The Virtuous Concubine

Sure enough, Malu's words came true.

During the confinement period, Concubine Tong came to see the baby and her more often than Kangxi did. Everyone privately said that although Concubine De was blessed to give birth to twins, she herself had fallen out of favor with the emperor.

Compared with the previous handling of Wen Xian's case, Kangxi did not respond to such rumors, and even had some sense of confirmation. If he wanted to see the child, he would rather have someone take the child to the Qianqing Palace instead of going to the Yonghe Palace himself.

Malu was actually a little angry about this. You can come to Yonghe Palace but not come to see me! Such a young child, if you hold him around, will be more likely to get sick and get into danger. But she couldn't tell Kangxi this, so she had to keep it in her heart.

Sometimes when she woke up from a nap and found that her child was not around, her first reaction was panic. Even if Bai Fu and Bai Xia said that the emperor and the empress dowager sent someone to take the child to see when the queen was asleep, she would use the probe and video to confirm the child's safety before she could feel at ease. Ma Lu was indeed recommended by the imperial physician Rong to have a double confinement, but she refused, saying that she was in good health and did not need to actually have a double confinement.

Doctor Rong was indeed a person with a cold face but a warm heart. He checked again and again, and only agreed to help Malu cover up after repeatedly confirming that Concubine De was in good health. She really took care of herself during the first month, and gave Malu a leave note during the second month.

Malu now has the confidence that as long as she does not leave Yonghe Palace, no one will know that she is not in the delivery room. This way she can move around a little, live a normal life, and not have to go to Imperial Concubine Tong or the Empress Dowager for the morning service.

Especially the Empress Dowager, she would always bring her child to pay respects once or twice a month, to show filial piety. Wen Xian was so loved by her, so she would come even more often. Ma Lu always avoided these courtesy visits as much as possible.

When Malu woke up this afternoon and looked at the empty cradle next to her, she sighed and asked, "Where is the child again?"

Bai Xia was holding a small hammer made of Hetian jade and preparing to come in to massage her legs. When she heard the empress ask this, she looked up and said, "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has summoned Princess Wenxian again... so Bai Fu has already sent the princess safely to the Cining Palace. Your Majesty, don't worry, the villains in the Empress Dowager's palace will not dare to cause trouble."

Ma Lu felt a little comforted after hearing this. She knew that it was a good thing for her daughter to be favored by the Grand Empress Dowager, so she didn't mean to stop it. However, as a mother, she couldn't help but worry: "Wen Xian is still young, you have to pay more attention to the Grand Empress Dowager and make sure she is well."

Bai Xia nodded and promised: "Don't worry, your majesty, Bai Fu is very attentive, she will take good care of the princess."

Then, Bai Xia added: "As for the Seventh Prince, he is now playing with the Fourth Prince under the care of Miss Jingyi! Our Fourth Prince is really smart, filial and sensible. He knows how to take care of his younger brother at such a young age!"

Malu smiled and teased her, "Why don't you praise me for my good teaching?"

After hearing this, Bai Xia quickly responded with a smile: "The Fourth Prince's intelligence and filial piety are the result of your teaching and example. Everyone in the palace knows this. Why should I say more? It will only make me look like a flatterer."

Malu's smile became even brighter. She knew her baby must be the best! She said softly, "Go get me some pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. I want to write a letter to Xiao Si'er."

During the confinement period, she could not see Yinzhen, fearing that he would be alone. Malu would always write him a letter every now and then, even if he lived in a side hall of Yonghe Palace. They were all small things, as well as her concern for Yinzhen. After writing, she would ask Bai Xia or Bai Fu to bring it to Dachun Jingyi, and let them read it to the Fourth Prince.

"My son, Xiao Si, I am writing to you as if I were seeing you." Ma Lu wrote at the beginning of the letter, and then continued to write about her thoughts about the Fourth Prince, some inspirations and ideas, as well as some situations of her younger brothers and sisters. She tried to write in a very simple way to take into account Yinzhen's ability to understand.

Now that she has her second and third child, Malu has begun to learn how to take care of her children's feelings as much as possible and cultivate their emotions. Malu also praised the Fourth Prince for his care for his younger siblings in the letter and praised his brotherly demeanor. After writing the letter, Malu carefully folded the letter paper, put it in the envelope, and personally sealed it with wax before handing it to Bai Xia.

When handing the letter to Bai Xia, Ma Lu reminded her: "Be careful not to wrinkle the letter. Xiao Si'er hates a messy appearance. Remember to tell Xiao Si that mother misses him very much, and when you can see him again, you must hug him."

Bai Xia smiled and turned to deliver the letter. Although she didn't know why the queen cared so much about the feelings of the Fourth Prince, who doesn't have five, six, seven or eight children in their family? Not to mention the emperor who has three thousand beauties in the harem. As a prince, the Fourth Prince must have countless brothers. Brothers born from the same mother naturally have deep feelings for each other.

However, every time she saw the Empress taking special care of the Fourth Prince, fearing that he would be wronged, she still felt very touched.

After Ma Lu finished writing the letter, he used the video to briefly check what the child was doing. The Empress Dowager was teasing Wen Xian, and the Fourth Prince was indeed watching over the Seventh Prince, but he seemed a little absent-minded, looking away from time to time, as if looking for something.

Malu looked at it for a while, and then a eunuch came in, holding a tiger-headed doll in his hand. The tiger-headed doll was made of fine silk, orange-yellow in color, dotted with black stripes, vivid and majestic. The eyes were sewn with black pearls, and they were very vivid under the light. The eunuch had a flattering smile on his face, and wanted to hand it to Miss Jingyi to check it before giving it to the Fourth Prince to play with.

Jingyi took the tiger-head doll and prepared to take it apart. The Fourth Prince was furious when he saw Jie Tiantian, who had sowed discord between them and secretly targeted another young eunuch, Su Peisheng.

The Fourth Prince was furious at Dachun's incompetence. He didn't understand why the Ministry of Internal Affairs was so negligent as to allow such a person with bad intentions to stay by his side and in Yonghe Palace.

On the surface, he still pretended to be attracted by the doll, and guessed many reasons in his heart. In the end, he guessed the truth. It was probably that Dachun did not listen to him and turned around to talk to his mother. But his mother would not easily beat or kill a servant, and would even stop him and talk to him. This servant escaped temporarily because of the cold treatment of the emperor's father to Yonghe Palace. It would be easier to deal with him after his mother was out of confinement.

Thinking of this, he was unwilling to wait any longer. So he waved his little hands and beckoned to the eunuch, with a childish look of expectation on his face, as if he wanted the eunuch to hug him. Seeing this, the eunuch hurried forward with a smile on his face: "Fourth Prince, do you want me to hug you?"

The Fourth Prince nodded and stretched out his hands, seeming to favor Jie Tiantian. However, when the eunuch reached out to hug him, the Fourth Prince suddenly frowned and pushed the eunuch away with his hands, as if he had been stung by a scorpion.

"Ah!" The Fourth Prince suddenly cried out and began to howl, "Pinch me, pinch me! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!"

The eunuch was startled, then his face changed drastically, and he knelt down quickly: "Fourth Prince, I didn't do that, I don't dare!"

Jingyi was shocked and quickly threw away the tiger-head doll. She immediately shouted, "Drag this slave out and interrogate him strictly!" After the man was dragged away with his mouth blocked and his hands and feet tied, Jingyi finished examining the Fourth Prince's body.

Not to mention any pinch marks, there are not even any scratches.