CH 23

Chapter 23: Worry

After leaving the Qianqing Palace, the Crown Prince put a hand on Yinyou’s shoulder, “Seventh brother, where did you hide this rabbit meat?”. Seeing Yinyou’s blushing face, the Crown Prince felt revitalized. Sometimes the pressure was too great, and some jokes were essential.

“Crown Prince brother,” Yinyou buried his head while lamenting in his heart, if he could go back to modern times, the little golden statue[1] would definitely be his to take. Which modern actor would be able to make his face as red or white as Yinyou could? 

In the harem, acting skills were a life-saving skill. Not in vain he had worked on this since the day he transmigrated, his skills were not useless after all.

Leaving the Qianqing Palace, the eldest brother, and the third brother looked at Yinyou as if they were looking at trash. How could the virtuous Huang Ama ever trust Yinyou to do things properly in the future?

Seeing that Yinyou was so embarrassed he wanted to bury himself in the ground, the Crown Prince patted Yinyou’s head contentedly, looking like a good elder brother, “Seventh brother, second brother is joking with you, just don’t do such stupid things in the future”.

Although this seventh brother was useless, he was not bad, he did prepare some gags for them to see. He was so stupid, no wonder last time he asked for the fourth brother’s maid.

(Bambi: The maid the Crown Prince is talking about is the one from chapter 14. She was a spy the Crown Prince had sent to Yinzhen to let her become Yinzhen’s woman but she got intercepted midway by Yinyou, the scapegoat.)

While the Crown Prince teased Yinyou, Yinzhen remained quietly distressed. He knew that the seventh brother was not really stupid, but could only pretend to be. After all these years, the people in the palace actually regarded the seventh brother as a mediocre person but only he knew how helpless the seventh brother really was.  Not caring for the mocking eyes of the others towards Yinyou, Yinzhen chimed in, “Crown Prince, the seventh brother has always been like this, don’t make fun of him.”

Hearing Yinzhen’s words, the Crown Prince only smiled, “Yes, knowing that the fourth brother loves the seventh brother, the second brother won’t make fun of him anymore,” then he patted Yinyou's shoulder again, “Seventh brother, you have to work hard, or the second brother and fourth brother will punish you”

In his mind, Yinyou was rolling his eyes, these words were like scaring a child with wolves, and he was not scared. He dropped his head even lower, “Younger brother knows.”

The eldest brother couldn’t bear to see these pretentious brothers so he left after making an excuse, followed by the third brother, and then the fifth brother, this last one was silent all the time, so it made no difference whether he was present or not. 

On the contrary, the eighth brother peeked at Yinyou and was secretly shocked by Yinyou’s actions. Unexpectedly, his seventh brother's acting skills became more and more proficient, he had even fooled the Crown Prince. It's just that Yinsi didn’t know if the fourth brother knew the true face of the seventh brother under the mask. The eighth brother smirked slightly, his seventh elder brother was really a smart and unpredictable person.

After the brothers separated, Yinyou’s bad complexion finally returned to normal. He raised his eyes to see the expression of the fourth elder brother, and then said casually, “Fourth elder brother, I left you a rabbit's leg.”[2]

Yinzhen bent over, patted Yinyou's head, and spoke in a low and gentle tone, "Fourth brother will do his best to protect you."

Yinyou's eyelashes trembled slightly and then lowered his eyelids. So this was Emperor Yongzheng in history. He didn’t say empty words, like “I will protect you” but rather that “he will do his best because he can’t do more right now”. This promise was both easy and not. If it was a lie, it was very easy to say, but if it was the truth, it was both difficult and rare. Yinyou believed that Yinzhen was speaking the truth, and at this exact moment, Yinyou felt that his old uncle’s heart was warmed.

“Fourth brother…”

“Just don’t get too close to the eighth brother, that’s not good for you.”

Yinyou once again lowered his raised head silently, and then slowly turned his head to look at the flowers blooming by the roadside. Because of this sentence, half of his good feelings were cut short.

(Bambi: I think Yinyou got a bit disheartened because in his heart he truly feels close to Yinzhen, but dislikes the political plotting and feels exhausted of calculating their relationship for benefits and whatnot, it feels fake and shallow, so Yinzhen saying that killed the vibe for him because it reminded him the true form of their relationship).

After returning to his yard, Yinyou received rabbit legs from several brothers, even the eldest brother had sent some. Yinyou didn’t know for sure if they were joking around or if they were implying something else, so he could only twitch the corners of his mouth as he looked at a bunch of rabbit legs. 

“Master, the fourth brother asked someone to send some venison.”

Yinyou was relieved. Finally, no more rabbit meat was sent.

“The fourth brother also said that he didn’t have any rabbit legs, so he sent some roe deer meat.”

Yinyou smiled softly, gritted his teeth, and finally said kindly, “It’s okay, send some of my rabbit legs to the brothers.” Want to watch a play? That cost money, yet these people only sent two rabbit legs to play his play. Stingy.

At noon on the second day after all of this happened, Kangxi was having his meal when he saw there was a plate of rabbit leg meat on the table. Kangxi’s expression became subtle. After lunch, Li Dequan trembled when he heard that the seventh brother had distributed his rabbit leg meat equally to each brother. This old seventh... he really didn’t know how to describe him. An honest child that once knowing his mistake, knew how to make improvements… or should he say that this child’s mind was simple?

After a long, long silence, Kangxi spoke with an indescribable emotion, “Li Dequan, Concubine Cheng will serve Zhen today, and as for little seventh… sent him a set of calligraphy.” At any rate, this child was pure in nature, hardworking, and studious, and he was also good at riding and shooting. He had various advantages.

“This minion obeys,” Li Dequan thought to himself that this could be regarded as a blessing in disguise.

After summer and autumn, it was already winter, the draft had come to the end, and many xianu had been selected to stay. Many of them came from good families, had a satisfactory education, and had nice manners. The concubines of the various palaces stared at these beautiful girls, some were looking for a bride for their own children, and some were watching against any future strong contenders. If there were any outstanding girls, they should get to know the fighting power of each other. This winter the concubines in the harem once again began to get busy.

Yinyou and Yinzhen were both strolling around with umbrellas when they saw several rows of young women standing in the royal garden from a distance. The two stopped and turned to walk on the side path. They were not suitable to appear on such an occasion, so they had to avoid it.

Yinyou looked at the sky under the winter rain, and looked sympathetically at the beautiful girls in the imperial garden wearing uniform color clothes, “We don’t even have to go to riding and archery class this afternoon, but these beautiful girls still have to stand here.”

Yinzhen's face remained unchanged, but he knew in his heart that it was because of the rain today that these beautiful girls were all in the Imperial Garden. If it wasn't raining, the place where these beautiful girls were standing might be Jingyixua[3].

[3] 靜怡軒 jìngyíxuān. Baidu: “The bedrooms of Jianfu Palace, known to be solemn and tranquil area.” I’m guessing Yinzhen’s saying is that they would not be standing there if it wasn’t a cold weather but rather in their dormitory, they’re out because they’re trying to show they’re virtuous or pitiful. It’s a scheme.

“These are all the xianu who passed the primary selection,” Yinzhen asked with a rigid face, “Seventh brother is interested in these talented girls?”

“There is a future fourth sister-in-law here, of course, I care about it,” Yinyou looked back for the last time, only to feel that those beautiful women were standing upright one by one, unaffected by the cold wind and winter rain. It could be seen that the requirements for women’s manners were strict, and it was no wonder that most of the women there would be granted a marriage inside the Imperial Family or chosen to be a concubine for the Emperor himself. Yinyou lamented that it was really not easy to be a woman in any time period.

Yinzhen glimpsed Yinyou’s curious face, and his voice remained frosty, “Huang Ama didn’t say that he would bestow me a marriage. Seventh brother, do you really want me to get married?” 

Yinyou asked suspiciously, “Fourth brother, do you don’t want to get married?”

After the imperial princes got married, they would gain power behind their Fu Jin[4]’s family. The status and power of Fu Jin’s clan will also have a certain impact on their struggle for the throne. It was impossible for Yinzhen to not know this, so what was he being awkward about?

[4] Fu Jin: Wife in Manchu. Only the principal wife or Princess Consort can be called Fu Jin, the rest of women will be concubines.

For a long time now he has been reticent about it, hasn’t he gotten over it yet? Moreover, Yinyou once read a historical record that although Yinzhen was not very affectionate with his Fu Jin, they were respectful as guests. So Yinzhen shouldn’t be bad to his future Fu Jin, right?

Yinzhen didn’t dare to meet Yinyou’s inquiring gaze, he merely turned his eyes away, and said, “You won’t understand.”

This move turned Yinzhen into a shy and awkward teenager in Yinyou’s eyes, so he sighed and very cooperatively nodded, “Oh, I understand.”

Yinzhen looked at the other person’s exaggerated expression of “I understand you very well”, and his expression couldn’t be held on, changing again and again. Finally, he controlled himself and only said curtly, “Seventh brother, let’s go to Yonghe Palace to pay our respects first.” 

Yinyou nodded tactfully. Anyway, he already knew which woman will be Yinzhen’s Fu Jin so he didn’t need to be too curious. In fact, the saddest thing in the world was knowing the life trajectory of other people, he even knew who will be his future wife, but as for the information about the seventh brother, he only got to know his death date. What a sad thing. The seventh brother in history seemed to have died quite early, he actually passed away five years into Yongzheng’s reign leaving behind a bunch of wives and children. Yinyou felt that he needed to do two main things in the future, that was: health preservation and family planning. Having many wives would only give him a troublesome backyard, which was scary.

Seeing that Yinyou didn’t talk about this topic again, Yinzhen's expression eased. When the two brothers arrived at Yonghe Palace, Concubine De, and Concubine Cheng were sitting together and talking. 

When Concubine De saw Yinzhen, she smiled gently, “We were just talking about you two brothers and you came just in time.”

Yinzhen felt a little uneasy, and after paying his respects, he just sat on the side without saying a word.

“Fourth, how is the construction of the mansion outside the palace going?” Concubine De began.

Yinzhen replied back, “It’s almost done, The original mansion was renovated and expanded a garden.” Guessing the purpose behind Concubine De’s question made Yinzhen’s face even colder.

“E-Niang saw the daughter of the Feiyanggu family a few days ago. She looks outstanding and has good morals. Tomorrow, Chenqie will ask the Emperor to appoint her to you.” Concubine De said bluntly. As she talked, her eyes swept across Yinzhen’s gloomy face, and her brows frowned slightly.

Concubine Cheng originally wanted to follow Concubine De’s wishes to praise the girl from the Nara family, but seeing Yinzhen’s complexion, she simply said, “It's indeed a good one.” 

Then she quickly began to look for an excuse to leave. Yinyou also saw that Yinzhen’s complexion wasn’t good, and even though he was confused for a while his status commanded he should not stay here at this moment, after all, he was not Yinzhen’s full-blooded sibling, and Concubine De would not be willing to let him know some things.

Yinyou and Concubine Cheng exchanged a look and found an excuse to leave. Concubine De was happy to agree, and the mother and son got up and went out.

Looking at Yinyou’s back, Yinzhen called out suddenly, “Seventh brother.”

“Is there something else, fourth brother?” Yinyou’s eyes were full of bewilderment.

“Wait for me outside,” Yinzhen withdrew his gaze, lowered his head, and stopped looking into Yinyou’s eyes.

Yinyou nodded blankly and followed Concubine Cheng out the door.

After the two went out, Concubine De asked, “Are you dissatisfied with this person?”. She thought his boy was promising, but he turned out to be a person who didn’t understand. She didn’t know how the dead Tong Jia-shi taught him, he couldn’t even understand these little things.

Yinzhen remained silent.

Concubine De didn’t care for his answer, and continued, “When you went to the Mulan paddock, your Huang Ama already said to me that the daughter of Master Feiyanggu was very suitable for you. This is your Huang Ama’s meaning. You must agree.”

Yinzhen looked up at Concubine De who was full of indifference, and after a long time he whispered, “E-Niang, this son is still young.”

(Bambi: He’s only 14! I’m crying). 

Concubine De sighed, “You are not young anymore, when you arrive at the mansion, E-Niang will point out a woman to teach you how to understand human affairs[5], you just need to do things well, don’t worry about the rest, E-Niang will naturally take care of you, alright, just kneel down if you have nothing else to say.”

Yinzhen clenched his hands inside his sleeves, and then slowly got up and knelt down, “This son will leave.” 

The affection between mother and child, which was already frozen cold, became even more muted.

______________

▲ Footnotes 

Bambi: Marrying a stranger when you already love another person, I’m so sad for Yinzhen. I really enjoy these bits of the novel that show us the struggles of the characters, and how not everything is rosy. Marrying for benefits sounds so strange and harsh. I don’t even believe in marriage, imagine having to marry like this. Sigh. What Yinyou does next though, hurts me when thinking of Yinzhen’s feelings but also moves me as a woman. (Spoilers: Like, what a harsh truth, yeah, you don’t want to marry her, it doesn’t mean she wanna marry you either, but since you’re his husband, treat her right. When Yinyou gives this advice to Yinyou, two big teardrops fell off my eyeballs, I sweaarr. I love this novel.) 

[1] “The little golden statue” meaning the Oscars.

[2] In this dialogue, Yinyou spoke in an informal way to Yinzhen, from first person (“wo/me”) to saying “ni/you”, just very casually, like speaking to a close person. They usually use a lot of “younger brother”, very formal, and so on.

[3] 靜怡軒 jìngyíxuān. Baidu: “The bedrooms of Jianfu Palace, are known to be solemn and tranquil areas.” I’m guessing Yinzhen’s saying is that they would not be standing there if it wasn’t cold weather but rather in their dormitory, they’re out because they’re trying to show they’re virtuous or pitiful. It’s a scheme.

[4] Fu Jin: Wife in Manchu. Only the principal wife or Princess Consort can be called Fu Jin, the rest of the women will be concubines.

[5] Noble families and the Imperial Family usually designated a woman to teach the boys in the family how to conduct sexual affairs. Basically, she’s saying she will send a woman to teach him how to have intercourse, they’re usually maidservants a bit older than the kids, and good-looking. If they cultivate a good relationship, when the boy married in his wife, he will elevate this woman’s status to be his concubine. If he does not do this, she will continue to be a tongfang, the lowest status of concubine. (God, I hate his mother!).