Chapter 18 part 2
The Third Prince returned to the palace, holding the note in his hand, and sat in front of the table in a daze for a long time. Eunuch Gu stood aside and did not speak.
Late into the night, the Third Prince sighed as he stood up and said, "Tomorrow I'm going to see Mother Consort, so I have to tell her anyway."
Eunuch Gu bent his `body' slightly and said, "Good."
The Third Prince hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Who are you chasing?" But immediately added, "It's fine if you don't want to say."
Eunuch Gu's face seemed to smile as he whispered, ''That should be a dwarf or midget with excellent lightness, coming and going like the wind. There was a receiver at the wall, blocking me for a moment, just a false move. I also knew that the other party had no intention of hurting anyone, and didn't move for real, letting him run away."
The Third Prince said yearningly, "Those who can make you praise them must be high ranking people ......" He looked at Eunuch Gu, "Is it already too late for me to learn Qinggong?"
Eunuch Gu finally had an obvious smile: ''Your Highness's bones have already formed, indeed you can't practice lightweight kung fu. Moreover, Qinggong not only pays attention to breathing and breathing, but also has spirituality. Not everyone can learn it. But His Highness has learned fists, feet, swords, arrows, and riding skills since he was a child. As long as he continues to practice, he will still be successful in the future. "
The Third Prince sighed, "I really want to be a General and go to the sands to fight some battles in the future. If I was born in ...... Anyway, I like those sons of Marquis Zhenbei ......"
Eunuch Gu collected his smile and did not speak. The Third Prince said goodnight to him and walked away with his head down.
Although the lights were out in the Fourth Prince's bedchamber, listening to the sound of the Fourth Prince turning over in bed, the chamberlain who slept in the outer room knew that the Fourth Prince had not yet fallen asleep.Ever since he was bumped into by that maid outside the city in the spring, the Fourth Prince had often been in a trance.
The chamberlain forgot his name, he only vaguely remembered that he was sold by his family when he was small, and then he entered the palace, took the day's heavenly stem, and took the surname Ding. Later, the little servant always thought what if it was Gui day? Do you want to be surnamed "ghost"?
(TN: Heavenly stem traditional ten -day week, The heavenly stems are also used as the first component of each of the sixty terms of the Chinese sexagenary cycle (干支), used in ancient China to record dates and in traditional contexts in modern China to order years. They appear in this context as early as the Shang-era oracle bones.)
The days at the beginning were miserable, not to mention that during purification(becoming eunuch) he almost died and came back to life. He was still young and did the simplest work, but he was always beaten and didn't have enough to eat.
Once when he was starving to death, he tried to steal the flowers in the garden in the morning when he was watering the garden, because he heard the other eunuchs say that there were concubines who ate the flowers to beautify their faces.As soon as he picked one, he was seen by a palace lady passing by and shouted loudly. Several palace ladies came and grabbed him, smacked his mouth, and beat him dizzy.
Just when he thought he was going to faint, a voice sounded, which he could not hear clearly, but the slaps stopped, the maids who slapped him left, and a woman came over to talk to her, and his ears were buzzing. He only spoke to the woman with a swollen mouth and said vaguely: "I'm hungry..." The woman cried, and someone came to hold his hand and take him away.
When he grew up, he was estimated to be six or seven years old that year. The woman who took him in was the newly canonized 19-year-old Jiang Zhaoyi. It is said that she had just learned that she was pregnant that day.
From then on, Chamberlain Ding became the little eunuch in Jiang Zhaoyi's palace. He started as an errand boy and sweeper. After Jiang Zhaoyi gave birth to the fourth prince, she was promoted to Shufei. He was also promoted and began to help take care of the fourth prince.
He was eight years older than the fourth prince, and he had never had a childhood, but he experienced childhood with the Fourth Prince. The two of them chased the ball together, played with building blocks, and piled sand together... After the Fourth prince started studying, he would imitate his teacher and teach him a few words when he came back.
Chamberlain Ding is very hard-working and would study while cleaning up the desks and study for the fourth prince. When he wasn't working, he would write the words taught to him by the fourth prince over and over again on the ground.
He was even more grateful to Jiang Shufei, never went against the wishes of Jiang Shufei. It was not until Jiang Shufei was seriously ill and entrusted him to do something before she died, he said "no".
"Slave, I really can't..." Chamberlain Ding knelt on the ground and smashed his head.
Jiang Shufei was dying and pointed at him with a trembling hand, "You ...... this ...... ungrateful ......"
Chamberlain Ding cried and kowtowed, "It really can't be! Please Your Highness ...... please Your Highness!"
Jiang Shufei with tears in her eyes, "You do not know ...... if not ...... my son is difficult ......"
Ding Chamberlain also cried: "I know ...... but I really can't lay my hands on it, I know I can't lay my hands on it ...... I'm sorry for Your Highness ...... please Your Highness! ......" He was so anxious that he even forgot to call himself a slave servant.
Jiang Shufei sighed long: "You this ...... useless ......"
Ding Chamberlain cried and kowtowed vigorously, "Slave servant will definitely follow the fourth prince in this life, will definitely treat him well, and won't disappoint Your Highness, beg Your Highness ......"
Later, the fourth prince fell from his horse. There was no Chamberlain Ding accompanying him, and it was not Chamberlain Ding who rushed to "take care" of the fourth prince after hearing the news. After the Fourth Prince's injury, it was Chamberlain Ding who watched over him day and night, and after Consort Jiang Shufei passed away, the closest thing to the Fourth Prince was Chamberlain Ding.
Several times, the Empress sent people to find Chamberlain Ding to ask questions, the Fourth prince withheld and refused to let go. This caused the Empress to say that the Fourth Prince was unfilial, and the accusation alerted the Emperor.
The Fourth Prince limped and holding onto the arm of Chamberlain Ding went to meet the Emperor. He fell to the ground in tears in court, saying that he begged his Mother Empress to leave him a chamberlain who knew how to take care of him.If he is the one who disobeyed Mother Empress for this, and he is the one who did not allow the chamberlain to leave, then please ask Father to condemn him.
The emperor looked at his haggard son who was inconvenient to walk, and thought of the mourned Jiang Shufei not long ago. He secretly blamed the empress for being troublesome. He comforted the fourth prince on the spot, told him to take good care of his body, and ordered the accompanying chamberlain Ding to take care of him and let them go back to the palace.
When the Empress heard about it, she said that the Fourth Prince was overly concerned, and that she was just looking at the death of Consort Jiang Shufei, and wanted to instruct the chamberlain to serve the Fourth Prince well. The good intentions as a donkey's liver and lungs, they might as well not bother!
For the past three years, the gates of the four emperors' palace have been locked tightly. The fourth prince reads and writes every day, and sometimes plays chess by himself for a few hours, but he never touches the piano and flute he used to love, and the teenage boy lives like an old man. The courtyard is usually as quiet as death, and the palace people don't even pant loudly.
Chamberlain Ding had all of Consort Jiang Shufei's connections and contacts. Jiang Shufei's mother's family was not prominent, but very wealthy. They were very distressed for this disabled grandson. If it's not the royal prince, I really have to take him home and raise him. There are countless gold, silver and treasures sent in the usual times, and Ding Chamberlain has been in the palace for more than ten years, and he can figure out who is up and down. Relying on money, he generally kept his information sensitive, and could occasionally arrange for the Fourth Prince to go where he wanted to go without anyone noticing.
He was the Fourth Prince's personal attendant, so he naturally knew the Fourth Prince's likes and dislikes.
In the sound of the summer night's more drums, Ding Chamberlain remembered the mountain temple outside the city, the maid rushed out of thin air and knocked the fourth prince to the ground, she cried so sadly. Although the Fourth prince did not show anything, he knew that the fourth prince's heart was sad......
The Ding chamberlain remembered what he had inquired about, when the Marquis Mansion returned from outside the city that time, there was some brothel girls who went to invite to see the sister who had been bought into the Marquis Mansion, Looking at the maid's appearance, the brothel girl that those prostitutes-people had said had been bought was most likely her.
If it were an ordinary person, that would be fine. Let Consort Jiang Shufei's maternal family buy it from the Marquis Mansion with a large sum of money, and then let the fourth prince take the opportunity to go and have a look at it on a day to celebrate his grandfather's birthday. But for such an eye-catching person, there must be many people staring at her, so it's best not to have anything to do with her.
After midnight, the Fourth Prince finally went to sleep, and Chamberlain Ding was relieved to sleep as well, not realizing that the Fourth Prince had finally made up his mind after tossing and turning this night.
When he got up the next day, the Fourth Prince with a dark halo under his eyes sat at the table in a rare manner, and instead of immediately taking up a book, he looked at the doors and windows.
Chamberlain Ding knew what he meant, so he went out and looked under the window. When he saw that there was no one around, he entered the door again.
The Fourth Prince half-lidded his eyes at the pen and ink on the desktop and whispered, "Have someone go to the Marquis of Zhenbei's mansion to poke around and see when that maid usually leaves the mansion, what's her last name, and who's in her family."
Chamberlain Ding's heart lurched: it was truly fearful of what would come. Just about to open his mouth to persuade, but looking at the Fourth Prince's youthful face that was under thirteen years old but with a bland expression, his nose turned sour and he whispered, "Yes."
