Chapter 9

  A pot of purple and a pot of yellow, in the morning sunlight, exuding an elegant atmosphere. Quan Pei unfolded the paper, dipped her brush full of ink, plump and round. She had loved painting peonies for thousands of years, and Jie Ze's paintings were exceptionally good back then, even the empress would often praise them. She couldn't understand why someone as talented as Jie Ze would be willing to become a male concubine. Whenever she gazed longingly at Jie Ze, Yun You's sorrowful eyes would always be by her side. Was it because she owed too much that she ended up dying alone?

  The majestic peony leaped onto the paper, but Quan Pei suddenly stretched out her hand and tore it to shreds. Xiao Yue was startled: "Such a beautiful flower..."

  Quan Pei turned around, knocking over the inkstone and spilling it all over the floor. It was as if a painting had come to life: "From now on, I will no longer paint peonies..." What's the use of painting them thousands and tens of thousands of times? Year after year, the flowers are similar, but people change with each passing year. Things remain, but people do not; a thousand years have already passed.

  Yin Zhen had already gone out, but he turned back and saw Ya Tou kneeling on the ground wiping ink stains. Quan Pei was sitting on the couch in a daze. He walked to Quan Pei's side and asked with a smile: "What's wrong? Don't you like the flowers I gave you?"

  The faint sorrow in Quan Pei's eyes made Yongzheng somewhat uneasy, and he sat down beside her again: "If you don't like it, I'll change a few pots for you."

  "Master, why have you come back?"

  "Forgot to ask you what name you want to give to the spice shop?"

  "Heavenly fragrance dyes clothes at night, let's just call it Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion."

  "This name is not bad, as long as you like it." He said, getting up and about to leave, still asking: "Don't you like this peony?"

  "It's not that it's bad, but rather I drew it poorly."

  He let out a slight sigh of relief: "That's good."

  The shop is all ready, just waiting for the sign to be written and a good day to open. The incense sticks are made according to the prescription written by Quan Pei. The shop is filled with the fragrance of jasmine incense. When the shop opens, Yu Zhan doesn't show up in person, but instead watches from the building across the street. Wu Ge smiles and says: "Don't worry, with the fragrance of these incense sticks, there won't be a second store like this in all of Beijing. As the saying goes, 'good wine isn't afraid of being sold in a deep alley', it won't take long for Tian Xiang Ge's reputation to spread."

  The formula is all from Quan Pei. Yongzheng asked: "I don't know how Quan Pei knows these things, they are all long-lost things."

  "She has loved reading since she was a child, and no one taught her to recognize characters, but she just can, probably mostly from searching in books."

  Quan Pei loves books, this is indeed true.

  The Ministry of Revenue still had things to attend to, and Yongzheng couldn't stay outside for too long either. He entrusted Wuji with keeping an eye on things here, and then he himself returned first.

  The imperial concubine felt dizzy and lay half-reclined on the couch, listening to the palace maid say that the tenth prince was naughty and didn't go to class, and was scolded by the emperor. She got angry and felt even dizzier: "How can he be so disobedient! Go and bring him to me!"

  The eunuchs searched everywhere, while others advised the imperial concubine: "You can't get angry now, your fetus is already unstable."

  The imperial concubine stroked her own belly: "They're all enemies from past lives, not a single one is considerate!"

  The tenth brother caught a whiff of the faint scent coming from inside the inner palace and immediately hung his head, pretending to be well-behaved as he walked in. The imperial concubine sat leaning on the couch, staring at him for a moment before saying, "Come here."

  The tenth brother quickly walked up to the imperial concubine, who raised her hand and slapped him on the shoulder: "You're not making an effort!"

  The tenth brother was startled and knew that he couldn't be tough in front of his mother, so he raised his sleeve to pretend to wipe away tears: "Mother, I know I was wrong!"

  The imperial concubine couldn't help but get angrier: "You're such an infuriating thing, I won't be satisfied until you've driven me to death!"

  The tenth brother saw that he couldn't pretend anymore, so he revealed a face without any tears: "I've only played hooky once, and I won't do it again in the future. Why are you making such a big fuss? I heard from the palace staff that your body isn't well either, so don't worry about this small matter of mine!"

  Many times, Da Ge thought, if he had been a bit more sensible at that time, would his mother have met with misfortune?

  The imperial concubine's breath was unstable, and she raised her hand to hit him again. The tenth brother dodged quickly and stood aside, smiling at the imperial concubine.

  The imperial concubine only felt a slight twist in her stomach, and suddenly a wave of pain swept over her.

  The tenth brother sat stupidly on the steps outside the hall, watching the palace maids and eunuchs hurry in and out. Occasionally, someone would bring out a basin of blood water, and he would turn pale, not even daring to breathe loudly. His mother was in pain on the bed, her forehead covered with sweat. Was all this caused by him?

  Even the emperor was shocked, he stood nervously behind the empress and listened to her say: "....the fetus wasn't stable from the start, I moved around a lot myself, so that's why......"

  His clenched fist trembled nonstop, feeling regretful for the first time. Everyone had left, and only the tenth brother stood by the bedside of the imperial concubine, who weakly smiled: "Good boy, it's okay, we'll eat lunch here and then go back to your place, be good."

  He nodded hard, big tears rolling down, his mother smiled and comforted him: "A man has tears but does not easily shed them."

  This day of this year was carved into his heart like a knife, and he didn't dare to touch or look at it, tormenting him day and night.

  The imperial concubine was ill, and several consorts went to visit her but were unable to see her. Occasionally, it was heard that someone from the Niuhuru family had entered the palace, so everyone thought it wasn't good, they were just delaying the inevitable.

  It was late at night and quiet all around, when Yongzheng also whispered to Guo Pao: "Do you know what really happened with the Imperial Noble Consort?"

  "Haven't you heard? The Imperial Concubine was moved to anger because of the Tenth Prince, and since he's still young, anyone can lead him astray. These are not good things to say, but there are always people in the palace who will stir up trouble. In short, with the Imperial Concubine gone, Empress Hui is now the most powerful."

  Yin Zan pinched Quan Pei's cheek: "You don't say it clearly, and you still want me to guess."

  Qian Wan lightly smiled: "Isn't it clear enough? As expected, Master is powerful when he has earned money."

  Yongzheng also smiled: "With an income of only 300 taels a month, by next month we will be able to repay the silver your mother lent us."

  Business is still pretty good, it's great to have just started without losing money. Everything is developing in a good direction, and life is showing them an extremely bright and smooth side.

  The Imperial Noble Consort passed away, and was posthumously honored with the title of Wen Xi. The ladies of the imperial family proceeded to the Chongqing Palace to mourn her spirit.

  The imperial concubine changed into a hemp garment and looked at herself in the mirror for a few moments. There was no sadness in her eyes, only a faint sense of satisfaction. She dabbed at the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, and instantly her eyes turned red. As she lowered her head, tears fell, vividly and convincingly. In the end, she found this handkerchief had too much chili water on it, so she ordered the palace maid to bring another one before slowly leaving the palace.

  The eunuch shouted, and everyone was about to cry loudly. Most of them used handkerchiefs stained with chili water, and tears fell quickly. After crying for a while, everyone's mouth was dry and tongue was parched. When the eunuch stopped shouting, they all hung their heads and panted secretly. Crying for the deceased is a physically demanding task, and doing it for three days is unbearably bitter. Quan Pei and San Fu Jin Wu Fu Jin returned to A Ge's residence together, facing each other but not daring to say anything, just exchanging a glance that showed everyone was exhausted.

  Only then did tenth brother say: "It's also pitiful, such a small child has fainted from crying in the mourning hall."

  Wu Fu Jin also sighed: "If it weren't for the Emperor insisting on sending him back, he wouldn't be able to take it either."

  In this vast harem, with the death of the noble consort, probably only the tenth prince was truly grieved.

  After the death of Guifei, someone had to take care of the palace affairs. Kangxi discussed with the Empress Dowager and finally decided to divide the palace affairs equally among Rongfei, Huifei, Defei and Yifei. Perhaps from this moment on, the world of Kangxi's four consorts truly opened its curtains.

  On a winter's day, the warmest and most comfortable thing to do is sit on the kang. It was rare for them to have some free time, so Yongzheng and Quan Pei sat facing each other on the kang, reading books. Yongzheng had only read a few pages when he couldn't hear Quan Pei turning the pages anymore. He looked up to see that Quan Pei had fallen asleep leaning against the embroidered pillow behind her.

  The warm air on the kang made her face flush, like a ripe peach. He smiled and beckoned to Ya Tou to cover Quan Pei with a quilt, while he himself sat quietly reading. Suddenly, he heard the maid outside softly exclaim: "It's snowing!" He got down from the kang and went out to look, and indeed the sky was filled with swirling snowflakes. Li Shi from the west wing also came out to take a look, and upon seeing Yongzheng, she hastily paid her respects. Yongzheng chatted with her for a bit before entering her quarters.

  It wasn't until noon when Quan Pei woke up dazedly and asked Yatou the time, that Xiaoyue couldn't help but say: "In broad daylight, Master is still not coming out of Li's room."

  "What's wrong with having nothing to do?"

  This is none of his business, they are all Fourth Master's women, whatever Fourth Master wants is what it will be. Only Xiao Yue feels that although he usually seems to care for Furen the most, why can't he let go of Li Shi?

  Juan leaned against the windowsill and looked outside: "Is it snowing?"

  "No, it's a big snowfall, and there's already a thick layer on the roof."

  Quan Wan nodded slightly, her right hand casually placed on the pulse of her left hand. She had been feeling drowsy for several days and didn't know what was wrong with her.

  Yongzheng walked in from outside and saw Quan Pei suddenly sit up straight. He stopped at his feet: "What's wrong?"

  She lowered her eyelids and covered up a smile: "Nothing."

  "Then I saw you were asleep, and I had nothing to do, so I went into the Li's house for a sit."

  Quan Pei smiled and said, "I was just thinking that next year is the selection of imperial consorts, I'll ask Mother to select a few more gege for our household, having only one Li Shi is still a bit thin."

  Li was originally here to serve lunch to Quan Pei and Yin Zhen, but after hearing this, she couldn't move her feet for half a day. All she could hear was Yin Zhen saying from inside: "Isn't there still you?"

  "It's still not too thin, we're not a small family, if there are good girls from good families, why don't we pick one or two to come in and serve you, isn't serving you also serving me?"

  Yin Zhen smiled and said: "If I say more, it will seem pretentious. It's just that our yard is not big, and when people come, there may not be a place to stay."

  "The rear palace is not a place, it's just a temporary arrangement for half a year, and everything will be fine once I leave the palace."

  Snowflakes drifted with the wind, some of which poured into Li's collar, and Li shivered with cold, about to enter again...