Although the event happened suddenly, everyone understood what it meant. The Thirteenth Prince was set to get married this year, and there had been precedents for this before.
Before the Eighth Prince got married, Emperor Kangxi issued an edict to promote Lady Wei to the rank of Consort Liang. Now that the Thirteenth Prince is about to get married, it is not surprising that Lady Zhangjia will be promoted to Consort Min.
After years of hardship, Lady Zhangjia has now become a concubine, and her son is about to get married. Everything is going in a good direction, and she has a lot of hope for the future.
A month later, after the imperial concubine selection was completed, Emperor Kangxi indeed issued an edict to marry Zhaojia, the daughter of Minister Marhan, to the thirteenth prince.
With the imperial edict issued, Yinxiang finally felt relieved. What he didn't know was that if he hadn't sought help from Emperor Kangxi, his wife would have become a member of the Hesheli clan.
Now, thanks to Yinxiang's bravery, he and Lady Zhaojia can be considered to have tied the knot of a past life.
The wedding date had not yet been set, so the Imperial Household Department was making preparations for the Thirteenth Prince's wedding. Lady Zhangjia would also visit from time to time, hoping to make the wedding a success.
After the imperial concubine selection ended, Liang Jiugong's investigation also yielded results. With a major task completed and the palace now relatively empty, Kangxi ordered the reorganization of the harem.
This rectification involved an extremely large number of people. Several bondservant families had their homes confiscated, and countless stewards in the Imperial Household Department were killed or demoted.
After the reorganization was completed, when Yunyi went to Chengqian Palace to pay her respects, she could clearly feel that there were far fewer people in the palace.
In the past, many palace maids and eunuchs would sweep and clean the long palace road. Today, when entering the palace, the palace road was much emptier.
On the way back to the manor after paying her respects, Wanzhou couldn't help but sigh to her master, "This crackdown is really serious; so many people have been wiped out."
The Yongjun Prince's Mansion was also affected by this cleanup targeting bondservants.
Kangxi took a look and discovered that the fourth prince's household was full of bondservant girls bestowed by their elders, and not a single one came from a high-ranking family.
This made him somewhat displeased. Without asking his son's opinion, Kangxi raised his hand and pointed to two daughters of minor officials from respectable families to enter the mansion.
Yunyi was also somewhat troubled by this, but at the same time she was glad that she had anticipated Kangxi's behavior and had filled the backyard with many of her own people.
The two new princesses who entered the household this time were both daughters of fifth-rank officials; one was from the Xitala clan, and the other from the Niohuru clan.
But don't get me wrong. Although this Niohuru clan woman was the daughter of a fifth-rank official, she was not the long-lived empress dowager in history, nor the mother of the spendthrift Emperor Qianlong.
Niohuru is a common Manchu surname with a large number of people. This Niohuru princess is just someone who shares the same surname as Emperor Qianlong's birth mother, but is not the same person.
Because she already had three sons and a daughter, Yunyi did not give the two newcomers any medicine.
Firstly, she no longer needed to worry about the princesses in the inner palace having children that would threaten her position. Secondly, this was the first time Kangxi had bestowed someone into his household, so she couldn't go too far.
The two newly arrived princesses were both fifteen or sixteen years old, in the prime of their youth. However, having entered the household of Yinzhen, a workaholic who disliked women and loved only work, they were destined not to receive much favor.
When the new lady entered the mansion, Yinzhen, as was customary, spent two nights there by himself. After that, all the time was arranged: ten days at the residence of the Fujin (Prince Consort), five days at the residence of Zhongce Fujin (Consort Zhong), three days at the residence of Songshi and Zhangjiashi (Lady Zhangjia), and one day at the residence of Wuyashi (Lady Wuya).
These two new princesses, like Uya, were all allocated one day of the month.
Niohuru had no objection to this. She knew long before entering the manor that the prince loved his wife the most, and even now that she had seen the arrangements made by the manor, she had no complaints.
The first wife was the Fujin, followed by the secondary wife, Zhong, then Song Gege who had given birth to a child and Zhangjia Gege who was raising a child.
Like the unfavored Princess Wuya, they had no family background, no favor, and no children, so it was normal for them to only receive one day's worth of gifts each month.
Niohuru accepted her fate, but Xitala was not one to give up easily.
Soon, a series of vying-for-favor tactics emerged in the backyard, which Song Shi and Wuya Shi watched with smiles but remained silent.
Since the downfall of Consort De, of the Uya clan, the already low-profile Uya clan has become even more low-profile, almost like an invisible person in the mansion, with little presence.
Fortunately, Yunyi was not the kind of wicked mistress. She was very strict in managing the household affairs and did not exhibit the kind of opportunistic behavior that occurs in the palace.
So although Lady Wuya was low-key and down on her luck, she had food and drink in the backyard and there were no disputes. Yinzhen's other concubines were all kind people who would not mock or bully her.
From another perspective, Uya was doing quite well.
When Song saw Xitala's series of actions, he smiled but said nothing.
It's been so many years since I've seen this scene. The last person to do this is probably already overgrown with weeds by now.
Madam Song shook her head, somewhat amused, and thought to herself, "Young people are indeed full of energy. Older women like me can only do our jobs well in a down-to-earth manner, because we know that the Fujin (Madam) will not mistreat us."
She now has two daughters to raise, and her grandfather comes to visit from time to time. She has children and receives a fair amount of pampering, so she lives a very comfortable life in the backyard.
Madam Song had already planned it all out. After her husband passed away, the eldest prince would inherit the title, and by then her two daughters would be married.
She was on good terms with the Fujin (Prince's wife), and with this relationship, the eldest prince would not neglect his sisters in the future, and she wouldn't have to worry about her retirement life in the Prince's mansion.
Xitala's behavior undoubtedly aroused Yinzhen's disgust. This familiar tactic reminded Yinzhen of that woman, and in his extreme anger, he directly ordered Xitala to be confined to her quarters for six months.
Afterwards, Yinzhen sent another nanny over to teach Xitala the rules, focusing on some of the regulations of the mansion.
I learned from the old nanny the story of the former Princess Li, and that she had been neglected for a long time because of her attempts to curry favor, which finally silenced her and made her dare not do anything more.
The new princesses didn't cause any trouble. One was quiet, and the other made a fuss for a while before being suppressed by Yinzhen. Nothing really happened.
Yunyi asked Wanzhou to keep an eye on everyone in the manor, putting the matter of the two new princesses out of her mind and focusing on raising her own children.
Hongxuan will be five years old next year and will go to the Imperial Academy to study. Yunyi can only make the most of this last year to spend with her son. As he grows older, the time they can be this close will become less and less.
In the blink of an eye, another three years have passed, and the twins from back then have now grown into three-year-old little toddlers.
The two children run around in Yunyi's yard every day, damaging many flowers and plants.
These two little rascals are really naughty, and with two children around, Yunyi only feels that her troubles are doubled.
And this was with the help of palace maids and nannies. She really couldn't imagine how modern young women could take care of two children by themselves. It was amazing.
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