Chapter 973: Disciplining (3) Chapter 973: Disciplining (3) Editor: Atlas Studios By the time he came out with the six children, their faces were pale.
Fan Zijin brought them into the carriage and returned to the residence.
When they had calmed down, he said faintly, âAlthough itâs not good to be caught by human traffickers, thereâs an 80% chance that you can still live.
Thatâs not the worst that could happen.
Do you know what the worst outcome is?â Both children shook their heads in unison.
âThe worst outcome is encountering robbers who kill after snatching your valuables.
Afterwards, they just dump the victims in a mass grave.
Nobody will know how you died.
It might be very difficult to find a person.
But as long as theyâre alive, thereâs still hope.
But if youâre dead, where would the adults find you?â âA hopeless search is the most tormenting.â Tiger Head sniffed and turned to look at Qi Haoran.
âThieves, human traffickers and robbers are too despicable.
Daddy, you must arrest them all.â Little Lion said, âDid any of the beggars under the wall have all their money snatched away and canât return home?
Why donât we go and help them?
Weâll also search carefully for the children who were sold to brothels that Second Uncle mentioned.
However, what is a brothel?â Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran glared at Little Lion with dark expressions.
Little An nodded as well.
He skipped over Little Lionâs last question and turned to Little Treasure and Little Bear.
âEldest Cousin, Second Cousin, I think itâs a great idea for charity.
Iâm willing to lend you my pocket money.â Tiger Head and Little Lion were even more generous.
âEldest Cousin, Big Brother, weâll give you our money.â The Second Prince also stuttered and expressed that he would support their charity.
Fan Zijin glared at them with a dark expression while Qi Haoranâs originally worried expression dissipated.
With a shrug, he said, âLook, I already said that itâs not a problem with the way we discipline the kids.
Theyâre born dense.
It has nothing to do with me.â Fan Zijin glared at him.
âDidnât you give birth to them?â Qi Haoran felt wronged.
âItâs not just my sons.
You and Big Brotherâs son are also amongst them.â Fan Zijin looked at Little Treasure and Little Bear, who had gathered a lot of donations in a short while, and left in a huff.
Although a disciplining session had been turned into a charity fund-raiser by the children, the children still expressed that they had learnt their lesson and promised not to do it again.
Only then did the anger on the adultsâ faces vanish slightly.
Hence, Fan Zijin did not punish them to kneel.
Instead, he punished them to copy lines.
Little Treasure and Little Bear were made to copy the âClassic of Filial Pietyâ 30 times, while the four younger ones were made to copy 500 words.
Even Qi Wensu, who had just learned how to read, couldnât escape.
However, the children did not look bitter.
Instead, they heaved a sigh of relief.
They finally did not have to kneel as punishment.
Mu Yangling did not hide the subsequent development of this matter from the children.
She told them how much they had done to cover up Little Treasure and Wensuâs tracks.
First of all, the outside world was still spreading the story of Prince Rong leaving home in anger after quarreling with the Princess Consort.
Previously, Qi Haoran couldnât let outsiders know that he was picking the boys up.
In addition, after beating up the four children previously, they used that as a cover and spread the word that Prince Rong had quarreled with the Princess Consort over the children.
And that after grounding the children, he went out to clear his head.
Although he brought back two nephews when he was taking a break, the general public subconsciously ignored this point.
Everyone felt that the two boys brought back by Prince Rong were his illegitimate children, and the reason why the couple quarreled was because of these two illegitimate children.
Why would Prince Rong, who dotes on his children so much, quarrel with the Princess Consort over the children?
Everyone thought that Prince Rong didnât dare to take in a concubine because of the Princess Consortâs might, so it was inevitable that he would have a couple of mistresses outside.
And because he hadnât taken the proper precautions, he accidentally had an illegitimate child.
The illegitimate child was raised in the capital previously, and for some reason, the Princess Consort found out about this illegitimate child.
When that happened, a war broke out between the couple.
When Mu Yangling heard the rumors, she only felt incredulous that the truth could be forcefully distorted to this extent.
Qi Haoran, on the other hand, was furious.
He swore to Mu Yangling, âIâve never even touched another womanâs hand in my life.
How would I have two illegitimate children out of nowhere?
How ridiculous!â Instead, Mu Yangling comforted him.
âRumors stop at wise people.
If we donât care about this matter, itâll slowly stop.â âStill, we canât let them spread rumors!â However, the rumors were out of the coupleâs control.
At least until now, many people had tacitly agreed that Little Treasure and the Second Prince were Qi Haoranâs illegitimate children, including the many soldiers in the government office and the navy.
Fan Zijin expressed that if he didnât know the inside story, he would also believe this rumor.
Secondly, everyone helped Little Treasure and Qi Wensu fake their identities as Qi Shaoshengâs sons.
In order to make it more realistic, Qi Xiuyuan specially asked the Empress to summon Madam Xu, saying that Imperial Noble Consort Wu had been in poor health recently and that it was best for her grandchildren to enter the temple to pray for her and recite scriptures.
Hence, Madam Xuâs two sons (Little Madam Wuâs sons), were sent to the temple.
In order to create the illusion that the Crown Prince had not left the palace, the Emperor even suspended the lectures at the Hanlin Academy and only allowed the Crown Princeâs Junior Tutor, and the other two professors to enter the palace as usual to give lectures.
In other words, three ministers knew the inside story of the Crown Prince not being in the palace.
However, it was unknown how many people in the harem knew the inside story.
Obviously, no matter how many people knew, once bad rumors spread, Little Treasureâs status might be threatened.
In the end, in order to control the Second Princeâs biological mother, Concubine Zhao, Qi Xiuyuan made up some excuse to ground her for a long time.
Even the Empress could no longer meet with her family for the time being.
From this, one could see the impact of this matter.
Mu Yangling looked at the children and said, âNow do you know how much weâve done to help you clean up your mess?â The children lowered their heads deeply.
Only Tiger Head and the Second Prince looked around blankly.
Little Treasure reflected on himself and said, âFourth Aunt, I know I was wrong.
In the future, if I want to leave the capital again, I definitely wonât leave on my own.
I will beg Royal Father first.
Even if he doesnât agree, I can still wait until I become the Emperor before going on a tour of inspectionĂąâŹÂŠâ âWait a minute, what did you say just now?
Say it again.â Mu Yangling looked at Little Treasure worriedly.
Was this child going to be another Kangxi Emperor?
Little Treasure said, âItâs a good idea to travel after becoming the Emperor.
I can take the chance to observe the officials along the way.â Mu Yangling chuckled and got someone to find a large drawing paper.
âThe paper we usually use is too small and not big enough.
Weâll use this.â Mu Yangling got someone to take away everything on the desk and spread the paper on the table.
It was just enough to cover it.
After dipping the brush in ink, Mu Yangling asked, âDo you know why I asked for this piece of paper?â The six children shook their heads.
Mu Yangling gave an angel-like smile.
âI want to roughly calculate the cost of Little Treasureâs tours of inspection after he becomes the Emperor.â
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