Of course, Yinreng didn't behead her. Wen Qing sneered at him and said, "You want to behead me? The day before yesterday, your father wanted to punish my nine familial generations, but ultimately didn't. Now you also want to behead me. What if your father can't find anyone when he wants to punish me?”
Her words made Yingreng somehow worried. Now that this woman has already appeared in front of his Emperor Father, he naturally couldn't dispose of her at will, plus there were also his brothers who could intercede. He couldn't do anything but leave angrily.
These words quickly reached Kangxi's ear. After the shadow guard's brief report, Kangxi couldn't help but frown, not because of Wen Qing but because the crown prince stirred trouble with that woman again.
He was quite satisfied with this prince he had nurtured. He was frugal, respectful and benevolent; he couldn't find fault in him. However, there was only one thing that made him dissatisfied, that is, the prince's concubine, Li Jia, who had been pampered by the crown prince to the degree where he wanted to get rid of his wife-to-be. He had secretly discussed it with the crown prince in passing for so many times, yet the other wouldn’t listen no matter what.
Therefore, Kangxi became more and more dissatisfied with the Crown Prince. Even with his position, the prince was like this. When he dies and no one would be left to restrain the Prince, wouldn't he spoil Li Jia to the heavens? It was also possible that Li Jia would become another Empress Dowager Zhaosheng*. This unsafe factor must not be left behind!
[TL Note: Empress Dowager Zhaosheng {Bumbutai; her real name, and Empress Xiaozhuangwen; her honorable name after her death.} is Kangxi’s grandmother. She was a concubine and never given the title of the empress but was directly promoted to Empress Dowager when her son Shunzhi became emperor. More on her]
Then he thought of Wen Qing again. Although the woman was arrogant, she was also polite to several other princes. She even started business with the ninth prince. Fourth prince would seek her guidance in the matters of agriculture and she would also give him advice, but why did her demeanour change when it was directed towards the crown prince? He was the crown prince, even if one doesn't get along with him, isn’t it common sense for anyone to also not get in trouble with him?
Oh no. Kangxi suddenly realized. When he had deployed the shadow guards to investigate Wen Qing, according to the data that her household records hold, she had been borned in the year of the Sheep[1], December 28 in the time of Chou[1]. Moreover, it was of similar time of birth to that of the crown prince’s eldest son. Same year, same month and same day, even the specific hour of birth is the same, how could this be just a coincidence?
Even more, concomitantly, the eldest son of the Crown Prince died on November 28th, the year of sheep, at the premature age of eleven. His cause of death was through poison which was fabricated by the crown princess. Kangxi had some doubts at that time. The Crown Princess Shi was personally selected by him. There were several measures taken, but it was absolutely clear that harming a royal child is unpardonable. However, at that time, the witness’ testimony was conclusive, he could only let the Crown Prince drive her away to the Buddhist shrine...
And because of this matter, Li Jia became all the more favored by the Crown Prince. He also doubted back then if it was all meticulously planned by Li Jia, but he felt it illogical for someone to hurt their own son in order to contend for favor.
But what if that wasn’t her son?
With this thought, many things began clearing out. Li Jia had probably given birth to a daughter that year. In order to secure her position, she stole the dragon and turned the phoenix[3], successfully replacing a daughter with a son. After her position became stable, she gave birth to four sons. At that time, she was afraid that the matter of her stealing the dragon and exchanging the phoenix would be discovered so she wanted to dispose of her "eldest son". She then framed the crown princess in the process, and finally pretended to be pitiful to win the sympathy of the crown prince, killing three birds with one stone...
So to say, Kangxi guessed the truth of the matter at once. Although there was no evidence, the emperor didn’t need evidence. Kangxi solemnly instructed Li Dequan, "Go and call Ninth Prince. ”
***
Wen Qing closed the store and went to the opposite street to eat with Yintang and his party. But before the meal started, Yintang was called away. When they finished eating, he came back again. He looked at Wen Qing with dilemma and said, "The Mid-Autumn Festival banquet is near. Emperor Father had asked me to take you to the palace for dinner.”
He didn’t understand why his Emperor Father suddenly wanted Wen Qing to go to the palace for dinner, moreover, to let himself bring her. Not to mention the purpose of his Emperor Father by letting her enter the palace, just keeping her out of trouble is a difficult task. This girl normally isn’t afraid of anything. She looked down upon them even though she was fully aware of their royal identities, nobbling them into hell. What if something happens inside the palace? Afterall, they had built up a sense of friendship during the time they spent together, they couldn't just watch her court death indifferently!
Wen Qing didn't know what he was worried about. She readily promised to come, "Okay, I also wanted to visit the palace." For Kangxi to be in such a hurry to let her enter the palace, he must have found out about her unfortunate life. He was quite quick.
Yintang couldn't help telling her again, "The palace is not as simple as you think. Be careful and don't cause trouble.”
"Don't worry, I'm not stupid." If she enters the palace, there would be a fifty-fifty chance of her life and death. Whether it was a royal child living on the street or Li Jia stealing the dragon and turning the phoenix, it was all a royal scandal; the so-called ‘dirty laundry shouldn’t be publicized’. In order to smooth this out, Kangxi could kill her once and for all, which was the simplest solution.
But those things she took out were too valuable, so Kangxi probably wouldn't kill her, and she gambled her fifty percent chance on this.
On August 15th, Wen Qing entered the palace with Yintang and his consort, Dong'e. After all, she was a woman and should be seen as brought in by the prince's wife.
At the beginning, Dong’e was worried about seeing a beautiful girl being brought back by Yintang, but after hearing her call Yintang Ninth Uncle, she was reassured. She assumed that she was of the younger generation of the royal family, so she paid attention to Wenqing.
TL Notes:
[1]: The year of the sheep belongs to the sexagenary cycle of the year. In the Sexagenarian Circle the names of the years are repeated every 60 years. Read more.
[2]: Chou ia a traditional chinese timekeeping system. It means the time period between 1 AM to 3 AM.
[3]: Stealing the dragon and turning the phoenix refers to exchanging the original and qualitative product with the duplicate one. In this case, it denotes Li Jia exchanging the real royal princess with a nobody.