Chapter 85: Old Ten's Silly Puzzle...

The serious illness of Consort Tong was neither a major nor a minor issue for Yin'e.

In general, Yin'e was not as strictly controlled as he was when the Empress Dowager was seriously ill, and even his visits to the Imperial Garden were restricted.

On a smaller scale, Consort Tong's serious illness was indeed affecting Yin'e's life. For example, the consort had taken over some of the palace power, and it seemed that the time for him and the Ninth Prince to move into the Princes' Residence could be postponed.

It is now May. The Ninth Prince will be six years old in three months, while Yin'e is four months away.

It was customary for the princes who came first in line to move into the Princes' Residence a few months earlier than usual. However, since the Imperial Noble Consort Tongjia was seriously ill, and it was not advisable to make major changes in the palace, they naturally remained in the Western Six Palaces and did not need to move for the time being.

But the delay couldn't be made for too long, so on a sunny day in the height of summer in May, Yin'e decided to inspect the storeroom and take out the treasures he had kept in his private stash to check and air them out, so that they could be moved to the storeroom in the West Third Palace a few months later.

Yin'e rummaged through the wooden box and pulled out a set of writing implements of excellent quality, not much different from those offered as tribute. After examining it closely, he tilted his head and muttered to himself in confusion, "This set of writing implements is of quite high quality. Where did it come from?"

After pondering for a moment without success, Yin'e shrugged and simply stopped investigating: "Never mind where it came from, it's not important. Since I have no recollection of it, it wasn't a gift from anyone alone, so there's no need to worry about it."

Actually, this was a New Year's gift bestowed by Emperor Kangxi at the beginning of this year. But as Yin'e said, it was just a routine New Year's gift from Kangxi, the kind that didn't put much thought into it. It's likely that even Kangxi himself didn't know what he had given each prince.

"Remember this set of writing implements. When I enter the Imperial Study, I will take this set with me." Yin'e pointed to the high-quality writing implements and instructed the seven- or eight-year-old eunuch who was following closely behind him.

Yin'e will soon be six years old and will move to the Prince's Residence. He can no longer be served only by his wet nurse, nanny, and nanny. The Imperial Concubine selected several eunuchs of similar age from the Imperial Household Department to serve as errand runners for him. In the future, Yin'e will choose his personal eunuchs from among them, his trusted confidants.

As for the children who would become playmates and study companions after entering the Imperial Study, the Consort could not make the final decision. At most, she could draft a list and submit it to Emperor Kangxi. He would then give face and select two or three from the list, while the remaining selections would be decided solely by Emperor Kangxi.

As is customary, a prince is accompanied by eight attendants. Yin'e estimated that at least two of his attendants would come from the Niohuru clan, which was on good terms with the Duke of Guoyi's mansion, and would naturally be allies of him and the Consort.

However, the Niohuru clan was not someone Yin'e could completely trust. The same was true for the Guoyi Duke's mansion, which was now under the control of Faka after Aling'a's family split off. Their positions were not necessarily entirely aligned; although there was blood ties, they couldn't resist the pull of self-interest.

The Niohuru clan was Yin'e's maternal family, naturally a force supporting him and an asset he relied on. However, Yin'e had to firmly uphold his beliefs and demonstrate a strong stance, showing that he was using the Niohuru clan, not being controlled by them.

The young eunuch who was instructed by Yin'e had an ordinary appearance and a calm demeanor. Upon hearing this, he silently stared at the set of writing implements that Yin'e pointed to for a moment, memorizing its features to ensure that he would not take the wrong one when he went to the Imperial Study.

Yin'e's private treasury contained more than just this set of writing implements. The eunuch named "Xiao Linzi" was illiterate and could only memorize things using this clumsy method, unable to find items by referring to the treasury inventory.

Yin'e's private storeroom was filled with the rewards and gifts he had received over the past six years, including gold and silver jewelry, brocade and fur, writing implements, utensils and ornaments, and many treasures worth thousands of gold pieces, fully demonstrating the abundance of Yin'e's private treasury.

Last year, when the Fifth Prince moved house, Yin'e envied the many treasures he had in the storerooms of the Fourth Palace of the Eastern Palace, which he had moved from the Cining Palace. He fantasized about whether he would also have many treasures when he moved.

Now Yin'e's dream has come true; his secret stash is no less than that of the Fifth Prince, whom the Empress Dowager raised.

Yin'e has little patience and often loses interest after only three minutes.

This time was no exception. He was initially very interested when looking at the items at the beginning of the warehouse inventory list, but after looking at a few dozen items, he lost interest. His excitement and joy were overwhelmed by fatigue, and he lost interest in continuing to look at the items.

After taking Xiao Linzi from the storeroom in the back hall of Yongshou Palace back to the side hall, Yin'e felt a bit hot after walking a distance outdoors and being exposed to the bright, glaring sunlight. Before even stepping into the side hall, he called out loudly, "Wang Mama, make me a bowl of ice soup."

Wang Mama was Yin'e's wet nurse. Because she was honest and did not bully other nannies by taking advantage of her status as the prince's wet nurse, she was chosen by Yin'e. A few months later, Yin'e would take her to the prince's residence to be the head nanny in charge of internal affairs.

As for the wet nurse who was supposed to take over the position, Yin'e sent her back to the Imperial Household Department. The previous wet nurse was somewhat dishonest and had tried to take advantage of Yin'e's young age to deceive him, hoping to seize power and control the prince's internal affairs after Yin'e moved out of Yongshou Palace.

Yin'e was different from the other princes who were born into the same family. He never became close to or relied on any wet nurses or nannies, nor did he feel any affection for them or treat them differently just because they had nursed him when he was young. In Yin'e's view, being a wet nurse was just a job, and it was enough to treat them with a normal attitude.

Not hearing a reply from Granny Wang, Yin'e raised an eyebrow, somewhat puzzled. He strode into the hall and immediately saw the Ninth Prince sitting on a soft couch covered with a straw mat on the side of the room, holding a small white porcelain bowl in his hand.

When he saw Yin'e enter, the Ninth Prince's eyes lit up as he held a bowl of ice made from various chilled fruit pieces drizzled with fruit syrup. He looked up at Yin'e and said, "Tenth Brother, the ice bowl is chilled and waiting for you to come back and eat it. Come and eat with me!"

"Ninth Brother, what brings you here?" Yin'e was slightly surprised before walking over and sitting down opposite the Ninth Prince. He asked with a puzzled look, "Wasn't yesterday Yinzhi's birthday? I thought you would stay at Yikun Palace with him for a few more days."

It was because he thought the Ninth Prince wouldn't come to Yongshou Palace today that Yin'e went to the backyard to organize his private stash.

With a pout, the Ninth Prince scooped up a spoonful of mixed fruit pulp drizzled with nectar and stuffed it into his mouth, mumbling, "Yinzhi kept pestering me to study with him, but I found it boring and ran away."

Perhaps because her eldest son, the Fifth Prince, and her second son, the Ninth Prince, were both academically challenged and disliked studying, Consort Yi was somewhat resentful. Not wanting her sons to lack ambition, she decided to cultivate her youngest son diligently, setting high expectations for him from the very beginning of his education.

Fortunately, Yinzhi preferred quiet to activity and loved reading. He adapted well to Consort Yi's arrangements and expectations, without showing any resistance. On the contrary, he cooperated fully with Consort Yi's training plan.

Perhaps because the Ninth Prince and Yinzhi had vastly different personalities, even though Yinzhi liked the Ninth Prince very much and was very attached to him, the two brothers were not very close, and their relationship could only be described as getting along fairly well.

Taking the bowl of ice from the clever Linzi, Yin'e scooped up a mouthful and put it in his mouth. The chilled fruit was cool and refreshing, and tasted very good.

While eating, Yin'e listened to the Ninth Prince, whom he hadn't seen for two days, gossip: "Tenth Brother, do you know that Father Khan suddenly issued an edict a few days ago, saying that he would betroth Fei Yanggu's daughter to Fourth Brother."

Life in the palace was always peaceful, so peaceful that there were almost no waves. This made it possible for everyone to talk about anything that happened in the palace for a long time with great interest.

Upon hearing the gossip shared by the Ninth Prince, Yin'e raised an eyebrow in surprise, then smiled with a hint of disbelief and asked, "Ninth Brother, where did you hear this news? Fourth Brother is only eleven years old this year. Even if Father were to arrange a marriage, it wouldn't be this early."

"I heard it from Fifth Brother." When the authenticity of the gossip was questioned, Ninth Prince insisted that what he shared was true and real-time news. "Fifth Brother took leave from the Imperial Study yesterday to come to Yikun Palace to celebrate Yinzhi's birthday. He got the news from Cining Palace that Father Khan wants Grandmother to raise Feiyanggu's daughter for several years."

Yesterday was Yinzhi's birthday, and the Fifth Prince used this as an excuse to ask for a day off from the Imperial Study.

In the morning, he first went to Cining Palace to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager, and then circled back to Yikun Palace, located in the Western Six Palaces, via the outer western route to celebrate Yinzhi's birthday. He also shared the gossip he had heard in Cining Palace with the Ninth Prince.

Since he enrolled in the Imperial Study last year, the Fifth Prince has caused his teachers, who teach Manchu and Mongolian, and his tutors who teach the Four Books and Five Classics, so much worry that their beards have turned completely white: the Fifth Prince has a weak foundation, started school late, is not only an out-of-school child, but also somewhat averse to learning.

He is currently the only academic underachiever in the Imperial Study, and in the eyes of the teachers, he is as conspicuous and eye-catching as a firefly in the dark.

The reason given by the Fifth Prince yesterday—to celebrate his brother's birthday—would not have been approved for any other prince. But the Fifth Prince was a real headache for his tutors, and coupled with the Empress Dowager's doting on him and Emperor Kangxi's low expectations for his academic performance, the tutors turned a blind eye to his behavior.

The Fifth Prince didn't just take leave for Yinzhi's birthday. After enrolling last year, he took leave for Yinzhi's birthday in May, the seventh prince's birthday in July, the ninth prince's birthday in August, and Yin'e's birthday in October. The tutors in the Imperial Study were all numb to it.

As long as the Fifth Prince's reason for requesting leave is legitimate, the tutors in the Imperial Study no longer ask any further questions and simply grant him leave.

It was precisely because the Fifth Prince was not very ambitious and had been half-abandoned by the tutors in the Imperial Study that Consort Yi was very unwilling and wanted to cultivate Yinzhi to study diligently and make up for the bad impression the Fifth Prince had left in the Imperial Study.

As for why she didn't cultivate the Ninth Prince, Consort Yi knew him very well and knew that her son was not studious at all, so she never placed any hope on him from the beginning.

Hearing from the Ninth Prince that the news came from the Fifth Prince and from the Cining Palace, Yin'e was basically certain of the gossip's authenticity. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why bring Fei Yanggu's daughter into the palace for upbringing? How old is she? Father, isn't this—"

Tilting his head, Yin'e thought for a moment before coming up with a suitable description: "Isn't it about raising a child bride for Fourth Brother?"

"Pfft!" The Ninth Prince chuckled, collapsing onto the soft couch, sobbing uncontrollably. "Fourth Brother... raising a child bride? That sounds so funny."

The Ninth Prince and the Fourth Prince had no conflict, and the Ninth Prince did not reject the Fourth Prince in the same way he disliked the Third Prince.

But perhaps the two were incompatible, or perhaps the Fourth Prince was too domineering, the Ninth Prince never really liked the Fourth Prince and was unwilling to get close to him. At this moment, he was amused by the talk of a child bride and couldn't help but gloat.

Yin'e went through the gossip shared by the Ninth Prince from beginning to end, and found it increasingly strange: "Father wouldn't issue such an edict without a reason; there must be a reason!"