"Hmm? Is that really true?"
Bai Zhi was afraid that her mistress wouldn't believe her, so she quickly explained, "My mistress, it's all over the place. Now that the prince has been promoted to Prince Yong, there's one more concubine position available. You were promoted from the inner court, so the other one must be a young lady selected from the outside."
Yunyi remembered that Yinzhen only had two concubines: one was Concubine Li Wanrou, and the other was the famous Little Rice Cake, Concubine Nian.
But it seems that Lady Nian was appointed to the Kangxi Emperor's household in the fiftieth year, and it has only been forty-eight years now, so it shouldn't be that fast!
However, it didn't matter. Although Lady Nian had a high status and was very favored, all of her children died young and none of them lived to adulthood.
Yunyi's eldest son is about to get married, so it doesn't matter whether there are new brides entering the household or not. She has seniority and many children, so she is not afraid of these things at all.
Yunyi took a bite of fruit gracefully and said calmly, "It's alright. Whether it's brought up from the backyard or pointed in from the outside, I, your master, am the first. My seniority speaks for itself, so there's nothing to worry about."
"Yes, Your Highness is right. I was mistaken." Bai Zhi nodded, feeling that her mistress was right. She had been too worried and didn't have the same good mindset as her mistress.
Putting aside her worries, Bai Zhi focused on serving her mistress and stopped being distracted.
After the imperial decree conferring the title of Prince was issued, the household was indeed in an uproar for a long time. The Princess Consort thought it was a great joyous occasion, so she discussed with Yinzhen the idea of holding a family banquet to celebrate his conferment of the title of Prince.
During this special period, Yinzhen did not want to be too high-profile and originally intended to refuse.
But the princess said that since it was a joyous occasion, it wouldn't hurt to celebrate, and that she wouldn't invite her brothers or court officials, but only people from the household to celebrate together.
Thinking that what his wife said did make some sense, Yinzhen hesitated for a moment, but still agreed.
Three days later, the Imperial Household Department came and replaced the plaque on the mansion with a new one, and the Prince's Mansion became the Yongqin Prince's Mansion.
That evening, the princess consort hosted a banquet in the front courtyard flower hall to celebrate her husband's conferment of the title of Prince Yong.
All the masters and mistresses of the mansion were present at the banquet.
Yinzhen and his wife sat at the head of the table, with Consort Song on his left and Consort Li on his right.
The seating arrangement was based on the time of entry into the mansion. Below Yunyi were Wuya, Niohuru, and An, while Li Wanrou's side was Wu, Geng, and Hai.
The princes and princesses in the mansion were at the very back; they were arranged according to their age.
After everyone had arrived, Yinzhen and his wife exchanged a few words, and the banquet began.
It was a joyous occasion! The master had been promoted to a higher rank, and the wives and concubines in the harem were also benefiting from this. The young princes and princesses in the manor were also given more prestigious status.
Yunyi felt it more deeply. Before, she was a concubine of a prince, but now she has become a concubine of a prince. Everything is better than before.
During the meal, it was Li Wanrou who couldn't contain herself any longer. She stood up and said with a coquettish smile, "Congratulations, Your Highness, on your promotion to Prince. This is a gift I prepared for you to congratulate you."
Yinzhen remained expressionless, instructed Su Peisheng to accept the gift, and offered a perfunctory thank you.
Li Wanrou was taken aback by this reaction, and the smile on her face froze on her lips. She sat down somewhat awkwardly.
Seeing this, Qi Buchen shook his head helplessly. His mother was just too impatient. The concubine hadn't done anything, yet she was rushing to do it. Wasn't that disrupting the rules?
Yunyi was close by, and she saw Li Wanrou's embarrassed expression clearly.
It was somewhat funny, and also somewhat surreal. This scene seemed familiar; it was just like this many years ago when she and Li Wanrou entered the manor together.
Unexpectedly, after more than a decade and so many things, her personality remains the same: childish and arrogant.
Li Wanrou started by giving out gifts. After she sat down, because of the awkward atmosphere earlier, no one dared to make a move for a moment.
Another reason is that the concubine didn't make a move; they wanted to wait until she finished delivering the offerings before proceeding.
Knowing what everyone was thinking, Yunyi gently stood up after Li Wanrou sat down and presented the things she had prepared.
This time, Yinzhen was quite accommodating, his tone softened slightly, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
Comparing the two, one in front and one behind, Li Wanrou, not far away, snorted inwardly and rolled her eyes.
Only after the concubine took action did the others dare to make a move.
First the concubines in the back courtyard, then the princes and princesses in the mansion.
Looking at the grown-up eldest prince, everyone envied the concubine.
Especially the two women, An and Hai, who were the last to enter the household, have not yet conceived, while the children of the concubines are already married.
Touching their still-unfeeling bellies, they lowered their eyes, concealing the desolation within them.
On their joyous day, they should smile and be happy; they must not show such a sad expression.
After everyone had given their gifts, Wuya stood up, and everyone was drawn to her gesture, turning their gazes to her.
When the gifts were being given out, Uya didn't get up, so everyone thought she didn't have anything to give.
After all, her situation in the manor was special. Although she was a princess, she was confined to her quarters for ten years and was only released after Niohuru pleaded for her.
Because of her poor health, she has been resting quietly since leaving home, not seeing outsiders, not participating in greeting activities, and is rarely seen on weekdays. The master never summons her to serve him in bed, only going to check on her every ten days or half a month.
She hadn't originally wanted to come to this family banquet, but the Fujin (wife of the Fujin) felt it wouldn't be good to have one less person, so she specially invited her to come.
Uya remained silent until everyone had finished speaking. Then she stood up, a faint smile on her lips. She was slender and looked as delicate as a willow in the wind. She then spoke.
"My lord, I am not feeling well and have not prepared anything. This is a medicinal wine that I brewed according to Doctor Liu's recipe. I will not say how effective it is, but it tastes quite good. I will bring it out for everyone at today's family banquet to add to the festivities. Just treat it as ordinary wine."
Now that things had come to this point, it wouldn't be appropriate for Yinzhen to refuse outright. However, given Wuya's past record, it seemed inappropriate to offer her brewed wine to everyone so hastily, leaving him somewhat hesitant.
Uya had anticipated this, and without changing her expression, she spoke up to defuse the situation for herself.
"This is medicinal wine after all, so it's normal for you to have some concerns. How about this, sir, you can have a doctor take a look at it and make sure it's okay before you bring it to everyone to drink."
Niohuru, holding the one-and-a-half-year-old Eighth Prince Hongli in her arms, sensed that the atmosphere was a bit off. Remembering that she had a better relationship with Uya, she spoke up to try to ease the tension.
“My lord, you may not know this, but Sister Wuya’s medicinal wine is a very good thing. My health has not been very good since I gave birth to the Eighth Prince. Because I am on good terms with Sister Wuya, I drank this medicinal wine. After drinking it for a while, I did feel better.”
With Lady Niohuru as a witness, Yinzhen had even less reason to say anything. He could only have Su Peisheng take the medicinal wine downstairs and let the doctor in the manor examine it in front of everyone.
After several doctors examined her, they all said there was no problem and even praised Wuya Gege's fermented rice wine, saying it was very effective and that drinking more of it would indeed be beneficial.
Yinzhen was relieved. Since the wine was fine and even beneficial, he instructed the maid to pour it for everyone to drink.
Uya knew that everyone might still have doubts, so she drank the wine first after it was poured. Only after seeing her like this did the others dare to drink.
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