There are cuteness, change and separation
The Crown Princess suspected that things would be bustling in the backyards of her husband's brothers' homes, which was true, but that's a story for another time. Even if it was a concubine, as long as the marriage was formally arranged, a good date had to be chosen, the woman's family had to prepare some dowry, and add the allowance distributed by the relevant departments, and only then could the daughter be married off with great fanfare.
The first to get excited were the men.
Families whose daughters were betrothed had to attend various social events, opening the door to welcome guests and closing the door to arrange dowry. Those whose daughters were unsuccessful also had to attend various social events, congratulating the other families and then finding another husband for their daughters. Beijing entered the peak season of matchmaking, matchmaking, and engagements, which happened every three years.
Those who didn't have daughters to participate in the selection process would start running around, congratulating families whose daughters married well. If a daughter didn't get selected, they would try to find out why, and if they found a suitable match, they would arrange a marriage for their sons.
There are also those who have nothing to do with the above three situations. After sending gifts, they just watch the fun and analyze.
The Shi family has a son who is about to get married. Guanyinbao, the third young master of the Shi family, who has been working as a blue-feathered guard for some time, has reached the age to get married. The reason why he has not married yet is to wait for the end of the once-in-three-years selection.
Of course, this wasn't a difficult matter. There were only a few wealthy families, and both parties had a good idea of what it meant to be a good match. Not only did the man want to marry a wife, but the woman also wanted to marry a son-in-law, right? Shi Wenbing had handled the marriages of his two sons and was very experienced, so he took his time selecting in-laws.
Even Mrs. Xiluo Te no longer showed the anxious fear that her son wouldn't be able to find a wife. Every now and then, when a family she knew had a play or a daughter's marriage was arranged, she would go to congratulate them, and she would bring her daughter-in-law and daughter to attend. She would also visit the girls who were also brought out, and let Shuyi show her face in front of everyone more.
Take your time. A man can wait until he's twenty to marry. At most, he can claim there aren't any suitable girls. Xiluo Te had only passed on a message to the Crown Princess; it wasn't time for her to take action yet. So, the Crown Princess's main concern lately was packing her son's luggage and teaching her other son to write.
Hongtong was already speaking in complete sentences, quite capable of expressing himself. Shujia, having nothing else to do, began teaching him to write. The Empress Dowager had been living in the palace since her election, not returning to Changchun Garden. Shujia, following the same approach she had taken with Hongdan, trained him physically, but since he was still young, she decided not to send him to Suma to learn.
Since the princes had their own residences, the Empress Dowager had only the prince's sons and Kangxi's younger sons to play with in the palace. When she saw Hongtong, she liked him very much.
Unlike Hongdan, Hongtong was more lively. This was also due to their birth order; there were always slight differences between the eldest and second sons. His parents were also more tolerant of Hongtong, as he had a strangely fat older brother. As a new older brother, he gave his younger brother everything he liked, pampering him to an outrageous degree.
The Empress Dowager liked Hongtong's lively personality even more. She allowed him to take off his shoes and run back and forth on the kang in her palace. The Empress Dowager clapped her hands and cheered, "You run so fast! You run so well!"
Shujia watched her son frolicking on the kang. Encouraged by the Empress Dowager, the boy not only ran but also jumped as he did so, making the solid kang in Ningshou Palace stomp with a thumping sound. It was a good thing he could have so much fun.
So Shujia shouted: "Run faster!"
A room of black lines.
During this bustling time, the Third Concubine arrived at the palace to pay her respects. This year, Yinzhi had been granted a place in the imperial court, but the Third Concubine was pregnant, making it very inconvenient for her to stay home. Ever since Yinzhi's madness, resulting in a demotion from his title after shaving his head within a hundred days of Concubine Min's death, the Third Prince and his wife had been constantly contemplating restoring the title.
It's fine if you didn't get it at first, but if you got it at first and then lost it in the middle, you'd inevitably want to get it back. In the past two years, Yinzhi and his wife have been more low-key and friendly. When Yinzhi recommended Chen Menglei to Yinreng and got no approval, he just sulked in his heart. After that, they had to get along as they should - everything was for the benefit.
With a common goal, the couple played the role of obedient and amiable younger generations, one pretending to be a quail in front of Kangxi, while the other tried to get more visits from the Empress Dowager. Even when she was pregnant, she would walk around more often.
This time, the story was even more remarkable. The Third Lady's younger sister was chosen as the legal wife for Sunu's ninth son, Fuerchen. After looking at her younger sister, the Third Lady remembered her cousin, who was the Ninth Lady, and went to her uncle's house. Then, she met the Empress Dowager, and the content of her conversation delighted her.
The Third Lady said, "Uncle and aunt have been very busy these past two days. Ninth brother's affair was the first among the brothers, so their dowry needs to be prepared first..."
The Empress Dowager loved to hear these family gossips: "Of course, the Ninth Prince is the most powerful. But there's no need to rush like this, making the young lady anxious and angry for no reason."
"I advised them that, too, in our family, anyone who marries a wife, even if it's the wedding date, will take at least one or two years to get to the actual wedding day."
"Yes, yes! Hey, why do I remember that you also have a sister who is engaged? To Sunu's family?"
"Yes, it's Sunu's ninth son, Fuluchen." The Third Lady was not very satisfied with this result. Fuluchen was a legitimate son, but he was born to his third wife, and he had many legitimate brothers before him.
As Shujia listened to their questions and answers, she suddenly felt a sense of change. When they first met, Sanfujin had been like Lin Daiyu, speaking in a flowery manner that even the Empress Dowager could hardly understand. Now, she had become like Baojie, gossiping about family matters.
People are inadvertently worn down by life and reality.
After the Empress Dowager inquired about the Third Lady's sister, she turned her attention to the Crown Princess's sister: "Your sister, it should be time for the next time, right?" Shujia gathered her thoughts and replied with a smile: "That's right."
The Queen Mother calculated and sighed, "What a pity... there is no suitable one."
The Third Lady stole a glance at the Crown Princess, only to see that she looked a bit regretful. "Look at what you said. Only the royal family chooses concubines, how can a concubine choose a prince?"
The Empress Dowager was unhappy after all. Shujia came forward and faced her face to face: "Why are you so listless?" After saying this, she blinked, which made the Empress Dowager laugh: "At first, you seemed steady, but now you are becoming more and more naughty."
"I figured, if you want to teach kids well, you have to know what they're thinking."
"?" The Empress Dowager's eyes were full of question marks, and they seemed to be spiraling.
The Third Lady laughed first: "So you think you are as old as Hongtong?"
The Empress Dowager looked from Shujia to Hongtong, and then to the Third Lady, until the Third Lady felt a little regretful: she regretted interrupting him, and her explanation was not clear, which made her embarrassed. Shujia waved to Hongtong, "Come here," and wiped his sweat.
After wiping off all the sweat, the Empress Dowager suddenly pointed at Shujia and then at the Third Lady and said, "Ah!" The two of them, along with the watermelon, looked at her at the same time. The Empress Dowager laughed so hard that she fell backwards. Her finger moved tremblingly towards Shujia and said, "Do you still think of yourself as a child?"
Shujia nodded seriously: "It's good to have a childlike innocence."
Sanfujin: I won’t respond even if you kill me! You two are such a joke!
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There was another person who didn't want to respond.
Kuixu sat there bored, listening to Yinzhi complain, "Khan Ama arranged a marriage for me, and I'm so grateful. But this arrangement is such a shame. How come the wives arranged for my younger brothers are all from famous families, but I'm getting a guerrilla girl! The second brother must have said something!"
In response, Kuixu could only say that it was fortunate that his father, Mingzhu, was bearing the brunt of the firepower, not him, so he could just sit in on the proceedings. He frowned in disgust. As a man with many years in officialdom and a family background in officialdom, Kuixu could see that the eldest prince was clearly lacking in ability and had a bleak future.
After a quick glance at the pearl, which looked like an old monk in trance, Kuixu was puzzled. His father had always been discerning, so why had Ant still not made any move on the community launch? Even if his relationship with the prince couldn't be resolved, he should at least find a promising buyer, right? If he continued to hang around with this gentleman, he might as well run to the prince and beg for forgiveness!
Mingzhu remained calm and composed, while Yinzhi felt extremely aggrieved. "We have the same grandson, yet they treat him differently! The second son's was taken to the Qianqing Palace to be raised, while my son was thrown outside the palace. He has to run back and forth every day just to study..."
Kuixu: [Except for the prince's children, everyone else has to run back and forth.
It would have been fine if Yinzhi hadn't mentioned this. As soon as he did, he recalled the old grudge of being taken away from the palace to be raised as a child while Yinreng was raised by Kangxi himself: "If this continues, he'll be proud again. If someone with ulterior motives sees him and really treats him as the crown prince, we'll be doomed!"
Mingzhu continued to listen.
Kuixu continued to mutter, "If the crown prince's eldest son isn't the crown prince's grandson, then what is he?" He had long forgotten how much he had slandered the term "crown prince" when Suo'etu jumped out.
Yinzhi continued to complain: "We who live in separate houses outside the palace worry about our livelihood, but he is in the palace, and everything is paid for by Khan Ama..."
Mingzhu calculated that the cup of tea Prince Zhi had just drunk was just enough to offset the spitting. She figured the fire was almost over, seeing Yinzhi sit down in his chair and stop talking. Mingzhu sat up straight with satisfaction: "If you can't tell the emperor these words, then don't say them."
Yinzhi's anger was ignited again. Just as he was about to say something, Mingzhu poured cold water on him: "It's useless to say this to others. Don't do useless things."
Yinzhi snorted coldly.
Mingzhu said slowly, "His rank is low? When I first entered the officialdom, my rank was even lower than his. Ma Qi is a Grand Secretary, but he also had to climb up step by step from the bottom. If his rank is low, then we can give him a higher one. There are many ways to do it."
Yinzhi's eyes lit up: "Yes!"
Kuixu: [Look at your little achievements.] He also thought of this idea, but he was too lazy to tell Yinzhi.
Mingzhu was afraid that Yinzhi would do something stupid again, so she continued slowly, "Guerrilla rank isn't very conspicuous, and even if you raise it a few levels, not many people will notice it. Isn't that just right? I think it shouldn't be too high, considering the Crown Prince is there."
When Yinzhi thought of Hongyu, he thought of Hongyu's mother and remained silent.
Mingzhu finally managed to calm him down. After cleaning up the mess for so many years, he was really tired.
Kuixu sent Yinzhi away and hurried back to complain to Mingzhu: "Father, we can't go on like this."
"Why are you so irritable?"
Kuixu held his sleeves and held his breath. After a moment of silence, he said, "The Prince of Zhi is becoming more and more unruly."
Mingzhu glanced at Kuixu with such a swiftness that the calves of the court officials trembled. What Kuixu could see, Mingzhu could certainly see as well. Regarding both sides, the Crown Prince's overall performance rose, while the eldest prince's combat effectiveness declined.
——Whether it goes up or down, it is one’s own attribute points.
If it were just the former, he could still give the eldest prince some equipment and give him a try (Mingzhu had already given up on improving the eldest prince's own attributes). If it were just the latter, he could still find another player with better attributes to compete with. Now that both were involved, Mingzhu hesitated.
How to reposition his relationship with the Crown Prince became a troubling question for Mingzhu. The key to this change was Suo'etu's disappearance. He needed to reconsider.
"Just calm down," Mingzhu said word by word, "Don't express your feelings to anyone. Don't get too close to anyone."
Kuixu felt the pressure and sullenly agreed, listening to Mingzhu continue: "There will be a marriage in the capital soon. Tell me everything that is going on."
Kuixu held his breath and replied, "Son, I understand." Then he left and went back to his room.
Mingzhu was left sitting in the chair, gradually blending into the room like a wooden sculpture.
Kuixu returned to his yard at dinner time, had dinner with Geng, and began to discuss things.
Geng first reported some matters to be handled: "The things that have been delivered to the Eighth Prince's Mansion are a bit tricky. If they are too heavy, the Eighth Lady will not look good. If they are too light, the Eighth Prince will not look good." A concubine made many people melancholy.
Kuixu thought for a moment and said, "We should follow the rules. We should give gifts in the same way as others do. We shouldn't push the envelope or be mean to others. This won't be a problem. The Eighth Lady is not unreasonable, and the Eighth Prince is even more considerate. But have you packed the things for Prince Yu's Mansion?"
This year, Tong Jia, the daughter of the champion envoy Yingshu, was appointed as the legitimate wife of Prince Yu Fuquan's fifth son, Baoshou. Tong Jia's background wasn't particularly strong, but Prince Yu's palace was not easy to deal with, and Prince Yu held considerable influence over Emperor Kangxi. Regardless of which prince the Mingzhu family sought to exploit, they would need to involve Prince Yu in the scheme.
None of these things faze Kuixu. After simply handling them, Kuixu continues to worry about his family's future. His earlier attempt to beg for mercy from the Crown Prince was simply a tirade. His mindset has long since categorized the Crown Prince as an enemy, completely oblivious to the source of their enmity and the possibility of reconciliation.
So he was worried. The current prince was not easy to deal with. If he went against him, it would seem like he was seeking death, okay?
——————————————————————————
The Crown Prince in the Eastern Palace had already learned that Prince Zhi had rushed to Mingzhu's residence. Unfortunately, Mingzhu was much more cautious than Soetu and had much stronger control over his family, so he had no way of receiving any further information about the conversation.
With a cold snort, here you go again! Yinzhi, when will you be able to mature a little?
Yinzhi's methods were childish enough, but Mingzhu was extremely experienced!
The Crown Prince, completely unaware that Mingzhu had wavered and even had a glimmer of hope for compromise, silently took note of Mingzhu's actions. If Mingzhu knew, she would have immediately chosen another prince to fight him to the bitter end.
The Crown Prince could only be thankful that Yinzhi was too useless and his future father-in-law was not a good person either, so he would not cause any more trouble in the court.
Therefore, when he learned that Zhang Haoshang had been promoted from guerrilla to lieutenant general, the crown prince believed that his expression at that time must have been extremely stupid!
A promotion at a relatively low level like this would not be discussed in front of the emperor or the crown prince in advance, because there was no need. Before the military officials came forward to report, only the person who wrote the memorial, the minister of war, and the grand secretary knew about it.
Yisan was on duty that day and knew about this matter early. He gave a wink while talking to the prince about taking care of him.
Yinreng looked at him from left to right and said, "Didn't you sleep well last night? Why are your eyes so dark?" He pretended to look at him and took two steps forward.
Yisan'a took the opportunity to tell the news.
Yinreng was petrified. By this time, more than half a month had passed since the arranged marriage, and the emperor was about to depart. With Mingzhu's help, Yinzhi's hands and feet were incredibly quick.
Yisan'a deliberately spoke louder: "I am old now, so it is normal for me to feel light-headed."
Yinreng quickly composed himself and greeted Yinzhi eighteen times - they were brothers, and not to mention eighteen generations of ancestors, twenty-eight generations of ancestors were exactly the same. It was not convenient to greet the ancestors, so he had to put all the offerings to the ancestors on Yinzhi.
With this, when Kangxi asked for his opinion after returning to the Palace of Heavenly Purity after the imperial hearing, Yinreng could glance at the memorial like a crown prince and casually say, "That's good. My elder brother is about to marry his wife, so it will save face."
Kangxi nodded: "I think so too."
Yinreng acted as if nothing had happened, but in fact he didn't want to talk about it anymore, so he changed the subject: "I wonder if the ninth brother's matter should be handled first or the eldest brother's matter?"
Kangxi said, "Let the eldest brother do it first."
Why are they mentioning him again?! Changing the subject again felt awkward, so Yinreng could only listen as Kangxi expressed his concern for Yinzhi: "He's feeling miserable, I know." Someone who had lost three wives could relate.
"Don't compare him with you, Khan Ama. They are totally incomparable to you and my mother. There's a world of difference between them!" Yinzhi complained silently.
"His heart has turned cold now. It would be better if he got married sooner so that he could get out of the world."
If he really becomes a monk, I'll build him a hundred or eighty temples! I'll pay for it myself!
…
Finally, when Kangxi finished his sentimental remarks, he turned the topic to the imperial tour outside the Great Wall. Kangxi repeatedly assured him: "Hongdan, follow me. When I come back, I will give you a little Baturu."
Yinreng smiled and said, "This son does believe that Khan Ama can teach people."
"Don't miss him too much, especially his mother, who is a twin."
Yinreng took the opportunity to say, "She has set up a Buddhist shrine at home. She sits before the Bodhisattva more often, which helps her calm down. She's been feeling calmer lately, and the baby in her belly is less restless. That's just how women are. My son sometimes goes there with her to sit, and afterward, he feels clear-minded." He subtly revealed that he and his wife were also Buddhists. There was nothing strange about this kind of belief in Buddhism; the woman was even more devout to the Buddha than the eldest prince.
"She shouldn't go there too often, after all, it's a bit lonely." It's better not to get involved in such supernatural matters.
"Son, save it."
Because he had offered his son to accompany him, the Crown Prince's farewell speech finally changed. After the formalities, he earnestly urged his son to be good and obedient, not to cause trouble for Marfa, and to serve Marfa well...
Hongdan listened carefully and answered obediently, "I understand, son." Then he sat on the horse with the support of the guards. He had to follow the imperial carriage for a while before being taken inside to sit.
Kangxi and Yinreng watched him turn his horse's head and approach the imperial chariot, followed by two Mongolian guards with excellent riding skills. Kangxi then said, "His horse is castrated and very docile."
Yinreng smiled sheepishly: "I'm going on a long journey like this. Please take care of yourself, Khan Ama."
Liang Jiugong finally found an opportunity to interrupt: "Your Majesty, it's time to get on the sedan chair."
Finally left.
The author has something to say: I saw the comments on the previous chapter, and some students lost their internet or power. Ahem, I feel guilty for a moment. Work will be a bit busy at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, and I will be quite tired. After I come back, I will cook and eat by myself, so I need to relax a little before I can start writing.
But the New Year's Day holiday will be earlier ==
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