In the early morning, Qingyan woke up from her sleep, her mind still echoing with the admonitions she had received from the Imperial Concubine the previous night.
The Crown Princess clearly became the target, not only being reprimanded, but also Lady Guarjia was implicated, losing face in front of the court ladies. Qingyan, however, was in a good mood.
The sisters-in-law had clashed several times, with the Crown Princess and the Third Prince's wife causing quite a stir. Sometimes, Qingyan even felt an urge to avoid them. Today, with Consort Tong personally taking action, the court ladies, though wanting revenge, dared not make any moves.
"Little darling, get up!" Yin looked down at Qingyan with a smile. "We can still rest for three more days."
Yin Jitai rushed over as quickly as possible, and Kangxi was absolutely certain that he could control the worst-case scenario if he allowed him to leave.
"Fourth Brother, are we going to stay for three days?" Qingyan was a little confused. Why did they have to stay for three days?
According to their plan, they are to leave this place today.
"Yes, two-thirds of the new army has come and is searching the mountains behind us," Yin whispered in her ear. "These next few days, you are not allowed to go up the mountain."
Xiao Guai likes to go up the mountain to find food. She usually buys food from the supermarket, but if she finds something for free, she certainly won't let it pass by.
Search the mountains?
Qingyan leaned against him, lost in thought. With such a large-scale operation underway, some people in the camp must be getting restless. Staying in the tent was the best option.
"Sisi, what can we do?" Qingyan is someone who can't stay idle; we can't just sit here like this, can we?
"Let's go see Mother," Yin said directly. "We don't have much time to go into the inner palace, so it's good to let the twins spend more time with Mother."
He wanted more useful information; yesterday, Consort Tong was simply using this as an excuse to make a fuss.
"Have breakfast first!" Qingyan changed her clothes and got out of bed.
After washing up, the young couple sat down in chairs with their twins. She had specially asked Linglongge to make detachable baby high chairs so that the children could comfortably nestle in the chairs and eat the complementary food prepared by Xiaoguai.
Hutu Lifengsheng Zhalafen saw that Yin was also there and clapped her little hands happily. Yin saw his daughter and was in a great mood. He picked up the small bowl and prepared to feed his little sweetheart.
"Wait, let them eat by themselves." Qingyan called out to Yin, preparing to let the two children fend for themselves.
Previously, she had heard from Lady Yingenjueluo that Songkelierha was being cared for by nannies and that even at the age of three, he still needed to be fed by them, which made Qingyan feel very uncomfortable.
In modern times, three-year-old children have already started kindergarten. In the junior class, not only are they required to be independent, but they also begin taking courses in several languages.
In the Qing Dynasty, girls had very few classes. Yiken'e was strictly disciplined by Yin. If the twins found that they were not treated fairly, it would probably have caused them considerable psychological trauma.
"Yiken'e, Hutulifengsheng Zhalafen, watch over Mother!" Qingyan asked Sulan to prepare a wooden spoon and bowl, with steamed egg custard for the two of them inside.
Yin frowned as he looked at her. The children were still so young, how could they...?
"You all stand still, and no one is allowed to help." Qingyan looked at Sulan and Sushu, urging them to agree quickly.
Qingyan took a wooden spoon, scooped a spoonful from the bowl in front of her, and ate it.
Actually, she dislikes steamed egg custard the most, but she has to force herself to eat it in order to prevent the children from refusing to eat.
"You two should eat like your mother," Qingyan said, looking at the two children.
The twins stared at their mother with wide eyes, mimicking her actions by constantly feeding themselves with small spoons.
Yin put down his chopsticks and watched the two children scooping up the steamed egg custard. Each spoonful was only a tiny bit. He was about to take over when Qingyan stopped him.
"Do you still want them to be useless?" Qingyan said bluntly.
Although twins are fortunate to be born into royalty and have servants to wait on them for life, it is better to let them do what they can themselves so that they can better control the servants around them.
Yin felt a pang of sadness as he looked at his daughter, who was pouting because she couldn't have any egg custard.
On certain matters, Yin still listened to Qingyan's words.
He noticed that the princesses of the royal family were being disciplined too strictly by their governesses, and that they didn't even have the slightest spirit of resistance. This worried Yin that his youngest daughter might end up like that.
"Little darling, is this really okay?" Yin looked at his youngest daughter's aggrieved little face. "Let the children do it themselves when they are older."
Hutu Lifengsheng Zhalafen reached out and grabbed some steamed egg custard, her little face getting covered in the smooth custard. Yiken'e, seeing his sister's reaction, threw the wooden spoon aside and started grabbing the custard with both hands, feeding her spoonful by spoonful.
The twins' dirty little faces made Yin frown a little.
Royal offspring are expected to pay attention to their appearance; their clothes and faces must not be dirty.
At Qingyan, however, things were quite different. The twins wore bibs that had never been seen in the royal family before, and the nannies watched over them from the outside. After the children learned to crawl, they started playing on the carpet.
“Alright, you have to trust the children.” Yiken’e smiled as he listened to his mother’s words, and Qingyan couldn’t help but laugh as soon as he opened his mouth.
There were tiny white marks on Yiken's pink gums.
"Fourth Brother, look! Yiken'e should be teething!" Qingyan said, looking at Yiken'e's gums with her mouth slightly open.
Some time ago, Consort Tong mentioned that her two children were drooling a lot, and she reminded them that they might be teething.
“It seems so. I need to grind my teeth,” Yin said directly.
Previously, Yin had prepared a lot of food for the two of them to chew on.
"Do you think the thumb-sized biscuits I made are usable?" Yin nodded. Xiao Guai had specially drawn a design and prepared a homemade oven. While at the mansion, she had even tried baking bread several times, and the results were quite successful.
She smiled, and the two little ones finished their steamed egg custard and were licking their little hands, as if savoring the sweetness of the custard.
When the nannies saw the twins, they all wanted to pick them up and wash them.
"You all stay here and watch, let the two little ones eat by themselves." Qingyan was preparing to establish a rule for the nannies: they should not help unless absolutely necessary.
The nannies were filled with fear. They dared not treat the twins badly, for these two were their benefactors. If they were even slightly careless, Consort Tong would deal with them directly.
“Master…” The nannies looked at Yin, hoping that he could stop Qingyan’s actions. Unfortunately, Yin would listen to her at times.
The old women from the Imperial Household Department were stunned to see that Yin didn't say much and simply did as Qingyan arranged.
These princes are very similar to the Emperor; they will not listen to the arrangements of the women.
The man in front of him was different; he not only followed the women's arrangements, but he also did as his wife instructed.
"I'll listen to the Fujin. She can handle the affairs of the inner quarters." Looking at the maids of the Imperial Household Department, Yin was worried that the Fourth Prince might oppose the Fujin. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
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