HLnovel Chapter 293 "In mourning"
Chapter 293 "In mourning"
After sitting for a while, Yinreng called Eunuch Su and ordered, "Pass the order down. I want to hold the funeral at home."
Eunuch Su: ...I, your old servant, would like to live two more days.
But Yinreng had made up his mind and would not listen to anyone else.
A large area of white soon appeared in the Prince's Mansion.
Huaqi's body had been taken away, so Yinreng ordered people to put the clothes and utensils he had used during his lifetime into the coffin, and then left the house alone.
Eunuch Su secretly felt lucky that the prince had not gone completely crazy.
He instructed everyone that the matter must be carried out quietly, just to give the prince psychological comfort, and no one was allowed to tell anyone.
It was getting dark, and everything in the mansion had been arranged and dinner was ready, just waiting for Yinreng to come back and eat after relaxing.
At the hour of Xu, a cry was heard from the door.
Eunuch Su was shocked and quickly ran out of the room.
Yinreng was seen wearing a coarse linen robe, with a few strands of hair loose, a white hemp rope tied around his waist, and a white mourning hat on his head with tattered brim.
Eunuch Su hurriedly led his men to greet them, but when he looked from behind, he saw a group of people in white clothes following them, all in mourning.
Eunuch Su's eyes went dark and he decided to pass out.
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In the Prince's Palace, mournful music sounded all night long.
The next day, Kangxi received the news.
In the Southern Study, Longkodo stood at attention for two seconds. Kangxi had a gloomy face, and his teeth seemed to be biting his round face into a square one.
"Evil obstacle! Evil obstacle!"
Kangxi trembled as he said, "I am not dead yet, but he dares to wear mourning in the palace. Is he cursing me to death?!"
"Your Majesty, please calm down! Your Majesty, please calm down!"
Longkodo gently advised: "Your Majesty, please take care of your health."
Kangxi looked up, his eyes flashing with fatigue and helplessness:
"Tell me, how should I treat him so that he knows that he is the crown prince. Now he wants to curse me for such a lowly person. How can I tolerate him?"
Upon hearing this, Longkodo slowly knelt down, speaking in a gentle but firm voice:
"Your Majesty, please calm down. Although the Crown Prince's affairs are distressing, Your Majesty is the ruler of all people. You cannot harm your royal body because of one son's mistakes, and you cannot shake the foundation of the country because of this. Although the Crown Prince made mistakes, he is a member of the royal family. How can you depose him lightly? I dare to make this suggestion. I hope Your Majesty will put the overall situation first, suppress your anger for the time being, and find a good plan to correct the Crown Prince's heart and appease the expectations of the court and the people."
Longkodo spoke with great force and in a neither humble nor arrogant manner, and he did not take the opportunity to speak for any other prince. Instead, this made Emperor Kangxi look at him with higher regard.
Kangxi ascended the throne at the age of six, so how could he not see that many of the princes had already revealed their ambitions.
He sought out Longkodo to discuss the matter, but in fact he also had some testing ideas in mind.
Obviously, Longkodo's answer made him quite satisfied.
After coming out of the South Study, Longkodo happened to meet Aunt Zhuxi at the corner of the palace.
The two passed each other and a note was quietly passed to each other.
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The next morning, Kangxi secretly summoned Eunuch Li.
Like Sandezi, he grew up with Kangxi since childhood. He was originally in charge of the food, clothing and other expenses provided by the Imperial Household Department to the princes, so he was quite familiar with Yinreng.
"Yinreng is behaving inappropriately now, and I am very worried. I would like to order you to stay by the prince's side and give him some good advice. Are you willing?"
Eunuch Li’s inner thoughts: I don’t want to.
Although Kangxi's last sentence was a question, his tone was unquestionable.
"I will obey your order and do my best to live up to the emperor's expectations." Eunuch Li knelt on the ground, clasped his hands together, and answered respectfully.
The surveillance operation is quietly unfolding.
Before noon, Eunuch Li had already selected a few close and reliable people to go to the Prince's Mansion together.
Before leaving, Eunuch Li's mind was still echoing with Kangxi's instructions: "If persuasion fails, you must report his actions to me in a timely manner, and I will naturally find another way."
Several eunuchs entered the Prince's residence at an almost swift and ruthless speed.
Everyone who knew the news was waiting for Yinreng to rebel, even Kangxi himself was no exception.
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But Yinreng never came.
Instead, it was Eunuch Li who reported back the news: Crown Prince Yinreng was now even more fond of men, and had had intimate contact with the chef in the mansion, the opera boy, and even the waiters in the teahouse outside.
Yinreng did not even hide it. Not only did he always bring different men with him when he went out, but they were all young and handsome without exception, which attracted the attention of others. He also built a hall called "Nianhua Hall" in his mansion.
In the courtyard of Nianhua Hall, Yinreng planted pear trees with his own hands, which were Huaqi's favorite flowers during his lifetime.
Yinreng even thought that the saplings bought by the gardener were too small and would not look good enough when planted in the yard, so he simply ordered people to take his visiting card and go to the backyards of various mansions to search for already cultivated pear trees.
If the other party is willing, then I will spend a large sum of money to buy it, uproot it and move it back to the Prince's Mansion. If the other party is not willing, then I will do it until the other party is willing.
For a time, rumors were rife in the capital, and almost everyone knew about Yinreng's absurdity. Now even Kangxi could no longer hide it.
"Rebel!"
"evil creature!"
"Unfilial descendants!"
Kangxi was so angry that he smashed everything on the desk in the South Study.
He looked at Sandezi and said, "Tell me, does he have to piss me off to death before he'll stop?"
San Dezi could only say, "Your Majesty, please calm down, Your Majesty, please calm down." But such words were obviously of no use at this moment.
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Kangxi had already sent someone to find the prince and bring him to the Southern Study.
"Your Majesty, the prince is here. Do you want to let him in now?" asked Sandezi.
"Why are you coming in? Let someone beat him until this evil creature comes to his senses!" Kangxi was furious.
Since the Qing army entered the pass, it inherited the previous dynasty's practice of caning. When ministers were punished, they often took off their clothes in public without waiting for the court to end. Sometimes even the princes were no exception.
However, Kangxi was concerned about the crown prince.
In the past, even if he gave a lesson, he would do it in private in a deserted place and would never punish him in public and damage the prince's reputation.
But now, he just wanted Yinreng to feel ashamed.
Kangxi did not say how many strokes of the cane would be used as punishment, and the people below did not dare to ask more questions, so they could only raise the court cane and beat him from time to time.
Everyone working in the palace knew that Emperor Kangxi doted on the Crown Prince. If a fight really broke out, they would be the ones who would suffer.
The spies in the harem were also busy.
The first to arrive was the Grand Tutor, who knelt at the door and pleaded for the Crown Prince, asking Kangxi to show mercy.
Although the princes did not come, they naturally received the news early.
In the Fourth Prince's mansion, Yinzhen paced back and forth in the study. He was struggling over whether or not to use the power he had secretly developed.
As soon as he got the news, he asked Su Peisheng to invite Yixiu over.
"The Emperor is already furious, so we don't need anyone to fan the flames." Yixiu suggested to Yinzhen, "The Crown Prince has already been punished. If we find someone to report to the emperor, this is the only result we can achieve."
"This result is certainly not enough!" Yinzhen said anxiously: "If we can make the Emperor reconsider the candidate, that is our goal."
"I understand the Fourth Master's painstaking efforts." Yixiu continued, "But we are not the only ones who are anxious now. If we can get others to say something like this first, the two of us can sit back and enjoy the benefits more safely."
Yinzhen knew that Yixiu was naturally referring to the eldest and the eighth brother.
Especially the eldest brother, who is always impatient. It would be best if he could speak.
This is not a good thing after all. Although the prince was punished, the emperor also lost face.
He knew it in his heart, so he was conflicted.
But such an opportunity is rare, and he would be unwilling to do nothing.
Yixiu also understood what Yinzhen was thinking.
So, she suggested, "If the Fourth Master wants to take advantage of this opportunity to do something, he doesn't need to use the adults he is familiar with, but instead asks the Emperor for mercy in the capacity of the Crown Prince's younger brother."
"Plead with the Emperor?" Yinzhen asked in surprise, "Will Shuqing be implicated by the Crown Prince at this time?"
"I actually think that the Emperor really needs someone to plead for him right now." Yixiu explained, "The Emperor fought his way to the throne in the previous dynasty. He must be able to see that the Crown Prince is weak and alone. If the Crown Prince is still like this, it would be better to show the Emperor that the Fourth Master is a friendly and respectful brother and values friendship."
What Yixiu didn't say was that, as far as she could remember, the first time the prince was abandoned was because the emperor felt that the prince had little affection for his family.
Even if the specific things in this life are different, the emotions should not change much.
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"Don't you people have bones?"
Kangxi came out of the Southern Study, snatched the sticks from the servants' hands and beat them hard.
After Yinreng's body bounced up a few times, it soon dropped down again.
Sandezi stood aside and saw that the man was breathing out more than breathing in. He was anxious but did not dare to step forward to dissuade him.
"His Majesty!"
At this moment, Consort De came to the Southern Study, hugged Kangxi's arm and said, "Your Majesty, please show mercy."
Kangxi's expression changed slightly. In fact, after those few blows, his anger had subsided a lot, and he was thinking about how to end it.
Concubine De happened to arrive at the right time to plead for mercy.
But when he saw Concubine De, Kangxi was also very surprised. Why did she come?
Facing her superiors' suspicious gaze, Concubine De explained that she had once received favor from the late queen, so she dared to plead for the prince.
Hearing the name of the late queen, Kangxi sighed and pointed at Yinreng who was already unable to move:
"Today, I will spare you for the sake of your late Empress Dowager and Consort De."
After saying this, Kangxi threw down the board in his hand.
Yinreng had no strength left. He gave Concubine De a grateful look and was then sent back to the Prince's Mansion.
This was an idea that Yixiu came up with later. By having Defei come forward, she could not only win Kangxi's favor, but also limit the plea to family matters and not escalate to the level of competing for the throne.
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On April 13th, the sun was shining brightly in the sky, and the sky was clear and blue.
The sky slowly began to darken.
At first, the people were unaware.
Until someone looked up.
"Look! The sun! Divine punishment! Divine punishment!" the people exclaimed.
Everyone looked up.
I saw that there seemed to be an invisible hand in the sky, covering the sky.
The bustling market fell into silence in an instant.
"Heavenly punishment! Heavenly punishment!"
The people's faces turned pale in an instant, and their eyes were filled with fear.
An old man murmured to himself with trembling lips: "This is a warning from God. There must be a great sin in the world that has angered God!"
The young man next to him heard what the old man said and shouted, "There is a great sin in the world, which has angered God!"
The confused people started shouting as well.
When the eclipse was over, Yinzhi, who was still in the palace, said to the young man, "You were very clever just now, and you did a good job."
Yinzhi asked his subordinates to reward him with silver and said, "In the next period of time, you will spread some news in the capital, saying that this heavenly punishment was caused by the prince's misconduct."
Yinzhi felt no guilt at all for spreading rumors in the capital.
Anyway, the affair between Yinreng and his male favorite had been spreading in the capital recently, and Emperor Kangxi was dissatisfied with Yinreng because of it.
He did not create anything out of nothing or fabricate it; he just poured a little fuel on the fire and pushed it a little further.
Yinzhi felt that God was helping him.
Maybe he is the real son of destiny.
"Your Highness is the one who is truly destined to be with you."
Nalan Mingzhu stroked his beard and smiled.
"Since you said so, the people will naturally think so. Now it depends on whether the emperor thinks so too."
Yinreng was still depressed in his mansion and had no idea what was happening in the outside world.
Under the instigation of Nalan Mingzhu and his party, memorials impeaching the prince flew to Emperor Kangxi like snowflakes.
However, Emperor Kangxi no longer had the energy to reprimand him in court.
In the past two months, all he received was negative news about the prince.
He wondered if he was wrong to do that.
He returned to the Palace of Tranquil Longevity in anger.
Not long after, Concubine Yi came over.
"Your Majesty, Concubine Yi is here."
Sandezi could read the Emperor Kangxi's expression, so he naturally knew that the three concubines he valued most now were Concubine Yi, Concubine De and Concubine Shu.
When Emperor Kangxi was upset, if other people came, Sandezi would naturally not let them in.
Concubine Yi placed the food box on the table, and then served Emperor Kangxi a cup of calming tea and a few pieces of exquisite peach blossom cakes.
"Your Majesty, this is a snack I made myself. Would you like to try it?"
Kangxi didn't say anything, obviously not interested, and was still frowning, thinking about Yinreng.
Concubine Yi hesitated for a moment and said tentatively, "These days, I have heard people in the harem occasionally talking about whether Your Majesty is worried about the Crown Prince?"