The Virtuous Concubine

The next morning, with the first rays of dawn, Kangxi could not wait to lead the royal family members, court officials and flag owners to set out on time at five o'clock in the morning. Riding on their steeds, they entered the territory of the Mongolian tribe and began hunting.

There are many ways to hunt, but the most distinctive one is the traditional hunting of the Manchus. The Mongolian tribes selected more than a thousand warriors, who surrounded the hunting area like an indestructible human wall, but deliberately left gaps, so that the prey was driven from the mountains to the valleys. The emperor, dressed in military uniform, led the hunting team on horseback into the enclosure, and all the birds and beasts within a radius of 20 to 30 miles were driven into the valleys, allowing the emperor to chase and hunt.

However, this was not his hunting ground, so the emperor only used his golden bow to shoot wild geese, pheasants and rabbits to practice his skills and accuracy. Even so, Kangxi shot more than a hundred rabbits. If he had not saved his strength to show off his skills in the official hunting, he might have shot until his arm was strained.

Xiao Si'er also hunted more than 40 rabbits, which was quite good for a child of his age. In the afternoon, he learned that the prince had hunted more prey than he did, so he put away his bow and arrow and stopped hunting. Instead, he rode leisurely to enjoy the beautiful scenery around him. In the evening, Xiao Si'er happily took his rabbits to Malu's residence, looking forward to his mother's praise. From a distance, he saw Eunuch Wei Zhu guarding the door.

"The Emperor is here too!" Xiao Si'er's face was filled with an even brighter smile. He simply carried two fat rabbits himself and walked excitedly into the palace. Liang Jiugong was at the door of the inner room, but he did not dare to stop the Fourth Prince. He only shouted, "Fourth Prince, be careful--" to warn the people inside.

Fortunately, there was nothing that children couldn't see. When the Fourth Prince walked in, he saw his mother concentrating on massaging the Emperor. The Emperor felt comfortable being massaged, humming and moaning, and occasionally even acted like a spoiled child to his mother, complaining that the massage was in the wrong place and that the sore spot was not there, which made his mother laugh.

Seeing the Fourth Prince coming in, Mother scolded him with a smile, "How reckless! Why don't you come over and pay your respects to your Royal Father?"

Kangxi waved his hand and said, "We are a family, but we still have to be so formal. Don't make my prince a fool! Come here quickly. Is this the rabbit you hunted?"

Hearing this, the Fourth Prince's heart warmed and his eyes became moist. He had experienced many hardships in his previous life, suffered slander, and had developed a heart of stone in the ups and downs. He thought he had long been accustomed to loneliness and strength. However, when he came here, his mother's gentle care made him feel the warmth of home again, which made him overjoyed. What he didn't expect was that in this life, because of his mother's existence, he could also experience the fatherly love that was exclusive to Yinreng.

He walked up quickly and handed the rabbit to Kangxi, with a look of pride and expectation on his face. Kangxi took the rabbit and looked at it carefully. He saw that the wounds were all on the head, which minimized the impact of the arrow wound on the entire skin. It can be seen that the arrows were accurate and thorough. He showed praise in his eyes: "Not bad, not bad, you have such skills at such a young age, you will become a great man in the future."

Before Kangxi came to Malu, he had carefully observed the prey of the eldest prince and the crown prince. He only took a quick glance at the results of others and heard the number without carefully observing them. When he came to Defei's place and took a closer look, he found that although the number and variety of prey hunted by the crown prince and the eldest prince were more than that of the fourth prince, they lacked the meticulousness.

Although the eldest prince's archery skills were accurate and powerful, and every arrow could hit the vital point, his force was too great and he did not consider the integrity of the prey's fur, causing some of the fur to be shredded. The prince's archery skills were also good, but he was not able to control each wound as accurately as the fourth prince, making them all in almost the same position.

Kangxi secretly pondered and compared this difference in his heart, and then cast his eyes on the Fourth Prince. On weekdays, the Fourth Prince always behaved in a proper manner, only winning in being meticulous and steady. Kangxi couldn't help but wonder if it was his nature, or if Concubine De had intentionally taught him to hide his edge.

Sensing the emperor's scrutiny, the fourth prince understood clearly in his heart - they were all emperors for a thousand years, why play Liao Zhai? Sure enough, Kangxi's eyes stayed on the fourth prince for a moment, but the fourth prince's eyes were clear and firm, without the slightest affectation or disguise.

Forget it, forget it. Kangxi couldn't help but feel relieved. No matter what, the Fourth Prince had already demonstrated the demeanor and qualities that a prince should have, and he was very satisfied.

Malu also saw the flirting between the father and son, but since it was her son's business, she couldn't interfere too much, so she chose to turn a blind eye and continued to concentrate on massaging Kangxi, but she was secretly amused in her heart, watching these two foxes going back and forth.

The banquet will be held tomorrow, so tonight, Malu personally cooked several dishes with rabbit meat to celebrate the great performance of the two on the hunting ground.

Malu herself likes spicy food, so she first made a spicy rabbit meat. She cut the rabbit meat into thin strips as wide as a finger, and stir-fried it with peppercorns, dried chilies and other seasonings in a pan over high heat until the rabbit meat exuded a fresh, spicy and mouth-watering aroma. After it was cooked, she tasted several bites first, otherwise she would not be able to eat much when she was in front of Kangxi, and the rules were very strict.

The other dishes had to take into account the tastes of Kangxi and the Fourth Prince. She cut the rabbit meat into thin slices and quickly stir-fried it with fresh vegetables to make a dish of bright-colored and smooth-tasting fresh-fried rabbit shreds. In addition, she also specially prepared a tonic soup, using rabbit meat with codonopsis, yam, jujube, wolfberry and other nourishing ingredients, and stewed it over a slow fire to replenish the physical strength of the father and son.

However, she felt that the Fourth Prince did not like the taste of medicine very much, so she added some mushrooms to the soup. This not only retained the nourishing effect of the medicinal food, but also added a fresh taste to the soup, making it more palatable.

When these delicious dishes were served on the table, Kangxi and the Fourth Prince were very happy to eat. While tasting the delicacies carefully prepared by Malu, they chatted and discussed the fun of hunting today, as if they were a happy and perfect family of three. This was outside the palace, and the items were not so complete. Naturally, no one would remind Kangxi that he could not eat more than three meals a day, and Kangxi was very satisfied with the whole meal.

After eating and drinking, he finally got into the mood to personally check and test the Fourth Prince's homework. The Fourth Prince knew that he should not hide his shortcomings anymore, so he revealed some of his views based on his experience in his previous life. Although his ideas were not new and were even a bit extreme, each of them was to the point and even very practical!

His unique insights and profound perceptiveness made Kangxi overjoyed, and he no longer regarded the Fourth Prince as a child. The questions became more and more difficult and tricky, and the topics extended from homework and understanding of classics to insights on government affairs. The questions also became more and more in-depth and challenging.

Kangxi began to raise some questions about state governance, economic strategy, foreign policy, etc. Each question tested the fourth prince's thinking and judgment ability. The fourth prince responded calmly, combining his past life experience and the knowledge that a "prince" should have learned, and gave answers that were both in line with the background of the times and forward-looking.

"Good! Good!" Kangxi clapped his thigh happily, "Great! Little Fourth, you understand things immediately and can even draw inferences about other situations on your own. You are really smart! You will definitely be a capable minister in the future! Hahahaha, it's a good thing you are a prince. If you were really a minister of the previous dynasty, who could protect you? Sometimes you still have to be gentle..."