CH 17

Chapter 17: Puzzled.

The silky brocade quilt, the hazy red candle, and the white body against the brocade quilt, a soft panting like whispers, the most beautiful picture. Yinzhen couldn’t help approaching, and he opened the red curtain, The person on the bed slowly raised his head to look at him, he had a pair of peach blossom eyes slightly upwards, misty pupils, and moist lips, that face seemed to have the most irresistible charm in the world, and he couldn’t help himself. He leaned down and kissed this dear person’s lips, and he found himself unable to extricate from him…

“Fourth brother…”

A soft call caused his brain to explode with a bang. When he opened his eyes again, the surroundings were pitch black, there was a shallow breathing sound beside him, and a warm foot was resting on his waist.

The cold and wet feeling somewhere under his body made him a little uncomfortable, he gently moved Yinyou’s leg away, and Yinzhen sat up from the bed, flustered in his heart.

Borrowing the light from the palace lantern outside, he turned his head to look at the figure lying on the bed, got out of bed, and changed his clothes, but couldn’t fall asleep anymore, and sat on the edge of the bed in a daze.

“Fourth brother, what’s wrong with you?” The person on the bed sat up, drowsy, with a trace of innocence in his voice, rubbing his eyes with one hand, “Aren’t you going to sleep?” 

“It’s nothing, you go to sleep,” Yinzhen had a wry smile on his face hidden in the darkness. Maybe it was just because Yinyou was sleeping next to him tonight that he had such a messy dream. How could he have such thoughts towards little seventh, let alone since little seventh was not yet twelve years old, how could he have such a charming side?

It was just a weird dream, all in his head, right?

“It’s cold, lie down,” said Yinyou. Although he was eleven he already had a lot of strength, and he stretched out his hand to pull Yinzhen into the bed, wrapped them up in the quilt, and yawned, “Fourth brother, you are so cold.”

The warmth from Yinyou’s body permeated from his skin to his bones, and Yinzhen couldn’t help but get closer, “Seventh brother.”

“Huh?” His voice was dazed.

Yinzhen put his arms around Yinyou’s shoulders, “Nothing, go to sleep.” How could the people around him know this kind of thought?

Yinyou’s breathing gradually became slow. Yinzhen knew that he was asleep.  He opened his eyes and stared at the mosquito net in a trance until the one beside him nestled in his arms and put his feet on his waist.

This kid still had bad sleeping habits, and was still afraid of the cold, Yinzhen laughed and hugged Yinyou to let him lean against him. As for the weird dream just now, he deliberately chose to forget it.

Because they didn’t have to go to school, Yinyou and Yinzhen didn’t get up until it was well into the morning. While letting the slaves serve him, Yinyou lamented that in modern times, he dared not even think about such a thing. Even his modern wife would not serve him like this. Unexpectedly, after transmigrating overnight, he became the son of the Emperor in a feudal society and he was served by people whether he ate, drank, or littered. His behavior was corrupt enough to be spurned by everyone in modern times.

Yinzhen had already dressed, and while the maid was serving him to wash his face, he looked at Yinyou out of the corner of his eye, with confusion that even he didn’t realize.

After washing up, they started to have breakfast. Generally speaking, the princes’ meals were regulated, but there were still some differences. When Yinyou sat at the table, he was not surprised to find that the fourth brother’s meals were better than his. It was a bit better, not too noticeable. After all, life was not like some TV dramas of the Qing Dynasty. It was absolutely impossible for a prince who was not favored by the emperor to be bullied by a slave unless that slave felt that his head was too heavy for his neck.

After eating a small bowl of seaweed pork belly soup, eating a piece of thousand-layer cake, and drinking half a bowl of milk, Yinyou put down his chopsticks, and the maid and eunuch next to him rushed forward to clean his hands and rinse his mouth, their attitude was not half different from serving the fourth brother.

As the sky was getting brighter, the two brothers left the house and walked out. Fu Duo was already waiting in the outer hall.

Yinyou looked at Yinzhen who was walking on his left side. He didn’t know if it was his imagination but he felt that something was wrong with the fourth brother since they got up this morning. Did the brothers in the Qing Dynasty also have a rebellious phase like modern children?

The eighth brother saw a few people walking towards his side from a distance, and when he got closer, a smile appeared on his face, and he stepped forward to  give a bow, “Younger brother greets the fourth brother, and the seventh brother, please be well.”

Cough, cough. Who knows that Yinsi coughed violently just after giving his greetings, his pretty face flushed and he also consciously stepped back a few steps, fearing that he would spread the illness to the two brothers.

“Eighth brother, one must have a good rest when one’s sick,” Yinzhen warned with a lukewarm face at the same time he used his body to separate Yinyou from Yinsi.

“Ahem,” Yinsi is so smart, how could he miss Yinzhen’s movements? He put down the hand covering his mouth, “Fourth brother, thank you for your concern.”

Yinyou looked at the blushed face of the eighth brother and couldn’t help but say, “Have you called the imperial doctor to check it?”

“Yesterday, the imperial doctor said it’s just some cold wind, nothing serious.” When Yinsi heard his words the smile on his face became more obvious, “I’ve worried the seventh brother”.

Yinzhen heard their conversation with a cold face, only his body moved, positioned to go to Yonghe Palace, deliberately standing in the snow between the two of them, hindering the brotherly chat.

Standing behind Yinzhen, the corner of Yinyou’s mouth twitched. He looked at the direction Yinsi was about to go. He found that no concubine lived there, nor any brother. What was he going there for?

“Be careful on the road,” Yinyou glimpsed Yinsi’s hands exposed outside his robe sleeves, gritted his teeth, and finally took off his left hand leather glove and handed it to the eighth brother, “It’s cold outside, don’t catch a cold.” 

He and Yinzhen were the elder brothers of the eighth brother. Seeing a sick younger brother he would be too ashamed to not do something.

The relationship between Yinzhen and the other elder brothers with the eighth brother was not good, but they still needed to be cordial on the surface. At most each of them were probably indifferent to whether the other was sick. It’s just that these thoughts couldn’t be said face to face or when they reached Kangxi’s ears afraid it would be troublesome. So this play still needed to be done. He might as well act like a big brother.

What’s more, he also had some sympathy for the Eighth Lord in history. Even if this person was full of abilities, he still couldn’t match the identity and destiny he was born with.

“Let’s go,” Yinzhen glanced at the leather glove in Yinsi’s hand, stretched out his hand to grasp Yinyou’s wrist, nodded faintly to Yinsi, and walked in the direction of Yonghe Palace.

Yinsi stood in the snow, watching the backs of Yinzhen and Yinyou gradually disappear. He buried his head and rubbed the warm gloves, and whispered in a low voice, “Seventh brother, your soft heart problem seems to be impossible to cure.” After speaking, he coughed twice, but his eyes were brighter than before.

The eunuch who followed him lowered his head and said nothing.

“Master,” a little eunuch chased after him holding a small heater, “Sister Cuiyu just said that you didn’t take a hand-warmer, so she asked this servant to bring it to you.”

“No need,” Yinsi glanced at the hand-warmer in the little eunuch’s hand and slowly put the leather glove on his hand, “You can go back.” Covering the coughing sound he continued to walk in the direction of the West Palace [1].

Walking outside the cold courtyard, Yinsi’s footsteps gradually slowed down. He had a good memory since he was a child. He even remembered the first time he saw E-Niang when he was three years old. E-Niang looked sick and haggard. He had hid behind the rockery and cried secretly for her, not knowing that this kind of behavior would cause Concubine Hui’s displeasure.

It was the seventh brother who had always been considered mediocre by everyone in the palace who reminded him and helped him. He was the first person to ever help him.

He knew that the seventh brother didn’t want to get involved with him too much. In fact, it should be said that the seventh brother didn’t want to get close to any elder brother but he made an exception for the fourth brother. He once thought it was because of the identity of the fourth brother, but he now understands that the seventh brother was really close to the fourth brother, and it had nothing to do with identity.

For a prince like him, the seventh brother should have avoided far away, but every time he practiced riding and shooting, and he saw that he was alone, he would always pretended not to care but stand not far from him, doing the same thing as himself.  Even in summer, he would accompany him to practice archery, perhaps so that his young self would not feel isolated.

He was obviously a person who didn’t want to attract trouble but when he saw him do something wrong his heart would always bleed, and couldn’t help but remind him a thing or two. Fortunately, he was smart and choose the timing very well. His occasional reminders did not cause him any trouble.

The warm glove made Yinsi smile at the corner of his mouth, and he stepped into the courtyard.

After leaving Yonghe Palace, Yinyou and Yinzhen walked to the place where they had just met the eighth brother, and he couldn’t help but turn his head to look in the direction the eighth brother was heading.

“Liang Guiren [2] lives there,” as if guessing what Yinyou thought, Yinzhen spoke indifferently, “She’s the birth mother of the eighth brother.”

Yinyou nodded and didn’t ask again. His left hand was hidden in his sleeve, and his right hand was held in the palm of Yinzhen’s hand, and he didn’t feel cold.

However, a grown man and a boy playing hand-in-hand game, it was really a shame, ah. Yinyou glanced at his right hand held by Yinzhen, and then silently looked away.

After walking for a while, Yinzhen said carelessly, “The eighth brother seems to like you very much.”

Yinyou looked at Yinzhen with a look of disbelief, “Really?”

Yinzhen looked at the expression on Yinyou’s face with a serious face and slowly moved his gaze away, “Well, he seems to be very good to everyone.”

Even if the eighth brother smiled very softly when the little seventh faced him, he didn’t want the little seventh to know.

As for the reason, he didn’t understand it himself. Maybe… it was because he himself had a disagreement with the eighth brother?

______________

▲ Footnotes 

[1] 西宮 xīgōng. Baidu: “The West Palace is the place where the emperor's concubines lived in the feudal era of China, so it is also another name for concubines. The West Palace in the Tang Dynasty was the residence of the Supreme Emperor. It also refers to the palaces, other palaces, and stars in the West.”

[2] Wikipedia doesn’t have a page for her. But she’s briefly mentioned in Kangxi’s page: Consort Liang, of the Wei clan (良妃 衛氏; 1662 – 29 December 1711). Yunsi, Prince Lian of the First Rank (廉親王 允禩; 29 March 1681 – 5 October 1726), 16th (eighth) son.

Guys, I just wanted to tell you why Yinyou has so much sympathy for Yinsi. Look here: 

Yinsi, Prince Lian (29 March 1681 – 5 October 1726) was born to the Kangxi Emperor and Imperial Consort Liang of the Wei clan. As the Kangxi Emperor's eighth son, he was the Eighth Imperial Prince. After the Yongzheng Emperor's succession to the imperial throne in 1722, Yinsi was appointed one of his four chief advisors and was given the peerage title Prince Lian. However, having been a serious contender for the Crown Prince during the era of Kangxi, Yinsi soon found himself a subject of mistrust for the then recently crowned emperor. In 1726, he suffered the indignity of being expelled from the imperial household following a series of unjust accusations of incompetence made by the emperor himself. In the same year, he was ordered to rename himself Akina ('pig') when he fell from the emperor's grace. Yinsi died of illness in custody after being found guilty on 40 counts which allegedly endangered the ruling of the Qing Dynasty.

Man, he had it rough. Honestly, he stole my heart when the author introduced him in the story like a little crying bag, haha. Oh, no.