After dinner, Emperor Kangxi and Consort Tong left the twins behind. Yinzhi, Qingyan, and Hafeng'a returned to the villa together. After washing up, they lay down on the bed. She noticed that Yinzhi's complexion was not very good.
Qingyan nestled against his chest, tilting her little head up to look at him.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Yin reached out and patted her little bottom, telling her not to keep fidgeting.
"Sisi, why are you so agitated?" Qingyan asked curiously.
Yin was unusually irritable, so she reached out her little hand and patted his chest.
"It's very frustrating!" Yin shook his head. "We've finished our duty report today. We'll stay for another five days and then go back!"
Kangxi intended for him to stay in the naval port for two years to get it back on track before returning to Beijing.
In addition, the focus for the next two years will likely be on dealing with the Crown Prince. Therefore, sending Yin and Yin out is also to stabilize the morale of the army and prevent the soldiers from causing trouble.
"We have to stay for another five days?!" Qingyan was stunned.
She'll definitely be busy in the next five days, and will have to hand over the task of taking care of the child to someone else.
“Yes, after breakfast these five days, you will come with me to Mother’s place. Once I have finished dealing with my affairs, I will come to pick you up.” Yin had figured it out. He decided not to let Qingyan attend any banquets hosted by female relatives, so as not to make the officials think that he was taking sides.
"Aren't you planning to hold a banquet?" Qingyan was taken aback.
Yin shook his head directly: "Don't accept anyone's invitation. Just refuse on the grounds that you don't know when you'll have to go back."
"Do the wives of officials think this is too aloof?" Qingyan understood that Yin wanted to compete, and although she couldn't help much, she hoped not to hold Yin back.
Yin shook his head: "Of course not, those people just need to know that we don't take sides."
The Crown Prince extended his influence to the south, and the officials accompanying him all expressed their determination to ensure that their families, no matter how tired they were, would all participate.
"Fourth Prince, when I arrived, the princes' wives had already held a banquet. The behavior of the officials' wives surprised me even more. They no longer picked and chose to attend, but all of them attended. They spoke like humans and like ghosts." Qingyan had gathered some information and couldn't help but feel puzzled.
Yin patted her back, telling Qingyan to go to sleep first; he needed to think about it before making a decision.
"It's late now, let's talk about it after you wake up!" Yin said, patting her back.
As dawn broke, Yin got up early and began his morning exercise in the middle of the courtyard. Qingyan lay on the bed, touching the spot next to him, and found that the bed was slowly getting cold.
"Fourth Brother, you got up an hour earlier than usual today!" Qingyan said, glancing at the time.
"I'm feeling a bit restless," Yin said, sitting at the dining table and having breakfast with Qingyan. "I'll go to the study in a bit!"
After breakfast, Yin and Qingyan sat facing each other, and she stared blankly at Yin.
"During the report, Father Emperor asked a lot of questions, mostly about the training at the naval port," Yin sighed. "It seems that those spies have been speaking to the princes quite a bit, and even the Crown Prince is preparing to 'interfere' in the naval port affairs."
Qingyan noticed that Yin seemed slightly troubled, but simply listened silently to his story.
“It was right that my elder brother didn’t come this time. Otherwise, Duoxihui might have been left with Consort Hui.” Yin was glad that Yiken’e was a twin, and could not be too far away from her father and mother. Hafeng’a was also stubborn and only recognized Qingyan’s breast milk. Therefore, the nanny could only feed her occasionally during the day.
"Fourth Brother, what about Hafeng? Will he be left behind?" Qingyan looked at Yin nervously.
Yin shook his head directly: "Hafenga is different from Duoxihun. Hafenga only recognizes you, so Father Emperor wants to keep him. Mother Mother can't take care of him."
Qingyan was stunned. What Yin said made perfect sense. Duoxi Hui had been drinking the wet nurse's milk all along, so it was reasonable for him to stay by Consort Hui's side.
"On Yiken'e's side, before Master Yuanyi passed away, he mentioned that twins should not be separated from their parents for too long," Yin said directly.
"Master, Eunuch Li is here!" Su Peisheng said directly from the doorway.
"Please come in quickly!" Yin said hastily.
Li Dequan walked in through the door of the study, and Yin hurriedly went to greet him.
"Anda, why have you come here in person?" Yin walked up to Li Dequan and helped him up, refusing to pay his respects.
"Fourth Prince, His Majesty has instructed you to go to the Imperial Palace after breakfast these past few days!" Li Dequan relayed Kangxi's message. "Fourth Princess Consort, please take Prince Hafeng to the Imperial Concubine's main hall."
"Yes," Qingyan replied.
"Su Peisheng, prepare a sedan chair to send Anda back!" Yin walked to the window and saw that there was no sedan chair in the courtyard, only a slightly dilapidated carriage. He asked Su Peisheng to prepare a comfortable sedan chair.
"Fourth Master, this won't do!" Li Dequan quickly shook his head. "If you do this, even I, your servant, will be overstepping my bounds."
“Father won’t say anything to you. In this hot weather, if you just sit in the carriage and get heatstroke, how will you take care of Father?” Yin quickly found an excuse for Li Dequan.
After seeing Li Dequan off, Yin calmed down completely, while Qingyan became agitated, pacing back and forth in front of his desk.
"Little darling, sit quietly for a while!" Seeing Qingyan's irritable appearance, Yin quickly pointed to the chair opposite him and said.
"Fourth Prince, can you still sit still? Can't you see? We're both being asked to go!" Qingyan didn't like going to the imperial palace, and even though she had a good relationship with Consort Tong, she didn't like those rules.
"Yes, Mother asked you to go over there as an excuse for you to stop paying attention to those women. They seem to have suddenly become enlightened, and there are banquets held every day without any repetition, which has relieved many people."
Both sides' women wanted to get more information from the other, so while their faces were full of smiles, they were secretly plotting how to dig a trap.
"My mother's side isn't much better either. I'll go there with Hafeng tomorrow. I reckon there will be quite a few women staying there!" Qingyan said helplessly.
“So, it’s better for you to go to only one house than to go to all of them!” Yin said, patting her hand.
Qingyan pondered for a moment, and realized that what Yin said was correct.
“You’re right. There are so many people coming and going around Mother’s side, it’s hard for anyone to find out much information. It’s enough to just keep a good appearance.” Qingyan understood what Yin meant and quickly put his hands together in prayer.
After understanding the message from above, she realized that Consort Tong's help was also to prevent the women from finding out the truth.
"Remember, don't say a word about what happened at the military ports in Guangdong and Guangxi," Yin quickly instructed.
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