Outside the Fenghuang Tower, Hong Taiji led Dorgon, Hooge, and other officials as they passed by the Grand Politics Hall. Upon encountering a display of fireworks, they paused to watch. The children, seeing their father, eagerly ran over to show off their lanterns, surrounding him in a lively circle.
Little Atu, too small to push through her older siblings, ran to Dorgon, lifting her tiny hands. In her sweet, childish voice, she said, "Fourteenth Uncle, pick me up! Atu can't see!"
Dorgon smiled warmly and lifted his little niece, carrying her forward a few steps to give her a better view of the fireworks.
Hong Taiji glanced around casually and noticed Hooge glaring at Dorgon with a dark, menacing expression. He sighed inwardly, thinking how disappointing Hooge was—likely still anxious and resentful over the captured spy from the training grounds.
Dorgon, of course, was deliberately dragging things out, subtly toying with Hooge's insecurities. When it came to strategy and finesse, Hooge was far from a match for Dorgon.
Yet, as Hong Taiji shifted his gaze to Dorgon again, watching him interact affectionately with Atu, an inexplicable discomfort stirred in his heart. It wasn't the first time he had felt this unease, though he hoped it was just his imagination.
"Let's wrap this up early," Hong Taiji instructed. "We leave at first light tomorrow. Don't let tonight's festivities delay us. The New Year is over—time to refocus."
The group acknowledged his orders, bowing as they urged Hong Taiji to return to the Fenghuang Tower first. Seeing this, Dorgon coaxed Atu, explaining he couldn't hold her anymore. The little girl obediently climbed down and ran to her sister's side.
Meanwhile, Yatu tilted her head up to ask Hong Taiji, "Father, are you really leaving tomorrow?"
Hong Taiji nodded. "Yes, I'll be heading out with your uncles and brothers to inspect the grain supplies."
Yatu pouted slightly. "I want to go too!"
Hong Taiji chuckled and ruffled her hair. "To make trouble? Father can't take you along. Stay home and behave. Your mother has been caring for your aunt lately and is very tired. You should help her by looking after your little sister and easing her burden."
Yatu pursed her lips but didn't press further. She simply replied, "Okay," before running off.
Hong Taiji then returned to the Fenghuang Tower, and the others gradually dispersed. Dorgon, a man of few words with those outside his circle, left the palace without interaction. Hooge, however, remained under the palace gates, still glaring after Dorgon. Suddenly, a palace attendant approached him from behind, speaking softly, "First Prince, the Great Khan requests a word with you."
Hooge felt a tightness in his chest and quickly turned back to the Fenghuang Tower. Upon entering, he saw Hong Taiji standing under the candlelight, reading a memorial. He glanced at him briefly, then said, "I've been waiting for you for several days. Were you planning to keep this from me?"
"Father, I…" Hooge knelt on one knee, then slowly lowered his other leg and bowed his head to the ground. "Father, I have committed a grave mistake. My people hurt Consort Yu."
Hong Taiji slammed the memorial onto his head in anger. "You fool!"
Hooge quickly bowed his head repeatedly. "Father, please calm down, please calm down…"
Hong Taiji roared, "Is the mistake that your people hurt your stepmother? It is that your men were captured by Dorgon and that you dared to hide this from me! If I hadn't asked, were you planning to cover it up?"
Hooge was terrified. "Please, Father, show me the way. What should I do?"
Hong Taiji was furious, "I thought you had grown more mature over the years, but here you are, still lacking in strategy, still insecure. Do you deserve the soldiers who've fought with you? Do you honour those uncles and brothers who died on the battlefield?"
"Father…"
"Don't call me 'Father.' You've already grown wings and don't consider me anymore. The tasks I gave you, you didn't do with sincerity. Instead, you tried to play little tricks, and yet you failed at that too. When things went wrong, you didn't come to me for help but chose to hide it. Now I have to rush to clean up after you?" Hong Taiji kicked him in frustration, "I treat you like a son, and what do you think of me?"
Hooge, terrified, kowtowed and admitted his mistake, pleading for his father's help. He could accept losing to Dorgon, but he couldn't afford to lose face.
Meanwhile, after Dorgon left the palace, he headed straight for the Fifteenth Beile's residence. He reminded his younger brother about the patrol tomorrow, and Dodo had everything prepared. He teasingly asked his brother, "When are we going to take that spy out for a walk? Next time, I'll invite Hooge for some horseback archery, and we can tie that bastard to the target. Let Hooge settle it himself."
"When the time comes, I'll follow your lead." Dorgon replied coldly. "I'm still waiting for Hong Taiji's and Hooge's attitudes, as well as the final outcome of this military training."
Dodo sneered, "Hong Taiji really has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. How did he come up with this combined arms strategy?"
Dorgon answered indifferently, "He has his talents, that's why he's the Great Khan. As for our red-cloak cannons, we took them from the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt them. The Ming may be weak, but the saying goes, 'A dying camel is bigger than a horse.' We can't underestimate them. If we can't overpower them with firepower, we have to beat them tactically. Hong Taiji's thinking is far beyond ours."
Dodo snorted, "But does he have the energy to keep fighting for three days and nights without rest? All his energy must have gone into the first beauty of the grasslands."
"Impudence!" Dorgon said sternly, "Do you want to lose your head?"
"I was just saying it to you," Dodo sneered with a chuckle. "You know, the woman my Fourth Sister-in-law sent to me is quite beautiful and clever, much more fun than the wooden person from Fan Wencheng."
Dorgon didn't want to discuss women any further. Despite his hatred, he genuinely respected Hong Taiji. He solemnly warned his younger brother: "Dodo, don't get smug because of your age. You will grow old one day too. Who knows how long we have to live?"
Dodo snorted but didn't dare to argue with his elder brother. The two brothers agreed on a time to meet outside the palace the next day and then parted ways.
Dorgon rode his horse back home, heading to the same direction as to the palace. He noticed the lights in the imperial city were slowly dimming. He wondered what Yuer was doing at that moment. It was said that she had been taking care of Hairanju these past few days, and the sisters seemed to have reconciled.
"You must take care of yourself too," Dorgon thought silently, feeling an unease about what happened that day.
He wasn't afraid of Hong Taiji, but he feared being distanced from the one he loved. Did Yuer still remember him calling her name that day? In that moment, he wished for Yuer to forget everything that happened.
But these past few days, Yuer had exaggerated and repeatedly boasted to her sister about how brave she had been, causing Hairanju headaches. Since she kept talking about it, it must mean she remembered it clearly. And she would never tell Hairanju that, at that moment, Dorgon had called her name.
Now, late at night, Da Yuer returned to her room to rest. The children were already asleep. She checked on each of them before leaning against the headboard and gazing out at the night. Today, she had finally opened up to her sister.
Although they had been close in the past few days, they had avoided addressing the lingering issues. But now, the words were spoken. Her sister cried, and so did she.
If she had to choose between Hong Taiji's love and her sister's life, she would choose her sister's life.
But if the choice was between Hong Taiji and her sister, she would definitely choose Hong Taiji.
But there was no second option. Without Hong Taiji, her sister couldn't survive.
Perhaps before this, there were many ways to solve this, many ways to prevent everything from happening. But there is no "what if" in this world. What lay before her now was the choice between her sister's life and her husband's love.
Da Yuer sighed softly. "What else could I do?"
She thought back to the day she was abducted, to the fear she felt when her clothes were torn open. Her sister had gone through all of this too—whether in the Grand Politics Hall or the Mongolian tent outside the city. She had even been stripped naked by Suhebat.
In those moments, in those situations, what did Hong Taiji's repeated appearances mean to her sister? Her aunt failed to protect her, and she, too, had failed to protect her.
"Come to think of it, I never had a chance to thank Dorgon," Da Yuer murmured to herself. She realized that calling him by his name was because she was his sister-in-law, and they were about the same age, with Qiqige in between. She had always called him that way, and no one had ever found it strange. But in contrast, Da Yuer remembered that Dorgon had always called her Consort Yu. Even if he called her Bumubutai, it would probably feel better than just calling her Yuer. Those calls, Da Yuer could still remember clearly, along with the face she saw when she opened her eyes.
"Dorgon is a good person," Da Yuer said softly. "I hope you never oppose the Great Khan. Can't we just leave the past behind? If you don't fight, then Qiqige and I..."
Da Yuer's heart skipped a beat. Over these past few days, she had forgotten everything about what she had done to Qiqige, as if nothing had happened. How could she have been so cruel?
At that moment, a small thing slowly crawled over from the side and snuggled into Da Yuer's arms. Da Yuer patted her bottom and asked, "Pretending to sleep?"
"Mm." Yatu responded in a soft voice, calling her mother in a way that almost melted her heart.
"Yatu, is there something you want to tell mother?" Da Yuer calmed herself and began to teach her daughter. She would never hesitate to teach her daughters.
Yatu snuggled up in her arms, sobbing and acting spoiled. Da Yuer coldly said, "Tomorrow, mother will take you to kneel before aunt and apologize. I'll bring the ruler to hit your palm. You'll get hit on whichever hand you used to pour snow into aunt's shoes. Do you understand?"
"I don't want to..." Yatu immediately started crying, clinging to Da Yuer's neck and acting spoiled.
"Sit up properly, I want to talk to you. Don't cry," Da Yuer said. "If you cry again, I'll carry you outside and let everyone watch you cry. Now, tell me, what did you do, and why did you do it? If you tell the truth, I won't scold you."
The little girl was terribly wronged and afraid. These past few days, she had seen the adults all gathered around Aunt, and she knew that the snow-filled shoes would make Aunt catch a cold. Whether Hairanju had any other reasons for getting sick, the child had decided it was her fault.
The day Zarut passed away and left the palace, Yatu had stood under the eaves with her wet nurse, watching. In her heart, she thought that if Aunt left forever, her mother would be well again. The wet nurse had told her that Zarut had died of illness, and Yatu had thought to herself that it would be good if Aunt had died from illness too.
The moral compass of a child is not bound by ethical constraints. The age-old question of whether human nature is inherently good or evil remains unanswered. A small child, like Azhe, might use a bowl to bruise her mother's hand, and their actions are driven simply by what they like or dislike.
Without guidance, Yatu might grow up with this seed of malice, which could fester into a demon in her heart, ruining her life. Or perhaps, in a few years, she will forget it all, completely and cleanly.
Yatu cried pitifully. These past few days, her mother had been taking good care of Aunt, growing very close to her. Yatu had been watching, peeking through the door with her younger sister. She already knew she had made a mistake, but she also felt sorry for her mother, not wanting her to suffer from sleepless nights.
Da Yuer could not explain love or entanglements to her daughter, but she had to make Yatu understand that what she did was wrong—greatly wrong.
The next morning, when Hairanju was taking her medicine, her sister brought Yatu. Baoqing and Sumaala didn't know what had happened, but when they saw Da Yuer holding the ruler, they understood it wasn't a good sign and quickly took the other palace maids away.
Da Yuer ordered Yatu to kneel before her sister and apologize. While crying, Yatu said she shouldn't have bullied Aunt, and when her mother asked her to stretch out her hand, she cried even harder, but still obediently extended it.
As soon as the ruler landed on Yatu's hand, Hairanju couldn't bear it, stumbling out of bed to shield Yatu in her arms, begging her sister not to continue, claiming the fault was hers.
Yatu clung to Aunt, crying in terror. Hairanju comforted her for a long time before Yatu calmed down.
Meanwhile, long before dawn, Hong Taiji had already set out with his men. As the convoy rested by the roadside, they summoned a few local farmers for questioning. Just as they were preparing to depart, someone from the palace arrived to report the situation.
Hairanju was ill, and Da Yuer was injured, and Hong Taiji, worrying about both, was baffled to hear that Da Yuer had struck the child in front of Hairanju.
"What happened?" Hong Taiji asked Niman, who was accompanying him.
"This…" Niman didn't know how to respond, but reluctantly said, "Great Khan, the two consorts can handle this themselves. I think it's best that you don't get involved."
Hong Taiji glared at him, "You lazy fool, stealing a moment of ease, huh?"