In late autumn, Linglong Pavilion collected a lot of red leaf bookmarks. Qingyan used more than 30,000 of her private funds to buy all the red leaves. She planned to send some of the best ones to the palace for the concubines to use.
"Little Darling, how's the preparation going?" After finishing his business, Yinzhen came in first to inquire about the progress.
The people at Linglong Pavilion have been busy these past few days, with Kangxi and the princes' spies keeping a close eye on them, making Qingyan feel increasingly pressured.
"Of course, we plan to send these red leaf bookmarks away tomorrow." Qingyan contacted Linglong Pavilion in the south.
Before the bookmarks even arrived, one-third of them had already been sold.
When dinner was served, Yinzhen looked at the mutton soup in front of him and was filled with emotion.
In the prince's quarters, he rarely ate mutton soup anymore. Su Peisheng was overly cautious, fearing that Yinzhen would get a sore throat in the summer, so he simply put off the mutton, which was considered a "heat-inducing" food, on the table.
"This soup is really good," Yinzhen praised after finishing a bowl.
In Qingyan's courtyard, gourmet food is often served, and even the foods that Su Peisheng forbade can be tasted.
At dinner, he ate an extra bowl of rice than usual, and she felt a sense of accomplishment seeing his satisfied expression.
"In a couple of days, it will be appropriate to use it this way." With the autumn wind blowing, it's the perfect time to fatten up for winter.
"Okay!" Qingyan agreed.
During the autumn harvest, Qingyan specially asked the manager of Yuelai Inn to order a large number of sand sheep to be transported to the capital at the end of autumn.
The sheep sent as tribute to the royal family were all slaughtered on the grasslands before being delivered to the capital. The Yuelai Inn, however, delivered live sheep directly, and all of them were lambs under six months old.
The two taste significantly different.
After dinner, Su Peisheng brought in a pot of Coptis chinensis water, and Yinzhen glared at him.
"Let's switch to Biluochun tea," Qingyan said directly.
When Yinzhen noticed that Su Peisheng hadn't changed his clothes, he glared at him angrily and said, "Didn't you hear what the Princess Consort said?!"
Su Peisheng froze instantly. Imperial Physician Yuan had said that after the Fourth Prince ate mutton, he must take Coptis chinensis water to reduce the internal heat.
"Alright, let's stop here. Sulan, go brew a pot of bitter tea," Qingyan said directly.
Su Peisheng was Yinzhen's personal eunuch, and she did not obey his orders.
"Yes!" Su Lan glanced at Su Peisheng and obediently went to make tea.
Qingyan went directly into the study, leaving the front hall to Yinzhen and his servants.
Su Peisheng watched his wife leave, then stood bowing beside Yinzhen, awaiting his master's reprimand.
Even now, Su Peisheng still doesn't think he's done anything wrong, and he carries out the orders personally given by Imperial Physician Yuan without any compromise.
He was completely inflexible, which frustrated Yinzhen greatly.
"Su Peisheng, how many years have you been with me?" Yinzhen looked at Su Peisheng, the servant who had served him since childhood, and began to rebel.
"Your Majesty, it has been twelve years!" Su Peisheng felt a chill in his heart; Yinzhen had never asked him such a cold question before.
"From now on, Qingyan's orders are also my orders. If you dare to act like this again, go and receive 20 lashes yourself!" Yinzhen demanded that the servants around him must respect Qingyan's authority.
"Yes, this servant remembers!" Su Peisheng felt a lingering fear; it was time to find another solution for Imperial Physician Yuan.
Yinzhen nodded in satisfaction, dismissed Su Peisheng, and then got up and went to his study.
The two children sat upright in their high chairs, listening to Qingyan read aloud, and a smile appeared on Yinzhen's face.
"Fourth Prince, you read it!" Qingyan saw Yinzhen standing at the door and looked at him as if he were her savior.
The classical Chinese text in her hand was very difficult to read aloud, and Qingyan had to figure out how to express it in simple and easy-to-understand terms. After reading the text, she also had to explain it, which was just like going back to high school.
Back then, she was most afraid of Chinese class; those classical Chinese texts made her want to beg for mercy.
Yinzhen walked over and took the book from her hands. Yiken'e's thirst for knowledge shone brightly, and Yinzhen was very happy that his child loved to read.
In fact, the prince was just like any other child. Sometimes, if he wanted to play a little longer, he would rather offend Master De.
"Little darling, if you read books like this now, will they be able to understand them?" Yinzhen looked at the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in his hand and couldn't help but chuckle. These were books that they would only read after they entered the Imperial Study.
For Xiao Guai, these are used as her early learning books. If the tutors in the Imperial Study knew, they would cry.
“Of course, after reading the original text, we also need to explain it into easy-to-understand short stories. Yiken’e loves these short stories the most,” Qingyan quickly said.
Qingyan was very skilled at translating stories, and since there was a copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the space, she would sometimes just pick up the book and read it aloud.
He was stunned for a moment. Qingyan had gone to great lengths for Yiken'e.
“Yiken’e also likes to listen to stories. During the day, I tell him stories little by little, and the little rascal loves them!” Qingyan was worried that Yinzhen would say she was forcing the seedlings to grow too fast, so she quickly said that Yiken’e liked these books the most.
After speaking, Yinzhen's lips curled up slightly, "If Yiken'e likes it, that's fine."
"Let me read it." Yinzhen began reading aloud, translating each chapter into vernacular Chinese for Yiken'e. The little boy stared at Yinzhen with bright eyes, and when he got to the exciting parts, Yiken'e would chime in with a couple of words.
As lunchtime approached, Yiken'e became sleepy, so Yinzhen was able to put down his book and hold his son to comfort him.
Soon, Yiken'e and Hutulifengshengzhalafen slowly fell asleep.
"Little darling, when you tell stories in the future, let Hutuli Fengsheng Zhalafen listen to them too. It will be good for her in the future!" Yinzhen told the nannies to take the two children back to their room and then turned to Qingyan to say this.
To Qingyan's surprise, many people believed that a woman's virtue lay in her lack of talent, yet Yinzhen actually proposed that his daughter study alongside his son.
"In the future, Hutuli Fengsheng Zhalafen should have a broad mind and must read more of these history books." Yinzhen did not want his daughter to be married off to a distant place. Even if she stayed in the capital, she should learn more strategies.
The descendants of the Three Kingdoms could all use the strategies in the book, and Hutu Lifengsheng Zhalafen was able to use the strategies in the book to be invincible in the backyard.
In this lifetime, he could not let Hutuli Fengsheng Zhalafen experience the struggles in the backyard; he could only use these things to talk about war on paper.
After she gets married, Yinzhen cannot guarantee that his sons-in-law will only have Hutuli Fengsheng Zhalafen as their wife. However, he can ensure that the little girl can become the most favored woman without any worries.
Qingyan nodded, wondering if she should make Wu Zetian's story her bedtime story.
These little tricks need to be taught from a young age, otherwise, they will definitely suffer in the future.
“It would be great if both children could enter the palace. Father and Mother would teach them with reality.” Yinzhen remembered that Kangxi had reminded him that his residence was too clean, which was not a good thing for Yiken’e and Hutulifengsheng Zhalafen.
Which royal offspring doesn't start fighting from a young age?
"Huh?! Mother knows how to teach?" Qingyan asked, puzzled.
Yinzhen nodded. The struggles within the palace were far more intense than those in the Prince's residence, which meant that the twins' scores would be higher than others.
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