On March 20th, Yin returned from the Ministry of Revenue ahead of schedule. Qingyan had all the luggage packed up, leaving only some food, which was being packed into boxes one by one.
Yiken circled the food several times, and when no one was looking, he took a bag of dried apples. Sulan saw him using his chubby little body to block the dried apples in his hand, so she quickly took another bag, intending to cover up the loophole during Qingyan's inspection.
"Why are you taking it again?" Su Zhu asked, puzzled. Su Lan quickly put her left index finger to her lips to stop Su Zhu from speaking.
"The young prince took it," Su Lan whispered in Su Zhu's ear.
After she finished speaking, Su Zhu's eyes widened. If the Fujin (principal wife) knew, she would definitely scold the young prince.
They instructed the servants around them that they were absolutely forbidden from complaining to Qingyan.
Qingyan walked in from outside and saw that Sulan and Suzhu were packing things. She went to check the boxes and counted the dried apples. She found that the number of bags was not missing, so she was relieved.
"Pack all these into boxes, and remember not to let Yiken'er steal them." Yiken'er is starting to grow teeth, so it's best to eat less of those sweet things.
Su Lan and Su Zhu quickly agreed. They helped the twins cover for them several times, and their little savings increased considerably.
Qingyan didn't have time to go into the inner chamber. The twins, Suhua, was playing in the inner chamber, so Qingyan started to get busy with her work with peace of mind.
Inside the study, Yin was dealing with the memorials at hand. He had processed some important documents and sent them to a secret room in the study in advance. All the remaining unprocessed documents were to be unpacked.
Qingyan walked in, and Yin Gang had just come out of the secret room. He saw the little figure at the door and patted his forehead with his left hand.
"Little darling, come down with me for a bit." Yin was preparing to take these memorials with him; he would feel more at ease having them by his side.
Fortunately, Qingyan had that mysterious place; otherwise, he would have been in real trouble.
Taking this opportunity, Yin planned to thoroughly investigate all the servants in the main courtyard and circulate memorials in his study, also as bait.
"Put these memorials there. It's safe to carry them with you." Yin pointed to the memorials in the box. Qingyan put the box into the study in the space. After the twins were six months old, Qingyan would only take their complementary food with her back to them and would no longer let them in.
Qingyan looked around the secret room set up by Yin. It was more like a study without windows. Some of Yin's favorite collections had been gradually moved here, some of which came from porcelain discarded by the official kilns.
"Let's go. If we take too long to come down, the bait will lose its effectiveness." Yin put his arm around Qingyan's slender waist and walked straight up.
The heavy display shelf slowly closed, and the entire wall returned to its original state. Qingyan curiously reached out to take a look, and surprisingly, there wasn't a single hollow sound.
"The walls are thicker now. When outsiders come in, the sound they make when they knock on the walls is the same as the ones next to them," Yin told Xiao Guai in a low voice, revealing the truth.
He walked to the study door and had Su Peisheng bring Xiao Su in to collect the memorials, which would be placed directly on the carriage the next morning.
For this southern tour, Yin specially ordered the imperial workshops to prepare the carriage. According to regulations, Yin's carriage was larger than the previous ones, just enough to accommodate a small study.
However, Yin refused outright, instead designating the small room as a room for the twins. Three days ago, the carriage was delivered to the mansion. Qingyan went to see it and couldn't help but think that the carriage was truly quite nice.
Their room was concealed by a double-sided screen made of Suzhou embroidery. The embroidery on the screen was specially made so that the inside could not be seen from the outside.
"How early do we need to get up?" Qingyan sat in the chair next to the desk, her little face scrunched up.
Tomorrow morning, they must get up early and go to the palace gate to wait for Emperor Kangxi's imperial carriage to leave together.
"Tomorrow is a bit special. We'll wait at Xuanwu Gate; we don't need to go into the palace," Yin said.
If Xiao Guai's sleep schedule is disrupted, she won't be able to sleep well for several days.
oh?!
Her eyes were filled with questions. How could His Majesty really give up allowing Yin and the others to enter the palace?
"The Crown Prince probably won't go. Until the very last moment, no one can be sure," Yin explained helplessly. They were still quite close to Xuanwu Gate, so the twins were carried to the carriage and could catch up on sleep on the two small beds inside.
"The children must wait at the gate for Father Emperor's carriage, and when they return, they must tell Yiken'e what to do." The twins are very sensible; they need to learn some necessary rules gradually.
"Master, Eunuch Li has arrived." Su Peisheng entered, interrupting the couple's conversation.
Li Dequan arrived at the second gate and was waiting to be summoned by his masters.
"Please come in quickly." Yin and Qingyan exchanged a glance. Why did Li Dequan come over?
Li Dequan bowed slightly as he entered the hall and greeted Yinhe directly.
"Anda, please rise quickly. Did Father Emperor give you any instructions?" Yinzong asked, puzzled.
"His Majesty has sent me to fetch the young prince and princess. They will be getting up quite early tomorrow, so they can rest a bit more in the imperial carriage." Kangxi specifically instructed Li Dequan to bring the children into the palace a day early so they could leave with him tomorrow.
Yin was taken aback. Kangxi's method was good; at least it wouldn't give the censors anything to say.
"Anda, please wait a moment in the study. I'll get the children ready right away." Qingyan quickly stood up and prepared to get things ready.
Li Dequan nodded and told Qingyan to find twins.
After a cup of tea, Qingyan carried the two little ones into the study. Yiken's eyes were a little red, and although he was smiling, there was no real joy on his face.
"Young masters, would you like to come to the palace with Li Dequan?" Li Dequan noticed that Yiken'e was in low spirits, so he quickly tried to coax the children.
"Eunuch Li, is Mafa looking for us?" Yiken asked respectfully.
Li Dequan nodded and said, "Young prince, you are very clever. His Majesty has sent this old servant to pick you up. There are sedan chairs waiting outside. We are about to enter the palace."
“Alright!” Yiken’e glanced at Yin and Qingyan, and only agreed when he saw that they both agreed.
After seeing Longfeng off, Yincai finally had a chance to ask Qingyan what had happened to Yiken'e.
Qingyan, with a stern face and some anger, said: "Not only Yiken'e, but Sulan and Suzhu were also punished. Those two were outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant, and they took so many things for Yiken'e!"
In the afternoon, Qingyan went to call two people. Yiken'e was eating dried apples in the inner chamber. He had finished the whole bag of dried apples. Sulan was helping Yiken'e destroy the bag of dried apples. Neither of them expected that Qingyan would go in directly.
Instantly, everyone in the inner chamber was dumbfounded and could only stare at Qingyan at the door. Qingyan was furious and scolded Yiken again.
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