfiction Chapter 305: Self-directed and self-acted to reveal the secret
Chapter 305: Self-directed and self-acted to reveal the secret
Seeing that Concubine De and the Fourth Lady were about to salute, Kangxi simply waved his hand.
"How is the fourth master's concubine?" Although he disliked Shi Rongyue very much, she was his son's concubine after all, and she was pregnant.
Concubine De stood up, with a look of relief on her usually gentle face. She clutched her handkerchief tightly, lowered her head and sobbed:
"Your Majesty, God bless you. The imperial physician said that although the fourth concubine had a miscarriage, the fetus was saved. She just needs to stay in bed to recuperate."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present, whether they were real or fake, breathed a sigh of relief, and the tense atmosphere relaxed.
"Amitabha, as long as the child is okay, it's good."
The Empress Dowager turned her Buddhist beads and chanted a Buddhist prayer.
Kangxi felt a little relieved, after all, it was the fourth son's first child.
However, at this moment, he caught a glimpse of the prince's expression, and his heart, which had just relaxed, sank again.
The prince's face first showed relief, then annoyance. He still cared about Shi Rongyue!
He also thought that when Shi Rongyue got into trouble, Concubine De and the Fourth Lady had not yet reacted, but the Crown Prince reacted so quickly, and the two of them almost became husband and wife before. If this matter was used as a pretext by others, it would be a heavy blow to the Crown Prince.
Thinking of this, Kangxi's expression remained unchanged, but his hand suddenly clasped the jade ring.
He would never allow anyone to ruin the prince's reputation. At the same time, he secretly regretted that he should not have agreed to the prince in the first place and should have dealt with Shi Rongyue directly.
Most of the people present were shrewd people. Many of them looked normal, but they secretly glanced at the prince from the corner of their eyes, taking in his reaction.
Defei also saw it, lowered her head, and a gleam of light flashed quickly in her eyes. After a flash, she returned to her usual gentle and low-key appearance.
If Shi Nanxi hadn't been so wary of Concubine De, she would not have noticed her abnormality.
At the same time, Concubine Guo Luoluo also saw it. She thought to herself that Concubine De really had ulterior motives towards Concubine Shi. It was possible that today's incident was the work of this person.
"As long as the child is fine, I'm glad. As for recuperating, I have a hundred-year-old ginseng in my storehouse, Liang Jiugong, which I will give to Concubine Shi later."
Upon seeing this, Concubine De and the Fourth Lady hurriedly expressed their gratitude, and then launched an investigation to find out how could such a healthy person suddenly fall down.
"De Fei, the Fourth Lady."
Kangxi asked calmly:
"It's cold, and the Fourth Concubine is pregnant. Why is she coming to the Cining Palace? What's going on?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at Concubine De and the Fourth Lady.
Among the two, Concubine De remained calm, but the Fourth Lady looked a little nervous and at a loss, with some panic that she tried hard to hide. Because she was too young and inexperienced, many people saw it.
Shi Nanxi raised her eyebrows slightly. Could it be that Shi Rongyue’s accident was related to the Fourth Lady?
But thinking about Concubine De's strange behavior just now, she felt that things might not be that simple.
The Fourth Lady almost cried under the scrutiny of everyone.
Although she really wanted to get rid of Shi Rongyue's belly, no matter how precocious she was, she was only ten years old. She had always been just playing around with small things and didn't dare to do anything in the palace.
So it really wasn't her who did it this time, she was wronged!
Today, she was only following Concubine De's orders to bring Shi Rongyue to the palace to pay respects. It just so happened that Concubine De had to go to the Cining Palace to tend to the Empress Dowager. Since they were here, they naturally could not ignore the Empress Dowager, so they went together to tend to her.
Because the Empress Dowager had caught a cold, before she left, she pretended to be virtuous and asked Shi Rongyue whether she wanted to stay in Yonghe Palace and wait for her to come back, or return home early. After all, it would be bad if she got infected while she was pregnant.
Who knew that after hearing this, Shi Rongyue thought that she deliberately didn't let her go to the Cining Palace in order to make her look unfilial, so she insisted on following her, even though she did have this idea.
Finally, Concubine De decided to allow Shi Rongyue to tag along. What happened next was that when the group was halfway along the journey, Shi Rongyue suddenly fell to the ground for unknown reasons and bleeding.
Then, without waiting for everyone to react, the prince rushed out from somewhere, calling for the imperial physician and asking to send the child to the Cining Palace. Unfortunately, although Shi Rongyue fell, the child was still fine.
The drooping eyelashes of Concubine De were long and dense. They trembled at this moment. She softly told the whole story again. Finally, she glanced at the Fourth Lady beside her obscurely and said:
"It was all my fault for not thinking it through. I should have stopped the Fourth Master's Concubine at that time. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten into trouble. Fortunately, the child is blessed with a long life and is fine in the end. Otherwise, I would have been so ashamed that I couldn't even face anyone."
The Fourth Lady was so nervous that she didn't notice Defei's expression. When she heard Defei's words, she quickly knelt down and apologized, but Kangxi noticed it keenly.
He narrowed his eyes, somewhat suspicious but with a hunch that something was wrong. If it was a fight between the wives and concubines in the Fourth Prince's mansion, could it be that the Prince had really run into it by accident?
Thinking of this, he glanced at Liang Jiugong. Liang Jiugong nodded slightly and immediately made a gesture. Soon someone retreated to investigate.
Kangxi then looked back at Consort De and the Fourth Lady with a stern expression:
"De Fei, Fourth Master's Concubine, you really didn't think it through this time. It was raining yesterday and the ground was slippery. Fourth Master's Concubine shouldn't have entered the palace with such a big belly. She should have stayed at home and taken good care of the baby."
Upon hearing this, Concubine De and Lady Si apologized again.
The Queen Mother also followed suit and reprimanded the two.
Especially Defei. Although the Fourth Lady was still young and ignorant, Defei, who was in the harem, must have known that she and Shi Rongyue had no contact since the selection. However, she still brought Shi Rongyue to the Cining Palace, and more importantly, she met the prince.
If anything was spread about the Crown Prince and Shi Rongyue... the Empress Dowager's expression became even more stern.
"De Fei, I thought you were gentle and considerate, but I didn't expect you to be so inconsiderate this time. I know you are very filial and brought your wife and concubine to take care of me. I didn't know that you didn't care about the fourth son's first child because you didn't like him."
These words were so serious that the air seemed to freeze as soon as they were spoken, and everyone lowered their heads and held their breath.
Defei raised her head suddenly and her pupils shrank suddenly. She didn't expect that the empress dowager would say such words in public. Isn't this a slap in her face?
However, he was a scheming man and reacted quickly. His knees went weak and he knelt down to apologize.
"The Empress Dowager taught me that I know I was wrong and will be more thoughtful in my future actions. Please forgive me, Empress Dowager."
The Fourth Lady was so frightened that she quickly knelt down.
The Queen Mother looked gloomy.
Continued:
"Since you know your mistakes, go back and reflect on them. Don't leave Yonghe Palace recently. The same goes for the Fourth Lady. Take good care of the Fourth Lady's Concubine in the mansion. When the Fourth Lady wakes up, send her back to the mansion to recuperate."
Defei clenched her fingers, thinking that the Empress Dowager was going to confine her, but she responded respectfully, and the Fourth Lady followed suit.
Kangxi didn't say a word the whole time; the Empress Dowager's arrangement was exactly what he wanted.
What he cared about most now was the Crown Prince. He didn't want the Crown Prince to be too close to Shi Rongyue, so after the Queen Mother finished speaking, he took the Crown Prince away on the pretext of being busy with government affairs.
After everyone left, the other concubines also left. Even Concubine Hui and Concubine De, who were supposed to serve the Empress Dowager today, were sent away. Only Madam Hu was left to accompany the Empress Dowager.
The Queen Mother looked tired.
"You said that Shi Rongyue treated the prince so badly in the Immortal Tower, why is the prince still obsessed with her, even after getting married? Alas, it's all my fault."