Chapter 13 Birthday Celebration Gifts In the main hall, the Princess Consort stroked an embroidered...
In the main hall, the princess stroked an embroidered picture of pine trees and cranes symbolizing longevity, a smile of contentment appearing on her lips.
She had been preparing since she moved to Xian'an Palace last year. She specially chose a bright red plain silk, and had someone draw the embroidery pattern stroke by stroke. The snow-white silk covered the green pine trees, and there were cranes with outstretched wings on the side. At the top, there were four big characters embroidered in gold thread: "Pine and Crane Longevity".
She spent nearly half a year embroidering this piece, stitch by stitch, and every stitch represents her filial piety.
Granny Shuang walked in from outside the hall, her face beaming with joy, and said, "Madam, the Second Master has come from the front courtyard."
Sure enough, Yinreng walked in shortly afterward. He never went into the back courtyard, and this was his first time entering the main courtyard. Everyone in the courtyard knelt down to pay their respects to him.
Yinreng sat down in the seat of honor and immediately noticed the things on the table. He asked in a deep voice, "What is this?"
The princess got up and sat on the other side, gesturing for Granny Shuang to lend a hand in displaying the embroidery.
Yinreng immediately recognized what it was and said knowingly, "This must be the birthday gift that the Princess Consort has carefully prepared."
The princess consort said yes, “Speaking of which, everything that you and I have are gifts from His Majesty. I thought there was nothing more sincere than a birthday gift made by hand. So I embroidered this pine and crane longevity painting by hand and prepared to make a screen to celebrate His Majesty’s birthday.”
Yinreng felt disgusted when he heard such words. "The congratulatory gift for the Fujin has already been prepared, so why are you asking me?"
The princess was momentarily speechless, but quickly replied in a gentle tone, "My lord, I wanted to ask what your preparations are."
Yinreng suddenly realized. Oh, so she thought he might be too resentful to offer birthday wishes to the Emperor. Thinking this, his brows furrowed. However, having been married to his wife for nearly ten years, he naturally knew that her heart wasn't with him, and besides, her temperament had indeed become much calmer recently, so he didn't lose his temper.
He lowered his eyes and suddenly smiled, "Since you say that a gift made personally shows sincerity, then why don't I write a 'Long Live the Emperor' inscription and send it over as well?"
The princess's brows furrowed immediately. "My lord, isn't it a bit too little to send up these two items?"
"Young?" Yinreng countered, "Wasn't it all the Fujin's suggestion?"
Seeing his wife's hesitant expression, Yinreng felt pleased. After a while, he said, "Alright, let's take out a pair of jade ruyi from the storeroom as a birthday gift. I remember they were left by the Empress Dowager before she passed away. As for the other items, just pick a few."
As he spoke, he suddenly lost the urge to argue with the Fujin (wife of the emperor), and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
The Princess Consort thought this was for the best. Before marrying into the palace, she had heard the story of Empress Renxiao and the Emperor's harmonious marriage. However, Empress Renxiao was unfortunate; she died in childbirth while giving birth to the Second Prince. She hoped that sending these jade ruyi scepters to the Emperor would, out of consideration for his deceased wife, allow him to pay more attention to Xian'an Palace.
After finishing their business, the couple suddenly ran out of things to talk about and fell into silence.
Yinreng was suddenly overcome with paternal tenderness as he thought of his deceased mother. His two sons were not in Xian'an Palace and rarely returned. Now, only his eldest daughter lived in Xian'an Palace. Although he disliked her mother, he still cared deeply for his children.
“Where is Wulinzhu?” he asked.
The princess immediately became alert, but such a gaze was too direct, so she quickly lowered her eyes again: "I'm afraid she's studying in the west wing of the backyard."
Yinreng then said, "Call Wulinzhu over so I can take a look."
The princess had no choice but to say, "Yes."
After a while, the eldest princess walked in and performed the proper greeting. Yinreng couldn't help but smile when he looked at his daughter and gestured, "Wulinzhu, come to Father's side."
Wulinzhu looked over timidly, first glancing at the Fujin (principal wife) and then at the wet nurse, before finally inching closer step by step.
Such a gesture stung his eyes, and Yinreng immediately picked her up, placed her on his lap, and gently asked her, "What has Father's Ulinzhu been doing lately?"
With a look of joy in her eyes, Ulinzhu replied softly, "Father, I've been learning etiquette lately."
"Oh, so besides learning the rules?"
Ulinzhu added, "Studying and doing needlework."
Yinreng straightened up, frowned, and said, "Is that all? Staying in the west wing hall the whole time?"
Ulinzhu was startled by his sudden change of expression, and tears welled up in her eyes involuntarily, but she bit her lip and did not cry.
Yinreng hurriedly wiped away her tears, trying to be calm and gentle, and said, "Father is not blaming you. Father just thinks you are still too young to act like this. You are now a princess of the royal family, you should be more majestic and lively." As he spoke, he patted her little arms and head, "If you always stay in the room, you won't grow tall."
Wulinzhu felt that these words were different from what the nanny had told her, and she was immediately caught in a dilemma, not knowing how to reply.
Yinreng sighed and said, "Chen He, take the eldest princess out for a walk."
Overjoyed at being entrusted with such an important task, Chen He immediately half-squatted down, bowed, and gave a meek smile: "Princess, shall this servant take you to the courtyard to see the flowers?"
After they left, Yinreng's face immediately darkened, and he looked sternly at the wet nurse, saying, "Is this how you treat the eldest princess?"
The wet nurse knelt down in a panic, kowtowing and begging for forgiveness: "This servant deserves to die."
"You deserve to die." Yinreng looked at her coldly: "If it weren't for the fear of alarming the eldest princess, do you think you would still be kneeling before me?"
The princess couldn't help but plead, "My lord, please calm down. The old woman has always served you diligently."
Yinreng was already being magnanimous by not taking his anger out on his wife, but he didn't expect her to dare plead for the wet nurse, which made his face turn even uglier.
Seeing the Fujin and Yinreng at odds, Granny Shuang felt anxious and angry. Finally, she mustered up her courage and stepped forward to look at the Fujin and said, "This servant dares to say something, but the master is also thinking about the eldest princess's health. How about letting the eldest princess walk around in the courtyard every day from now on?"
The Fujin (Prince's wife) slowly descended the steps and asked Yinreng, "What do you think, Your Highness?"
Yinreng tried to vent his anger for a long time, but he still couldn't control it. "Let it be as the Fujin says." He then glared at the wet nurse and said, "Get out and kneel for half an hour!" He left without looking back.
After he left, the Princess Consort couldn't help but sigh. Granny Shuang also chimed in, "Princess Consort, the Prince is in a bad mood. Why are you arguing with him?" Does anyone have the right to refuse when the Prince wants to punish someone? At worst, they can just make up for it with some rewards in private after the punishment.
The princess did not answer directly, but said softly, "Granny Shuang, do you think the prince's preferences are more important, or His Majesty's preferences?" Even the second prince's position as crown prince was won by His Majesty with just a word.
Granny Shuang dared not speak against the Emperor, yet she couldn't help feeling apprehensive. In the past, the Princess Consort, relying on her status as the Emperor's chosen Crown Princess, had repeatedly spoken frankly and directly to the Crown Prince. But the problem was, the Crown Prince was no longer the Crown Prince!
The princess let out a long sigh of relief. "Fine, since it's the Second Master's order, then from now on, let the eldest princess stay in the courtyard for a quarter of an hour every morning and evening."
Yinreng stormed back to the front courtyard from the main courtyard, his figure rushing in like the wind. Cheng Qianyue was dusting the cabinets and shelves with a feather duster when she saw his hurried manner, which gave her a chill. She immediately stopped dusting and couldn't help but glance at him out of the corner of her eye.
Yinreng strode to the couch directly opposite the door and, after a moment, called out loudly, "Someone come here!"
Chen Heren hadn't returned yet, so a young eunuch came in. Cheng Qianyue had already gotten to know all the eunuchs in the front courtyard. The one who came in today was called Jing Shun. He looked about thirteen or fourteen years old and seemed to be Chen Heren's apprentice. As long as Chen Heren wasn't there, he was the number one eunuch in Xian'an Palace.
Before he could even stand still, Yinreng announced loudly, "I bestow upon the eldest princess a golden bow, a silver bell adorned with intricate floral designs, a pair of wind chimes inlaid with jewels, and a jade pendant each carved with an eagle, a peony, and a butterfly." Having said all this in one breath, he immediately felt a release of pent-up frustration. Since entering Xian'an Palace, he had neglected his children, and bestowing upon them the things they had played with as children was a way of making up for his dereliction of duty as a father during this time.
"Yes, sir." Jing Shun quickly agreed and walked out.
Cheng Qianyue stood there, watching Yinreng stare blankly, seemingly lost in thought. Just then, the eunuch Xiao Liuzi from the tea room came in to serve tea. The sound of him putting down the teacup seemed a little too loud, which interrupted Yinreng's thoughts.
"Insolence!" he said, frowning.
Xiao Liuzi knelt down with a thud. "This servant deserves to die." He kowtowed repeatedly, desperately pleading for help from Cheng Qianyue with his eyes during any spare moment.
Cheng Qianyue: ......
She was still terrified after rescuing that little eunuch named Lin Quan'an last time, and she didn't know whether she should plead for Xiao Liuzi. However, Xiao Liuzi's gaze was too obvious, and he immediately attracted Yinreng's attention.
Yinreng became even angrier and picked up a teacup to smash it down. Fortunately, he missed and the teacup only hit Xiao Liuzi's leg, but the hot tea splashed all over him.
Having no other choice, Cheng Qianyue took a duster and came out from inside. However, instead of trying to calm Yinreng down, she frowned and pretended to be angry, saying to Xiao Liuzi, "No manners! Can't you see that the master is thinking about something? Why are you serving tea at this time? Get out of the way and go back to face the wall and reflect on your actions!"
Xiao Liuzi looked at her with gratitude, then glanced timidly at Yinreng's expression. Seeing that Yinreng did not object, he was overjoyed. "This servant deserves to die. This servant will get out and reflect on his actions."
Xiao Liu quickly scurried away. Although Cheng Qianyue kept a straight face, she couldn't help but give herself a thumbs up for her reaction.
"Come here," Yinreng said, noticing something in her hand, and asked, "What are you holding?"
Cheng Qianyue's joy was short-lived, but her heart tightened again. She walked over and stood still, thinking, "If you didn't manage to beat the little eunuch, will you come after me?" "This servant was just dusting the cabinet with a feather duster," she said softly.
Yinreng hummed in agreement and asked a completely unrelated question: "Did you see the First Princess when you were staying in the backyard?"
Um?
Cheng Qianyue immediately understood what he meant when she thought about what he had just said. He was concerned about the eldest princess, so she quickly replied, "I have seen her, but I don't see her often now that I'm serving by your side." She paused and then said ingratiatingly, "The eldest princess must like the gift you gave her. She even came to watch when I was playing kicking the sandbag in the backyard."
These words pleased Yinreng, who slowly exhaled and said, "That's just how children are." Then he began to think about other things.
Although the Manchus had conquered the country, the Han Chinese still outnumbered the rest, and governing the realm required the application of Han learning. However, he believed that the two different ethnic groups should each draw upon their strengths. The Manchus relied on military might, archery, and bravery, while the Han Chinese relied on Confucianism and rules. He and the emperor both felt that governing the Han people using Han methods would be very convenient, but again, they insisted on using each other's strengths, and he absolutely refused to educate his children with those outdated and corrupt ideas.
Seeing that his expression had improved, Cheng Qianyue immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, he hadn't said anything wrong; the crisis was over.
Yinreng said, "Weren't we just dusting the cabinet? Let's continue."
Cheng Qianyue said "Yes" and ran briskly into the inner room. Hehe, no need to serve this ancestor closely anymore.
Yinreng watched her retreating figure and couldn't help but chuckle. He didn't know why, but every time he saw her, she seemed so cheerful, even her back view exuded that joyful energy. And her courage had grown too. Chen He didn't dare to rush out when he was punishing someone, but she dared to let that little eunuch go easy on him right in front of him, and even send him out to reflect on his mistakes. Tsk.
However, he didn't dislike this kind of overstepping his bounds. He was also afraid that if he lost his temper too much, he would become like that day, acting like a madman.
“What a coward,” he said.
Cheng Qianyue: Huh? What did he say, "You have guts"? Who is he talking about?
A note from the author:
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