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Just after dawn on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Yin and Qingyan, dressed in court robes and each carrying a golden cloak, with the twins wrapped inside, boarded the carriage one after the other. Yin removed the cloaks and court robes from the children, moved the cups from the bed, and placed them on the children.
"Little darling, why don't you stay with the children for a while?" Yin and Qingyan walked to the outside of the screen. "If you don't want to stay with the children, you can lean on my shoulder and sleep for a while?"
Qingyan quickly shook her head. The journey from Yuanmingyuan to the Temple of Heaven with Emperor Kangxi's imperial carriage to pay respects to their ancestors would take at least two hours. If she fell asleep, she would definitely be drowsy after getting off the carriage.
"No, Sisi, talk to me, okay?" Qingyan felt that bringing the twins to worship their ancestors was quite different from usual.
A few years ago, Emperor Kangxi issued a special decree that young twins should not be brought to ancestral worship on the first day of the Lunar New Year, for fear that the two children might fall ill.
For the first time, the four members of Yin's family went to pay respects to their ancestors. Yin was very excited. The significance of twins, a boy and a girl, was different for the Qing Dynasty, and Honghui and Yiken'e also had different statuses.
"Great! We've been so busy during the New Year that we haven't had a proper chat. How's the child?" Yin had heard that the banquet had invited Imperial Physician Yuan and had been wanting to ask about the specifics.
During the Lunar New Year, Yin couldn't very well ask Imperial Physician Yuan, so he could only suppress his temper and let Qingyan answer his questions.
"Fortunately, I was really angered by the two princesses yesterday. Do you think the Empress Dowager interfered? The Guarjia clan members were not punished at all!" Qingyan felt unbalanced. They were clearly the ones in the wrong, but they were not punished at all.
“Now that it’s the New Year, all punishments have to be postponed. I don’t understand. Has the relationship between Yinqi and his primary wife improved? Isn’t that what you’re after?” Yinqi said, tapping Qingyan’s little nose.
Qingyan stuck out her tongue. That's to be expected. The Fifth Princess Consort can speak to them on equal footing, but those two princesses can't.
"Fourth Brother, did I do something wrong?" Qingyan leaned against Yin's chest and asked, tilting her head back.
The Fifth Prince's wife had only been in the palace for a short time and hadn't spent much time with the Fifth Prince, so it's quite disheartening that she ended up like this.
“Little darling, you did nothing wrong,” Yin said with emotion. “Back then, if it weren’t for the fifth prince’s arrogance, Father Emperor wouldn’t have bestowed a marriage upon him to a woman from the Tara clan!”
"It seems that Consort Yi is not satisfied with Fifth Prince Consort!" Qingyan had seen Fifth Prince Consort being reprimanded by Consort Yi in public several times. As the primary consort, this had serious consequences in front of so many people.
Yin touched Qingyan's little hand, not wanting to talk too much about the grudges between Consort Yi and the Fifth Prince's wife. If Yinqi had handled it well, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law wouldn't be in this situation now, fighting until death.
"Fourth Brother, tell me, there's definitely something wrong!" Qingyan blinked her almond-shaped eyes, looking at Yin with a gossipy expression.
Back then, Yin stopped Ulanara from investigating, which greatly reduced the gossip surrounding Qingyan.
"When the Fifth Prince's wife paid her respects, Consort Yi tampered with the tea she was served," Yin whispered in her ear.
Consort Yi was proud and arrogant, believing that her background was better than that of the Uya clan. Both Yin and Yinqi were raised in high positions in Western Xia. Yinqi was even raised in Cining Palace. At first, Consort Guoluo was overjoyed, after all, Emperor Kangxi was also raised in Cining Palace.
Therefore, he paid less attention to the former Eighth Prince Consort, Lady Guoluo, and instead treated Consort Yi better. All the family's resources were thus concentrated in Consort Yi's hands.
"Doesn't Father Emperor know?" Qingyan believed that Kangxi was absolutely a ruthless person who could harm women. "This is endangering the royal offspring!"
Each primary wife carries a heavy burden on her shoulders. On the one hand, she has to take care of the entire mansion, and on the other hand, she also has to take care of the pregnant concubines.
Anyone would feel immense pressure. If the Fifth Prince's wife had known beforehand that Consort Yi only treated her as a housekeeper, she would have been extremely upset.
"Of course I know. I have already sent the best people over there, and she has been slowly recuperating!" Yin was shocked by Consort Yi's methods.
"How did you know?!" Qingyan blinked her watery eyes, her curiosity rising. Yin was definitely not someone who liked gossip.
Yin pinched her cheek and said, "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have bothered to find out. This could have hurt you!"
The concubines' methods were very strange. When necessary, Yin had to take the most discreet actions. The Fifth Prince's wife was one of them, and even the former Eighth Prince's wife was drugged by Consort Yi.
"Wait!" Qingyan glanced at Yin. "Before, Lady Guoluo had no children. Was it also because of Consort Yi...?"
Many people once believed that the Eighth Prince's wife, Lady Guoluo, was unable to give birth because Emperor Kangxi or Consort Liang had interfered with this, and they all overlooked Consort Yi's situation.
The Ninth Prince had always followed Yin Si closely, so Consort Yi would naturally use her own methods to make Yin Si value him.
"Yes, that's what Prince An thought too, which is why he got so excited and ordered someone to investigate behind the scenes." For the first time, Yin felt that not investigating the affairs of the inner court in his previous life was a kind of loss.
Most of the royal offspring died young in the inner palace, and the methods used by those women made him somewhat fearful.
Qingyan felt relieved, finally knowing who had made the move.
"Consort Yi has committed many evils. I heard from Consort Guo's servant that Consort Yi even killed her own younger sister!" Qingyan seized the opportunity to gossip and quickly asked.
Yin nodded. Consort Guo was more favored than Consort Yi back then. Otherwise, she wouldn't have given birth to the little princess first. If it weren't for Consort Yi's intervention, Consort Yi would probably be replaced now.
"Therefore, the Guo Luoluo family did not choose the wrong person. If it had been the previous Consort Guo, she probably wouldn't have been promoted to the rank of Imperial Concubine so smoothly." It was rare for Yin not to have to think about the affairs of the previous dynasty.
Qingyan rolled over and lay on his chest, her long, slender fingers playing with the buttons on Yin's chest.
"Fourth Prince, do you think that when I almost encountered trouble in Chuxiu Palace, Consort Yi was involved?" The selection of concubines during Qingyan's time was so thrilling that Yin still remembers it vividly.
Yin nodded. This was also one of the reasons why Yin looked down on Consort Yi. Back then, Consort Yi had used the deepest mole that Guo Luoluo had hidden in Chuxiu Palace in an attempt to remove Qingyan.
The Emperor arranged the marriage ahead of time, and Qingyan left the Chuxiu Palace directly, thus escaping the second round of the selection.
"Hmph, next year during the imperial concubine selection, the Guo Luo Luo family probably has an outstanding candidate who has actually ordered quite a few exquisite headdresses from Linglong Pavilion," Qingyan said directly.
Yin pinched her little nose: "Why do you care so much about other people's business? Gossip is just for passing the time, don't take it to heart!"
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