Chapter 17: Prince An, the Tenth Prince, Goes Out Like a Lazybones...

Consort Yi was diagnosed with pregnancy in mid-September, which made all the concubines in the palace envious.

She already had a son, Yinqi, and gave birth to the seventeenth prince, Yintang, at the end of August last year, giving her two sons. Now, less than a year later, she is pregnant again, enjoying unparalleled favor and fortune in the palace.

Judging from the timeline, Consort Yi conceived this child after Emperor Kangxi returned to the capital in August.

Because of the untimely death of Yin Yu, after returning to the palace, Emperor Kangxi visited Consort Guo Luoluo in Yikun Palace to comfort her bereaved son.

However, it is clear that Kangxi's visit to Yikun Palace was not just to see Consort Guoluo, and it is also clear that Consort Yi was more favored by Kangxi and was more fortunate.

After the untimely death of Prince Yinyu in June, Consort Guoluo was heartbroken and suffered some trauma, becoming extreme and stubborn, and harboring resentment towards Consort Yi.

After Yinyu was born, because Consort Guoluo had a low rank and Consort Yi was the principal consort in the Yikun Palace where she lived, when Emperor Kangxi did not assign foster mothers to Yin'e and Yintang, Yinyu was also implicated and did not have a formal foster mother arranged for him. It was directly assumed that he would be raised by Consort Yi.

Consort Yi raised both Yin Tang and Yin Yu at the same time, but Yin Yu died before his first birthday, while Yin Tang grew up healthy and strong.

Although Yinyu was born weak and showed signs of premature death, and was constantly ill and required medicine after birth, Consort Guoluo, as his mother, must have found it difficult to accept her son's untimely death.

It's not surprising that she would become paranoid, take her anger out on her adoptive mother, Consort Yi, and resent her younger sister, Consort Yi.

At the palace banquet held yesterday to celebrate the Golden Festival, when Prince An mentioned re-arranging the order of the princes' ages, the Noble Consort watched coldly and noticed the intense pain and resentment in the eyes of Consort Guo Luoluo.

When Consort Guoluo looked at her younger sister, Consort Yi, her expression was filled with resentment, and her eyes were so obsessive that they seemed almost insane, which made people feel uneasy.

From the perspective of Consort Guo Luoluo, there was every reason for her to resent Consort Yi.

First, Yin Yu died young; second, after Yin Yu's death, the Emperor visited Yikun Palace to comfort her, but her younger sister, Consort Yi, still competed for the Emperor's favor, and the fortunate Consort Yi immediately became pregnant with the Emperor's child; finally, not long after Yin Yu's death, the Imperial Clan Court's Director proposed to rearrange the order of the princes' birth order.

These events occurred one after another, causing Consort Guoluo's resentment to grow ever deeper. Now, a rift has formed between Consort Yi and Consort Guoluo, with numerous conflicts arising between the sisters, and undercurrents surging beneath the surface.

Yongshou Palace and Yikun Palace are too close. Although the Consort had no intention of spying, she still vaguely heard that after the Emperor left the palace, Consort Guoluo was not quiet and had many conflicts with Consort Yi.

Especially after the banquet for the Golden Festival yesterday, Consort Guo Luoluo caused a scene at Yikun Palace upon her return. The two sisters had a rather embarrassing argument, almost turning into enemies.

This is a mess... The Imperial Concubine shook her head, stopping her thoughts.

She was on good terms with Consort Yi and disliked gossiping about others behind their backs. Even if she knew about these things, she would only keep them to herself and wouldn't spread them around so that everyone in the palace would know and secretly laugh at Consort Yi.

The Imperial Concubine did not mention the falling out between Consort Yi and Consort Guo Luoluo, so Yin'e was naturally unaware of it.

Looking up with his little face, Yin'e asked Yin Tang with feigned curiosity who he was.

The Imperial Concubine patted Yin'e's head and hugged him, replying with a light laugh, "Yin'e is the son of your mother, Yi'er of Yikun Palace. He's a month older than you, so you should call him brother, Yin'e."

Blinking his bright, clear almond-shaped eyes, Yin'e obediently said "Oh," then asked in a childish voice, feigning nonchalance, "Do I have a younger brother?"

The Imperial Concubine paused, subconsciously thinking of the young and deceased Prince Yinyu.

A moment later, the Imperial Concubine came to her senses, pinched Yin'e's soft, chubby cheeks, and teased him with a light laugh, "Yin'e, do you want to be a big brother? There will be princes born in the palace, maybe you'll be a big brother next year."

Now that both Consort Nara and Consort Yi are pregnant, Consort Nara could give birth to a newborn as early as February, and Yin'e will no longer be the youngest child in the palace after Yin Yu's death.

Yin'e blinked but didn't say anything.

He didn't know much about Kangxi's princesses, but he remembered that the eleventh prince was also born to Consort Yi, so this must be the child.

However, although the princes and princesses in the palace were all brothers and sisters, there was a big difference between those who shared the same mother and those who did not. For Yin'e, the children born to the Consort were definitely his biological brothers and sisters, and he was the closest to them and willing to be a good elder brother.

After looking up at the Imperial Concubine for a while, Yin'e buried his head in her arms: he wasn't in a hurry to become the older brother, at least not yet.

The Imperial Concubine only had a year to recuperate after giving birth to him. Although she didn't suffer any lasting health problems, her body was not as healthy as before, and she still needed to recuperate for a few more years. The Imperial Concubine's body was not particularly robust, and if she were to give birth as frequently as the Fourth Concubine, her body would likely be depleted very quickly. She still needed to follow the doctor's advice and take good care of herself.

A few days after the Golden Banquet Festival, the Imperial Clan Court arranged the order of the princes' ages and sent the recorded names and the compiled imperial genealogy to the palace.

Strangely, the person who proposed rearranging the order of the princes was Prince Yue Le, the head of the Imperial Clan Court, but the person who ultimately took the lead in handling this task was Prince Ezha.

Prince An, Yue Le, was the fourth son of Abatai, the seventh son of Nurhaci. He was highly accomplished and favored by both the Shunzhi and Kangxi Emperors. In his early years, he was trusted by the Kangxi Emperor and enjoyed great favor. The Prince An's mansion was once the most glorious and unparalleled among the imperial clan.

Yue Le also had another identity: he was the brother-in-law of Songgotu. His third wife, Lady Hesheli, was the daughter of the regent Gongshenni and the younger sister of Songgotu.

In previous years, Songgotu acted arrogantly, relying on his status as the maternal uncle of Crown Prince Yinreng. Last year, Emperor Kangxi punished Songgotu and his brothers Xinyu and Fabao, stripping them of most of their titles and official positions.

Xinyu lost his titles of Imperial Envoy and Zuo Ling, and was left with only the title of First-Class Earl; Fabao was stripped of his title of First-Class Duke; Suo'etu suffered the most, as Kangxi stripped him of all his titles of Minister of State Affairs, Grand Minister of the Interior, and Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, leaving him with only the position of Zuo Ling.

Implicated by his brother-in-law Suo'etu, Prince An Yue Le lost the Emperor's favor and his position as the head of the Imperial Clan Court was also insecure. Emperor Kangxi had already intended to replace him.

The Imperial Clan Court was staffed with one Director of the Imperial Clan Court, Left and Right Directors of the Imperial Clan Court, Left and Right Directors of the Imperial Clan Court, and several Assistant Directors of the Imperial Clan Court. Prince Xin, Ezha, had already been promoted by Emperor Kangxi to Left Director of the Imperial Clan Court. It was estimated that next year Emperor Kangxi would remove Yue Le from the position of Director of the Imperial Clan Court and appoint Prince Xin to succeed him.

Prince Xin, Eza, was a descendant of Prince Yu, Dodo. His father was Dodo's second son, Doni, who had inherited the title of Prince Yu. In the eighth year of the Shunzhi Emperor's reign, he was granted the title of Prince Xin. In the ninth year of the Shunzhi Emperor's reign, he was implicated by Dorgon and demoted to Prince of the Second Rank. After Doni died young at the age of twenty-six, Eza inherited the title of Prince Xin.

Ezha was close in age to Kangxi and was a cousin of Kangxi. He was highly trusted by Kangxi and had led troops in battle. Kangxi intended to let Ezha succeed as the head of the Imperial Clan Court.

Reordering the princes' ages was a task that wouldn't go wrong. Prince An, Yue Le, stepped forward to propose this, firstly to curry favor with the princes before stepping down and to maintain some goodwill; secondly, to distance himself from the Crown Prince and Suo'etu, and to prove to Emperor Kangxi that he had not formed a faction with Suo'etu.

Yue Le didn't want to completely offend Kangxi, nor did he want the Prince An's mansion to decline rapidly after his death. By having Prince Xin handle the matter of reordering the princes' generation, he was indirectly trying to curry favor with Kangxi, hoping that Kangxi would forgive him for the past and show leniency, and not suppress his descendants in the future.

Yin'e didn't know much about Prince Xin, but the title of Prince An sounded somewhat familiar.

Tilting his head, Yin'e pondered for a while before suddenly realizing: Prince An, Yue Le... isn't that the maternal grandfather of the Eighth Prince's wife!

Since Yue Le had already lost the Emperor's favor, why did Kangxi later betroth his granddaughter to the Eighth Prince Yinzhi as his wife?

Moreover, the Eighth Prince's wife did not come from a good background. Although she was Yue Le's granddaughter and had lived in the Prince An's mansion since childhood, the reason she lived in her maternal grandfather's house was because her father, Ming Shang, was sentenced to death with reprieve in the 20th year of Kangxi's reign for cheating in gambling. She was an orphan!

By betrothing her to the Eighth Prince, did Emperor Kangxi truly favor Yinzhi or not?

However, Yin'e only briefly let his thoughts wander before he quickly lost the time to consider whether Kangxi truly valued the Eighth Prince.

With his arms outstretched, Yin'e stood firmly, letting Lan Zhi dress him in an ochre-red python robe, put on a purple mink hat, and then drape a cloak shaped like a bell.

This is what the Imperial Concubine is wearing for going out. Today, she will take Yin'e to Cining Palace to pay respects to the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager.

A note from the author:

----------------------

The generational relationships are as follows:

Nurhaci

Huang Taiji, Abatai, Dodo

Shunzhi, Prince An, Yue Le, Doni

Emperor Kangxi, Prince Xin, Ezha

Eighth Prince and Eighth Princess Consort (granddaughter)