A busy day
The news was passed on by the palace eunuchs, and everyone heard it together, so naturally they all knew it. Fu Dali went to report to Hua Shan, then wrote a letter and selected a confidant. Hua Shan waved his hand and said, "Write it. No, come back and I'll write it myself." Fu Dali stood there helplessly.
This time, Hua Shan was quite reliable, not writing too much nonsense. He simply said that his granddaughter had been appointed as the Crown Princess, which was a great joy for the whole family. Also, this was just an advance notice. The official decree and wedding procedures had not yet been issued. As the father, Shi Wenbing had to attend the wedding, so he had to be aware of the situation.
After finishing the letter, Fu Dali selected messengers and asked Hua Shan, "How about having Chang Man, the steward of the Second Gate, and Lai An, who has been on a long journey to Fuzhou before, go together?" Hua Shan said, "Now that you mention it, it reminds me. Not only do we have to tell your father the good news, but we also have to tell all the relatives! What are we still standing around for? Forget about choosing messengers. You and your brother should go write the letters first!"
"Hey, I'll go right away."
"Come back, you idiot! Call your brothers first, change your clothes, and go congratulate your sister first!"
Fu Dali was stunned. "Oh, my! I've been so busy! My third brother is still in the government school. It's not a good idea to send someone to pick him up like this. It seems frivolous. He's just a child. Why don't we ask the maids to take him back when he comes back?"
Hua Shan said, "It's all right if Guanyinbao wants to go to school. But what are you still standing there for? Go pack up!"
Shujia's mood fluctuated from moment to moment after hearing the decree. Suddenly, she felt heavy and uncertain about the future, then relieved—what else could she do now that it had come to this? While she was in a daze, she was surrounded by her mother, sister-in-law, and the maids and servants, and was escorted to her own courtyard.
In the main room of the Second Young Lady's Courtyard, Shujia was ushered to the main seat in the main hall. She was a little startled. She was used to sitting in such situations. She glanced around and couldn't help but feel a sense of forlornness. From then on, Xiluo sat one level lower than Shujia. Wendu and Jueluo stood.
Xiluo Te was also relieved: "Finally, it's time to get married." How difficult it was! Especially since this girl always had problems. Now that she has reached this point, it is certainly a pleasure to be honored, but the most important thing is that she has been successfully married and has become the first wife.
Wendu and Jueluo also smiled and said, "The young lady is very happy." They couldn't hide the smiles on their faces and were in high spirits.
Shujia twitched the corners of her mouth, finding it difficult to smile, and stood up again, wanting to invite Xiluote to sit down.
Xiluo Te was startled and waved her hands in front of her: "How can I do this? We have different statuses." She was a little restrained and a smile appeared on her face naturally, which she couldn't stop. She wanted to hold back her smile and not appear too happy, but she failed to control it, and her face formed an expression that was completely different from her usual image of the calm and composed mistress of the house.
"That's a matter for the future." Shujia felt a little better after forcing Xiluo Te to move up a seat, level with her. Xiluo Te sat there feeling a little uneasy. Shujia lowered her head and said, "This isn't a big deal. Mother gave birth to me. I'm afraid there won't be another time like this. You asked me to show my filial piety again..."
It was so sad that the room was completely silent for a moment.
Suddenly, the housekeeper's wife came and said, "The old master brought the eldest and second masters to come and congratulate the girl." The atmosphere became lively again, and Xiluo Te smiled again.
There was a hustle and bustle. First, the family members came to congratulate, both men and women. Shujia avoided them and stood up to return the greetings.
According to the practice during the eldest prince's wedding, the official procedure was as follows: the official marriage decree required the wife's father to wear a dragon robe and go to the Qianqing Gate, kneel facing north, and the minister would pass the decree to the west: "Now, the daughter of family so-and-so is to be married to the prince so-and-so as his wife." The wife's father knelt three times and kowtowed nine times, then withdrew.
This is not a secret, many people have seen it.
In other words, the Shi family had only received a notice that their daughter was to marry into the royal family. Fathers, quickly pack your clothes and prepare to receive the decree, and the rest of the family should also quickly prepare their belongings. So, although it had been clearly stated that Shujia was the Crown Princess-to-be, and the decree could not be changed, from a formal and legal perspective, Shujia had not yet been betrothed.
Therefore, she thought it would be best to keep a low profile and not put on so much airs when interacting with her family. She herself wasn't used to this. Think about it, even though she was a latecomer, she was still a baby. Seeing her grandfather, mother, brothers and sisters bowing to her, this feeling... Shujia wanted to bite someone!
Hua Shan and his grandson were just going through the motions, getting a feel for the atmosphere; they had more serious business to attend to. Hua Shan gave a look, and Fu Dali said to Shu Jia, "We'll go write letters to announce the good news. Bye." Shu Jia said, "Thank you, Ma Fa and my brother." The three of them withdrew.
Next came the household servants.
The servants in Shujia's courtyard took the lead. The maids and servants in the courtyard were all beaming with smiles, and the aunts were also quite proud - after all, serving a crown princess proved their ability. Soon, Shujia's wet nurses and nannies also came to congratulate her, and immediately lined up in order to kowtow. The round heads were lined up on the ground, and only the backs and tops of their heads could be seen. It was a strange feeling, as if they were not looking at living people.
Then the maids working in Xiluo's room, Wendu's room, Jueluo's room, the sewing room, the kitchen and other places kowtowed one after another.
Then came the male servants, along with Hua Shan, Shi Wenbing's former retainers, the three masters' men, and those working in various places. Led by the steward, they lined up in a row, kowtowed, and then returned the same way, not allowed to stop in the inner courtyard. The male servants all kowtowed outside the house door. The maids from Shujia's courtyard carried a large screen and placed it across the door. Shujia received the greeting through the screen.
The kowtows continued in groups until it was time for dinner. Wendu explained, "These are the servants who work for us, and some who work at the farm. It's too far away, and they have errands that make it difficult for them to move. In a couple of days, we'll have a few of the families in charge come over to kowtow."
Shujia had done housework before and had also counted the number of servants and distributed monthly wages and bonuses. At that time, she had only seen the names one by one. Now that she had seen a bunch of real people, she had a clear impression - the house was really big and there were so many people.
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The Fuldeli brothers also expressed similar sentiments. When they were sent to write a letter, they always had to write it in person to show their sincerity.
Well, after writing this letter, I finally understand how big the Shi family is. Even if they are close relatives, starting from Hua Shan's generation, he would have to inform his brothers when marrying his granddaughter. This is a huge number. In addition to him, there are five brothers, each of whom has children and grandchildren. These people are cousins of Shi Wenbing, and the kinship relationship is very close. There are also a lot of them.
Shi Wenying in Beijing was fine, but Shi Wensheng in Shanxi, and Shi Wenbing's brother, Shi Wenzhuo in Songjiang, were also there. Besides that, there were a bunch of cousins like Shi Wenchang, some in Beijing, and a bunch in exiles... Adding in the older generation, it took me a whole day just to write letters. Among these people, first and second rank were common, third and fourth were not uncommon, fifth and sixth were junior, and seventh and eighth were too embarrassing to mention.
After finishing, he was sweating profusely. Fu Dali said to Qingde, "You can read my writing and I can read yours. After we finish, please ask Mr. Jiang to take a look. This is such an important matter, and we can't let anything go wrong."
When the proofreading work began, Guanyinbao just returned from school. As soon as he entered the door, he was congratulated and asked, "You've been asked to look at you all the way. What's the good news?" The manager smiled and said, "Congratulations, Third Master. Our second daughter is going to be the Crown Princess."
Guanyinbao heard this and said, "I'll go see my second sister."
"Third Master, Ancestor, you can't go now!" The steward hurriedly stopped him, "Why don't you go see the old master, the mistress, the first master, and the second master first after you come back?"
Guanyinbao controlled his temper and went to see Huashan first. He was talking to his ancestors in a mysterious way, so he sent him out. Then he went to see Xiluo, who had gone to visit his daughter with her two daughters-in-law. Guanyinbao was so suffocated that he went to Fudali's study. Qingde was a bit casual, but Fudali was very particular about rules.
When Guanyinbao arrived, the three were checking letters. Guanyinbao was so bored that he said, "Then I'll go see my second sister." Fu Dali interrupted him, "Have you finished your homework? Mother and your sisters-in-law are talking to your second sister, and we servants are kowtowing to them. What are you doing messing around with?"
Guanyinbao drooped his head and mumbled something. Qingde smiled and said, "He's still young. Don't restrict him. Today is a happy day and he's very happy."
Fu Dali said, "Having you as a monkey at home is enough." Qingde rolled his eyes at him and reached out to touch Guanyinbao's bruised scalp. Guanyinbao stuck out his tongue at him, glanced at Fu Dali, and immediately became serious: "What are you brothers and teacher looking at?"
Then he also joined the ranks of checking for typos, first checking the letters to relatives in Beijing. Fu Dali suddenly said, "Did we forget something?" Qingde touched the back of his head: "It seems like a little, what is it? Who else..." Fu Dali slapped him on the head: "My uncle's family!" He took out the letter paper and continued writing.
Children are much more sensitive to spelling errors than adults. Soon, Guanyinbao pointed out several errors, prompting Fu Dali and Qingde to rewrite the letter. They first wrote the letter to Beijing and sent it off, then continued with the letters to other places. The letter to Shi Wenbing was the first to be written, respectfully placed aside on red paper.
It wasn't ready until dusk, so dinner wasn't served on time. Fu Dali and Qingde returned to their rooms to find their wives, who had just returned and were setting the table. A glance at the clock revealed it was already quite late, and the couples naturally exchanged questions about why they were so late. The men said, "I wrote a lot of letters." The women said, "I waited until my mother and daughter finished eating before coming here."
Qingde asked Jueluo in surprise, "Mother and sister are eating together? Where?"
It turned out that after Shujia had received the ceremony, the kitchen staff, who had already kowtowed, had already prepared dinner. From then on, Shujia ate in her own courtyard, no longer having to rush to Xiluo's place. Shujia thought she had gone crazy today. When Xiluo wanted to return to the main house for dinner, she simply asked Xiluo to stay and eat with her, while Wendu and Jueluo waited patiently on the sidelines to serve the dishes.
This time the dishes were served willingly. Xiluo Te only ate a few bites herself and kept looking at Shujia: "This one is what you like, and that one is not bad either. Eat more and take care of your body..." As she said this, she thought that her daughter was going to get married and they would not be able to eat together in the future. There were many rules in the palace, and she didn't know if she could eat happily?
In previous years, when I attended banquets at the palace, the dishes looked delicious but were cold. How could my daughter have ever endured such suffering? Tears streamed down her face. Shujia put down her chopsticks and, along with her sisters-in-law, comforted Xiluo. She felt very sad. When Shuxian got married, Xiluo was also reluctant to let her go, she only shed tears before Shuxian left the house. Only a real mother could love you this much.
Mrs. Xiluo wiped away her tears: "Oh, what happened? Eat, eat..." Shujia clearly heard the harsh sound of the chopsticks in her hand rolling over the edge of the bowl.
After the mother and daughter finished eating, Xiluo said, "You should go and have dinner too," and then said to Wendu, "You still have two brothers to look after." The two of them then said goodbye and went back to eat.
Mrs. Xiluo was about to tell her daughter to go to bed and get up early, as she had things to do tomorrow and needed to take good care of her health, when the maids came in and said, "The Third Master is here to congratulate the girl."
Guanyinbao rushed over before he had even finished his meal. Xiluo asked, "Where have you been all day?" She then asked for cushions to be laid out and for Guanyinbao to kowtow to her sister. He accepted the kowtow. Guanyinbao said, "Congratulations," then began to ask a thousand questions, finally, "Where's my elder sister?"
Xiluo Te said, "Your elder sister is still at her husband's house. Send someone to bring her back tomorrow."
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Not only Shujia was congratulated that day, but Yinreng, who was also in the palace, was also congratulated. In Shujia's eyes, he was a well-worn man, but in everyone's eyes (including his own), he was just a newcomer about to get married for the first time. The first person to vaguely congratulate him was his father, Kangxi.
After the court session, Kangxi sent someone to the Shi family to convey his imperial edict. As usual, Yinreng was to follow Kangxi to the Qianqing Palace to sit and talk for a while, and then return to the Yuqing Palace to deal with his own affairs.
The same is true today.
The father and son were in the east warm room. Kangxi sat down on the kang, raised his chin towards the table opposite the kang and said, "Sit down."
Yinreng thanked him for the seat. He lifted his skirt and sat upright. Kangxi looked him up and down and said with some emotion: "After your wedding, you will be an adult. You must listen to government affairs attentively, do your work well, and be steady and prudent."
Yinreng was a little embarrassed and a little excited, his cheeks slightly flushed, and he pursed his lips tightly: "I will follow the teachings of Khan Ama." The groom-to-be clenched his fists, calmed his emotions, and tried not to pout so much.
Kangxi smiled and squinted at him: "Don't be so restrained. I've never seen you like this before."
Yinreng felt even more embarrassed, a slight sound coming from his throat, and he reflexively broke into a deep smile: "Son, this... ahem, this... isn't this Khan Ama's grace?"
Kangxi's smile deepened. It was rare for his son to have such an expression at this moment. You know, under the strict requirements since childhood, Yinreng was not short of putting on airs to show his superiority - this skill level of a superior was second only to Kangxi.
After all, they were still children. Kangxi's fatherly heart was even stronger, and he coaxed the child a little: "Okay."
Yinreng chatted with Kangxi for a while longer, then, seeing there was nothing more to do, stood up and took his leave. Before leaving, he hesitated for a moment and said, "Khan Ama, I want to... go to Fengxian Hall and burn some incense."
Kangxi's smile faded, his eyes darkening as he stared at Yinreng's face, as if trying to discern the appearance of the departed woman. After a long pause, he said slowly, "Go."
Yinreng stepped back, and Kangxi turned his head, looking at his son's back through the glass window on the south kang, his heart filled with emotion. This child had been without a mother since childhood, and Kangxi had taken on the roles of both father and mother, personally raising him. The depth of their affection was only slightly less visible than that of a ten-month pregnancy.
It hadn't been easy! He'd grown up so much, from a tiny baby to now getting married. After so many years of hard work and support, the child had finally grown up! Kangxi felt that the fruit of his nearly twenty years of hard work had been fruitful, partly because of his son and partly because of his own efforts.
Yinreng had complicated feelings about Fengxian Hall. It was probably a place Kangxi was not as familiar to him as he was! He looked at the portrait of his biological mother, lit incense, and bowed.
Kneeling on the prayer mat, with his hands clasped together, he muttered to himself: "You are going to have a daughter-in-law. Everyone says she is good. My son has secretly seen her and she is not bad. The Empress Dowager said that she acts like you and will make a good daughter-in-law. Everyone says that you are dignified and elegant, but I think she is a little naughty sometimes. Bring her to see you on the wedding day, okay? The Empress Dowager is becoming more and more like a child as she grows older. It makes me feel comfortable talking to her. The other day she showed me a purse and said that your daughter-in-law made it and she secretly put it in her pocket. Do you think she is like a child? My son is tired... My eldest sister-in-law is pregnant again... The way my eldest son looks at me is getting worse and worse... Khan Ama is still very good to me... I don't see my uncles very often. What's wrong with them? They are not as close to me as my great-uncle... Mother, I feel much better talking to you. Mother, did I bother you? Mother, I will come to talk to you in two days. Mother, mother, mother..."
The author has something to say:
I wrote a small part today and sent it to Xia Xiaoshou for help. As a result... Xia Xiaoshou said that this chapter had a bit of heartwarming sadness, and then she started crying.
As a responsible top, I quickly posted the article and then went to comfort the bottom.
That's it~
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