Chapter 59 The answer to the question of beating to death was not given until the third day when Yinzhen returned...
The answer was not given until Yinzhen returned on the third day.
While helping Yinzhen change his clothes, Qi Buchen asked, "Why did you take so long?"
This wasn't a secret, so Yinzhen replied directly, "The Emperor wants to review the troops at Yuquan Mountain. My eldest brother went to the army to make arrangements, and my third brother and I will be deploying defenses at Yuquan Mountain."
In fact, the specific matters were handled by the ministers, and the princes were just there to put up a signboard. Perhaps Yinzhen was more involved.
"How long will this take?" They were about to reach the capital, but they had to stop again. Qi Buchen felt a little resentful. This Tangquan Palace was boring and even more boring than the imperial palace.
After washing up, Yinzhen prepared to eat. He had been running around outside for the past two days and had only eaten dry food.
"It won't take long, just six or seven days."
Six or seven days didn't sound like a long time, but reviewing the army was a big deal, so most people were too busy to show up. Yinzhen hadn't shown up for several days. Qi Buchen didn't want to hang out with the women in the backyard, so he could only stay in his own small yard and count ants.
A week later, Yinzhen finally came back, looking bright and handsome. But when Qi Buchen took a closer look, he found that the flesh on his cheeks that had been grown had disappeared again, which showed that he had suffered.
"Is it over?" Qi Buchen went over to him, "Do you want to eat?"
Perhaps he was really tired, Yinzhen spoke without much energy: "Well, we'll leave for Beijing tomorrow."
Seeing how listless he was, Qi Buchen felt a little distressed. How could a teenager withstand such treatment?
After Yinzhen finished eating, he was sent to rest. He slept until the early morning of the next day.
"What time is it?" Yinzhen sat up and shook his head. His head still hurt a little after sleeping for so long.
Su Peisheng brought a glass of water and said, "It's just the end of the hour, you can lie down for a while."
After drinking a glass of water, Yinzhen was completely awake: "Forget it, I slept too much."
"You've slept for almost five hours. Do you want to eat?" Su Peisheng helped him change his clothes. "Before Fu Jin went to bed, she had someone simmer porridge on a small stove, in case you woke up hungry."
Yinzhen raised the corner of his mouth and said, "Have someone bring it up." Seeing Su Peisheng was about to leave, he added, "Be gentle."
Su Peisheng understood that this was a request for them not to disturb the concubine. After all, the courtyard was not big, so he agreed with a smile.
"What has the concubine done these days?" Yinzhen asked. This time he only brought Lin Changqing with him and left Su Peisheng to Qi Buchen.
Su Peisheng replied, "Fujin didn't do anything. She just stayed in the yard reading a book and chatting with Baozhu and the others."
"Why don't you go out for a walk?" Yinzhen frowned.
Su Peisheng hesitated and said, "From what I can see, Fu Jin probably doesn't like socializing."
To say he disliked socializing was an understatement. He coldly looked at Fu Jin, who clearly disliked those "mistresses," though Fu Jin never showed it on her face. But Su Peisheng was confident in his eyes, and Fu Jin exuded that from the bottom of her heart, perhaps Fu Jin herself was not aware of it.
Thinking of the situation in Fu Jin's family, Su Peisheng felt that he could understand Fu Jin's subconsciousness, but... he glanced at his master, some things are inevitable.
Yinzhen thought about his wife's age and could understand it. Among those who came out with the emperor and his brothers this time, the youngest was seven or eight years older than his wife, so they really couldn't get along.
Then he thought that after the establishment of the mansion, the wife was often alone at home, rarely went out for social activities, and rarely invited people to her home. The fact that she had no friends when she was waiting to be married was one reason, and the fact that the women she married were much older than her was probably also a major reason.
It seems that in addition to studying, I should spend more time with my wife.
…
Because they had to leave today, Qi Buchen was woken up at dawn. As soon as he left his bedroom, he saw Yinzhen: "When did you get up? Are you still sleepy?"
"I just woke up and have rested enough." Yinzhen saw that she was in good spirits and said, "I have sent someone to bring breakfast. You need to eat it now."
"Yeah." Qi Buchen sat down and chatted with him, "Did the military parade go well?"
"It went smoothly." Yinzhen didn't want to say more about this because he was just a bystander. He never liked to brag about things that he had not participated in and did not understand deeply without being able to come up with any names.
"In another five or six days, we'll be able to return to Beijing. You should have a good rest when you get back."
The two chatted while finishing their breakfast, then asked others to pack up their things and set off with the team. Nothing happened this time, and sure enough, a week later, she was sitting steadily on her own couch.
"Divide the things properly and make sure they are delivered to the palace tomorrow."
Actually, she was very busy after returning. The first thing she had to do was to separate the gifts for each person. She would send people to deliver the gifts for those outside the palace directly, but she would have to go to the palace tomorrow to pay her respects and then present the gifts to those in the palace one by one.
It’s tiring just thinking about it.
After chatting with the Empress Dowager and the ladies in the harem for quite some time, until his face was almost frozen from smiling, Qi Buchen was finally able to relax.
Yinzhen wanted to spend more time with his wife, but he was still studying in the study, leaving home early and returning late every day. It was a luxury for the two of them to have a midnight snack together.
After a few autumn rains, the weather became colder.
Qi Buchen has been busy these past two days equipping all the servants in the mansion with autumn and winter clothes. This is her first time doing this, but she applied the school uniform regulations from the past schools, so she is not too busy.
However, when choosing suppliers, she was careful and did not choose directly from the list given by Nanny Luo, who was in charge of the purchasing department. Instead, she sent Xie Hanshan out to inquire, and then invited several reputable merchants to the mansion. She obtained suitable quotations through investment promotion and decided to choose two of them as long-term partners.
However, the final partner and the price they offered were far different from what Nanny Nara gave.
However, Qi Buchen did not punish Nanny Luo. Firstly, Nanny Luo was directly transferred from the Ministry of Internal Affairs when the government office was divided. It would be impossible for her to get such a lucrative job as purchasing without someone behind her. Secondly, Qi Buchen knew that the habit of extortion among these Nannies and eunuchs was not just a single one, but was rotten from the root of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. She used this reason to take action against Nanny Luo, and she was not targeting one person, but an entire interest group.
Moreover, she did not have any evidence of Nanny Luo's corruption. She could just blame it on others, saying that the merchants were unscrupulous and quoted such a price to the palace. As a servant, she had no way to force them to lower the price.
In short, due to various concerns, Qi Buchen just put the matter aside and pretended it never happened.
Who would have thought that just two days after this incident, Xie Hanshan suddenly came to report: "Fujin, it's bad. The master just had Nanny Luo taken to the front yard and said he would beat her to death."
"What's going on?" Qi Buchen hurried to the front yard, asking as he walked.
Xie Hanshan followed in small steps, sweat breaking out on his forehead in this cold weather. “I heard someone reported Nanny Luo to me for corruption.”
Qi Buchen frowned and rushed to the front yard without saying a word. When she arrived, the fight had already started and she could hear Nanny Luo's miserable cry for mercy from a distance.
The servant in the front yard noticed that the concubine had arrived and quickly reported it to Yinzhen, who was still angry and hadn't seen her. Yinzhen turned around and greeted her: "Why is the concubine here? Who is that chatterbox again?"
The chatterbox Xie Hanshan shuddered, bent his waist even lower, and silently hid behind.
Fortunately, Yinzhen didn't intend to really make a fuss about it. He just frowned and said disapprovingly: "It's getting cold, why don't you wear more clothes?"
Qi Buchen didn't answer her, but stopped the execution first: "Stop beating for now."
Upon hearing this, Su Peisheng waved his hand to stop the executioner. He had long recognized the status of the concubine and there was no need to confirm such a small matter with the master.
Yinzhen was a little unhappy when she stopped him: "This kind of servant deceives her subordinates and deceives her master, and you still want to plead for her?"
"Come on, let's talk inside." Qi Buchen pulled his sleeve and led him into the house.
Yinzhen wanted to say that it was not proper to pull and tug in public, but seeing the white fingers slightly pinching his navy blue sleeves, he was reluctant to speak. In the end, he pretended to be unhappy on the surface, but in fact he was upset inside and followed her into the house.
Even after entering the house, he still put on a serious face: "What's there to say? It's her honor to be executed by me."
Qi Buchen pushed the man to sit down, ignored his angry words, and asked, "Who told you that, and how did they tell you?"
Yinzhen was dissatisfied with her tone of being impartial with him for the sake of a servant, so he turned his eyes away in anger and said nothing.
Seeing him acting like a grouchy child, Qi Buchen felt helpless. He could only walk up to him, pinch his sleeve and shake it, coaxing him, "Haven't I already taken care of this matter? She didn't embezzle anything. We just opened our government office, and there's no evidence. You're suddenly making a big fuss about wanting to have her executed. What will others say? Isn't that right?"
Seeing her softening attitude, Yinzhen finally stopped being angry and replied seriously, "It's not that there is no evidence. I have already sent people to investigate. Although she hasn't had the chance to embezzle money since she was assigned to our house, she did take quite a lot when she was in the Imperial Household Department."
At this point, he sneered, "A bondservant, yet her family lives in a two-story courtyard, and her son has several concubines. Many officials in the Hanlin Academy don't live as well as she does."
Qi Buchen also frowned. He didn't expect this guy to be so fat. But he hesitated: "But this is not our responsibility, right?"
What she wanted to say was that we have no right to interfere. After all, the servants of the Imperial Household Department are also Kangxi's servants. Although he is his biological son, it is overstepping the boundaries to interfere in this matter, right?
"Let's send the people back and give the evidence to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Let them handle it themselves."
Yinzhen was unwilling: "If we return it, they can handle it properly. It's just a matter of paying some money to make up for it."
"Then, there's no need to beat him to death, right?" Qi Buchen tried to make him give up the idea of taking his life.
Yinzhen, however, grew serious and spoke earnestly to her, "I know you have a kind heart and cannot bear to see anyone killed. But you must know that these people can't be controlled simply by being nice to her. You need to be gentle and establish your authority. She deceived you today, and if you don't deal with her, they won't think you're kind. They'll just think you're easy to fool and easy to manipulate. If this continues, they'll only become more aggressive, and it'll be hard to control them in the future."
Qi Buchen then understood that what happened today was actually Yinzhen's attempt to help her establish her authority.
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