On the second day after Yihua entered the palace, she went to Yonghe Palace with the tonics she had prepared in advance.
Today, Consort De did not wait for the Minister of Rites to nag in her ear. She saw Yi Hua walking slowly without being announced, with the palace servants on both sides bowing their heads.
"Your daughter-in-law greets Your Majesty."
Yi Hua squatted for a while, and when she didn't hear Consort De's voice, she got up on her own.
"His Majesty was extremely worried when he heard that Your Highness was ill. However, he was too busy with state affairs to come, so he summoned me to the palace to serve Your Highness." Yi Hua noticed that Consort De's brows were furrowed and her lips were tight, and she looked at least five years older than the last time they met, which made Yi Hua feel a little sad.
"I didn't..." Consort De was about to retort but swallowed her words back. "You've worked hard taking care of the Emperor, so let the Fourteenth Prince's wife come and keep me company."
"The Fourteenth Prince cannot enter the palace at will, let alone his wife," Yi Hua said with a smile, her expression unchanged. "With my daughter-in-law here, Your Majesty will surely be able to handle everything properly."
Consort De glared at Yihua: "You just entered the palace, yet you know about what's happening outside. How is the Fourteenth Prince now?"
"Very bad."
"What?"
“It is only natural for children to pay for their mother’s debts. Fourteenth Brother has enjoyed your favoritism for so many years, it’s time for him to pay some interest.”
"Ulanara clan, how dare you speak to me like that!" Consort De's face turned ashen with anger, and she slammed her hand on the corner of the table.
"Hmm... Why wouldn't I dare?" Yi Hua tilted her head, her hair ornament swaying gently. "Your Majesty, guess whether the Emperor values you or his daughter-in-law more now?"
Consort De remained silent for a long while.
"Your daughter-in-law was just joking with you. None of us are important. Of course, the imperial power is the most important!" Yi Hua said seriously. "Anyone who dares to touch his imperial power will surely die."
Consort De glanced at Yi Hua again: "Did you come here today just to provoke me?"
"No, that's not it. Your Highness is asking me for clarification."
"Both Fourth Prince and Fourteenth Prince are your biological sons, and your daughter-in-law can feel your guilt and love for Fourth Prince. Each of the five fingers has its own strengths, and it is normal for a mother to be biased, but why do you always make Fourth Prince sacrifice to please Fourteenth Prince?"
"Your daughter-in-law guesses that you were forced to give the Fourth Prince to the late Emperor's Consort for upbringing, and you resented it at the time. But you dared not resent the late Emperor who gave the order, nor the high-ranking concubine who took your son, so you imposed this resentment on your innocent child who knew nothing."
"But isn't Fourth Master the most innocent one?"
"You practically climbed to the position of concubine by stepping on the Fourth Prince, and now you resent him for not acknowledging you as his mother? How can that be reasonable!"
Yi Hua looked at Consort De seriously: "Recently, there have been constant rumors in the palace. Do you really want to force your own son to bear the infamy of murdering his mother and be stigmatized for eternity?"
Consort De stared blankly at Yi Hua's mouth opening and closing, unable to refute her at all.
"This is a century-old ginseng presented by Goryeo. Granny Lü will make soup for Your Highness. Your daughter-in-law will come to pay her respects to Your Highness again tomorrow." After saying this, Yi Hua turned and left.
Looking at Consort De, who seemed to have suffered a great blow, Green Granny said nothing.
If the Fourth Prince's words today can awaken the Empress from her madness, that would be a wonderful thing.
******
Since that day, Yonghe Palace sent someone to tell us that Consort De was indeed ill and had ordered that she not see any outsiders, and that only the imperial physicians would examine her pulse and prescribe medicine each day.
After being turned away at the door several times, Yi Hua stopped going. Yin Zhen went there in person once. It is unknown what the mother and son talked about, but Yi Hua noticed that Yin Zhen was in a much better mood.
The Ministry of Rites, following regulations, carried out Kangxi's funeral in a grand and lively manner. At the same time, preparations for the enthronement ceremony were almost complete. With a rare moment of leisure, the Embroidery Department delivered auspicious robes.
There were three dragon robes in total, almost identical in appearance, their golden color almost dazzling.
Yi Hua took off the armor and carefully touched it. The fabric was top-notch, but it looked too heavy. Wearing it all day would be no different from running with a heavy load.
Yinzhen opened his arms, and Yihua and Yuling helped him change. Just putting on this outfit made Yihua break out in a light sweat.
However, the saying "clothes make the man" is truly a wise saying. Yinzhen, who originally had a somewhat cold and stern temperament, gained even more majesty after changing into the dragon robe. His every move made people subconsciously look away, and Yuling had already knelt down.
Yi Hua looked at the dragon head on the chest of Yin Zhen's clothes and laughed. The miniature dragon head looked cute and silly, which neutralized the serious atmosphere of the clothes. After looking at it for a while, she found it a little adorable.
After trying on all three outfits, Yinzhen randomly pointed to one and decided on the attire for his coronation day.
"Is the Empress's formal attire ready? Bring it over for her to try on, and make alterations as soon as possible if anything is not suitable," Yinzhen said after changing into his everyday clothes.
The embroidery team acted quickly, bringing three more pieces. Yi Hua tried them on with great interest, feeling like she was playing Miracle Nikki in her past life.
It took almost half an hour to get the whole outfit and hair accessories ready. Yi Hua twisted her stiff neck and said in disbelief, "I'm going to walk around most of the Forbidden City in this outfit?"
"Hang in there, it'll only take half a day." Yinzhen was much more picky than when he was trying on clothes himself, and he made many new requests, from the color of the fabric to the arrangement of the patterns, and even commented on the jewelry one by one.
Someone who didn't know better might think it was a government work report.
After taking it off, Yi Hua refused to try it on anymore: "Your Majesty, let's not try it on anymore. We'll just wear it when it's finished. Anyway, no one will look at me properly that day except you."
Yinzhen waved his hand, dismissing everyone from the embroidery room.
"Once the enthronement ceremony and the empress's investiture ceremony are over, the children can be brought in." Yinzhen hadn't seen the children for a long time, and he couldn't help but think about them whenever he had free time.
"We still don't know how to coax Liu Liu and Xiao Lang." Yi Hua recalled the last time the two of them abandoned the children and went on an inspection tour of the borderlands with Kangxi, and felt a headache coming on.
"I don't think so. Without our supervision, these two children would cause a huge uproar under Lord Fei Yanggu's rule."
“Yi Hua”.
"Hmm?" Yi Hua was doing her evening skincare routine. She had just put on a full face of makeup and needed to remove it all.
"I want to thank you," Yinzhen suddenly said. "Filial piety is like a mountain pressing down on my shoulders, and you pushed it away and said it wasn't my fault."
“When I was a child, I envied my fourteenth brother and even did things to deliberately pick fights to vent my anger.” Yinzhen smiled and twirled his prayer beads. “A few days ago, Consort De said those things in public, and I thought we might as well go down together.”
"Later, after calming down, I realized it wasn't worth it. I still have you, and my lovely children."
"My fourteenth brother has stayed indoors ever since that day; he was frightened."
"I wasn't actually angry with him, I was just trying to scare him and calm down the restless court officials."
Yi Hua listened quietly, leaning against Yin Zhen's chest and listening to his steady heartbeat. She knew that he seemed to have overcome the inner demon of Consort De, which was good.
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