The twenty-third day of the eighth month, the thirteenth year of Yongzheng.
The sound of the Cloud Board tore through the air. Initially, it was like a sudden crack of thunder, but in an instant, it vibrated so sharply that it made one’s eardrums ring.
One, two, three rings…
Yinti, who had been leaning back in his rocking chair with his eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open. He lunged to his feet, his murky, dim eyes flashing with a sharp light as they locked onto the direction of the Forbidden City.
The sounds of the Cloud Board layered upon one another, accompanied by a continuous stream of new, hurried chimes. Yinti didn’t need to count, let alone guess, to know the answer: the Emperor had passed away!
The Emperor was dead!
Which meant… Yinzhen was dead.
Yinti’s body went limp, and he collapsed heavily back into the rocking chair. Even as his primary consort, Lady Wanyan, led palace maids and eunuchs into the courtyard to change him into funeral attire and guide him through the national mourning protocols, he remained motionless throughout, like a statue without a soul.
It wasn’t until everything had concluded and the maids and eunuchs had all retreated, leaving him alone in the room, that he finally came to his senses.
Without undressing, he fell back heavily onto the bedding, staring blankly at the top of the bed curtains. Hatred and resentment, wrapped in an indefinable sense of melancholy, entangled him, preventing him from closing his eyes for a long time.
“Yinzhen.”
“Yinzhen!”
“Yinzhen—!”
Until the final moment before his consciousness sank into darkness, Yinti was still repeating those two syllables. He couldn’t say exactly what he was unreconciled about; he only knew that the resentment was like a stone wedged in his chest, weighing him down so heavily he couldn’t breathe.
When he woke again, he actually saw himself in another world. In that world, he was on a ship out at sea, roaming the vast ocean with his brothers and friends…
Just as he thought it was merely a beautiful dream after getting drunk, an entity called a System appeared before him, telling him that all of this was not a dream, but a parallel world.
【Do you want to start over?】
【Of course I do.】 Yinti stared at the scene of freedom before him, and recalling his lingering resentment and anger, he replied without hesitation.
As his voice fell, a contract shimmering with a soft glow floated in front of Yinti.
【This… isn’t a dream?】
【Of course not. We are the Ideal System, here to help you become a better version of yourself.】
【What is the price?】
【Rest assured, we are a legitimate System. What we collect are the intense emotions triggered when you experience various events, including your own and those of the world’s people.】
【All you need to do is fulfill your own ideals and goals—】
Yinti glanced at the world of freedom, but he desired the throne even more. He scanned the contract and then signed his name in a bold, flourishing hand at the bottom: Aisin Gioro Yinti.
As the contract vanished into a white light, he followed the System toward the parallel world.
Not long after activation, the System suddenly issued a sharp warning: 【Warning! Temporal Turbulence detected at destination!】
In the next second, the stable space shattered like glass. The white points of light surrounding them instantly faded, replaced by a chaotic jumble of multi-colored spots that stung Yinti’s eyes so much he couldn’t keep them open.
Violent jolting followed. Yinti was like a ship caught in a storm, his body tossed up and down. He reached out to grab something, but his hands met only empty air. Finally, his consciousness sank away entirely.
The twenty-second day of the twelfth month, the twenty-ninth year of Kangxi.
Warm sunlight pierced through the thick layers of clouds, sweeping diagonally across the palace walls of the Palace of Eternal Harmony. It gilded the glazed tiles of the eaves with a layer of warm light and spilled onto the accumulated snow in the courtyard, creating a dappled glow.
“So much snow!” As soon as Yinti’s feet touched the ground, his gaze was caught by the snowy scene outside. He rushed out recklessly, stepping right into the snow: “Wow! Wow! Wow!”
“Little Master, slow down!”
“Little Master, be careful of the cold!”
His wet nurse and the palace maids and eunuchs chased after him, holding a fox-fur cloak to wrap around him. Yinti wrinkled his nose and pushed the cloak away with his small hands, glaring at the group huffily: “I’m a man, I’m not afraid of the cold!”
Seeing the bean-sized little fellow solemnly declaring himself a man, the wet nurse couldn’t help but smile, her eyes crinkling. She softened her voice to coax him: “The Little Master is naturally the most, most powerful man, but… if the Mistress De finds out you aren’t wearing your cloak, she will surely scold us servants…”
Yinti’s resisting hands paused for a moment.
Seeing him relent, the wet nurse’s heart nearly melted, and the smile on her face grew even more tender: “Furthermore, if—and I only mean if—you catch a cold, you’ll have to drink three big bowls of bitter medicine—the kind the young master in the back courtyard had last time.”
Yinti remembered that dark, foul-smelling soup and his body trembled involuntarily.
Seeing this, the wet nurse immediately gave a look, and the palace servants surrounding them chimed in. After much persuasion, they finally got Yinti to put on the cloak and the Guanyin hood.
Once dressed, Yinti had transformed into a round, plump little glutinous rice ball. Forget falling; even the wind could barely penetrate his layers.
He awkwardly shook his head, moved his arms, and kicked his legs. He felt tightly bound, lacking the freedom he had just a moment ago: “It’s too much, it’s so hot!”
“Little Master, the weather is cold. It’s better to dress warmly.” A little eunuch following behind smiled and tried to smooth things over: “If Little Master feels stuffy, why not head inside? It’s warm and comfortable inside, and there are candied fruits to eat. Oh! The Imperial Household Department just sent over new toys this morning.”
“No!” Yinti glared at him. “I want to play out here.”
“What do you think you are, trying to boss the Little Master around?” The wet nurse quickly scolded the little eunuch and turned back to coax Yinti: “What does Little Master want to play? Rolling snowballs, building a snowman? Or riding a horse?”
Yinti didn’t think any of those options were good. His little face scrunched up, and he soon came up with a great idea, shouting, “You all, pile the snow together! I want to build a mountain!”
The servants didn’t dare disobey. Before long, they had piled up a mountain of snow in an open space against the courtyard wall.
Yinti’s eyes widened, and he jumped with excitement, scrambling up the pile with both hands and feet. The snow was piled quite high, and halfway up, his foot slipped. He landed with a thwack on the snow and slid all the way to the bottom.
“Little Master!”
“Does it hurt anywhere, Little Master?”
The palace maids and eunuchs were terrified, rushing forward to help him up.
However, far from being scared, Yinti was full of excitement. Ignoring their inquiries, he began to climb up again on his own, then slid down like he was on a slide, landing on the ground with a splat, earning another round of gasps from the servants.
“So much fun!” Yinti giggled happily, having the time of his life as he climbed up and slid down, over and over.
After a few turns, the servants’ hearts finally began to settle. A clever little eunuch even brought more snow from nearby to pad the area where Yinti was landing.
After playing several times, Yinti gradually grew bored. He climbed back to his previous spot, looked up at the peak of the snow mountain, and climbed a bit higher.
The maids and eunuchs immediately became anxious again. The wet nurse told two little eunuchs to go up and stop him, but the snow pile was loose and couldn’t support an adult’s weight; after two steps, they slid down with the snow, unable to get near him.
The wet nurse was sweating with anxiety. She wanted to have the snow pile cleared but feared angering Yinti. She could only call out, “Little Master, come down quickly! It’s time to pay respects to Mistress De! This morning’s breakfast even has your favorite fish congee and chestnut cakes.”
At first, Yinti stopped his movements as the wet nurse expected, but in the next second, as he prepared for one final turn, instead of sliding down, he surged upward, intending to slide from the very peak to do something truly impressive!
The wet nurse hadn’t expected her words to actually cause more trouble. Seeing the Fourteenth Prince climbing higher and higher, she could no longer maintain her composure and shouted to the little eunuchs to save him: “What are you standing there for? Quickly—”
Before she could finish, a loud roar came from outside the courtyard: “Yinti!? What are you doing up there!”
The sudden noise startled Yinti. His foot slipped, and he tumbled all the way from the top to the bottom.
Yinti was dizzy from the fall. He lay face-down in the snow for a long while before the fear set in, and he burst into loud wails.
The servants scrambled to surround and comfort him, some even saying indignantly, “Who was it that scared the Little Master?”
Before the words had fully landed, a figure swept in like a whirlwind. The Fourth Prince, Yinzhen, had a face as cold as iron. His gaze swept over the group of maids and eunuchs as he scolded sharply, “Is this how you serve? Letting the Fourteenth climb so high—if he had fallen and hurt himself, could any of you have answered for it?”
Only then did the maids and eunuchs realize who it was. Their faces turned pale as they all dropped to their knees with a series of thuds.
The Fourth Prince’s scolding was mixed with Yinti’s crying, the noise exploding over the Palace of Eternal Harmony like a clap of thunder.
Soon, Consort De, wrapped in a cloak, emerged from the room. Her beautiful eyes surveyed the scene and quickly landed on Yinti.
“Waaah, E-niang.” Yinti sobbed, reaching out his small hands for a hug. “Bad person, Fourth Brother is bad, he scared baby.”
“When did I scare you?” the Fourth Prince countered with a dark expression, then stepped forward to Consort De: “Paying respects to E-niang.”
Consort De ignored him, walking straight past him to Yinti’s side. She bent down to pick him up, patting his back to comfort him as she walked toward the hall, not forgetting to glare back at Yinzhen: “You, come inside with me!”
Finally, she gave Nanny Luo a meaningful look.
Yinzhen didn’t notice Consort De’s small gesture. His lips moved as if to speak, but he slowly closed his mouth, watching the silhouettes of the mother and child clinging together. His gaze grew dark.
It was as if a transparent wall had risen in front of him, separating him from that mother and son.
Yinzhen had long known that his mother treated him and the Fourteenth differently, but every time he saw it, his heart still felt like it had been sliced.
Yinzhen’s hands at his sides tightened slightly. He took a deep breath but still stepped forward, following the pair into the palace rooms.
Once the three of them were inside, Nanny Luo paused at the door. She gently closed the palace doors and then cast a sharp, piercing look at the servants kneeling in the courtyard, signaling for them to be taken away.
Inside the hall, Yinzhen originally wanted to bring up the snow pile so that Consort De would properly discipline the Fourteenth.
But just as he was about to speak, Yinti rushed to talk first, complaining one moment that the wet nurse had dressed him too warmly, and saying the next that he was all grown up and didn’t need anyone to feed him.
“Yinti is right.” Consort De held Yinti, responding to his every word. “From now on, I’ll have Nanny Luo and Su Yan serve you. They are old-timers by my side, and they are much more steady and reliable than those careless ones.”
With that, she touched Yinti’s little head: “Really? Let E-niang see!”
As she spoke, a palace maid brought forward the breakfast. Yinti climbed onto a small stool with great energy, gripping a soup spoon to bring the fish congee to his mouth.
Every bite he took was met with a word of praise from Consort De.
When Yinti was half-full, he happily picked up a chestnut cake. He took a small bite and then joyfully brought it to Consort De’s lips: “E-niang, taste it, it’s sweet and so yummy!”
Consort De took the chestnut cake Yinti offered. It melted in her mouth, its sweetness flowing straight to her heart. Her features relaxed into an undeniable smile: “Mhm, baby is right, the chestnut cake is truly sweet.”
That warm and focused look only made Yinzhen’s eyes sting. He watched coldly, his heart feeling as if it were being squeezed by a giant hand, making even breathing feel heavy and painful.
He lost all desire to speak, his gaze dropping to the floor, only wishing for the morning greeting to end so he could leave sooner.
Once Yinti finished eating, Consort De had someone take him back to his room to sleep. Only when the hall held just Consort De and the Fourth Prince did she finally look directly at Yinzhen, her voice instantly turning cold: “The Emperor just spoke before the New Year, telling you to restrain your arrogance and impulsiveness and maintain calm and self-possession. How many days has it been before you come shouting and yelling in my courtyard?”
Just before the New Year, the Fourth Prince, Yinzhen, had gotten into a conflict with the Ninth Prince and others. The latter had shaved the fur of Yinzhen’s beloved puppy clean off. Yinzhen, unable to swallow his anger, had given the ringleader, the Ninth Prince, a sound thrashing.
Because of this, Consort De had received many a mocking look from Consort Yi, and the palace gossip had spread like wildfire. It went from two princes having a dispute to the Fourth Prince shaving the Ninth Prince’s head bald over a dog.
The Classic of Filial Piety states: “Our bodies—to every hair and bit of skin—are received from our parents, and we must not presume to injure or wound them. This is the beginning of filial piety.”
The rumor that the Fourth Prince had ruined someone’s hair was directly linked to being unfilial, unkind, unharmonious, and uncompassionate. Such malice naturally made Consort De unable to sit still.
As she spoke of this, she remembered Consort Yi’s sarcastic remarks and couldn’t help but mutter a curse: “It was clearly time for the Ninth Prince to change his hairstyle, so the hair around the edges was shaved, yet some people are spreading that story further and further, as if they want to carve those words into you.”
Rumors were just like that; the more ridiculous they were, the faster they spread. Consort De had sent people to suppress them, so they stopped on the surface, but in secret, they were spreading even faster.
Consort De’s mood soured further, and she gripped her handkerchief tightly: “How many eyes in the palace are watching you right now? Can’t you be more careful?”
Listening to this, Yinzhen’s rising feeling of being wronged subsided slightly. He thought that Consort De’s cold handling of the matter was for his own good…
Before his thoughts could settle, Consort De shifted the subject back to what had just happened: “I know you were worried about the Fourteenth, but how old is he? If he made a mistake, you as his older brother should explain things to him carefully. How could you be so loud? What if you had scared him?”
After a pause, Consort De added, “By the way, it’s also time for the Fourteenth to begin his studies. I heard that in the Princes’ Quarters, you often tutor the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Princes? From now on, don’t worry about them. Come back and give lessons to the Fourteenth.”
“E-niang!” Hearing this, Yinzhen finally couldn’t hold back: “The three younger brothers have just moved into the Princes’ Quarters and are not yet adjusted. I was merely assisting them a bit.”
“Moreover, the Eleventh Prince is bright, the Twelfth Prince is well-behaved, and as for the Thirteenth Prince—when Concubine Min lived in the Palace of Eternal Harmony, she was most respectful to you, and the Thirteenth Prince was raised at your knee for two years…”
“How can that be the same?” Consort De laughed in spite of herself upon hearing this and shook her head: “Yinti is your brother of the same blood; you should look out for each other!”
“Does ‘looking out for each other’ mean I’m the only one who has to compromise?” Yinzhen blurted out. “For the sake of the Fourteenth, I can’t even tutor my other brothers? Besides—”
The Fourth Prince curled his lips in a self-mocking smile: “Look at the Fourteenth’s reaction just now. He can’t wait to hide from me. How could he possibly be willing to let me teach him?”
Consort De’s smile stiffened for a moment. After a long while, she let out a long breath: “Are you still dwelling on what just happened? It’s not that I’m forbidding you from disciplining him, it’s just that Yinti is young and needs to be taught slowly.”
“Now, I am giving you two brothers a chance to grow close. When the Fourteenth grows up, he will naturally become sensible.”
Hearing this, the feeling of being wronged that had just subsided surged back up again. Yinzhen’s voice trembled: “E-niang, in your eyes, am I really such a narrow-minded person that I would hold a grudge against a three-year-old child? Just now, when the Fourteenth climbed onto that snow slope, it was so dangerous. You don’t scold him, but instead, you blame me for scaring him?”
At this point, Yinzhen gave a cold laugh: “I understand. I should have kept quiet. I should have just watched him fall!”
The author has something to say:
1.
At this stage, Yinti is just a spoiled child, and Consort De is a partial mother.