The Fourteenth Prince ultimately left the capital to continue serving as the Grand General of the Pacification Army, commanding 200,000 troops. The Fourth Prince, however, remained busy in the palace every day.
Life in the inner quarters flew by, with everyone holding each other back and no one daring to act rashly. But things that happened to the children were what really got the adults on edge.
That day, the children went to school in the front yard as usual. From the very first day at the elementary school, Hongsheng and Hongli had been at odds. Hongzhou, being the youngest, naturally sat in the first row. Although Hongsheng was older than Hongli, he was slightly shorter, so he sat in front of him. Hongshi, being the oldest, naturally sat at the back. He was usually quiet and didn't speak to the three younger children. Hongli, Hongsheng, and Hongzhou were also unfamiliar with this older brother and didn't initiate conversation.
Hongsheng received a set of Huizhou ink and the Four Treasures of the Study, which he then brought to the school to show off. Seeing that Hongli's attire was no less impressive than his own, he gradually developed a competitive spirit. Hongshi was much older than them, so Hongsheng wouldn't compare himself to him; Hongzhou was born to Lady Geng, so he disdained comparing himself to him. Only Hongli's mother and his mother were both concubines, so he couldn't help but compare himself to Hongli. In his studies, Hongsheng was initially inferior to Hongli, but Lady Nian didn't often reprimand him, so Hongsheng increasingly wanted to surpass Hongli in other areas.
Today, he brought the newly acquired Huizhou ink sticks, intending to give some to his teacher because the teacher liked them.
The teacher had not yet arrived, so the group of them studied together.
"This was given to me by my uncle, come and see!" Hongsheng said, deliberately raising his voice towards Hongli.
Hongshi saw that the ink stick in Hongsheng's hand was indeed of good quality, so he got up from his desk, walked to his desk, and looked at the ink stick.
Hongzhou also got up to go and see, but Hongli didn't go to see, and didn't even move his body, still concentrating on studying.
Hongshi took the ink stick and looked at it, then asked, "Did your uncle give it to you?"
Hong Sheng said smugly, "Yes, it was a gift from my uncle. It's said that Huizhou ink is the best, and its production is extremely limited. Didn't the master tell us that I wanted to give half to him and the other half to my second brother?"
Hongzhou stood aside and watched. Seeing that Hongli remained unmoved, he turned around and tried to walk back to his seat.
"Thank you, Third Brother, but I can't accept something for nothing. You should keep this ink stick for yourself." With that, Hongshi put down the ink stick and returned to his seat.
“Hongzhou, come and take a look. You clearly wanted to see it, but you were too embarrassed to ask.” Hongsheng grabbed Hongzhou and said when he saw that he hadn’t managed to get Hongli to come over.
Hongzhou turned around and said to Hongsheng, "I've already checked it in my second brother's hands, and it is indeed good ink. However, I still have some books to study, so I won't look at it any longer. Thank you."
Hongzhou was always very gentle and polite. Although Madam Geng was strict with him, she taught him quite well in this respect.
Seeing that his ink hadn't created the expected sensation, Hong Sheng felt a little displeased. When Hong Zhou said this, he retorted, "It's not fair. I'll show you, and you still won't look. You've never seen anything like it!"
Hongzhou felt quite aggrieved after Hongsheng said that, but he was kind-hearted by nature and cautious like Gengshi, so he had no choice but to ignore Hongsheng's sarcasm.
"It's just an ink stick, yet you take it out to show off as if everyone else doesn't have one," Hongli retorted sarcastically.
"Who are you talking about!" Hongsheng shouted shrilly when he saw that Hongli was making things difficult for him at this moment.
"Hongzhou, come to my place after school. I'll give you a piece of ink; it was a gift from my grandfather. He said that only he has that ink stick." Hongli ignored Hongsheng's shouts and spoke to Hongzhou, who was sitting in the first row, across from him.
“Oh. Alright. Grandfather’s things are definitely something no one else has,” Hongzhou said sarcastically. The two exchanged a glance and smiled knowingly at each other.
"What good stuff do you have? Why don't you show it to us? You're just trying to scare us. Why would your grandfather give you his ink?" Hongsheng was already furious when he saw the two of them working together to mock him, and he shouted at Hongli.
Hongshi was originally quite indifferent to the rift between his brothers, but when he heard that Hongli actually possessed a unique ink stick bestowed by Emperor Kangxi, he felt a little strange.
"Like a frog at the bottom of a well, thinking that the sky above its head is the whole world," Hongli said disdainfully.
"Who are you calling a frog in a well?" Hongsheng was completely enraged by Hongli's aloof demeanor. Sometimes, Lady Nian would scold him, saying that although he was born before Hongli, he was named later. From these scattered snippets of conversation with Lady Nian, Hongsheng had been instilled with the wrong idea that Hongli's birth had taken away what should have been his.
“I didn’t name names. Whoever thinks they are, then they are!” Hongli said with a smile.
Hong Sheng was furious and suddenly stood up from his seat. Because he was slightly overweight, his movement caused the table to tumble and fall to the floor.
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