CH 48

Blessed By God has surpassed more than 1,000 readers on Novel Updates!! Thank you. Remember that Yinyou was born on the 20th year of Kangxi. Thus, in this chapter, Yinyou should already be 16, and Yinzhen 18-19! 

In this chapter, the princes get upgraded! As Corie explained in her blog, “Titles are granted to the prince if he has proven himself to his father. There are three typical types for princes: junwang 郡王 = prince of second class , qinwang 亲王 = prince of first class, and taizi 太子 = crown prince. (…) Princes typically get named junwang first, and as they prove themselves with more accomplishments they’ll get promoted to qinwang. There can be as many qinwang or junwang as there are princes, but there can only be ONE taizi [Crown Prince]. Taizi is the heir to the thrown. In most cases, taizi can be any of the princes, not necessarily the oldest prince. Taizi is just taizi, no name or other characters are added before this title but qinwang or junwang are usually given a “name” honorific: [title]-junwang, or [title]-qinwang. The “title” in this case is typically 1 character long (1 syllable).”

Here’s the list of titles:

The four ranks above were granted solely to direct male-line descendants of the Emperor.

In the spring of the 36th year of Kangxi, Kangxi crossed the Yellow River to inspect Ningxia, and at the same time sent two armies to attack Galdan. Galdan died of poisoning, and the eight-year war with Galdan ended.

July in Beijing was so hot that people sweated all over their bodies, as if they were fished out of the water. If it weren’t for the fact that in this era one couldn’t be shirtless, Yinyou would want to walk around the house bare-chested.

The ice cubes placed in the room melted in no time, and their cooling effect wasn’t good. Yinyou sat in the shade of a tree and kept shaking his fan. Even more, the maid fanning him was too weak and the wind from her fan was close to none.

“Master, the kitchen brewed this iced milk to relieve the heat.” Fu Duo brought a bowl of milk. 

Yinyou took it over, and forgoing the mannered act of sipping with a small spoon, he directly poured the bowl into his mouth. After drinking half of it he finally felt that the heat in his whole body drop down.

There were a lot of things going on this year, and Kangxi had no plan to go to Chengde1Chengde Mountain Resort in Chengde The Kangxi, Qianlong and Jiaqing emperors often spent several months a year here to escape the summer heat in the capital city of Beijing and the palace zone in the southern part of the resort was therefore designed to resemble the Forbidden City in Beijing. to escape the summer heat. The princes would naturally have to stay honestly at their mansion. In a few days, due to their victory defeating Galdan, the imperial princes would also follow Kangxi to offer sacrifices to their ancestors. Thinking of the layers of the prince’s official clothes, Yinyou immediately felt hot and sweaty again.

Seeing this, Fu Duo took the fan from the servant girl’s hand, and fanned Yinyou, “Master, this slave heard that there were people added to fifth prince’s mansion2 People refers to women. So the fifth prince married a concubine home..”

Yinyou waved off his hands, and replied indifferently, “The servants in the fifth brother’s house are capable, and it’s not a big deal to add someone to their mansion. You can just send a gift.”

Fu Duo thought that among the grown-up princes, only his Master and the eighth prince had few women in their backyards. Since gotten married with the seventh Fu Jin, the Master seldom rested in his Fu Jin’s room. Usually, Fu Jin would just quietly stay in her own yard and embroider, which saved some trouble. At least, Master didn’t marry one home like the eighth Fu Jin, if that was the case, them, as slaves, would be the ones to suffer. 

“Today Mistress Cheng sent someone here. Said she was told to serve you, Master.”

Yinyou froze, “From which family?”

“I heard that she was raised by Mistress Cheng’s family. This slave thinks she looks quite virtuous.” Fu Duo  smiled cautiously. 

On one side, he had to do as Mistress Cheng ordered, and on the other hand, he had to take into account the intentions of his Master. Alas, his Master was not a womanizer, otherwise this business would be less difficult to do.

Yinyou nodded, “How is her character?”

“The person who sent her said that she was the second daughter of her family, and she was usually considered honest. Her father is a third-rank military official3参领. Cānlǐng. Military assistant. “(…) In charge of the subordinate’s war preparations, military registration, litigation, household registration, land and residence, etc.” Baidu. and her education is good.” Fu Duo saw that his Master had no intention of refusing, and put forward good words for the woman.

“Since she was sent by E’niang, let’s give her face. You can handle her affairs.” 

The woman was already here. If he sent her back, this woman may have a hard time in the future. His E’niang will also lose face. Yinyou understood that Consort Cheng, as a mother, couldn’t wait to give her son attractive women. Although he was a little bit against these precept, he still had to adapt to the environment here4 If Yinyou sends the woman back to her family, she would become a dishonor for her family, and she would never marry in her life again, either she would be confined in a courtyard forever forgotten or be sent to a nunnery. Ancient china was very patriarchal and emphasized on filial piety. Since Consort Cheng, his birth mother, bestowed someone to him, he had to accept her, else he would be called unfilial and his mother would be ashamed and angry, and would lose reputation among the harem women. (Don’t instill modern values to a feudal dynasty, it’s not realistic!) .

“Aye,” Fu Duo accepted the order happily, and began to think about which courtyard to arrange this new girl.

“You all go down, I will sit for a while by myself.” Yinyou yawned and leaned lazily on the Taishi chair.

Several serving servants retreated. Yinyou shook his fan, drank two sips of ice milk, and fell asleep drowsily with squinted eyes.

This sleep was actually a dream about those things in the previous life. His parents died early, and he stayed with relatives. Although he had his parents’ inheritance and was not treated harshly, he didn’t get much affection. After graduating from university, he entered the workforce and competed against others. The woman he liked ended up marrying a second-generation official, who had a better future than a person with no background like himself. Such a choice was considered normal in a cruel society. He didn’t hate it, he simply felt sad. He died in a daze, and now, apart from his parents in the previous life, only Consort Cheng was the one who really treated him well…

“Seventh brother, why are you here alone?” Yinyou felt a gust of cool wind blowing, opened his eyes and saw that it was Yinzhen holding a fan and shaking it for him, his face was full of worry.

Seeing that Yinyou’s expression was not right, Yinzhen squatted down, distressed and frowning, “Are you not feeling well?”

Yinyou stared blankly at Yinzhen who was still fanning him while sweating all over, and the last care and defense against Yinzhen in his heart disappeared. At this moment, he couldn’t help but smile, “It’s okay, I just fell asleep and was in a daze. I had a messed up dream.”

“You’re still laughing, what does the sweat on your forehead look like?” Yinzhen took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat on Yinyou’s forehead, “There are a lot of insects and ants outside, and it won’t help even if you light up some incense yet you’re still  lying outside. If the ice in your house is not enough, I’ll ask someone to bring you some, besides the ones given by Huang Ama, I have saved a lot in my house.”

Let Yinzhen, the future Emperor Yongzheng wipe his sweat? Who else would get this kind of treatment? Yinyou was very, very proud and so he stretched out his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead on Yinzhen’s sleeve, making Yinzhen so angry that he flicked Yinyou’s forehead. “Sit down, your mansion was built not long ago, and there are few trees with little shade. If you have nothing to do, you can sit in my house, it’s much cooler than yours.”

“That’s a good idea. The two of us share ice, which saves money.” Yinyou smiled playfully, “It’s just a pity that you have Fu Jin, or we can sleep together at night, it’ll save  us even more money.”

Yinzhen’s eyes flickered slightly, and then he replied in a deep voice, “What are you talking about? After hearing this, people would think that the princes in the Great Qing can’t even afford two pieces of ice.” 

Yinyou’s words were actually extremely unorthodox. This fault was why Yinzhen scolded him, but there was also a small mistake he caught on which showed him Yinyou closeness.

Yinyou laughed twice, and asked Yinzhen to continue fanning him.

“Do it yourself. After squatting for a long time, my legs are sore.” Yinzhen threw the fan back into Yinyou’s hand, stood up and kicked his legs; inwardly, he was thinking about what Yinyou said before, and his heart was extremely happy. What Yinyou said just now at least showed that he didn’t resist sleeping together5 In chapter 35.1, Yinyou disliked sleeping together with Yinzhen. Now in chapter 48, he doesn’t. (Yinzhen’s like, “Omg, the frog has been boiled! Can I start eating him up now?”).

“Fourth brother, since it’s cooler in your house, let’s go to your house.” Yinyou waved his fan and stood up unsteadily.

Seeing his appearance, Yinzhen sighed, and led his little tail to drink iced lotus seed soup. The servants in Yinyou’s mansion watched their Master go out with a “I knew it would end like this” expression on their faces.

It seemed that their Master was going to the fourth brother’s house to stole some good things again; he had good tea in spring, ice in summer, and fresh meat and fruits in winter. They have been serving the Master for three seasons, and they were used to his antics. They secretly wondered what will the Master get from the fourth prince this coming autumn.

Another few days passed, and Yinyou was served by someone to change into court clothes, and he and his brothers worshiped the mausoleum and heaven and earth together6“Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) emperors followed the routine rituals at the mausoleum temple every three years. In addition, they also personally presided over sacrificial ceremonies at the Imperial Temple of Emperors in Beijing.” “The Ming and Qing imperial tombs are natural sites modified by human influence, carefully chosen according to the principles of geomancy (Fengshui) to house numerous buildings of traditional architectural design and decoration. They illustrate the continuity over five centuries of a world view and concept of power specific to feudal China.” Source 1, 2.. Yinyou didn’t need to do much, he just needed to kneel where he should kneel and stand where he should stand.

Hearing Kangxi’s impassioned announcement to heaven, Yinyou knelt on the ground, feeling beads of sweat dripping down to the ground. Except for Kangxi’s voice, the surroundings were so quiet that even people’s breathing could not be heard.

Kneeling properly until the ceremony was over, Yinyou’s eyes darkened after standing up, and when he got into the sedan chair, he felt that he couldn’t see anything in the sedan chair, so he closed his eyes and rested for a while.

There were no pedestrians on the street, the doors of the shops were closed, and there was no other sound except the sound of horseshoes. Sure enough, the TV shows where the emperor offered sacrifices to heaven and there were crowds of people watching the excitement all around was just floating clouds. 

Not to mention anything else, just think of the National Day military parade7National Day, holiday celebrated on October 1 to mark the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The holiday is also celebrated by China’s two special administrative regions: Hong Kong and Macau. You can watch the 2019 parade here: YT link.  in later generations; there was no reason for ordinary people to watch casually, let alone in the old feudal dynasty.

In Dream of the Red Chamber8Wikipedia: “A novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for its psychological scope, and its observation of the worldview, aesthetics, life-styles, and social relations of 18th-century China.”, when a concubine went out of the palace to visit her relatives, people had to pave the road and repair everywhere, as well as follow various etiquettes; it was such a complex situation, the royal family offering sacrifices to heaven must be even more so cumbersome.

Dragging his soul, Yinyou climbed out of the sedan chair. He felt that his whole body was soaked, sticky and greasy, and he was very uncomfortable. Looking at his other brothers, their complexions were not much better, especially the Crown Prince who was tossing with Kangxi, his face was already glowing red from the sun.

All the princes, relatives and ministers were standing in the hall; the emperor did not speak, and no one dared to leave.

Kangxi sat at the head, and signal to Li Dequan holding out several imperial edicts, then, he read them one by one.

Everyone understood that this was a reward for meritorious deeds.

All the ministers who participated in the war received rewards, among which Fiyanggū and Maska received the most generous rewards, and then it was the turn to confer titles on all grown-up princes. ①

Yinyou knelt on the ground. He didn’t know in which year Kangxi conferred titles to his sons, but according to his age, he should have the title of Prince of the Third Rank or Prince of the Fourth Rank.

The eldest brother was promoted to Prince Zhi of the Second Rank, the third brother was promoted to Prince Cheng of the Second Rank, the fourth brother was promoted to Prince Yong of the Second Rank and the fifth brother, the seventh brother and the eighth brother were all promoted to Princes of the Third Rank.

Several adult princes now had titles, and some ministers in the court turned their minds9Meaning they now had ideas to support a prince to reach the throne (a titled prince shows merit and legitimacy). But this has to be done secretly, lest the now Emperor knew of their disloyalty. but soon enough, restrained themselves.

When Yinzhen heard that he was promoted to be Prince of the Second Rank, he was somewhat surprised. He thought that since Fiyanggū had won the military merit this time, Huang Ama would suppress him10The author holds Fiyanggū as Yinzhen’s father-in-law (historically untrue) so that’s why Yinzhen thought he would be suppressed. Since he had a powerful relative, he would need to be repressed so as to not surpass the Crown Prince.. At most, he would get be a Prince of the Third Rank, he was still a bit young and Huang Ama should be reluctant to give him a higher rank. Thus, he didn’t think much but unexpectedly, he was actually given a higher rank. He didn’t  expect that Huang Ama’s will would surprise him so much this time.

After leaving the palace, the brothers congratulated each other. The eldest brother invited the younger brothers to listen to an opera in his villa in a few days. The eldest brother asked, and the younger brothers agreed one by one. 

Only after leaving the palace and reaching Yinzhen’s residence did Yinyou relax his tense body.

“This younger brother is here to congratulate my oldest brother,” Yinyou smiled and cupped his fists at Yinzhen.

Seeing that the joy in his eyes was not fake, Yinzhen smiled and followed along, “As an older brother, I also congratulate the seventh younger brother.”

Yinyou smiled cunningly, “Yeah, at least, the monthly salary will be increased.”

Yinzhen shook his head with a helpless smile. In fact, he was still a little uneasy about being named Prince of the Second Rank. This uneasiness made him decide to be more careful in the near future, for fear that what Huang Ama would think he was arrogant.

Looking at Yinyou who was smiling so hard that his eyes could not be seen, Yinzhen thought to himself that the seventh brother’s rank was perfect for him, he couldn’t be said to be treated coldly by Huang Ama, but he was also not treated preferentially. This perfect balance was a relief.

The author has something to say: ① In history, little fourth was promoted to the Second Rank in the 37th year111698 of Kangxi, I was ahead of time O(∩_∩)O~ Make way, I’m here to make little fourth a Prince of the Second Rank!

The translator has something to say: Yinyou is now Prince Chun of the Third Rank! According to the original timeline, in the 48th year of Kangxi, (1709), Yinyou was granted the title Prince Chun of the Second Rank. In the 1st year of Yongzheng (1723), he was promoted to Prince Chun of the First Rank.