My father-in-law is Kangxi

Chapter 1767 Dissatisfaction
Sibeile Mansion, main room.

Looking at the much thinner Fourth Lady, the Fourth Prince said, "Thank you for your hard work..."

The Fourth Lady shook her head and said, "Why are you saying this, Master? The children have been successfully vaccinated, which is better than anything else."

However, the Fourth Prince knew that this matter was very risky.

Even if he arranged for Nanny Xie to be responsible for the Second Prince's vaccination, if something really happened, it would not be able to prevent the slander from outside and the resentment of the Li family.

Li's resentment will not have any impact, but the slander from outsiders will ruin the Fourth Lady's reputation.

The couple chatted casually.

During the past month, the Fourth Lady kept her door closed, but she was not completely cut off from any news from the outside world.

She is the mistress of the house and has to decide on many things.

"There are quite a lot of elderly people who passed away this time. My third uncle passed away, as did my sixth uncle from the Wuya family. There were also two old dukes and three generals from the royal family. None of them had funerals, but I still checked previous precedents and asked people to send condolences and money..."

As for children who have suffered from smallpox, they don’t have this.

Even if there had been no smallpox, there would have been no need to mourn the deaths of young children.

The fourth prince nodded and said, "I understand."

The Fourth Lady is a good wife and is always considerate in dealing with people, so there is no need for the Fourth Prince to nag her.

The Fourth Lady brought up the gift list again.

In a few days, it will be the Fourth Prince's birthday, and almost all the birthday gifts have been given by each family.

"A gift list was sent back from Shengjing..." said the Fourth Lady, pointing to a gift list.

The Fourth Prince took it and looked at it. There were two boxes of ginseng, one deer antler, two black fox skins, four rolls of sable skins, four pairs of purses, and twenty kilograms of noodles.

For a birthday present like this, it's quite a big gift.

Although the Tong family moved outside the wicker wall and no one was allowed to enter, the delivery of letters and valuables to the capital was not prohibited.

The Fourth Prince had a stern face. He did not feel happy about receiving the birthday gift. Instead, he felt a chill on his back.

These things were delivered to Beijing and passed through several levels of checkpoints.

Not only the imperial court, but also the attentive families in the Eight Banners would know about it.

It's not a good thing for the Tong family to get involved with him at this time.

The Fourth Prince lowered his eyes and said, "The old Duke is over sixty years old and has been sick for the past few years. It is not appropriate to accept his gifts. Prepare a similar gift in return and add it to the annual gift."

The Fourth Lady glanced at the Fourth Prince and nodded.

They won't be happy with this kind of return gift.

This is a matter of reciprocity, and there is no such thing as paying it back all at once.

But she remembered something and said, "If you write back to the old Duke, would you like to ask about the support of Third Madam Tong? I heard someone mention it a while ago that Third Madam Tong sold a dowry shop."

Who would be willing to sell off the capital's properties unless they were in dire straits?
That is the wife of the Tong family, and she is also raising the grandson of the Tong family. The Tong family should be responsible for the expenses of both mother and son.

The Fourth Prince frowned and said, "Isn't there still Orondai? Orondai is the head of the Tong family..."

The Fourth Lady said, "After all, the family has been divided. They are the eldest uncle and the youngest aunt. They have to avoid melon fields and plum trees. I'm afraid it's not convenient to take care of them."

The Fourth Prince did not want to mention such family matters in his letter to Tong Guowei. He only intended to pay his normal greetings. Otherwise, Tong Guowei might take advantage of the situation and entrust the matter to him, thus deepening his ties with the Tong family.

Right now, this is not a good time to get close to the Tong family.

If that were to happen, it would easily attract the attention of others, and then the Emperor's father, the Crown Prince, and the Third Prince would all focus on me...

*
The Ninth Prince's Mansion.

Shushu is looking at the list of favors and gifts.

There are people celebrating birthdays every month, but there are especially many in October.

The first day of the month is the Thirteenth Prince, the eleventh day is the Tenth Prince, and the thirtieth day is the Fourth Prince.

I also have two nephews and a niece, who were also born in October.

However, there are precedents for birthday gifts, so it doesn’t take much thought. Just don’t forget them.

Baiguo, Xiaotang and Xiaochun are all in Ning'an Hall, and Dongyue and Layue are in the main house.

Shushu remembered that Zhuliang's wedding had been postponed, and said, "Bring me the almanac so I can take a look..."

Dongyue responded and took out two almanacs.

It turns out that next year's almanac has already been printed.

Shushu was thinking about the smallpox epidemic outside. Even if it was under control, no one dared to take it lightly.

This year's Chinese New Year will probably be simple.

It is not appropriate to have banquets in the twelfth month and the first month of the lunar calendar. It will take at least February before things can return to normal.

Shushu just took a quick look at it, hoping that everything would return to normal when spring came and flowers bloomed.

Now that I think about it, Fusong and Zhang are in a very close situation.

The wedding date of the two was only ten days away from the smallpox epidemic report.

Because the city was closed for vaccination, Fusong had to stay in the front yard, and the couple hadn't seen each other for a while.

Shushu decided to prepare a gift and said to Dongyue, "After the Mid-Autumn Festival, prepare winter clothes. I found a few rolls of blue mink fur. Make a note of it and look for it later."

When Fusong can go home after a while, ask him to bring the gift along to Zhang.

Dong Yue nodded and said, "There is also a red fox skin, which Fu Jin also left alone at that time."

Shu Shu said, "That one is not enough to make clothes. I will make a scarf for the eldest princess in two years."

Forget about it in the past two years, as children have sensitive respiratory tracts and the nitrated fur will still have some smell.

As he was speaking, there was movement at the door.

Niguzhu brought Mrs. Bo in.

"Ernie, ernie, where's Ama?"

It turned out that Niguzhu walked around the main courtyard today and didn't see the Ninth Prince, so he started looking for someone.

Shushu said, "Ama is not in the main courtyard, what do you want to see Ama for?"

"Ice! Ice car!"

Niguzhu said.

It turned out that a few days ago, the Ninth Prince coaxed the children, saying that he would build an ice rink for them in the mansion this year and take them ice skating.

Niguzhu was thinking about it.

Shu Shu said, "The ice rink can only be built after the winter solstice. Don't worry. Don't run outside for too long these few days."

According to the rules of smallpox vaccination in the palace, princes and princesses could not move back to the palace until forty days after vaccination.

The seventeenth princess and the nineteenth prince were vaccinated on the eighth day of October, and the earliest they could move out would be the seventeenth day of the last month.

The entire east road of the Beile Mansion will not be restricted.

The ice rink that the Ninth Prince planned for the children was in the garden in front of Ning'an Hall.

Niguzhu pointed outside and said, "Ice, there's ice..."

After hearing this, Shushu looked at Mrs. Bo.

Mrs. Bo said, "There were many people in the yard, and water was accidentally spilled at the door of the water room, and it froze."

After hearing this, Shushu ordered Dongyue, "Go out and see who is so careless that he has robbed him of half a month's salary."

There are young and old people in this yard, and Niguzhu likes to wander around outside. If he really falls, the children will be fine, but the lady of the Bo family is prone to fractures at her age.

Servants in the main court have always been treated with leniency, but the rules cannot be violated.

Dongyue went out to check.

Go downstairs in the twelfth lunar month to prepare tea.

Shushu said to Madam Bo: "The maids are getting worse and worse..."

Needless to say, the few people who have been around me since childhood are my most trusted confidants.

The few people who came out of the palace were also careful.

If it were walnuts and ginkgo nuts, they would have noticed this a long time ago.

The maids selected after the change became ordinary people.

Madam Bo said, "Those who come out of the palace cannot be compared with those who are directly selected from outside. There are few maids in the palace, so the little maids should be taught the rules for two years, so that they can be used without worry in the future."

Shushu thought about it and agreed.

Just teach it directly and it will be easier for you to use it.

She is not a cruel person. The flowering period of girls is limited. At most, they will be released when they are 20 years old. So these people can only come one after another.

Looking at the almanac in Shushu's hand, Madam Bo said, "What about Xiaoer's birthday? Just let them be, and stop worrying about your mother's family affairs."

Shu Shu said: "I didn't worry about it, I just remembered to take a look."

Mrs. Bo said, "Next year is fine, I'm not too old."

Qingru is three years younger than Shushu. She is seventeen this year and will be eighteen next year.

The General’s Mansion had wanted to choose a date next year.

Who says that it is now popular for clan daughters to marry late? Eighteen or nineteen is common, and some even stay until twenty.

After a month of suffering, Shushu felt lucky and said, "Fortunately, Xiaoqi was vaccinated before. If he had been vaccinated this time, my father and mother would have been so miserable."

She was still young, but she felt that she looked much more haggard, not to mention that Qi Xi and Jueluo were getting older.

Mrs. Bo said, "In the past few years, our family has had good luck. I hope it will be the same in the future..."

*
In the Dutong Mansion, Jueluo looked very unhappy and said to Qi Xi: "I have already said that no matter what the current rules are, the Thirteenth Princess cannot be buried in Fangshan..."

Qi Xi looked unhappy and said, "I am not confused yet, how can I agree to such a ridiculous request!"

It is true that people advocate rites and morals nowadays, but they are not Han people after all.

Even among the Han people, it is rare for a woman who died unmarried to be buried in her husband's ancestral tomb.

Jueluo's expression finally relaxed, and she said, "It's not that I'm cruel. I love everyone's child. Prince Bei is unreasonable. We have rejected them all, but he still wants to find a mistress."

Child marriage was not popular in the Eight Banners. People would only meet each other when they were almost of age. However, there were also young men and women who died unmarried, and they were buried in their own homes.

If parents love their children and are afraid that they will not be able to provide for them in the future, they will arrange a ghost marriage.

Qi Xi said: "I have already declined before, but who would have thought that the burial had not yet taken place in the Beizi Mansion, so I will go there again."

No matter how close the two families are, he would not sacrifice his own son to save someone else's daughter...

(End of this chapter)