To celebrate the Wanshou Festival, lanterns and decorations were hung everywhere, from the imperial palace to the capital city. Large characters such as "Long Live the King" made of colorful silk could be seen everywhere. Even colorful pavilions were set up on the roads outside the capital city.
On the day of his longevity, Kangxi accepted congratulations and birthday gifts from princes and ministers in the main hall.
The items that were eligible to be presented to the emperor as birthday gifts were nothing more than antiques from the previous dynasty, rare treasures from the current dynasty, calligraphy and paintings, etc. As one birthday gift after another was presented, the already magnificent hall became even more dazzling.
After all, it was his great day, and Kangxi was in a good mood today. He sat high on the dragon throne, nodding slightly from time to time.
After the princes presented their birthday gifts in order, Kangxi took the initiative to ask after seeing Yinqi's gift: "What did Cheng'an prepare for Father?"
The princes had long been accustomed to this. When the princes, ministers and foreign envoys who came to pay their respects to him heard him call himself "Father" instead of "I" or "Emperor Father", they did not show it on their faces but were secretly shocked in their hearts, thinking that this young prince was indeed favored.
When the little guy heard what he said, he ran up to him and covered his mouth to keep him in suspense: "Ama, guess it~"
Maybe there were too many people here, and the little guy didn't want others to see his missing teeth, so he started covering his mouth again.
"I don't guess." After Kangxi said this, he saw that he even covered his nose, so he pulled his hand down.
Cheng An thought that today was his birthday, so he didn't force him to guess. He opened his arms and hugged him and said, "Then, Ama, watch out, don't blink~"
Seeing that he was keeping the matter in suspense, Kangxi became more and more curious.
The next second, golden light flashed on the little guy's body, and then he turned into a golden dragon.
Fortunately, he can now control his size as he wishes, otherwise this hall might not be able to accommodate him.
When Kangxi and the princes saw him transform into a golden dragon, they were just curious about what he was going to do, but the others present couldn't help but exclaimed.
One of the old ministers even accidentally pulled out a few strands of his beard, causing his colleagues to joke, "Are you also like Ye Gong who loves dragons?"
"Nonsense, I was just surprised for a moment."
There were many people in the hall, and the little guy felt that he couldn't move freely after turning into a dragon. He let out a dragon roar and flew out directly.
Kangxi understood what he meant and stood up and walked down.
Under his leadership, the princes and the people in the hall followed him out of the hall.
The area outside was much more open, and the little guy immediately became a little bigger after coming out.
"What is Cheng'an doing?" Yinqi looked at the golden dragon twisting in the air with some confusion.
Yin'e guessed, "Is he dancing the dragon?"
His voice was quite loud, and after he finished speaking, both the princes and Kangxi continued to look at the still twisting golden dragon, and found that it really looked a bit like a dragon dance.
Probably inspired by the dragon and lion dances he saw during the Lantern Festival, the little guy thought that others needed several people to dance the dragon together, but he could do it himself, so he came up with this good idea.
Speaking of which, it was worth watching his previous dragon and lion dance performances. This time, he was a little unskilled at the beginning, but soon he was quite good at it. At least everyone present could tell that he was dancing the dragon.
Kangxi didn't expect to receive such a surprising birthday gift, and he couldn't suppress the smile in his eyes.
Some ministers who were close to Kangxi noticed his joy and said, "It is really thanks to the Emperor that we can see such a blessed scene today!"
"I am truly blessed to have lived three lifetimes..."
Flattering words came out of the mouths of princes and ministers as if they were free of charge. Kangxi looked at the golden dragon that was still dancing hard in front of him, and a smile appeared on his face.
When he noticed that the little guy was dancing so happily with his mouth slightly open, Kangxi couldn't help but chuckle when he saw that his dragon form was also missing a tooth.
Seeing that he was very pleased, the people present all smiled.
When the little guy heard his father's laughter, he let out a cheerful dragon roar and danced even more vigorously.
"All the dragon dances I watched before were in vain. This is the real dragon dance." Yinzhi said with a smile.
Yinzhi nodded in agreement, thinking that only a little guy could give such a unique birthday gift.
No matter how well the dragon dance outside was performed, it could never compare to the real dragon in front of him. The atmosphere suddenly became particularly good.
After watching for a while, Yin'e remembered that there would be someone in the dragon dance team who was responsible for holding the ball. He found a colorful ball nearby, took it in his hand and ran forward.
"Tenth brother, what are you going to do?" Yinzhen asked subconsciously.
As soon as he finished speaking, Yin'e had already run to the open space in front of the hall with the colorful ball in his hand, immediately attracting the attention of everyone present.
The little guy had a tacit understanding with him. When he saw the colorful ball in his hand, he immediately understood what he meant and then started to cooperate with him.
"Old Ten is really something." Yinzhi chuckled and shook his head.
With Yin'e's participation, the dragon dance scene suddenly became more lively.
On such a great day, there were special painters waiting in the palace. At this time, the painters started to paint quickly, wanting to record this rare scene.
Not to mention the painters, even the princes and ministers were staring at it intently.
In the air in front of the palace, the little guy accompanied by his brother became more and more excited. At first he followed the dragon dance moves he had seen before, but later he started to perform on his own.
Yin'e held the colorful ball in his hand with a smile on his face, especially when he found the little guy wagging its tail and flying around him, trying to catch the colorful ball with its dragon claws.
Yinqi was still young, and he couldn't help feeling jealous when he saw this scene. He turned his head and took a peek at where Kangxi was. Perhaps because he thought Kangxi was in a good mood, he bravely took a colorful ball from the side and ran over.
When the little guy saw his brother coming over, he danced even more vigorously with his already agile body.
After a moment, he finally snatched the colorful ball from Yin'e's hand, raised his head and let out a joyful dragon roar, then flew in front of Kangxi and carefully threw the colorful ball into his arms.
It was obviously just an ordinary colored ball used for decoration, but Kangxi reached out and took it personally, with an even bigger smile on his face.
When the little guy saw him taking it with a smile, he immediately turned around and tried to grab the one in Yinqi's hand.
Yinqi thought it was fun and ran around holding the colorful ball.
The little guy lowered his head and called out to him, then ran after him.
Yinzhi found it interesting and couldn't help but follow suit.
So the dragon dance turned into a ball-catching game in the blink of an eye.
Every time the little guy grabbed a colorful ball, he would give it to Kangxi, so that he would soon have several colorful balls in his arms.
This is a real dragon. People present here won’t get tired even if they watch it for a whole day.
But they were not tired. Kangxi was afraid that the little guy would be tired, so he watched him for a while and then signaled him not to dance anymore.
The little guy wasn't tired at all, but he immediately changed back when he heard him calling him.
After Kangxi led him into the hall, he touched his head and expressed that he liked the birthday gift he had given very much.
When the little guy heard him say he liked it, he smiled so hard that his eyes curved.
"Why aren't you talking?" Kangxi noticed that he was pursing his lips when he smiled, so he couldn't help but ask another question.
"Ah, wait..."
The little guy whimpered a few times with his mouth closed, then turned around, found a teacup and spit out the tooth in his mouth.
It turned out that he was having so much fun turning into a dragon that he accidentally knocked out a tooth that was about to fall out, so he kept his mouth tightly closed afterwards.
He will turn into a human with the tooth still in his mouth, but probably because the tooth fell out when he was in dragon form, although it has shrunk along with him, its shape still retains the characteristics of its dragon form and looks a bit pointy.
"Why didn't you tell me that your tooth fell out?" Kangxi saw that he didn't know how long the tooth had been in his mouth, and was glad that he didn't accidentally swallow it.
The little guy washed the teeth in the teacup and held it up, saying, "Ama gives this to you. You can wear it around your neck!"
He had bought a wolf tooth necklace when he was playing on the street before. Perhaps he found that his tooth was more beautiful than the wolf's tooth, so he suddenly had this idea.
“No way…”
Kangxi originally wanted to say that no one would give him his own tooth as a gift, but halfway through his words he remembered that this was a dragon's tooth, and suddenly he was speechless.
In the end, Kangxi took the tooth he had given him, but he was reluctant to have it drilled with a hole, so he also kept it in a jade box.
It must be said that Kangxi was very surprised by the birthday gift from the little guy, and felt that this birthday festival became more meaningful.
That night, Kangxi painted a picture himself. In the painting, the little guy transformed into a dancing golden dragon.
"Ama is drawing me~" After the little guy came over to see clearly what he was drawing, he smiled so hard that he revealed the tooth he had just lost today.
Kangxi said nothing and continued painting.
As he was drawing, the little guy suddenly felt something was wrong and pointed at the dragon's mouth and said, "Father, there is a tooth missing here!"
"There are no teeth here." Kangxi said with a smile in his tone.
He had never thought about the little guy turning into a dragon after losing his teeth, but today when he saw him turn back, he realized that losing teeth would affect his dragon shape.
From this perspective, Kangxi felt that it was wise to agree to not shave his head. Otherwise, imagine a majestic golden dragon with a bald head, which would be really...
The little guy opened his mouth unhappily and said, "Well, this is weird!"
What Kangxi saw was the tooth that had fallen out before. If he looked closely, he could see that a small part had indeed grown in that position.
Of course, the little guy lost another tooth today, and now there are two gaps on his teeth.
Kangxi saw that he was drooling as he spoke, so he wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and said, "Okay, if you say yes, then yes."
After he finished speaking, he picked up his pen and drew a sharp tooth.
If he had drawn a tooth tip at the beginning, the little guy would definitely be dissatisfied, but he never drew the tooth tip to fill it in, so the little guy didn't say anything.
By the time Kangxi finished painting, it was already late. Just as he was about to send the little guy to rest next door, the little guy ran straight into his bedroom.
Kangxi followed behind him and grabbed his collar as he was about to climb onto his bed: "What's your excuse today?"
The little guy turned around and smiled softly at him: "Ah, I lost a tooth again!"
"Change it." Kangxi refused to listen to this reason again.
After all, ever since he started to grow teeth, he has been complaining every day that his teeth have fallen out or that teething is uncomfortable. He has not slept alone for a long time using this as an excuse.
The little guy blinked, turned around and hugged him and said, "Today is Ama's birthday, I want to sleep with Ama~"
Hearing his long tail tone, Kangxi wanted to refuse, but when he met his sparkling eyes, he finally agreed because of the birthday gift he gave him today.
When the little guy saw that he had let go, he immediately raised his head and kissed him on the face twice.
"You're so grown up and still like this." Kangxi said with disgust, but he personally carried him to the bed.
"My Ama is the best Ama~"
"My Ama is the most powerful Ama~"
The little guy rolled around on the bed and shouted loudly, one sentence after another, which was so sweet to the heart of a certain old father.
Kangxi saw that he didn't mind the leak, so he sat on the bed, patted his little butt and said, "Be quiet for a while, aren't you tired?"
The little guy shook his head, then climbed up and stood next to him and said, "Father, did I dance the dragon well today?"
Kangxi felt that others were dancing the dragon, but he was clearly dancing himself.
Although he thought so, when he saw the little guy looking at him expectantly, he still nodded with a smile.
After getting his approval, the little guy immediately laughed happily, and while laughing he did not forget to praise: "The gifts given by my brothers are also good."
"Okay, everything you sent is good." Kangxi followed his words and added, "But yours is still the best."
When the little guy heard him say that he was the best, he was so happy that he rolled around on the bed again.
Kangxi reached out and grabbed him back, patted him and began to coax him to sleep.
The little guy felt his patting, and soon raised his little hands to pat him, saying, "Father, you should go to sleep soon too~"
Kangxi felt the little hands patting his body, and the corners of his lips curled up slightly.
After the Wanshou Festival, Kangxi once again received memorials related to the establishment of a crown prince.
In fact, ever since the second dethronement of the crown prince, there had often been memorials submitted requesting the appointment of a crown prince. After Kangxi had dealt with a few people, there would be peace for a while, but after a while there would be memorials again.
However, compared to before, those who dare to submit memorials nowadays are more tactful, probably because they are still afraid of being punished.
Kangxi threw the memorial aside and ignored it, but he couldn't forget what he had read, and it still affected his mood to some extent.
Ever since the fight for the throne turned out like that, Kangxi actually had no intention of appointing another crown prince, but he was also thinking about the issue of his successor.
He has many sons, but it is difficult to choose one that he can trust to entrust the country to.
There is no need to talk about the eldest brother. He is okay to be a general, but he is not suitable to be an emperor at all. Kangxi never even considered him.
The second son was originally his designated heir, but after being deposed twice, he was no longer so suitable, and Yinreng did not seem to have that intention now.
The third child has a more literary temperament and is also not suitable.
The fourth brother is strict with himself and others. If he were to take the throne, he might be a good emperor, but I'm afraid the ministers in the court would fear him more than respect him...
The fifth child was raised by the Queen Mother, and he would not consider this alone.
Needless to say, the seventh brother was born with a foot disease.
The Eighth Prince was popular in the court, but his personality made him more suitable to be a wise king rather than an emperor.
The ninth and eleventh brothers love business, and Kangxi is too lazy to talk about them, so there is no need to consider them at all.
Twelve grew up with Su Malagu, which is also inappropriate.
Thirteen has a chivalrous character and can be a good minister, but he is not suitable to be an emperor.
Kangxi was quite satisfied with Fourteenth Son's performance in recent years, but he felt that his son was born with military talent and might be more suitable to be a general.
As for the sons who came after him, they might not be as good as his older brothers, so Kangxi naturally would not consider them.
Kangxi had clearly thrown the relevant memorials aside and was not going to pay any attention to them, but he was unconsciously turning the jade ring in his hand and thinking about it in his mind.
As he was lost in his own thoughts, he suddenly heard a loud "Ama".
Kangxi knew who was coming without raising his head, and said unhappily, "Why do you always come to me instead of studying hard?"
"I miss my father~" the little guy said, and then came over and lay on his lap, looking up with a bright smile on his face.
When Kangxi saw his smiling face, his heart suddenly moved. He raised his hand to signal everyone present to leave, and then patted the seat next to him to signal him to sit down.
The little guy sat down next to him and looked up and asked, "Ah, why did you ask everyone to get off?"
"I have something to tell you."
"What?"
"Let me ask you, do you want to be emperor?" Kangxi's expression was slightly serious.
The reason why Kangxi had this idea was not entirely because he was emotional because he doted on his youngest son, but because he felt that given the relationship between the little guy and his brothers, it might be good for everyone if he took the throne.
After all, even though Yinzhi and others seem to have a good relationship now, the open and secret struggles they once had are still indelible. No matter who of them comes to power, the outcome for the others is uncertain.
As for the fact that the little guy was too young, Kangxi remembered that he was only eight years old when he succeeded to the throne. He felt that if he could hold on for a few more years, with his intelligence, as long as he was willing to study hard, there would be no problem.
Moreover, Kangxi could see that Yinzhi and others truly loved him. Even if people's hearts were fickle, at least Yinzhi and Yinreng would definitely assist him with all their strength.
The more Kangxi thought about it, the more he felt that he was suitable, but the little guy denied it without hesitation: "No!"
"Why not?" Kangxi looked at him in surprise.
Others might want to do it but not dare to admit it, but Kangxi understood the little guy and knew that if he said he didn't want to do it, he really didn't want to do it.
"Being an emperor is so tiring." The little guy thought about how early he had to get up every day, and then looked at the pile of memorials waiting to be processed on the dragon table in front of him, and patted him on the back and said, "Father, you have worked hard."
Kangxi was a little amused when he heard this reason, but after thinking about it, it was indeed something he would say.
"But there are many advantages to being an emperor. Everyone will listen to you..." Kangxi described to him the advantages of being an emperor.
The little guy still shook his head: "Then I don't want to be one either."
"Why?"
“Too tired.”
Kangxi thought about how many people were willing to give up their lives for this position, but he didn't want it because he was too tired, and he felt like hitting someone.
"Can you bear to see your father so tired every day?" In the end, Kangxi resisted the urge to take action and asked instead.
Of course the little guy couldn't bear to see him so tired, so he shook his head and thought of a solution: "Why not let my brother do it!"
"How can you bear to see them tired?" Kangxi glanced at him.
The palms and backs of the hands are all made of flesh. The little guy didn't want his father to be tired, and naturally he didn't want his brother to be tired either, and immediately showed an embarrassed expression.
He tilted his head and thought about it. After a moment, his eyes lit up slightly: "I got it! Let each of the brothers take charge for a day, so that they won't be tired if they take turns~"
When Kangxi heard him talking about being an emperor as if it were a child's play, he really wanted to hit him this time.
When the little guy saw him raise his hand, he immediately reached out and hugged his arm into his arms: "Ama, what are you doing?"
"I want to knock you down twice, and each of you should do it for one day. Why don't you let them do it for one month each?"
"That's fine." The little guy didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
Kangxi was so angry that he laughed: "You are really smart."
The little guy always felt that there seemed to be something wrong with his expression, but when he heard him praising himself, he immediately smiled at him.
He was so smart that Kangxi thought that if he really came to the throne, he might actually dare to let his brothers take turns to be emperor for a few days.
"Go away, go away. Pay more attention to your studies and don't come here all the time." Kangxi waved his hand to send him away in annoyance.
The little guy already knew that "add more snacks" was not "add more, snacks", but he deliberately asked: "What snacks?"
"Yinmi, do you really want to be beaten?"
"Father, I'm going back to study now!" When Cheng'an heard his name being called out, he immediately stood up and ran out.
Kangxi watched his hurried back and shook his head in anger and amusement.
Never mind, no rush...
Kangxi thought about it in his mind, but then he gave the person who wrote the memorial a good beating.
At the end of March, the peach blossoms in the Imperial Garden gradually bloomed.
Every year when the peach blossoms bloomed, Cheng'an liked to run into the peach forest. For this reason, Kangxi even specially asked someone to make a swing for him there.
There happened to be a day off at the end of the month, so the little guy invited his brothers to come play in the peach blossom forest.
Even though he is now studying with Yinreng, the time the princes spend with him is much less than in previous years, so when he rarely takes a break, they are naturally willing to put down their work temporarily to accompany him and relax at the same time.
The sun is shining brightly today, shining on the peach blossom forest, making the blooming peach blossoms look even more beautiful.
Such scenery is already pleasant enough, not to mention that there are so many brothers around to accompany him. The little guy has been smiling since arriving at the Imperial Garden.
"Fourth brother, guess which hand of mine has the peach blossom?"
The princes were appreciating the flowers quietly, but the little guy was watching and playing at the same time. Now he suddenly ran to Yinzhen with his two little fists raised.
Yinzhen pointed to his right hand and said, "This one."
"No~" The little guy opened his right hand, revealing his white and tender palm, and smiled and asked him to guess again.
There are only two hands in total. Seeing that he was still asking him to guess, Yinzhen naturally pointed to his left hand.
"Fourth brother guessed wrong, this one doesn't exist either hahahaha..."
The little guy showed him his equally empty left hand, then ran away laughing.
Yinzhen naturally wouldn't argue with him, but Yinxiang took the opportunity to catch up and said, "Well, you still dare to play tricks on Fourth Brother!"
When the little guy saw him chasing him, he immediately started laughing and shouting.
"Brother Da, help me stop Brother Thirteen!"
When Yinzhi heard his voice, he turned around, but did not help immediately. Instead, he watched him run with a smile.
When the little one realized that he wasn't helping, he immediately ran behind him and climbed on top of him.
Yinzhi was afraid that he would fall, so he squatted down and let him climb onto his back.
"Brother Da, run quickly. You can't let Brother Thirteen catch you!" The little guy lay on his back, patting his shoulder and urging him.
Yinxiang was just teasing him and had even stopped chasing him, but after hearing what he said, he had no choice but to catch up with him and play with him again.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com