I don't know about others, but Changning herself likes this kind of second female lead character. She is beautiful and strong, and of course, she is also clear-headed, has a broad perspective, and cannot care about short-term gains and losses. If this were written into a storybook, she would be a popular character.
Hutuli couldn't contain herself any longer and tugged at Changning's sleeve, pleading, "Mother, are you done talking? I want to take Buyinzhu to see my treasure chest."
"Alright, alright, you guys go have fun. Have Fubuki bring some fruit and snacks. Don't you like cream rolls? Bring another plate."
"Wow! That's great!" Hutuli was pleasantly surprised. The cream rolls were delicious, but her mother insisted that they were too high in calories and would make her gain weight easily. Although Hutuli didn't understand why her mother said they were high in calories when they were cold, her mother still limited her to a few every five days.
Now that Bu Yinzhu has arrived, her mother actually agreed to let her eat as much as she wanted to entertain her. This made her extremely happy, so she took Bu Yinzhu's hand and excitedly went back to her room.
Watching the two girls disappear in a flash, Changning chuckled and said, "Look at Hutu's impulsive nature."
Chuixue smiled and chimed in, "Our princess is so genuine and lovable. The other day, Consort De sent many toys for the princess to play with, as well as two bolts of fine silk."
Consort De did indeed like Hutuli, mainly because she had no daughters and Hutuli was lively and sweet-talking, making her Consort De's darling.
However, Changning felt that Consort De's gift at this time of year, which was neither a festival nor a holiday, was probably to appease her.
This is supposed to be a selection of two new princesses. Seeing that she has been the emperor's favorite for so many years, and that Yinzhen can't live without her, Consort De is probably afraid that she will get upset and cause some unpleasantness.
She was also afraid that Yinzhen might act rashly and disobey the emperor's orders for her sake, which would be bad.
Changning would certainly not get into a conflict over two princesses whose names she didn't even know at this juncture.
Nowadays, the Third Prince and the Eighth Prince have clearly lost the Emperor's favor, and the Prince of Zhi has also fallen out of favor recently, even losing his daughter. Not to mention the Crown Prince.
Sometimes Changning felt sorry for the Crown Prince.
Kangxi's surveillance and control over him became increasingly perverse.
I recently heard that the guards at the Eastern Palace have been increased by several layers, and the Crown Prince's daily life is recorded by special officials who report to His Majesty every day.
Whether the Crown Prince was receiving guests, dining, or even when he was having sex with women in his harem, everything he said had to be recorded for the Emperor to read.
This is practically a human surveillance camera! And it's running 24/7, rotating 360 degrees—a real-life Truman Show.
Imagine if every move you make every day is recorded by a special official—how many extra bites of meat you eat, how many farts you let out, how strong the smell was, what stimulating words you said during intimate moments—all of which would be read by your own father and might even be passed down to future generations for commentary a hundred years from now.
Changning felt a chill just thinking about it.
This is even more terrifying than modern-day stalker fans.
It's remarkable that the Crown Prince could endure for so long; he truly possesses a level of endurance that ordinary people cannot.
Changning felt that both father and son definitely had mental problems; if things continued this way, either one of them would go insane.
Therefore, under such circumstances, it would be perfectly normal for the crown prince to take some form of resistance. Kangxi's decision to depose the crown prince seems entirely reasonable.
However, this forced Yinzhen to step forward. Among the princes who were ranked first in terms of age, he was the eldest and the one who had won the emperor's favor. Regardless of whether he was vying for favor, he should at least not displease the emperor, especially by disobeying the emperor's orders. It would be a waste to disrupt the whole game just for those two princesses.
Therefore, Changning accepted it well and felt good about Consort De's thoughtful gesture. In any case, her mother was not a bad mother.
After a while, Tingfeng came to report that the two little girls wanted to go to the pavilion to see the fish after playing for a while, and also ordered someone to lay out paper and ink.
The fish are plump and strong at this time of year, especially the few red carp in the pond. These children like to go there to watch them when they have nothing to do. However, Changning is worried that they are too small to stand steadily and that it would be bad if they fell in. So he ordered someone to add a guardrail to the side.
The children were playing, and she didn't want to disturb them. Changning, bored, picked up a travelogue and started reading. Her favorites were Su Shi's "A Night Visit to Chengtian Temple" and Zhang Dai's "Watching Snow at the Lakeside Pavilion".
Both of these are classic texts that must be memorized in modern times, especially the line "Huaimin was not asleep either, and they walked together in the courtyard." It really touches people's hearts.
And then there's Zhang Dai. Changning thinks he's very talented; with just a few words, the beauty of mountains and rivers leaps off the page. "A solitary lamp in a ravine at night, high cliffs brushing against the water—this is truly a celestial realm, far removed from the human world." She deliberately stopped at this page of the "Langhuan Anthology," intending to savor it carefully, when she heard voices coming from the courtyard. It turned out that Hongzhao and Hongyan had returned.
Hongyan and Hongzhao had just returned from the palace and headed straight for Qingzhi Courtyard. Just as they were passing by the pavilion, they ran into Hutuli and Buyinzhu, who were painting.
Hongyan was stunned when he saw it. This was so novel. When had he ever seen his sister paint? It has to be said that Hutu really took after Changning. She was born only able to draw stick figures and knew nothing about anything else. Even when she was learning needlework, she had to put in a lot of effort and could still embroider butterflies into crickets.
Upon closer inspection, a girl I didn't recognize appeared. She was pretty and charming, with smiling eyes. Her skills were quite impressive. With just a few strokes, she captured the liveliness of the red carp, even using ripples on the water's surface to represent the movement of its tail, demonstrating her ingenuity.
Hongyan couldn't help but praise, "This painting is excellent; the fish is painted so vividly."
Buyinzhu knew that this must be Hutuli's brother, who was also a prince, so he smiled and replied, "Your brother is too kind. The scenery in this pavilion is elegant and beautiful, and the carp are especially cute."
This was the first time Hongzhao had met any of the girls from the family other than her sisters. She blinked her big eyes and looked her up and down: "Sister, is this the good friend you were talking about? This sister is really pretty."
When praised, Bu Yinzhu was neither smug nor coy. Instead, she was poised and generous, and replied with a smile, "My name is Bu Yinzhu."
Hutuli hurriedly introduced: "This is Buyinzhu, whom I mentioned before. Her Chinese name is Wanji. These are my younger brothers, Hongyan and Hongzhao."
The children didn't pay much attention to etiquette and quickly hit it off. Hongzhao even enthusiastically said that he wanted to take his two older sisters to play backgammon.
The sound Changning heard was the laughter of them playing backgammon together.
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