Chapter 140 After Princess Cheng Yexing of Fumeng left, Cheng Qianyue then...
After Cheng Yexing left, Cheng Qianyue invited her mother over again. This time, Xitala's expression was much better; she didn't have the stern face she had last time. Then, Cheng Qianyue learned from her mother about the time Cheng Yexing slapped her.
Hitara said, "His face is so swollen, it's clear he was hit hard." She snorted, "That's more like it. If he hadn't slapped himself, I would have done it. Our family can't afford someone who's shameless and unrepentant."
Cheng Qianyue couldn't stop laughing at Xitala's expression. "Mother, you're just being hindsight." She felt that Xitala had become increasingly docile in recent years.
Xitala's carefully cultivated temper was easily extinguished by Cheng Qianyue, who sighed and said, "One reason is that you've all become successful, and another is that we're getting old." Ah, you can't deny getting old.
Cheng Qianyue took her hand and said, "No, Mother is still young, her hair is even blacker than Father's."
That's because of the dye; she's several years older than Cheng Shifu. Xitala smiled and rolled her eyes at her: "You're all wrinkled and still say you're not old." She continued, "We originally planned for the whole family to go south with your brother, so no one would be watching him and he wouldn't cause trouble. But your father and I are really old; we can't handle that anymore. Besides, we've spent our whole lives in the capital; we were afraid we wouldn't be used to it in other places. Then we thought, Jiangning is far away anyway; even if he has ulterior motives, he can't reach the capital. So it's better this way."
Cheng Qianyue said, "If you and Father really go with him, what will I do? I won't be able to see you anymore. Are you willing to leave me?"
Hitara couldn't help but reach out and tap her face, "You've been like a little girl all these years." Then she muttered, "Besides, you still have the Emperor, the Third Prince, the Fourth Prince, and the Second Princess."
Cheng Qianyue tilted her head and said, "But they are not you and Father."
Hitara couldn't help but chuckle: This was the only good thing about her daughter since she was little—she was a master at sweet-talking people, and it was always genuine.
——
As autumn approached, every day spent in the garden was precious. Before the Golden Festival, Yinreng had taken them back to the Forbidden City, explaining that the Empress Dowager was residing in the palace and it wouldn't be good for her to spend the festival alone. Actually, Yinreng had already consulted the Empress Dowager when he first suggested coming to the garden to escape the summer heat. However, the Empress Dowager was too old to move, only instructing them to enjoy themselves in the garden. Now that autumn was almost over, it was time to return and visit the Empress Dowager.
The palace was bustling with activity in preparation for the festival. The wives and princesses of various households were summoned to the palace to chat with the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager cheerfully invited the princesses outside to play games like kicking sandbags and spinning tops. Sometimes, when she felt bored, she would set up a card table to play. However, the Empress Dowager's eyesight was failing, and even with her glasses, she couldn't see clearly, so she would call the princesses to come and help her with her cards and offer advice. In short, the Empress Dowager was happy throughout the various important festivals before the New Year.
Soon it was New Year's Eve. In the evening, Yinreng led the concubines, princes, and princesses to Ning Shou Palace to bid farewell to the old year. The Empress Dowager was overjoyed and hurriedly told them to rise and take their seats.
Yinreng asked, "How is the Imperial Mother doing lately?"
The Empress Dowager smiled and said, "Good, especially during the New Year holidays, the Palace of Tranquil Longevity is bustling with people."
Yinreng nodded and said, "Speaking of which, there are only two women in the palace, Wulinzhu and Moyaqi. It's a bit inconvenient for them to keep you company. After the New Year, I will have the princesses from various families come to the palace to keep you company. What do you think?"
The Empress Dowager smiled and nodded: "That's wonderful. Surrounded by princesses as beautiful as flowers, I feel like I've become a few years younger."
Sure enough, after the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth, Yinreng issued an edict to adopt the princesses from various princely mansions as his daughters and bestow the title of Heshuo Princess upon several of them. However, he did not summon the princesses to the palace immediately, but instead gave them time to bid farewell to their parents. The ceremony for bestowing the title of princess was gradually held in April and May.
Cheng Qianyue: Sigh.
During the Qing Dynasty, imperial princesses and princesses of the imperial clan were all useful. For example, during the Kangxi era, before the imperial princesses came of age, Kangxi adopted several daughters, who were later married off to Mongolians. After the princesses in the palace grew up, the vast majority also intermarried with Mongolian tribes. Now, Yinreng's actions are likely intended to win over the Mongols. Moreover, judging from his bestowing the title of princess upon other people's daughters but not his own, he probably wants to keep Ulinzhu and Moyaqi in the palace. For this reason, Cheng Qianyue felt exceptionally guilty and sympathetic towards these princesses who were about to enter the palace.
So she called Moyaqi over.
Moyaqi had passed the age of strict separation between men and women and no longer went to the Imperial Study. Even so, she wasn't idle. Her two older brothers were willing to tutor her, giving her their own notes and insights, so she still read books, just not outside anymore. If she felt bored on weekdays, she would stroll outside. Before, when she was in the garden, she often went to the west side to ride horses.
Moyaqi walked in happily, took off her cloak, and bowed, saying, "Mother."
Cheng Qianyue agreed, beckoned her over, and asked softly, "What have you been doing lately?"
"Let's build a snowman." Moyaqi replied with a grin, "If we don't build a snowman now, the snow will melt in a while."
Cheng Qianyue stroked her hair and said, "Your mother called you here because she has something to tell you." She paused and asked, "In a few months, you'll have several older and younger sisters coming to the palace, you know?"
Moyaqi nodded. "I know, they are my cousins. Father bestowed upon them the title of princess and brought them into the palace. I also saw people repairing the five empty houses on the west side these past few days."
Cheng Qianyue sighed, and after a while said to her, "Moyaqi, after they enter the palace, you must take good care of them, okay?"
Moyaqi stopped laughing and said softly, "Mother, I know." She slowly lowered her head and asked in a low voice, "Is it because they will marry outside the area in the future?"
Cheng Qianyue was surprised that she knew all this and looked at her with some astonishment.
“My brothers told me, and I know it myself.” Moyaqi pursed her lips and said dejectedly, “Several aunts have married into Mongolia.” She raised her head and asked tentatively, “Mother, can’t we prevent them from marrying so far away?”
Cheng Qianyue shook her head helplessly.
Although the Manchu-Mongol intermarriages in the Qing Dynasty differed from those of other dynasties, and princesses who married into the Mongol tribes could return to visit every three to five years, living in the capital was certainly different from living in Mongolia. At the very least, there were differences in food, lodging, customs, and language. In addition, the marriage alliances between the court and the Mongols involved politics, and the princes-in-law who married princesses were not necessarily sincere towards them. If relations between the court and the Mongol tribes were tense, the princesses who married into the Mongol tribes might be viewed with suspicion and neglect. Therefore, the princesses who were sent to the Mongol tribes certainly did not have a better life than those who lived in the capital.
Cheng Qianyue couldn't change this situation, because Manchu-Mongol intermarriage was an old custom of the Qing Dynasty. She could only be thankful that Moyaqi wouldn't have to live that kind of life in the future. She replied in a deep voice, "Your mother can't do anything about it, and even your father won't break this old custom. But one thing is certain, and that is that neither your father nor I want you to marry into Mongolia. Because you won't be marrying far away, you should treat the person you are marrying into even better."
Moyaqi bit her lip. She wanted to say that it didn't matter if she married into Mongolia, she wouldn't be bullied anywhere. But then she felt that her father and mother had protected her like this, and she couldn't be ungrateful.
"Mother, I think I'm very bad," Moyaqi said dejectedly, softly snuggling into Cheng Qianyue's arms.
Cheng Qianyue hugged her and whispered, "No, it's not that you're bad, it's that the world is bad." If the word "bad" were to be applied to a specific person, then it would be Yinreng who is bad, and she would be an accomplice to that badness. Cheng Qianyue took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Besides teaching Moyaqi to treat her cousins well, she would also try her best to make amends to them.
——
Inside Jingren Palace, Granny Shuang reported to the Empress in detail about the repairs at the five residences in Ganxi. "Everything that needed to be tidied up has been done, and things like windows and chairs have all been replaced." She paused for a moment before continuing, "The Noble Consort has also started to add a lot."
The Empress reached up and touched her forehead, then said in a low voice, "In that case, we'll wait for the princesses to enter the palace."
Granny Shuang agreed and then dismissed everyone in the hall. Having served the Empress for many years, she knew why the Empress was so tired and depressed. "The Emperor bestows titles upon the princesses, perhaps with the intention of sending them to marry Mongolians in the future." Although they were all granted the title of Heshuo Princess, the princesses to be sent to pacify Mongolia were different from those in the capital.
The Empress was well aware that since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, it had maintained intermarriages with various Mongol tribes. Mongol girls would enter the palace, and Qing princesses and noblewomen would marry into those tribes. What she couldn't understand was that the Emperor bestowed the title of Heshuo Princess upon the daughters of various princes and noblewomen, but never bestowed such a title upon his own children.
Seeing that the Empress still had a furrowed brow, Granny Shuang continued, "Not only has the eldest princess not been granted a title, but the second princess has as well."
The Empress sighed. The Second Princess was still so young; there was plenty of time to bestow the title later. But Wulinzhu was different. She had turned sixteen last year and was about to be married. If she wasn't made a princess now, when would she be? And if she was to be made a princess, it should be a Gulun Princess. Now, what would Wulinzhu do when she saw the other princesses? She was clearly a legitimate princess of the royal family, yet she didn't have the same status as her cousins.
The Empress grew increasingly distressed. She wondered if the Emperor had forgotten about Wulinzhu. But Wulinzhu was also the Emperor's daughter. A voice within her whispered that she, as the mother, had implicated Wulinzhu. This thought intensified her anguish.
The Empress didn't need to think twice to know what kind of child the Emperor preferred. He liked children like the Second Princess, Moyaqi—lively and talkative.
Ulinzhu is not at all the kind of person the Emperor likes!
Every time she thought about it, the Empress felt like she couldn't breathe. She dared not blame the late Emperor for dying too early, nor did she dare resent the new Emperor's preferences being so diametrically opposed to the late Emperor's. She could only blame herself, blame herself for not thinking things through for Wulinzhu. She blamed herself for not asking the late Emperor to arrange a marriage for Wulinzhu sooner, otherwise Wulinzhu wouldn't have ended up in this predicament.
The Empress felt a chill run through her heart.
What should we do?
She has tried her best to be an empress, and she has tried her best to be a servant before the emperor. Moreover, for the past two years, she has obeyed every word the emperor uttered without question. Isn't that enough? Perhaps it's because she is not favored by the emperor that he turns a blind eye to all her efforts?
Granny Shuang noticed that the atmosphere around her was getting colder and colder, and it seemed that the lamps were also slowly dimming. She said with heartache, "Your Majesty, please don't worry. Don't overthink things."
The Empress let out a long sigh of relief. "Very well, I'll summon the First Princess later." She thought that no one else had the right to criticize what the Emperor wanted to do. She would tell Wulinzhu to take care of the newly arrived princesses. At the same time, she would also tell Wulinzhu to serve the Empress Dowager.
Since her mother couldn't offer her any help, she could only hope that the Empress Dowager would take a liking to her and that the Emperor would choose a good husband for her, considering her filial piety.
But even this last hope was dashed. In mid-March, before the investiture of Princess Heshuo was scheduled, devastating news arrived from Ning Shou Palace. It was a sunny afternoon when Granny Shu from Ning Shou Palace arrived at Jing Ren Palace with a sorrowful expression and immediately knelt down.
The Empress immediately had a bad feeling and hurriedly asked, "Granny Shu, is it the Empress Dowager...?"
Granny Shu kowtowed several times, prostrated on the ground with tears streaming down her face, and said slowly and deliberately, "The Empress Dowager...she...has passed away."
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