Yiqing was holding a book in her hands, as she had now begun her early education. Every day, her teacher would read stories to her for about half an hour and then teach her to recognize a few characters.
It was all quite relaxed, since the main duty of the female teacher selected by the Empress Dowager was to keep her entertained and happy. Learning to read was never forced upon her; the most important thing was that she enjoyed herself.
For Yiqing, there was still some difficulty involved, though not in remembering what the characters meant. The real challenge was that she sometimes struggled to recall exactly how each character was written, and when she pictured them in her mind, strokes were often missing or misplaced. This did not matter for the time being, since she was not yet required to write anything down herself. However, she could not help but wonder how things would go once she began formal studies in earnest.
Yinreng crawled over to her side. Seeing that his older sister was paying him no attention, he reached out unhappily and snatched the book right out of her hands. The little boy had been well fed and was quite sturdy, and he possessed surprising strength. Before she could react, the book was gone from her grasp.
Having taken the book, Yinreng did not throw it aside carelessly. Instead, he looked up at Yiqing, who was watching him closely, and shouted loudly, “Play!”
Yiqing pressed her hand to her forehead in exasperation. This little boy had only just started speaking and could not even pronounce the words for “Father” or “Older Sister” clearly yet, but somehow he could say the word “play” perfectly, with every syllable enunciated clearly. She found the situation both amusing and frustrating, and she tapped him lightly on the forehead as if dismissing him.
“Very well, go and play with your little wooden tiger.”
It was not that Yiqing did not want to take Yinreng out to play with her. But because of his special status, his wet nurses would remain tense and on high alert the entire time they were outside, and watching them made Yiqing feel weary and stressed. It was better not to go, and spare both the nurses and herself from unnecessary worry.
Feeling that his sister had brushed him off, Yinreng immediately pouted and looked ready to throw a tantrum. Within the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Kangxi was constantly occupied with affairs of state. Although he never failed to come and check on Yinreng every day, more often than not, the little boy was fast asleep when he arrived.
The wet nurses responsible for caring for Yinreng doted on him completely. Whatever he asked for, he received immediately, and he was never denied anything he desired. Having been refused by his sister, Yinreng felt deeply wronged, and a loud, clear cry burst from his mouth.
The sound of a small child crying carries with it remarkable power and reach.
Even Kangxi, who was busy dealing with official business, heard the noise. He raised a hand to his forehead and sighed. Standing before him were several government officials, with whom he had been discussing important military and state matters.
At that time, Wang Fuchen had been trapped within the isolated city of Pingliang, and his supplies of food and provisions were nearly exhausted. If he could be persuaded to surrender, it would deliver a devastating blow to the forces led by Wu Sangui. Kangxi had already sent General Tuhai, Commander-in-Chief for Pacification, to negotiate with him, and reports had recently arrived indicating that Wang Fuchen was beginning to show signs of yielding. Kangxi had been in high spirits upon receiving this good news, only to be interrupted by the sound of Yinreng crying from the side hall.
The officials standing in attendance also heard the sound. Suo’etu, the son of the late trusted minister Sonin, had always enjoyed a close relationship with Kangxi. He smiled broadly and spoke in a lighthearted tone, “The Crown Prince’s voice is loud and strong. I am certain that in the years to come, he will be able to draw the heaviest of bows and become a true hero and warrior of the Great Qing.”
Suo’etu was, in fact, the uncle of Empress Heseri, which meant he was naturally and firmly aligned with the Crown Prince’s interests. Since his words were spoken in jest, Kangxi did not take offense, and even laughed along with him.
Once the terms for Wang Fuchen’s surrender had been discussed and finalized, Kangxi dismissed the officials and prepared to visit the side hall to see his two children.
By this time, Yinreng had already stopped crying. He had realized that making a fuss did not cause his sister to pay him any more attention. He was a bright little boy, and he understood that while crying would always bring him whatever he wanted from his wet nurses or from his Imperial Father, it did not always have the same effect when directed at his sister.
Seeing that he had calmed down, Yiqing was happy to play with him using small toys, even if she could not take him outside. She brought out her set of tangram puzzles, showed him how the pieces fit together, demonstrated how to play with them, and then let him try it for himself.
The tangram pieces were small enough for small hands to hold, but far too large to be swallowed, so Yiqing felt completely at ease leaving him to play with them. Even if he tried to put them in his mouth, he could do no more than take a few gentle bites.
At this age, Yinreng reached out for everything he saw and had a habit of putting every object he touched straight into his mouth. It was already common practice for him to do this with his own toys, but there had even been occasions when he did far more surprising things. Once, when Kangxi had brought him to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility to pay their respects, Yinreng had grabbed hold of the string of prayer beads around the Grand Empress Dowager’s neck and immediately tried to put them in his mouth.
Because of this habit, anyone who came into contact with Yinreng or cared for him was now forbidden from wearing beaded chains or dangling ornaments of any kind. Everyone was terrified that the beads might come loose and fall to the ground, where Yinreng would certainly pick them up and put them in his mouth.
When Kangxi walked into the room, he found his two children sitting side by side, each occupied with their own activities. Yiqing was still turning the pages of her book, a volume selected by the Imperial Household Department specifically to be suitable for young children.
The book was filled with illustrations and pictures, with very little written text, making it look much like the picture books found in modern times. Books of this nature were extremely valuable and difficult to produce, as the detailed illustrations could not be created through woodblock printing methods and had to be drawn and painted by hand, one page at a time.
Even so, the Imperial Household Department had located and brought more than ten such books to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility. Yiqing read one every day, and by this point, she had already finished five or six of them.
The palace maids and eunuchs standing nearby were about to step forward and pay their respects, but Kangxi waved his hand to signal that they need not go through the formalities.
He then sat down between the two children, glancing first at the tangram pieces in Yinreng’s hands and then turning his attention to the illustrated book Yiqing was reading.
“Yiqing, do you recognize the characters written on these pages?” Kangxi asked with a gentle smile, looking down at the book.
He knew that Yiqing had recently begun learning to read and write, and he wanted to test her knowledge to see how much progress she had made. The most important purpose of education, in his view, was to help people understand principles and distinguish right from wrong. He hoped only that his daughter would develop wisdom and good judgment. If she enjoyed learning, he would engage the most distinguished teachers to guide her studies; if she did not take to it, there was no need for her to pursue knowledge to the extent required to become a top scholar or government official.
“Of course I do,” Yiqing replied, nodding her head vigorously with an expression of great pride and confidence.
Kangxi pointed to the characters written in the book one by one and asked her to identify them. While she might not yet be able to write every character perfectly, reading them aloud was a simple task for her.
As he listened to Yiqing read through the text clearly and correctly, Kangxi reached out and gently stroked the top of her head. He praised her enthusiastically at length, and then turned his attention to Yinreng, who was sitting beside her.
Yinreng had not noticed his Imperial Father’s arrival at all, as he was currently fully focused on trying to chew on the tangram pieces.
The tangram pieces were made of solid wood, which made them ideal objects for teething, since Yinreng was in the stage where his new teeth were coming in and his gums felt sore and itchy. His wet nurses wanted to stop him, but they hesitated and dared not step forward because Kangxi was present in the room.
Seeing that Yinreng had once again started putting things in his mouth, Kangxi gave instructions for someone to bring him specially made teething biscuits. These were made by kneading flour and milk together to form dough, which was then baked until hard and crisp. They were difficult and tough for adults to chew, but perfectly suited to help relieve the discomfort of teething children.
However, Yinreng clearly did not like them at all. As soon as his wet nurse placed one in his hand, he threw it away immediately. He then went straight back to chewing on his tangram pieces with great concentration, as if they possessed some special quality or taste that he found irresistible.
These teething biscuits had no distinct flavor of any kind, tasting only faintly of milk, which explained why Yinreng showed no interest in them. He drank milk all day long and had grown completely indifferent to anything made from dairy products. In fact, there had been several occasions when he had caught sight of the food Yiqing was eating and had done everything he could to grab a share for himself.