Chapter 170: Marrying Twenty Although Kangxi had already made the decision in March...
Although Kangxi issued an edict to confer titles on several of his sons as early as March, the actual conferment ceremony was not held until October. Incidentally, Qi Buchen and Honghui also became the Prince's Consort and the Prince's Heir at this ceremony.
Although everyone had long since changed their address to calling her the princess, it was not until this moment that she was officially recognized.
The situation was similar for the other families, but except for Yinzhi and Yinzhen, no one else asked to be named the crown prince.
After the enthronement ceremony, there was another round of celebration. On the day of the banquet, there were so many young girls of Honghui's age that Qi Buchen almost thought he was holding a banquet to select a concubine.
She couldn't understand. You say there's a talent show going on, so what's the point of all this people trying to get her to do this beforehand? Even if she likes someone, what if Kangxi decides to give the girl she likes to someone else? How could she argue with Kangxi about that?
Honghui wasn't much better off up front. Countless people tried to get close to him, and they kept mentioning their daughters. The triplets just stood by and snickered at him as he was being besieged.
After seeing the guests off, Honghui complained a few words with a rare sullen look on his face.
Yinzhen glanced at him sideways: "You can't stand it? What will you do if you encounter something even more annoying in the future? Will you come back crying to your mother?"
"Father!" Honghui said aggrievedly, "That's not what I meant."
"Humph!" Yinzhen retracted his death gaze, "You'd better not."
Qi Buchen wanted to tease his son: "What kind of wife do you want? Tell mother, and mother will help you find one as soon as possible!"
She hated being told this, but she found great pleasure in amusing her son.
"Mother!" Honghui was speechless, "How old am I?"
"Besides, girls' chatter is so noisy." He muttered. He didn't have anything against the girl, but he often met his uncle's cousins in recent years, but they really couldn't play together.
Qi Buchen automatically thought of his attitude as shame and annoyance, and said in a good-tempered manner: "Okay, okay, you are not big enough, and mother is wrong, but mother is also concerned about you. If I marry you a wife, mother can also enjoy the filial piety of her daughter-in-law."
Yinzhen snorted when he heard it. He didn't know who it was. A few days ago, she had been making trouble for him because she didn't want to be a mother-in-law, but now her face changed in the blink of an eye.
Honghui didn't know how to respond to this, but the triplets were very enthusiastic, raising their hands and shouting, "Mother, mother, I will marry a concubine and I will honor you!"
"If my eldest brother doesn't want to marry, then I will marry two and honor you together!"
The lazy Hongshi thought about it and thought it was a good idea. With a concubine to honor his mother, his mother would have no time to take care of him in the future. He immediately said enthusiastically: "I will marry three!"
Hongyu saw that this was not going to work. How could he be outdone by his younger brother? He said, "I'll marry five!"
"I have eight!"
"Twenty!"
Holy crap, is the bidding starting? I gave birth to a bunch of scumbags?
"What are you dreaming about!" Qi Buchen knocked on their heads one by one as if he were knocking on a watermelon. "Your father and I will only marry one for you! You want more? Go out and earn your own money! Don't expect me to pay a penny."
Do you know how expensive the betrothal gifts are at this time? Is it easy for me to earn some dowry?
"We can earn it by ourselves! Mother doesn't need to worry about it." Hongyu was very domineering. With a wave of his hand, he seemed to be able to swallow up mountains and rivers.
"Oh, that's great, you're ambitious." Qi Buchen was happy. "Okay, then starting next month, your mother won't give you any money. You have to support yourselves."
"No problem!" Hongyun followed Hongyu's example and waved his hands majestically. "We've all grown up."
Hongshi looked at his mother, his father, his elder brother, and finally his two excited twin brothers. Why did he feel that something bad was about to happen?
Unfortunately, this intuition did not come true quickly. Although Hongshi was smart, he lacked experience and gave up his vigilance too early.
After all, they usually eat and drink at home and basically don't need money. The monthly allowance given to them is also collected and saved as private money.
It was not until much later that the triplets regretted their youth.
As the year draws to a close, perhaps because the crown prince has been decided, Qi Buchen always feels that the New Year atmosphere comes earlier and is stronger this year than last year.
As soon as December arrived, merchants in the capital began to hang up big red lanterns. When the sky got a little darker, they lit candles. Suddenly, the whole street became much more festive, and there were more people coming and going on the street than last year.
All of this has nothing to do with the Thirteenth Prince's Mansion.
After counting the New Year's allowance sent by the Imperial Household Department, Zhao Jia's face showed a slight bitterness. It was not that the amount was wrong, the Imperial Household Department did not dare to be so blatantly perfunctory, but the quality of the things was far different from when Yinxiang was favored in the past.
But Zhao Jia Shi also knew that this year's goods were considered good, at least much better than last year when Yinxiang was still detained. If it weren't for the pile of things sent by her fourth sister-in-law, she would have almost didn't know what to do. Even with this year's quality, Zhao Jia Shi guessed that the Imperial Household Department was also considering her fourth brother's face and didn't fool around like last year.
Just as he was about to ask the servants to take the things back, Yinxiang came in.
"Master, didn't you say that Fourth Brother was looking for you? Why are you back now?" Zhao Jia stood up to greet him and gestured to the servants to quickly carry the things away.
Yinxiang still noticed it and said, "It's nothing serious, so I came back early. Is this sent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs?" As he said that, he was about to go forward to check.
Zhao Jia's smile was a little stiff: "Yes, it's all routine, nothing to see, let the servants carry it away."
Yinzhen had already opened one basket, and after a moment of silence, he closed the lid and opened other baskets one after another. During this time, he did not speak a word.
After roughly looking through everything, Yinxiang stood up and said calmly, "Carry it away."
After everyone had left, Yinxiang walked over to Zhaojia and asked, "Was it like this last year?"
"Yeah." Zhao Jia agreed, but didn't dare to look at him.
How could Yinxiang not understand? Last year was probably even worse than this. His eyes suddenly turned red: "Is this what you used last year?"
Zhaojia noticed that his tone was wrong and quickly looked up, but Yinxiang raised his face, not wanting Zhaojia to see the fragility on his face.
"No, no." Zhao Jia said hurriedly, "Last year, Fourth Sister-in-law sent us a lot of things. We didn't use them all during the New Year, so we gave most of them away to the servants to avoid wasting them."
Yinxiang took a deep breath, forced back the tears in his eyes, and tried to speak in a normal tone: "Why didn't you tell me?"
Zhao Jia said with a guilty conscience, "I know you're a man and don't want to rely on others for support, so I didn't dare tell you. But at that time... I was in a trance all day and didn't have the energy to take care of all this. It would have been fine if it were just me, but there are these children at home, and I can't let them suffer any loss. So when Fourth Sister-in-law persuaded me, I accepted it."
"But don't worry." She looked up and said, "I returned all these during the festival this year. You don't need to feel like you owe Fourth Brother anything."
Yinxiang's tears, which he had been holding back, were brought back by her words: "The most shameful thing for a man is not accepting help from others, but not being able to provide a good life for his wife and children. Besides, even if this thing were gone, would my debt to Fourth Brother be any less?"
He held Zhao Jia's hand and looked at her affectionately: "I am sorry for you. You have worked so hard this year. I can't give you the only one like Fourth Brother treats Fourth Sister-in-law, but I promise that I will respect you, love you, pity you and cherish you in the future, and live up to your kindness to me."
Zhao Jia's eyes also filled with tears: "With your words, even if I die, I will be satisfied."
Yinxiang pressed her lips and said, "Don't say such unlucky things. From now on, things will only get better and better."
"Yes, Master is right. It's my fault that I can't speak." Zhao Jia wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
But God seemed to think that Yinxiang’s experience over the past year was not miserable enough. A few days later, Yinxiang’s other sister, Dunke, suddenly fainted on the ground while taking a walk after dinner and never woke up again.
Dunke got married in December of last year. Yinxiang was in custody at the time and was unable to see his sister off to get married, which was a great pity. Fortunately, when Dunke returned to Beijing in February this year, Kangxi allowed her to stay temporarily in the capital, where she has remained until now.
After Yinxiang was released, he often visited his sister, especially after Wen Ke's death, he poured all his affection into this sister.
But death always comes so unexpectedly. When Yinxiang rushed to his sister's residence in a panic, he was greeted only by the imperial physician's apology.
After losing two sisters within a year, Yinxiang was dumbfounded. He stood in front of Dunke's spirit without crying, making a fuss, talking or eating. He was so dull that it seemed as if his soul had been extinguished.
It was no use for Yinzhen to come and persuade her. Zhao Jia hugged Qi Buchen and cried, "Fourth sister-in-law, fourth sister-in-law, why is our master so miserable? Why can't God see our master getting well? A few days ago... a few days ago, our master told me... that things will only get better in the future. Woohoo, now, what should I do now? Fourth sister-in-law, what should I do? I really don't know what to do... Dun Ke was only nineteen, she was still so young, how could she leave like this... Our master, our master..."
Our grandfather will have no relatives from now on.
Even though Zhao Jia was about to faint from crying, she didn't dare to say this. Otherwise, what would she take Kangxi as? What would she take these half-brothers and sisters as?
Qi Buchen made her cry until her eyes turned red. He hugged her and tried to comfort her, but he couldn't say a word of comfort.
On the way back, Qi Buchen buried himself in Yinzhen's arms and said sullenly, "Yinzhen, it's a good thing I didn't give birth to a daughter."
She had said this a long time ago. She said it again after so many years, for the same reason as before, but also for a different reason.
Yinzhen didn't say anything, just patted her to comfort her.
Dunke's funeral was quite honorable. Because she was already married, her body was to be buried in Khorchin. Kangxi appointed two princes, two ministers of the rank of Sanzhi and one vice minister to lead the team to escort Dunke's coffin to Mongolia.
This time, Yinxiang failed to obtain the imperial decree to leave the capital, and was only sent to a place thirty miles outside the city, where he watched his sister slowly disappear.
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