Chapter 79 Chapter 79 After entering August, Yinzhen suddenly...

After entering August, Yinzhen suddenly became busy, going out early and returning late every day. When he came back, Qi Buchen had already gone to bed.

It was not until the evening of August 9th that the two finally met.

"What have you been busy with lately?" Qi Buchen asked curiously. Yinzhen's job was to supervise the repair of the imperial mausoleum, which was a very slow and steady project. Logically, he shouldn't have been so busy all of a sudden.

Yinzhen still looked tired. "Tomorrow I will be accompanying the Emperor on his tour of the Great Wall. I'll be gone for nearly two months, and when I return I won't be staying at the Ministry of Works anymore. I need to arrange for someone to take over."

Qi Buchen understood. In fact, even the handover work should not be so busy. After all, the situation when Yinzhen took office was still vivid in her mind. But considering the gentleman's serious nature, she roughly understood it. She just didn't know whether the adult who was being handed over was complaining about Yinzhen behind his back.

"When do we leave tomorrow?" Qi Buchen calculated when he should get up and see him off.

"We'll set off at three quarters past the hour of Chen." Yinzhen glanced at her and added, "I'll leave at the first quarter of the hour of Mao, so you don't have to get up to see me off." The large group would set off in an hour, but they definitely couldn't arrive at the last minute.

The past two years had been enough for Yinzhen to understand his young wife's sleepy nature. Especially since leaving the palace to establish her own residence, except for a few rare occasions, she had never gotten up early to see him off. However, this was also related to the fact that they were still separated. He lived in the front yard, and it was inconvenient for her to get up early every day to see him off.

Qi Buchen did not refuse and smiled: "Then be careful on the road."

Although it was just a simple reminder, Yinzhen felt comforted: "Yes."

When Qi Buchen woke up the next day, Yinzhen had already left for a long time. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but she felt that the mansion had suddenly become much quieter and the servants were a little lazy.

As a result, she herself also felt a little unmotivated.

However, she didn't have time to be lazy, as the servants flooded her with Mid-Autumn Festival arrangements.

The festival gifts from the palace and various families, the arrangements for festivals in the mansion, the rewards for servants, the donations to outsiders and the festivals in Taoist temples and Buddhist temples are all trivial matters, but they are enough to keep people busy.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, because Kangxi and his eldest sons were not at home, only a small banquet was held in the palace. The concubines and princes and princesses surrounded the empress dowager to show their filial piety.

The Empress Dowager happily watched her grandchildren playing around and asked Concubine Hui, "Why isn't the First Lady here?"

Concubine Hui was originally smiling, but upon hearing this, she sighed, "The child has not been in good health since giving birth to the fourth princess. A few days ago, he just went out for a walk and then fell ill again. Now he is bedridden and recuperating."

The Queen Mother also became worried: "The eldest wife is a good person. Let the Imperial Hospital take a good look at her. If you need anything, please come to me."

Concubine Hui expressed her gratitude: "On behalf of Irgen Jueluo, I thank the Empress Dowager for her love."

Concubine Yi took a sip of honey wine and said with a smile, "The First Lady couldn't come due to illness, so why isn't the Fourth Lady here either? We only have two daughters-in-law now, and I prepared a lot of gifts, but who knew I couldn't give any of them away. Sister Defei, could it be that the Fourth Lady is also ill?"

The fact that Qi Buchen was punished with house arrest was no secret in the palace. Everyone even knew the reasons and consequences of the house arrest. After all, Concubine Nianhulu had no intention of keeping it a secret for Concubine De. However, this kind of thing was known to everyone in private and not easily brought to the table. That was why the Empress Dowager only asked the First Concubine and not the Fourth Concubine.

However, because of the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet incident two days ago, Concubine Yi's people were found guilty and humiliated by Concubine De's people. Now it is understandable that Concubine Yi brought up this matter to humiliate Concubine De.

The Queen Mother pretended not to hear anything and continued to look at her grandchildren happily. The other concubines seemed not to pay attention here, but Concubine De knew that these people might be laughing at her in their hearts.

A hint of anger towards Qi Buchen rose in her heart, but her face remained calm: "Sister Lao Yifei is concerned about me. The fourth sister just made some mistakes. I ordered her to reflect on them behind closed doors."

"Oh, yes, I remember now." Concubine Yi clasped her hands together in sudden realization. "I heard it was because Fourth Lady didn't take good care of Fourth Prince? It's my sister who said that De Fei was asking too much of Fourth Lady. I know you love your son, but Fourth Prince has been weak since he was young. The imperial physicians just told him to take good care of him. Fourth Lady is so young now, what can she do? If it were my sister, I'd say that Fourth Prince has started a family now, so I should let go of him. Don't protect him like the apple of your eye, and don't always interfere in his bedroom affairs. Let go when it's time to let go, don't you agree?"

Concubine Yi's words sounded nice, but everyone in the palace knew that Concubine De had never cared about Yinzhen since he was a child, and that Emperor Kangxi had directly told her not to interfere in Yinzhen's affairs.

De Fei seemed to hear the other concubines chuckling. She dug her nails into her palms, but her expression remained calm. "What Sister Yi Fei said is true, but it's not good to let go too much. I am not as tolerant as you. There is no need to worry about Yin Qi's poor Chinese language skills."

Concubine Yi, however, didn't care at all and smiled: "I am not like my elder sister. I don't have such high expectations for Yinqi. As long as he can speak fluently to his wife in the future, that's enough."

Defei's eyes became fierce.

"Speaking of which, Yinqi's wife should be chosen in two years. Have you, Concubine Yi, looked for one in advance?" The empress dowager spoke at this time. The empress dowager usually did not interfere with the marriage of her grandchildren, but Yinqi was raised by the empress dowager after all. Kangxi had said before that the empress dowager would have the final say on Yinqi's wife.

Concubine Yi had the upper hand and no longer paid attention to Concubine De. She smiled and talked to the empress dowager about her son: "I have seen several girls from different families and they are all good. I will tell you more about them later and you can take a good look at them."

The Queen Mother responded cheerfully: "Okay, but there's no rush. We still have a lot of time, so take your time."

Defei looked at the harmonious relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and lowered her eyes.

Fourth brother, she gave birth to a debt collector for herself.

"Mother!" Yinzhen rushed over like a little cannonball.

De Fei instantly revealed a genuine smile, caught the person and hugged him in her arms: "Run slower, you won't be afraid of falling. What are you doing, you are sweating profusely."

As he spoke, he took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped away the sweat.

Yinzhen didn't answer Concubine De's words, but only shouted: "Mother, I want to eat an ice bowl."

"You have eaten today and can't eat anymore!" Defei said sternly.

Yinzhen twisted his butt like a candy: "I want to eat it, I want to eat it!"

De Fei was helpless under his pestering and said lovingly, "As agreed, this is the last bowl."

Yinzhen agreed readily, but only God knows whether it would count or not.

Rong Fei, who was watching from the side, covered her lips and smiled, saying, "Sister Yi Fei is right. Sister De Fei really loves her children."

"That's because Fourteenth was still young." De Fei said without turning her head, "Like Sister, the Third is already that old. Even if Sister wanted to love her like this, she can't do so anymore."

This seems to be talking about the child, but in fact it is a satire on the fact that Rong Fei has been out of favor for a long time. De Fei and Yi Fei have fourteen and eleven respectively, and Kangxi would occasionally stay overnight. As for Rong Fei, she has not been favored since Yinzhi. Although she is one of the four concubines, her influence is far inferior to others. Hui Fei at least has an eldest son, and Yinzhi is doing a good job now and is liked by the emperor, so she can be honored as a mother by her son.

What about Yinzhi? He was still a bald prince and had to rely on Rong Fei to support him.

Just like this, you dare to stab her? De Fei sneered in her heart.

Rong Fei clenched her handkerchief tightly. She knew her own predicament welled up in her heart. Thinking of her former glory as the most favored concubine in the harem, and her current loneliness, she felt a surge of resentment. But she no longer had any hope of the emperor's favor. Her only hope was her son. However, her family had declined, and her only prominent uncle's family was far away, not particularly close to her own. She had been unable to offer her son much help in the previous dynasty.

The only way now is to let Yinzhi marry a wife as soon as possible. Dong E is the daughter of Duke Yongqin and can be of great help to his son.

Even now, the crown prince has not yet married, so the third brother’s marriage will have to wait.

Rong Fei pondered in her heart, a smile on her face, and said to the Empress Dowager, "Speaking of which, the Crown Prince's wife has been decided for a long time. Isn't it time to put the wedding on the agenda?" She was a little shy. "I'm not interfering in the affairs of the Eastern Palace. I'm just looking forward to holding a grandson. After all, Yinzhi, as a younger brother, can't go over his elder brother."

The Queen Mother didn't blame her. She nodded and said, "You are right. The Crown Prince is twenty years old now. It's time for him to get married. I will ask the Emperor later."

Qi Buchen didn't know about what happened at the palace banquet. It was a good thing for her not to have to go to the palace. When she thought about being confined until the end of the year and not having to enter the palace during this period, she was so happy that she was about to burst into tears.

Even though he was alone, he didn't feel lonely. He ate delicious food and watched the palace maids having fun. Xie Hanshan also found a lot of interesting things from outside and presented them to them. He had a very happy festival.

Although she was confined to her home, she was not cut off from the news. Xie Hanshan now had a good grasp of her situation and could bring her some new and interesting news every day.

"Early this morning, people from North Korea entered the city. There were quite a few people watching, but the scale was much smaller than last year. I heard that there wasn't anything good in the tribute." Xie Hanshan said with some regret.

Qi Buchen laughed: "This time they came to express their gratitude because the emperor exempted them from the annual tribute. If there are other goodies in the tribute, wouldn't it be obvious that they are deceiving the emperor?"

"That's right, I didn't think enough, haha." Xie Hanshan scratched his head and smiled foolishly.

Qi Buchen asked again: "Is there any news about the master?"

Xie Hanshan's face was stern. "The latest news says that the previous group is staying at Princess Duanjing's residence."

Qi Buchen nodded. Princess Duanjing was Kangxi's fifth daughter. She got married last year. When Yinzhen left this time, he also brought gifts for his sister.

Baozhu came in from outside and handed over a card: "Fujin, this is a card from the Ulanara residence."

Since the last "Master Wu" incident, Qi Buchen has never returned to his mother's home, nor has he met anyone from his mother's family. He just visits them like ordinary relatives to pay respects to them, and his mother's family rarely sends him invitations.

When Qi Buchen opened it, he found out that his elder brother Xingchan's mother was having a birthday, and because it was a birthday party, she invited Qi Buchen to attend the banquet.

She curled her lips and returned the invitation to Baozhu: "Just say that I'm under house arrest and can't go. Just prepare the gifts according to the specifications." If it was her biological mother's birthday, she might consider finding a way to go, but she had no patience to entertain this unrelated concubine.

Upon receiving the news, the Ulanara family looked at each other in bewilderment. Concubine Xingchan said, "The Fourth Concubine has been confined? We haven't even heard about it. Mother, do you think you could send someone to ask and see if we can help?"

Jueluo sat at the head of the table, her expression indifferent: "It's just that the Empress in the Palace is teaching us about our mistakes. The Royal Family has its own rules, so we have no right to interfere."

After saying that, he stood up and left without caring about anyone else.