Thus, the Tong family, having risen in status, once again reached its zenith. The Tong family completely ceased actively engaging with the Eighth Prince, instead siding with the neutral royalist faction. This pleased Emperor Kangxi, who had previously disapproved of his maternal clan's alignment with the ruling faction; it seems the Tong family did possess a sense of propriety.
At Prince Lian's residence, seeing the Tong family's daughter enter the palace and gain favor, and now even become pregnant, the Tong family has prospered again, but their relationship with the Eighth Prince has gradually cooled. Wu Mingdao couldn't help but anxiously say to the Eighth Prince, Yinzhi, "Your Highness, this Tong family's daughter has entered the palace and is now pregnant with a prince. I'm afraid the Tong family's relationship might..."
Yinzhi's eyes flickered. She was already pregnant... "Even if Consort Qiong gives birth to a child now, it won't make any difference. Let the Tong family go."
Wu Mingdao sighed. With a prince in the family, they would definitely support their own people. "It's just a pity that the prince has lost a great help."
Meanwhile, Yinzhen and Yintang also knew the news.
"Father is already so old, how can he still marry such a young girl, really..." Hearing the prince's treasonous words, the two confidants lowered their heads tightly, not daring to let anyone see the shock in their eyes.
Because Qingyin was staying at home so much, the worried Kangxi dragged her out for a walk in the Imperial Garden. Upon receiving the news, the four concubines disregarded the possibility of being punished by Kangxi and decided to go directly to see the long-absent and favored Consort Qiong.
The four concubines were actually mentally prepared to see an unparalleled beauty. After all, the old emperor had broken the rules by favoring this concubine so exclusively, so she must not be an ordinary woman. However, they never expected that the emperor would bring down a celestial fairy to be his concubine!
Upon seeing the woman standing in the garden, whose beauty surpassed even that of flowers and the sun and moon, the concubines could hardly contain their racing hearts. They thought recklessly, "The Emperor is shameless! At such an advanced age, he's still taking advantage of a young girl!" Looking at Kangxi, who looked like he was being scrubbed in dog poop next to Qingyin, the concubines felt a sense of disgust.
Kangxi, who was holding Qingyin, suddenly darkened his eyes. Looking at the concubines walking around, he asked in a deep voice, "Did you all plan to come to the garden together today?"
Upon hearing this, the concubines looked at each other, their faces showing a slightly embarrassed yet polite smile. Consort Cheng, the most composed of them all, smiled and said, "The weather is nice today, so I thought I'd come out for a walk. I didn't expect to run into a few of my sisters and the Emperor."
Seeing Consort Cheng's shameless act of lying through her teeth, the other consorts echoed her sentiments.
Kangxi felt as if the wrinkles that had disappeared had returned. He frowned, but the focus of attention among the concubines was not on him.
Ignoring the stern-faced old emperor, the unrestrained Consort Hui laughed and said, "Sister Consort Qiong, it's only been a month, right? Let me tell you, there are many things to consider when you get pregnant. I've had many children, so why don't you come visit me more often, and I'll tell you about it."
Consort Cheng retorted, not to be outdone, "That's right, Consort Qiong, I have a box of rouge. Even if you're pregnant, it won't be a problem to use it. I'll have someone send you a few boxes later."
“Sister Qiongfei, why don’t you come and sit with me? My child has somehow found a two-foot-long red coral. Why don’t you come and take a look with me?”
...
How could he not know how eloquent these concubines were? Kangxi was annoyed as he watched the older concubines, who had lost their enthusiasm for Qingyin, arguing fiercely over her. He usually went to see Yu'er after court, and he didn't even have enough time to spend with her properly. Did these concubines still want a share of the pie?
The petty-minded Emperor Kangxi directly reprimanded the group for their lack of propriety and for overstepping their bounds to pry into the reason for following the Emperor, and punished each of them by confining them to their quarters for a month.
Qingyin could only smile helplessly at everyone, and gently shook hands with Kangxi, whose face was almost frozen, which finally restored Kangxi's angry expression.
Upon receiving the news of their mother's punishment outside the palace, the princes were puzzled. Since they had come of age, their father had stopped punishing their mother, so why was she suddenly confined to her quarters? The princes began to speculate about conspiracies, wondering if their rivals had tricked their mother. They contacted all their spies in the palace and the court, but found no evidence of impeachment. Only then did they learn from their mother about their father's stingy behavior and Consort Qiong's beauty. A few princes who had met Qingyin agreed with this, while the seventh prince, who had never met Qingyin, was filled with disbelief.
Seventh Prince Yinyou: "..."
"His mother's brain has been bewitched by Consort Qiong, otherwise why would his mother, who usually doesn't like to cause trouble, keep cursing Father Emperor while praising Consort Qiong at the same time!" Yin You fell silent as he looked at the long strip of Xuan paper in his hand that was full of cursing Father Emperor.
However, nothing serious happened to his mother, and since he couldn't go in to see her, Yinyou, feeling depressed, decided to go and complain to his fourth brother, who had suffered the same fate.
"Fourth Brother, do you think Consort Qiong is so beautiful she's almost demonic? How come Mother immediately confined her to her quarters?"
Yinzhen frowned slightly at the casual and belittling tone in Yinyou's words: "Consort Qiong's beauty is naturally unparalleled, Seventh Brother, you must not overstep your bounds. After all, this matter was caused by the consorts, so we cannot blame Consort Qiong."
Seeing the disapproving look in Yinzhen's eyes, Yinyou keenly sensed his fondness for Consort Qiong. However, he assumed it was because Consort De had sent Yinzhen the same private message that had earned him this favor, so he didn't delve into it and simply smiled and changed the subject.
Of all the princes, only the fourth prince treated his leg disability the same as everyone else, and Yinyou was happy to spend more time with this older brother.
After leaving the Yongqin Prince's residence, Yinyou's curiosity about Qingyin grew stronger. Although he was not favored by his father because of his disability, he understood his father's temperament. His father was a man who valued rules the most, and he only bestowed titles upon his concubines for practical reasons. Now, he had directly bypassed the rules to make Tongjia a concubine and was so favored. Which concubine in the harem could enjoy such favor? In addition, his mother and Consort De were also acting unusually. It seemed that Consort Qiong was indeed a magical woman. However, his mother was currently under house arrest and Consort Qiong was pregnant, so it was not a good time to meet. It would be better to wait until his younger brother/sister was born before they could have a proper meeting. Yinyou thought to himself.
Tong Jia Wanying, who remained at the Tong residence, was unhappy. Her younger sister had surpassed her to become a high-ranking concubine of Emperor Kangxi and was even pregnant. Tong Jia Wanying couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Ever since she had spent some time with the Fourth Prince at the Hundred Flowers Banquet, she had thought that he would come to see her again. But so much time had passed and there was no sign of the Fourth Prince. She had no chance to get close to him even now that she was at the residence. How could she possibly marry him? Thinking of this, Tong Jia Wanying felt even more resentful.
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