Chapter 93 The Empress and the Tenth Prince's Lament

Yin'e and the Ninth Prince originally came to the Imperial Study to play with the Fifth and Seventh Princes, but Gu Badai suddenly appeared and interfered, causing all of Yin'e and the Ninth Prince's previous ideas and plans to die in the womb.

Even though they were very unwilling and repulsed, Yin'e and the Ninth Prince had no choice but to take a tour of the Imperial Study under the guidance of Gu Badai. Along the way, Gu Badai tested their elementary studies and forced them to accept his "tutoring".

The Imperial Study only had five rooms, and there wasn't much to see, so they finished touring it quickly.

Yin'e and the Ninth Prince completely forgot their original purpose for coming to the Imperial Study. They hurriedly said goodbye to Gu Badai and left without daring to stay any longer.

Fortunately, they left quickly, otherwise Gu Badai would have invited them to sit in on a class in the Imperial Study to get used to the teaching pace there.

—Yin'e and the Ninth Prince are progressing at a similar pace to the Fifth Prince. Even if they were to enroll now, they would be perfectly capable of keeping up with the Imperial Study's curriculum. It's just that they don't want to be tortured by entering the Imperial Study too early, which is why they keep postponing their entry.

Only after exiting the Qianqing Palace through the Longfu Gate did the Ninth Prince, who had been rushing along with flashes of light, slow his pace. He let out a long sigh of relief, patted his chest with lingering fear, and his face was full of relief at surviving a close call.

Having witnessed Gu Badai's sternness, the Ninth Prince no longer dared to mention moving out of Yikun Palace ahead of time. He was now even less willing to move to the Princes' Residence than Yin'e.

Even if Yinzhi is clingy, he's still a hundred times more adorable than the strict and upright Gu Badai!

Standing in the narrow passageway between the Qianqing Palace and the Western Six Palaces, the Ninth Prince even whispered to Yin'e, "Tenth Brother, do you think we can move a few years later? Let's not wait until next year to move, like Fifth Brother, when we enter the Imperial Study at the age of nine."

Yin'e glanced at the Ninth Prince speechlessly: "You wish! Don't even think about it again."

It was already a sign that Emperor Kangxi had shown them leniency by letting them move to the Princes' Residence in October; otherwise, if Kangxi had been stricter, they would have moved out of the Western Six Palaces much earlier.

If the Ninth Prince wants to keep delaying, he's probably dreaming.

Should he wait until he was nine years old to move to the Prince's quarters like the Fifth Prince? Yin'e had already tried that, and unsurprisingly, he was rejected by the Imperial Concubine long ago.

With the Fifth Prince as a cautionary tale, Kangxi would not indulge his other princes in their studies.

Furthermore, one reason why the Fifth Prince was reluctant to move to the Princes' Residence was that he lived with the Empress Dowager in the Cining Palace, not in the inner palace. Yin'e and the Ninth Prince were already grown up, and according to the rules, they could no longer remain in the inner palace and had to move out.

In the sweltering heat of July, the weather in the capital city grew increasingly hot and dry.

The sun burned fiercely like a blazing fireball, releasing its light and heat in all directions, making the entire Forbidden City sweltering, as if it were being roasted over a fire. The heat made everyone in the palace listless and unable to muster any energy.

The weather in July was already unbearably hot, and after being bedridden for several months, Consort Tongjia finally reached a point where medicine could not cure her. On the evening of the eighth day of the seventh lunar month, the imperial physicians declared her critically ill and beyond saving.

On the ninth day of the seventh month, Emperor Kangxi rushed back to the palace and issued an edict to confer the title of Empress upon Consort Tongjia, bestowing upon her the status and position of his wife on her deathbed.

Consort Tongjia, no, Empress Tongjia, was Emperor Kangxi's cousin. For many years, she held the position of deputy empress, acting as empress. Although she held the title of empress, she had the reality of one. As early as the twentieth year of Kangxi's reign, she was already the wife in his heart.

Now, Empress Tongjia has relinquished her title of deputy empress and gained the title of empress, truly becoming Kangxi's wife and his third empress.

However, Empress Tongjia was already nearing the end of her life. The honor of being an empress was merely a consolation before her death and could not truly save her life.

On the tenth day of the seventh month, the day after she was made empress, Empress Tongjia passed away in Chengqian Palace. Emperor Kangxi was deeply grieved and suspended court for five days. He also ordered the Imperial Clan Court to hold a grand funeral for the empress.

The passing of Empress Tongjia was a deeply saddening event for both her husband, Emperor Kangxi, and her adopted son, the Fourth Prince Yinzhen.

However, for the other concubines in the harem, and for the princes and princesses under Kangxi's tutelage, they merely lamented the passing of yet another empress, feeling at most a little wistful and sentimental, but not to the point of being overly grief-stricken.

In fact, for the concubines, princes and princesses in the palace, the biggest impact of the death of Empress Tongjia was that they had to go to Chengqian Palace to mourn during the empress's mourning period, and they had to observe mourning according to the rules after the empress's death.

The Imperial Noble Consort and the Empress are completely different. Although the Imperial Noble Consort is often referred to as the Deputy Empress, the two titles, though seemingly only one character different, are worlds apart.

The Empress, as the mother of the nation, was the mistress of the Qing Dynasty, the sovereign. The Imperial Noble Consort, however, was merely one of the concubines; no matter how noble her status, she was still just one of the women in the harem, her position vastly different from that of the sovereign.

For example, only the Empress's father could be granted the title of Duke Cheng'en; furthermore, the Empress's funeral rites and mourning period etiquette were several levels higher than those of the Imperial Noble Consort, and were completely incomparable.

After Empress Tongjia passed away, all concubines, princes, and below in the palace had to wear mourning clothes and observe a period of mourning. In addition, princes, nobles, relatives, and family members outside the palace also had to wear mourning clothes and enter the palace every day during the mourning period to mourn Empress Tongjia for a full twenty-seven days.

Two years ago, the Empress Dowager passed away in the twelfth lunar month, and now the Empress Tongjia has passed away in the height of summer in the seventh lunar month.

No one can say for sure whether it was the cold winter months when weeping at Cining Palace every day was more unbearable, or the sweltering summer months when weeping at Chengqian Palace every day was more difficult. In any case, the mourning period was difficult to endure, and one suffered greatly in every aspect.

Empress Tongjia's passing was not unexpected. She had been sickly for the past few years, and if it weren't for the imperial physicians' tireless efforts to recuperate and take good care of her, she wouldn't have made it this far. She might have passed away two years ago along with the Empress Dowager.

Yin'e couldn't even think of how to help Empress Tongjia, because she wasn't seriously ill or had some sudden accident. She had just developed health problems in her early years, and in recent years she had been overworked and exhausted, resulting in a host of ailments that her body could no longer sustain.

Empress Tongjia's illness and emotional distress stemmed from the death of her eighth daughter in the intercalary sixth month of the twenty-second year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign. Yin'e was born in the tenth month of that year, meaning that even if one prayed to heaven, time could not be reversed to prevent Empress Tongjia from suffering this calamity.

Over the years, the heavy palace affairs that had weighed on Empress Tongjia's shoulders were beyond her ability to relinquish her power, let alone whether Empress Tongjia herself was willing to hand over her palace authority or whether Emperor Kangxi would agree to Empress Tongjia ignoring palace affairs. Yin'e himself could not bring himself to remind Empress Tongjia to share her palace authority.

Below Empress Tongjia, the highest-ranking concubine was a member of the Niohuru clan and the younger sister of Empress Xiaozhao.

Empress Tongjia neglected palace affairs, and the first person to be eliminated would be the Imperial Concubine. No matter how much Yin'e lamented Empress Tongjia's plight, he couldn't possibly be so selfless as to sacrifice the Imperial Concubine to save her.

The blame lies with Kangxi for assuming everyone else was as energetic as him, and with Empress Tongjia for wanting to be a good wife to Kangxi and for stubbornly taking on all the palace duties.

The cousins ​​were both willing to hit and be hit; Yin'e must have been crazy to push the Consort down as cannon fodder—he and Empress Tongjia didn't have any relationship that allowed him to do that!

Let alone Empress Tongjia, even if it concerned Emperor Kangxi, Yin'e would never agree to let the Consort sacrifice herself. He didn't treat Kangxi as his father—"Imperial Father, Imperial Father"—the Emperor comes first, the Father comes second. In Yin'e's mind, there was only the Emperor, not the Father.

Throughout July, Chengqian Palace was filled with the smell of candle smoke and white paper. The concubines, princes, and princesses inside the palace, as well as the relatives of the imperial family outside the palace, all had to observe mourning for Empress Tongjia.

Although the regulations and rituals for the Empress's mourning period were somewhat lighter than those for the Empress Dowager's passing, for those who had to mourn in Chengqian Palace every day, the difference was not significant; both were a month of agonizing suffering.

Unlike two years ago, Yin'e is now six years old.

Although he has not yet entered the Imperial Study, he no longer enjoys the treatment of a young prince. He must participate in every mourning ceremony twice a day for two hours each time, just like his older brothers.

This was the first time Yin'e had participated in the entire crying ceremony. He knelt for two whole hours, until his knees were completely numb. When it ended, he couldn't even stand up. Xiao Linzi had to lend him a hand so he could barely stagger to his feet.

Yin'e had never knelt for so long before. He finally understood why, two years ago, after the mourning period for the Empress Dowager ended, not only did Empress Tongjia, who presided over the funeral, fall seriously ill, but the other concubines, princes and princesses in the palace also became much quieter and only recovered after a month or two.

The 27-day mourning period was truly agonizing; it was not something an ordinary person could endure. Outside the palace, there were even cases of noblewomen who miscarried while mourning during the period, losing their unborn children due to exhaustion.

During the mourning period for Empress Tongjia, some minor conflicts occurred between the Tongjia family (no, the renamed Tongjia clan) and the Fourth Prince during the mourning period.

Although someone quickly intervened to mediate, the conflict between the Tongjia clan and the Fourth Prince ended before it escalated, but the scene at Chengqian Palace was still unpleasant, and both sides lost face.

Yin'e initially didn't understand why the Tongjia clan had clashed with the Fourth Prince. After all, the Fourth Prince was the adopted son of Empress Tongjia and was naturally close to the Tongjia clan. The two sides should have been on good terms, and it was inappropriate for them to start a conflict during Empress Tongjia's mourning period.

Later, it was the Imperial Concubine who cleared up Yin'e's doubts. It turned out that before Empress Tongjia passed away, she left all the private savings she had accumulated in the palace over the years to the Fourth Prince. She did not give a single penny to her family, nor did she leave any to her half-sister outside the palace, who was over twenty years old, still unmarried, and waiting to enter the palace as a concubine after her death.

Empress Tongjia had long since lost interest in her family and felt resentful and saddened by their actions, so it's not surprising that she would do such a thing before her death.

However, the Tongjia clan was unwilling to accept that all of Empress Tongjia's private wealth had gone to outsiders—the Fourth Prince was not registered under Empress Tongjia's name after all, and to the Tongjia clan, the Fourth Prince did not have Tongjia blood, so he was just an outsider.

Empress Tongjia entered the palace in the fifteenth year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign. Over the past thirteen years, she has held a high position in the palace and has amassed a considerable private fortune. The Tongjia clan coveted her inheritance and were unwilling to give it all to the Fourth Prince. This led to a conflict between the Fourth Prince and Empress Tongjia during the mourning period.

After learning the whole story, Yin'e truly felt sorry for the Fourth Prince.

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

Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 23:32:33 on March 30, 2023 and 21:40:28 on March 31, 2023!

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Dingdingdang (34 bottles); Crocodile Tingduji (6 bottles); Little House (5 bottles); As Shadow Follows (2 bottles); Gentle Breeze and Light Clouds (1 bottle);

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!