"What?" The little guy didn't understand for a moment.
"I said this is taro, not meat."
After Kangxi finished speaking, in order to give him a more intuitive comparison, he first gave him a piece of stewed meat, and then let him taste the Lipu taro.
After Cheng An finally realized that Lipu taro was not meat, he still said, "It's delicious~"
"Then eat more." It was rare that he liked dishes other than meat so much, so Kangxi put a few more chopsticks into his small bowl.
In addition to Lipu taro, there was also a fried dough stick on the table that the little guy liked very much. However, the fried dough stick was made of glutinous rice and fried in oil, so Kangxi only let him taste one bite.
"Ama, An An still wants to eat cuckoo chicken~"
After Cheng An ate all the delicious food, he set his eyes on the cuckoo chicken. Kang Xi naturally disagreed, so he stretched out a finger and said coquettishly: "An An, can you eat a little bit?"
not good.
Kangxi looked at his greasy little mouth, wiped it with a handkerchief and touched his belly, which was slightly bulging. He quickly said, "Go play with your brother."
The little guy subconsciously turned his head when he heard his words. When he saw that there were also a lot of delicious food on his brothers' table, his clear eyes turned around and he ran down.
"Walk carefully." Kangxi reminded him quickly when he saw him running and jumping just after eating.
The little guy changed his running to walking after hearing his words. Before he even reached the brothers, a cheerful voice had already spread over: "Brother, An An is here~"
There is only one brother who is loved by everyone. If you are quick, you will get it. If you are slow, you will miss it.
When he saw him coming down, Yin'e wanted to go over and hug him the first time, but due to his position disadvantage, Yinzhi got there first.
After Yinzhi carried the person back to his seat, he asked, "Is Cheng'an done eating?"
"No~" The little guy looked at the dishes on his table and shook his head.
On both sides of Yinzhi were Yinreng and Yinzhen. When Yinreng brought the child over to him, his eyes fell on the little guy who was dressed festively, and he thought that the little guy was very suitable for wearing red.
Hearing the little guy say that he hadn't eaten well, Yinreng subconsciously reached out and touched his belly, then said with a smile: "Your stomach is swollen and you still say you haven't eaten well."
When Yinzhen looked down upon hearing this, he saw the little fellow suddenly retracting his belly, and he could not help laughing for a moment.
"Is my belly full?"
Cheng'an tried hard to retract his stomach, but he couldn't help but let it out as soon as he finished speaking. Yinreng, who still had his hand on his stomach, felt it and couldn't suppress a smile on his face.
"What else do you want to eat?" Yinzhi saw that he was trying so hard to eat, and thought it was okay to eat a few more bites during the New Year.
There was no cuckoo chicken on the table, so the little guy pointed to the golden fried dough sticks.
Yinzhi had no interest in the fried dough fritters and had left the entire plate on the table untouched. When he saw that he wanted to eat it, he picked one up with chopsticks and prepared to hand it to him.
"Don't give him so much." Yinzhen reminded.
Upon hearing this, Yinzhi simply pulled off a small half and handed it to the little guy in his arms.
"Third brother is the best~" Cheng An didn't eat the fried dough immediately after getting it, but said it sweetly first.
Yinreng thought of the last time he said he was the best and couldn't help but shake his head slightly.
The palace's fried dough sticks are sprinkled with sesame seeds on the outside, making them crispy and delicious. The filling is made of red bean paste, which tastes soft, glutinous and sweet. In addition, they are fried in oil, giving them the unique aroma of fried food, which is very popular with Cheng'an.
"It's so delicious~" Cheng An bit into the fried dough, enjoying it so much that he gently kicked his feet and shook his head slightly.
Is it that delicious?
Seeing that he was eating so happily, Yinzhi picked up the remaining half of the fried dough and put it to his mouth.
It was cold, so the fried dough was not as hot as when it was first served, but the skin was still crispy and the inside was sweet.
"I haven't eaten this stuff for some years. It's nice to try it occasionally." Yinzhi said.
The brothers were all paying attention to him. Seeing Cheng'an and him eating the fried dough sticks, they also started to taste it.
At the top, Kangxi saw Cheng'an moving to another place to continue eating, and turned to give Liang Jiugong a few instructions.
Liang Jiugong nodded repeatedly and walked down, telling the brothers to try not to let him eat anymore.
The little one who was concentrating on eating the fried dough didn't notice him coming down at all. After finishing the sweet and delicious fried dough, he pointed at the lipu taro on the table and said, "An An wants to eat taro~"
"Not bad, you even know this is taro." Yinzhi praised him before saying, "Cheng'an can't eat it anymore."
"An An wants to eat~" Seeing that he refused, the little girl shook his arm and started to act coquettishly.
Yinzhi was a little overwhelmed. If Kangxi hadn't been sitting there, he would have probably not been able to help but let go.
"Fourth brother, talk to him." There was no other way, Yinzhi could only transfer the person to Yinzhen's arms and let him coax her.
Suddenly there was a brother in front of him. Cheng An was stunned for a moment and then continued to look up and said, "Fourth brother An An is hungry~"
The little guy was wearing a red robe and jacket today, which was embroidered with many auspicious patterns in gold thread, making the already fair-skinned little guy look more like a piece of jade carved out of snow.
At this moment, he slightly raised his little face, looked hungry, and even a heartless person would be softened by him, let alone Yinzhen who loved him.
It was only when he felt his slightly bulging belly that Yinzhen calmed down and changed the subject directly, "How about Cheng'an read a poem to Fourth Brother?"
"Yes, third brother also wants to listen to Cheng'an recite poetry." Yinzhi quickly agreed.
The little fellow had just learned a new poem a few days ago. Seeing that his brothers all wanted to hear him recite the poem, he started to recite it with his head shaking: "With plum blossoms singing, the snow is not enough to make the gods happy; with snow singing, the poems become vulgar. At the end of the day, the poems become snowy all day long, and the plum blossoms make the spring even more beautiful~"
"Good!" Although some of his words were not clear, Yinzhi immediately knew which poem he was reading and applauded when he finished.
The little fellow's voice of reciting the poem was quite loud, and Yin'e could hear it too, but he insisted, "Tenth Brother Cheng'an didn't hear it clearly, can you come over and recite it again for Tenth Brother?"
"Okay~"
The little guy liked to read poems to everyone because he would be praised after reading them. When he heard Yin'e's words, he went straight out of Yinzhen's arms.
Yin'e finally hugged him as he wished, and immediately smiled like a flower.
When Cheng'an finished reading the poem again, Yin'e, together with Yin'er, Yin'lu, Yinxiang and others on the side, also applauded and cheered.
The little guy smiled happily after receiving the praise, and then pointed to the dishes on the table to indicate that he wanted to eat them.
Liang Jiugong had just come down to convey Kangxi's intention. The princes dared not feed him anymore and could only divert his attention.
Last year, the brothers didn't know Cheng'an would suddenly show up at the New Year's Eve banquet, so they only gave him his own jade pendant. This year, they specially prepared New Year's money for the little guy.
The New Year’s money is of course not real money, but auspicious money made of gold or jade in the shape of copper coins. Last year, Kangxi specially prepared it for the little ones.
This time, the little guy's mind and eyes were full of food on the table, but his little belly was already full, so Yin E could only take out the New Year's money to attract his attention.
"Wow~"
Sure enough, when Yin'e took out the gold-made New Year's money, Cheng'an was immediately attracted by the golden and auspicious money.
"Tenth brother is the best~" The little guy held up the New Year's money and looked at the auspicious pattern on it for a while, then turned around and rubbed Yin'e's chin.
Yinzhen, who had squeezed over from his seat to sit here, also took out the New Year's money he had prepared, and after waving it in front of him, he said, "Is it only Brother Ten that is good?"
"Fourteenth brother is the best~" Seeing the gold and jade-studded New Year's money in his hand, Cheng An's dark eyes brightened a little.
"Come here and let Fourteenth Brother hug you first." Yinzhen said with his arms open.
Upon hearing that, the little guy turned around and threw himself into his arms, hugging his neck and rubbing against him.
"Okay, okay." Yinzhen felt like laughing because of him rubbing against him, and quickly gave him the New Year's money in his hand.
The other princes had also prepared New Year's money, and seeing that Yin'e and Yinzhen were giving it to him now, they simply took out their own share.
The New Year's money given by the brothers was basically made of gold and jade, and soon filled up a tray, emitting a shining light under the light.
After receiving so much golden and shiny New Year's money, Cheng'an was so excited that he jumped on the spot.
Seeing how happy he was, Yinzhen thought that his New Year's money would probably make him even happier.
He thought to himself, beckoned for someone to bring the things he had prepared and put them on the table, and said to Cheng An, "Open it and take a look."
Yin'e couldn't help but look at him when he saw that he was being mysterious about giving out New Year's money.
The little guy was very curious. When he saw the wooden box on the table, he reached out and opened it. The moment he opened it, many golden auspicious coins the size of copper coins spilled out one after another.
The auspicious coins made a crisp sound when they fell on the table and the floor. Cheng An was frightened for a moment at first, but then he started to giggle with joy.
"Ninth brother, when did you ask someone to do this secretly?" Yin'e saw that he not only played tricks with the New Year's money but also didn't tell him, so he couldn't help but hit him.
Yinzhen glanced at him: "You didn't ask."
The New Year's money he gave was actually just a small wooden box with a mechanism, which would pop out the auspicious money inside the box the moment it was opened.
But for Cheng'an, this box that could produce golden things was so much fun that he started playing with it again after discovering that he could put the New Year's money in from the bottom.
The little guy was very lively. Not satisfied with playing with the princes, he even ran to play with the concubines in the side hall.
There were performances at the palace banquet. After the little guy ran back from the side hall, the princes took him to watch the performance. After the performance, there were fireworks to enjoy.
The other princes felt okay based on their experiences last year, but Yinzhi and Yinreng were deeply touched.
Not to mention the years of imprisonment, even in the years before they were imprisoned, the New Year's Eve palace banquet had never been so lively. Everyone was well-behaved, not to mention eating the food, they wouldn't even drink a few more glasses of wine.
Of course, they didn't drink much this year, because there was a little kid who couldn't drink but liked to learn from them. However, a lot of dishes on the table were eaten, and it really felt like a family celebrating New Year's Eve.
Bang--
With a bang, fireworks shot straight into the sky, and half of the dark sky was suddenly illuminated.
Under the dazzling scenery, Yinzhi and Yinreng's eyes accidentally met, but both of them were unusually calm, they glanced at each other calmly and then looked away.
"New Year's Eve is so nice~"
Cheng'an was being held in Yinxiang's arms at this moment. When he saw the colorful fireworks in the sky, and thought about all the delicious food he had eaten today and the New Year's money he received from his brothers, his smile suddenly became brighter than the fireworks in the sky.
"Yes." After hearing his words, Yinxiang also felt that the New Year's Eve in the past two years was indeed very good.
He couldn't help but turn his head to look at the other brothers. When he saw that even his fourth brother had a faint smile on his face, he suddenly felt hopeful: How great it would be if it could continue like this...
"Wow~" Cheng'an shouted again after another string of fireworks shot up into the sky, and patted Yinxiang gently, saying, "Thirteenth brother, look!"
When Yinxiang heard his voice, he didn't go to look at the fireworks, but looked at his little face which was dyed with warm colors against the backdrop of the fireworks.
Thinking that everything that was getting better seemed to be brought about by the little guy in his arms, Yinxiang couldn't help but touch his soft face.
Cheng'an noticed it and tilted his head back to smile at him, then reached out his little hand to touch his face.
"Hold you for a while." Yinzhi came over and said when he heard the little guy's laughter.
When the little guy saw him coming, he took the initiative to reach out and said, "An An wants to sit high~"
Upon hearing this, Yinzhi picked him up and lifted him onto his shoulders.
"Look at An An~" The little guy who suddenly became the tallest on the field looked down at the brothers around him and shouted excitedly.
Yinzhi didn't let him go until the fireworks ended.
As soon as the little guy got off the ground, the Twenty-third Prince Yinqi rushed towards him.
"Twenty-third brother~"
Among so many brothers, Cheng'an had the least chance to see this little brother. When he saw him rushing towards him, he immediately called out to him in a baby voice.
After the Chinese New Year, Yinqi was only five years old and not old enough to go to the Shangshufang.
Yinqi has older brothers above him, and Cheng'an is his only younger brother. He has been envious of his brothers hugging him just now, and now he finds an opportunity to rush over and want to hug him too.
However, he was only three years older than Cheng An, and even with all his strength he could barely lift Cheng An's feet off the ground.
The little guy thought it was quite fun and kept laughing while cooperating with him.
"Let me do it, let me do it." Yinhu, who was two years older than Yinqi, came over and said when he saw that Yinqi couldn't carry his brother.
Yinhu, who has learned riding and archery for a year, is stronger than Yinqi and can walk while carrying Cheng'an.
However, Yin'e saw that he was wobbling in his arms and was afraid that he would drop Cheng'an again, so he quickly reached out and took the little guy into his arms.
After watching the fireworks, Kangxi called the little guy back to his side after playing all night. When he touched his belly and felt that it was not so bloated, he fed him a few vegetarian dumplings to suit the occasion.
After Cheng An finished eating the dumplings, he leaned into his arms and raised his head and called softly: "Ama~"
"Hmm?" Kangxi responded softly.
"An An wants to celebrate New Year's Eve every day~"
The little guy felt that New Year’s Eve was so great because everyone would play together and there were so many delicious foods, so he came up with this idea.
Seeing him thinking about New Year's Eve every day, Kangxi was amused by him, touched his head and said: "That won't work, New Year's Eve only comes once a year, wait until next year."
"Why not?"
“Why wait until next year?”
As the little guy asked a hundred thousand whys, this year's New Year's Eve palace banquet came to an end.
After returning to the bedroom, the little guy still had some excitement left over from the New Year's Eve palace banquet.
Kangxi watched him finish his bath, and seeing that he didn't want to sleep yet, he wrapped a thick cloak over his pajamas and went to take a bath first.
When Kangxi came out of the bath, he was seen walking back and forth between the couch and the bed. After careful observation, he discovered that he was transferring the New Year's money on the couch to the bed bit by bit.
"Why do you put all the New Year's money on the bed?" Kangxi couldn't help but speak when he saw that there was already a lot of New Year's money piled on the bed.
Cheng An saw him coming, raised his little face and told him in a baby voice: "Brother said to put the New Year's money under the pillow~"
The brothers were very generous to him. The lucky money they gave him was as big as his palm. And they always gave him more than one. If he really wanted to put it all on the bed, even ten pillows would not be able to cover it. The lucky money could even fill up a pillow.
"It's enough to suppress one. How can I sleep at night if I suppress so many?" After saying this, Kangxi motioned to Liang Jiugong to bring a tray and remove them.
Cheng An was still obedient, but he could only press one, which made him feel entangled, and his eyebrows were slightly wrinkled: "Which one should I press?"
"Just give this to father." After saying this, Kangxi took out the New Year's money he had prepared for him.
When Cheng An saw that his father had also prepared New Year's money for him, he immediately rushed over to hug him and said, "Father is the best~"
In the end, all the New Year's money on the bed was taken away by Liang Jiugong, leaving only Kangxi's share under the little guy's pillow.
Before going to sleep, Kangxi felt a little happy when he thought of the New Year's money under the little guy's pillow.
After the Chinese New Year, the brothers started to get busy.
The brothers were busy with nothing else but the reorganization of the Eight Banners descendants, which they had discussed at the end of last year.
Kangxi was old and did not have the energy to deal with these things, so he just handed the matter over to them.
The Eight Banners descendants were used to being lazy, so they were naturally unhappy about being suddenly subject to control, and they complained to their elders at home.
There were naturally resistances to the rectification of the Eight Banners descendants, but the princes were not there to do nothing, especially with so many princes added together. Rectifying a mere group of Eight Banners descendants was not a big problem.
There is no wall that is impenetrable. Although Kangxi did not make a big fuss about the release of Yinzhi and Yinreng, he did not deliberately conceal it either. Therefore, everyone inside and outside the court knew about it by now.
Kangxi is now in his sixties, which is quite old for an emperor.
Because of this, at the beginning of the year, someone vaguely mentioned the issue of appointing a crown prince. Zhu Tianbao, the reviewer of the Hanlin Academy, was even more fearless and directly submitted a memorial, hoping that Kangxi would reinstate Yinreng as the crown prince.
If you ask Kangxi whether he regretted releasing Yinzhi and Yinreng, to be honest, he didn't. Not only was he older and softer-hearted, but he also discovered that his two sons truly knew they were wrong and had obviously changed a lot compared to before they were imprisoned.
But even so, Kangxi did not consider reinstating Yinreng as the crown prince, at least not at the moment.
After Cheng'an was born, Kangxi began to feel the joy of family life and unconsciously became more tolerant towards his other sons.
To be honest, he was very satisfied with his current life. When he saw someone bringing up the issue of appointing a crown prince, he couldn't help but think of the chaos among his sons in previous years, and he suddenly felt unhappy.
It was precisely because during that period, all of his sons were like crazy and had no regard for brotherhood at all, especially Yinzhi, who even asked for the death of Yinreng. In fact, Kangxi had decided not to appoint a crown prince.
As for the next emperor, Kangxi felt that his health was slightly better than in the previous two years. At least he didn't have headaches so often anymore, so he decided not to rush.
Kangxi would naturally not agree to this memorial, and even felt that Zhu Tianbao was clearly trying to reignite the fight between Yinreng and his brothers.
Regardless of whether Zhu Tianbao had this intention or not, Kangxi felt that he would never get away with it.
Even though Kangxi rejected his memorial and made an example of him to scare the others so that no one else in the court would dare to mention the issue of appointing a crown prince again, Kangxi's mood was still somewhat affected.
"Ama sent me flowers~"
My brothers have been busy lately, so Cheng'an can only go to the harem to play with the Queen Mother and my mother, or go to the Imperial Garden.
At this moment he came back from the Imperial Garden, holding a branch of plum blossom in his hand.
Hearing his cheerful voice, Kangxi's expression became a little better. After the people came closer, he took the plum blossoms from his hand, admired them for a few seconds, and then let Liang Jiugong start inserting them.
"Ama Anan misses her brother~"
After giving him the flowers, Cheng An consciously crawled along his legs into his arms, looked up and said to him.
"I know. They will come to see you when they are free." Kangxi rubbed his soft little face and asked, "Which brother do you think is the best, Cheng'an?"
"Hello, brothers!" the little guy said without thinking.
Seeing that it was useless to ask him, Kangxi thought about it and asked again: "Who is better, my father or my brother?"
"Hello, Ama and brother Du!" The little guy still gave the same answer.
Kangxi changed his hands on his face from rubbing to pinching, and seemed not satisfied with this answer.
The little guy who was pinched didn't care at all. He smiled and offered the other side of his face to him for pinching and said, "Ama is the best~"
Even though he knew that he often said that his brothers were the best, Kangxi still felt much better after hearing this.
"Didn't you say you missed your brother? I'll take you to the Shangshufang to have a look." Kangxi thought that it had been a while since he had been to the Shangshufang to learn about the homework of Yinyi and the others, so he took Cheng'an with him and set off.
When Cheng'an heard that he was going to the Shangshufang to see his brothers, he was so happy that the smile on his face never disappeared throughout the journey.
He was happy, but Yinxi, Yinhu and Yinqi, who were studying in the Shangshufang, felt miserable in their hearts when they saw Kangxi coming.
"Brother~"
When the masters and princes in the Shangshufang were paying their respects to Kangxi, Cheng'an ran over and held his brothers' hands.
With Kangxi around, Yinyi and the others didn't dare to make any small moves. They could only passively let him lead them and be secretly happy in their hearts.
After Kangxi asked them to stand up, he pretended not to see his youngest son's actions. After asking the master in the Shangshufang about their recent performance, he began to test them. He picked up a random passage from the book and asked Yinyi and the others to recite it.
Yin Yi was older, but he recited it very fluently, with not a single mistake in his words.
Cheng'an, who was standing next to him, heard his brother reciting such a long book. He first opened his mouth slightly in surprise, and then shook his head along with the sound of his brother reading.
After Kangxi glanced at him, he asked Yinxi and Yinhu to take turns to recite.
Yinxi recited a little slower, but fortunately he didn't make any mistakes. However, Yinhu, perhaps because he was a little nervous, stopped frequently while reciting and even made several mistakes in the middle.
Kangxi was not very satisfied. After he finished reciting, he tapped him and said, "Pay more attention when you study."
Cheng An, who was just behind the desk flipping through his brother's book, heard the word "dim sum" and looked up suddenly, "What kind of dim sum?"
The atmosphere was originally quite serious, but he suddenly said this. Everyone present was stunned. When they realized what was happening, they were all trying to hold back their laughter, even the old-fashioned Chinese teacher was no exception.
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