Chapter 35 The Gift: Old Ten's Salted Fish Skin Hat

As evening approached, the sun began to set in the west.

Just as the hour of You (5-7 PM) arrived, the Fourth Prince bid farewell to Consort Tong, intending to leave Chengqian Palace and return to his residence.

He only has his birthday off; tomorrow he will have to continue studying at the Imperial Study.

Starting tomorrow, the Fourth Prince will again arrive at the Imperial Study at 3:00 AM with the First and Third Princes for morning study. To ensure he gets enough sleep and rest, he must return to the Princes' Residence as soon as possible and cannot linger in Chengqian Palace.

When the Fourth Prince returned to the Princes' quarters, the First Prince and the Third Prince had not yet finished their studies.

Since the master of the first and second quarters of the West Third Palace had not yet returned, only a few palace lanterns were lit at the entrance, casting a few scattered and quiet lights on the deep and narrow passageway in front of the Prince's Palace.

In stark contrast to the dimly lit First and Second Palaces, with the return of the Fourth Prince, the palace lanterns hanging throughout the Third Palace were lit up, and the entire courtyard was brightly lit with candlelight, standing out clearly in the darkness, dispelling the early winter night.

After washing up, the Fourth Prince went to his study, intending to review his lessons before bed to prepare for tomorrow's classes.

Although the eldest prince and the third prince also took leave today, and all three of them missed the morning classes, it's not like anyone missed a day of classes. But diligence leads to mastery, while idleness leads to ruin. Learning requires hard work and diligence, and one cannot stop or slack off even for a day.

As soon as the Fourth Prince opened the book, the nanny presented him with the list of gifts sent from various palaces that day.

As for the various gifts listed on the gift list, they had already been registered and properly stored in the storerooms of the three palaces when the Fourth Prince was still in Chengqian Palace.

The Fourth Prince casually glanced through a few gift lists, not particularly concerned with the gifts sent by various palaces as a matter of courtesy. He simply instructed his wet nurse to note the quality of the gifts from each palace and to send a reciprocal gift of equal value.

The Fourth Prince casually placed the gift list on his desk. Remembering that he had received several other gifts that day, he asked his personal eunuch to find those gifts and present them to him.

In addition to the birthday gifts privately sent by Consort Tong, the Fourth Prince also received five extra birthday gifts from his brothers, namely the First Prince, the Third Prince, the Sixth Prince, the Eighth Prince, and the Tenth Prince, Yin'e.

The Fourth Prince opened the gifts according to his age order.

The eldest prince presented an inkstone. It was a top-quality Duan inkstone, and no one knew where the eldest prince had found it. The stone was clear and smooth, as warm and gentle as jade; it was a treasure among treasures.

Hmm... He has a short dagger that can cut through iron like mud. It was brought to him by Longkodo when he went to the palace to guard some time ago. It will be given to his elder brother, who likes to practice swordsmanship, as a return gift next February. He should like it.

After deciding on a return gift for the eldest prince, the fourth prince then opened the congratulatory gift sent by the third prince.

The Third Prince presented a Xuan brush. The Fourth Prince looked at the Xuan brush in the gift box and felt it looked very familiar, as if it were exactly the same as the one the Third Prince usually used. However, the one in the gift box was newer and showed no signs of use; it was a brand new purple-haired brush.

If I'm not mistaken, this Xuan brush should be a rabbit-hair brush that the Third Prince took out separately from his complete set of the Four Treasures of the Study.

The gift wasn't particularly thoughtful, but fortunately, the Xuan brush that the Third Prince usually used was of a high quality, and the Fourth Prince could also use it, so he casually hung it on the brush holder in the corner of his desk.

When the Fourth Prince opened the gift for the Sixth Prince, he paused for a moment. He had a strange intuition that the gift in the box was actually given to him by Consort De. She was just using the Sixth Prince to deliver the birthday gift to him.

Upon opening the brocade box, the Fourth Prince saw a light purple mink hat inside. In the freezing winter, such a hat was often needed to keep warm and protect against the wind.

Picking up the warm, soft mink fur hat, the Fourth Prince examined it closely. He noticed that the light purple mink fur on the exquisitely crafted hat was soft and dense, with each hair carefully selected and trimmed to be uniform in thickness and length. He wondered how much effort and time it had taken to finally complete the sewing.

The Fourth Prince was somewhat puzzled. Why would Consort De personally sew such an exquisitely crafted and time-consuming mink hat for him? He didn't think his relationship with Consort De was that close.

With his eyes lowered, the Fourth Prince remained silent for a long time before hesitantly trying on the mink hat.

...But the Fourth Prince failed.

He couldn't wear the mink hat that Consort De sent him at all; the hat didn't fit his head at all.

This hat isn't the right size for him; it's too small.

—Yes, it's not bigger, it's smaller.

Generally speaking, when making clothes for people who are unsure of their size, they are made a little larger to make it easier to alter them later.

However, the mink hat that Consort De had carefully sewn was a full size too small. If it had been last year, when the Fourth Prince had just entered the Imperial Study, perhaps he could have worn this missized fur hat.

For a moment, the Fourth Prince's feelings were mixed.

It's a subtle feeling, like when you don't expect something, but someone keeps telling you how hard they've worked and how great their results are, and eventually you're made to be curious and expectant.

But when you actually see what that person has brought out, you find that the result is not as good as he had touted. So your expectations are dashed, your joy fades, and all that remains is a faint sense of disappointment and frustration.

After putting the mink hat back into the brocade box, the Fourth Prince sat at his desk in silence for a long time before continuing to unpack the remaining two gifts.

The Eighth Prince presented him with a painting, which he had painted himself.

Although the Eighth Prince has received his early education, he has not yet entered the Imperial Study to study music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. The brushstrokes in this painting are childlike, and the content is very simple. It lacks any artistic charm, style, or interest; it is merely quite childlike.

However, the Eighth Prince is still young and hasn't formally studied painting, so it's quite good that he could produce such a painting. It's just that the calligraphy on the painting is not very good; it's limp and lacks any character, which detracts from the overall quality of the work.

The Fourth Prince nodded slightly and decided to give the Eighth Prince several calligraphy practice books. Once the Eighth Prince officially entered school, he would ask the tutors in the Imperial Study to keep a close eye on his calligraphy practice and correct his terrible handwriting.

The last one was Yin'e's gift.

The Fourth Prince dragged the rather heavy brocade box, about the size of an adult's palm, to his front. When he opened the lid, he saw that it was stuffed with thick velvet, which firmly held a jade carving about the size of a palm in place.

It was a jade carving of a puppy, pure white and flawless. The carving was exquisite, capturing the puppy's endearing and adorable appearance with remarkable realism. The puppy's front paws were raised as if in a gesture of respect, bringing a smile to the viewer's face.

The Fourth Prince's eyes lit up. He picked up the jade puppy carving from the brocade box and examined it carefully, his delight evident in his expression, his eyes sparkling with childlike joy and happiness.

It's getting late, time to go to bed.

The Fourth Prince was still thinking about reading, so he didn't play with the jade carving for too long. He soon reluctantly put it down and placed it in a corner of his desk for easy viewing. He then picked up his books and began reviewing yesterday's lessons and preparing for tomorrow's lessons.

Just past 5 PM, in Yikun Palace, Yin'e slightly raised his chin and had Wang Mama help him put on a heavy cloak as he prepared to return to Yongshou Palace.

At noon, Yin'e and Yin'tang, who had just returned from the birthday banquet, climbed onto the soft couch in the side hall of Yikun Palace. Before they could even play with the toys that Yin'tang had found, sleepiness overwhelmed them, and their eyelids began to droop.

When the Fifth Prince and Consort Yi finished their family reunion and came to find Yin'e and Yin'tang, they were already fast asleep, wrapped in blankets and leaning against the soft pig plush toys.

Influenced by them, the Fifth Prince, who had gotten up early to attend a banquet at Chengqian Palace, also began to feel sleepy. He climbed onto the heated kang, pulled over a small blanket, covered himself up, and fell fast asleep.

The three of them slept until mid-afternoon before waking up. They then played with toys and games together for a while, and before they knew it, it was already late afternoon.

Yin'e was alright; Yongshou Palace and Yikun Palace were close by, so it wouldn't matter if he went back a little later.

The gates of the Western Six Palaces would be locked in an hour, and if the Fifth Prince did not take his leave soon, he would not be able to return to Cining Palace today and would have to stay overnight in Yikun Palace.

However, the Fifth Prince did not intend to stay overnight outside today. His wet nurse had not prepared anything, and it would be very inconvenient for him to stay overnight in Yikun Palace. Not to mention that Consort Yi did not have the energy to take good care of the Fifth Prince.

Moreover, considering the Empress Dowager's feelings, and not wanting her to harbor resentment towards the Fifth Prince because of his closeness to his birth mother, Consort Yi would be mindful of her boundaries even if she wanted to spend more time with her son, and would not overstep any boundaries.

Back at Yongshou Palace, the Imperial Concubine tapped Yin'e's forehead with her slender, white index finger and scolded, "You heartless brat, you went out and played like crazy, and you only came back so late when it was already dark. You didn't miss your mother at all. You didn't know how long your mother had been waiting for you."

Yin'e looked up at the Consort with a silly grin, then suddenly ran forward and pounced on her, hugging her tightly and burying his head in her arms, whimpering and acting spoiled.

"What's wrong?" The Imperial Concubine hugged Yin'e back, gently patting his back as she asked in a soft, tender voice, "Why are you suddenly acting so coquettish? Did something happen?"

Yin'e snuggled in his mother's arms for a while before lifting his head and giving the Consort a quick kiss on the cheek. His almond-shaped eyes sparkled as he exclaimed, "I love Mother the most!"

His greatest fortune in being reborn in this world was meeting the Imperial Concubine.

Yin'e didn't have many snacks in Yikun Palace in the afternoon. He was led by another wet nurse, Granny Lin, to eat complementary food.

Silently watching Yin'e leave the inner room, the Consort raised her eyes and glanced lightly at Wang Mama, who had accompanied Yin'e out today.

With a thud, Granny Wang knelt down tremblingly and quietly recounted everything she had seen and heard that day.

Previously in Chengqian Palace, Wang Mama and other palace maids were guarding outside the side hall. They were not very clear about the conflict that had occurred inside the side hall, but they vaguely heard crying coming from inside the hall when Consort Tong opened the door and went in.

However, Wang Mama knew very well what had happened in Yikun Palace, so she focused on talking about Consort Yi's surprise and joy at the Fifth Prince's visit, her attention to the Fifth Prince, and the Ninth Prince's unconscious neglect.

With her long, thick, dark eyelashes drooping, the Imperial Concubine pondered for a moment, then waved her hand and said to Granny Wang, "Go down. I'll give you an extra reward today. In the future, you must take good care of the young prince."

With her anxiety subsiding, Granny Wang happily responded, stood up, bowed, and quietly retreated.

Lan Zhi stepped forward to replace the cold tea for the Imperial Concubine. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Imperial Concubine gazing longingly in the direction where Yin E had left, her eyes full of tenderness, rippling with gentle yet firm waves.

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Author's note: You Shi (酉时) refers to the time between 5 PM and 7 PM.