Later, when the Imperial Noble Consort became pregnant, the servants in Jingren Palace neglected her, which further strained the relationship between the mother and child.
Looking back now, the Imperial Noble Consort never skimped on her food, clothing, or daily necessities. Moreover, because he was the Imperial Noble Consort's adopted son, he was the most prestigious among the princes, second only to the Crown Prince.
He also had more opportunities to see his father than other princes. The Imperial Noble Consort never prevented the father and son from meeting. Many times, the Imperial Noble Consort would even specially invite him to dine with his father.
In the past two days, the Imperial Noble Consort handed him her dowry list, which was worth more than 400,000 taels of silver, including 80,000 taels of cash, as well as many profitable shops, several estates, and rare antiques and paintings.
For a prince who was only 12 years old, this was no less than a huge sum of money.
The young Yinzhen was deeply moved. At that moment, he truly regarded Tongjia as his mother, eliminating all previous barriers.
Not to mention that in the past two years, the Imperial Noble Consort has been taking him under her wing every day, carefully instructing him, helping him to build a good relationship with the Crown Prince, and entrusting him with her network of connections.
The Imperial Noble Consort gave away only a small portion of the connections, since the prince was young and having many connections in the palace was also very dangerous. The vast majority of the connections were given to Consort Tong.
Princes who grow up in the palace are precocious. Although he knew that the Imperial Noble Consort did this in the hope that he would protect the Tong family in the future, he was still deeply moved and shocked by the Imperial Noble Consort's deep maternal love. After all, his father had not changed his jade tablet. He was the son of the Uya clan, but was just being fostered in Jingren Palace. It was difficult for ordinary people to be as open and honest with a son who was not destined to be their own as the Imperial Noble Consort.
Consort De was ranked among the four consorts, but in terms of wealth, she couldn't even come close to the Imperial Noble Consort. Moreover, it was still uncertain whether the manpower and resources of the Uya clan would be tilted towards Yinzhen.
Finally, that day arrived. On October 20th of the 29th year of Kangxi's reign, officials were dispatched to offer sacrifices to Heaven and Earth and to the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Consort Tong was formally established as Empress, an edict was issued to the entire empire, and the palace was moved to Chengqian Palace.
Due to the Empress's health condition, the members of the harem, the imperial concubines, the princesses, and the princes only performed the kneeling ceremony at Chengqian Palace before leaving, tactfully leaving the time for the Emperor and Empress.
"Zitong," Kangxi called softly to his newly appointed empress.
"Cousin, do you still remember my name?" The Empress had changed out of her heavy formal attire and leaned lightly against the Emperor in casual clothes.
"I remember my mother saying, 'Your Majesty, this is your cousin, Tong Yuwan. She's two years younger than you. You two can play together.'" Kangxi's voice was distant, as if he were recalling the little girl his mother had brought to him.
"Yes, Yuwan remembers. My cousin studied hard every day and rode horses and practiced archery every day without stopping."
Although her aunt felt sorry for him, she only wiped away her tears in secret and took even better care of her cousin. The Empress gently stroked the Emperor's face, as if he were still that little boy from years ago.
"My cousin is a diligent student, so even my aunt doesn't see him every day."
"At that time, Princess Duanmin was arrogant and did not take me, the young emperor, seriously. Yuwan was very young, but she stood firmly in front of me, her legs trembling with fear, but she still protected me." The emperor and empress were lost in childhood memories.
Princess Duanmin was the adopted daughter of Emperor Shunzhi, the second daughter of Prince Jian Jidu, and the legitimate daughter of Empress Dowager Renxian, the stepmother of Emperor Kangxi. She was the biological daughter of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang's niece. She held a high position and was arrogant, showing no respect for the princes and princesses in the palace.
“Yu Wan has forgotten, but the Emperor still remembers.”
People only learn to cherish things when they are about to lose them.
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