On the 28th day of the sixth month of the 24th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, Yinzhi was born in the main hall of Yikun Palace, one of the six western palaces of the Forbidden City.
When Yinzhi was born, his mother was Consort Yu.
Yinzhi also had a twin brother, Aisin Gioro Yinshi. After Yinzhi and his twin brother reached the full moon celebration, Yinzhi's mother was made an Imperial Noble Consort, the highest-ranking concubine in the harem at that time.
Yinzhi grew up safely to the age of fourteen. In that year, Yinzhi was granted the title of Beile, and at the same time, Yinzhi's mother betrothed a young lady named Wuzhaku to Yinzhi to be a Gege.
Wu Zhaku was both a concubine of Yinzhi and a palace maid serving him. Because Yinzhi's mother found it troublesome, she did not arrange another palace maid for him. Yinzhi was already aware of this.
Yinzhi's fourth brother, Yinchu, who was six years older than Yinzhi, was also symbolically assigned a palace maid named Gu by Yinzhi's mother.
Yinzhi's mother's ideas were different from those of many other concubines in the palace.
The imperial concubines, such as Consort Hui, Noble Consort Que, and Consort Duan, all hoped that their grown sons would soon have children and continue the family line.
Only Yinzhi's mother restrained them, requiring them to wait until they were eighteen years old before engaging in sexual relations with women.
In the Qing Dynasty, princes were considered adults at the age of twelve, and could then have concubines or maids in their household. Emperor Kangxi himself married Empress Xiaocheng at the age of twelve and had his first child at the age of fourteen...
Although Yinzhi did not understand, he still decided to listen to his mother.
After all, at this time, Yinzhi was still oblivious to women, and Wu Zhakushi's entry into Yinzhi's inner court was merely to take care of his daily needs.
Although Wu Zhaku was of humble origin, she was undoubtedly a virtuous woman.
Sometimes, Yinzhi thought that if Wuzhakushi had not been betrothed to a princess, perhaps she could have married into a family of equal social standing outside the palace and the prince's residence and become his principal wife!
Yinzhi felt that Wuzhakushi was not like a concubine at all, but more like a principal wife.
The imperial concubine selection for the 40th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign arrived as scheduled.
That year, Yinzhi was in his prime. He secretly slipped away to watch the imperial concubine selection outside the Tiyuan Hall. A girl who was about the same age as Yinzhi caught his attention.
Later, Yinzhi learned that this woman was his cousin.
He was half a year older than Yinzhi.
My cousin is the daughter of the Tara family, the younger sister of my mother, and the youngest daughter of the third wife of the Tara family. My aunt had my maternal grandmother send a letter to the palace early on, and my cousin's entry into the palace for the imperial concubine selection was just a formality.
My cousin's family has even already found her a husband.
After seeing his cousin once, Yinzhi was so distracted that he couldn't stop thinking about her. So he went to his cousin's house and pretended to have wandered into the backyard by mistake, where he saw his cousin again.
I remember my cousin at the time, wearing a moon-white cheongsam, with a quiet and elegant temperament.
Yinzhi thought, "First sight is stunning, second sight is captivating. In just a glance or two, we've found our soulmates. This is probably what they mean by a predestined fate from past lives to this one."
Yinzhi was thinking about how to marry his cousin, but his cousin from the Tara family had broken off the marriage arranged for her by her aunt and uncle, saying that she didn't want to get married for the time being.
Yinzhi and his cousin began to date frequently, going to the market together and admiring the peach blossoms in the outskirts of Beijing.
No secret stays hidden forever. One day, by chance, Yinzhi and his cousin were out for a spring outing when they were spotted by his seventh sister and brother-in-law. Later, his seventh sister went to the palace and told Yinzhi's mother about Yinzhi and his cousin's affair.
The seventh sister reported to Mother about the matter concerning Yinzhi and her cousin.
Yinzhi didn't blame his seventh sister; in fact, he secretly hoped that his mother would agree soon so that he could smoothly marry his cousin as his wife.
But Yinzhi's mother,
If it were any other mother, she would have wholeheartedly supported the marriage between cousins, which would strengthen family ties. However, Yinzhi's mother firmly opposed it, saying that such a marriage would result in deformed offspring.
Feeling agitated and restless, Yinzhi drank himself into a stupor. Upon returning to his residence, he mistook Wu Zhaku, who had brought him hangover soup, for his cousin. Yinzhi remained unaware of the truth afterward, only vaguely remembering having slept with a certain woman.
Even Wu Zhaku acted as if nothing had happened.
Three months later, Yinzhi's wet nurse suddenly reported that Lady Wuzhaku was suspected of being pregnant. Yinzhi was stunned, because he never expected that Lady Wuzhaku would be pregnant.
In Yinzhi's memory, he had never touched Wuzhaku.
After some questioning, Wu Zhaku finally told him what had happened. Yinzhi felt helpless but had no choice but to let Wu Zhaku rest and give birth to the child safely.
Yinzhi's mother forbade him from seeing his cousin again, but how could the high courtyard walls stop two hearts in love?
Yinzhi and his cousin secretly met under various pretexts.
In an unexpected turn of events, Yinzhi and his cousin couldn't control their feelings and had a relationship. Afterwards, Yinzhi was extremely flustered, and so was his cousin. She was worried about the possibility of an unmarried pregnancy and how it would affect the other unmarried girls in the Tara family.
I spent a month in fear and trembling.
As fate would have it, my cousin suddenly felt nauseous and vomited uncontrollably during dinner with my aunt. My aunt, being an experienced woman, immediately understood what was going on. After questioning my cousin, she went back to my maternal grandmother's house and begged my grandmother to take her to the palace.
Even as he approached the end of his life, Yinzhi vividly remembered his mother's face; it was so gloomy it seemed as if water could drip from it. His maternal grandmother and aunt were also filled with remorse.
Later, Yinzhi's mother personally went to see Emperor Kangxi, who then issued an edict to bestow a marriage upon Yinzhi and his cousin, ordering his cousin to marry into the Prince's residence a month later.
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