Sitting in an inconspicuous carriage, the father and son headed towards the outside of the city.
Yinzuo, however, stared at the bustling crowd outside from the corner of the car window. When passing by the downtown area, his eyes could hardly see it all. His mouth opened and never closed again, and he exclaimed from time to time: "Wow~"
Kangxi said with a bit of disdain: "Is it really that beautiful? You are making a fuss about nothing. Aren't you ashamed?"
"Emperor...Father~" Yinzuo almost forgot about the address again, but fortunately he stopped in time.
"I haven't seen it, of course I find it interesting. If you take me out to play more often in the future, I'll see more and I won't embarrass you again!" Yinzuo had a good plan.
Kangxi smiled and tapped his youngest son's head, then said, "I... I don't know, right? You just want to go out and watch the fun, how can I have so much time to accompany you to hang out."
"So where are you taking me today?"
"Of course it's still in the capital." After saying this, Kangxi closed his mouth and said no more.
Yinzuo couldn't guess what the emperor's father wanted to do, so he could only continue to observe the people outside the window and the things displayed on the street stalls. There were food, toys, fortune tellers, and even people selling themselves to bury their father.
There happened to be a traffic jam ahead, so the carriage was forced to stop here.
"Dad~"
"What? Do you want to help others?" Kangxi glanced at the pretty girl kneeling on the street and asked his son.
"Well, Dad, look, although the clothes she wears are tattered, her hands are very delicate, whiter than those of our maids, and completely different from the hands of ordinary women on the street."
Kangxi looked at the woman's hand as his son said, and it was just as Yinzuo had just said. Yinzuo was young and could not tell, but the woman clearly had a delicate and graceful temperament, not like a local, but rather like someone from the south of the Yangtze River.
There were beauties in the south of the Yangtze River, and Kangxi suddenly had an idea: to tour the south.
“How pitiful.”
"Yes, it is said that she followed her father to the capital to seek refuge with relatives. Her father became ill due to the unfamiliar climate and was burned to death at home."
"The imperial court doesn't even care? They have suffered an unprovoked disaster!"
"Such a large area was burned, and many disabled people died. The court is just putting on a show. Except for those families close to the palace who got the benefits, no one cares about you!"
After a while, the road ahead was cleared and the carriage moved forward again. Someone threw a purse in front of the woman. She picked it up and opened it. She saw that it was full of silver, enough for her to hold a funeral for her father.
Finally, they took a detour to the other side of the fire area yesterday. Kangxi originally wanted to carry Yinzuo while walking, after all, this place looked a bit messy. Unexpectedly, Yinzuo took the initiative to ask to get down and walk by himself, so Kangxi led him forward.
Although the fire was completely put out yesterday, a large number of houses were burned down. Nearly a hundred people lost their homes. Many people were still searching for the remaining belongings in their homes in the ruins. Their hands were covered in black ash, and they looked dishevelled. There were clear tear marks on their ash-covered faces.
"It's gone! Everything was burned! All the belongings I have saved up for a lifetime." A white-haired old man knelt on the ground and cried bitterly.
There was also a woman with disheveled hair and an unclear face on the street. In front of her was a corpse covered with a white cloth. She cried and wailed, "My son! Your father was so cruel. He left us alone. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have left you alone at home. Now that you're gone, what's the point of me living alone! It would be better for me to die!"
Yinzuo bit his lower lip lightly, feeling that they were all so pitiful. He wished that someone could help them.
"Dad...can we help them?" Yinzuo grabbed the emperor's hand and looked at him pleadingly with his little head tilted up.
Kangxi frowned and said softly, "The court issued an edict yesterday, and some officials have already given them some compensation."
"Bah! What kind of compensation? We didn't even get a penny!"
"I think the imperial court doesn't want to get involved at all! It's because we are all Han Chinese! The officials living here are also Han Chinese, so the imperial court didn't send anyone to put out the fire for two hours after the fire started the day before yesterday!"
Liang Jiugong spoke up for his master: "You are talking nonsense! The emperor clearly personally urged the officials and guards to put out the fire that day!"
"What's the point of pretending to put out the fire? Our house would have been burned to pieces!"
"Back off!" Kangxi scolded.
Liang Jiugong had no choice but to step back and said nothing more.
"Did you really not receive any money? No officials showed up?" Kangxi asked the man.
The man sneered, lowered his head and continued to move the wooden beams that were only half left in the ruins.
Yinzuo looked at the emperor father who was obviously unhappy, and then looked at the people who had suffered from the fire. He took the emperor father forward and walked up to the man who had just argued with Liang Jiugong. He saw that the man was wearing a long gown and seemed to be a scholar.
"Don't be angry, my father just wants to care about you. Why didn't you receive the money? The imperial court has clearly distributed it. Do you know the inside story?" Since the emperor said that it was distributed, it must be that the silver was allocated. If it didn't reach the hands of the people, then it must be in the hands of the officials who are responsible for distributing the silver!
The man saw that Yinzuo was young, cute, and spoke in a pleasant way, so he looked around secretly and said to them softly, "No matter whether the silver is distributed or not, it will never fall into the hands of ordinary people like us. The officials above exploit us at every level, so there is nothing left. I think it would be better to give some rice, flour, clothes, quilts and other things to the people who have suffered from the disaster. At least they can have food to eat and clothes to wear, right?"
Yinzuo turned his head and glanced at his royal father's expression.
"Let's go."
Before leaving, Yinzuo untied the purse he was carrying and handed it to the man.
"What are you doing, young master?"
"The court will certainly help you, but you can't go without food and drink. There isn't much silver here, but it should be enough to buy some rice, flour, bedding and clothes. I think you are a good person. Are you willing to use it to help others?"
The young man was stunned when he saw the exquisite purse in front of him.
"If you don't want to, this silver will be given to you as a thank you for telling us what you just told us." After saying this, Yinzuo handed the purse forward again.
The man bowed and thanked the delicate and graceful young man in front of him, who was obviously well-fed by a wealthy family. "I am willing to do so. I thank the young man on behalf of everyone."
Yinzuo smiled brightly at him, then obediently followed his father away.
Kangxi took him around the burned area and found that the situation was just as the scholar he met at the beginning said. Only officials and guards were walking around near Zhengyang Gate, and the large invisible area was left unattended.
Gurgle~
Kangxi's attention shifted to the little guy beside him, and he suddenly remembered that this child seemed to have been led by him for a long time.
"Why didn't you say anything when you were hungry?"
"I see that father is anxious to care for the people, so I naturally cannot hold him back~" Yinzuo thought that only the emperor father could help these poor people.
"Let's go. I'll take you to eat something first." Kangxi bent down and picked up Yinzuo. He felt that now he and the emperor were just like those ordinary people that Yinzuo had seen in the busy city just now.
"Okay~"
Kangxi knew that he liked sweet food, so he took him to a Jiangsu and Zhejiang restaurant.
By the time the father and son came out after eating and drinking, it was already dark.
"Dad, what is that?" Yinzuo asked, pointing at a white unidentified object floating in the sky that looked a bit like a big balloon but was bright.
“That’s a Kongming lantern.”
"Kongming Lantern?"
Yinzuo had never seen it before, so he asked, "Why put it in the sky?"
"Young master, the Qingming Festival is coming soon. People usually release Kongming lanterns to pray for their loved ones." Liang Jiugong helped explain.
"Dad~ Let's go release Kongming lanterns and pray~~" Yinzuo hugged his father's neck and prayed softly in his ear.
"Who are you praying for?" Kangxi asked casually.
"Pray for my seventh sister, eighth sister and little brother whom I haven't met yet~" Not long ago, Yinzuo and his brother took the royal mother to release koi in the pond in the imperial garden to pray for blessings.
Yinzuo looked at the Kongming lantern in the sky. Kangxi looked into his youngest son's clear eyes and said softly, "Then go."
Liang Jiugong hurried to buy one himself.
The father and son stood in an open space by the river. Kangxi personally lit the wick of the Kongming lantern with a tinder, and only heard the little guy next to him muttering something.
"I hope my seventh sister, eighth sister and little brother can be reborn soon, I hope Ukuma Ma can recover soon, I hope my father, my mother, my brothers, sisters and brothers can be healthy and free from disasters."
Kangxi did not expect that the person who shared his concerns would be the three-year-old Xiaoliu. It was hard for him to care about these things. Xiaoliu had the softest personality, but he was not the crown prince, so there was nothing wrong with being a little soft-hearted. In the future, the crown prince and his brother would protect him.
She was so happy that she didn't notice that Yinzuo didn't mention her just now.
"You're done?"
"Well, that's it!"
“Then let’s release it.” As soon as Kangxi finished speaking, the Kongming lantern in his hand slowly rose into the night sky, gradually floating higher and farther.
"Dad~" Yinzuo pulled the emperor's clothes and called out.
Kangxi lowered his head and picked him up again, "Hmm?"
"Why do some gods live in water and some live in the sky?"
"Why are you asking this suddenly?" Kangxi didn't know how the little guy came up with this question from flying a Kongming lantern.
Yinzuo leaned close to the emperor's ear and whispered to him.
"Mother said before that releasing animals can also be used to pray for blessings. Last time, my brother and I took the Royal Mother to release animals in the Imperial Garden. Just now, we also released Kongming lanterns to pray for blessings. They can't be praying to a god, right?"
"...Of course not." Kangxi finally figured it out.
"So, these two gods live in very different places~"
None of his sons had ever asked Kangxi such a childish question in person, and Kangxi thought it was quite interesting.
"It's probably just like you like sweet food, but some people like spicy food. Everyone has their own preferences."
Liang Jiugong's eyelids twitched, and there was some surprise in his eyes. He thought: When did the emperor want to answer these nonsense? It seems that the Sixth Prince's Kongming lantern has been put into the emperor's heart.
"I also want to be able to fly like a Kongming lantern~" Yinzuo couldn't help but look at the Kongming lantern in the sky that had become extremely small.
"Why is that?" Kangxi found it very interesting to talk to Xiaoliu. His little head was always filled with questions that ordinary people could not imagine.
"Then I can go to faraway places, see the people there, the mountains and rivers there, and have delicious food and fun things~" The yearning in Yinzuo's tone could not be concealed.
"Why bother with this? I'll definitely take you with me next time I go on a long trip."
"Really?" Yinzuo's eyes began to sparkle with stars.
"How can I lie to you?" Kangxi smiled and patted his butt.
"So where are you going to go next time you go on a long trip?"
"Let's go to Jiangnan." Kangxi thought that this little guy also likes to eat Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine.
Unexpectedly, Yinzuo in his arms smiled and said, "Dad just said that there are beauties in Jiangnan. I'm going to go back and tell my two mothers~"
"You bad guy, you're still thinking about complaining."
The father and son talked and laughed as they got on the carriage and returned to the palace.
Yinzuo was carried by Kangxi all the way back to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. He yawned loudly. He was really tired after walking for such a long time today.
Kangxi said casually: "If you are tired, just stay here for a night."
Yinzuo quickly shook his head.
Liang Jiugong, who was standing by, was a little worried for the Sixth Prince. How could the Sixth Prince refuse such a great honor?
"The Imperial Noble Mother lives alone in Chengqian Palace. She will be worried about me~"
If Yinzuo had agreed, Kangxi might not really keep him, but he refused, and Kangxi felt uncomfortable.
"I'll send someone to tell her."
"But the Royal Mother will be very lonely alone~" Yinzuo yawned again, his eyes filled with tears.
"Then I won't be lonely anymore?" Kangxi asked him shamelessly.
"The Emperor is the number one Baturu in the Qing Dynasty, he won't be afraid~" Yinzuo's eyelids began to twitch.
"You are good at making people happy. No wonder your two mothers, the Empress Dowager, the Queen Mother, and even the Crown Prince and your other brothers and sisters love you so much." After Kangxi finished speaking, he found that the little guy in his arms was silent. He took a closer look and found that the person had fallen asleep.
"Your Majesty, how about I personally escort the Sixth Prince back to Chengqian Palace?" Liang Jiugong knew very well that this was a good job. Now that the Emperor doted on the Sixth Prince, he would only benefit from having a good relationship with him.
Kangxi tickled Yinzuo's nose and said with a smile, "No need, let him sleep with me tonight."
After a while, he warned again: "Don't let anyone tell anyone about what happened tonight."
"I obey your order!" This was not the first time that Liang Jiugong helped the emperor to cover up his whereabouts.
The palace maid from the Qianqing Palace came forward, took the Sixth Prince from the Emperor's arms, and tried to take off his clothes.
"Be gentle and don't wake him up." Kangxi didn't know what was wrong with him, but he couldn't help but pay attention to Xiaoliu's movements.
The palace maids serving Yinzuo became more cautious.
He did not wake up until Yinzuo was placed on the dragon bed.
Kangxi turned around and went back to his study to continue reviewing memorials. He was leaving the palace today and had to deal with the pile of government affairs. He checked to see if there was anything particularly important to avoid delaying important matters.
Government affairs are complicated and numerous, and officialdom affairs are closely linked. One move can only affect the entire body, so one has to think carefully before making a decision. Before one knows it, it is already late at night.
"Your Majesty! It's already three o'clock in the morning and you have to attend the early court tomorrow. You should take a rest first." Liang Jiugong stepped forward and advised.
"Stop talking too much." Kangxi was already feeling annoyed and scolded impatiently.
Liang Jiugong didn't dare to say anything now and could only serve the emperor another cup of strong tea.
At this time, a very light sound of footsteps came from the door.
"Your Majesty, the Sixth Prince has just woken up and is standing at the door now."
After Kangxi finished writing the last two lines, he looked up and asked calmly, "What time is it?"
"To reply to the Emperor, it is already three o'clock in the morning!"
"Tell him to go back and sleep first."
"I have just tried to persuade Sixth Prince, but he refuses to go back and insists on seeing you. He is almost crying."
Hearing the word "cry", Kangxi frowned.
"Let him in."
"Hey!"
After a while, Yinzuo ran in wearing clothes and lay on Kangxi's thighs, looking at him with dissatisfaction with his big, bright eyes.
"Father Emperor, why aren't you sleeping yet?"
Kangxi smiled and picked him up, held him in his arms, let him sit on his lap, hugged him, touched his little hand, and wrapped his clothes tightly around him.
"You are controlling me now. Why are you here in the middle of the night instead of lying in bed and sleeping? What if you catch a cold?"
"But I've never slept in the Qianqing Palace. I'm scared to sleep alone~" Yinzuo's voice sounded aggrieved. He had just woken up from his sleep and was in an unfamiliar place. He subconsciously became more pampered.
After hearing this, Kangxi couldn't bear to blame him.
"Then wait for me for a while. I will go back to bed with you after I finish reviewing this."
"Okay~" Yinzuo didn't cry or make a fuss. He snuggled in his father's arms and watched him write, even though he didn't recognize some of the words.
"Your Majesty, your handwriting is so beautiful~" After Yinzuo's mood improved, he started to flatter people again.
"You can't even write, so how do you know my handwriting is good?" Kangxi asked him deliberately.
Yinzuo rolled his eyes, pointed at the scroll hanging on the wall and said confidently: "But I can't draw, but I know this painting is better than the one next to it~"
"You are quite smart." Kangxi chuckled.
Perhaps it was because of the company of this happy person, but Kangxi felt a lot more relaxed and was able to handle the government affairs in his hands more smoothly. He finished approving all the documents in just a quarter of an hour.
"Come on, accompany my little six back to bed." Kangxi placed the red brush on the pen holder, wrapped the little one in his arms with his cloak, and walked quickly back to the bedroom.
The father and son lay on the dragon bed together, Yinzuo clung tightly to his royal father. He felt that the Qianqing Palace was too empty and too unfamiliar.
"You are very brave even in the daytime. How dare you go to the upper study room without permission?"
"I originally wanted to pay my respects to the Emperor Father, but who knew that the Emperor Father was in court, so I went to see my brothers on the way. The Emperor Father hurt my heart." Yinzuo liked to pretend to be aggrieved when he lied.
"Okay, okay, it's all my fault. Go to bed quickly. I have to get up early tomorrow and I can't stand you sleeping in every day."
Yinzuo stuck out his tongue but didn't argue. He just liked to sleep in.
"Oh, by the way, I have one more thing to remind you. You are not allowed to tell anyone about the fact that I took you out of the palace today, including your two mothers. Remember?"
"Remember~" Yinzuo deliberately prolonged the ending sound of each word.
"Don't do anything weird, go to sleep."
Kangxi thought he would not be able to sleep with a little guy by his side, but unexpectedly, he fell asleep quickly while holding this soft and warm little guy.
After getting up early the next morning, Kangxi, wearing his court robes and crown, specifically told the palace servants not to rush to wake Yinzuo up.
He summoned several capable ministers and ordered them to personally comfort the people who had suffered heavy losses from the fire.
"Remember, silver cannot be distributed directly to the people. You can hire craftsmen to build new houses for them, buy them food and clothing, and properly bury those who died in the fire. Don't sell yourself to bury your father, lest the people complain about the government's inaction and damage the reputation of the court."
In addition to the fire outside Zhengyang Gate in Beijing, there are many other things that need to be discussed at the morning court today, such as: the invasion of Tsarist Russia in the north, which is coming with great force; the spring floods in the south, which have caused serious damage to some places, etc.
So before the court session ended, Yinzuo woke up on his own. After waking up, he returned to Chengqian Palace on his own and was now having breakfast with the Imperial Concubine.
The Imperial Noble Consort personally served a bowl of soup and placed it in front of Yinzuo.
"Xiao Liu, where did you go yesterday? Why did you come back so early in the morning?"
"Did no one come to inform the Royal Mother last night?" Yinzuo blinked.
The Imperial Concubine smiled and replied, "Yes, there is. Last night, a young eunuch said that you slept at the Crown Prince's place. But I was worried, so I asked someone to go to the Crown Prince's Palace to ask. It turned out that you did not go to the Yuqing Palace. Instead, the young eunuch who came to report turned around and went back to the Qianqing Palace."
"It was the Emperor who forbade Xiaoliu to tell it. That was a little secret between Xiaoliu and the Emperor~" Yinzuo tried to get away with it by acting cute.
"Well, since you are with your royal father, I am relieved to know this. After dinner, do you want me to accompany you to see your sister?"
Yinzuo secretly glanced at the imperial mother, then lowered his head and smiled. The imperial mother also liked his sister very much. She obviously wanted to see her, but she always used the excuse of accompanying him. As a result, every time she went, she hugged her sister and refused to let go.
"Okay~" Yinzuo just pretended that he knew nothing.
When they arrived at the Yonghe Palace, as expected, the imperial mother took her sister from the wet nurse's arms very naturally, and Yinzuo could only sit beside her with a rattle to tease her sister.
Rouwan, who was standing by, occasionally exchanged a few words with the Imperial Noble Concubine about how to raise the little princess. As both of them were women and had lost a daughter at the same time, Rouwan could understand the Imperial Noble Concubine's current mood. She was also willing to use her daughter's laughter to heal the Imperial Noble Concubine's inner scars. The Imperial Noble Concubine took care of Yinzhen and Yinzuo to ensure their safe growth, and she spent no less effort than her as their biological mother.
"It's a pity that Xiaojiu was not born in Jiangnan~" Yinzuo suddenly sighed and said with some regret.
"What?" The Imperial Concubine and the Virtuous Concubine asked at the same time.
"The Emperor said that Jiangnan is the place that produces the most beauties. If Xiaojiu was born in Jiangnan, she would definitely be a beauty~"
Tong Jia and Rouwan looked at each other, and both of them focused on the first half of Xiaoliu's sentence.
The author has something to say:
Kangxi: You are really my good son [smile]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
