In the 55th year of Kangxi, the 24th prince was born.
No one knew that inside this little prince's body was actually a dragon cub that had just hatched from its egg.
While still in ...
Yinzhen sat on the couch to take a breath and then looked down at the baby in his arms: "Do you remember who I am?"
"Brother!" Cheng An said, tilting his little head.
The child grew rapidly. Compared with the last time we met, he seemed to be a little taller, and the fat on his face was more obvious.
It was his brother, for sure, but Yinzhen wanted to ask something more specific.
Yinzhen stretched out his hand and pinched his soft little face, then said, "Remember, I am your fourteenth brother."
"Aiya, brother!" Cheng An learned the sentence obediently, but he could only hear the word "brother".
Yinzhen was not a very patient person, so he gave up after teaching him twice.
After Cheng An remembered that he was "Fourteenth Brother", he pointed at his head and said, "Brother, look... "
"What are you looking at? What's wrong with your head?" Yinzhen reached out and touched his head. The child hadn't had his hair shaved yet, so his hair felt short and soft, and felt pretty good.
He touched it a few more times and then looked down, but didn't find anything wrong.
Cheng'an gestured with his little hands above his head, then pointed at his little feet, and babbled to express his problem that his dragon horns and claws were missing.
Yinzhen didn't understand what he meant, but he found his childish voice quite interesting.
Why didn’t I realize that children are so fun before…
He thought to himself, rubbed Cheng'an's head and said, "Wait until you can explain clearly and then tell Fourteenth Brother. Now I will take you to play archery!"
Archery?
When Cheng An heard his words, he tilted his head and looked at him, temporarily forgetting about the claws.
The eunuch who was waiting on the side felt a little headache after hearing Yinzhen's words. After all, the little prince was so young, how could he play with such dangerous things.
As he was thinking, he saw Yinzhen holding the little prince and walking out, so he had to step forward to remind him: "Fourteenth Prince, it's cold outside, the Emperor won't let the little prince go out."
When Emperor Kangxi divided the princes into different titles in the 48th year, Yinzhen was given the title of Gushan Beizi, and now he is no longer a bald prince.
When he heard the eunuch's words, he remembered that his younger brother in his arms was still too young and it was not appropriate to take him out casually.
The warm room was not small. When he was at home, he had played with arrows inside the room before. But this was the Palace of Heavenly Purity after all, so he did not dare to be too presumptuous and finally had to give up the idea.
Yinzhen sat down again with his younger brother in his arms and began to think about what else he could do to play with him.
He had seen Yinzhen reading to Cheng'an last time, but he preferred martial arts to literature, so he had no idea of doing so.
"Brother, come out!" Cheng An saw his brother taking him back to sit down again. He had wanted to go out and play for a long time, so he pointed in the direction of the door and said.
"You can speak fluently now." Yinzhen flicked his forehead and said, "If the emperor won't allow it, forget it."
Cheng'an understood what he said and sighed like a little adult.
"You've learned to sigh at such a young age." Yinzhen was amused by his little appearance and felt that this was truly "pretending to be sad."
Hearing his laughter, Cheng An couldn't help but call him, "Brother."
"Okay, if you can't play archery, I'll take you to play pot-tossing." Yinzhen barely thought of an activity that could be played in the house. Without considering whether his age was suitable for playing, he directly ordered someone to bring the things over.
Touhu is a very simple game, which is to throw arrows into a pot from a certain distance.
After the things were brought up, Cheng'an immediately took an arrow in his hand out of curiosity.
Fortunately, the arrows used for pitching pots had no arrowheads, so there was no fear of hurting him. Yinzhen did not stop him from taking them. He let him sit firmly on the couch and said, "Watch carefully."
As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed an arrow and threw it steadily into the pot.
Cheng'an didn't react at first. When he shot the second arrow, he looked at himself, then at the pot not far away, stretched out his little hands and started clapping.
Yinzhen turned around when he heard the applause and saw him clapping his hands excitedly, with the corners of his lips slightly raised. Then he threw the third arrow in his hand without even looking.
The arrow drew an arc in the air and fell perfectly into the pot with a clang.
"Wow--"
After the little king of flattery let out an exclamation, he clapped his hands even louder.
Seeing his support, Yinzhen immediately became excited, and then he shot a few arrows in succession, and every arrow hit the pot.
After all the arrows were thrown into the tube, Yinzhen turned and walked to the couch: "Do you understand?"
The little guy sitting on the couch didn't answer, but stretched out his arms to him for a hug.
After Yinzhen reached out and picked him up, he placed him not far from the pot: "Try throwing one."
The eunuch next to him looked at the arrow in the little prince's hand which was almost as long as his own, and thought that the Fourteenth Prince was really fooling around. However, he only dared to think about it in his heart and did not dare to show it on his face.
Cheng'an's ability to imitate is still very good. He immediately imitated his previous action, raised the arrow and threw it forward.
After all, he was too young, and the pot was not much shorter than him, so it was impossible for him to hit the target with such a casual throw.
"Don't throw it around like that." Yinzhen saw his actions and squatted down to demonstrate to him.
Cheng An watched his movements and tried to imitate them, but he never made the shot.
He was not disappointed, but found it quite amusing. He then began to grab arrows one after another and threw them around quickly. Soon, the area around the pot was littered with arrows.
"Hahahaha..." Cheng'an, who had thrown a handful of arrows randomly, clapped his hands and laughed, thinking it was so fun.
Seeing that he was so happy even though he didn't hit any of the arrows he threw, Yinzhen shook his head in his heart, reached out to pick him up from behind, and guided him to throw arrows hand in hand.
The first time, Yinzhen was about to shoot the arrow but he didn't let go in time, so the next time he spoke up to remind him: "Let go when I say so."
"Brother!" After finally hitting the target with an arrow, Cheng'an turned around and shouted to him happily.
Yinzhen smiled and said, "Come again."
Although he couldn't hit the target every time with his hands-on teaching, he could at least hit the target a few times out of ten.
After teaching for a while, Yinzhen took his hand back and said, "Try throwing it again yourself."
Cheng An was held in a higher position by him, which made it easier for him to shoot than if he stood on the ground. However, it was still not easy for him to shoot on his own.
This is normal. After all, this set of pitching pots is for adults. The size is not suitable for him and it is difficult for him to exert force.
But Yinzhen refused to believe it and held him closer to the pot, insisting that he hit the target himself.
"Come again."
As soon as Yinzhen finished speaking, Cheng'an turned around to look at him and then let go of his hand. With a "clang" sound, the arrow went straight into the pot.
"Good!" Seeing him hit the target, Yinzhen shouted.
When Kangxi stepped into the door, he saw his fourteenth son standing next to the pot, holding his youngest son. That would have been fine, but he was even bending down slightly. The arrow in the youngest son's hand was only a few inches away from the mouth of the pot, and the arrow would go straight into the pot as soon as he let go.
Seeing that he had the nerve to say "OK" like this, Kangxi didn't know what expression to make for a moment.
The two brothers were so focused on the game of pitching pots that they only realized that Kangxi had returned when the servants in the warm room saluted them.
After Yinzhen put his brother down in his arms and bowed, he realized that time had passed so quickly. It was already noon!
"Ama!" Cheng'an, who was put down from the ground, ran over and hugged Kangxi's legs, then pointed at the pitching pot behind him and started talking "Yiyaya".
"That's called throwing an arrow into a pot. You're just a little short of putting the arrow directly in." Kangxi joked as he looked at his youngest son in front of him, stretched out his hand and asked someone to pass him an arrow, then threw it out casually.
Clang——Dang——
After the arrow entered the pot, it bounced back up and then fell back into the pot.
When Yinzhen heard what his father said, he felt a little embarrassed to think that he was the one playing tossing pots with his brother. But after seeing what his father did, he immediately called out "good".
Cheng An heard his brother's voice and said, "Okay~"
Compared to Yinzhen's clear voice, his voice is soft and milky.
Kangxi was in a very good mood when he heard the cheers of his two sons. He reached out and picked up the youngest son in front of him, and then had someone bring an arrow to him.
Cheng'an took the arrow and threw it out subconsciously, but of course he missed.
Yinzhen, who was standing by, said, "Cheng'an is quite strong, but this arrow is not suitable for him to use. It's a little hard for him to exert force."
Kangxi nodded, and after randomly throwing a few arrows and getting applause from his youngest son, he ordered the things to be taken away.
It was already late. After taking a look at his younger brother who was held in the arms of the Emperor, Yinzhen was about to bow and leave, but Kangxi, who was in a good mood, asked him to stay for dinner.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Yinzhen didn't expect such a good thing to happen. He thanked the emperor and stayed.
This was the first time Cheng An saw his brother at the dinner table, and he became a little excited.
Seeing that he couldn't sit still as if there were thorns on his body, Kangxi reached out and patted his little butt: "Sit still."
After he finished speaking, Cheng An sat obediently in his arms for a while, then turned his head and looked in Yin Zhen's direction and called out, "Brother."
After Kangxi came back, Yinzhen was not as unbridled as before. He only nodded slightly when Kangxi called him.
By the time the father and his two sons sat down, the lunch cover on the table had already been opened and the aroma immediately filled the air.
A bowl of Cheng'an's special egg custard was first delivered to Kangxi. He picked up the spoon and fed his son a mouthful.
Yinzhen, who was standing by, was secretly shocked to see that his father not only "held the baby" but also fed him personally.
Don’t underestimate this simple bowl of egg custard. It actually contains a lot of delicious ingredients. It tastes fresh and tender, so delicious that you can even swallow it with your tongue.
Cheng'an still likes to eat this egg custard very much, but he has eaten too much recently and it is no longer as attractive as before. Therefore, he keeps looking at Yinzhen while eating, probably because he thinks it is novel to have a brother eating with him.
Kangxi saw that he was working hard to feed him, but he was only thinking about his brother next to him. Since Kangxi liked his brother so much, he should let his brother feed him and he could still have a good lunch.
Thinking of this, he stuffed the person directly into Yinzhen's arms, and at the same time signaled Liang Jiugong to bring the egg custard over.
"Emperor Father..."
After Yinzhen understood what his father meant, he was a little at a loss as he had no experience in feeding anyone.
"It's rare that Cheng'an is close to you, so as his elder brother, you must take good care of him." After Kangxi finished speaking, he picked up the bowl and chopsticks and started eating.