Inside Zhongcui Palace, Prince Yinzhi paced furiously. The rumors surrounding Lingguang's origins had reached him. "If that temple orphan is His Majesty's eldest son, then what am I?!"
Yinzhi's entire political foundation rested on his status as the First Prince. Stripped of that, his claim to the throne evaporated.
His mother, Consort Hui, observed his panic with cold disdain. "Are you foolish enough to believe palace gossip? If that boy were truly your Imperial Father's hidden heir, why didn't Kangxi change his name? Look at your generation. Every imperial prince's name begins with the character 'Yin'. Lingguang's does not."
Yinzhi froze, the logic piercing his panic.
"Furthermore," Consort Hui continued sharply, "the boy is not registered in the 'Yudie' imperial genealogy. No matter how lowly a prince's birth mother is, imperial blood is always recorded. Kangxi handed him to Prince Fuquan. The entire empire now recognizes Lingguang as Fuquan's adopted son. Once an imperial child is adopted out, he forfeits all rights to the succession. The most he will ever be is a provincial lord."
Yinzhi exhaled heavily. The threat was neutralized.
"Instead of chasing shadows, focus on reality," Consort Hui ordered. "The Emperor has scheduled the autumn encirclement hunt at Mulan for next month. This is your true battlefield. Prepare yourself."
***
Inside Chengqian Palace, Noble Consort Tongjia stroked her heavily pregnant abdomen. Her face was clouded with anxiety. Kangxi was leaving for the Mulan Hunt just as she was due to deliver.
Her maid, Chunying, attempted to comfort her, but Tongjia was not thinking about her husband's affection. She was calculating political variables.
The Mulan Hunt was a massive event. All high-ranking consorts and princes of age were required to attend. This included Yinzhen, the Fourth Prince.
Tongjia's Internal Logic: I raised Yinzhen, but Consort De is his biological mother. Over the past two years, I have failed to sever their bond completely. If I am grounded in the capital for childbirth, Yinzhen will attend the hunt under Consort De's direct supervision. Worse, Consort De's younger son, the spoiled Sixth Prince Yinzuo, is too young to attend. Without Yinzuo monopolizing her attention, Consort De will have weeks to fully manipulate Yinzhen.
She tightened her grip on her blanket. She could not allow them to spend unchecked time together.
"Find a way to make Yinzhen stay," Tongjia commanded.
Chunying looked alarmed. "Your Highness, it is an imperial decree. How can we interfere?"
Tongjia's eyes hardened. "Yinzhen runs hot. In this summer heat, he often kicks off his blankets. Open his windows tonight. A sudden draft will cause a severe chill."
Chunying paled. Two years ago, Tongjia had used this exact method to prevent Yinzhen from interacting with the Crown Prince, and it had nearly destroyed them when Kangxi grew suspicious. To use it again was reckless. But she did not dare disobey.
***
Inside Yuqing Palace, Crown Prince Yinreng received a report that Yinzhen was ill. He immediately went to Chengqian Palace to investigate, only to find the young prince energetically playing kickball in the courtyard.
"I was told you were bedridden," Yinreng noted, analyzing the boy's healthy flush.
"I was sick this morning," Yinzhen whispered, pulling Yinreng away from the listening servants. "I had a terrible fever and a runny nose. Consort Tongjia ordered me to bed, summoned the physicians, and informed Imperial Father. She made it seem critical. But then, Consort De secretly sent me a bowl of hot soup. After I drank it, I sweated out the fever instantly."
Yinreng's Analysis: A sudden illness right before the Mulan Hunt? Tongjia engineered this to ground him. But a severe fever breaking in a matter of hours from a simple bowl of soup? That defied biological logic. The soup was anomalous.
"Since you are supposedly bedridden, you cannot leave," Yinreng smiled calculatingly. "It is a pity. I wanted to take you to my palace to test some new mechanical toys."
Yinzhen's eyes lit up. "If I tell Consort Tongjia that 'you' ordered me to accompany you, she will not dare stop me."
Yinreng smirked. Tongjia was still terrified of him from their past clashes. "Very well. But first, we are going to Yonghe Palace. Consort De cured you. We must properly thank her."
***
At Yonghe Palace, Consort De was caught off guard by the Crown Prince's sudden arrival.
Yinreng wasted no time. "Fourth Brother claims your soup is miraculous. I would like to try it."
Consort De, unable to refuse the Crown Prince, ordered her kitchen to serve him. Yinreng ate the soup and several pastries, confirming his suspicions. The food was unnaturally revitalizing.
Meanwhile, the young Sixth Prince, Yinzuo, rampaged through the room, screaming for the snacks Yinreng was eating. Consort De tried to calm the chaotic child, clearly exhausted by him. Yinzhen stood rigidly to the side, distinctly uncomfortable with his biological brother's lack of discipline.
Yinreng required peace to secure the anomalous food. He pulled an intricate transforming toy from his pouch and tossed it to Yinzuo. The boy grabbed it greedily, demanded the rest of Yinreng's toys, and ran off, leaving the room quiet.
"Thank you, Your Highness," Consort De sighed, embarrassed.
"It was nothing," Yinreng dismissed smoothly. "Now, Consort De, do you have any more of this soup? And these pastries? I would like them packed in a box. I will take them to go."
Consort De was speechless. "Your Highness… if you eat too much, you will suffer indigestion."
"I am not eating them now. I am saving them," Yinreng replied shamelessly. "Box them up."
Before he left with his spoils, Yinreng struck the final blow. "Your culinary skills are unmatched, Consort De. May I return frequently with Fourth Brother to dine here?"
To maintain her connection with Yinzhen, Consort De had no choice but to agree.
***
That night, Tongjia delivered a premature daughter.
While Kangxi visited her bedside, Tongjia initiated her political counter-strike. "Your Majesty, I cannot manage the inner palace while recovering. Since Consort Yi is also heavily pregnant, there will be no high-ranking consort to maintain order while you are at Mulan. I suggest Consort De remain in the capital to oversee the palace. Furthermore, Sixth Prince Yinzuo is too young to travel and requires his mother."
Kangxi, focused on practicality, agreed immediately.
When Consort De received the decree grounding her, she did not fight it. She simply asked a localized, surgical question: "Of course, Your Majesty. But with both Noble Consort Tongjia and myself in the capital, who will care for Fourth Prince Yinzhen during the hunt?"
Kangxi froze. Tongjia had meticulously planned to ground Consort De, but had completely ignored Yinzhen's welfare.
"Yinzhen is young," Consort De suggested smoothly. "He cannot manage alone. Perhaps he could shadow the Crown Prince?"
Kangxi nodded. "Yinreng favors the boy. Let it be so."
The trap was set and countered. Tongjia got her peaceful recovery, Consort De secured her son's safety, and Yinreng got unhindered access to Yinzhen.
***
Yinreng immediately established a routine. He took Yinzhen to Yonghe Palace every day, consuming and boxing up massive quantities of Consort De's food. He then personally delivered these rations to the Grand Empress Dowager. Within days, the ailing matriarch's health visibly rapidly recovered.
Inside his mind, Yinreng confronted his System.
"System. Evaluate Consort De's food."
[System: ERROR... DETECTING ANOMALOUS ENERGY... Host! Consort De's food contains 'Spiritual Spring Water'! She is the host of another System fragment!]
"I am aware," Yinreng replied dryly. "No human chef cooks soup that cures fevers in an hour. It is a biological enhancement fluid."
[System: Are you insane?! You are eating resources generated by an unknown fragment host! What if she poisoned it?!]
"Logically impossible," Yinreng countered. "She is feeding this to Yinzhen and her favored son, Yinzuo. Furthermore, poisoning the Crown Prince in her own palace would result in the execution of her entire clan. The risk is zero."
Yinreng paused, analyzing the resource mechanics. "Tell me, how does her fragment work? Does she have an infinite supply?"
[System: Negative. The Spiritual Spring was originally housed in a dimensional space. But since Shunzhi destroyed the primary host, the spatial dimension is gone. Consort De only bonded with the liquid output. Because she lacks the dimensional interface, she cannot visually see the spring's reserves.]
"So she thinks it is infinite," Yinreng deduced. "What happens when it runs out?"
[System: When the volume reaches critical depletion, her fragment will issue a low-level warning.]
Yinreng smiled. A cold, predatory smile. "If she realizes the healing water is finite, she will immediately restrict it, hoarding it exclusively for herself and Yinzuo. Therefore, the optimal strategy is absolute exploitation."
He looked at the packed lunchboxes he had just looted from Yonghe Palace.
"While she still believes the resource is infinite, I will extract as much of it as mechanically possible. I will drain her reserves to heal my grandmother and strengthen my own constitution before her System warns her."
[System: ...You are turning an imperial consort into an unwitting medical supply line.]
"Efficiency, System," Yinreng replied, taking a bite of a spiritually-enhanced pastry. "When you find a loophole, you exploit it until it closes."