Chapter 36 Returning to the Palace in Sorrow Whether it was the Prince of Zhi being stripped of his title and imprisoned, or...
Whether it was the Prince Zhi being stripped of his title and imprisoned or the Princess Zhi suddenly passing away, none of that mattered to Cheng Qianyue. The only thing she was worried about now was that they would be returning to the Forbidden City in a few days.
To be honest, there's a huge difference between living in the garden and living in the Forbidden City.
Imagine this: in the West Garden, she has a large, secluded courtyard to live in. When she's bored, she can take a walk outside, swing on the swings, and even go boating to enjoy the scenery. But once she returns to the Forbidden City, she still lives in the Xian'an Palace, where her territory consists of only three small side halls. Even if she gets bored and wants to take a walk, she can only walk from the front to the back of the Xian'an Palace at most.
Oh, you might ask, isn't there an imperial garden?
But the Imperial Garden is far away, and more importantly, going there would easily cause disturbances. Needless to say, even if it were the Emperor himself, any concubine in the palace wanted to stroll through the Imperial Garden, the area would have to be cleared beforehand. She, a mere princess of Xian'an Palace, was certainly not qualified to stroll through the garden with the concubines.
Furthermore, Cheng Qianyue felt that the West Garden was Yinreng's territory, which could be considered her home, so she felt she could do whatever she wanted. As for the Forbidden City, well, she considered herself just a passerby there; had she ever heard of guests casually wandering around?
So the conclusion is: it's still more comfortable in the garden!
At this moment, Ruoyun was packing her things. She had only brought two suitcases when she came, but now she had much more to take back. For example, the new clothes she had made in the past few months, the gold and silver jewelry that Yinreng had bestowed upon her, and various utensils and ornaments. Except for large items such as screens and kang tables, Ruoyun planned to take back all the other items that she had been using recently.
As she packed, something caught her eye: the fish tank. Putting everything else aside, there were fish in it. What if they got bored and died on the way? Ruoyun advised her to leave the tank there.
Ruoyun said, "Firstly, our side hall is small, and taking them back would take up space. Secondly, the fish won't be very active when it gets cold, so you won't be able to enjoy them much. In my opinion, it would be better to leave them here so that the people in the garden can take good care of them. You might come back next summer, and then you can enjoy the fish."
Cheng Qianyue didn't necessarily mean she had to take the fish tank and fish back with her, but she wondered if it would be alright to just leave them with the people in the garden, so she asked, "Can they take good care of this?"
Ruoyun chuckled lightly: "If they can't even do such a small thing well, then they don't need to stay in the garden." She pointed to the fish tank, "The people serving in the garden are all quite capable. If they dare to kill a fish, they'll definitely get a beating."
Wouldn't that just make her cause trouble for the people in the garden?
Cheng Qianyue frowned upon hearing Ruoyun's words. Besides, who could guarantee that these fish would survive until next year? And if even one fish died, they'd be punished? Were fish more precious than people?
In the end, Cheng Qianyue made the decision: put the fish in the fish tank into the pond in the garden and put the fish tank away. If she wanted to keep fish again in the future, she could just catch more; there were plenty of fish anyway.
Two more days passed, and it was finally time to return to the palace. However, the rules for returning were much stricter than for arriving, because while they had come on their own, they had to follow the Emperor when they left. Thus, Cheng Qianyue witnessed firsthand what it meant for the imperial procession to take place.
Cheng Qianyue was woken up very early that morning. After washing her face and dressing, she only drank a bowl of white fungus porridge before heading to the Fujin's courtyard, because they were to kneel outside the gate to see off the Emperor.
Cheng Qianyue and her entourage arrived at the gate of the West Garden in sedan chairs. After getting out of the sedan chairs, they walked to the roadside and knelt down. By this time, both sides of the road were already under martial law. Imperial guards in yellow jackets stood tall and straight, carrying swords, looking like the honor guard for the flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square.
Cheng Qianyue knelt and knelt by the roadside until the sun was high in the sky, when she heard three crisp cracks of whips coming from afar.
This is the sound of whips cracking before the emperor, indicating that the imperial procession is about to arrive.
Sure enough, after a while, a luxurious carriage pulled by six white horses came over. The carriage was large and shiny, and out of the corner of her eye, it looked like it was glittering gold. Because Cheng Qianyue could not look directly at the imperial carriage, she could only see the red lacquered wheels and the legs of the imperial guards walking on both sides of the carriage.
When the carriage was about ten meters away from them, an official shouted, "His Majesty has arrived!"
Cheng Qianyue kowtowed so hard that she couldn't even see the carriage wheels anymore. She could only join the crowd in shouting, "Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!" Amidst the shouts of the crowd, the imperial carriage slowly drove away.
Cheng Qianyue breathed a sigh of relief as Ruoyun helped her up: after kneeling for most of the day, she had finally seen the Emperor off. It's no wonder the princes all wanted to be emperor; look at how grand this procession was! If she could ride in the imperial carriage even once, she would die happy, tsk tsk.
After the Emperor left, it was their turn. They went back to change their clothes and, without even eating, boarded the carriage to return to the palace. Before evening, they arrived at Xian'an Palace in the Forbidden City. Cheng Qianyue returned to her west wing.
To be honest, I've never stayed in a large courtyard before, but having done so, I feel that Xian'an Palace is a bit small, especially its three side halls, which seem particularly cramped. But as the saying goes, since we're already here, we might as well stay.
However, after only a few days in the Forbidden City, Cheng Qianyue found it quite nice. She didn't know why, but her appetite had suddenly increased dramatically; she wanted to try everything delicious and drink. What's that saying again? There's no place like home. Hey, does her appetite recognize its own location? Or is it simply because it's autumn and she needs to fatten up?
As Cheng Qianyue thought this, she ate the golden silk cake that was served to her, bite by bite.
The palace has been preparing for the Manchu Festival, a unique festival second only to the Lunar New Year. What to prepare for the festival? Besides various decorations, it's all about food, and among the food, pastries are the most diverse. Lin Quan'an said that the Prince's kitchen has been filled with the aroma of rice and honey every day lately.
Compared to Cheng Qianyue's daily blissful eating, Yinreng's mood has clearly not been as good lately. Cheng Qianyue said he seemed to be holding back his energy again. During dinner, he barely touched his chopsticks; sometimes the chopsticks would reach the edge of the plate but then suddenly stop and move elsewhere.
Having spent a lot of time with him, Cheng Qianyue could roughly tell whether he had eaten enough or not.
Unlike her, Yinreng was not so carefree. He always paid attention to health and only ate until he was seven or eight tenths full. But with the way he started eating today, he probably only ate three or four tenths full.
Cheng Qianyue had just finished a bowl of rice and wanted to have another bowl of soup, but she was afraid the soup in the large bowl would be too hot. Seeing that Yinreng's soup was still untouched, she was about to take it to him. But as soon as she reached out, Yinreng's gaze immediately fell on her.
"I see you're not going to drink, and I'm too lazy to serve you any, so you can have yours," Cheng Qianyue said with a smile.
Before Yinreng could even process what was happening, he covered the bowl with his hand and casually said, "Why aren't you drinking? You should drink." As he said this, he picked up the bowl and swallowed it all in one gulp, as if he were drinking tea.
Cheng Qianyue said "oh" and had no choice but to ask someone else to serve her soup.
After dinner, Cheng Qianyue ordered some snacks. These were fried dumplings she had specifically requested, made with millet flour and filled with sweet red bean paste, fried until golden and crispy. She had been particularly fond of these pastries lately, finding them very similar to red bean pies from hamburger joints.
She remembered that Yinreng hadn't eaten much for dinner, so she fed him some fried dough twists. She broke one twist in half, let it cool slightly, ate half, and then fed the other half to Yinreng. Yinreng didn't even glance at her, but he was very obedient; he opened his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed. Cheng Qianyue thought that given his current behavior, he wouldn't even notice if she fed him poison.
After a while, the plate of fried dumplings was empty. Yinreng finally came to his senses, and then he tasted the sweet red bean paste in his mouth. When he smelled it, the surrounding area was filled with the sweet aroma of red bean paste. He swallowed what was in his mouth and said with a smile, "Why are you eating dumplings right after dinner?"
Cheng Qianyue replied, "It's alright. It mainly depends on whether you ate much tonight, and I also feel like I didn't eat much."
Yinreng laughed, but after laughing, he thought about it and realized that he hadn't touched his chopsticks much. However, he remembered that she had eaten quite a lot, eating bowl after bowl of rice and soup. Now, seeing that a plate of steamed buns was all gone, he couldn't help but frown and say, "You said you didn't eat much, but how much have you eaten?"
Cheng Qianyue made an excuse, saying, "It's autumn, so we need to fatten up."
Yinreng sighed, pulled her up, and spun her around the room, reciting scriptures as he did so: "The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic says: 'If you double your food intake, your stomach and intestines will be damaged.' Do you know Sun Simiao, the famous physician of the Tang Dynasty? In his Thousand Gold Prescriptions, he wrote: 'Those who are good at nourishing their nature eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty. They should eat frequently but in small amounts, rather than eating a lot at once. They should always strive to be full when they are hungry and hungry when they are full.'"
He rattled off a long explanation, the gist of which was that you shouldn't eat too much, otherwise it will harm your health.
Cheng Qianyue thought to herself that she really didn't feel that full, but seeing that he was so happy, she just mumbled "uh-huh" to herself. Sure enough, Yinreng stopped talking after a while, and it was clear that he was thinking about something else.
In truth, Cheng Qianyue could understand why he was so thoughtful. With the Prince of Zhi fallen, the next step should be for Yinreng to be reinstated as Crown Prince. However, Cheng Qianyue's knowledge of the situation didn't mean Yinreng knew; he was probably currently contemplating whether he himself would regain the position of Crown Prince.
Sometimes Cheng Qianyue wanted to spoil the plot for him. "Don't worry too much, baby. You'll be the crown prince again soon, but don't be too happy yet, because who knows when you'll be deposed again."
Of course, Cheng Qianyue wasn't that stupid. If she dared to blurt out the truth, not only would Yinreng think she was spreading rumors and cursing him, but if those words reached Kangxi's ears, she wouldn't see the sun rise tomorrow.
The people in Xian'an Palace don't just recognize Yinreng as their master.
Tsk, thinking about it this way, her and Yinreng's lives were really miserable.
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