Chapter 61 The Crown Princess's Miscarriage

It was almost noon and Yihuan was drowsy. Yuxiao stood beside her and gently fanned herself with a folding fan. The room was quiet. The servants outside also knew that the mistress would take a two-hour nap at noon every day. During this time, everyone moved very carefully for fear of disturbing the mistress's rest.

"Sister Yuxiao, Grandpa Zhou An from the palace has brought the eldest prince back." Yudong, the second-class maid guarding the door, opened the curtain anxiously and called Yuxiao out to answer.

Yu Xiao was a little surprised when she heard this: "Why are you back at this time? What did Grandpa Zhou say?"

Yu Qiu shook her head: "I see that the master looks fine, it shouldn't be a big deal."

"Ask Grandpa Zhou to wait for a moment. I will go and wake up the master." Yu Xiao did not dare to act on his own. Zhou An was the eunuch in charge of Yonghe Palace. It was very likely that he came in person to convey the order of Concubine De.

Yihuan was gently pushed awake, and immediately came to her senses after hearing Yuxiao's report. She immediately thought of Yinzhen's speculation some days ago that Honghui might have had access to the memorials from hundreds of officials at the instruction of Kangxi.

Could it be that Kangxi was in a bad mood today and scolded Honghui?
Eunuch Zhou was not arrogant. He stood beside Honghui without moving. When he saw Yihuan coming out, he bowed and said, "I pay my respects to the Fourth Lady."

Yihuan motioned for everyone around her to leave, leaving Yuxiao behind: "Thank you, eunuch, for taking care of Honghui. I wonder what's going on today?"

When Eunuch Zhou saw Honghui looking up at him, he smiled lovingly and said, "In reply to the Fourth Lady, Prince Honghui has not had his meal yet. It would be better to let the nurse take the young master to have his meal first. After all, he is still growing."

Yihuan understood that this was not convenient for Honghui to hear, and signaled Yuxiao to take Honghui out to find Nanny Chen.

Seeing that there was no one else in the room, Eunuch Zhou whispered, "Today, my servant first sent Master Honghui back safely, and second, conveyed a message from the Queen to the Fourth Lady. The Crown Princess in the palace had a miscarriage, and the Emperor was furious and could not take care of our Master. The Queen said that the prince should stay at home and not enter the palace for the next few days."

It had been less than a month since the Crown Princess held a flower-viewing banquet. How could she suddenly have a miscarriage?

"I understand. Please tell the queen that the Prince's Mansion must be strictly controlled during this period." Yihuan had a premonition that a new round of bloody storms was coming. "I wonder why the Crown Princess had a miscarriage?"

If it was due to the Crown Princess's own health problems, Kangxi would not be furious, but would only be angry at her for not fighting back.

"This... the palace has not yet reached a conclusion, so I dare not speak carelessly." Eunuch Zhou An is worthy of being from Yonghe Palace. Caution is engraved in his bones.

"I understand. Thank you, eunuch." Yihuan saw Eunuch Zhou An out. Nanny Chen took two quick steps and stuffed a purse into his hand.

Zhou An pinched his face gently, revealing a thin layer, which should be the banknotes. He smiled more sincerely, and whispered before leaving: "Brother Honghui followed the emperor at the beginning, maybe he saw something."

Yihuan looked a little serious. She asked, "Where's Honghui?"

"The kitchen quickly prepared a few side dishes, and the prince is having his meal now," said Nanny Chen.

"Yeah." Yihuan hurried to the front hall. Honghui was indeed there. When he saw Yihuan, he was about to stand up and salute, but was held down by Yihuan.

"Honghui, you must be hungry. Eat slowly. If it's not enough, ask the kitchen to make more." Yihuan sat next to him and looked him up and down. Seeing that he was no different from usual, she seemed not to be frightened by the miscarriage scene.

Honghui simply ate some food to fill his stomach, and while drinking milk tea, he told Yihuan about what he saw in the palace.

"The Queen is teaching me to read... a book." Honghui paused and swallowed the word "memorial". "Someone came from the Crown Prince's Second Uncle's side and was very panicked. He said that the Crown Princess had a miscarriage." Honghui was a little scared. He touched Yihuan's belly and said, "Mother, the little brother is still there, right?"

"Well, mother, father and Honghui all protect him well, he is safe." Yihuan said soothingly.

Honghui continued to recall: "The emperor was very shocked. He was holding me while reading at the time, so he didn't put me down and carried me all the way to Yuqing Palace."

"I saw Brother Hongxi and Brother Hongjin kneeling at the door. The woman in the room made a very shrill voice. The emperor wanted to carry me in, but Eunuch Liang stopped me. I didn't go in and waited for Eunuch Zhou to pick me up."

"Mother, while I was waiting for Eunuch Zhou, I heard a few words, maybe not all of them."

"Brother Hongxi's mother seems to be ill, but there is no imperial physician to treat her." Honghui said, a little puzzled, "The Imperial Hospital is in the palace, why doesn't it go to treat people?"

Yihuan touched Honghui's head and said, "It's really hard for wives and concubines to live in peace. When you grow up and get married, you will understand the meaning of this."

Honghui shook his head: "I want to stay with my mother forever. I won't marry a wife."

“Hahaha.” Yihuan laughed loudly, “When you are ten years older, you won’t say such things to please mother.”

Honghui pouted unhappily. His mother is always like this.

Honghui hesitated for a moment, then took out a bead the size of a grain of rice from his arms: "Mother, I found this at my feet while I was waiting. Eunuch Liang should have seen me pick it up."

"This... is it something really bad?" Honghui was a little uneasy. Although he was young and had not experienced the secrets of the rear house, he subconsciously felt that this little bead was something that could harm people.

Seeing Honghui's clear eyes filled with desire, Yihua thought for a moment and told him her guess: "There must be more than one bead, otherwise you wouldn't have picked it up by chance. This kind of thing has an extremely smooth surface, is very thin and small, and you can't see it on the road from your angle."

"If someone with poor balance steps on it while wearing flower pot soles, they will fall immediately." Yihua continued, "Pregnant women like my mother are most afraid of falling. This must be how the Crown Princess had a miscarriage."

Honghui thought for a while and expressed his guess: "Mother, I don't think it was done by Brother Hongxi and Brother Hongjin."

"Huh? What do you say?"

"My son, I see that the anxiety on the faces of the two brothers is not fake. They are more happy and expectant than afraid to see the emperor. If they have done something bad, their first reaction when they see their elders should be to feel guilty."

"My son guesses that there might be someone else in Yuqing Palace, and the one who could use this method is most likely a woman." Honghui said seriously, "The wives and concubines are competing for favor and want to kill three birds with one stone. Not only do they want to hurt the brother in the Crown Princess's belly, but they also want to put the blame on the two brothers, and even make the two brothers' mothers fall out of favor."

"Child, do you know what it means to be in favor or out of favor?" Yihuan saw that her little boy understood the conspiracy very quickly and felt that this kid had become a white-faced but black-hearted person.

"Of course I know." Honghui raised his chin, "Mother is favored, and my father loves me as well as my family. Brother Hongqing is not favored, and Third Uncle always spanks him."

"Your father loves you so much. I wonder how sad you must be when you hear him say that he loves his father as well as his family." Yihuan nodded his little head.

"That means the son loves his mother, and he also loves his father." Honghui laughed after he finished speaking.