In the thirty-fourth year of Kangxi's reign, Kangxi was forty-two years old, entering the forty-year mark of his life. At this age, he could be considered an old man in this era.
His eldest grandson, Hongfen, is already eleven years old. In another three or four years, he will be able to marry a wife and start a family.
Because of the attack in 1899, Kangxi's health was not very good. After several years of recuperation, he had recovered somewhat, but he still could not exert himself or overwork.
Yinzhi had been the crown prince for four or five years, and Emperor Kangxi was quite satisfied with his successor's performance.
Because he didn't have high hopes as before, and with low expectations, Kangxi was actually very satisfied with Yinzhi's performance.
The situation is different; Yinzhi's circumstances are much better than those of the previous Crown Prince Yinreng.
He had brothers from the same mother to help him, a sensible maternal clan to support him, and a favored and high-ranking mother to serve Kangxi.
Moreover, he had fewer competing brothers and his reborn cousin was there to help him, so his path was smooth and steady.
In recent years, thanks to the presence of the Imperial Noble Consort in the palace, all four sons of the Ma family have enjoyed successful official careers.
The first three young masters all earned their martial arts skills through hard-fought battles on the battlefield.
The youngest son, the fourth son, entered officialdom through the imperial examination, starting from the Hanlin Academy. Now, at the age of thirty, he has already become a fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Personnel.
Now that he has a nephew who is the crown prince, it is easy to imagine that his official career will be extremely smooth. Within ten years, he may even become the Minister.
Grandpa Ma Jia was a visionary and decisive man. He did not choose his eldest son, but passed the position of head of the family to his youngest son. From then on, Ma Jia Yunhu's lineage became the main branch of the Ma Jia family.
On the one hand, it was because the youngest son, Congwen, was indeed more suited to this mentally demanding job than his three older brothers.
On the other hand, it was because of his grandson Jinzhen, who showed extraordinary intelligence from a young age, even surpassing his father.
Seeing that his youngest son's family had a better chance of success, he disregarded societal norms and chose his youngest son as the head of the family.
Over the years, relying on his family's resources, Jinzhen has also secretly cultivated a great deal of his own influence.
On one hand, it was to help the eldest prince in the palace, who is now the crown prince; on the other hand, it was for the sake of the family he now belonged to.
As early as his childhood, he secretly made a decision: now that he had become Ma Jiajinzhen, he was a member of this family. For the sake of his grandparents, parents, and younger siblings, he would work hard to revitalize his family.
Based on his understanding of Emperor Kangxi, he had been giving advice to his cousin, Yinzhi, behind the scenes.
Because of his connections with the palace, he was also very familiar with Emperor Kangxi's health condition.
To avoid a repeat of the situation in the later years of the Kangxi reign, he had a plan in mind long ago.
Yunyi knew that Jinzhen was different, so she had been secretly keeping an eye on his movements. She knew about his cultivation of power over the years, but since they were on the same side, she didn't interfere.
Sure enough, her move was correct. Without Yunyi having to lift a finger, her nephew was already figuring out how to ensure his son's smooth ascension to the throne.
Yunyi knew about her nephew's idea when she returned. After understanding his thoughts, Yunyi added her own efforts behind the scenes to push the matter forward.
...
Recently, people in the imperial court and the inner palace have been discussing that the emperor, who has never been a believer in gods and Buddhas, has recently become obsessed with Taoist cultivation and highly admires a Taoist priest named Tan Yangzi. He has even allowed this Taoist priest to enter the palace to discuss Taoism with him.
This Tan Yangzi seems to be quite capable, having Emperor Kangxi completely charmed and praising him highly.
After Kangxi began discussing the Dao, Yunyi finally started to take action.
She spent a full two hundred points to buy an item called "Dream Weaver," which, as the name suggests, can weave a dream for a designated person.
However, the prop is not omnipotent; it also has limitations. First, the designated person must have a certain relationship with the host. In other words, Yunyi cannot use this prop on a stranger she has never met.
Secondly, this item consumes the host's mental energy when used, and the exact amount consumed depends on the complexity of the dream.
Therefore, after Yunyi uses the item, she may experience symptoms such as dizziness, weakness, and lack of energy, but she can recover after resting more.
This is because she has traveled through many worlds and has a strong mental capacity, which is why she can accept it. If she had just started doing the mission, she wouldn't have been able to use this item with her current mental capacity.
She had wanted to buy it before, but the item was too expensive, and she hadn't won it in the lottery several times. She had saved up her points for a long time, and only now could she afford it.
The "Aladdin's Genie" from the previous lottery is still usable, but it's a one-time use item; you can't use it after making three wishes.
Yunyi has already made two wishes, and she needs to think carefully before using this last chance.
That's why she spent a lot of money to buy this reusable prop.
After Kangxi became obsessed with philosophical discussions, Yunyi began to use this tool to weave dreams for him.
She made Kangxi dream of his past life, but then made some changes to it.
In his later years, Crown Prince Yinreng, under the suspicion of Emperor Kangxi, fought fiercely with his brothers. Emperor Kangxi watched from the sidelines as his sons vied for the position, but remained unmoved.
In the end, the heir died of resentment, and his sons either died or became disabled in the struggle for the throne. He originally had more than a dozen intelligent sons, but by the time he was on his deathbed, only a few remained.
Before Kangxi could recover from this dream, he began to have another one.
He dreamt that because of his health, he was unable to work hard or handle government affairs, yet he still clung to his position, preventing his outstanding son from taking over.
He lingered on for another ten or twenty years, while the Crown Prince grew old. Yet, out of fear, he suppressed the Crown Prince and even promoted the Third Prince, Yinzhi, to counterbalance him.
In the end, the crown prince died of depression, and the third son, whom he had used as a pawn, also met a bad end.
Later, Kangxi had many dreams in which he suppressed his intelligent sons for various reasons, causing them to die tragically, and he himself had spent most of his life guarding the throne, but had no outstanding successor.
This strange phenomenon, combined with his recent obsession with philosophical discussions, led Kangxi to speculate that it might be a sign from Heaven, urging him not to be too fixated on the throne.
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