Yinreng was reborn, returning to the thirty-fifth year of the Kangxi reign. He was still the twelve-year-old Crown Prince, but he already knew the miserable fate that awaited him: being deposed twice.
This time, he decided to live differently. He would cling to Wanying, daughter of the wealthiest family on the grasslands, and live off her while still calling the shots.
On the day they “ran into each other” in the imperial garden, he timed it perfectly and fell in front of her. The blood pouch he had prepared in his sleeve burst beneath him, splattering his robe.
Wanying panicked and pulled out a gold-threaded handkerchief to bandage his “wound,” only to find something warm and sticky on her hand... pig’s blood?
“Gege,” the young Crown Prince said, lifting his pale face and clutching the gold-embroidered hem of her robe. “My head is spinning. I’m afraid I won’t survive... unless you bring me a box of ginseng every day to keep me alive.”
Before long, a secret spread through the Forbidden City: the Crown Prince was being “kept” by a Mongolian princess.
Kangxi stared at the mountain of pearls, antlers, and banknotes in his son’s storeroom, his vermilion brush hovering over the edict to depose the Crown Prince. How had this rebellious son only gotten richer the more he was scolded?
