Chapter 78 Chapter 78 I heard someone calling Yinzhen,...
When Qi Buchen heard someone calling Yinzhen, her first reaction was to hide. After all, she was currently under house arrest and she had sneaked out. If she was caught by someone, wouldn't it be an even more serious crime?
Yinzhen caught a glimpse of the little concubine sneaking behind him, and a pleasant smile appeared on the corner of his lips. However, he understood the concubine's worries and couldn't bear to see her frightened, so he restrained his expression and turned to look at the person who spoke.
"So it's Deputy General Han." Yinzhen nodded slightly. "Who is this?"
Deputy General Han took two steps closer, bowed, and gestured behind him, saying, "I'm here to accompany my wife and sister for an outing."
The women of Deputy General Han's family did not avoid him like Qi Buchen did. They bowed to Yinzhen gracefully.
Yinzhen only took a glance, not even seeing the clothes clearly, and just nodded slightly as a return gesture.
Seeing that his initial question was not answered, Deputy General Han did not ask who the female relatives who were obviously traveling with Yinzhen were. However, he felt a little sad in his heart. In the past few days of contact, the Fourth Prince had always given him the impression of being serious and upright, but he did not expect that he could be gentle in private.
I just don’t know who this woman is?
Although Deputy General Han thought so, he was not too curious, and did not directly assume that it was the Fourth Lady. After all, her evasive posture did not seem like it.
"I have booked a table at Yuelaixian and am just about to go there. I wonder if Fourth Master would be so kind as to join us for a drink?" Deputy General Han invited politely. He was actually not very familiar with Yinzhen, so he was just being polite.
Yinzhen could certainly see through this politeness and politely declined, "Don't disturb Deputy General Han from enjoying himself with his family."
Deputy General Han exchanged a few more pleasantries with Yinzhen before leaving with his family. As they were getting farther away, Deputy General Han's sister perked up and asked, "Brother, whose Fourth Master was that just now?"
Her brother is now a second-rank official. Anyone who can be honored as the Fourth Master by her brother must at least be a prince, right?
Deputy General Han glanced at his sister and said, "Don't even think about it. That person is the current Fourth Prince, and he married his first wife two years ago." His sister is fifteen years old now. If it weren't for the fact that all girls in this dynasty had to participate in the selection, her family would have already arranged a marriage for her.
"Brother, what nonsense are you talking about!" Deputy General Han's sister said angrily, "I'm just curious!" Although she had just taken a quick glance at the Fourth Prince and saw that he was indeed very impressive, she wouldn't think about anything else just after meeting him for the first time!
Deputy General Han's wife hurried to comfort him: "Ignore your brother, he just can't talk!" But she had some thoughts in her mind, the Fourth Prince...
After seeing off Deputy General Han, Qi Buchen, who had been hiding behind Yinzhen, finally poked his head out and asked, "Who is it?"
Yinzhen tilted his head slightly, looking at Qi Buchen, half of whose head was exposed from behind him, and smiled again: "He is the deputy commander of the Eastern Tomb. He was on duty before, so I often see him."
Qi Buchen nodded in understanding. It turned out that she was a new colleague in the new department. No wonder he didn't recognize her.
"Let's go." Yinzhen gestured for her to continue shopping.
Qi Buchen hesitated: "Why don't we go back? In case we are recognized..."
Yinzhen softened his heart a little, but Fu Jin was still timid after all: "It's okay, people who know you here usually don't come. The Han deputy general just now, his family is from the Han army flag."
The Manchus had just entered the Pass not long ago and were still in the process of accepting Han culture. They generally did not attach much importance to festivals like Qixi Festival, which had no important symbolic significance. For example, Yinzhen had never celebrated it in previous years.
Seeing that Qi Buchen was still hesitating, Yinzhen simply took her hand and walked forward.
Qi Buchen was caught off guard by his sudden movement and stumbled. He looked up and saw several passersby looking at them with strange expressions. This was the Qing Dynasty, not as open as modern times. Even couples were not seen holding hands on the street.
Being looked at with strange eyes, Qi Buchen was embarrassed and annoyed for a moment, and broke free and said, "Let me go quickly, I can leave by myself."
Of course, Yinzhen understood the customs of the time better than she did, so he obediently let go of her hand, but the hand he retracted into his sleeve kept rubbing, savoring the brief and delicate touch just now.
Qi Buchen walked for a while in silence before he calmed down the annoyance of being stared at, but he also lost interest in shopping and eating.
Seeing that she was not interested, Yinzhen asked, "Is there anything you like?"
Qi Buchen shook his head, not wanting to say anything else, and made up an excuse: "Maybe you're full." The street behind was full of snacks, so it was understandable that she had no interest.
Yinzhen pursed his lips and said, "Then go back to the other street. There are acrobatics there."
Qi Buchen still couldn't muster up interest, and shook his head and said, "I'm a little tired, let's go back."
Yinzhen glanced at her, lowered his eyes, and remained silent for a few breaths. He called a guard following behind him and said, "Go and drive the carriage to the exit of this street."
The guard left, and the two men walked side by side in silence towards the street corner.
At the street corner, several children were chasing each other and playing. Qi Buchen looked at them with a slight smile on his face. He couldn't help but think of the New Year dolls in his previous life and felt a little dazed.
"careful!"
The sound and the impact came almost at the same time. Before Qi Buchen could come to her senses, she fell steadily into an embrace.
"Are you okay?" Yinzhen's voice was slightly fluctuating.
Qi Buchen came back to her senses and looked down. She realized that she was distracted and had been bumped by the playing children. Before she could straighten up, the woman who was watching the children came over and apologized repeatedly: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's all because of this kid's lack of eyesight. Are you okay, young lady?"
The woman was only dressed casually. She looked at Qi Buchen cautiously, afraid that the girl would be unhappy and cause trouble for them. They were just ordinary people, but the girl's clothes made it look like she was a noble. How could they afford to offend her?
Thinking of this, the woman slapped the child a few times, and then forced the crying child to kneel down and beg for mercy.
How could Qi Buchen let anyone kneel? Not to mention that she was distracted and got bumped this time, even a child could not have much strength. She didn't even feel any pain. She just didn't stand firmly.
"Hurry up, don't blame him, I wasn't paying attention." Qi Buchen quickly pulled the child up, then took a bag of snacks he had just bought from Qi Qiao who had rushed over, stuffed it into the child's hands, and wiped his tears. "Don't cry, it's my fault for not standing firmly. It's not your fault. Here's the snack for you."
The child clenched the snack bag tightly and looked at the woman timidly.
The woman nodded and said, "How dare I ask for your things..."
"Okay." Qi Buchen stood up and said to Yinzhen without saying anything more to the woman, "Let's go."
"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!" A woman's thankful voice came from behind.
Yinzhen's gaze remained gently on her: "Are you really okay?"
Qi Buchen smiled helplessly: "How strong is he? I just lost my concentration for a moment and couldn't stand firmly."
Yinzhen was also helpless: "How can you be in a daze while walking?"
Qi Buchen bit his lip slightly and said nothing.
Yinzhen had no way to deal with her. They waited at the street corner for a while until a carriage arrived. They got on the carriage and were speechless. Yinzhen sat with his eyes downcast until he suddenly said, "The Emperor will probably go to the frontier to escape the summer heat next month."
Qi Buchen responded unconsciously: "Yeah."
"I want to go too."
"Oh." Qi Buchen nodded to show that he understood.
Yinzhen raised his head, staring at her with his distinct black and white eyes: "You want to be grounded..."
Qi Buchen continued to nod to indicate that she understood. After a long while, she looked up and saw Yinzhen still staring at her. As if suddenly realizing something, she asked, "Do you want someone to serve you?"
After waiting for such a sentence for a long time, Yinzhen closed his eyes slightly, exhaled slowly, and said in a somewhat cold voice: "No need, let Su Peisheng arrange it."
"Oh." Qi Buchen simply agreed again.
The two of them returned to the mansion in silence. As it was late, Yinzhen only sent Qi Buchen to the second gate.
When they returned to the main courtyard, Baozhu and the others came up to greet them, complaining a little: "Even if Fu Jin went to the front courtyard, she should have let the servants follow her to serve her."
Qi Buchen knew how Yinzhen had arranged things internally. She didn't reply to the maids, but pointed at Qiqiao and said, "She's Qiqiao, given to me by my master. She knows some martial arts and will serve me personally from now on. Baozhu, you make the arrangements."
Baozhu exchanged glances with the maids and agreed, "Yes, I'll arrange it right away."
After the Chinese Valentine's Day, although Qi Buchen was under house arrest, he was still busy. For some reason, many people died this month, especially those with titles. Although Qi Buchen did not have to go to pay tribute in person, he had to arrange for someone to go, and it had to be someone prestigious. Not to mention Su Peisheng and Lin Changqing, even Xie Hanshan got several tasks, which made him so happy that he didn't know how to show his loyalty.
Just as he finished the Zhongyuan Festival tomb worship, Xie Hanshan brought another note: "My Lady, I sent someone to deliver a note. Please take a look and prepare a gift."
Having heard so many funerals these days, Qi Buchen was interested in the sudden "gift". He wondered which family had a happy event.
She took the post and unfolded it. After a closer look, she realized that it was a message of promotion and that it was from an acquaintance. It was the Deputy General Han whom she met on the Qixi Festival. He had just been promoted by Emperor Kangxi from the deputy general guarding the mausoleum to the commander-in-chief of Jieshi, Guangdong.
Qi Buchen closed the invitation and pondered. Yinzhen's sending it to her meant he wasn't planning to come in person, which meant the gift had to be well-prepared. Also, before, Deputy General Han was just a general guarding the mausoleum, so a close relationship would have been fine. But now, with this Sheng, he held military power, so it would have been inappropriate for Yinzhen to have such a close relationship with him.
In theory, the Han family's invitation should not have been delivered to the Fourth Master's residence. After all, Yinzhen and he were not colleagues, and they did not have any close friendship. It was a bit abrupt to send this invitation.
Well, no matter what he thinks, just treat him normally.
He handed the invitation to Baozhu and instructed, "Take it to Mammy Ham and ask her to prepare a gift according to the rules."
In the past year since leaving the palace, Qi Buchen has gradually established a set of rules in his house, among which the regulations for gifts of various levels were set early on, and ordinary families just followed the regulations.
A few days later, there was a grand banquet at the Han Mansion. While the Han family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were entertaining the guests, they also sent people to keep an eye on the people who had not yet arrived.
Just before the feast began, Deputy General Han's wife went out for a while. When she returned, she looked slightly disappointed and whispered something in her mother-in-law's ear. Deputy General Han's mother, however, was more composed and showed no sign of surprise, continuing to entertain the guests as usual.
Only after the night ended, when the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law gathered together, did Deputy General Han's mother sigh and say, "Forget it. My son has a bright future now. There's no need to plan for those things."
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