Chapter 86: The Tenth Brother's Lazy Idea...
The Ninth Prince blinked, his face, now more refined and beautiful after growing up, showing no concern: "Who cares? It has nothing to do with us anyway. Even if we're raising a child bride, it's for the Fourth Prince."
He was simply gossiping about this and sharing this novel event with Yin'e.
As for why Kangxi did this, and what his intentions were, he didn't care. He wasn't close to the Fourth Prince, so he didn't care what significance this matter had for the Fourth Prince or what impact it would have.
Yin'e lowered his head and absentmindedly stirred the fruit in the porcelain bowl with a spoon, still somewhat puzzled as to why Kangxi had suddenly done this.
Leaving aside the fact that the Crown Prince's wedding system and etiquette have not yet been finalized, there is still the Third Prince ahead of the Fourth Prince. The Third Prince has not been betrothed, so how did the Fourth Prince overtake him and get ahead?
Moreover, the age difference is quite significant. The Fourth Prince will only turn eleven at the end of October this year. Based on the First Prince's wedding age, it will be at least four years before the marriage is arranged. Even if it is an arranged marriage, it shouldn't be rushed.
Moreover, what a critical juncture this is! The Fourth Prince's adoptive mother, the Imperial Noble Consort Tongjia, is currently seriously ill! It seems strange that Kangxi would hastily arrange a marriage for the Fourth Prince at this time.
He scooped a spoonful of fruit into his mouth, his narrow, upturned phoenix eyes slightly narrowed with satisfaction. The Ninth Prince still remembered Yin'e's question earlier, so he said vaguely, "Fifth Brother heard from the Empress Dowager that Fei Yanggu's daughter is a year younger than Fourth Brother, which is just the right age."
Yin E grunted, finding it increasingly strange; this was practically the same as a child bride.
The future Fourth Prince's Consort is only ten years old this year, and she will be sent to the palace to be taught by noble ladies. Emperor Kangxi thinks this is an honor, but Ulanara may not think so.
Fei Yanggu was a confidant of Emperor Kangxi, and had served as Grand Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Nine Gates Infantry. As early as February of the 23rd year of Kangxi's reign, Fei Yanggu requested to retire due to old age and illness while still serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Nine Gates Infantry, and Emperor Kangxi granted his request.
Now that Kangxi has betrothed Fei Yanggu's daughter to the Fourth Prince, it's likely partly out of consideration for a former confidant. However, as mentioned before, there's no need to rush things; he even brought Fei Yanggu's daughter into the palace for her upbringing.
Unless there is a compelling reason to do so...
Consort Tongjia is seriously ill and won't live much longer. She is worried that no one will take care of the Fourth Prince after she dies, so she wants to arrange a marriage for him as soon as possible, so that the Princess Consort can manage the three palaces and take care of the Fourth Prince.
However, Consort Tongjia was only the adoptive mother of the Fourth Prince. She should have known very well that, according to the rules of the Qing Palace, after her death, the Fourth Prince would return to the name of Consort De, his birth mother, and Consort De would take care of him in the future.
For many years, Emperor Kangxi never recorded the Fourth Prince's name under the name of Consort Tongjia. He still recorded him as the son of Consort De in the Imperial Household Department's register.
The palace has kept this matter a secret for years, and the Fourth Prince has never followed etiquette to show respect to his birth mother—he knew nothing about it.
However, once Consort Tongjia passed away, as long as Emperor Kangxi did not register the Fourth Prince under Consort Tongjia's name, the Fourth Prince would still be Consort De's son and would have to be filial and respectful to his birth mother according to the rules.
As the birth mother of the Fourth Prince, Consort De wouldn't just abandon him, would she? Even setting aside the bond between mother and son, Consort De rose to power because of her son, so she wouldn't be so ungrateful as to abandon him after she's served her purpose, would she?
Over the years, Consort De rose from a palace maid to the rank of one of the Four Consorts, partly because she sold the Fourth Prince and sent him to be raised by Imperial Noble Consort Tongjia. Although Consort De was not as favored as Consort Yi, she was able to maintain her position in the palace, all because of the Fourth Prince, which allowed her to receive the care of Imperial Noble Consort Tongjia.
...In later generations, there was indeed a saying that the Fourth Prince and his birth mother, Consort De, were not close.
Therefore, the reason for arranging a consort for the Fourth Prince so early and bringing the future Fourth Prince's consort into the palace for education was because the Fourth Prince would be left without anyone to take care of him after the death of his adoptive mother, the Imperial Noble Consort Tongjia. This was to cultivate an excellent and capable consort for him in advance so that she could take care of the Fourth Prince's daily life and manage the Gan Dong San Suo.
Yin'e stared blankly, mechanically scooping up a spoonful of chilled fruit pulp and stuffing it into his mouth.
What exactly did Consort De do to make Emperor Kangxi make such a decision?
The Fourth Prince's birth mother was still alive; others might not know, but surely Emperor Kangxi did.
Kangxi's decision to arrange a marriage for the Fourth Prince and bring his future wife into the palace for the Empress Dowager to raise is a blatant slap in the face to Consort De. Even if the Fourth Prince and his wife show respect to Consort De according to the rules, Consort De will have no face to accept it and will not be able to rightfully demand that the Fourth Prince be filial to her.
Yin'e shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
Regardless of what Consort De did, Emperor Kangxi... or even Imperial Noble Consort Tongjia, had already made arrangements for the Fourth Prince.
When the Fourth Prince returns to the name of his birth mother, Consort De, he will not need to show genuine filial piety to her. As long as he does not violate etiquette, Emperor Kangxi will turn a blind eye.
The Fourth Prince was raised by Consort Tongjia, and he is now sensible and only a few years away from adulthood. Consort De has never taken care of him, so it cannot be forced that the Fourth Prince develop maternal affection for Consort De or have genuine feelings for her just because she is his birth mother.
Moreover, it seems that Consort De has taken the initiative to give up on the Fourth Prince.
Emperor Kangxi was a loving father. Even though it was Emperor Kangxi who initially ordered that the Fourth Prince be entrusted to Consort Tongjia for upbringing, Consort De's actions would certainly have been a major turn-off in Emperor Kangxi's eyes.
The Ninth Prince had finished his iced bowl. He let out a satisfied sigh and leaned back against the soft cushion. "Tenth Brother, I want to move to the Prince's Residence. Do you want to move with me?"
Yin'e was stunned for a moment, then looked up at the Ninth Prince in disbelief: Who are you? You are not my Ninth Brother! Give me back my Ninth Brother who skips his studies!
The Ninth Prince was somewhat annoyed and a little embarrassed by Yin'e's incredulous gaze. He pouted, snorted, and turned his head away: "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Are you really that surprised, like you've seen a ghost? Is it really that serious?
Yin'e expressed his surprise, he really never expected that the Ninth Prince would want to move to the Princes' Residence ahead of schedule: "Ninth Brother, why did you suddenly change your mind? Didn't we agree last year that we would move together after my sixth birthday?"
The Ninth Prince did not answer immediately. He sat opposite Yin'e, turned his face to the side, pursed his lips and refused to look at Yin'e. His hand, which was resting on the soft couch, unconsciously gripped the straw mat on the couch.
"Ninth Brother?" Yin'e called out to the Ninth Prince again, this time with a mixture of doubt and worry.
Turning to look at Yin'e, the Ninth Prince stammered for a while before finally saying, "Mother asked me to study with Yinzhi yesterday, but I've already had my basic education, and..."
Moreover, Yinzhi spent a lot of time on his early education every day, and his learning progress was very fast!
Although Consort Yi had always asked Yinzhi to balance work and rest in order to take care of his health, today the Ninth Prince spent half a day with Yinzhi studying. Even though they were all things he had learned when he was a beginner, he still felt a little overwhelmed. The pace was too fast and he couldn't keep up.
Damn it, Yinzhi is nothing like him and his fifth brother. Yinzhi is so studious and ambitious, which makes him and his fifth brother look so lazy!
Yin'e: ...
After a moment of silence, Yin'e had no choice but to tell the Ninth Prince the harsh truth: "Ninth Brother, the teaching progress of the tutors in the Imperial Study is much faster. You've heard Fifth Brother and Seventh Brother talk about the Imperial Study before."
Unlike the Fifth Prince, who had given up, the Seventh Prince was always very ambitious because of his early experiences.
The Seventh Prince studied diligently in the Imperial Study, but every night after returning to the Fifth Academy in the East, he had to study by lamplight for a period of time in order to keep up with the teaching progress of the Imperial Study with excellent grades.
The studies in the Imperial Study are so demanding, what was the Ninth Prince thinking that he would want to start studying there early?
However, when it came to moving to the West Third Palace, Yin'e had something to discuss with the Ninth Prince.
Blinking his clear, round, dark almond-shaped eyes, Yin'e stared at the Ninth Prince and asked, "Ninth Brother, you're moving to the Second Palace when you move to the Third Palace in the West, right?"
“That’s right.” Ninth Prince nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Eighth Brother lives in the first house, so according to the order of age, I should live in the second house, and you live in the third house.”
This is where Yin'e is conflicted; he doesn't want the Ninth Prince and the Eighth Prince to be neighbors in the Princes' quarters.
The Ninth Prince and the Eighth Prince have a so-so relationship and have barely interacted. However, having the Ninth Prince live in the Second Palace and become neighbors with the Eighth Prince would inevitably lead to the Ninth Prince being won over by the Eighth Prince.
The Eighth Prince's gentle and kind-hearted demeanor easily won over the Ninth Prince, who was both love-starved and sensitive.
According to the order of seniority, Yin'e was to live in the third residence.
After the renovation, the five independent courtyards of Ganxi Wusuo are arranged in a right-angle shape with the third courtyard as the intersection point. The first and second courtyards are on a straight line, parallel to the vertical central axis; the third, fourth and fifth courtyards are on a straight line, parallel to the horizontal central axis.
The main gate of the Third Courtyard faces north, while the main gate of the Fourth Courtyard faces east. Although the two courtyards are adjacent, the rear courtyard of the Third Courtyard is next to the left side hall of the Fourth Courtyard. The main gates of the two courtyards are far apart, and the main halls where the princes live are also not close.
If the Ninth Prince lived in the Second Palace and Yin'e moved to the Third Palace, then the distance between them would be far. On the contrary, the Eighth Prince and the Ninth Prince lived relatively close to each other.
This made Yin'e even more uneasy. It was inconvenient for him to keep an eye on the Ninth Prince to prevent him from being abducted by the Eighth Prince.
Yin'e hesitated for a moment, then quietly told the Ninth Prince about the distribution of the Second and Third Princes' Residences. Finally, he said, "Ninth Prince, even when we move to the Princes' Residences and each live in the Second and Third Princes' Residences, we won't be as close as we are now."
The West Third Compound originally had only three courtyards; the current First and Second Compounds were added later. During the initial renovation, to prevent the newly added courtyards from encroaching on the activity space of the three courtyards in front, an area was left empty between the Second and Third Compounds, making them even further apart.
The Ninth Prince would pass by the West Three Palaces every time he went to the Cining Palace, but he had never been interested in the West Three Palaces before and had never visited them. He knew nothing about the layout of the several courtyards of the West Three Palaces.
Now, hearing Yin'e say that although the Second and Third Institutes were ranked very close, they were actually quite far apart, the Ninth Prince's brows furrowed involuntarily, his face showing frustration and sadness. He pouted and pitifully asked Yin'e, "Are the Second and Third Institutes really that far apart?"
Yin'e nodded helplessly: "The Second and First Offices are the closest, but these two courtyards built in the back are quite a distance away from the three courtyards in front."
“Then I won’t stay at the Second Residence!” The Ninth Prince immediately changed his mind, forgetting what he had just said.
With his little face puffed out, he angrily declared loudly, "I don't want to be separated from you, Tenth Brother!"
Yin'e thought the same thing; he didn't want to live too far from the Ninth Prince, so he leaned over and said to the Ninth Prince, "Ninth Brother, I have an idea..."
-----------------------
Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 15:25:49 on March 26, 2023 and 11:59:37 on March 27, 2023!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Sweet Party Doesn't Eat Cilantro 20 bottles; -Shallow Smile 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
