Yonghe Palace
As usual, Yihua brought her eldest daughter to pay her respects to Consort De. Hongyun was still young, and Yihua never brought the child unless there was a clear imperial decree.
With a face full of apology, Granny Green bowed to Yihua and said, "Fourth Princess Consort, yesterday Her Highness indulged in the cold and drank an extra cup of iced tea. She had an upset stomach last night and has finally fallen asleep but hasn't woken up yet. Would you please wait a little longer?"
"Is Your Highness seriously ill? Have you summoned the imperial physician?" Yi Hua asked repeatedly.
"It's alright, Her Highness has taken her medicine and is sleeping soundly." After saying this, Granny Green did not lead the mother and daughter to the side hall, indicating that she was to be left to wait at the door.
Realizing that this was Consort De's subtle punishment, Yi Hua quickly understood why. The head maid, Yinzhen, had shown no mercy in punishing the eldest princess.
Several days have passed, and the palace already knows what happened at the Prince's residence.
Consort De could not vent her anger on Yinzhen, who was gradually becoming indifferent to the palace. Consort De would not risk getting angry with Yinzhen over a mere nanny.
What should I do if my mother-in-law takes her anger out on me when she's angry with my husband? If this question had been asked on Zhihu (a Chinese Q&A website) in a previous life, it would have garnered tens of thousands of unique answers, demonstrating that the mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship is an age-old problem with no solution.
"Come, eldest princess, let your mother lean on you for a while." Yi Hua put her hands on the eldest princess, pretending to be weak. "Your Majesty is not feeling well, and it is my duty as a daughter-in-law to serve you. However, I am currently carrying a heavy load and have been feeling dizzy and lightheaded lately. I am in relatively good spirits today, so please excuse my poor appearance, nanny."
Yi Hua thought to herself, if she were to close her eyes and faint at the entrance of Yonghe Palace at this moment, not to mention what Yinzhen would think, even Kangxi would say that Consort De was unkind and mistreated the pregnant woman.
However, Consort De was, after all, Yinzhen's biological mother. Although the two seemed to be at odds, they actually cared about each other. Yihua knew she couldn't be a mediator, but she didn't want to be a troublemaker either.
She was reminding Granny Green that she was pregnant after all, and that moderation was key.
Green Granny understood. Consort De soon "woke up." The eldest princess looked thoughtfully at Consort De's exquisite makeup and silently glanced up at Yihua.
Yi Hua squeezed her hand and stepped forward with a smile to serve Consort De.
"I am already aware of the matter concerning the eldest princess." Consort De's smile changed from her previous demeanor, and she appeared somewhat stern and authoritative. "As the wife of the princess and the mother of the children, you are guilty of negligence."
Upon hearing this, Yi Hua could only kneel on the ground to beg for forgiveness. Seeing this, the eldest princess also quickly knelt down. For a moment, the room was completely silent, and even the sound of Consort De picking up her teacup could be heard clearly.
"As a royal consort, it is important to manage the household affairs, but even more important is to raise offspring. Now the fourth prince has few children, and I heard that you are still obsessed with him while you are pregnant. This is not the behavior of a consort." Consort De vented all her anger from this period on Yi Hua.
Yi Hua frowned and looked at the eldest princess, whose face was obscured by her lowered head: "Granny Green, please take the eldest princess out to play."
"Yes." Seeing that Consort De did not object, Granny Green quickly pulled the eldest princess away.
"Your Majesty, Prince goes to court every day and studies after court. I think he has set a good example for Honghui, and there is nothing wrong with that." Yihua was annoyed that Consort De was always concerned about the trivial matters in Yinzhen's harem. Wouldn't it be better to have some free time to take a nap?
Yi Hua thought Consort De's thought process was quite strange. She was on Yinzhen's side at crucial moments, but she felt that her relationship with Yinzhen was beyond repair, so she wanted to send him women to get closer to him through the women in the inner palace.
This is simply going the long way around!
"Fine, I'm just a woman in the inner palace. Whether you listen to my words or not is up to you." Seeing that Yi Hua was so confident, Consort De knew that the two had a good relationship.
Previously, Consort De was happy to see harmony between husband and wife.
Now, she couldn't help but worry whether Yinzhen was spoiling his wife too much.
"Bring Hongyun in for me to see next time." Consort De suddenly changed the subject. "Li has been with the Fourth Prince for so many years and has raised a son and a daughter. Logically speaking, she should be eligible to be promoted to a secondary consort. What do you all think?"
Yi Hua nodded obediently to indicate that she understood: "Thank you for reminding me. When I get back, I will mention this matter to the Prince and see what his opinion is."
******
Honghui entered the palace with Yihua recently, but Emperor Kangxi had many memorials to attend to today and had no time to deal with him.
Such things happen often. Honghui sat in front of the small table and chairs prepared by Liang Jiugong, concentrating on copying large characters.
Kangxi rubbed his temples and saw that his grandson's hands were very steady, holding the pen and writing slowly and deliberately, his little face tense, just like Yinzhen when he was a child.
After reading through the memorials for half a day, Kangxi was tired. He wanted to change his mood, so he picked up the stack furthest away.
He flipped through the pages absentmindedly, then caught sight of his grandson's back, and suddenly an idea struck him.
"Honghui".
Upon hearing this, Honghui put down his pen and ink, and turned around: "Grandpa?"
"Come here."
Honghui walked over and was pulled into Kangxi's arms. He stood between Kangxi's legs, and when he looked up, he could see a table full of memorials.
"Honghui, come and read this to me." Kangxi stuffed the memorial in his hand into Honghui's chubby little hand.
Although Honghui was young, he had been repeatedly instructed by Yihua and Yinzhen that he should not touch anything in the Hall of Mental Cultivation at will, and that he should ask Eunuch Liang if he wanted anything. The most important thing was that he must never touch anything in the memorials.
At this moment, Honghui was somewhat puzzled. He gripped the folded document tightly, looked up, and asked, "Grandfather, may I look at this?"
"Your Majesty, I grant you permission to see."
"Yes." Honghui nodded vigorously. He had long been curious about what was written in the endless memorials that Emperor Kangxi reviewed every day, but his mother said that these were not things he should know, so he could only endure it. Today was the perfect opportunity to satisfy his curiosity.
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