Before you know it, it's time for little Hongjing's first birthday celebration again.

Originally, the Fourth Prince didn't have many sons, so even if the Fifth Prince Hongjing's first birthday celebration wasn't a big affair, it couldn't just be a lively affair in his own residence.

However, the relationship between Kangxi and the Crown Prince was no longer as close as before, and the atmosphere in the court became increasingly tense.

In fact, due to the tense relationship between the two sides, the Fourth Prince, who sided with the Crown Prince, suffered and was reprimanded by Emperor Kangxi several times.

Even though the Fourth Prince knew that his father, the Emperor, was scolding him but actually referring to the Crown Prince, he was still in a bad mood.

Because the Emperor had repeatedly disrespected the Crown Prince, reprimanding him in front of the entire court.

This indicates that the Emperor is dissatisfied with the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince's position is in jeopardy.

In fact, the Fourth Prince was also dissatisfied with the Crown Prince, dissatisfied that he allowed his subordinates to run rampant. This country was going to belong to the Crown Prince in the future, but now he was letting his subordinates ruin it. The Fourth Prince was disappointed in the Crown Prince and dissatisfied with him.

However, at his father's behest, he had followed the Crown Prince for so many years, and the Crown Prince had treated him fairly well. So even though he was disappointed and dissatisfied, deep down he was still on the Crown Prince's side.

Of course, he had considered starting his own business before.

But ever since he gave up that idea, even now that the Crown Prince is like this, even if the Fourth Prince has such a thought for a moment, he still hopes that the Crown Prince will change.

But as the days went by, he noticed that the relationship between his father and the crown prince was becoming increasingly tense.

Moreover, any household that was bustling with people coming and going was reprimanded for forming cliques...

At such a time, the Fourth Prince was too busy closing the door to guests, so he decided to just have a lively celebration at home for Little Hongjing's first birthday celebration.

However, the Fourth Master's brothers still sent gifts from their residences.

In particular, the Ninth Prince, after hearing from the Tenth Prince that his younger brother was also a money-grubber, felt that he was very similar to himself, and specially commissioned two very exquisite and beautiful abacuses to be sent to the Fourth Prince's residence.

One of them was gold. The Ninth Prince originally intended to give this one, but after hearing that the gold abacus he had given to the Fourth Prince Hongxuan was also in his brother's hands, he decided to give something different instead.

However, since the little golden abacus has already been made, why not make a little jade abacus as well? One is a gift, and two are also gifts. The Ninth Prince is a god of wealth, and it's not like he can't afford to give away such a small thing.

So, when Hongjing was chosen for his first birthday celebration, his eyes lit up as soon as he saw the two small abacuses, one gold and one jade, on the table.

After learning to walk, Xiao Hongjing stopped crawling, but he disliked walking being too slow, so he quickly crawled toward the two little abacuses.

The Fourth Master's face immediately darkened.

Her own son didn't resemble her; instead, he looked like the ninth son.

He didn't dislike the Ninth Prince for being greedy, but rather for his other shortcomings.

At this moment, Fourth Master thought to himself: I must never be like Ninth Master, who is greedy for money and lustful, always hanging around as a merchant and never doing any related work.

Jiaming didn't seem to care about it, but she quickly glanced at the people present, and they were all extremely gloating.

Clearly, everyone thought that her Fifth Prince was like his Ninth Uncle, a money-grubber, and that he would also be disliked by the Emperor, just like the Ninth Prince was not favored by the Emperor.

The fact that the master looked so unpleasant at that moment became evidence that they were certain of this idea.

Jiaming: Hehe!

She didn't think the Fourth Master disliked Hongjing's greed. Otherwise, why would he occasionally pick out things to tease him?

However, since everyone thinks that way, let them think that way too!

In the blink of an eye, Jiaming's calm expression changed.

Her face was a little pale, her lips were pursed, and her eyes were fixed on the Fifth Prince Hongjing, who was holding two small abacuses. Her fingers were tightly clenched on the handkerchief, as if she wanted to pierce it.

Fourth Prince and Hongxuan: "..." Guarjia (Mother) changes her expression so quickly!

However, the father and son were quite tacit about Jiaming's acting; they silently looked away from her and pretended not to notice.

After the baby's first birthday celebration, Fourth Prince went to Peach Garden with Jiaming. As for Hongxuan, since it was his younger brother's special day, Fourth Prince gave him the day off and allowed him to stay at Peach Garden for one night.

So, Hongxuan and his entourage also returned to Taoyuan together.

The women in the back courtyard knew that today was the day the Fifth Prince would have his first birthday celebration, and that the Prince had gone to the Peach Blossom Courtyard. Since this was a tacitly accepted rule, their expressions were all perfectly normal.

After arriving at Peach Garden, Fourth Master hugged little Hongjing and then placed him on the kang (heated brick bed).

Hongxuan nimbly climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and started playing with his younger brother.

As for the Fourth Master, he turned to talk to Jiaming.

"Ming'er, I have something to tell you."

Jiaming handed a cup of hot tea to Fourth Master, saying, "Please speak, Your Highness, I'm listening!"

After taking the drink, Fourth Master did not drink it, but put it on the table and said, "Hongjing, you need to be more careful. It's one thing for him to be greedy, but don't let him have any pretty maids around him. We can't let him become like Ninth Master."

Jiaming chuckled, "Master, you're so funny. Hongjing is a money-grubber, but it's not like he hasn't seen good-looking people before, and he hasn't shown any interest in any of them!"

Hongxuan, who was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), was speechless after hearing these words.

The Fourth Prince's expression remained serious. "There aren't any now, but we still need to be prepared just in case."

Jiaming looked at little Hongjing, who was playing happily on the kang, with pity. In the future, the little guy would probably be surrounded by an old nanny, a eunuch, or a plain-looking maid.

Then, Jiaming replied to the Fourth Master, "I understand, I'll listen to you, Master."

“There’s more!” Fourth Master said, frowning.

Jiaming: "Anything else?"

The Fourth Prince nodded and continued, "Hongjing has already had his first birthday celebration. He's precocious, so you shouldn't spoil him too much. It's not good if he develops a habit like that." If you spoil him too much, he might end up like Consort Yi in the palace, who spoiled her Fifth Prince into having the personality of the Ninth Prince. That won't do.

Jiaming: "...Even if a child is precocious, they are still quite young. It's not a bad thing to spoil them a bit!"

On the kang (heated brick bed), Hongxuan nodded inwardly to his mother, thinking the same thing; his father must be overthinking it.

However, Jiaming noticed out of the corner of her eye that the Fourth Prince seemed to disagree, so she quickly added, "Don't worry, even if I spoil him, I will know my limits and won't spoil him. Besides, look at Hongxuan when he was a child. He was spoiled, but he wasn't spoiled."

The Fourth Master thought for a moment and immediately nodded, "Then you decide what to do! But you can't interfere when I'm teaching him."

Jiaming: "...Master, you're overthinking it. When you were teaching Hongxuan, I didn't get involved at all."

Fourth Master remained expressionless. "Hmm!"

Jiaming watched as the Fourth Master picked up his teacup and took a sip of hot tea, and thought to herself: Pretentious, humph, he must have choked on his own words!