I’m not One to be Soft-hearted
Nam Jung gave a cold, faint laugh. "Sister, don't say I didn't warn you. She's carrying a child. The Emperor and the Empress have both instructed that she be well taken care of. What exactly do you plan to do with her?"
Da Yuer replied indifferently, "She dared to harm the imperial offspring. Whatever the palace rules dictate, that's what will be done to her."
Nam Jung covered her mouth and laughed. "Imperial offspring? Isn't Yatu just a girl?"
Da Yuer looked at her with contempt. "That's right. If Abahai Junwang had let others treat you however they pleased back then, we wouldn't be standing here talking today."
Her words implied that Nam Jung was belittling the little princess as if only a prince could be considered an imperial offspring — which also meant Nam Jung was belittling herself. In Da Yuer's eyes, the most despicable thing was a woman degrading another woman.
"Your Highness… Your Highness, save me…" Sayin Noyan, terrified as the maids approached with implements, hid behind Nam Jung and pleaded, "Your Highness, I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything…"
Inside the inner palace, when Adai heard the news, she immediately went to inform Jeje. Upon hearing that Da Yuer was about to punish the pregnant Sayin Noyan, Jeje was so anxious that she stood up at once.
But after thinking for a moment, she realized that Nam Jung was there too and this was no longer a simple conflict between Yuer and a young concubine — this was a power struggle between her and Nam Jung. If Jeje intervened now, it would not only undermine Yuer's authority but also risk mishandling the situation, making others think that the aunt and niece were ganging up to bully someone.
"I'd like to see what happens if Sayin Noyan really loses her child. How will the Emperor weigh this matter?" Jeje hardened her heart. After all, she never expected any other woman to bear a son for Hong Taiji. She sat back down and said, "If he's heartless, there's still Hairanju. Hairanju will never allow the Emperor to harm Yuer. But send someone to keep an eye on Hairanju. Don't let her step in at this moment. If she intervenes, the Emperor will naturally take her side, and then the blame will fall on her. There's no need to create unnecessary trouble."
"I understand. I'll also send someone to quietly keep an eye on things." Adai understood her mistress's intentions and immediately dispatched a discreet yet clever little palace maid to observe the situation, while she personally went to Her Highness Chen Fei.
Meanwhile, the maids had brought over the punishment bench and canes, awaiting Da Yuer's instructions. Da Yuer ordered them to beat Sayin Noyan on the soles of her feet. The young concubine was so terrified that she screamed, "If any of you dare touch me, I'm carrying the imperial offspring! Let me go…"
She was still young and fought with all her might to avoid the punishment. Seeing that Nam Jung wasn't helping her, she struggled desperately and, once she broke free, ran forward frantically to escape.
As fate would have it, Hong Taiji was returning from the Ten Kings Pavilion, accompanied by Dorgon, Dodo, and Jirgalang, on his way to the Chongzheng Hall. Just then, they were met with the sight of a tear-streaked woman running toward them.
"Your Majesty, save me! Her Highness Zhuang Fei wants to beat me to death…" Sayin Noyan fell to her knees before Hong Taiji, sobbing. Suddenly, she shuddered, clutched her belly, and collapsed to the ground. "Your Majesty, my belly hurts… It hurts so much…"
The pursuing palace maids and matrons all knelt down. Hong Taiji ordered someone to help her up. He wasn't exactly angry, but with Dorgon, Jirgalang, and the others present, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
As he walked forward, he noticed Da Yuer standing there, along with Nam Jung. His heart sank. Could Nam Jung have instigated this? Did Yuer not know that Sayin Noyan was pregnant? Why had she lost her temper like this?
"Royal Father." Suddenly, Yatu ran toward him from the arms of her wet nurse. When he saw the scraped skin on Yatu's little face, his fatherly heart ached. He immediately scooped her up, his voice filled with concern. "How did you get hurt like this?"
Yatu, being an obedient child, merely nestled her head against her father's shoulder and whimpered softly without explaining. She knew this was a matter for the adults to handle.
Seeing the situation, Nam Jung realized that if she sided with Sayin Noyan now, Hong Taiji would surely be displeased with her. She quickly stepped forward and said, "It's all my fault for allowing Sister Sayin Noyan to trouble Your Majesty. This was her mistake. She's young and playful and must have been fooling around with Yatu when she accidentally tripped her. Sister Zhuang Fei was naturally angry, and I was just trying to mediate."
Hong Taiji, however, knew Nam Jung's shrewdness and didn't pay much attention to her words. His gaze went straight to Da Yuer as he asked coldly, "She tripped Yatu?"
Da Yuer nodded. "I saw it with my own eyes. Sayin Noyan deliberately tripped Yatu." She then turned to Dorgon and the others, giving them a polite nod, and they returned the gesture.
Nam Jung, having initially ignored them, quickly followed suit and greeted them with a pretence of formality.
Sayin Noyan, still clutching her belly, was helped forward, continuing to cry and complain of pain. But Hong Taiji's expression grew colder as he looked at her and asked icily, "Did you deliberately trip Yatu?"
Tears streamed down Sayin Noyan's face as she shook her head repeatedly. "I didn't… I really didn't…"
Hong Taiji looked at Da Yuer, whose face was cold and indifferent, as if she had no desire to say another word.
Behind her, the three brothers exchanged glances and quietly stepped back a few paces. Household matters were difficult to judge, and they had no reason to stick around and witness Hong Taiji's embarrassment today.
However, Dorgon couldn't let it go. He was worried that Hong Taiji might rebuke Yuer for the sake of a pregnant young concubine.
"Royal Father, it hurts…" Yatu clung sweetly to Hong Taiji's neck.
"Be more careful when you walk from now on, understand?" Hong Taiji patted her gently and ordered the wet nurse to take his daughter away. Then, with a heavy tone, he said, "She's pregnant. Let's hold off on her punishment for now. Confine her to her quarters and have her reflect on her actions."
Da Yuer curtsied and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty." Hong Taiji gave her a long, meaningful look before swiftly leaving with Dorgon and the others.
The tension finally eased as everyone let out a sigh of relief. Sayin Noyan, supported by her maids, was being taken back to her quarters. But before leaving, she glared venomously at Da Yuer and hissed, "Bumbutai, you'll get your retribution. You won't die a good death."
Such deep-seated malice from someone so young. Even Da Yuer felt there was little justification in bullying a pregnant woman. But what gave her the right to harm an eight-year-old child? If something had happened to Yatu, would Sayin Noyan dare to wager her unborn child's life in exchange? It was clear that her nature was inherently malicious. If she was capable of such cruelty now, what would she be like in the future?
Da Yuer, who had once been forced by Huang Taiji to harm Qiqige, would never show mercy to these irrelevant women. After all, she couldn't even tolerate her own aunt — how could she tolerate any woman around Hong Taiji?
"Stop." Da Yuer's voice was icy.
"What more do you want?" Sayin Noyan spat viciously. "You can't have a son yourself, so you're afraid I'll give birth to one, right? Are you trying to kill my child?"
Look at that — her words were becoming more and more outrageous. This young concubine had clearly learned to be wicked before she even entered the palace.
"Slap her." Da Yuer turned to the matrons and ordered coldly, "Twenty slaps. Right now."
"Sumala!" She called for her trusted servant. Sumala immediately understood and took the wet nurse along, carrying Yatu and Atu away.
Amidst the sharp crackling of slaps, followed by Sayin Noyan's screams and sobs, the twenty slaps were completed. Nam Jung watched the entire scene, completely stunned, her mouth agape.
Hong Taiji had just said not to make an issue of it with a pregnant woman, but Da Yuer was truly arrogant — she simply wasn't worried in the slightest about how Hong Taiji might punish her.
Sayin Noyan's mouth was bloodied, her cheeks red and swollen. She was no longer able to curse and collapsed onto the ground, sobbing. Da Yuer bent down slightly and gently lifted her chin: "Have you learned your lesson? Be well-behaved and accumulate some blessings for the child in your womb. I'm not one to show mercy. If you dare touch my child again, harm my people, or speak with that filthy mouth of yours, when your child is born, I'll make sure it grows up without a mother. Cherish these ten months and think carefully — do you still want to live?"
The atmosphere was suffocatingly quiet. No one dared to breathe too loudly. Irgen Gioro stood far away, trembling with fear, her legs almost giving out. Nam Jung watched Da Yuer leave and couldn't help but swallow hard.
Da Yuer returned directly to Yongfu Palace, not even intending to explain herself to Jeje, but Jeje naturally already knew everything that had happened.
"Your Majesty, don't you think Her Highness Zhuang Fei went too far?" Adai asked cautiously. "This will ruin her reputation outside and make her unpopular inside the palace. It's a lose-lose situation."
Jeje spoke coldly: "With things between her and the Emperor as they are now, do you think she still cares about what others think? Every time I gave birth to a daughter, I was disappointed and even ignored them. Only Yuer cherished every daughter as her heart's treasure. That foolish woman didn't know her place and struck right where it hurt the most — isn't that courting death?"
"But His Majesty is still protecting Her Highness Zhuang Fei," Adai tried to offer some comforting words. "Without a second thought, he sided with her and deemed Sayin Noyan guilty."
Jeje shook her head: "If he couldn't even do that, he'd be too heartless. But it also shows that the Emperor still has feelings. Yet from what I see, it's not like the Emperor abandoning Yuer — it feels more like Yuer has abandoned him. But I'm done interfering. Let them be."
In Chongzheng Hall, Hong Taiji was sitting with Jirgalang, Dorgon, and Dodo, listening to a secret report from Joseon. Yi Jong had wept bitterly in autumn over the summer disasters that left the land barren, begging Hong Taiji to reduce tributes. Yet now, he had turned around and sent cartloads of grain to the Ming dynasty — even the food that Hong Taiji had personally gifted to the border people of Joseon was among them.
Dodo, hot-blooded and impulsive, spoke out to Hong Taiji angrily: "Your Majesty, look at this — we've been raising a pack of ingrates!"
Dorgon gestured for his brother to calm down, but he too was agitated. He cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the time has come. If we don't act now, the weather will turn cold. When the mountains are buried under snow, it will be difficult for the army to march."
Huang Taiji said coldly, "Think about it — Yi Jong must be thinking that when winter comes, we won't be able to wage war. So, what if we catch them off guard then?"
The three of them exchanged glances. Jirgalang asked cautiously, "Does Your Majesty mean… to launch a campaign after winter sets in?"
Hong Taiji's expression remained icy as he replied, "Consider it practice. When we go to war with the Ming in the future, can you predict the perfect time to strike? It could be during the scorching heat of summer or in the harshest snowstorms of winter. Our soldiers must be ready to fight anytime, anywhere. They must have no weaknesses and fear nothing."
The three men cupped their hands and responded in unison, "Yes, Your Majesty!"
Hong Taiji's palm landed heavily on the map, right where Joseon was marked, and he clenched his fist tightly. "This winter," he declared with unwavering resolve, "I will catch Yi Jong off guard. I will lead the campaign myself!"