Chapter 138 Chapter 138 Just figure it out

Kangxi's poison went away very quickly, and he was fine after only resting on the bed for a day.As Concubine De had expected, Kangxi did not pursue the responsibility of the fourth elder brother, and soon released him from the clan mansion.Fourteenth elder brother didn't come to pay respects to Concubine De for a few days in a row, because he had made a bet with Concubine De.Concubine De was both sad and angry. She had worked so hard all her life to fight for a good future for her fourteenth elder brother. Unexpectedly, he was not only ungrateful, but even competed with her. After a few days of stalemate like this, the fourth elder brother heard about it from nowhere, and personally persuaded the fourteenth elder brother to come and plead guilty to Concubine De.Concubine De had always doted on this little son, seeing that he was willing to bow his head, half of the anger in her heart subsided, and when Elder Fourteen coaxed her coquettishly and foolishly, the matter of the previous few days was over.

The fourteenth elder brother said that he would go to the cloth warehouse to practice boxing, and left after a while, but the fourth elder brother stayed, sitting there and chatting with Concubine De.Concubine De felt a little guilty about this son, and after chatting for a few words, she couldn't help asking: "You have been blaming Er Niang for being biased and helping the fourteenth since you were a child. This time, our mother and son are at odds. Is it a good opportunity? Why did you help the old fourteen instead?" The fourth elder brother paused, and replied: "Because I have figured it out."

"Oh?" Concubine De didn't feel a little strange, so she heard the fourth elder brother reply indifferently: "I have been fighting and fighting for the past few years. Thinking about it, what Er Niang said really makes sense, what good is there to be an emperor? Other than suffering and suffering, it’s just worrying, instead of this, it’s better to be a prince and live a happy life.” Concubine De was overjoyed when she heard the words, she stared at Si elder brother and asked, "You really think so?" The fourth elder brother laughed at himself, and replied: "So what if you don't think so? My son has no contacts in the court, and no soldiers, and there is no chance of winning. If there is a real fight, no matter how dead it is I don't know. Unlike the fourteenth brother, with Eniang helping him, the chances of winning are great..." He stood up and knelt down to Concubine De, and said seriously: "I am willing to help Eniang to protect the fourteenth brother Take the throne."

Concubine De saw that his face was sincere and he didn't look like he was lying, so she thought that he really looked away, bent down to help him up, and said with relief: "The so-called brothers are of the same heart, their strength can break through gold, with your help , your fourteenth brother will definitely get twice the result with half the effort. The old thirteen is also his fate, so don't feel too guilty." The fourth elder brother lowered his eyes, only nodded, but didn't say anything. Concubine De is thinking very well here. Although the fourteenth elder brother has military merits, he has not been in court for a long time after all, but the fourth elder brother is very familiar with court affairs. With his help, the fourteenth elder brother will surely go smoothly many.But what she never expected was that after the fourteenth elder brother came back, he was not close to his fourth elder brother who was the same mother. Instead, he got closer and closer to the eighth elder brother and the others.

It turned out that when the fourteenth elder brother was born, the concubine De's status was already much higher, and she could raise her son by herself, instead of having to send her son to be raised by Tong Guifei, who had a higher status than her, like when the fourth elder brother was born.In this way, Concubine De was inevitably a bit arrogant and indulgent towards the youngest son who was raised by her side. Later, Brother Fourteen went to the army again, and after a few years, he developed a rebellious temperament. After returning to the court this time, although Concubine De wanted to make the two sons closer, but the fourteenth elder brother didn't like the gloomy and stern temperament of the fourth elder brother, but felt that the humble eighth elder brother was more open-minded.The eighth elder brother wanted to win him over again, and within a short time, the fourteenth elder brother and the eighth elder brother actually got closer and closer, going to sit in Yongshou Palace every now and then.Gradually, by the way, she also became acquainted with the eight blessings, Qingchuan, and felt that she was bright and cheerful, not a little better than the four blessings in Yongwang's mansion.

The fourteenth elder brother always hangs out with the eighth elder brother and the others, but Concubine De became more and more anxious when she saw it, she was afraid that the fourteenth elder brother was innocent, so don't be used by others.Seeing that Kangxi did not establish a crown prince for a long time, he guessed that he was swinging between the eighth elder brother and the fourteenth elder brother, and always thought of a way to make the eighth elder brother lose Kangxi's favor completely. On this day, Concubine De was kneeling in the Buddhist hall again, begging Kangxi to make the 14th elder brother the crown prince as soon as possible. Fei Cui came in from the outside lightly, walked to Concubine De and reported in a low voice that the Emperor had ordered the palace servants to tidy up the Chengqian Palace. , took all the clothes and jewelry used by Concubine Liang to the fire and burned them.

Concubine De was moved when she heard this, she looked up at the Avalokitesvara image in the altar for a moment, then suddenly asked Fei Cui, "Ji Cui, I remember that Eighth Prince's painting seems to be pretty good." Fei Cui didn't know why she suddenly said this, she nodded and said: "Yes, even the emperor said that his paintings are unparalleled in the world, even the painters in the wishful hall can't compare." Concubine De smiled lightly, "That's easy." She stood up from the futon, turned around and walked outside, and told Fei Cui: "Go to Yongshou Palace and invite Eighth Brother, just say that I have something to ask him."

Fei Cui didn't know what she meant, but she didn't dare to ask, so she hurried off.After a while, the eighth elder brother came to the Yonghe Palace with Jade, greeted Concubine De first, and asked respectfully: "I don't know what orders the Concubine De has when she summons her?" Concubine De asked the maid to serve eighth elder brother tea, smiled gently, and said: "Eighth elder brother, I heard that your paintings are good, and it will be Guanyin's birthday in a few days. I would like to ask you A statue of Avalokitesvara hangs in the Qin'an Hall, what do you think?"

The eighth elder brother was a little bit surprised, "I am ashamed to be proud of my mother's praise." Concubine De smiled and said: "Hey, this is merit, not just for fame, so don't be modest." This is the end of her words, Eighth Elder Brother couldn't refuse any more, so he had no choice but to agree, seeing that Concubine De had no other orders, he got up and left. Back in the Yongshou Palace, Qing Chuan felt strange when he heard that Concubine De had asked the eighth elder brother to paint the image of Avalokitesvara, and said: "There is no such painter in the Ruyi Hall, why do you still want you to paint? What are you doing? Is there some kind of conspiracy?"

The eighth elder brother also suspected that he came here, but he couldn't figure out what kind of conspiracy Concubine De could set up, but since he agreed to her, now he can only paint the statue of Guanyin first.He said: "Don't worry about that much, let's draw the portrait first, and let the rest follow suit." Painting Avalokitesvara is different from other paintings. Since it is a portrait of a Bodhisattva, it must first be sincere.The eighth elder brother was afraid that Concubine De would find something wrong, so he resigned from trivial matters for the past two days, burned incense and took a bath, and then Qingchuan took care of painting the Guanyin statue in the study.Unexpectedly, when the Guanyin statue was about to be painted, Li Dequan came secretly.

The eighth elder brother asked someone to lead him into the study, and asked with a smile: "Is there something wrong with Li Wenda?" Li Dequan glanced at the Avalokitesvara statue on the desk, and said: "This old servant went to the Ruyi Pavilion just now, and saw a painter inside who was painting a statue of Avalokitesvara for the Concubine De, saying that the Concubine De is very important, and I want it tomorrow , so the painter has been rushing to work. The old slave glanced at it casually, but this look shocked the old slave, eighth brother, guess what the old slave saw?" The eighth elder brother raised his eyebrows and asked, "What did Li Wenda see?" Li Dequan replied: "The old slave saw that Guanyin looked exactly like the concubine Liang." The eighth elder brother didn't move, he just lowered his eyes and fell silent, not knowing what he was thinking. Qingchuan couldn't help being surprised, and asked in shock, "Is what you said true?" Li Dequan replied: "How dare this old slave lie to you!" Qing Chuan pondered for a while, then turned to look at the eighth elder brother, and said, "If the portrait is changed to the appearance of a good concubine, the emperor will definitely be angry when he sees it, and the consequences will be unimaginable. Eighth elder brother, I think you might as well return to the concubine de Empress, just say that you are too upset to draw." The eighth elder brother smiled lightly and shook his head, "I pushed this time, what should I do if I change my trick next time?" Qingchuan didn't feel strange, and asked, "Then what do you mean..." Eighth Prince thought for a while, and replied: "After I finish the painting, I will give it to the old fourteen for safekeeping. I will tell him that this painting is very important, and let him not leave it for a moment. When the time comes, Empress Defei will be worried about her. Son, you must not dare to take any action." Qing Chuan thought about it, but felt that this was inappropriate, and couldn't help asking: "Then what if she secretly changed the painting?" Eighth Brother smiled and said, "Didn't I say that? Let Old Fourteen not leave her body for a moment. If she tries to change this painting, Old Fourteen will find out. With Old Fourteen's character, she must We will have a falling out with her. At that time, it will be too late for her to clean up the relationship between mother and child, so how can she have time to deal with us?" Li Dequan on the side laughed and praised: "Tall, tall!" Qing Chuan did not make a sound, always felt that this method seemed to be good, but it had flaws. The eighth elder brother specially called the fourteenth elder brother to come, and solemnly handed over the Guanyin statue to him and sent it to the Yonghe Palace for Concubine De to have a look. Concubine De saw that it was the fourteenth elder brother who brought the Guanyin statue, she was a little surprised, after seeing the portrait, she asked Fei Cui to pick it up and put it away, but she never thought that the fourteenth elder brother avoided it, saying: " The starling said that this painting is very important and should not be touched by others casually, and asked me to show it to Er Niang and personally send it to Qin'an Hall to hang it up." When he said this, Concubine De immediately understood that the eighth elder brother was on guard, so she asked the fourteenth elder brother to look at the painting.She smiled and said, "Oh, no matter how important it is, you can't hold onto it and not let go, right? Er Niang has prepared cakes for you, and you put them on the table first, and take them away after you finish eating them." As he spoke, he winked at Fei Cui and told her to pour tea for Fourteenth Elder Brother.Fei Cui understood, nodded slightly, poured fourteen elder brother a cup of tea and brought it over, but when handing it to him, her hand trembled, and she immediately held the tea on him. Brother Fourteen subconsciously stood up, wiping the tea on his body.Fei Cui was so frightened that she knelt on the ground, and said repeatedly: "Your slave should die, your servant should die, Brother Fourteen, are you alright?" Brother Fourteen didn't care, and said with a smile, "It's okay." Concubine De then said: "It's outrageous for you to behave like this, Fei Cui, you waited for Elder Brother Fourteen to come back and change into a clean one." Elder Fourteen thought about it, then got up and followed Fei Cui to the back to change clothes, came back after a while, saw Concubine De was still sitting by the table, pointed to the scroll on the table and said to him: "Hurry up, But hang it up, remember, don’t open it after hanging it up, and start painting when your Huang Ama leaves tomorrow.” Brother Fourteen smiled and said, "Emiang, I'm not a child anymore, so I know how to do it naturally, so don't worry." Then he took the painting and went to Qin'an Hall, directing the eunuchs to draw The scroll was hung in front of the confession.