As a concerned parent, I made sure to gather Bo, Zhizhu and Hong together. I did not want to let their arachnid body parts get exposed. Huo and Tai came over with Bao to join them. Aside from the 2 milkmaids and the current royal dynasty members, they were the only ones that knew about it. Bo and Tai were the children of merchants in the capitol. Bo's family traded spices. Tai came from a long line of exotic animal merchants. They were not a pair of poor serfs by any means. Only the best for royal children. Milk siblings of the elite were usually made into confidants and assistants of the royals when they grew up. Because they both nursed on the full breasts of the same woman, they were close essentially from birth. Because Bao and Hou were raised in the same house, they were also pretty close. On the other hand, the freedom and less formal way that Bao and I raised them with made them less popular with other royals and courtiers. They were very proper and more used to courtly decorum. It was jarring especially since they were the eldest. They could not keep up and were shocked.
Being that way made their parents not want to have them continue playing with them. When Wang Jing made the children play together anyway, they were surprised and confused by them. It was almost funny looking at them. A laugh would always come from me. I made sure that Zhizhu and Hong knew how to moderate their great strength with other people. They would grab, lift, spin and carry them around. Crown Princess Yi, Princess An, Princess Li and Prince Min did not like it. Cui Yahui did not let Prince Ruogang and Princess Zan near them at all. Princess An and Princess Li were special cases as they came from banished clans. Chuan Min was granted clemency as a mother of a princess. It was the one leniency that could be extended as Wang Jing's sister also wanted leniency for her husband. That being the case both Chuan Min and her daughter were made wards of his sister and they lived with them. Because of the sympathy both Wang Jing and Wuying had, Mao Gengxin was also given leniency. However, she was still a trained martial artist and weapons master.
Chuan Min was a vapid woman concubine. Mao Gengxin was still dangerous. Due to this, Princess An was to live with her in the cold palace. That was where all of the concubines in disgrace and dishonor were kept. They were all given golden handcuffs in a way. They were fed well, given servants, allowed washed clothes every week and given new clothes every season. They could not leave or be seen by anyone not authorized to enter. Armed guards were stationed at all entrances at all times. That was to ensure that Princess An was the one joy of the crones and wretches in the palace. She would be taken by the guards when the emperor called for her. Since it was a nice cage compared to the nunneries the others were sent to, Mao Gengxin could not complain. However, it had been said that she was not in the best of mental states ever since being put in there. That was not my concern. I would have put her in the nunnery as well. Either way Princess An and Princess Li were political prisoners that lived with close watchers in one way or another. Watching them live was nice.
