Chapter 5: Risky chess play

 

 

In the 23rd year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign, there was no major event worthy of national celebration, so the New Year’s Eve banquet was not very extravagant.

 

After Yinyou brought Fu Duo to the Qianqing Palace, he consciously followed the servants of the Qianqing Palace to the side room to wait for the call of the Emperor. When they arrived in the wing room, the brother, the third brother, the fourth brother, and the fifth brother had already arrived. Yinyou stepped forward to greet them one by one, walked obediently to Yinzhen’s side and stood still.

 

 

 

 

The third brother didn’t have much likes and dislikes towards Yinyou, and after a few words with Yinyou, he sat on the side alone and talked with the fifth brother.

 

Yinzhen pulled Yinyou to sit beside him, touched his hand, and felt relieved that it was warm. He was afraid that the servants below would not serve him wholeheartedly, and it would be bad if the young Yinyou was cold.

 

Fu Duo, who was standing with the eunuch next to the fourth brother, saw the fourth brother’s move, his eyebrows moved, and then he buried his head in a proper manner, not watching or listening anything.

 

“The relationship between the fourth brother and the seventh brother is really good.” 

 

The eldest brother Yinti [1] was already thirteen years old. In addition, he loved to practice martial arts, and as a result he looked as tough as a fifteen-year-old boy. He glanced at Yinyou, and then glanced at Yinyou’s left foot indifferently, “Seventh brother’s feet are inconvenient. Two more servants should be called to serve.”

 

[1] 胤褆 Yinti (1672-1735). Because the first four sons of Kangxi died, he became the eldest brother. A historical fact: Kangxi Emperor had many sons and daughters who died young. 

 

When Yinzhen heard the brother’s words, he raised his eyes slightly and quickly returned to normal, but Yinyou, who was sitting beside him, still noticed his reaction. Yes, a six-year-old child, no matter how smart, still had some deficiencies. He stood up from his chair and called out Yinti, “Thank you for your care, brother. Seventh brother [2] just wanted to exercise more, so didn’t call for more servants.”

 

 

[2] He calls himself 七弟 qīdì. Qi is seven, and Di is from Didi, younger brother. This is also how the eldest brother called him. Younger brothers (like the Eight brother) should call him qige, “seventh elder brother”.

 

 

Seeing Yinyou’s behavior, Yinti had no interest in talking to him, and waved his hand to close the matter.

 

Yinzhen looked at Yinyou who was standing upright, and saw that Yinyou’s fair face was smooth, without the slightest unpleasant emotion. He got up and pulled Yinyou back to sit down, leaned over and whispered in Yinyou’s ear, “I got a new gadget today, and I’ll come to you tomorrow.”

 

Yinyou nodded and made a childish response, like it was expected from him, “Then, fourth brother, you must remember to come to me.”

 

It was just a conversation between two children, and the eldest brother was not interested in listening to it either. He thought of the Crown Prince that accompanied the Emperor to the banquet. As the eldest son [3], he was somewhat envious and jealous, so he didn’t give much thought to the other brothers.

 

[3] You know the rules of seniority in Asian countries. As the eldest born son, he should be with the highest standing, but instead it was the second born son, Yinreng, who had the highest rank as the Crown Prince. As I’ve said in other chapters, the fact that Kangxi named a heir so quickly just made matters worse. After him, no other Emperor followed his example and only at the Emperor’s deathbed would people know who would be the next Emperor.

 

“The eighth brother is here.”

 

The arrival of the eighth elder brother Yinyou did not cause much reflection from the several elder brothers in the room. Yinyou looked at the eldest brother and saw him expressionless. He knew that the eldest brother didn’t care about the eighth brother who was raised under his mother’s name.

 

“Eighth brother greets the eldest brother, the third brother, the fourth brother, the fifth brother, and the seventh brother.” Yinsi respectfully saluted, his voice soft and cute. 

 

A pity that several brothers reacted lightly, they didn’t seem to take this eighth younger brother seriously. When Yinyou asked for peace, the brothers still exchanged a few words, but to the the eighth brother they didn’t even greet him. [4]

 

[4] The reason why Yinsi is not well-regarded and has low status is because his mother was a palace maid. A drastic difference from the concubines who at least had a noble family, like the seventh brother, and a huge huge difference from Yinzhen who had the Empress without the title, Tong Jia, as his foster mother.

 

Yinyou glanced at the eighth brother, who was standing alone in the middle of the room, and at fourth brother, who was sitting beside him. Then he just smiled at the eighth brother, and said, “It’s hard to walk when it’s snowing outside. Sit down, brother.” He said no more.

 

The eighth brother glanced at Yinyou, chose the seat next to him to sit down, looked up at all the brothers in the room, and finally turned his gaze to Yinyou, and then slowly retracted his gaze.

 

Not long after, Yinyou saw a maid and eunuch holding the ninth brother into the wing. Yinyou looked at the ninth brother who was being carefully served by the palace servants, and lowered his head expressionlessly.

 

After a while, Kangxi passed an order to let the brothers enter the banquet. Except for the sixth brother who was seriously ill, all the other brothers were there. Yinyou followed the fifth brother, Yinqi, without saying a word, and then joined all the brothers to give his greetings to Kangxi and the Empress Dowager.

 

The Empress Dowager told the brothers a few words, gave each of them some gadgets and then said nothing. Kangxi asked the brothers to stand up and asked about their daily life one by one.

 

“Little seventh [5], I heard that you have started to read recently, which is very good,” Kangxi smiled, “Who taught you all this?”

 

 

 

 

The average eunuchs in the palace were not allowed to read and write. When Yinyou heard Kangxi’s question, he was shocked. Was Kangxi testing himself? He quickly reacted with a shy smile on his face, “Huang Ma also knows that Erchen [6] is practicing calligraphy?”

 

[5] 小七 xiǎo qī. Xiao Qi. Little Seven, or Little Seventh. Endearment.

[6] 兒臣 ér chén. ‘Er’ is child while ‘chen’ means I, your servant (used in addressing the sovereign).

 

The child heard that his respected father knew that he was diligent and eager to learn, shouldn’t he be happy instead of uneasy?

 

“That day, I met the Crown Prince’s brother, the third brother, and the fourth brother in the garden, and Erchen son went to Tong E-Niang’s place to eat snacks. Crown Prince brother had to go back to study after the meal, and my son was curious so he pestered the fourth brother to taught me to read.” After speaking, his fingers seemed to grab a purse hanging on his body unconsciously, “I can write a lot of characters.”

 

After Kangxi heard this, he nodded to the Crown Prince who was sitting next to him, very pleased, “He knows how to take care of his younger brother, and doesn’t forget to study in his spare time. Very good.” After that, he nodded to the fourth brother, “The fourth brother knows to take care of his younger brother at a young age, which is also very good.” After speaking, he rewarded the two of them again before turning his head to tease Yinyou, “Then little seventh, what words do you know how to write?”

 

Yinyou looked at Kangxi, blinking his big black eyes, “A lot. Tong E-niang, De E-niang , and fourth brother all said that I was very smart.”

 

“Oh?” Hearing the child showing off like this, the corner of Kangxi's mouth became more and more obvious, and he asked the eunuch beside him to move a small table with paper and pen on it. “Then you write a few words for Huang Ama, if you write well, how about Huang Ama reward you and the fourth brother with a set of calligraphy?”

 

Yinyou thought for a while, and asked a little embarrassedly, “If I write well, can Tong E-Niang, De E-Niang, and E-Niang and the third brother also be rewarded?”

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Kangxi lowered his eyelids slightly, and quickly asked with a smile, “It was your fourth brother who taught you how to read, why are you rewarding others?”

 

Yinyou puffed up his bun face, “Do you have to say it?”

 

Kangxi nodded, “Don't you want me to reward them?”

 

Yinyou seemed to accept his fate and said while playing with his fingers, “Tong E-Niang gave to Erchen a lot of delicious snacks, Erchen really liked them. There is also De E-Niang, who also gave Erchen delicious food, and even embroidered a purse for Erchen, which is very beautiful.” After speaking, he shook the two purses hanging on his waist with pride, “One of these was given by De E-niang, and the other was made by E-niang for me.”

 

When the concubines around heard this, they all laughed in a low voice, some of them praised Yinyou’s filial piety, Tong Jia-shi on one side also had a smile on his face, and even the concubine who was in a bad mood because of the sixth brother’s illness showed a light smile.

 

The Empress Dowager was also delighted to hear that, and she waved her hand to let Yinyou step forward, glanced at the two small purses, and nodded with a smile, “Well, it’s very good-looking. They are all dexterous., Su Ma, go to the storeroom of Aijia [7]. The three pieces of silk and satin that I got are to be given to the three concubines, and when they were free, I’ll asked them to embroider two purses for Aijia. Aijia is getting old and the eyesight is not good”. After speaking, she stretched out her hand and pinched Yinyou’s white and tender face, “You child remember the good of the ladies, and you are filial.[8]”

 

[7] 哀家 aijia: lit. “in mourning” or “grieving one”; illeism for the Empress Dowager, a widowed empress, as she is in mourning for her deceased husband. (Dreams of Jianghu).

[8] Filial virtue is the highest virtue of China, and more so in Ancient China. // The Eight Virtues are loyalty (忠), filial piety (孝), benevolence (仁) love (愛), honesty (信) justice (義), harmony (和), and peace (平). Wikipedia.

 

Kangxi squinted and saw that one of the two purses was embroidered with a white and fat rabbit and the other one was embroidered with a puppy. Merely something that children will like, but seeing Yinyou showing off, his mood was getting better and better.

 

The concubines who were rewarded hurriedly said that they did not dare, got up to salute and thanked, and then sat down under the envious gazes of the other concubines.

 

Yinyou just smiled stupidly, letting the Empress Dowager hold his cheeks, and when the Empress Dowager took back her hand, he took off the purse embroidered with the little white rabbit and put it in the Empress Dowager’s palm, “Yinyou heard the fourth brother tell a story. The story says that a little white rabbit was Fairy Chang’e’s [9] pet. The empress dowager is so beautiful, Yinyou will give you the little white rabbit.” After speaking, he looked at the chubby little rabbit with reluctance.

 

[9] He’s referring to the moon fairy lady Chang’E. Her legend of floating to the Moon and becoming an inmortal fairy was made to explain the folk custom of worshipping and appreciating the moon during Mid-autumn festival. She has The Jade Rabbit as a pet, who is always seen preparing the elixir of life for the immortals. He is a noble and benevolent creature to whom offerings are often made during Mid Autumn Festival. You can read more here.

 

Although the Empress Dowager was the most honorable woman in the Qing Dynasty, she was naturally happy when facing a three-year-old child who said she was beautiful, so she put Yinyou in her arms and hugged him. Most of the three-year-old children like to hide the things they like. Yinyou was a child. When he heard that she liked the purse he gave her his own. Although the purse was in the style that only children like, but this heart [10] was loved by the Empress Dowager, so she asked Su Ma to give Yinyou some gadgets that children liked, obviously in a good mood.

 

[10] 心 xīn - Heart. The ancients believed that the heart is the organ of thinking, so both thoughts and feelings are called “heart”. From the thinking organ, it is extended to mind, thought, idea, emotion, temperament, etc. “Heart” is an important signifier, most of the words from “heart” are related to thoughts and feelings, such as: thinking, hatred, admiration, etc. (Baidu).

 

Seeing that the Empress Dowager was happy, Kangxi became more friendly towards Yinyou. After Yinyou stepped down from the Empress Dowager’s side, he asked, “Then why do you want me to reward the Crown Prince and the third brother?”

 

Yinyou answered seriously, “the first time Erchen saw Tong E-niang, the Crown Prince’s brother took me there, and the third brother gave me a purse, and there were delicious candies in it.”

 

“I see that you like the candy in the old three’s purse. I understand, Little seventh, you are a greedy pig,” Kangxi said with a loud smile, “Well, if you write well today, Huang Ama will reward you together. How about that.”

 

“Thank you, Huang Ama,” Yinyou lay down at the small table, dipped ink with a brush, and wrote the strokes one by one. Everyone present was curious about how many words a three-year-old child could write.

 

When Kangxi was brought the words written by Yinyou, he suddenly laughed. He saw that the five characters of “Wishing Huang Ama Ten Thousand Good Fortune” [11] were written crookedly on the paper. Let’s not say that the words were crooked, but the character of ten thousand was still missing. He gave the paper to the eunuch beside him and said, “Go, show everyone what little seventh wrote.”

 

[11] Yinyou wrote “皇阿瑪萬福” huáng āmǎwàn fú, he’s wishing auspiciousness to the Emperor. I believe he missed a word in purpose. In the raws, the Emperor is thinking that Yinyou missed the character of “萬”. You can watch here a video of Chinese calligraphy, they wrote the character 福  fú of ‘good fortune’ which is the last word Yinyou wrote.

 

After a while, the concubines laughed and the children under the throne blushed to their necks.

 

Tong Jia-shi took the paper from Concubine Yi’s hand, and when she saw the words written crookedly and with even a word missing, she couldn’t help but cover the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed, “This child, how are these written words, according to me, look, this is clearly the kitten doing doodles.”

 

Concubine Yi had a bright temperament, and she smiled when she heard the words, “Sister, don't make fun of me but this sister thinks it looks good. The three characters of Huang Ama are written neatly, it looks like seventh brother will always practice these three words on weekdays.” After speaking, she also laughed.

 

The words were passed around and returned to Kangxi’s hands. Kangxi asked the eunuch to put them away, “Okay, little seventh can indeed write, but afraid these word needs to be practiced well. Yinzhen, you have to be stricter with this younger brother in the future.” After speaking, he rewarded those who Yinyou mentioned.

 

After Yinyou took his seat, he could still hear the laughter of the concubines. He sat on the side with a blushing face but sighed in his heart that this move was a thrilling move. Writing the character like that is nothing more than making people think that he is young and ignorant. If he wrote the characters neatly, he who has no power or connections will only become a thorn in the side. The people in the palace who were too clever too early also died early.  He pleased Tong Jia-shi because of Kangxi’s respect and love for her, and Concubine De must not be ignored. A woman from a low background can stand firm in the palace. How can people look down on such skills, not to mention that she will be the master of Yonghe Palace in the future, and concubine Cheng still lives in the wing of Yonghe Palace.

 

The Crown Prince too can’t be offended. Now in Kangxi’s eyes, the prince is his smartest son. He will not be stupid enough to say that the prince is not good. This is not only hurting himself but also hurting the fourth brother.

 

After Yinyou retired, Kangxi praised the third brother and the fifth brother several times, asked the third brother to write a poem, and gave him a lot of things before the third brother retired.

 

Everyone’s attention was put on the third brother.

 

It didn’t matter how amusing the seventh brother with a disability was, it was still not as good as the third elder brother who was at the top of the ranking.

 

Yinzhen, who was sitting at the table, looked at Yinyou. When he saw Yinyou smirking at him, he buried his head and thought, the writing is so ugly and he still takes it out to make others laugh. In the future, he must supervise the seventh brother’s calligraphy practice well, lest he be stupid and ashamed.

 

***

 

 

▲ Footnotes 

[1] 胤褆 Yinti (1672-1735). Because the first four sons of Kangxi died, he became the eldest brother. A historical fact: Kangxi Emperor had many sons and daughters who died young. 

[2] He calls himself 七弟 qīdì. Qi is seven, and Di is from Didi, younger brother. This is also how the eldest brother called him. Younger brothers (like the Eight brother) should call him qige, “seventh elder brother”.

[3] You know the rules of seniority in Asian countries. As the eldest born son, he should be with the highest standing, but instead it was the second born son, Yinreng, who had the highest rank as the Crown Prince. As I’ve said in other chapters, the fact that Kangxi named a heir so quickly just made matters worse. After him, no other Emperor followed his example and only at the Emperor’s deathbed would people know who would be the next Emperor.

[4] The reason why Yinsi is not well-regarded and has low status is because his mother was a palace maid. A drastic difference from the concubines who at least had a noble family, like the seventh brother, and a huge huge difference from Yinzhen who had the Empress without the title, Tong Jia, as his foster mother.

[5] 小七 xiǎo qī. Xiao Qi. Little Seven, or Little Seventh. Endearment.

[6] 兒臣 ér chén. ‘Er’ is child while ‘chen’ means I, your servant (used in addressing the sovereign).

[7] 哀家 aijia: lit. “in mourning” or “grieving one”; illeism for the Empress Dowager, a widowed empress, as she is in mourning for her deceased husband. (Dreams of Jianghu).

[8] Filial virtue is the highest virtue of China, and more so in Ancient China. // The Eight Virtues are loyalty (忠), filial piety (孝), benevolence (仁) love (愛), honesty (信) justice (義), harmony (和), and peace (平). Wikipedia.

[9] He’s referring to the moon fairy lady Chang’E. Her legend of floating to the Moon and becoming an inmortal fairy was made to explain the folk custom of worshipping and appreciating the moon during Mid-autumn festival. She has The Jade Rabbit as a pet, who is always seen preparing the elixir of life for the immortals. He is a noble and benevolent creature to whom offerings are often made during Mid Autumn Festival. 

[10] 心 xīn - Heart. The ancients believed that the heart is the organ of thinking, so both thoughts and feelings are called “heart”. From the thinking organ, it is extended to mind, thought, idea, emotion, temperament, etc. “Heart” is an important signifier, most of the words from “heart” are related to thoughts and feelings, such as: thinking, hatred, admiration, etc. (Baidu).

[9] He’s referring to the moon fairy lady Chang’E. Her legend of floating to the Moon and becoming an inmortal fairy was made to explain the folk custom of worshipping and appreciating the moon during Mid-autumn festival. She has The Jade Rabbit as a pet, who is always seen preparing the elixir of life for the immortals. He is a noble and benevolent creature to whom offerings are often made during Mid Autumn Festival. 

[10] 心 xīn - Heart. The ancients believed that the heart is the organ of thinking, so both thoughts and feelings are called “heart”. From the thinking organ, it is extended to mind, thought, idea, emotion, temperament, etc. “Heart” is an important signifier, most of the words from “heart” are related to thoughts and feelings, such as: thinking, hatred, admiration, etc. (Baidu).

[11] Yinyou wrote “皇阿瑪萬福” huáng āmǎwàn fú, he’s wishing auspiciousness to the Emperor. I believe he missed a word in purpose. In the raws, the Emperor is thinking that Yinyou missed the character of “萬”. You can watch here a video of Chinese calligraphy, they wrote the character 福  fú of ‘good fortune’ which is the last word Yinyou wrote.

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