On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Fourth Prince and his wife went to the palace early in the morning.
The court robes were a bit cumbersome. According to the Fourth Prince's current title of Prince, his wife wore a three-tiered crown with gold embroidery. The base was decorated with ten pearls stacked together, and the top pearl was a large ruby, surrounded by various gemstones.
His court robes were even more elaborate. When he got off the carriage at the palace gate, the Fourth Prince got off first and raised his arm.
The princess consort intended to help the fourth prince down from the carriage by the back of his hand, but she found that the fourth prince moved his arm expressionlessly.
The princess bit her lip, knowing the Fourth Prince's temper, and took the opportunity to get off the carriage with his arm.
The Fourth Prince was going to the Qianqing Palace first, while his wife was going to the Yonghe Palace, the residence of Consort De in the inner palace.
Before leaving, the Fourth Prince said without looking to the side, "Princess Consort, stay with Mother. I will go to Yonghe Palace to see Mother later."
This was to let the Fujin (wife of the emperor) inform Consort De that he would go to Yonghe Palace to pay his respects.
The Fujin responded, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the Third Prince's carriage beside her, where he was showing concern for a beautiful woman. Then she looked at the Third Fujin, Dong E, who was sitting alone in a carriage with a terrible complexion.
The princess felt a little better.
Although she and the Fourth Prince remained silent throughout the carriage ride, it was still better than the Third Prince spoiling his two concubines to the point of blaming the primary wife.
The Third Prince's wife was feeling extremely nauseous at the moment. When she saw the Fourth Prince's wife, she forced a smile and walked arm in arm with her.
The Third Prince's wife cursed as she walked, "Sister-in-law, you have no idea how arrogant this man has become since he took a concubine—"
The Fujin knew that her fourth master had no intention of taking a concubine for the time being, and since the most favored woman in the mansion, Li, had not yet conceived, she was not worried at the moment.
The third wife's complaints were met with a mere smile from the first wife.
They were all primary wives, so naturally they wished that their own harems would never have secondary wives for the rest of their lives.
Consort Rong and Consort De's palaces were quite far apart, so the Fujin (Prince Consort) soon parted ways with the Third Fujin. The Fujin was welcomed into Yonghe Palace by Granny Zhao, and before even entering the main hall, she could hear the cheerful laughter inside.
Upon entering the palace, the Fujin (Prince Consort) saw the face of a beautiful but unfamiliar young girl. Consort De and Consort Cheng were both there, clapping and laughing because of what the girl had said.
The Fujin's expression immediately darkened, thinking that the Consort De was planning to send more people into the household.
There was just one Wu Gege, and on Laba Festival, Xu Mama used the name of Consort De to force her to let Wu Gege assist her. Now another one has come. What is the point of having her as the Fujin?
Consort De noticed the unusual expression on the Fujin's face as she entered, and her good mood, which was about to arrive for the New Year, immediately dissipated.
Consort De's smile faded: "The fourth prince's wife has arrived, please sit down."
The seated young woman rose shyly, bowed, and said, "Greetings to the Fourth Princess Consort."
The princess gave a perfunctory reply.
Consort Cheng thought the Fujin was in a bad mood, so she smiled at the young girl to ease the tension and said, "Please sit down, please sit down."
Consort De glanced at the Fujin and smiled at the young girl: "For now, you should still call her Fourth Fujin, but next spring you should call her Fourth Sister-in-law."
The young woman was none other than Nara, the primary consort chosen by His Majesty for the Seventh Prince.
After a moment of shyness, Lady Nara said, "If Your Majesty is in a hurry to make me change my address, then I will ask the Fourth Prince's wife for a change of address fee."
Consort De laughed again: "You sly little thing, you've already got your eye on the fourth prince's wife as soon as she arrived? Take a look, it must be because you spoiled her."
As Consort De spoke, she affectionately nudged Consort Cheng.
These days, Lady Nara often comes to the palace to pay her respects. This girl is sweet-talking but also knows her limits, which is a good match for the somewhat dull Seventh Prince.
Upon hearing this, the Fujin (principal wife) immediately realized that she had misunderstood. Her face flushed, and she seized the opportunity to interject.
Before entering the palace, the Fourth Prince asked his daughter-in-law to tell him that he would come to visit his mother later, saying that he was too busy with official duties to come see her.
Consort De liked to hear this, smiled, and acted as if the earlier incident had never happened.
The Fourth Prince did come to Yonghe Palace before lunch, but he did not stay long.
He didn't know that the Nara clan's daughter was also there; if he had known, he probably wouldn't have entered Yonghe Palace at all.
After all, the marriage between Lady Nara and the Seventh Prince had not yet taken place. The Fourth Prince always followed the rules and knew that Lady Nara's daughter was also there. After sitting outside the curtain in the palace for a while, the Fourth Prince went to the Princes' quarters to see the Thirteenth Prince.
The evening banquet proceeded as usual, but the Crown Prince fell ill after lunch and did not attend the evening banquet.
Emperor Kangxi had already generously rewarded the little grandson born in Yuqing Palace to the Crown Prince, so it was inconvenient to reward him again now. Instead, he simply ordered the Imperial Kitchen to cook extra Laba porridge and send it to Yuqing Palace as a gesture of goodwill.
Since Yuqing Palace was given Laba porridge, the other princes who had already established their own residences should not be treated the same way.
With a wave of his hand, His Majesty simply bestowed Laba porridge upon the residences of several princes who had established their own mansions as well.
It is indeed quite strange that the Crown Prince suddenly fell ill.
While the toasting was taking place, the Fourteenth Prince leaned close to the Fourth Prince and whispered curiously, "My brother just ran into the Second Brother in the Imperial Garden at noon. How come he's suddenly sick?"
The Fourth Prince pushed the fruit wine in front of him aside and asked, "When did you go to the Imperial Garden? That's why I didn't see you at the Princes' Quarters."
The Fourteenth Prince lowered his head guiltily: "Isn't this—the Eighth Brother invited his younger brother to play?"
Upon hearing this, the Fourth Prince frowned deeply, not having time to ponder why the Crown Prince had suddenly fallen ill.
He had no idea when Fourteenth Brother and Eighth Brother had started hanging out together.
Knowing that his younger brother was playful at this age, the Fourth Prince did not scold him with a stern face. He simply said, "You have time to play with your Eighth Brother, but don't you think about how your Thirteenth Brother is waiting for you at the Prince's Residence to have lunch together?"
Fourth Master couldn't keep an eye on Fourteenth Master all the time, and Thirteenth Master was still feeling down lately, so the two little devils could find something to do together.
When the Fourteenth Prince heard what the Fourth Prince said, he immediately felt very guilty. After looking around the banquet again, he saw the Thirteenth Prince standing alone and felt even more apologetic.
"Then next time when Myna invites me to play, should I bring Thirteenth Brother along too?"
I'm just worried that the eighth prince might find the thirteenth prince in the way.
Fourth Master had seen Eighth Prince gracefully gesturing with a wine cup at banquets quite often.
The Fourth Prince did not want his younger brother and the Eighth Prince to get too involved, or rather, he did not want the Fourteenth Prince and the Prince Zhi behind the Eighth Prince to be implicated.
While the Fourth Prince was distracted, the Fourteenth Prince had already pulled the Thirteenth Prince to his side.
Although the Thirteenth Prince did not know when he had been waiting for the Fourteenth Prince to have lunch, he obediently nodded when he heard the Fourteenth Prince say that it was the Fourth Prince who had told him.
The other princes were either talking with court officials or toasting with members of the royal family, but the Fourth Prince had two little brats standing next to him, preventing them from touching the fruit wine on the table.
The Thirteenth Prince wasn't a glutton; it was just that the Fourteenth Prince wanted to find someone to help him persuade his Fourth Brother to give in.
Emperor Kangxi, sitting at the very top, naturally saw it as well.
This deep brotherly affection reminded him of his childhood friendship with Prince Fuquan.
Emperor Kangxi did not show it on his face, but the next day he summoned the thirteenth prince to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to have lunch with him.
Emperor Kangxi could not be blind to right and wrong.
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