The Virtuous Concubine

The angry Fourth Prince did not rush to complain, but returned to the study first.

The prince was listening to Li Guangdi's lecture on the Spring and Autumn Annals, but he was not fully focused - he also heard the noise made by Wen Xian next to him.

But he was the prince, so he naturally couldn't be distracted by these things, so he put down his book to look at this matter. Because of his relationship with Ma Lu, he took good care of Yonghe Palace.

But if I blame Wen Xian for not reading the books of sages and not respecting teachers, the emperor will definitely be angry.

Therefore, the Fourth Prince from Yonghe Palace is the most suitable candidate.

After Li Guangdi finished explaining, the prince raised his head, as if he had just noticed the arrival of the Fourth Prince. The prince smiled and asked, "Fourth brother, you don't look well."

The Fourth Prince stepped forward, bowed to the Crown Prince, and quietly explained the whole story.

After hearing this, the prince's first reaction was to recall the extravagance of the Cao family when Lady Fengsheng lived in Jiangnan, as well as his own wet nurse and wet nurse Ling Pu.

Madam Fengsheng was in Jiangnan and felt that the Emperor was out of reach, but how dare these servants under her nose be so arrogant and cause trouble in the palace!

What about my own wet nurse? Is my own wet nurse also...

The prince's political sense was extremely sharp, not inferior to the experienced Yinzhen. He tapped the table with his slender fingers and said, "This matter... can be big or small. If it is not handled properly, it may damage the reputation of Wen Xian and Empress Defei."

Yinzhen also thought so. This matter could be made a big deal. He had to thoroughly investigate the banner families behind these wet nurses. Who selected these people? How did these wet nurses send the stolen goods out of the palace? What were the channels for buying and selling the stolen goods?

However, the prince’s wet nurse may be the most difficult one to explain clearly.

If this matter is only regarded as the improper behavior of the servants, and a minor punishment is given as a major warning, then it will be a small matter after these people are punished. In addition, no matter how this matter itself is handled, people with ulterior motives can use it to accuse the Empress Defei of failing to discipline her, or even question Wen Xian's character, which will turn into a major incident to attack the Yonghe Palace.

Yinzhen's original intention was to take this opportunity to test the emperor's current state, whether he was like later that year, obsessed with his reputation for benevolence, unwilling to criticize the old ministers, and allowing these parasites to empty the national treasury.

If he still had some blood in his veins, the mess in the Imperial Household Department would be enough for the Emperor to kill Ling Pu and then entrust full power to himself.

Second brother, I am helping you to clear the court.

As for whether Kangxi would become suspicious and angry towards Yinreng because of this, he was just a little prince and couldn't care less about so many things.

The Fourth Prince approved of Wen Xian's decision to take care of the matter, but he felt that Wen Xian was unable to control these servants and blamed these princesses for holding Wen Xian back.

We still need to find a way to give Wen Xian actual authority, such as managing palace affairs, so that she can protect herself. Giving it to Wen Xian is better than giving it to the Crown Princess when the Crown Prince gets married.

What's more, Thirteen is still a baby now, and it will take more than ten years for him to grow up.

Yinzuo is also a prince, he has a gentle and smooth personality, and likes freedom. Now he can interact more with the royal family, Hahazhuzi, and companions, and later when he enters the court, the royal family will be under his responsibility.

After much deliberation, the Fourth Prince decided to let Wen Xian handle the matters related to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the harem. My mother was too kind and didn't care much about the struggle for power and profit.

Having been in charge of the six palaces for so many years, following the rules and living like a housekeeper, was such a waste in Yinzhen's eyes.

While the Crown Prince was thinking, the Fourth Prince was making plans. The Crown Prince had already made up his mind: "After school, let's go ask the Emperor to borrow Eunuch Wei Zhu to ask the servants who were punished today."

The fourth prince felt a little nervous: "Since you are borrowing it, can you do it faster?"

By the time the princes were done with school, all those slaves who had been given promotions and those who had been given forty military sticks should have died. . . What else are you asking? He simply said that he had punished people, but he didn't say that he had punished them to death!

The prince thought that the fourth prince thought that speed was of the essence and was afraid that the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs would come up with a way to cover up the evidence, so he agreed: "Okay, I will let Chen Xin go and ask now."

The Fourth Prince also nodded. Since the Crown Prince was so decisive, he would not shirk his responsibility. "Su Peisheng, come with me. You knew the situation clearly at the time. If Liang Jiugong asks, you can explain it."

Su Peisheng nodded and followed Chen Xin. With the prince's people around, Kangxi naturally would not make things difficult for him. He released him directly without even asking the reason, and continued to read the memorials.

However, Liang Jiugong ran to the side and asked the reason in detail, kept the matter in mind, and notified some people who should be notified.

If things get really bad, we can't let all the people on our side get involved.

The Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince joined forces, and Yinzuo also brought Wen Xian back to Yonghe Palace.

Malu was looking at the music score when he saw Wen Xian running in with the wind, followed by a helpless Yinzuo. He quickly hugged Wen Xian.

Looking closely, Wen Xian still had red eyes and his hair was a little messy.

Wen Xian curled up in his mother's arms. Although he was sad and angry, he still explained everything clearly.

When Malu heard this, she felt sorry for her misfortune and angry at her for not fighting back: "Your sisters are too ungrateful. Okay, stop crying. We won't play with them anymore, and we won't go to classes with them. They were originally meant for you alone."

Wen Xian listened to her mother's words and nodded with sobs. Malu gently stroked Wen Xian's hair and continued, "We Wen Xian are so kind, but they treat us like this. But it doesn't matter, we just need to be ourselves. They deserve to be wronged like this and then be tortured by these old women."

After hearing this, Wen Xian burst into laughter and said, "Mother! Why do you say that? If others hear it, they will say something bad about you. And Fourth Brother also helped me vent my anger."

As he spoke, he told me how the Fourth Prince was rewarded with forty sticks, and how he also rewarded the servant with a "promotion".

"Mother, what is Tiejiaguan?"

After thinking for a moment, Ma Lu decided to let Wen Xian know: "Papering the official is an extremely cruel punishment. Take mulberry paper and cover the face of the person being punished, then spray it with wine. The paper will become damp and soft and stick to the face tightly, making it difficult for the person to breathe. Then cover it with another layer of paper and continue to spray wine. Repeat this process until the person being punished suffocates to death."

After hearing this, Wen Xian couldn't help but shudder and said, "If it's so scary, why give it such a nice name?"

Malu sighed slightly and said, "This method is not good for morality, so I chose this name to avoid it. It seems that your fourth brother is also very angry."

"He may have wanted to vent his anger for you, but just because he withheld the princess's food and contradicted you, it's a bit too much to punish her like this. You still need to be more cautious in this palace to avoid giving people a chance to criticize you."

Wen Xian disagreed and said, "Fourth brother did the right thing, those people should be punished. They bullied me, if they are not punished, they will become more unscrupulous in the future. I don't want to care about other princesses now, but everyone needs to know what the consequences are for offending me!"