Under Yinzhen's strong urging, the date for the investiture of the primary consort was set before December, and the investiture ceremony was to be carried out as soon as possible. Otherwise, if it was delayed until December, it would be inconvenient at the end of the year. If it were to wait until next year, it would be even longer.
That day, the children all got up early and each gave Changning a congratulatory gift before she entered the palace, which surprised her.
Yierha gave Changning a set of twelve handkerchiefs that she had embroidered herself. The fabric was soft, and the patterns on them were exquisite. Changning liked them very much. In addition, there was a rabbit fur headband, which was fluffy and snow-white and looked very warm.
Hutuli gave her a wooden carving she had personally carved. She got the inspiration from the wooden jade hairpin that Meng Guqing had given to Changning. She carved a "Persimmon for Good Fortune" design, hoping that her mother would have a smooth life in the future.
Changning stared at the round, plump thing in her hand for a while, trying to figure out if it was a peach or a watermelon, before finally being exposed as a persimmon by the furious Hutuli.
The painting that Hongyan presented was "Secluded Water Pavilion," which he had spent a month creating himself, depicting a scene from the Yuanmingyuan Garden.
In Hongzhao's hands was his favorite jade frog paperweight. This paperweight was carved from jade, with the frog's belly exposed, lying diagonally on a lotus leaf, lifelike and quite interesting. He looked at it over and over before giving this beloved item to his mother.
To Changning's surprise, Honghui had also prepared a gift: a pot of daffodils growing in a conch shell pot. In winter, it was rare to see such delicate flowers, and their sweet fragrance even lifted her spirits.
"There are daffodils blooming so beautifully even in winter." Changning couldn't hold Honghui's hand like she did when they were children; he was all grown up now and had his own maid. She could only smile at him to show that she liked him very much.
After receiving the gifts from the children, Changning and Yinzhen entered the palace together; it would be quite a day.
The various tedious etiquettes in the palace made her a little dizzy. Fortunately, she was neither a concubine nor a noble consort, so the etiquette was relatively simple nowadays, and she could just kowtow everywhere.
Inside Yonghe Palace, the Fourteenth Prince and his wife, Lady Wanyan, were already waiting.
Consort De looked at Changning, who was dressed in the auspicious robes of a prince's wife, and smiled. She took off a pair of jade bracelets from her wrist and said, "Now it's all good. You two should live in harmony and harmony. Everything will surely go smoothly for you in the future."
Changning accepted the jade bracelet and said with a smile, "Thank you, Mother."
Consort De nodded. She had watched Fucha rise to power, and she originally liked her daughter-in-law, Ulanara, quite a bit. She was sensible and proper. Unfortunately, she was unlucky and died young. Now, she could only look after Honghui more so that she could feel at ease and also fulfill the bond between the two of them.
However, Consort De also knew in her heart that the real mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship now was between her and Lady Fucha.
She remained outwardly calm, but inwardly she recalled that she and her daughter-in-law should not have had any previous disagreements.
She never wanted to interfere too much in her son's affairs. Although she was his biological mother, she hadn't raised him from childhood, and it wouldn't be good if she interfered too much.
The only time they managed to get someone to do it was a few times with the Song family; they never did it again after that.
Hutu Li Hongyan and Hongzhao truly felt sorry for them. Speaking of the children, it would be good to elevate Fucha Shi for their sake.
"Are the children all doing well? It's been cold these past few days, so don't let them run around too much, or they might catch a chill." Consort De spoke of her grandchildren with obvious affection.
After Changning sat down, she replied, "Mother, don't worry. They're all like little monkeys, very mischievous, but they're all obedient. They're studying in the study now, with the Prince personally supervising them, so no one dares to slack off."
Consort De nodded in relief: "The New Year is coming soon. Bring all the children out so I can see them. Your mother is getting old, and she will be happy to see a house full of her grandchildren."
Wanyan laughed and replied, "If Mother says this now, you'll have a lot of trouble once these children arrive!"
Consort De laughed heartily at her words: "That's a good thing too."
Fourteen had already come up to him, nudged his fourth brother's shoulder, and asked in a low voice, "Fourth brother, do you want me to talk to you about the Ministry of Revenue's cashier business?"
Ever since Yinzhen was granted the title of Prince and the Fourteenth Prince was granted the title of Beizi, he has been causing trouble. They are brothers, so how can their titles be so different?
Since Yinzhen was going to the Yuanmingyuan anyway, he entrusted the Ministry of Revenue's cash collection to him and the Thirteenth Prince. As for the Seventh Prince, he was tasked with helping Changhua keep an eye on the smallpox vaccination program.
As the saying goes, if you follow the right leader, you'll reap the rewards.
All the brothers got jobs, and they were all quite happy.
The fifth brother was so anxious that he wanted to eat meat with his fourth brother, or at least drink soup!
However, Guo Luoluo and her mother had offended her fourth brother before, so now he could only try to appease them slowly.
Yinzhen rolled his eyes at the Fourteenth Prince after hearing his words: "What's the rush?"
A fool can't distinguish between time and place.
Wanyan cursed the Fourteenth Prince inwardly for being a blockhead. Today was clearly a celebration for the Fourth Sister-in-law. Didn't she see how much effort the Fourth Brother had put in to make her the official wife? He had submitted countless memorials to the Qianqing Palace.
Just as his fourth sister-in-law was being honored with her title, he insisted that the job was annoying and useless!
Wanyan cursed under her breath, then quickly changed the subject.
"Fourth Sister-in-law, are Hongxu and the other two going to turn their lives around now?"
Changning replied with a smile, "I can flip it, but I'm not quite good at it yet."
Wanyan couldn't stop praising, "That's amazing! My son didn't turn over until he was over six months old, which made me so anxious. Luckily, the nanny by my side was given to me by my mother and had experience, so I wasn't so panicked. In the end, Fourth Sister-in-law raises children so well. The other day when I went there, Hutuli was both enthusiastic and steady. She really has the demeanor of a Manchu lady."
Speaking of Hutuli, Consort De's expression shifted: "I heard that a couple of days ago Hutuli hosted a small banquet in the garden with several girls?"
Changning nodded: "That's right, it's snow that this girl painstakingly collected from plum blossoms. I heard it's the most elegant way to brew tea. I was planning to bring you a jar of it, but I haven't had a chance to bring it to the palace yet."
Consort De chuckled, "It's amazing that she could come up with such ideas."
After chatting and laughing for a while, Changning and Yinzhen took their leave.
Fourteen and Wanyan followed closely behind.
Looking at the fourteenth prince following him around in circles, Yinzhen was exasperated. He turned around and scolded in a low voice, "What's the rush? Come to my residence tomorrow to talk."
Fourteen had no choice but to keep quiet about it, and the two groups parted ways at the palace gate.
Back in the main courtyard, as soon as Changning entered the room, she immediately had the clothes and jewelry removed, as wearing them all day had exhausted her.
"Master, the water is ready."
"Okay, okay, let me use the restroom first."
Seeing her flustered appearance, Yinzhen laughed: "Why didn't you relieve yourself in the palace? Did you hold it in the whole way?"
"It's because the tea we drank in the palace got cold!"
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