Chapter 99: Thinking of You for the Thirty-first Time Yinzhen frowned, feeling unhappy...

Yinzhen frowned, feeling unhappy, but he didn't understand what he meant. "What do you mean, Master Tong?"

"Come, drink this glass of wine, and my eldest brother's eldest daughter will be your concubine." Longkodo picked up Yinzhen's wine glass and filled it up, with a gesture as if giving alms.

Yinzhen was furious, but he remained calm and said, "Master Tong, you are joking. I have not received any imperial decree granting marriage."

Longkodo raised an eyebrow, put down his wine glass, and sneered, "Fourth Prince, are you playing dumb, or do you really not remember? My elder sister, Empress Xiaoyi, said in person that she would give Naqixia to you. Why, now that my sister is dead, Fourth Prince is going to deny it?"

The more furious Yinzhen became, the calmer his expression became. "Master Tong has passed away. I have never heard Tong's mother mention this matter, and neither has the Emperor."

"Matters of marriage should be decided by the elders. If Tong's mother truly left an imperial decree for you, please inform the Emperor and have it granted by the palace."

"Master Tong, please come on, I have something to do and will leave first."

After saying this, Yinzhen left without looking back.

Behind him, Longkodo slammed his wine glass to the ground and shouted angrily, "What the hell!"

He has always been arrogant. He has an outstanding family background and is young and promising. He is both Kangxi's cousin and Kangxi's brother-in-law. Therefore, he has always thought highly of himself. Even among the royal princes, the only ones he can take seriously are Yinzhi and the crown prince. In his eyes, Yinzhen is nothing at all. Therefore, in his opinion, today's attitude is already a compliment to Yinzhen. He never thought that Yinzhen would be so disrespectful to him.

Longkodo was angry, but Yinzhen was not happy at all.

As a prince, he is naturally proud. So what if he is a royal relative? Without the royal family, there would be no royal relatives. Longkodo is really too arrogant.

As for the matter of the girl from the Tong family, he actually knew about it. Tong's mother had indeed said that she wanted to marry her niece to him, but this matter was denied by the emperor. Yinzhen was not stupid and could still guess some of the emperor's intentions. Among the backyards of these brothers, was there anyone with the surname Tong Jia?

Therefore, even if he had never developed feelings for Fu Jin, he would not have anything to do with the girl from the Tong family. What's more, his heart was now set on Fu Jin, so he would not pay attention to other women.

Not to mention how much of a boost marrying Tonggiya would have given him, at that time, Yinzhen was only focused on building his career, his greatest ambition being to be crowned a prince, and he never dreamed of the supreme position. After all, the crown prince's position was not only stable, but he was also the son of the Empress, a legitimate status. He had also shown himself to be very capable during his several stints as regent. The court unanimously believed that the crown prince would be a wise ruler in the future, and Yinzhen did not believe that he was any better than the crown prince.

Do his job well, be granted the title of prince, and have a few children with his wife. This is the life that Yinzhen is dreaming of at the moment.

After returning home, he washed up before going to the backyard to look for Fu Jin. However, Fu Jin still found out that he had been drinking: "How much did you drink?"

"Not much." Yinzhen tried to fool around.

Qi Buchen glared at him: "It's not enough to feel uncomfortable."

Yinzhen was surprised. He had clearly cleaned up everything, so how did Fu Jin find out?

Qi Buchen snorted and laughed: "Every time your stomach hurts, your back becomes extra straight." She only discovered this recently, because Yinzhen became more and more relaxed in front of her, so this point became abrupt.

"Really?" Yinzhen was surprised. He himself hadn't noticed this because he was very strict with himself and his back was usually straight.

Qi Buchen ignored him and ordered, "Bring the hangover soup." She asked the kitchen to prepare it just in case.

Yinzhen thought she was angry, so he drank the hangover soup obediently, waved his hand to let the servants go away, and approached Fu Jin and said, "We have to drink for social occasions."

"I don't blame you." Qi Buchen looked at him and asked with concern, "I just saw that you were unhappy. What's wrong?"

When Yinzhen mentioned this, he felt the anger that had been suppressed when he saw his wife rise again. However, he did not want his wife to know what Longkodo said, so he suppressed his anger and said, "I don't want to talk about this."

"Then don't say it." Qi Buchen saw that he was really angry and quickly comforted him.

Unexpectedly, Yinzhen was angry for a while, but he couldn't help but speak up: "I met Longkodo today. I have heard that he is arrogant, but I didn't expect that he would not even take me, the royal prince, seriously. He acted like he was giving alms, as if I was begging him. Royal relatives, ah, without the royal family, he is nothing!"

Qi Buchen then realized that it was Longkodo who had been drinking with Yinzhen. When the guards came back to report, they only said that Yinzhen had an engagement. But she hadn't expected that Longkodo hadn't been a close friend of the Fourth Master in history. Why did it seem that their relationship wasn't on good terms now?

"Is there any misunderstanding? Don't you call Longkodo uncle?" Qi Buchen asked tentatively.

"When have I ever called him uncle?" Yinzhen frowned and looked at Qi Buchen, "Even Empress Renxiao's brother has never been called uncle."

Qi Buchen laughed it off: "I heard gossip before I got married, or maybe I remembered it wrongly."

Yinzhen frowned even more tightly: "Who would spread such gossip?"

"Maybe it wasn't just gossip." Qi Buchen said quickly, "You know, when people talk about this kind of relationship, they always use more intimate terms. Maybe it was just a casual remark, and I was young at the time, so I misremembered it."

Yinzhen finally calmed down, but he was still angry. He continued Qi Buchen's words: "What kind of misunderstanding could there be? I'm not so stupid as to not be able to tell what his expression is."

"So what exactly did he say?" Qi Buchen asked curiously.

Yinzhen suddenly woke up and stammered, "Something about...Tong E'niang."

Qi Buchen understood and did not ask any further questions. She knew that Yinzhen had complicated feelings for Empress Xiaoyi. He didn't want to talk about such things, and there was no need to force him to answer. Even if they were the closest lovers, they should give each other some space.

She took the initiative to change the subject and talked about her upcoming plans.

Yinzhen breathed a sigh of relief and obediently started chatting with Fu Jin. Such scenes had been happening frequently recently. The two of them talked about their lives and work, in an intimate, warm and natural manner.

Yinzhen liked this kind of relationship very much. It made him feel how compatible they were. Even when talking about his official business, his wife could keep up the conversation. Occasionally, she could even provide him with some different ideas or notice some omissions that he had not noticed.

The two of them made progress together. Yinzhen remembered what his wife had said. He liked the feeling of the two of them supporting each other and moving forward together.

After the Ghost Festival, Emperor Kangxi issued another decree to tour the frontier areas. Qi Buchen last went there three years ago, and he missed it a little.

It's a pity that she couldn't go.

"Galdan has been very active recently. This time, the Emperor is going to the frontier to contact Mongolian princes and nobles to prepare for the third expedition against Galdan," Yinzhen explained.

Qi Buchen understood that this was a military operation and it was inappropriate to bring female family members along.

When sending Yinzhen away, Yinzhen couldn't help but secretly said to Qi Buchen: "Although it is of great significance, it is still possible to send a letter home."

He felt uncomfortable at the thought that he might not see his wife for several months. Without any more letters from home, he felt that he had no motivation to do his job.

Qi Buchen chuckled: "Okay, I understand."

After sending away the reluctant Yinzhen, Qi Buchen thought that this was the first time Yinzhen had gone on a long journey since they confirmed their relationship, and this letter was equivalent to a love letter, so he had to do some elaborate work.

Qi Buchen rolled his eyes and came up with an idea.

Twenty days later, Yinzhen, who had been traveling on the grassland, finally received the letter from home that he had been eagerly waiting for for twenty days, and couldn't wait to return to the tent.

The letter was not thick, and Yinzhen felt a little disappointed, but after opening it and reading it for a while, his face gradually turned red, the corners of his mouth turned up, and his eyes were full of tenderness and sweetness.

"Yinzhen, I am glad to see you.

Today is the first day since you left. I'm still not used to it. Before I went to bed last night, I asked Baozhu if she had finished her bedtime milk. Only after she finished asking did I realize you were gone. I got up and went to the small study, spread out my pen and ink, and wrote this down. For the first time, I thought of you.

Today is the second day since you left. During afternoon archery practice, Wu Anda told me that my bow posture is still a little off. I remember you mentioned this when you were teaching me. It's been so long, and I still haven't corrected it. Am I stupid? This is the second time I miss you.

…

Today is the eleventh day since you left. At breakfast, I wondered if you enjoyed your meal outside. While watering the flowers in the yard, I wondered if you'd get sunburned in the prairie sun. While studying painting with Feijiade, I realized we'd never been in the same painting together. When you come back, shall we have Feijiade paint one? While horse racing, I wondered if you must have been riding for so long. Are your legs bruised? Remember to apply some medicine. Today is the last day of this letter. Tomorrow morning, it will set out to find you. Suddenly, I envy it a little. After all, it will see you soon, while I still have to wait.

I miss you for the thirty-first time."

Yinzhen read the letter over and over again and was reluctant to put it down. He could see that the handwriting marks on the letter were different every day, which meant that the letter was written for eleven consecutive days. Although the content of each day was very simple, only a few dozen words, Yinzhen felt that this was the most beautiful text he had ever read, more beautiful than any article passed down through the ages.

Every word in the letter was deeply engraved in his heart. He thought that he would never forget any word in the letter in his life.

"Master, the emperor summoned you." Lin Changqing came in from outside and saw that their master looked like he was in love.

Yinzhen was reluctant to put the letter down, but he had to go as the emperor summoned him, so he could only reluctantly put the letter back into the envelope. Just as he was about to put it away, he suddenly thought of something. He folded the envelope in two, then put it in his purse, and then put the purse in his arms, close to his heart.

Gently stroking his chest, Yinzhen stood up contentedly and prepared to meet his father.

When he was about to walk out of the tent, he was suddenly stopped by Lin Changqing.

"Master, do you want to tidy up your appearance?"

If people saw me like this, they would think that my master was doing something in the tent.

Hmm? Yinzhen turned around and frowned at Lin Changqing. Lin Changqing handed him a mirror, and Yinzhen finally saw the expression on his face.

He glanced at Lin Changqing, who was hunched over with his head lowered.

Well, isn’t it bad that the eunuch around me suddenly disappeared?

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The author has something to say: Yinzhen: The list of Dark Sharks is confirmed!

Lin Changqing: If you remind me, you will die. If you don’t remind me, you will die too. It’s so hard for workers!