Send the bride’s father to the palace to receive the imperial decree? This was the protocol reserved for conferring a marriage to an imperial prince!
And the imperial princes of marriageable age in the palace were none other than the Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince! These two were both core members of the Eight-Prince Faction, destined losers.
Wuyunzhu wanted to cry without tears. Why had this ill-fated entanglement fallen upon her? Clearly, during the second review, she had made herself look completely ordinary and unremarkable; why had she still been chosen!
Her sisters-in-law nearby were discussing it in low voices.
“I wonder which imperial prince the Emperor has assigned to our younger sister?”
“The Ninth Prince is older; it should be a marriage assignment to him first.”
“That’s not necessarily true. What if it’s the Tenth Prince? Although Consort Yi enjoys enduring favor, her fifth son only married the daughter of an assistant departmental secretary, while the other princes married daughters of top-ranking officials with titles in their households. Perhaps the Emperor is reluctant for the favorite consort’s son to have too good a father-in-law’s family.”
“Third Sister-in-law makes a reasonable point. The Tenth Prince is of noble status but lost his mother early on. Perhaps the Emperor pities him and wants to find him a good father-in-law’s family…”
Wuyunzhu also hoped it was as her sisters-in-law guessed. If she truly had to choose between the Ninth and Tenth Princes, she would rather have the Tenth Prince.
The Tenth Prince had the moniker “Foolish Ten.” As the saying went, “Names can be mistaken, but nicknames never are.” She figured the Tenth Prince must be of average intelligence and easy to hoodwink. Once she married him, she would work hard to brainwash him into staying far away from the struggle for the succession and just becoming a slacker prince. Over time, that might take effect, and perhaps she could cleanly cut ties with the Eight-Prince Faction.
Furthermore, the Tenth Prince’s maternal family was powerful; even if he walked down a dark path to the very end, he could still survive safely until Emperor Qianlong ascended the throne. Following Old Ten, the outcome wouldn’t be too miserable, nor would it implicate the Donggo clan.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt Old Ten was a fine choice.
Presumably, Kangxi had taken a fancy to her (or rather, her family background) during the second review, but since the Tenth Prince’s birth mother had passed away early, naturally no one had summoned her over to speak or sent her any rewards.
It had to be this way!
Wuyunzhu forced herself to believe it.
At the fourth quarter of the snake hour (around 10:00 AM), Qishi returned to the Military Governor’s Mansion. Accompanying him were his two paternal cousins, Luomanse and Gali, both of whom lived nearby and immediately came over to fish for news upon seeing Qishi return.
“Qishi, to which prince has the Second Elder Sister been assigned?”
In front of the two men, Qishi could not reveal his true emotions and smiled as he replied, “It is the Ninth Prince.”
It really was an imperial prince!
This branch of the Donggo clan truly captured the Emperor’s heart; the family had actually produced another Imperial Prince Consort! This was an honor unmatched anywhere else in the Eight Banners!
The two cousins could not conceal the smiles on their faces, and flattering words flowed endlessly from their lips.
“The Ninth Prince? That’s wonderful. Consort Yi enjoys profound imperial favor, and she dotes dearly on this youngest son. With her looking after him, the Ninth Prince will surely secure the cap of a Prince of the Second Rank before long.”
“Qishi, with an imperial prince as a son-in-law, the futures of Zhuliang and the others will finally have something to look forward to…”
……
Heh~
Qishi smiled insincerely and nodded in agreement while inwardly sighing nonstop—he didn’t want an imperial prince for a son-in-law at all!
If his daughter wasn’t living comfortably at her husband’s home, he, her old father, could go over to back her up and give the son-in-law a severe beating, just like he had beaten Leqin. But if the son-in-law became an imperial prince, could he still storm over to beat him up? Could he bring his daughter back to live at her maiden home? That certainly wouldn’t do.
Alas!
Hearing that Qishi was in the front courtyard, Wuyunzhu hurriedly walked over. She also wanted to know who the final marriage assignment candidate was.
Before she even stepped into the main hall, she heard her paternal uncles praising the Ninth Prince. Could it really be him?
“Father, is the marriage assignment candidate the Ninth Prince?”
Before Qishi could speak, Gali came over with a beaming grin, wearing an expression of utter smugness. “Indeed. Second Niece, let me tell you, the Ninth Prince is truly handsome and dashing—you and your niece are a match made in heaven.”
Wuyunzhu: Heh…
The Ninth Prince? That was the most disastrous player in the succession struggle, the emperor most despised by the Yongzheng Emperor, the infamous “Saishehei,” the celebrated public nuisance!
Not only did he meet a miserable death himself, but he also dragged down a huge crowd of people. Thinking of the Ninth Prince’s ending made Wuyunzhu’s vision darken.
“Ah, the Second Niece is so overjoyed she’s fainting!”
Wuyunzhu: Overjoyed my foot, she was clearly being fainted into a rage.
In the palace, the Upper Study.
With classes finished, Yintang and Yinger prepared to go have lunch. As soon as the door opened, they spotted Weizhu, the little eunuch from the Hall of Mental Cultivation, waiting outside.
“This slave Weizhu pays his respects to the two Princes.”
“Eunuch Wei? Does Imperial Father have any instructions?”
“The Emperor has bestowed a marriage upon Your Highness today; please hurry to the front to express your gratitude.”
A marriage assignment?
Yintang hurried toward the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
His heart was filled with trepidation, somewhat afraid that his hopes would fall through, yet wondering what if heaven favored him and blessed the realization of his wish?
If heaven had no such intent, why would it let the divine maiden enter his dreams night after night?
He believed this was a hint from the heavens.
Beneath the eastern steps of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Minister of Ceremonies finished reading the imperial marriage decree.
Hearing that familiar name, Yintang let out a sigh of relief. He received the imperial decree with both hands and proclaimed loudly, “Subject Yintang accepts the decree and expresses his gratitude.”
As soon as the imperial decree was read, the Minister of the Household Department pestered Yintang to select an auspicious date for his initial formal visit to his consort’s residence.
Yintang glanced at several dates and picked the closest one: tomorrow.
Visiting the residence earlier meant he could settle the betrothal gifts sooner and hold the grand wedding sooner.
Although the experiences in his dreams were wonderful, they weren’t real after all. He was quite eager to experience the genuine feeling of such matters firsthand.
Yintang rubbed his slightly warm face, feeling that no amount of studying the sages’ books could purify his base, vulgar heart.
After afternoon classes concluded, Consort Yi once again summoned her son to the Palace of Earthly Purity.
“I heard you chose tomorrow to go to the Donggo residence to pay your respects?”
Yintang nodded. “The Imperial Astronomer says that day has the best fortune.”
“Is that so. Your mother doesn’t have any objections, I just wanted to admonish you a few things: when you go to the Donggo residence tomorrow, keep a good attitude, and don’t put on your imperial prince airs. That is, after all, your consort’s elder.”
Consort Yi understood her own son well; whether it was objects or people, he favored good looks. Although this Donggo maiden came from a good family background and had proper manners, her appearance could only be described as refined at best, hardly matching the description of a beauty. She was afraid that her son might lay eyes on the Donggo maiden, feel displeasure, and let it show publicly, offending the people of the Donggo household.
This branch of the Donggo clan belonging to the Plain Red Banner had many capable individuals. Pengchun possessed stellar military achievements, Gali had earned merit fighting the Dzungars, Luomanse was a Deputy Military Governor and also an in-law of Prince Gong, and Qishi had risen steadily over recent years to become a top-rank official. Offending the Donggo clan would be a very poor bargain.
Yintang was unaware of Consort Yi’s anxieties and looked at her in some surprise. “Consort Mother is very satisfied with Wu… the Donggo maiden?”
He had seen his mother’s attitude toward his fifth sister-in-law, which was rather lukewarm.
Consort Yi nodded. “The Donggo maiden comes from an aristocratic military family; her father is a military governor of the prime-plus-first rank and holds a title of nobility, while she herself is a poised, generous, and well-read young lady. With such a fine daughter-in-law, what else does your mother have to pick at?”
She thought of her other daughter-in-law, the Fifth Primary Consort, who was merely the daughter of a minor official of the lower-fifth rank—the lowest among all imperial princes’ primary consorts—and whose conduct was somewhat petty. Consort Yi was not very satisfied with her. She even suspected whether the Emperor looked down on Old Wu and deliberately found him a consort with a lowly family background! Fortunately, this time Old Wu had been conferred the title of Beile, which made her feel a bit smoother inside.
However, Little Jiu had no title of nobility, and she had feared the Emperor would once again assign him the daughter of a minor official, leaving Little Jiu with no way to hold his head high among the imperial princes. Thankfully, this time the Emperor finally felt pity for Little Jiu and assigned him a consort with an exceptionally fine family background.
Yintang chimed in, “This son is also very satisfied with the Donggo maiden.”
Consort Yi smiled. “Then you must remember what you said today and treat your consort well in the future.”
Yintang nodded heavily. “Mhm, this son will.”
Returning to the Fourth Directorate later that evening, he did not stay up late reading books. He wanted to fall asleep early and have a sweet dream.
While Yintang drifted into a beautiful dreamland, Wuyunzhu found it difficult to sleep.
What to do? It really was the Ninth Prince!!!
She still remembered when she watched the drama back then, some bullet-screen comments had popularized real history about the Ninth Prince, and it was truly a tragedy.
The Ninth Prince was the earliest to die among the imperial princes contending for the succession. As soon as Yongzheng ascended the throne, he was driven to Xining, and accompanying him were his primary consort and his father-in-law, with his seventy-something father-in-law dying halfway along the journey.
The Ninth Prince also had a son who was imprisoned for fifty years; when he entered, he was a dashing young man, but when he emerged, he had become a decrepit old man.
Fifty years—that was far longer than the detention time of Hongwang, the son of the head of the Eight-Prince Faction.
At the time, seeing those bullet comments, she had felt quite sympathetic toward the Ninth Prince. While others didn’t contend or compete and lived in comfortable ease until old age, he exerted himself heart and soul for the Eighth Prince, only to die the most miserable death. After all, the Eighth Prince had at least attained the title of Prince of the First Rank, whereas the Ninth Prince’s highest lifetime rank was merely a Beizi.
Sympathy was sympathy, however; she did not want to be tied together with the Ninth Prince, nor did she want her own old father to die in a foreign land or her brothers to be reduced to poverty.
She desperately wanted to unbind herself. How could she do it?
Fleeing the marriage? Impossible. Faking her death? It had lingering consequences; rumor had it that the Secret Service (Nangancu) already existed during Kangxi’s reign, and if it were discovered that she had deliberately fled, her entire family would be thrown into prison ahead of schedule. Then, after the marriage, she should just kill the Ninth Prince before he became a hardcore member of the Eight-Prince Faction? Unless she possessed supernatural abilities, that operation would amount to the extermination of all nine familial generations.
Aside from these harmful-to-others-and-oneself operations, were there any other methods?
Wuyunzhu tried hard to recall Qing dynasty historical dramas she had watched in her past life, hoping to find some effective information, and finally grasped a gleam of survival.
It was a romance drama leaning toward a historical drama where the Eight-Prince Faction had an external member: the Fourth Prince, Yinzhen!
In the early part of the show, the relationship among the Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Princes was quite good. Not only were the residences of the Fourth, Eighth, and Ninth Princes clustered together in the capital, but their vacation villas built in the Garden of Perfect Brightness (Changchunyuan) were also right next to each other. When the Crown Prince was deposed the first time, the Fourth Prince and the Ninth Prince even plotted strategies together! When the Eighth Prince’s birth mother passed away, the Ninth Prince invited the Fourth Prince to join him in sending food to the Eighth Prince, but the Fourth Prince refused! It was precisely from that time onward that the Fourth Prince began to fly solo and break away from the small clique.
This setup did not align with the mainstream view at the time, and internet users criticized the screenwriters for wildly altering history. The television drama was embroiled in controversy, yet its ratings climbed higher and higher. Once the drama concluded, the screenwriters posted newly discovered historical materials proving that their adaptation was grounded in evidence and not unreasonable.
Wuyunzhu sat up abruptly from her bed, her eyes shining brightly.
If the Fourth Prince could break away from the small clique, why couldn’t the Ninth Prince? He could fly solo just the same!
Since she could think of hoodwinking and brainwashing the Tenth Prince, why couldn’t she brainwash the Ninth Prince? Right now it was the 37th year of Kangxi (1698); until the 47th year of Kangxi when the Crown Prince was deposed a second time, there were a full ten years of brainwashing time ahead.
Even if the brainwashing failed, she could exert her efforts from the Eighth Prince’s end. If there was a member in the small clique who dragged everyone down at every turn, wouldn’t that make the boss deeply disgusted and eager to kick him away? This method seemed even easier; causing sabotage was much simpler than brainwashing.
Having found her path to survival, Wuyunzhu finally laid down her worries and successfully fell asleep.
The next day, Qishi put on his python robe and led his sons and paternal clansmen outside the main gate to welcome the Ninth Prince.
Before meeting the Ninth Prince, however, Qishi first encountered his eldest son-in-law, Leqin, and his in-law, Beile Sunu.
Wulinzhu had been welcomed back to her maiden home during the first lunar month and had already stayed for over two months. During this period, Leqin had indeed come over, offering apologies and making amends, but Qishi’s demand that they separate from the Beile’s mansion and live independently had never been agreed to.
Leqin didn’t particularly mind, but Sunu was unwilling to divide the household. For one, his family ties were sparse, and he prized domestic familial warmth above all else; for another, he felt that dividing the household would weaken the strength of the Beile’s mansion, which was why he stubbornly refused to budge on a household division. Furthermore, he was dissatisfied with Qishi’s domineering attitude, feeling that the other party meddled far too much and refusing to yield to Qishi’s wishes.
Now, however, Qishi had become the Ninth Prince’s father-in-law, elevating Qishi’s status in his heart by a wide margin. Unwilling to offend the other party, he could take a step back. Thus, today he had brought his son and hurried over, intending to first resolve the conflict between the two families and then take the opportunity to build a good impression in front of the Ninth Prince.