In the morning, the men followed Emperor Kangxi into the hunting grounds, while the women began their diplomatic activities in their tents. After returning, the Ninth Prince's wife and the Tenth Prince's wife stayed in the Ninth Prince's tent, as they were feeling unwell and not fit to receive guests.
Following Yin's instructions, Qingyan made no excuses and simply asked Sulan to use powder to make her face look a little pale. This way, everyone would know that Qingyan was actually feeling unwell.
The Mongolian wives arrived one after another in front of Qingyan's tent. Seeing Sulan standing at the tent entrance with a faint smile on her face, she welcomed them inside.
"All of you ladies are elders, please don't be so polite." Qingyan sat diagonally in the main seat. Just as the ladies were about to bow, Qingyan encouraged them, "Hutulifengsheng Zhalafen was just learning etiquette, which is why she made a fuss for you. I apologize to you."
As soon as she finished speaking, the face of the Khorchin Prince's wife turned very ugly. Everyone knew that although they were the wives of a prince, according to palace rules, they had to pay their respects to Qingyan and her daughter, Hutulifengsheng Zhalafen.
"Fourth Princess Consort, it is your kindness that you exempted us from paying our respects. The princess is following the palace rules, so it is certainly in accordance with the regulations," said the wife of Prince Garga.
Qingyan smiled, but didn't say another word.
"Madam, what brings you here this time?" Qingyan asked curiously.
"Fourth Princess Consort, we have a favor to ask. You have always been very soft-hearted. In recent years, Tsarist Russia has been invading our tribes. We hope to obtain some firearms so that we can defend the borders for the Qing Dynasty," said the Princess Consort of the Left Wing Prince of Khorchin.
This woman is the principal wife of Manzhu Xili's descendants. She speaks with the air of an elder, and she is of equal rank to the Empress Dowager.
"Princess Consort of the Left Wing, what are you saying? Women are not allowed to interfere in politics. This is a sign erected by the Imperial Grandfather. Is he just trying to make Qingyan disobey the imperial edict?" Qingyan looked at her coldly and said.
When faced with a similar situation, Qingyan would never speak up. As long as a loophole is found, none of them will have a good life.
The wife of the Left Prince was slightly taken aback. Wasn't the Fourth Prince's wife the most agreeable? How come she had run into such a tough opponent this time?
"Fourth Princess Consort, you don't understand. Those Russians really have a lot of firearms, so the chaotic border is not safe at all." The Left Wing Prince's wife even wanted Kangxi to transfer the tribal leaders to the capital, just like when the Empress Dowager was alive.
Before they could even say that, the Empress Dowager refused to see them. A few days later, news came that firearms were for sale, and everyone was eager to get their hands on them.
“My lady, I’ll say it again: this is not something I can interfere with right now, so please don’t put me in a difficult position.” Qingyan refused decisively. “If you come to talk to me, I’ll welcome you with open tent doors. But if it’s because of these matters, I can only offer you tea and see you out.”
Qingyan's refusal stunned the wives; he didn't even leave a single loose knot.
"Fourth Princess Consort, if you are so unreasonable, don't blame us," the Left Princess Consort snorted coldly and walked out of the tent.
The wives who had followed her left one after another. Qingyan watched their backs and a slight smile appeared on her lips. People like them, still want to do bad things behind my back?
Around noon, Yin returned from outside and heard from Su Peisheng that the Left Wing Prince's wife had led a number of Mongolian primary wives to cause trouble.
"Honey, are you alright?" Yin asked, looking at Qingyan.
"Hehe, of course it's alright, but Fourth Prince, you need to be careful. Those people are definitely not good people." Qingyan noticed that the Left Prince's wife always made a big deal out of things.
Yin frowned slightly. This consort was betrothed by the Empress Dowager and was always favored by the Empress Dowager. Sometimes, she didn't even put the Empress Dowager in her eyes, let alone Qingyan.
"Honey, you weren't bullied, were you?" Yin was furious. If these people dared to hurt Qingyan, they would blame him.
"Sisi, what could possibly happen to me? Don't cause trouble here. This issue between you and me could be very serious. When you negotiate, you must be extremely careful and not fall into these traps." Qingyan had a bad feeling. "I always have a bad feeling about him, as if something terrible is about to happen."
Yin frowned. Qingyan's intuition was very sharp; if a similar problem were to occur, Qingyan would definitely be able to sense it in advance.
"Sweetheart, look at me." Yin lifted Qingyan's chin. "Do you really have a bad feeling?"
Qingyan nodded: "I have a feeling that this firearms incident might cause a lot of trouble, so you need to be extra careful."
Yin nodded: "Don't worry, I'll let Yin handle it. Starting this afternoon, I'll step back from the limelight."
Actually, judging from the looks in the eyes of the leaders, he felt that the problem might be a bit tricky, and if he were to charge into battle, he might miss some things.
Pfft!
Qingyan burst out laughing: "Fourth Brother, are you overreacting? There's definitely something wrong with us after this incident!"
"Good boy, we can watch Yin negotiate in the study this afternoon." Yin has already set up the big framework; all that's left is for Yin to discuss the specifics.
The wives of the Mongol princes had the right to participate in the affairs of the previous dynasty, which was a clear difference from the primary wives of the Daqing princes.
A faint smile graced Qingyan's face. With him by his side, all problems could be solved.
After lunch, Qingyan and Yin went to the study. Qingyan projected the scene inside the negotiation tent into the air. After sitting down, he saw that several leaders were indeed looking for Yin.
"Ninth Master, why isn't Fourth Master here?" The leaders all had their own thoughts. Wouldn't it be easier to solve the problem if they could curry favor with Fourth Master?
"Fourth Brother has other matters to attend to. The general direction has been established, and I will handle the specifics." Yin sneered, knowing that some of these people might have malicious intentions.
The leaders' expressions changed slightly. If Fourth Master wasn't there, were they going to let Ninth Master fall into the traps they had prepared?
In matters of firearms, Ninth Master can provide assistance, but in other matters, he does not have as much power as Fourth Master.
Inside the study, Qingyan glared angrily at Yin; there was definitely something going on here.
"What kind of unwanted romantic advances have you attracted this time that make people so hung up on you?" Qingyan looked at Yin with annoyance.
"My lady, there's definitely no bad romance involved. Someone must be plotting against you." Yin kissed Qingyan's cheek twice to reassure her and tell her not to get upset over these people.
snort!
Qingyan snorted coldly. If that were really the case, would the Mongol leaders be so blunt?
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