Chapter 38: Before holding her own housewarming party, she...
But before holding their own housewarming party, she and Yinzhen had to go to Yinzhi's house first. There was an order of seniority, and even when entertaining guests, there was a certain order of priority.
Qi Buchen and Yinzhen separated at the gate and went straight into the backyard, where she was greeted by a princess of Yinzhi.
Qi Buchen felt somewhat awkward around these princesses, truly unsure how to react. On the one hand, she felt a certain sympathy for these women living under feudal oppression; yet, on the other, she couldn't apply the same standards to Yinzhi's unmarried Third Wife as she did to herself. For this Third Wife, the people in Yinzhi's harem were inherently opposed to her. Perhaps it was more accurate to say that all concubines and wives were inherently opposed. Qi Buchen's current position was that of a wife. If she showed any affection towards a concubine, she would inevitably be ostracized by the wives.
Fortunately, these two princesses had become more cautious after being ignored by Yinzhi for a while after the last accidental discharge incident. After politely inviting Qi Buchen to sit in the living room, they left.
Only Yinzhi's wet nurse was left to accompany Qi Buchen, occasionally exchanging a few words to ensure the guest didn't feel left out. So, too many sisters-in-law meant trouble, while too few meant a bit of awkwardness.
Qi Buchen sat alone, bored, wondering if he would have to sit at a table by himself later.
But soon she didn't have to worry anymore because the first wife came.
"Sister-in-law, please go slower." Qi Buchen stepped forward to support her.
The eldest wife is now approaching her due date, but her belly is not very big. She is not fat, but rather a little thin.
"Sister-in-law, what about your belly..." Qi Buchen brought up the topic hesitantly.
The eldest wife gently stroked it and smiled softly, "This one is a naughty one. It was only during the first two months of morning sickness that things got better."
No wonder the eldest lady never showed up for the past six months no matter what happened. It turned out that she couldn't even go out because of morning sickness.
Qi Buchen asked worriedly, "Is he well now? What did the imperial physician say?"
"The doctor said I'm much better." The eldest wife still had a faint smile on her face. "She also said I need to move around more as the date is approaching, so I came here today."
"That's good." Qi Buchen nodded, his worries put aside. Most people would have said, "He's so naughty, he must be a prince, trying to please him." It was just a simple sentence, but Qi Buchen knew that the first wife was having a daughter and would continue to have children until a son was born, so he couldn't say anything auspicious.
She could only change the subject and talk about her own move: "It's only been a few days since we moved out, and I can't stand it anymore. I never thought that being a housekeeper would be such a trivial and tiring job."
The eldest wife was a considerate and kind girl. She consoled him, "It's always like this at the beginning. It'll be fine once you get used to it. When I first left the palace, it took me over six months to sort everything out. Don't worry, take your time."
"My sister-in-law is smart, but it took her half a year to figure it out. I'm so dumb, I don't know when I can get the hang of it." Qi Buchen sighed sincerely, "I've never learned how to be a housekeeper before. I just heard a few words from my mother and nanny, but they were all just fancy tricks."
"Yes, I almost forgot. You left home early, and you haven't had time to learn all the things you should have learned yet." The eldest wife smiled embarrassedly, "My memory has not been very good since the birth of my eldest child. I often forget a lot of things."
"But if you don't mind, you can ask me if you have any questions in the future."
"I couldn't ask for more!" Qi Buchen said happily, "My sister-in-law would like to thank you here first. When you give birth, I will definitely treat you to tea to pay my respects to your teacher."
The eldest wife shook her head in amusement, but at this point, she simply took the opportunity to tell Qi Buchen some tips on housekeeping and some common mistakes that people make when doing housekeeping.
Qi Buchen nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and he wanted to take a pen to write it all down.
She was truly troubled by the task of managing the household. Daily expenses were fine, as the Imperial Household Department would provide them. Of course, the amount provided was limited, and if she wanted more, she would have to arrange for people to purchase it. But for now, it was enough. Her primary responsibility now was managing the staff, but it was precisely this task that was the most challenging. The entire Fourth Prince's residence currently had over two hundred servants, and that was because there were only two masters, her and Yinzhen. With the addition of concubines and children, the number would only increase rapidly.
Her previous life didn't have time to learn, and she had never managed anyone before. Moreover, managing servants at that time was completely different from managing employees in modern times. How could she not be at a loss?
Now that she had found a teacher willing to teach her, she really wanted to follow him around. But unfortunately, the eldest wife was pregnant and felt tired after just a few words, and she couldn't just focus on herself.
But she was still very grateful to the First Wife, and told Yinzhen about it on the way back.
Yinzhen said thoughtfully: "Since you like your eldest sister-in-law, you should get closer to her in the future." As for him and his eldest brother, forget it. Their temperaments are so different that they can't even stand together.
"As for the housekeeper's affairs," Yinzhen looked at her strangely. "Now that you've left the palace, you can bring your mother-in-law to your residence for advice from time to time. Didn't you do that before? You even said you missed home?"
Qi Buchen only then realized that she had actually forgotten about the Ulanara family! Thinking of the feeling she had when she saw the Jueluo family in the palace, she didn't want to have any contact with them again. Moreover, she was not the original after all, and the memories she inherited from her original body were also incomplete. The servants might not be able to discover anything, but after being in contact with her mother for a long time, she was still afraid of being exposed.
And when she missed home, it wasn't this home she missed.
However, she couldn't let her do what she wanted. After all, filial piety was very important these days. Although a married woman couldn't go back to her parents' home often, she would still be criticized for not having any contact with them.
Qi Buchen's mind raced, and he didn't forget to reply to Yinzhen: "I've been so busy lately that I didn't think about this for a moment."
Yinzhen now lived outside the palace, and to go to the study every day, he had to get up half an hour earlier in the morning and return half an hour later in the evening. Add to that the time spent on homework, and it took up all his time. Furthermore, since they were no longer in the South Third Residence, the place was larger, so they no longer lived in the same courtyard. Qi Buchen, of course, lived in the main courtyard, while Yinzhen lived in the front courtyard.
Therefore, he was now very unfamiliar with Fu Jin's life and had no idea how busy she was.
But there is no way around it. They are expected to live this busy life for a long time.
"You don't have to take care of everything yourself, right? There are still Lin Changqing, Yue Ma and others. You can leave some small matters to them." Yinzhen advised.
"I know." Qi Buchen knew that he couldn't do everything himself, otherwise he would be exhausted. "But I've only just started working on this. Even if I want to hand it over to someone below me, I have to first figure out how things should look like. That way, I won't be easily fooled in the future."
This made Yinzhen think a lot, and he nodded in agreement: "You are right."
The two were talking when the carriage suddenly stopped. At this distance, it was definitely not yet at their home.
Yinzhen asked in a deep voice, "What's going on?"
Lin Changqing replied: "Master, the road ahead is blocked. I have sent people to inquire."
After a while, the people who went to investigate came back.
"My lord, the day before yesterday, Prince Mingdu and Lord Chaldai, the son of Lord Changyuan, the general who defended the country, who came to the capital with the Khorchin tribute team, had a dispute over trivial matters. The two sides confronted each other and blocked the road." The man who replied emphasized the identities of the two men.
Yinzhen turned around and looked at Qi Buchen.
???
Qi Buchen was full of questions. Why are you looking at me?
Yinzhen looked at her for a while longer, and seeing that she didn't seem to be pretending, he frowned slightly: "Isn't Changyuan your uncle?"
Changyuan? Uncle!
Qi Buchen's eyes widened involuntarily, fully expressing his ignorance.
"I... I don't know my uncle's name..." In a hurry, she finally found a reasonable reason.
Yinzhen thought about it and agreed. After all, he was his elder, so it was just a respectful title and he would not deliberately remember his name. As for the title of General Guarding the Nation, there were at least eighty of them in the capital, if not a hundred.
"Where is the Five Cities Military Department?" Yinzhen asked again.
The man replied, "I went there and they are trying to persuade me."
But they couldn't persuade them, because they were all either the uncles of Khorchin or the men of Aixinjueluo. Their small Five City Army and Horse Division could only persuade them even if the Sima Lord came.
Yinzhen certainly understood how intimidating these two people's identities were to others. He pondered for a moment, then stood up and said, "Wait, I'll go take a look."
A Beizi from Mongolia was fine, but that Chardai was not only a member of the imperial clan, but also a relative of Fu Jin. It would be unreasonable to ignore him.
I don’t know if it was because of the Emperor’s appearance or because those two people didn’t intend to make a big fuss, but the Fourth Master came back not long after he left, the blocked road was cleared again, and they got home quickly.
Qi Buchen didn't think of this chance encounter as a big deal and forgot about it in a blink of an eye. After all, he was not very familiar with his uncle's family. He had only met them a few times, and his memory of them was almost blurred.
But unexpectedly, just two days after that day, Qi Buchen was already racking his brains over his own housewarming party.
Jueluo is here.
She also brought Qi Buchen's second aunt with her.
My second aunt is my uncle Changyuan’s legitimate wife.
"Why did mother come here suddenly?" Qi Buchen welcomed her in and, relying on the blurry face he could make out, he said hello to another woman in her forties. "It's been a long time since I saw my second aunt."
After the host and the guest sat down, Second Aunt Borjigit said with a smile, "It's been a long time since I last saw Fourth Lady. Now that she's married to the Fourth Prince, she seems to have grown a lot."
Qi Buchen smiled shyly, asked the two to have some tea and snacks, and then asked about everything at home in detail, but he did not ask why the two suddenly came here.
Finally, Borjigit couldn't help herself. She sighed and said, "Everything else in the family is fine, except your cousin. He is always unwilling to find a proper job. But that's fine. As long as he is safe and sound, I don't ask for anything else. But who knows..."
As she spoke, she choked up. "...Who could have known that such a disaster would befall him? Someone disliked him and blocked his way to beat him up. He was a coward and had no strength, so he just grabbed something and threw it. Who could have known that by chance, he would hit the man and seriously injure him? Now, the bully has reported him to the Emperor and is demanding your cousin's life!"
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Author's words: Yinzhen: My damn study has made it so that I don't have time to see my wife all day long! My wife, you must never forget me!
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