"Greetings, Consort Xi..."
At the prompting of the attending nanny, the two little girls curtsied to Qian Shengyan, their large, doe-like eyes filled with a mixture of apprehension, envy, and anticipation.
Qian Shengyan smiled and took off the two jade bracelets from her wrist, giving one to each of them: "Fortunately, you two are here with the Imperial Noble Consort. With you by her side, the Imperial Noble Consort will surely be happier."
The two young girls, resembling Tongjia, exchanged glances, hesitant to accept the jade bracelet. The attending matron smiled and said, "Ladies, why don't you thank Consort Xi?"
The two then accepted the bracelet and thanked him.
Just then, a clapping sound came. The two seemed like startled little animals, and were about to run away in unease. But Qian Shengyan smiled and said, "The Emperor has arrived."
"Your Majesty..." A round-faced Tong Jia looked at the attending nanny with some surprise, but the nanny shook her head. The girl was a little disappointed, bowed to Qian Shengyan, and then took her leave.
No one expected the Emperor to arrive so quickly; before the two young girls had even left, Yinzhen arrived.
Before Qian Shengyan could even bend her knees, Yinzhen grabbed her wrist: "What brings you here today?"
"When Fuerguochun smelled the fragrance of jasmine, she insisted on picking some to make pastries. I was impatient to accompany her to pick those little flowers, so I walked over here first," Qian Shengyan said with a smile.
Yinzhen looked up and smelled it: "Indeed, it has a sweet and elegant fragrance; the jasmine flowers are in full bloom." After saying that, he asked Hongshan, but when he learned that Hongshan was still taking a nap, he let it go.
At this point, Yinzhen hadn't noticed the two little girls beside him, and the old woman kept her head down, not daring to utter a sound.
Qian Shengyan smiled and said, "Your Majesty hasn't seen the two younger sisters yet, has he? These are the nieces of the Imperial Noble Consort, who came to the palace specifically to keep the Imperial Noble Consort company."
"Hmm." Yinzhen glanced at them, and the two hurriedly bowed. He only nodded, but Su Peisheng was the one who addressed him properly.
He said calmly, "Since the Imperial Noble Consort enjoys having you with her, you should serve her well. At this time of year, the flowers in the Cining Palace Garden must be quite beautiful."
The two girls weren't stupid; they immediately understood the meaning behind Yinzhen's words and turned pale with fright.
The old woman was about to kneel down to beg for forgiveness, but Qian Shengyan stopped her and said with a smile, "These flowers and scenery are here, they're just for people to enjoy. Your Majesty hasn't been to the Cining Palace Garden for several days, you must miss it, right?"
Yinzhen glanced at her helplessly. Of the two girls, the one with the round face was the bolder. She curtsied to Qian Shengyan and then bowed to Yinzhen. Clearly, she mustered her courage and said in a trembling voice, "No, it wasn't me who ran off. I was on the orders of the Imperial Noble Consort to go to the Imperial Household Department to collect something. I passed by here and saw that the flowers were in full bloom, so I played with my sister for a while. It was... it was me who disturbed Your Majesty and Consort Xi. It was my fault."
Before she could finish speaking, the old woman glared at her fiercely, and Qian Shengyan's smile faded.
Yinzhen glanced at her, then looked at Qian Shengyan, and this time his lips curved into a smile.
He stepped forward and took her hand: "Let's go."
"Hmm." Qian Shengyan was also a little annoyed. Good grief, she couldn't understand why she was speaking up for her, but she had to act like she had a mouth and knew how to talk, right?
As they walked, Yinzhen teased her, "You're still defending others? With your silly nature, you should be more careful."
Qian Shengyan: ...
How annoying! Humph!
However, the Imperial Noble Consort probably didn't want to get involved in this matter. That very night, she sent the round-faced girl out of the palace, leaving only the girl with the oval face. She even specially sent Qian Shengyan a set of jewelry, not explicitly saying it was an apology, but it conveyed the same meaning.
Qingxue put the jewelry directly into the storeroom, and then said to Qian Shengyan, "Your Highness, I heard that the Imperial Noble Consort did not approve of this matter, but the Tongjia family was urging her so much that they sent the two young ladies to the palace."
"Hmm, then the Emperor should know as well." Qian Shengyan guessed that was probably true. The Imperial Noble Consort had been in the palace for decades and wasn't ambitious. Why would she do something like this during the late Emperor's mourning period?
"This servant has also heard that Her Majesty the Empress has been summoning members of our family to the palace frequently lately..." Qingxue frowned, "Isn't that a bit too hasty?"
Qian Shengyan didn't understand either. Ulanara was probably preparing people for Hongshi, so calling them in now wouldn't do any good.
Tong Jia, on the other hand, seized every opportunity—the mourning period was only a year and a half away from ending, and it would be best if she could gain the emperor's favor before then and give birth to a son or daughter right after the mourning period ended.
She originally thought that the first wave of palace intrigue wouldn't arrive until the third year of Yongzheng's reign, but she didn't expect that these people were much more impatient than her and were already preparing to launch their attack.
At this time, what Yinzhen was most concerned about was the matter of revising the imperial genealogy.
Because Emperor Kangxi was busy with many matters in his later years, the imperial genealogy had not been revised for nearly twenty years. The most recent revision was in the forty-fifth year of his reign (1707).
At that time, Hongshi was only three years old and not yet eligible to be included in the imperial genealogy, while the second prince, Hongyun, was still alive...
Because it spanned a long period of time, a great deal of content needed to be revised. Each revision of the Imperial Genealogy was based on 22 categories, with both Manchu and Chinese texts, resulting in a total of 44 volumes. Each revision started from scratch, with the names of the living written in red ink and the names of the deceased written in black ink, making it a considerable undertaking.
Yinzhen gave instructions on the matter and also instructed Ulanara to review a section concerning her own backyard. Ulanara naturally agreed, but a problem arose during the final handover.
Because Qian Shengyan entered the Prince's Mansion after giving birth to Hongli, and she had been a concubine in the Prince's Mansion, the specific time of her entry into the mansion had to be recorded. In addition, she originally had no family members, and was later promoted to a higher banner, so everything had to be recorded.
Hongli's birthday was the 13th day of the second month of the 50th year of Kangxi's reign. If we calculate the date of his pregnancy back, Qian Shengyan's entry into the mansion must have been before that. However, the date of Qian Shengyan's entry into the mansion was recorded as the eighth month of the 49th year of Kangxi's reign.
No matter how you calculate it, it's impossible for Hongli to have been born in February of the following year!
Yinzhen was furious about this and went to Changchun Palace to give Ulanara a severe scolding. But no matter how much Ulanara cried or admitted her mistakes, the imperial genealogy of the concubines had already been repaired and bound, and there was no possibility of changing it.
When Qian Shengyan, who rushed over, learned of this, she was also heartbroken. Ulanara's casual change of the date had turned her from a concubine into a seduce, and she was already pregnant before even entering the mansion. Her reputation would never be good for thousands of years.
It could even affect Hongli's parentage—he was pregnant before even entering the manor; who knows if the child is Yinzhen's? What if it isn't?
This is utterly devastating, and Qian Shengyan doesn't even dare to imagine what would happen if someone brought this up again at the crucial moment of Hongli's ascension to the throne.
Ulanara also felt wronged: "I only remember going to the imperial palace in the suburbs of Beijing in July or August of that year, so I remembered the time when Consort Xi entered the residence as that time..."
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