Chapter 8: Summer

 

When he went to Zhongcui Palace, Tong Jia-shi’s complexion was not very good. He heard that she had just suffered from a cold. When Yinyou looked at the pale woman in front of him, he knew in his heart that she did not have many days to live.

 

After finishing the meal, he stood aside, watching Tong Jia-shi bend over to organize Yinzhen’s clothes, and hurriedly retracted his gaze to hide the emotions in his eyes. It didn’t matter if Tong Jia-shi’s love for Yinzhen was sincere or if it was because she needed a son by her side, there was still no doubt that she treated Yinzhen with kindness. Compared to the eighth brother who was raised under Concubine Hui, the fourth brother was really much better, and even his status in the palace was much higher than that of the eighth brother.

 

After leaving Zhongcui Palace, the Crown Prince naturally walked in front of them.  Yinyou walked silently among the brothers, and couldn’t help thinking of Yinzhen’s future life.

 

He looked up at the sun hanging in the sky. The dazzling sunlight made his eyes a little sour. Suddenly, a hand stretched to cover his eyes.

 

“Don’t look at it directly or your eyes will be uncomfortable.”

 

Yinyou tilted his head to look at the nine-year-old boy next to him. He still had a long way to go before he became an emperor. When Tong Jia-shi was gone, who will accompany him on this journey?

 

Reaching out to hold Yinzhen’s wrist, Yinyou smiled, “All right”.

 

Yinzhen looked at Yinyou’s smiling face, and couldn’t help but bend the corner of his mouth.

 

***

 

In the 27th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign, the eldest brother Yinti left the palace to build his own mansion, and the 14th brother was born in Yonghe Palace. 

 

In the autumn of the 27th year of Kangxi’s reign, the Imperial Noble Consort Tong Tong Jia-shi was seriously ill.

 

In the summer of the 28th year of Emperor Kangxi, Tong Jia-shi’s condition became more and more serious. The emperor visited Zhongcui Palace many times, but later pityed her for being seriously ill and asked her to move to Kunning Palace.

 

Under the candlelight, Yinyou wrote a big longevity character on a paper. Although it lacked a bit of character, it still looked neat. He glanced at the word, sighed secretly, put down the pen, and threw the paper into Fu Duo hand. “Take it to the Master to burn.”

 

It was now June of Kangxi’s 28th year. If he remembers correctly, Tong Jia-shi died on the tenth day of July of Kangxi’s 28th year, and now there was only one month left.

 

Recently, Yinzhen was obviously a little absent-minded, and was even distracted when Huang Ama came to Wuyizhai. Fortunately, Huang Ama thought of him with filial piety and did not blame him, but his appearance now really made one worry.

 

The 14th brother, whom Concubine De loved, was born last year, which also made up for the trauma left by the sixth brother’s death in previous years. Sometimes he went to Yonghe Palace to greet E-Niang, and he would see Concubine De holding the 14th brother in his arms.

 

When Tong Jia-shi finally passed away, wouldn’t fourth brother’s position in the palace be very embarrassing?

 

It was getting late, but he had a rare insomnia. He opened the sandalwood box inlaid gold wire next to him. Inside were jade pendants, opals, emerald rings, and all kinds of rare things, many of which were given to him by the fourth brother.

 

He took out a small wooden box. After opening it, there was a string of sandalwood beads. When wearing this on your hand, one could smell the faint sandalwood fragrance, and each bead was carved with a lifelike Buddha statue, which made it a really rare treasure.

 

It has been almost eight years since he came here. Gradually, he has become accustomed to the life in the harem, and has learn to see through darkness and hypocrisy. Still, he was moved by how well Tong Jia-shi treated him, and how the fourth brother Yinzhen took care of him.

 

People are different from grass and trees, who can be ruthless. He is an adult, but he had been protected by a child, and now he feels sorry for this child’s future. Looking at the unstable candlelight, Yinyou sighed for a long time, turned and entered the inner room.

 

***

 

When Yinzhen entered Kunning Palace, there was still a faint smell of medicine in the aire. He lowered his voice and asked the maid next to Tong Jia-shi, “Ming Ruo, how is E-Niang?”

 

After bowing to the fourth brother, Ming Ruo’s face was a little hesitant, “Mistress has not eaten anything for the past two days, and even vomited a lot of the medicine she drank. Why didn’t the fourth brother go to school today?”

 

When Yinzhen heard Ming Ruo’s words, his heart felt sour, and the ten-year-old couldn’t help but warm his eyes with tears. He barely suppressed his emotions before asking, “And now, has she used the medicine?” But he didn’t answer why he didn’t go to school.

 

Seeing that the fourth brother didn’t answer, as a servant she didn’t dare to ask more. Ming Ruo merely nodded, “Mistress has fallen asleep now.”

 

Yinzhen heard the words and said, “Then I’ll go in and have a look. You ask the small kitchen to prepare some porridge. If E-Niang wakes up and wants to use it, you can bring it in.” After speaking, he quietly entered the inner room.

 

Tong Jia-shi’s room didn’t smell much of medicine, but the doors and windows were closed, and the room seemed a little stuffy. Remembering that the imperial doctor had instructed not to blow the wind and catch a cold, Yinzhen carefully lowered the curtain after entering the door and stood beside Tong Jia-shi’s bed.

 

Thinking of what E-Niang said to him when she was awake a few days ago, he was still a little uncomfortable. He didn’t think that the E-Niang who treated him so well was not his own E-Niang, but rather the E-Niang who had never showed him love, the one who even on his birthdays, never sent him gifts.

 

After standing in the room for a while, Yinzhen walked out of the room. Suddenly walking from a dark room to a bright place, his eyes were a little uncomfortable, and his eyes felt sore.

 

When Kangxi entered the door, he saw Yinzhen standing alone outside Tong Jia-shi’s door. His expression eased slightly, and he said, “Yinzhen, what are you doing standing there?”

 

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Yinzhen heard Huang Ama’s voice, and hurriedly walked up to Kangxi to salute, “Erchen greets Huang Ama.”

 

Kangxi had seen him one month ago, but now he saw that he had lost a lot of weight. He didn’t ask him why he didn’t go to school today. He only sighed and said, “Get up, you have to pay more attention to your body. I haven’t seen you for a few days but you’ve lost a lot of weight.”

 

Yinzhen stood up, the worry on her face was hard to hide, “Erchen made Huang Ama worried.”

 

Kangxi sighed after hearing this. He knew that Tong Jia-shi taught this child well, and now seeing him treat Tong Jia-shi with filial piety, he knew that he did not waste Tong Jia-shi’s heart for him. Thinking of this, Kangxi’s tone became more gentle, “You don’t have to go to Wuyizhai today, go back and rest well, and I will go and see your E-Niang.”

 

“Yes,” Yinzhen bowed and backed out of the yard. Only then did he feel that his throat was a little dry, so he returned to the yard where he lived, waved away the people who were serving, and leaned on the soft couch in a daze.

 

He didn’t know how long this lasted, but the voice of Xiao Luzi, the eunuch who was usually waiting upon him, came from the side, “Master, the seventh brother sent someone to bring you something.”

 

Little seventh? Only then did Yinzhen regain some energy. He got up and straightened his robes, and walked out the door. He immediately recognized Fu Duo, the eunuch who always followed little seventh. He sat down and said, “Fu Duo, what did little seventh asked you to bring me?”

 

“This servant greets the fourth brother,” Fu Duo  bowed and then said, “This servant doesn’t know what kind of things were sent, but Master ordered this servant to give it to the fourth brother.”

 

Yinzhen glanced at the hand of Fu Duo carrying a basket and nodded, “Bring it here.” After that, he asked the little eunuch beside him to give him some cakes before he let him leave.

 

Lifting the lid of the basket, there were two sweet apples on it. After opening a compartment, there was a plate of pastries that he usually liked to eat, and also some sheets of paper pressed under the plate. He took out the plate, opened the papers and looked at them. Then, the gloom in his heart dissipated a lot. 

 

On the first piece of paper, he saw a chubby child with a chicken leg in his hand. Next to him there was a sentence written: “Won’t you eat?”. In the second piece of paper there was a silent boy drawn. Then, on the third piece of paper there was a picture of the chubby boy twisting his body to the silent boy, with big tears hanging on his face, the words written were: “If you don’t eat, I’ll cry for you to see”.

 

Thinking of the child who usually studied seriously secretly lying on the table to draw him something so childish, and then sending him pastries and apples just to make him eat something, Yinzhen couldn’t help but bend the corner of his mouth.

 

He picked up a piece of pastry from the plate and put it in his mouth, only to feel the fragrance spread to his lips and teeth.

 

In the corridor outside the entrance of Wuyizhai, Yinyou was kneeling with his back straight. Because of the hot weather, his forehead was wet with sweat and his cheeks were flushed. When it was almost noon, several brothers came out and stopped when they saw that Yinyou was still kneeling in the corridor.

 

The Crown Prince walked in front of him and touched his head, “Seventh brother, don’t be so confused in the future. It’s already noon, get up and go to dinner with your second brother.”

 

After the Crown Prince Yinreng finished speaking, he saw Yinyou just widened his eyes, looking at him timidly, obviously not daring to get up.

 

The Crown Prince sighed, “Huang Ama said to let you kneel until noon. Now it’s noon, and Huang Ama won’t blame you, but you can’t be this careless in class in the future.”

 

“Well, thank you, Crown Prince brother,” Yinyou nodded obediently, stood up slowly, and stumbled after him. If it wasn’t for the support of a eunuch beside him, afraid he would fall to the ground again.

 

The Crown Prince sighed in his heart. This seventh brother was usually serious in his studies, how could he be so confused when Huang Ama came, and even let Huang Ama find out that he was drawing small people when he should be studying, no wonder Huang Ama punished him.

 

“Withdraw,” Kangxi put down his chopsticks, his expression somewhat awkward, and was served by the palace eunuch to rinse his mouth. After washing his hands, he asked Wei Zhu, who had been standing next to him, “The seventh brother gave that messy painting to the fourth brother?”

 

Wei Zhu didn’t dare to look directly at the emperor’s face, but buried his head and said, “Answering back to the emperor, yes.”

 

Kangxi got up and glanced at the scenery outside the courtyard, “Did he really kneel until noon?”

 

Wei Zhu replied, “Back to the emperor, the eunuch who was waiting on Wuyizhai said that the seventh brother had been kneeling until the Crown Prince and several elder brothers had lunch. The Crown Prince pitied the seventh brother for his young age, so at noon, he told him to stand up and had the seventh brother eat lunch with them.”

 

Kangxi nodded, “Well, it’s very good for the Crown Prince to do this.”

 

Wei Zhu was silent, he knew that the emperor did not say this to him.

 

There was silence in the room. After a long time, Kangxi asked again, “Did the fourth brother eat today?”

 

“Replying to the emperor, the fourth brother did eat his meals today."

 

After Kangxi heard Wei Zhu’s words, he squinted out the window and stopped talking. After another moment of silence, he waved his hand and said, “You step back.” 

 

“This servants will retire.” Wei Zhu exited the door and waited quietly next to it. 

 

He looked up at the sky, the sun was really dazzling today.

 

***

 

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