Chapter 70 New Candidates: Shen Wanqing wrote a letter saying she would send someone to welcome the Shi family, and then went back to her parents' home and made a special trip there...

Shen Wanqing wrote a letter saying she would send people to welcome the Shi family, and afterwards, after returning to her parents' home, she made a special trip to Shen Hongshi's study. She personally asked Shen Hongshi and was only relieved to confirm that he had already sent two groups of people out of the capital to welcome Shi Wenbing.

Shen Hongshi is a capable and official-minded person. If this had happened when he was still in Fuzhou, Shen Wanqing wouldn't have needed to remind him at all.

However, he had spent too much time in the capital these past few years. As a secretary in the Fujian Provincial Department of the Ministry of Revenue, he was more often the one being flattered than the one flattering others. In reality, his rank was not high, but his actual power was enormous.

In order to avoid making mistakes and becoming complacent in this situation, Shen Hongshi naturally became more cautious in his dealings with others, and avoided doing many things if possible. In short, the main principle was to avoid making mistakes before trying to achieve success.

This book is good, but this attitude shouldn't be applied to Shi Wenbing. The Shi family is the backer of the Shen and Xu families. To put it bluntly, the Shen family's ecological niche is that of Shi Wenbing's subordinates and lackeys. When did it become your place, a lackey, to be concerned with propriety and restraint in front of your master?

When Shen Hongshi received the letter his daughter had written to him, his first thought was whether doing as Shen Wanqing suggested would seem too obsequious.

Shen Wanqing did not hide the contents of the letter from Madam Xu. When Madam Xu saw her husband hesitate, she spoke up for her daughter. After all, her son-in-law was serving the Crown Prince, and her son-in-law and daughter would definitely want to do their best in any task given by the Crown Prince.

Xu's intention was to speak up for her daughter, and Shen Hongshi remained silent for a long time after hearing this. Xu thought he was unhappy because of what his daughter had written in the letter, but who knew that when Lord Shen came to his senses, he immediately found trusted stewards, servants and attendants, and they went out of the capital in two groups to welcome Shi Wenbing's family.

Yu Lang was the Crown Prince's lackey, and Yu Lang himself had only truly risen to prominence by attaching himself to Shi Wenbing, the General of Fuzhou.

He got carried away, he got carried away after all. He told himself every day not to be arrogant and ignorant, but in the end, he still couldn't hold on to his pride. A master will never get angry because a servant is too obsequious; even if he says he's angry, he's definitely not angry in his heart.

"Father, did you call me here because you have some news?"

"Your brother sent a message saying that the Shi family should arrive in the capital in two or three days."

"We've finally arrived! My goodness, I wouldn't have been able to survive if this family hadn't come to the capital."

"Hold on for a few more days. Keep a close eye on the Shi family's old residence these days. If Steward Shi needs you to do anything, just come to the house if you don't have anyone on hand. There's no one in this family who can't be used."

"Don't worry, this will be best for our family if it's done well. I won't hesitate to help when we really need someone."

In the Shen family, all children, regardless of gender, were required to study. Women were not bound by the strict rules about women's conduct, which were considered worthless as table trimmings or firewood. Naturally, there were no strange rules that prohibited women from entering the study.

Shen Hongshi's study was indeed not to be entered casually, but that was a rule that applied to all the younger members of the family. The reason was simple: Shen Hongshi was an official, and whether he was in Fuzhou before or now back in the capital, his study was filled with official documents and materials.

The officialdom is like a battlefield. Children are ignorant but have good memories. Not to mention that their mischievous actions might damage something and cause a lot of trouble, even if they accidentally overhear something and let slip a few words, they might cause a big disaster.

Therefore, the study was a forbidden area for the children of the Shen family. No one was allowed to run around in it until they were old enough to understand. However, before coming, they had to ask the page in the study to announce their arrival, and only if there was no one else in the study and Shen Hongshi was not busy could they come over.

"This idea came from you." Shen Hongshi placed a cup of brewed tea in front of his daughter sitting opposite him. "Thanks to your thoughtful consideration, otherwise who knows what might have gone wrong on the way here."

"I didn't expect General Shi to bring his whole family back. It must have been a very difficult journey. Actually, I think it's better to travel light in the dead of winter. General Shi can just bring his family back first, and the others can set off next spring."

"The Shi family is powerful and wealthy. If the imperial edict is issued in the future, it will be a big deal. They will be the next Hesheli family."

Most of the Hesheli family lived in the capital, and a small portion lived in Shengjing. In addition, Sony was still alive at the time, so there was no fear that the family members might do something they shouldn't have to make things difficult for the Empress Dowager in the palace.

The Shi family is different; Fuzhou is too far away. Rather than saying that all the Shi family members wanted to return to the capital with Shi Wenbing, it would be more accurate to say that Shi Wenbing needed to keep a close watch on the Shi family members first, and only release them slowly after he was sure that they wouldn't cause trouble because of the Crown Princess.

The Shi Wenbing family was indeed very prominent. Shi Wenbing's grandfather, Shi Tingzhu, was granted the hereditary title of Third-Class Earl. After his death, he was posthumously awarded the title of Junior Tutor and Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, and was given the posthumous name of Zhongyong (Loyal and Brave).

Shi Tingzhu's wife was a second wife, and she had a daughter from her previous marriage. Prince Yu, Dodo, once wanted to take this daughter into his household, but Shi Tingzhu helped his stepdaughter refuse Dodo's offer.

After all, given the Shi family's circumstances at the time, their daughter, even if she entered Prince Yu's mansion, wouldn't even qualify as a concubine. The Shi family didn't rely on their daughter's connection to the prince's mansion to prosper; this fact reached even Huang Taiji's ears back then, and Shi Tingzhu had been praised by Huang Taiji.

However, what happened later was quite interesting. Many years later, Shi Wenbing's father, Shi Huashan, married Dodo's daughter. At that time, Dodo's daughter married as a princess, and Shi Huashan was also granted the title of Heshuo Efu (a high-ranking imperial son-in-law).

When Shen Wanqing first heard Yu Lang mention this relationship, she couldn't stop laughing. What kind of ridiculous "you don't want it, but I'll give it to you" plot was this? So he's got his eye on the Shi family, huh? If he can't marry them, he'll just marry his daughter off to them. Anyway, they'll still be in-laws.

This was the first time the Shi family had formed a marriage alliance with a member of the imperial clan. After the princess passed away, Shi Huashan remarried to the daughter of Prince Su, Haoge. This second wife was also a princess, so Shi Huashan was still a prince consort.

Shi Wenbing was born to the first princess, and he also had a younger brother, Shi Wenzhuo, who was born to the second princess.

Shi Wenbing's wife was the daughter of Prince Chang'adai, and also a member of the Aisin Gioro clan. Therefore, it was no surprise that Shi was chosen to be the Crown Princess.

Moreover, despite the Shi family's repeated marriage alliances with the imperial clan, compared to other Manchu aristocratic families, the Shi family had relatively few marriage alliances with Manchu aristocratic families because their ancestors changed their surnames to Han and later joined the Plain White Banner Han Army Banner.

Otherwise, no matter which noble family in Manchuria is chosen as the Crown Princess, the kinship relationships alone would be enough to make people dizzy.

For such a prominent family as the Shi family, the journey back to the capital should have been troublesome and arduous, but certainly not difficult.

However, the Shi family came back together this time. Only Shi Wenbing's eldest son stayed in Fuzhou for the time being; the rest, including Shi Huashan, came back with him.

The entire family, along with relatives, guests, servants, guards, and personal soldiers—several hundred people in total—set off together. Even traveling light, the sheer scale of the procession was quite intimidating. Putting aside everything else, just finding food and provisions for the people and horses along the way was no easy task.

Fortunately, the Shi family had established themselves through martial arts, and the men in the family had practiced martial arts since childhood, while the women had never had their feet bound and were not physically imposing, easily out of breath after walking three steps. So, for the first two weeks after leaving Fuzhou and heading north, apart from being a bit tired, no one felt anything was amiss.

It wasn't until after a month-long journey, past the heavy snow season, that the weather grew colder day by day. Before becoming the General of Fuzhou, Shi Wenbing had served as the Governor of Jiangnan. His family had followed him from one post to another, and in total, they hadn't returned to the capital for over ten years.

When we were talking about Beijing, the whole family longed to go back, always saying that it was unbelievable that Fuzhou's winters were so cold that it never even snowed. Now, as we walk home, we realize that our bodies have become accustomed to the humid heat and snowless winters of the south, and we can no longer withstand the endless snowstorms along the way.

The first to fall ill was Shi's mother, whose minor cold turned into a severe one, with a cough and fever that lingered for over ten days. Just when she recovered, Shi Wenbing fell ill as well, first with a headache and then dizziness, so dizzy that he couldn't stand up, which terrified the entire Shi family.

Shi Wenbing was the backbone of the Shi family, and his collapse inevitably caused panic among the entire group returning to Beijing. Some felt the journey was too arduous and feared they would fall ill, while others complained about the long distance back to Beijing, saying they would have preferred to stay in Fuzhou and avoid the hardship.

Fortunately, the Shen family sent people over. In addition to the steward and servants, the Shen family sent Shen Wenbo, the eldest son of the main branch, and Shen Wenyuan, Shen Wanqing's older brother. So, when Yulang got his clothes dirty at the Shen family, he went to Shen Wenyuan's courtyard to change, because Shen Wenyuan was no longer at home at that time.

Shen Wenbo and Shen Wenyuan each led a group out of the capital. It was Shen Wenyuan who encountered the Shi family. Shen Wenyuan was already old enough to understand things when he left Fuzhou. He had previously accompanied Madam Xu to a banquet at the General's Mansion in Fuzhou. He felt at ease knowing that both sides were familiar with each other.

Seeing the large group of Shi family members who were either sick or exhausted, Shen Wenyuan naturally led his family servants to help them.

At first, the Shi family was polite, feeling that with so many servants, they didn't need to trouble the Shen family. Later, when Shi Wenbing stopped at the post station, he suddenly fell ill. Fortunately, Shen Wenyuan had brought a doctor with him when he left the capital and decisively performed acupuncture and bloodletting. It is said that it took a whole night of treatment for him to recover.

From then on, Shi Wenbing kept Shen Wenyuan by his side, and Madam Shi even sent her servants to accompany the Shen family's steward on two separate occasions to return to the capital.

I underestimated the situation. With so many people traveling from south to north in the dead of winter, one wave of them will fall ill along the way, and those who are not sick may just be holding on by the time they reach the capital, and may fall ill again.

There's always someone looking after the old family house. We were planning to tidy it up slowly after the family went back. But given the current situation, it'll be chaotic when we get back. So we'd better have someone get everything sorted and arranged first, so we can relax and have a peaceful New Year.

The Shen family had originally received the job from the Crown Prince, so they weren't afraid of the troublesome demands made by the Shi family. What they were afraid of was that the people would say everything was good, but in reality, nothing was good.

Now people want to go back to their old houses so they can rest and live a normal life. Their requirements are a bit complicated, but that's all. At least we know what they want. They just want a home that they can move into right away. That's easy to do.

After seeing He Yi off, Shumulu Shi completely quieted down. Aside from going to the main courtyard in the morning to pay her respects to Tongjia Shi, she mostly stayed in the west courtyard and rarely came out. After all, she had just had a miscarriage, and would probably have to stay indoors for most of the winter.

Niohuru didn't want to have a quiet time, but no one paid any attention to her. The First Madam quickly returned to her usual aloof and indifferent demeanor. The only difference was that the person in charge of the household had changed from the Second Madam to the First Madam.

Sometimes Shen Wanqing found it amusing to look at her earnest Buddhist demeanor. How could this person still put on such an act after her little schemes had been exposed?

She could already imagine that in a few years, when Tu Nan got married, the newlywed second mistress would surely think to herself, "This first wife really looks like a living Bodhisattva."

Tongjia was sensible; Shumulu avoided it; Niohuru could ignore it; and after the Beginning of Winter, Shen Wanqing, besides managing the affairs of the Hesheli family, returned to her parents' home more often because of the Shi family's affairs.

At first, some people gossiped. The servants of the Hesheli family wondered why the eldest mistress kept going to her parents' home. They wondered if it was because the eldest master was always on duty in the palace, and the eldest mistress was bored being alone in her empty room.

Why does the fifth aunt of the Shen family keep coming back? Is it because all that aunt's impressive feats of beating Nanshan in her husband's family were just a facade, and she's actually not doing well?

It wasn't until everyone saw Shen Wanqing leading the Shen family's servants to the Shi family to get things done that they stopped talking. It seemed that the family had either received orders from the Crown Prince or from the Shi family. Regardless of which side's orders it was, the Fifth Son-in-Law, the Crown Prince's favorite son-in-law of the Shen family, was truly the most suitable person to handle the matter.

The news that His Majesty had chosen a girl from the Shi family to be the Crown Princess had been circulating privately from the Mid-Autumn Festival to the depths of winter. However, since the Shi family had not yet arrived in the capital, everyone kept quiet. They needed to ensure that the future Crown Princess was safe and sound once she arrived in the capital and everything was in order before the imperial edict appointing her as Crown Princess could leave the Qianqing Palace.

Yinreng privately instructed Yulang to contact the Shen family through Shen Wanqing, and the fact that the Shen family was helping the Shi family was naturally not kept from Kangxi.

At first, Kangxi did send people to investigate, after all, the connection was quite ingenious. If the Crown Prince hadn't deliberately kept it a secret, the matter might have been concealed for even longer. Kangxi was wary of the Crown Prince plotting anything behind his back; he was wary of any kind of plot.

The undercover agents were sent out to investigate again and again, and the timeline was reviewed more than three times from beginning to end. Apart from the fact that Yu Lang's wife was a very capable and conspicuous woman, there was absolutely no evidence or inclination to suggest that there was any premeditated planning or scheme.

Kangxi felt much relieved after receiving the secret report from the spy. As long as the Crown Prince didn't harbor any improper thoughts, everything else was fine. It was right for a proper father-in-law to show concern; the first wife was different from other women, and it was good that Yinreng had this intention.

"It's this Yu Lang," Kangxi tapped his finger on Yu Lang's name, then turned to Liang Jiugong and said, "This lad has good luck."

"Guard Yu is indeed lucky. Not only was he chosen by the Crown Prince, but after entering Yuqing Palace, he is said to be a nice person and very likable."

"Was it him who saved Seventh Brother at the training ground last time?"

"Your Majesty, the guard who helped the Seventh Prince tame the horse was indeed him."

"Was he the same guard who entered and exited Yuqing Palace wearing a light camel-colored brocade cloak and attracted attention?"

"Your Majesty, it is him."

Shen Wanqing used the fox fur and gold-embroidered satin that the Crown Prince had bestowed upon her to make an already exceptionally beautiful cloak for Yu Lang. The already outstanding-looking person looked even more handsome in this cloak.

When Yu Lang first entered the palace in this cloak to show the Crown Prince, Yinreng carefully looked him up and down.

With so many gifts being bestowed by Yinreng, everyone who received one appeared extremely grateful. They all said that they would certainly treat the gifts bestowed by the Crown Prince with utmost care and would not dare to make the slightest mistake.

This was the first time someone like Yu Lang had worn a fox fur he had just given him as a gift. Yinreng looked closely and noticed that the dagger Yu Lang was carrying at his waist was the same one he had given him before, which made him even more satisfied.

“The goods are meant for you to use. If they’re just sitting in the warehouse, they’ll get moldy and infested with insects. This is much better.”

"Master, this servant will only wear this once. I will change it when I return to my duty room later."

"Why change? You look quite smart dressed like this."

"The guards mostly wear dark blue cloaks. I was stared at several times before I even reached the palace gate. And how many people turned to look at me as I walked from the palace gate to our Yuqing Palace? I ran into Gao Laixi at the gate, and he almost stopped me from coming in."

When working in the palace, it's best not to stand out. If this cloak hadn't been a gift from the Crown Prince, Yu Lang wouldn't have worn it into the palace.

"What's wrong with that? You're a guard in my Yuqing Palace. I said you look good in this, so wear it. If anyone thinks it's not good, let them come and tell me."

With just a word from the Crown Prince, Yu Lang kept the light camel-colored cloak. He didn't wear it every day on purpose; he just wore it whenever it was his turn. Over time, everyone knew that there was a guard from the Hesheli family in Yuqing Palace who was highly favored by the Crown Prince.

Emperor Kangxi remembered the guard from the Hesheli family who served his son. He was indeed a member of the Hesheli family, and they were all equally bold and daring.

When the young Emperor Kangxi wanted to eliminate Oboi, Songgotu was one of Kangxi's most trusted confidants, and Kangxi personally entrusted Songgotu with many tasks.

It was precisely because of this that Songgotu was able to enjoy more favor with Emperor Kangxi than his father and brothers after the Yuan Dynasty for so many years. These two men were not only relatives but also allies who had experienced great things together.

Unfortunately, times change and time is merciless; now, Songgotu has become a thorn in Kangxi's side. The affection of their youth remains, but what use is affection alone?

This Yulang was an accident, and Kangxi didn't want to completely eliminate the Crown Prince's relatives. Now that another person has emerged from the Hesheli family, it's worth paying more attention to. If he's truly capable, perhaps the entire Hesheli family will have a new future.

"Give the order to have someone keep an eye on Yulang. He doesn't need to report everything, but if he's in close contact with Suo'etu, find a pretext to remove him from the Crown Prince's service."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

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Kangxi: Young people, do your best!

Yu Lang: Your Highness, isn't my new cloak beautiful? My great-grandmother made it for me.

Crown Prince: Yes, it's my gift!