Returning to the Eastern Four-Halls, the couple changed into light, everyday garments. After a simple wash, they sat down at the table to partake in their meal.
The morning meal was exceptionally lavish. The staple dishes included crystal buns and polished rice; the meat dishes featured stewed chicken, sweet and sour fish, and eight-treasure diced rabbit; and the vegetarian dishes consisted of eight-treasure tofu, mushrooms with rapeseed, and golden shredded silver ear fungus, complemented by a dish of fermented eggs and a dish of pickled cucumbers.
The quantity of this morning meal was truly somewhat excessive, but considering the palace only served two proper formal meals a day—and even then, if they didn’t put effort into cooking them well, the imperial kitchen wouldn’t need to keep so many people on staff—it made a certain degree of sense.
Additionally, there was another reason: having a wide variety of dishes made it convenient for the master to bestow food upon those of lower rank. For instance, during the New Year’s Eve banquet, Kangxi would reward over twenty dishes to the inner court, imperial princes and princesses, and the ministers of the outer court. If they prepared too few, there truly wouldn’t be enough to go around.
The young couple had walked nearly half the imperial city that morning and were ravenously hungry. They consumed the majority of the food, leaving only two dishes barely touched, which they rewarded to the servants below.
After eating their fill, both felt a bit drowsy. Having gone to sleep quite late last night and rushing about several times this morning, they were indeed fatigued. However, there were still dozens of people waiting in the courtyard for them to receive. Wuyunzhu reapplied her lip tint, looking somewhat more spirited before following Yingtang outside.
Seeing the two of them emerge, everyone in the courtyard knelt in unison to pay their respects.
“Greetings to the Ninth Prince, greetings to the Primary Consort. Congratulations to Your Highnesses on your blissful marriage, and may you be of one heart and mind forever and be blessed with early descendants.”
There were over forty people in the courtyard, and their voices were neat and resounding, sounding just like a synchronized chant. It was estimated that the sound could easily reach the Zhongshui Palace ahead.
Wuyunzhu felt awkward enough to curl her toes inside her shoes, but Yingtang was immensely pleased. With a grand wave of his hand, he magnostimously gave the order: “Reward!”
While distributing the rewards, Yingtang explained the personnel situation within the Four-Halls to Wuyunzhu.
He Yuzhu was loyal and honest, managing the front courtyard; Li Dacheng was clever and adaptable, serving closely by his side. There were no palace maids in the front courtyard, only young eunuchs and coarse-labor matrons. The inner courtyard was managed by his wet nurse, Nanny Wang.
“If you have any matters to delegate, just find these managers.”
Wuyunzhu nodded, indicating that she understood.
Once the rewards were fully distributed, the two got up and returned to their rooms. However, they had only been seated for a short while when Nanny Wang walked in, followed by two young women whose appearances were delicate and whose attire was more refined than that of ordinary palace maids.
Wuyunzhu had a guess in her mind; those two should be the personnel maids arranged by Consort Yi. As for this Nanny Wang, entering the master’s inner chambers without reporting and bringing others along with her—had she forgotten the rules, or did she simply not regard her, the female master of the house, as anyone of importance?
Having just married in, she knew it was unwise to stir up trouble. Suppressing the displeasure in her heart, she asked calmly, “Nanny Wang, is there something you need to report?”
Nanny Wang pointed at the two women behind her and smiled, “Primary Consort, these are the geges bestowed upon the Ninth Prince by Consort Yi—Lady Lang and Lady Liu. They are here specially to pay their respects to you and offer tea of submission.”
As her words fell, a young palace maid holding tea entered from outside. The two women took the teacups and knelt before Wuyunzhu. “Please partake of the tea, Primary Consort.”
Wuyunzhu frowned slightly. She hadn’t even spoken yet, and this group was already arranging things behind her back of their own accord.
Especially Lady Liu and Lady Lang; even after kneeling, they held the teacups high. Were they trying to back her into a corner? If she refused to drink that tea, word would likely spread that she was jealous and harsh toward concubines.
She certainly didn’t want to become the next Primary Consort Eighth. Taking the teacup, she lightly touched it to her lips, set it back down, and signaled Caiyue to distribute the purses.
Since she had to put up a facade, the items couldn’t be too shabby. Inside each purse were a pair of solid gold willow-leaf-wide bracelets and a pair of gold earrings.
Now that the gifts had been given, she didn’t skimp on a few polite words either: “Since you two were sent over by Imperial Mother, I presume you understand the rules. I won’t say too much, but I only hope that in the future you will keep to your proper places and serve the Prince well.”
Having been relegated to sweeping floors upon entering the Four-Halls, eating poorly without a shred of oil or substance, Lady Lang and Lady Liu were overjoyed to suddenly receive so many rewards. Their voices of gratitude were much sweeter than before.
“Thank you for the reward, Primary Consort. This maid will serve the Prince well.”
Hearing the honeyed and sugary tones of these two women, Wuyunzhu felt a bit choked up inside. Using her own money to pay for other women to sleep with her own man…
This made her look like a complete sucker! After the two women stepped down, Wuyunzhu couldn’t help but glare at Yingtang.
Yingtang felt somewhat guilty under her glare. The Primary Consort seemed angry; why was she angry? He hadn’t said a single word just then and had given the Primary Consort complete face.
Could it be because of Lady Lang and Lady Liu? Did she think he had been intimate with them, which made her jealous and angry?
Yingtang’s first reaction was secret delight. Only when the Primary Consort cared about him and liked him would she feel jealous and compete for attention. But brooding in silent anger was bad for one’s health; he had to make things clear to the Primary Consort.
“Primary Consort, if you find Lady Lang and Lady Liu unpleasant to look at, you don’t have to see them. Besides, the Prince doesn’t like them anyway; the Prince only likes you.”
Wuyunzhu lay on the bed with her back facing him, muttering, “His Highness is well-versed in sweet-talking people. Who knows how many maidens you’ve coaxed with words like that? I suppose they’ve heard plenty of them, too.”
Hearing this, Yingtang became even more certain that Wuyunzhu was jealous of those two women, and his heart blossomed with even greater joy.
“No, the Prince has only ever said that to you. Actually, as for those two, the Prince hasn’t even touched a single finger of theirs. Before last night, the Prince was still completely pure and untainted…”
Wait, there didn’t seem to be such a phrase as “unblemished young man,” so Yingtang timely closed his mouth.
Wuyunzhu secretly curved her lips into a smile. She had known since last night that Yingtang was an absolute virgin; not only was he all clumsy and awkward, but he was also a lightning-fast shooter.
Though happy in her heart, she still had to put on an act on the surface. “I hadn’t entered the palace back then, so who knows what things were really like? You’re just making it up as you please.”
“It’s true! The Prince swears that if what I’m saying is false, may the heavens strike…”
Wuyunzhu finally turned around and, imitating the female lead of an idol drama, stretched out two fingers to cover Yingtang’s lips with an expression of deep distress. “I believe you, I believe you! His Highness is not allowed to swear random oaths. If anything were to happen to Your Highness, I—I wouldn’t want to live either.”
She threw herself into Yingtang’s arms and let out a soft whimper.
Seeing that she was finally willing to believe his words, Yingtang felt a wave of relief, which bizarrely gave rise to a sense of grounded stability.
How strange—what on earth had he been feeling guilty about earlier?
Yet, seeing how much the Primary Consort cared about him, even going so far as to say that she wouldn’t live on alone if he died, made him feel wonderfully warm inside, prompting him to resolve to cherish the Primary Consort even more in the future.
The two took a peaceful afternoon nap, and when they woke up, it was already time for the midday meal.
After the meal, Yingtang led Wuyunzhu on a tour of the entire Four-Halls to familiarize her with the functions of each courtyard. Although the Four-Halls wasn’t large, it was fully equipped with a small kitchen, laundry room, and flower-and-plant room.
After touring the grounds and seeing that the hour was getting late, the two changed into formal and dignified attire and set out for the Palace of Earthly Tranquility (Youqing Palace / Yuqing Palace) to meet with all the brothers.
By the time they arrived at the Yuqing Palace, it was already filled with people.
Everyone present was of the same generation, so deep kowtows were unnecessary. After exchanging routine greetings, the two took their seats.
Since the Crown Prince was both an elder brother and the heir apparent with a noble status, it fell to him to introduce this assembly of imperial relatives to Wuyunzhu.
“This is Eldest Brother, Third Brother, Fourth Brother… Sixteenth Brother, Seventeenth Brother.”
So many people…
Wuyunzhu felt like a newly arrived transfer student facing a sea of unfamiliar faces, nodding blankly while maintaining a polite smile.
The Crown Princess smiled gracefully as she continued, “We sisters-in-law all met yesterday, so I won’t say too much more. Today, let’s get acquainted with the younger sisters. This is Ninth Sister-in-law, Tenth Sister-in-law… Sixteenth Sister.”
There were quite a few younger sisters, too.
Wuyunzhu’s gaze swept over the toddler Sixteenth Prince and Sixteenth Princess, then glanced briefly at the newborn Seventeenth Prince wrapped in swaddling clothes. She couldn’t help but sigh at her father-in-law’s truly boundless vitality.
Although the imperial princes were surprised by Wuyunzhu’s beauty, they restrained themselves due to etiquette and did not stare, focusing instead on eagerly pulling Yingtang into conversation. Wuyunzhu, meanwhile, joined the casual chatter of the princesses and consorts, and the atmosphere on both sides was exceedingly pleasant.
Everyone at the banquet wore cheerful expressions, enjoying this moment of relaxation—save for the Eighth Prince, whose smile didn’t reach his eyes and who remained filled with a stifled sense of frustration.
He had been conferred the title of Beile this year, making him the youngest imperial prince to receive a peerage, and he had married the niece of Prince An as his primary consort. He ought to have been supremely self-satisfied, but unfortunately, people always suffered when comparisons were made.
Yinsi hadn’t expected that his Ninth Brother—who used to trail behind him and was never valued by Imperial Father—would actually marry the legitimate daughter of a Manchu commander-in-chief as his primary consort, possessing a background even superior to his own wife’s.
Furthermore, the Ninth Brother’s father-in-law was in the prime of his life and held a high position, backed by five full brothers. In contrast, his own wife’s birth father was a criminal with no brothers to lean upon, and her uncle, the Prince of the Second Rank (Junwang), was merely a relative from a collateral branch.
If Ninth Brother entered the court administration, the assistance he would receive would far surpass his own.
He could have consoled himself by thinking that, after all, his own primary consort was a rare beauty and he shouldn’t be too greedy; but seeing the Ninth Sister-in-law today, he realized that she was the truly breathtaking supreme beauty.
Thinking further of the dowry sent to the Four-Halls the day before, Yinsi grew increasingly resentful. Why was a woman with such a fine lineage, wealth, and stunning appearance assigned to the utterly mediocre Ninth Brother? Could it simply be because Ninth Brother’s birth mother was one of the Four Consorts and possessed a good background?
He didn’t notice that his gaze had lingered on Wuyunzhu for far too long, remaining entirely lost in his own thoughts as he resentfully poured cup after cup of wine down his throat.
All of this was caught by the Primary Consort Eighth, who loved him deeply. She tightly clenched her handkerchief, her gaze toward Wuyunzhu sharpening with a hint of hostility.