They inquired carefully and learned that Fifth Brother had been in poor health since childhood. They were afraid that he would become a widow after marriage and that he would marry someone to bring good luck. They were so frightened that they dared not answer.
In the end, it was the eldest aunt who acted as matchmaker, promising that although the fifth brother could not ride horses or shoot arrows, he was just like any other weak scholar. The mother was not a wicked mother-in-law and would not send beautiful maids to the men's families casually. The sisters-in-law in the family were also kind and would not look down on people, and so on, and the marriage was arranged.
Mother still prepared a dowry of ten thousand taels, following the custom for legitimate sons, which shocked their family. They were minor officials with meager resources; even if they sold their entire house and all their possessions, they would only be worth two thousand taels at most. Asking them to bring a dowry of ten thousand taels would be a real disaster for them.
However, my mother was considerate and had my maternal aunt convey a message that there was no need to prepare a dowry of the same value as usual.
Originally, Fifth Sister-in-law's parents intended for their daughter to take all the betrothal gifts to her husband's family and simply pass them on. However, Fifth Sister-in-law was grateful to her family and ultimately brought 5,000 taels of dowry to our home, leaving the other 5,000 taels at home for her younger brothers to use for their future education and official careers.
Fifth Sister-in-law's father was upright and would never do anything to leech off his daughter; her younger brother passed the imperial examination at a young age.
Fifth Sister-in-law is indeed a gentle and kind person. She gets along well with Mother and her sisters-in-law after she married into the family. Although her family is not well-off, her sisters-in-law do not laugh at her. After all, they all know that Fifth Brother's marriage is a worry for their mother.
If you intentionally look down on someone, wouldn't that be going against your mother-in-law?
But that's a story for another time. Now that the selection is complete, Kangxi returns to the palace, and the empresses, concubines, and princes follow him back.
In this general election, Emperor Kangxi chose Lady Tatara as the primary consort of the Fifth Prince, Yinqi. Lady Tatara was the daughter of Zhang Bao, a minor official. Zhang Bao was only a fifth-rank official. Although Consort Yi knew that her son's primary consort's family did not hold a high official position, she was furious that she was only a fifth-rank official. She found the Fifth Prince's wife displeasing in every way.
Consort Yi thought to herself: The Grand Consort's father used to be the Minister of Revenue. Although he has been dismissed from office, he was the Minister of Revenue when the marriage was arranged.
The father of the Third Princess Consort, Lady Dong'e, was the Duke of Yongqin, who rose to the rank of Commander-in-Chief, a first-rank official.
The fourth prince's father was the Grand Minister of the Interior and the Commander of the Nine Gates. He had previously served as the Chief Steward of the Imperial Household Department and also held the title of Yunqiwei (a military rank).
The position of Commander of the Nine Gates was not one that anyone could hold; it was reserved for Emperor Kangxi's most trusted confidants, as they were responsible for safeguarding the Forbidden City.
Although the Fourth Prince's father had passed away, his influence in the military remained, and his title could still be passed on to his son.
How come my son is paired with the daughter of a lowly fifth-rank official?
Your Majesty, how can you be so biased?!
Consort Yi was even more heartbroken when she learned that His Majesty had appointed a concubine for the Crown Prince, because the concubine was the daughter of Lin Jia, the Salt Transport Commissioner. Although it was a third-rank official position, the salt transport was a lucrative post that only the Emperor's confidants could hold.
After the imperial decree of marriage was issued, a batch of porcelain was replaced in Consort Yi's palace.
It's no wonder that Kangxi's sons would target the Crown Prince later on, because his father favored him too much. Now, his two concubines are the daughter of a light cavalry captain and the one in charge of salt transport. If they weren't from the Han Banner Army, they could have been the wives of princes. This is clearly an attempt to win over Han officials for the Crown Prince.
Nobody's a fool.
After the imperial decree from the Crown Prince bestowing a concubine upon a concubine, most of the concubines in the palace who had sons were unhappy!
Another batch of porcelain was replaced in another palace. Who was it? It was Consort Hui, the mother-in-law of He Zhuo.
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