The Virtuous Concubine

The Fourth Prince was neither arrogant nor impatient: "It's still early, mother, you are joking."

Malu was very pleased. This son could take care of himself. How much less work for his mother! She touched the bald forehead of the Fourth Prince and said, "Yes, yes, mother knows that our Fourth Prince has lofty ambitions..."

She said the last four words so lightly that they almost disappeared into the air. If the Fourth Prince had not been sitting next to her, he would not have heard them at all.

The fourth prince looked at his mother in disbelief: "I..."

Malu smiled and said, "He's my own son, I know him well."

Her expression and her voice conveyed deep trust and understanding, as if telling the Fourth Prince that no matter what he did, she would support him and believe in him.

The Fourth Prince was really surprised and was also moved by his mother's honesty. His nose was a little sour: "Mother, you are so good to me, I have no way to repay you."

Malu stopped looking at him and instead looked at the piano. Her hands gently moved on the keys without applying any force with her fingertips, resulting in the piano being silent.

After a long while, she turned around and said softly, "Who said there is no way to repay you? Mother also has something to ask for."

The fourth prince was stunned for a moment, then looked at his mother seriously: "Mother, you said that I will do my best to do what I can do."

Malu smiled slightly, with an inexplicable sadness in his eyes: "Mother has asked for a lot. If I give them all to you, you will have to give up."

Yinzhen shook his head firmly: "No, just tell me. With the whole country to support me, what can be difficult?"

Malu hesitated for a while before speaking: "Well... first of all, mother hopes that all children are happy and safe. You are mother's eldest son, the eldest brother of all children, so naturally I hope you can take good care of all your brothers and sisters."

When the Fourth Prince heard this, he didn't take it seriously: "It's just filial piety. This is what a son should do."

"Second..." Malu hesitated for a long time before he made up his mind to speak, "If that day really comes, mother hopes you can set me free."

The Fourth Prince really didn't understand. In his two lifetimes, this was the first time he had heard of or encountered a concubine having such a request.

He asked in confusion: "Mother, what do you mean?"

Malu knew that he didn't understand now and might not understand in the future, so she didn't explain: "Mother just hopes that if one day, mother can no longer accompany you, I hope you can understand and respect mother's choice."

Yinzhen thought that his mother was not in good health and was giving him a vaccination. He quickly asked: "Why would mother think so? Don't be discouraged, there are so many famous doctors in the Imperial Hospital, they can always cure mother--"

As he said this, he began to look Malu up and down.

Malu felt amused, thinking that she was talking to a cow. But she also understood, thinking that it was normal for the child to not understand since he was still young. When he grew up and took charge of government, he would naturally have his own focus in life.

She will talk to him about this matter later!

Malu smiled and tapped his nose: "Alright, alright, you don't understand, forget it. Have you reviewed the book? Have you done the exercises?"

Yinzhen was relieved and said disdainfully, "Nan Huairen is really a piece of shit. He thought my English wasn't good enough, so he deliberately made mistakes and omitted many things. If it wasn't for my mother insisting on reminding me to read the original, I would have been fooled by him."

Malu nodded: "Don't be fooled by the people below you, you still have to learn more. Nan Huairen, Nan Huairen! Mother always feels that with his personality, he will be the same as Sophia before."

Yinzhen also agreed: "If he is not of my race, his heart must be different. Moreover, I have seen him slandering to the emperor once or twice, saying that so-and-so has bad character and has done something bad. I checked and found that it was all false, or he simply framed it."

Seeing that he agreed, Malu asked him tentatively: "Why don't you find a chance to kick him out? Such a parasite should not stay with the emperor. It is a disgrace to the emperor's ears."

Malu knew that it was Nan Huairen who framed Dai Duo, causing the Qing Dynasty to miss out on a great talent for developing firearms. He invented the 28-bead rapid-fire musket!

In the end, he died of depression. Since Malu let the Fourth Prince discover him, he might as well be a good person and eliminate this hidden danger.

The Fourth Prince disagreed: "The Emperor still thinks highly of him. Moreover...if he didn't frame someone, how could I show mercy to those he framed?"

Of course Malu understood it immediately, but... she felt that this child might be born with an understanding of power and human nature, and could be easily manipulated.

But, is this really a good idea?

Of course she understood that only by providing timely assistance could the Fourth Prince truly win over these talented and ambitious people, allowing the Emperor to see his ability to judge people and making the people under him grateful and convinced.

In the game of thrones, the support of the people is often more important than the swords and spears.

This is a setback that can be avoided completely... Do we have to make others suffer?

Malu certainly disagreed. In her opinion, deliberately making a great scientist suffer was not only a waste of talent, but also violated her common sense and conscience.

This is simply creating difficulties even if there are no difficulties!

But she also understood that in a feudal empire like the Qing Dynasty, the desire of those in power for absolute power and absolute control often overrides respect for talent.

Although she had a strong sense of respect for science and talent, it was difficult to compete with her deep-rooted desire for power.

Therefore, she could only nod, with a bit of helplessness in her tone:

"It's good that you know what's going on, but you still need to protect people like Dai Duo. You can endure hardships, but don't really hurt your body and mind. If you lose your spirit, it will be difficult to accomplish anything. We can't lose the possibility of long-term development because of a temporary expedient."

Yinzhen naturally agreed immediately. The mother and son chatted for a while and had a meal together. The fourth prince mentioned another matter to Malu: "The emperor told his son yesterday that he should consider moving to the prince's residence."

Malu curled her lips and said, "Why don't you tell me yourself? You have to pass on the message."

She also knew that the Fourth Prince had indeed reached the age to go to the Prince's Residence. But when Concubine Hui was still Concubine Hui, she was reluctant to give up her son and relied on the fact that the eldest prince had been raised outside for a few years, so she dragged it on. Naturally, the people who came after her followed suit.

Malu was naturally the same. As long as no one mentioned it, he would pretend not to know. No one would be so ignorant as to offend a high-ranking concubine who had a son. Not to mention, he might also have a son in the future.

Seeing that his mother was somewhat unhappy, Yinzhen explained on behalf of Kangxi: "Mother, the emperor is doing this for my own good. I can't hide under my mother's wings forever. And it's not just me, all the princes who have reached the age must go."

"The Emperor didn't come because he was afraid that you would be angry with him again!" The more the Fourth Prince spoke, the more he felt that his mother was amazing in this life. She was more favored by the Emperor than in her previous life. It was no exaggeration to say that she had the skills to control her husband.

He even dared to show his disdain to the Emperor, and even after that, it was still the Emperor who gave in first. No one would believe it if others told them about it.