Chapter Seven

  The Imperial Household Department brought the seasonal fabrics, and the Noble Consort held a piece of high-quality crimson satin in her hand: "Take this to make clothes." She also picked out several patterns for the Tenth Prince: "Make clothes with these for the Tenth Prince." The palace maid responded with a yes.

  The eunuch who had received the news earlier returned and whispered to the imperial concubine: "The crown prince was rude in the Fengxian Hall today. So many people saw it."

  The imperial concubine put down the golden thread she was playing with: "What's going on?"

  "The mat for worship was placed inside the threshold of the great hall, this is a treatment that only the emperor has, but at that time the emperor didn't say anything."

  The imperial concubine frowned: "How can you always be so careless? Can I clean up after him every time?"

  Just as she finished speaking, someone outside announced that the Crown Prince's consort had arrived. The imperial concubine paused for a moment before saying, "Let her in."

  The crown prince was also furious about this matter, and even scolded the little eunuch who was in charge of it, but it didn't help with the situation. The crown princess always shared the same urgency as the crown prince, so she immediately came to the imperial concubine's place to ask for news.

  The crown princess sat on the side of the noble consort, sorrowfully saying: "......Although the emperor didn't say anything, I'm afraid that now the high-ranking officials will take action, and it's inevitable that the emperor will also be unhappy later, and the crown prince will suffer again."

  Last time, because of the matter of serving the illness, it provoked a big outbreak from the emperor. The emperor also gave the crown prince a hard time in front of everyone for the first time. I'm afraid that this time something will happen again.

  The imperial concubine rubbed her forehead: "Things have already happened, what can be done, just take it one step at a time."

  The imperial concubine seemed unwilling to get involved, but the crown princess said: "Now is not the time to wait, can you ask Minister Alinga of the Ministry of Rites to take care of it?"

  What is Yematai doing?

  The imperial concubine was not very pleased, so she simply pushed it off: "I just said that nothing will happen, you can rest assured."

  The Crown Princess saw that the Honorable Consort was determined not to say more, and could only leave from the Chengqian Palace.

  Early March had warmed up, the peach blossoms on the branches had burst forth, and everything was thriving. She stood at the edge of the peach forest and saw a woman wearing a pink dress holding several half-opened peach blossoms walking out of the forest, slender and elegant with an air of luxury and beauty. The crown princess smiled and said: "Fourth brother's wife is so elegant!"

  Guan Piao bowed: "Is the Crown Prince's consort also here to clear her mind?"

  The woman in front of her always carried a detached and confident air, her sparkling eyes looking at the crown princess, making the crown princess suddenly feel very embarrassed, and she smiled wryly: "The prince was framed, and the Fengxian Hall lost its dignity."

  "Are you worried about this matter?"

  "Not really."

  The princess broke off another peach branch: "If the prince doesn't go to explain the truth to the emperor, and instead makes you ask others here, it will only make the emperor more disgusted."

  The crown princess's eyes lit up: "Indeed, you still see things clearly."

  Wei Pao smiled wryly, watching the Crown Prince's consort hurry away in a distance. She sighed and thought to herself: The more time passes, the harder it is for the Crown Prince to be in his position. If the Emperor were to pass away before completely losing his temper, that would be fine; otherwise, another Yongzheng Emperor would emerge. The biggest difference lies in Kangxi's favoritism - he can scold and beat his own children at will, but others dare not touch them. Therefore, this time, the Crown Prince is destined to be safe.

  Yin Zhen did not scold Song Shi, but he didn't say a word to her, and wouldn't even give her an extra glance. No one was harsh to Song Shi, yet she became an invisible person in the Fourth Master's courtyard. These past few days, she had been walking around the house, carrying a stool to sit under the eaves to bask in the sun. Occasionally, a maid would hurry by, but no one paid attention to her or greeted her. Her face was pale, and her lips were tightly pursed as she sat there.

  Quan Pei walked in from outside, Song Shi hastily stood up, Fu Jin said not to trouble her, and indeed she didn't trouble her. She respectfully paid her respects until Quan Pei entered the house before sitting down. Suddenly, she felt a surge of heat flow down, and she let out a startled "aiya".

  Yinzheng had established himself in the Ministry of Revenue, and the Emperor also allowed Yinzheng to participate in core events within the ministry. He was reading official documents when Su Peisheng came in and said: "Princess Song has thrown a tantrum, and Madame Fu has sent someone to inform you."

  "After all, it's the first child, Yongzheng hesitated for a moment and said: 'Tell Fu Jin, wait a little while and I'll be back.'"

  The ear-piercing screams from inside the house made Quan Pei, who was sitting outside, furrow her brow. She hadn't seen such a thing before and didn't know how painful childbirth would be. She picked up her pen and seriously copied Buddhist scriptures, hoping to bless the child with a safe delivery.

  The three midwives in the house were already prepared, and as soon as they were called, they rushed over. When Yongzheng returned, Quanpei had just finished her lunch and was still copying Buddhist scriptures. Yongzheng grasped her hand: "Take a rest."

  Ruan Yu smiled slightly. Yongzheng sat beside her and asked in a low voice, "Is our midwife reliable?"

  "Don't worry, Dad, I can take care of the kid."

  Yongzheng furrowed his brow, still worried: "The imperial grandson also made a mistake... Fortunately, you discovered it early."

  "Isn't it my responsibility to take care of things at home?"

  A prince and a favored concubine are eyeing the child in Song's belly, neither of them willing for this child to become the extraordinary imperial grandson.

  Yin Zhen is a tough person, no matter how much hardship he faces, he won't speak lightly. Occasionally, when talking to Shang Quan Pei, he would say a few more words: "A few days ago, the Ministry of Rites sent someone over to pay for silver, and the Crown Prince wants to offer sacrifices at the ancestral temple. In total, they need to spend 10,000 taels, all of which are pushed onto me. Because it's clearly excessive, and they know my temper, and also know that I'm close to the Crown Prince..."

  Quan Pei smiled and stroked Yunzhong's temples: "I'll take a guess, you must not have taken out so much silver, seven thousand taels is more than enough. The crown prince must have found fault with you and made a scene, I saw that your face wasn't good those few days when you came back. Above all, there's still the emperor, if there's another time, it'll be fine to make a fuss in front of the emperor, as long as you've got the emperor on your side, naturally no one will dare to challenge you again. In the end, the Ministry of Revenue is still something that only you can fully manage, the emperor knows this clearly, only by tightly controlling the silver can we avoid losing national treasury."

  A smile appeared in Ruo Xi's eyes: "Alright, next time I'll do as you say."

  Although there were many hardships, Yongzheng always felt that with Empress Xiaoxianchun by his side, many things were not as difficult as he had imagined.

  The child was not big, and the cervix opened quickly. A thin and tall midwife squeezed forward, pinched the child's head and pulled it out. Song Shi only felt that all the noise in the world had stopped, and she fell asleep with exhaustion.

  The other two midwives tried to snatch the child from the tall and thin midwife, but they couldn't quite get a hold of it. The tall and thin midwife quickly pulled out something from the child's mouth, turned it over and took a look, then slapped its buttocks with one hand.

  Everyone outside heard a loud cry, and Yongzheng let out a sigh of relief: "She was born safely."

  The other two midwives finally took the child in hand, and when they saw that it was a girl, they also let out a sigh of relief. They expertly washed the child clean, wrapped her in a blanket, and sent her outside for the masters to take a look.

  The child was all scrunched up and red, which wasn't very attractive. Yongzheng teased him a bit, feeling somewhat delighted, but the newborn baby couldn't do anything except cry, so Yongzheng felt a bit disappointed. He waved his hand to let the wet nurses who had been prepared in advance take the little prince away. From then on, these people would

  Become the closest person in Xiaogege's growth.

  Song suddenly woke up from her short nap: "Child! My child!"

  Senka whispered beside him: "You ask Xiaogege what to do, of course it's the wet nurse who takes care of her."

  Song's eyes were empty for a moment, then suddenly said: "After all, I am here, I can still protect her a little."

  Asakusa's mouth didn't say anything, but his heart was bitter and smiling. For Xiaoge, whether Song Shi was a good thing or a bad thing was not certain.

  That tall and thin midwife left with a large piece of silver in her arms, thinking that this Fourth Madam was indeed a generous person.

  Everything returned to calmness. Yinzhen lay on the kang, stretching out and talking to Quan Pei: "Why give her so much? We don't have a lot of silver either."

  "The amount of money I have on hand is less than three hundred taels."

  Yongzheng frowned: "Relying on that little bit of monthly interest silver is really a bit difficult, if I were to leave the palace and be free, it would be better to do some business to supplement my family's expenses."

  "Even now, I can still do business. Let me have a word with my brother, and it's not difficult to set up a shop outside. The silver can be borrowed from him first, and it's not like we won't pay it back later."

  Rong Zhen arrived with enthusiasm, crawled up and got beside Quan Bao to discuss: "What business do you want to do?"

  "I'm good at blending fragrances, and my craftsmanship is unmatched by outsiders. If I do well, I'll definitely make money. If you trust me, let's start with the incense business first."

  Yongzheng picked up the pen on the table and roughly estimated the cost, the sky had gradually darkened, the lights were also lit, but Yongzheng was just getting into the calculation.

  Quan Pei smiled and leaned on one side, occasionally helping him with a few words. After a while, he finally calculated: "Now, even if we estimate the cost, it will be more than 500 taels."

  "My brother doesn't have it, and my mother is also willing to give it, I'll say this."

  These made Yongzheng look forward to the future, and he hugged Wei in his arms, saying softly: ".......When we have money in the future, I'll first buy you a few sets of beautiful and expensive jewelry and headpieces. You like peonies and chrysanthemums, so I'll buy you the most expensive and best varieties to play with......"

  Guān Pèi is so ridiculous, why doesn't he think about doing something for himself?

  Kangxi wrote on the imperial rescript, "The Crown Prince knelt down and said: 'I, your son, have misused people. Those who do not know etiquette and rules are all used in the ancestral sacrifices of our ancestors. I only hope that the Emperor will not be angry with me. I will definitely know my mistakes and change.'"

  Kangxi handed the folded paper to Li Dequan, who hastily presented it to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince opened and read it, his teeth clenched together in his mouth, and only kowtowed and said: "What Samuha said is not all wrong, I have indeed broken the rules, please punish me, Your Majesty."

  The Crown Prince's proposal made Suo Etu suddenly enlightened, teaching the Crown Prince a trick, which is to pretend to be weak. The Emperor was biased after all, and the Crown Prince had already admitted his mistake, but he was forced by his ministers to be so miserable, how could he not be too difficult for the Crown Prince?

  Kangxi indeed opened his mouth and said: "Alright, I know you, go back and copy the family tree." The crown prince's eyes lit up, and he hastily responded with a sound.

  The crown prince is safe, but Shamuha has suffered a calamity. The emperor's heart does not yet want to reduce the crown prince's prestige. If someone dares to attack the crown prince arbitrarily, they must be severely punished as a warning to others.

  Shaomuha was dismissed directly, and the prince was still unsatisfied, saying to Suo Ertu: "Let someone take action on the road!"

  Suo E Tuo frowned and said, "He can't collect taxes at any other time, but he has to do it now, on this critical occasion, which will disturb the Emperor and cause more trouble." After a pause, he asked in a softer tone, "Wasn't it also the Crown Princess who came up with the idea of providing disaster relief food last time?"

  "What's wrong?"

  Suo E Tuo shook his head: "I just didn't expect the crown prince's consort to be such a wise and insightful woman, in the future the crown prince should value his consort more."