Chapter 94 The Ceremony of investiture

With a smile in his eyes, Yinzhen coaxed his eldest daughter in his arms until she beamed with joy. He specially instructed that a warm sedan chair be prepared to send the princess back to Yongshou Palace. Su Peisheng quickly handed the rewards he had just found in the storeroom to the maids and nannies behind him, piling them up so high that they could hardly see the road ahead.

Once the eldest princess was no longer visible in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Yinzhen's smile vanished completely. He then addressed Su Peisheng, who was clearly waiting for orders, saying, "Noble Lady Fucha has acted recklessly and improperly, her words and deeds have been inappropriate, she has disrespected her superiors and disobeyed etiquette. She is hereby demoted to the rank of Attendant and confined to her quarters for two months."

The jade hand charm was smashed during the plague in Hongzhao, and the white jade hand charm was also smashed after learning of Chun Yuan's death. Now that his hands are empty, he is quite unaccustomed to it and clenches his fist in the air.

“Consort Wan…I have always been reluctant to hurt her, but she is very willing to hurt me.” These past few days he has been in a bad mood and has not been able to muster much energy for anything. After a long silence, he shook his head and said, “Forget it, let her go back to the palace and rest. I will visit her again when she learns to restrain her stubbornness.”

"Yes." Su Peisheng replied respectfully, then looked up at the outside and hesitated before speaking again, "Your Majesty, Consort Nian is requesting an audience outside the palace again. Will you still not see her?"

Upon hearing this, Yinzhen raised his head slightly, blinked, and then lowered his head again—"I can't bear to see Consort Wan, let alone Shilan. I'll definitely soften if I see her. It's very cold in this wind. Tell her to go back quickly."

Su Peisheng had no choice but to purse his lips and go down to relay the message.

Everyone thought that Nian Gengyao's demotion would cause quite a stir, and the civil officials were all eagerly waiting for him to commit another offense so they could impeach him. However, to their surprise, he turned out to be unusually quiet and didn't even submit a memorial to apologize. Since no one could find any fault with him, they had no choice but to give up for the time being.

Time flies, and the year is drawing to a close. This day is not only the birthday of Hongzhao and Hongjin, but also the day when the Emperor personally decided on the investiture ceremony for the Crown Prince two months ago.

The investiture ceremony for Princess Hongjin was also scheduled for this day. Lü Jiayingfeng got up early before dawn to prepare. With her eight-month pregnant belly, she checked the various details of the investiture ceremony by candlelight. After all, this was the first time an investiture ceremony had been held for such a young princess, and the regulations provided by the Imperial Household Department had to be modified compared to previous princesses' marriages.

The appointment of the crown prince by Hongzhao is a matter of state, and the emperor has taken care of everything so that she doesn't need to interfere. That's for the emperor to worry about. Hongjin is her only daughter. Princesses in the palace may sound noble, but few of them will have a satisfactory marriage in the future. She must not let her Hongjin follow the same old path.

1:15 AM (卯时一刻).

Hongzhao, dressed in the apricot-yellow crown prince's robes, with a matching vest trimmed with gold thread, was led by his father, the Emperor, to the Taihe Gate.

Below, the officials stood with their hands at their sides. Emperor Hongzhao looked down solemnly, a dark mass of people facing forward with their heads bowed, not daring to offend the emperor. Indeed, the view from a high place was different. Standing outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony and looking into the distance, it was no longer just a square sky and four walls; the view was so open that it felt like entering a new realm.

He couldn't help but breathe a little faster, and he managed to suppress the slight turmoil in his chest.

The Crown Prince was appointed by the Emperor as the chief envoy for the investiture ceremony, with Grand Secretary Zhang Tingyu of the Hall of Preserving Harmony as the deputy envoy. The heavy imperial edict and seal were handed to Hongzhao. The moment Hongzhao received them, he was led forward two steps by his father, and then all the officials below knelt down, their shouts rising like a mountain.

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Crown Prince!"

——

"Ah, if you ask me, Consort Xian is really lucky. Her eldest son is undergoing the ceremony of being conferred the title of Crown Prince, her eldest daughter is undergoing the ceremony of being conferred the title of Princess Gulun in the inner palace, and her youngest son is about to grow up and is pregnant with a baby. It's really enviable."

"Yes, what woman in the world wouldn't be envious? The Empress's position is currently vacant, don't you think..."

Zhen Huan and Consort Mei Zhuang walked side by side as they came out of Yongshou Palace, listening to the whispers of the palace maids not far away. The journey was quite quiet.

Nian Shilan, who was walking in front, lowered her head indifferently, chuckled, and said, "Even the servants know that we should probably congratulate Consort Xian in advance."

Before Meizhuang could react, Consort Jing spoke up, "Is Consort Nian joking about this? Putting aside whether the Consort has such thoughts, the Empress's position has always been decided by the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. Can it be decided by the stupid words of two servants?"

She abandoned her usual gentle and slow manner, speaking more than twice as fast this time—"Only the four of us will hear what we're saying today, so don't tell anyone else. The Noble Consort Xian has never cared about such things. It would be bad if someone used this as a pretext to gossip."

Although Nian Shilan had been demoted, her temperament had not changed at all. Seeing that the usually taciturn Consort Jing, who had never uttered a sound no matter how much she tormented her, dared to criticize her, she immediately pointed at her and said, "You were just a princess in my courtyard before. What makes you dare to speak to me like that!"

Consort Jing, unusually so, stood up firmly and said, "I am merely reminding Noble Lady Nian that there are certain things that should not be said in the harem." Although she appeared strong, her tightly clenched and even slightly trembling hands betrayed her inner nervousness.

Nian Shilan stared at her intently for a long time, then gritted her teeth and said, "Well done, truly well done." Afterwards, she angrily flicked her sleeves and stormed away.

Zhen Huan watched Nian Shilan's retreating figure, her eyes flashing. She finally understood. In this harem, if one did not rely on the Emperor, one would be at his mercy. The arrogant and domineering Nian Shilan was like that, and so was she. In the days since she fell out of favor, even Consort Fucha dared to defy her. She could not continue like this.

In the days following his investiture as Crown Prince, Hongzhao did almost nothing else. Aside from attending classes with his father's newly appointed teachers, he spent his days being held in his father's arms while reading memorials.

Since the ceremony, his wardrobe seemed to have been completely changed overnight. Various fabrics, all the same apricot yellow, with different patterns on them. On this day, he was wearing an apricot yellow dress again. He was held softly and fluffy in Yinzhen's arms. Yinzhen held his small hand in his big hand, dipped it in cinnabar, and carefully wrote the character "阅" (read) on the open document in front of him.

Yinzhen ordered all officials to submit memorials congratulating the Crown Prince on his investiture. Thus, the first thing Hongzhao, the Crown Prince, did upon assuming the position was to be led by his father to review the memorials congratulating him.

As he wrote, he added, "All memorials submitted by officials must have imperial annotations. For ordinary greetings, you only need to reply with 'I understand.' If it involves important matters, you can simply write your reply and send it back. If it involves..."

As Hongzhao diligently took notes, he secretly glanced at his earnest father.

During the struggle for the throne among the nine princes, Father certainly didn't receive such meticulous instruction on how to review memorials. Now, as he teaches me word by word with such earnestness, is he perhaps trying to make up for what he did in his childhood?

Thinking of this, he felt a pang of heartache. Sometimes he hated his own overly strong empathy, the excessive emotional burdens he carried. But there was nothing he could do; it was precisely this ability that made him who he was. Perhaps without it, he wouldn't have been able to come into this world.

He was lost in thought and didn't look away. Yinzhen noticed the increasingly intense gaze on his face, smiled, put down his pen, and tapped the child's forehead with the pen handle.

"concentrate."

Hongzhao smiled sweetly, trying to get away with his cuteness, when he heard Su Peisheng outside asking for instructions: "Your Majesty, the New Year's Eve banquet has been arranged, it's time to go out."

Yinzhen put down his pen—"Alright, if you're thinking about playing around, you naturally won't be able to study. Father will take you to see the excitement ahead." With that, he shifted back slightly, gently picked up Hongzhao, and stood up to walk outside.

The servants had become accustomed to the emperor often carrying an extra several dozen pounds of ornaments, and had grown used to it, bowing their heads and following him.

Hongzhao smiled as he watched the monitor in his mind, butterflies fluttering in the plum garden. It was indeed quite a spectacle; he loved watching such excitement.