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◎Qingyang met Zhengge'er's resentful eyes.◎
Emperor Xingwu only gave the little princess's books to the royal family and some important ministers and nobles. The Imperial College was not able to print the books so quickly. Several official workshops in the capital had just begun preparations and had to accumulate a certain amount of inventory before they could stock up. Private workshops in the folk had not received any news at all. They had to wait until the official sales of books triggered a buying craze among the subjects before they could push forward the step of printing books together with the government and the people.
Therefore, the three brothers Qin Hong, Qin Bing, and Qin Ren, as well as the eldest princess Yongkang, did not think too much about it for the time being, and those who thought too much were not allowed to say too much for the time being.
After admiring her finished book, Qingyang focused on her work in the Ministry of Personnel. She and her father had already made sufficient preparations for the printing and sale of the travel notes and did not expect any major problems.
On the 20th, a day off, Qingyang came to his father early in the morning to ask for a pass to leave the palace, preparing to visit his third sister-in-law who was about to give birth.
Concubine Li was also here. Knowing that her daughter would be leaving the palace, she prepared a bunch of gifts in advance and asked her daughter to help give them to her daughter-in-law. The food, daily necessities and toys were all of different styles. She explained them to her daughter in a soft voice.
Qingyang glanced at his father and said, "My mother is so concerned about my sister-in-law. Why don't you come with me to visit her? My sister-in-law will be overjoyed."
Concubine Li did think so, but how could a concubine leave the palace at will? Concubine Gui's parents were in the capital, and they had never asked to leave the palace to visit their parents in all these years. She couldn't just forget the rules because the emperor was so kind to her.
Emperor Xingwu took notice of his daughter's teasing and his beloved concubine's caution and decided, "Go ahead. Lin'er is still young, and even if he wants to care about her, it won't be the right thing to do."
No matter how talented his son is, he still needs to experience childbirth himself.
Concubine Li refused to go.
Both father and daughter knew her temper, so they didn't try to persuade her. Qingyang got her father's badge and set off with Jie Yu and four palace maids who were delivering gifts for her mother.
Emperor Xingwu kept looking at his daughter's back with a faint smile on his face, but his eyes were full of complexity.
Concubine Li noticed something strange and asked nervously, "What's wrong with the emperor?" Why was he looking at their daughter with such an incomprehensible look?
Emperor Xingwu sighed softly, held her hand and said, "The third son is going to be a father, and Lin'er will be married soon. I am reluctant to let him go."
Concubine Li relaxed and comforted him, "Lin'er is an official in the court. The emperor can summon her anytime he misses her. There is nothing to be sad about."
Emperor Xingwu laughed at her: "You are more open-minded than I am."
Concubine Li was not too open-minded, but because her child had grown up and would definitely prefer living in her own little home, she was happy that her daughter could stay with her lover.
.
Qingyang saw her third brother and his wife strolling side by side in the garden of Prince Xian's mansion. Her father thought she didn't understand childbirth, but Qingyang was confident she knew more than him. Back when her eldest sister-in-law, Lü Wenrong, was pregnant, Qingyang, who was about to become an aunt for the first time, had gone to the Imperial Hospital to look up medical books on how to care for pregnant women. She was too young when her eldest sister got pregnant, so excited she didn't think carefully enough.
"Third brother, are you still sleeping in recently?" Qingyang stood beside his brother and sister-in-law and asked while accompanying them for a leisurely stroll in the garden.
Yan Zhenzhen glanced at her husband and smiled, "It's not bad. He doesn't really like to stay in bed. We usually wake up together, unless he has to go to court."
Qingyang: “…”
Qin Ren looked from the top of the princess' head to his sister, begging her with his eyes not to laugh at her third sister-in-law who was also a lazy bum.
Qingyang is not that stupid.
Yan Zhenzhen, unaware of her own exposure, actually teased the little princess instead: "Sister, aren't you going horse racing with Zhang Su today? Aren't you tired of seeing them together every day during the Southern Tour?"
Qingyang: "Outside the city the trees haven't turned green yet, so there's nothing much to see. Let's talk about it later."
Qin Ren: "Then I'll send someone to call Zhang Su to the banquet?"
Qingyang: "... Third sister-in-law could give birth at any time, and Third brother still has the mood to entertain friends?"
If she really wanted to see Zhang Su, she could have sent someone to summon him in her own name, but she should have met him outside instead of bothering her brother and sister-in-law. Zhang Su also knew his limits. Since his third brother's wedding, he had not come here to wait for her under the guise of paying his respects to his third brother.
Yan Zhenzhen glared at her husband with the same disdain.
Qin Ren felt a little aggrieved. He had never treated Zhang Su as an outsider.
After having lunch with his brother and sister-in-law, Qingyang returned to the palace.
A few days later, on February 25th, Qingyang was preparing to have breakfast after practicing sword and bathing when Zhao Cai from Qianyuan Palace came to announce the good news, saying that Princess Xian had given birth to a son at 3:30 am today, and both mother and child were safe.
Zhao Cai is He Yuanjing's apprentice, and his status among the palace servants in Qianyuan Palace is second only to He Yuanjing. He is not used for ordinary errands or messaging, but the little princess is favored, so Zhao Cai is proud to deliver messages to the little princess.
The good news he had been waiting for for so long arrived without warning. Qingyang suppressed the urge to leave the palace immediately to see his nephew and inquired, "Do you know when the princess launched the attack?"
Zhao Cai smiled and relayed the words of the eunuch who announced the good news from Prince Xian's mansion: "It is said that the princess went into labor yesterday at noon. Because she was unsure when she would give birth, and didn't want to worry the emperor, the two concubines, and the crown prince and princess, she deliberately waited until the birth to announce the good news."
Qingyang felt sorry for his third sister-in-law, who had to endure for more than seven hours before giving birth. His nephew was really something. His third brother was so lazy that getting up at Yinshi could cost him half his life. Why didn't his nephew learn from his father and would rather stay up until Zishi to finish his homework than get up at dawn?
In the afternoon, Qingyang left the Ministry of Personnel an hour early and went to Prince Xian's Mansion with the badge he had asked his father for in the morning.
Yan Zhenzhen had taken a long nap during the day and was awake now. Her complexion looked rosy. The swaddle was placed next to her and the little one was sleeping soundly.
Only after Qingyang arrived did Yan Zhenzhen carry the swaddle outside.
Qingyang sat by the bed, carefully looking at the little guy's appearance. Zheng Ge'er had thick black hair when he was born, but this child's hair was pitifully sparse, but his face was smoother, with light eyebrows, long eye slits, and pink lips.
Yan Zhenzhen: "Sister, who does he look like?"
Qingyang: "Looking at it now, it seems that she looks a bit like my mother."
Yan Zhenzhen said happily, "I think so too. The prince insisted that he looked like him."
Qingyang: "I'll have to grow up to figure it out. By the way, where's my third brother?"
Yan Zhenzhen: "He didn't sleep all night, and he was worried about this and that this morning. Just now, I saw that he could hardly open his eyes, so I sent him to sleep in the front yard."
As he was speaking, Qin Ren came in from outside. After yawning, he saw his sister and was very surprised.
Yan Zhenzhen asked him why he didn't sleep a little longer.
Qin Ren sighed, "I thought I heard the child crying. I thought he was not feeling well, so I was scared and came over to check."
Qingyang finally saw some of the responsibility that an adult man should have in his third brother.
With a new child in the family, her brother and sister-in-law were very tired. Qingyang had dinner here and then returned to the palace to pay her respects to her father and mother who were waiting for her news.
When Concubine Li heard that her grandson looked like her, she was delighted. Of her two children, her son looked more like the emperor, but he turned out to be useless and died. Her daughter looked like her, but was actually very intelligent. So it would be good for her grandson to look like her, and it would be best if he had the same talent for studying as her daughter.
Emperor Xingwu: “…”
Qingyang: "Has Father thought of a name yet?"
Emperor Xingwu said: "Well, your third brother is too lazy, so let's name the eldest son Qin Rui. I hope he will be more energetic when he grows up and actively serve the court."
.
By the time Rui Ge'er was one month old in late March, the little princess's travelogue had already caused a sensation in the capital. Every day, officials, nobles, or wealthy businessmen would send people to block the doors of the four official workshops. As long as the printed "Southern Tour Travelogue" was delivered, it would be immediately snatched up by the crowd here. The major private workshops in the capital had already become jealous and lined up to sign contracts with the official workshops.
Among the little princess's brothers and sisters, Yongkang was the first to know the news. Because she was very curious about the sales of her sister's books, she sent people to the official shop in advance to keep an eye on it.
When she learned how well her sister's book was selling and how the streets were full of praise for the travelogue and her sister's work, Yongkang's left eye was red for the large sum of money her sister was about to get, and her right eye was red for the reputation her sister had earned. She was so envious that she dreamed at night that she had also published a set of books that sold just as well.
Yongkang went to the palace to discuss the matter with his brother alone. "Since my sister can write books, how about we each write one? The amount of money we earn is not important. The key is that the reputation of being a virtuous child of the royal family cannot be inherited by my sister. You are the crown prince, and I am the eldest princess. In terms of virtue, we should be more virtuous than her, the youngest sister."
Qin Hongcai felt a slight headache upon hearing this. He patiently explained to his sister, "My sister's book was written during her southern tour, inspired by her feelings. It's meaningful. What can we write after living in the capital for so long? And why did you write it after my sister's book became a big hit? Anyone with a discerning eye would guess that you and I were after fame or profit. Taking advantage of our status as children of the royal family to write a book for profit, our father would never allow it."
If you want to publish a book in the official publishing house, you must first obtain permission from the court, that is, the consent of your father.
Yongkang understood, and also expected that his father would not agree, so he gritted his teeth and said, "Then I will give the book to a private shop and let it sell the book for me, so that your father won't have to worry about it."
Qin Hong said anxiously: "No, that will make Father even angrier, you..."
Before he could finish his words, Qin Hong suddenly covered his head with his hands, and the half of his face that was exposed instantly lost all color.
Yongkang panicked and wanted to call the imperial physician, but Qin Hong stopped him in time. He managed to squeeze out the words: "Don't call the imperial physician. If the emperor knew, he would be angry with you."
Yongkang felt sorry for his brother and was even more worried that he might get hurt. "So are you just going to endure it? Is there any medicine in the palace?"
Qin Hong closed his eyes and pointed to the Duobao Pavilion. There was a brocade box on it containing pills to relieve his headache.
Yongkang opened the brocade box with trembling hands, took out a porcelain bottle, poured out a pill, and helped his brother swallow it.
The headache didn't ease so quickly. Qin Hong broke out in a sweat and looked at his elder sister pleadingly: "Don't publish the book, otherwise neither you nor I can withstand the wrath of our father."
His elder sister does not have the literary talent, nor does she have the heart to serve the country and the people. Her far-fetched explanations will only bring discredit to the royal family. Such a serious crime will not be forgiven easily by his father.
Yongkang agreed to his brother's request reluctantly.
But since the siblings could not earn fame and money, Yongkang became more and more convinced that her father was partial to her sister, and even too much. She even thought that the name her father gave to his new nephew was better than that of her own nephew. Qin Rui, Qin Rui, how loud the name sounded. Qin Zheng felt depressed. As the son of the crown prince, he sounded inferior to ordinary princes.
Therefore, when Prince Xian's Mansion celebrated Rui Ge'er's full moon, Yong Kang could not laugh anymore when he saw everyone trying their best to please his third brother and his wife, especially Princess Yong who described vividly the grand scene of people outside rushing to buy "Southern Tour Travels" and praised the little princess's talent in front of the prince and his wife.
The six-year-old Zheng Ge'er could see that Princess Yong openly praised his aunt and secretly criticized his father, and he also saw his father's embarrassment and forced smile.
This made Zheng Ge'er very uncomfortable.
It was all my aunt's fault. Why did she have to write a travelogue? As a woman, she should have followed the example of my mother or my eldest aunt, married and had children, served in the court, and written books.
Zheng Ge'er couldn't control his anger, so at some point, he couldn't help but glare at his aunt.
Little did he know that what a six-year-old child could perceive, the seventeen-year-old princess naturally heard Princess Yong's instigation before him.
Qingyang had long experienced Aunt Wang's ability to stir up trouble, but Aunt Wang had mostly targeted the eldest sister in the past, and today was the first time she had targeted her so obviously. But today was indeed a good opportunity. Aunt Wang was telling the truth, and if the eldest sister spoke up, it would seem that she was jealous of her younger sister. If she was modest, she would only appear hypocritical.
The eldest sister-in-law, like the eldest brother, always gave way to Aunt Wang. The second sister-in-law and the third brother and his third sister-in-law tried to change the subject, but it was useless and they couldn't drown out Aunt Wang's loud voice.
After a long time, it was no use trying to stop Aunt Wang's mouth, because the eldest brother was already looking ashamed.
At this moment, Qingyang met Zheng Ge'er's resentful look.
【Author’s words】
Here I come, 100 little red envelopes, see you tomorrow~
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