Chapter 47 The Reunion Feast: The Tenth Prince's Lazy Father...
After returning, Emperor Kangxi first went to Cining Palace to pay his respects to the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager.
He had a deep affection for the Empress Dowager. During his two-month southern tour, he frequently received letters of greeting from Jiangnan, each one filled with sincere feelings and tender sentiments.
Not only did Emperor Kangxi send letters to the Empress Dowager, but during the two months of his southern tour, the eldest prince also received a letter of greeting from his father.
Emperor Kangxi doted on his eldest son, the First Prince.
In particular, in his early years, in order to raise the eldest prince outside the palace, Emperor Kangxi felt even more guilty towards the eldest prince. After bringing the eldest prince back, he doted on him and cared for him in every way, just to make up for the years when his son was not in the palace.
Although the Crown Prince was Kangxi's favorite and most valued son, Kangxi's affection for the eldest prince was also evident. After all, he was the first son to be established as emperor, and as the eldest son, his status was different, and his position in Kangxi's heart was extraordinary.
Excessive pampering that is not commensurate with one's status will only spoil an adult's mind, making them unable to see their own identity and causing them to have unrealistic fantasies.
Now that the struggle for the throne has not yet begun, the former fifth prince, Yinti, is actively trying to impress Emperor Kangxi. He has also been at odds with the crown prince, and the two often quarrel and argue. What he really wants to compete for is the emperor's favor and trust.
Once the order of seniority was established, after Yinqi officially became the eldest prince, those ministers who wanted to gain merit in supporting the emperor and become former officials who had followed the emperor flocked to him like hyenas smelling the scent.
The ministers surrounded the eldest prince, encouraging him to oppose the crown prince and urging him to fight for power.
Even if the eldest prince initially only wanted to win the emperor's favor and had no intention of seizing the throne, under the influence of those around him, he would eventually drift further and further away and gradually forget his original intentions.
The person who sowed the seeds of the problem regarding the eldest prince's involvement in the struggle for the throne seems to be Emperor Kangxi. He was blamed for not keeping things in check and nurturing Yinti's ambitions.
Later generations often say that Emperor Kangxi was a playboy because he was sincere and caring towards everyone.
Emperor Kangxi was affectionate and close to the Empress Dowager, respectful and filial to his legal mother, gentle to the concubines in the harem, and loving to his princes and princesses.
He was incredibly considerate, his delicate heart holding all those close to him in his heart, as if each person was different and special to him.
There is a lot of evidence of Kangxi's "sea king" behavior in Qing history. For example, when the Empress Dowager visited Mount Wutai, Kangxi personally escorted and protected her in her palanquin. For example, when he went hunting outside the Great Wall, he often corresponded with the princes who stayed in the capital. The contents of the letters would be considered quite nauseating by later generations.
But Yin'e felt that Kangxi was not a playboy.
Although he had many people involved, Kangxi was genuinely sincere and had true feelings for each of them, without any pretense—he was actually just making up for the deficiencies of his childhood.
Emperor Kangxi was not favored by Emperor Shunzhi in his childhood, and his mother, Lady Tong, was only a concubine and not qualified to raise him personally. He was raised by wet nurses from a young age, and even when he contracted smallpox, only wet nurses and others took meticulous care of him.
It wasn't until the Shunzhi Emperor passed away and the Kangxi Emperor became the new emperor of the Qing Dynasty that he finally had a loving imperial grandmother and was able to reunite with his mother, Lady Tong.
However, Empress Xiaokangzhang passed away only two years after Kangxi ascended the throne.
"I have not been able to spend a single day with my parents"—these are Emperor Kangxi's original words.
The lack of paternal and maternal love during his childhood made Emperor Kangxi want to be a loving father after he had children. Although he was very strict with his sons and had extremely high expectations for them, this also reflected Kangxi's desire for his sons to succeed.
Isn't this also a sign of a loving father's heart?
It's always better to nurture princes with care, educating them to be proficient in both literature and martial arts, so that they can become pillars of the state when they grow up, than to deliberately spoil princes just to prevent them from threatening the crown prince's position... Although Yin'e actually quite wanted to be spoiled.
He didn't want to succeed; he just wanted to lie low. But unfortunately, Yin'e was stuck with a domineering father and brothers who were constantly pushing their children to their limits. He was like a firefly in the dark, conspicuous and attracting attention.
During his southern tour, Emperor Kangxi not only missed the Empress Dowager very much, but also missed the princes he had not seen in the palace for a long time.
After paying his respects to the Empress Dowager at Cining Palace, Emperor Kangxi, on a whim, decided to hold a family banquet there that evening. He invited his concubines and princes to the banquet, allowing him to meet all the princes who remained in the palace and had not gone on the southern tour.
Although the Imperial Study was very close to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, located between the Gate of Heavenly Purity and the Gate of Sunshine outside the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Emperor Kangxi could easily visit the Imperial Study after court to inspect his sons' studies and check on their learning.
At this time, only the eldest prince, the third prince, and the fourth prince were studying in the Imperial Study. Emperor Kangxi also missed his other, younger sons, but if he were to visit them in their respective palaces, it would take too much time, and he would see his sons later than usual.
After some thought, Emperor Kangxi decided to hold a family banquet at Cining Palace under the pretext of his return from his southern tour. He would invite his concubines and princes to the banquet, where he could meet his sons and enjoy the joy of family reunion.
When the news of Kangxi's return to the palace and his intention to hold a family banquet at Cining Palace reached Yongshou Palace, Yin'e was completely stunned and utterly bewildered.
He mentioned Emperor Kangxi yesterday, lamenting that he hadn't returned to the capital even after the Laba Festival, and didn't know if he would make it in time for the New Year.
Unexpectedly, the very next day, Emperor Kangxi returned to the palace with the Crown Prince, concluding his first southern tour. It's hard to tell whether this was Yin'e's bad luck or whether Emperor Kangxi was simply too sensitive to being talked about.
Yinzhen was completely uninterested in the news of Kangxi's return to the palace.
He was engrossed in playing checkers. After making his move, when it was Yin'e's turn, he looked up and saw Yin'e standing there, so he pouted and nudged Yin'e's shoulder: "Tenth brother, it's your turn."
Yin'e snapped out of his reverie, gave a casual reply, picked up a light green bead made from a scrap of jade and used it as a chess piece, and made a move haphazardly without any strategy.
"Ninth Brother, Father is back." Seeing that Yinzhen's mind was entirely on checkers, Yin'e raised his hand and poked his shoulder to remind him.
"Oh." Yinzhen blinked, looking confused, and gave a dry reply, his attention still on the checkers, not having made a single move.
He no longer remembers Emperor Kangxi.
Yesterday, when Yin'e tricked Yin Tang into drinking the Laba porridge in the bowl despite the strange and musty smell, Yin Tang was very puzzled. Who was the "father who wanted to drink Laba porridge but couldn't"? Why should he cherish the musty Laba porridge just because his father wanted to drink it but couldn't?
Perhaps due to his young age, his understanding of imperial power was not clear enough. Yinzhen's personality carried a natural rebelliousness; he did not consider Kangxi to be an authority, nor did he submit to him.
Yin'e thought for a moment and then said, "Ninth Brother, we are going to Cining Palace for a family banquet tonight. Our mother and several of my brothers will be there."
Of Kangxi's ten sons, Yin'e is the youngest. He has to call all the other princes "elder brother" now. He won't be promoted from younger brother to elder brother until the eleventh prince, who is in Consort Yi's womb, is born.
And barring any unforeseen circumstances, Yin'e should be able to meet the Crown Prince at Cining Palace tonight.
The Crown Prince was the legitimate son of Empress Yuan and the most beloved son of Emperor Kangxi. Previously, the Crown Prince and Yin'e had little interaction and had never met. Later, on a rare occasion when the princes gathered for the Fourth Prince's birthday banquet, the Crown Prince accompanied Emperor Kangxi on a southern tour and was not in the palace.
There was also the Seventh Prince, Yin You, who was secretly raised in the palace by Emperor Kangxi and whom none of the other princes had ever seen.
He is almost five years old, and in another year he will be old enough to study in the Imperial Study.
If Emperor Kangxi still disliked the Seventh Prince for being born disabled, considering his birth during the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories and the urgent war situation as an ominous sign, and continued to imprison him out of fear, then the Seventh Prince would have been ruined.
Upon hearing from Yin'e that they were going to Cining Palace and would meet other princes, Yin Tang finally reacted differently.
He frowned, his delicate features filled with disgust, and his phoenix eyes blazed with rejection and displeasure: "Will that bad guy go too? Will we run into him again?"
"You rascal, who is it?" Yin'e blinked his bright, watery almond-shaped eyes blankly, not realizing for a moment who Yin Tang was talking about.
Dropping the pale red bead made from a scrap of red jadeite, Yinzhen raised his hands and gestured enthusiastically, his eyes blazing with anger: "That's the guy with the sharp eyes, who's fierce and ugly, and who cursed and hit me!"
Yin'e stared blankly at Yin Tang's gestures, completely unaware that Yin Tang had never encountered anyone in the palace who dared to scold or beat him.
After a long pause, a sudden thought flashed through Yin'e's mind, and he asked in realization, "Are you talking about the Third Prince?"
Yinzhen paused for a moment, then nodded emphatically, indicating that it was indeed him, the Third Prince.
Yin'e: "Ababa..."
Previously, at the Fourth Prince's birthday banquet, Yin'e tricked the Third Prince, not only causing the Third Prince to fall hard, but also forcing the Third Prince to bow down and apologize to him and Yin Tang by Consort Tong.
Having successfully avenged himself, Yin'e had long forgotten about his half-brother, the Third Prince, who was already studying and whom he rarely saw.
But what Yin'e didn't expect was that Yin'tang was even more vengeful than him, and also held a grudge against the Third Prince. This little temper of his is really... it's hard to know how to describe it.
Scratching his head, Yin'e was speechless and dumbfounded: "You still remember the Third Prince? Ninth Brother, are you still holding a grudge?"
Is it not enough to quell Yinzhen's anger by taking revenge once and venting his anger once?
Moreover, Yinzhen's description of the Third Prince was too subjective: the Third Prince looked very similar to Kangxi, with the same thin eyebrows, phoenix eyes, and long face, but in Yinzhen's description, he had sharp eyes.
Shouldn't we be glad that Yinzhen was too young to learn the term "slanted eyes"?
As for Yinzhen's claim that the Third Prince insulted and hit him, while the Third Prince did indeed use foul language, a cultured man like him, who prided himself on being refined and cultured, would never resort to vulgar language, even if he were deliberately trying to provoke someone.
As for the Third Prince hitting Yin Tang... if we count shoving, then the Third Prince did indeed attempt to commit murder.
Yin'e originally thought that Yin'tang's accusations against the Third Prince were distorting the facts and twisting the truth.
But now it seems that Yinzhen did not lie; he simply exaggerated his story unintentionally, exaggerating the actual events a hundredfold.
If we really investigate this thoroughly, we might actually find the Third Prince's mistake and catch him red-handed.
Looking at Yin Tang in shock, Yin E's eyes revealed admiration: Yin Tang's innate and natural ability to complain is truly remarkable!
Just then, the Imperial Concubine entered the inner room, first touching Yin'e's face. Seeing that his temperature was normal, she was relieved and turned to ask Yin Tang, "Consort Yi sent you a python robe. Ninth Prince, do you want to see her?"
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