Chapter 177 Long-Awaited Good News After Li Jia's funeral, Cheng Qianyue...
After Li Jia's funeral, Cheng Qianyue moved out of the Yangxin Hall.
These two things seem unrelated, but Cheng Qianyue felt uneasy and simply didn't want to stay in the Hall of Mental Cultivation any longer.
She didn't really know what she was thinking. After all, whether she lived in the Hall of Mental Cultivation or not, Hongxi's resentment towards her wouldn't diminish in the slightest. But she just felt a nagging itch, as if Li Jia's death was connected to her, and she didn't want to provoke Hongxi any further.
Afterwards, Cheng Qianyue told Yinreng about moving out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and her reasons were readily available. Winter was approaching, and there were many important events before the New Year; she couldn't afford to be as carefree as she had been last year. However, living in the Hall of Mental Cultivation made it difficult to get along with others, and it was ultimately not as convenient as living in the Yongshou Palace.
Upon hearing this, Yinreng slowly nodded and said, "If you want to move, then move. Anyway, Yongshou Palace is right behind Yangxin Hall, so it will be easy for me to visit you."
Since he had agreed, Cheng Qianyue busied herself with moving. Actually, during the year or so she had lived in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Cheng Qianyue quite missed her days in the Palace of Eternal Longevity. After all, the Palace of Eternal Longevity was her own territory, unlike the Hall of Mental Cultivation where she had two sets of staff.
When Cheng Qianyue returned to Yongshou Palace, she quickly became busy. The excuse she had given Yinreng wasn't just a random fabrication; there were many important days ahead, and many things needed to be prepared in advance. Although she had the help of Lady Linjia and Lady Fan, Cheng Qianyue still had a lot to do, especially in meeting people. Before the Golden Festival, the number of people submitting memorials saying they wanted to come and pay their respects to her was overwhelming; Yongshou Palace was practically flooded with memorials.
Cheng Qianyue has been mainly busy with this these past few days. First, she needs to find out which families have submitted memorials, then she needs to look at the backgrounds of their ancestors and parents, and then decide how to arrange things. The others are easy to arrange; they can be ranked according to their rank and official position, and then by their relationship to the family. But there is one person who is really difficult to arrange, and that is the Grand Consort.
Because of the recent death of Lady Li Jia last month, it is customary for the palace to exercise restraint during festivals such as the Golden Festival, the Winter Solstice, and even the New Year. However, Yinreng did not hold a small-scale Golden Festival due to the death in the palace; instead, he said he would hold a grand one. Furthermore, he made no mention of the First Prince's mourning period. Therefore, Cheng Qianyue didn't know if the First Prince's wife would come to the palace during the Golden Festival. If she did come, she didn't know what to do. Should she have the First Prince's wife come to Yongshou Palace? That wouldn't be appropriate. Should she go to Qixiang Palace? But Lady Lin Jia wasn't the First Prince's wife's mother-in-law.
Cheng Qianyue sighed, unsure of what to do with the First Princess Consort.
Fortunately, a few days later, the First Princess Consort submitted a memorial requesting leave, saying she was unwell and unable to come to the palace. Cheng Qianyue immediately breathed a sigh of relief and instructed someone to pass on a message, saying that the First Princess Consort had been working too hard lately and should stay at home to recuperate. After the messenger left, Cheng Qianyue thought that the First Princess Consort was probably just using illness as an excuse, and that she would likely need to rest until after the New Year. This was good, saving her from trouble and avoiding embarrassment for the First Princess Consort. As for Hongxi, she didn't know if he would come to the palace for the banquet before the New Year, but even if he did, it would be to the front, not the inner palace.
Cheng Qianyue rubbed her temples and then began writing the seating chart for the banquet attendees, intending to send it to the Hall of Mental Cultivation for Yinreng to review. If there were no errors, she would proceed. Just as Qi Liao picked up his brush and wrote down a few names, a messenger announced that Hongyan had come to pay his respects. Shortly after Hongyan entered, he brought good news: Lady Guarjia was pregnant.
Upon hearing this, Cheng Qianyue immediately stopped writing and hurriedly asked to confirm, "Really?"
Hongyan hummed in agreement, revealing the joy of becoming a father for the first time: "It's been two months already. I originally planned to come and tell Father and Mother the good news after three months, but the doctor in the manor said that the pregnancy is stable, so I couldn't wait any longer."
Cheng Qianyue was overjoyed and kept saying, "Great, this is truly a joyous occasion." She continued, "I have many medicinal herbs here to help with pregnancy; take them with you before you leave the palace. Tomorrow I will select two imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital who are skilled in gynecology and pediatrics and send them to your residence. This is Guarjia's first pregnancy, so you must take extra care of her. Don't let Guarjia come out during the New Year's festival; it's cold now, and coming to the palace would require her to perform rituals and attend banquets, which would be too much trouble."
Hongyan nodded in agreement and said, "Thank you for your consideration, Mother. I will tell her when I get back."
Cheng Qianyue smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "I didn't expect you to be going to be Father's person too."
Hongyan touched his nose, feeling deeply moved.
Cheng Qianyue gave him a few more instructions, and then asked about other things, such as whether he had encountered any problems after he opened his own residence outside.
Hongyan shook his head and said, "Aside from being a bit idle, it's not so bad." Since leaving the palace, the Emperor hadn't allowed them to participate in politics. However, Hongyan accepted this quite well, and even more so, he simply closed his residence. Well, even if he didn't close the door, no one else came except for his legitimate relatives. Because things were relatively quiet outside, he now focused most of his attention on the inner quarters. Of course, his hard work wasn't in vain; he was about to have a child. Now that he was going to be a father, he naturally had to plan for his child, so he was thinking of building a small courtyard for his child to store toys before and after the New Year, to serve as a childhood playground.
Cheng Qianyue said, "It's not that your father doesn't want to use you, but the situation in the capital has really been bad these past two years. In a few years, you'll probably be given a position." Seeing Yinreng so decisively release all three children, it was clear he wanted to cool down the restless crowd outside. The atmosphere surrounding the struggle for the crown prince position had been incredibly intense these past two years, not only in the inner palace but also likely involving many officials in the outer court. She paused, then continued, "We'll act according to what your imperial father thinks. Besides, I think this is quite good; being steady will allow you to accumulate strength for a future breakthrough."
“Yes, they say it’s easy to add flowers to brocade, but difficult to provide charcoal in the snow. Since leaving the palace, I’ve seen through many things and many people.” Hongyan replied in a deep voice, then asked with concern, “How is Mother doing lately? Is Fifth Brother easy to take care of? Is Hongyao turning things around now?”
Cheng Qianyue said, "Your fifth brother is quite well-behaved and doesn't cause trouble. He can turn over very easily, but he's just too lazy to move." She raised her hand to signal someone to bring Hongyao over from the east side hall and placed the boy in Hongyan's arms.
Hongyan was happy to see children now, and he held Hongyao without feeling awkward. He said softly, "Hongyao, I am your third brother. Your third brother will have a child soon. When your nephew and niece are born, you can play with them."
Cheng Qianyue: ......
These words made her a little embarrassed, as she felt that she and Yinreng seemed to be acting somewhat disrespectfully of their elders, cough cough.
Hongyao wasn't shy at all. He stared at Hongyan with his big, bright eyes, and after a while, he said "Oh" as if he had agreed. Hongyan smiled and lifted him up, saying, "I only held Hongyao when he was a month old. I didn't expect that just a few months later, he would be so much heavier than before. He's growing really fast."
Cheng Qianyue: "Kids grow so fast. I remember when you were born, you weighed less than five pounds, but in just a few months you were over ten pounds. You were so heavy back then, I had to put you down to rest after holding you for a while." Years have passed, and Hongyan is about to have children, and she's about to become a grandmother. Oh dear, it's amazing how time flies.
Hongyan naturally didn't remember being that young, but he had seen Hongchao and Moyaqi as children, and seeing Hongyao now brought back happy memories of his childhood. He smiled gently and picked up a rattle drum to play with Hongyao. The two brothers played back and forth for a while until Hongyao got hungry and was taken away to be fed, at which point Hongyan knelt down and left.
However, as he walked out of the palace, Hongyan couldn't help but think of the rumors circulating outside and couldn't help but chuckle. It was ridiculous that such a young child, still breastfeeding, was being rumored to be the crown prince. But if it was about Hongchao, that would be more plausible.
Hongyan slowly shook his head and quickened his pace towards the palace gates. He thought that his father's actions were intended to cool things down regarding the Crown Prince, so he naturally needed to remain calm. However, Hongxi... had been clinging to the position of the hidden Crown Prince ever since he was in the palace, and now that he had left the palace to establish his own residence and encountered further changes, he was probably going to get stuck in a rut.
Sigh, it seems his older brother doesn't understand the saying "haste makes waste."
Not long after Hongyan left, before evening, Yinreng arrived from Yangxin Hall. After entering Yongshou Palace, he first visited Hongyao before going to his bedchamber to speak with Cheng Qianyue, saying with a smile, "I didn't expect to receive such good news from Hongyan's residence so early."
Cheng Qianyue said, "It shows they have a good relationship." Hongyan currently only has one wife, and both of them are young and vigorous, so it's normal for them to have good news so early. She said softly, "You're going to be a grandfather again."
Yinreng laughed heartily, but as he laughed, he suddenly sighed.
Cheng Qianyue could understand the reason for his sigh. Everyone in the palace, except for the unmarried and unmarried women, had good news, except for Hongxi's household. For example, in April, news spread that Hongjin's second wife and one of his concubines were pregnant. In May, Wulinzhu gave birth to a prince and sent word to the palace. Now, good news had also arrived from Hongyan's household, making Hongxi's household seem even more desolate. Moreover, since Lady Lijia had passed away this year, Hongxi still had to observe mourning, so the birth of his child would be delayed by two years.
Cheng Qianyue sighed inwardly, but remained silent. Since Hongxi was involved, she couldn't say anything in front of Yinreng; the most she could do was remain silent.
Yinreng also felt that Hongxi had been unlucky these past few years; three years had passed since their marriage and he still hadn't heard any good news from him. However, these things were hard to rush, and he thought of arranging a few people for Hongxi to live with in a couple of years. But when he thought of arranging people, Yinreng suddenly realized and said, "Hongyan's household doesn't have many people yet, does it?"
Cheng Qianyue thought for a moment and replied, "No." She then tentatively asked, "Does Your Excellency intend to bestow a person upon Hongyan?"
Yinreng nodded: "His wife is pregnant and needs to be taken care of. Besides, I hope he can have many children and much happiness." The wife and concubines should compete to have more children so that the family line will be prosperous.
Guarjia was only recently pregnant, how could she be given away now? Wouldn't that upset the pregnant woman?
Cheng Qianyue quickly said, "There are many big events before the New Year, and Hongyan will be busy attending banquets. Let's postpone the matter of bestowing people on him until after the New Year." During this period, if Hongyan had sex with someone else or if the Guarjia clan decided to perform a facial ritual on someone else, she could not interfere. However, the matter of giving people to Hongyan should be delayed for as long as possible.
Yinreng casually replied, "That's true, let's talk about it later."
This year's various major festivals were more lively and busier than in previous years. However, Hongxi did not appear during the Ban Jin Festival and the Winter Solstice. At first, Cheng Qianyue thought that Hongxi had requested to observe mourning, but when Hongxi still did not enter the palace until the twelfth lunar month, she realized that Yinreng did not allow him to enter the palace to attend the banquet, and made Hongxi spend the festival at his residence outside.
In the twelfth lunar month, the emperor was to personally write the character "福" (fortune/blessing) and bestow it upon members of the imperial family and court officials. Cheng Qianyue went to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to assist in writing the character and watched as Yinreng wrote it and then ordered it to be delivered to each household. Hongjin and Hongyan both received a "福" character, but Hongxi did not. Cheng Qianyue suddenly realized that Yinreng had become very cold towards Hongxi.
After Yinreng finished bestowing the "Fu" character, he sighed and sat on the couch, looking exhausted. He called her over, took her hand, and said, "Lately, I've felt that this year is not like previous years, but with you by my side, it seems not much different from previous years."
Cheng Qianyue didn't know how to answer him for a moment, except to smile. After returning to Yongshou Palace, she vaguely guessed that Yinreng had made some decision. She was happy that Yinreng ultimately favored her and her son, but after the joy, she felt a mix of inexplicable sadness and sorrow.
Then she patted her face and said, "Don't think so much! As long as it's not Hongxi who takes over, they're all safe. As long as they're safe, she can forget all the pain she's suffered so much."
Once the New Year holidays were over, Cheng Qianyue's busy life finally came to an end. After resting for about a month, Yinreng suddenly announced that he wanted to go on a spring hunt in Nanyuan. He said that the Qing Dynasty valued martial arts, and that he had been spending too much time reviewing memorials in the Hall of Mental Cultivation these past few years, which had almost ruined his health.
Yes, Cheng Qianyue believed that much; Yinreng's waistline had widened somewhat in the past two years. Besides, she also wanted to go out for a stroll; she hadn't been to Nanyuan yet.
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Author's Note: To avoid misunderstanding, please note that according to the timeline, Lady Guarjia became pregnant before Lady Lijia committed suicide.
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