My father-in-law is Kangxi

Chapter 1837: Be polite to others
After eating the steamed buns, the Ninth Prince came out from the east room.

Seeing that the Fourth Prince's desk was filled with files, the Ninth Prince thought that he should not add to the chaos.

However, he didn't stay in the west room for long. Thinking of Ji Hong's matter, he went into the palace to look for the twelfth prince.

When he reached the door of the duty room of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ninth Prince hesitated.

I forgot that Lao Ba was also in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Ugh……

Don't want to meet.

I can't get close to others, but I'm not willing to flatter them.

"Master Jiu..."

It was Gao Yanzhong, who was just coming out of the side room. When he saw the Ninth Prince, he hurriedly took two steps forward to greet him.

But the distance between them was a bit far.

The Ninth Prince stopped, looked at him, and asked in surprise, "Are you sick? Why have you become thinner and look older?"

The voice was also a little hoarse.

Gao Yanzhong is also in his fifties, but he looked young before, like he was in his forties.

Now he looks much older, with sunken cheeks.

Gao Yanzhong hesitated for a moment and said, "My eldest son's grandson died at the beginning of this month. My mother-in-law is getting old and is not feeling well..."

Since children do not attend funerals, there is no need to announce the death, and not many people outside know about it.

"Blemish? Why didn't you get vaccinated?"

The Ninth Prince was surprised and asked, "Didn't your eldest brother fill the vacancy?"

"He was less than a year old, so we didn't dare to get vaccinated. My eldest daughter-in-law was in poor health, so she didn't move out with him, so we moved back."

Gao Yanzhongdao.

In fact, it was that captain who caused the trouble.

The eldest son and daughter-in-law of the Gao family had separated from the family long ago, but because Gao Yanzhong had an additional assistant commander, the eldest daughter-in-law was afraid that the family would be passed on to her two younger brothers-in-law, so she moved back on the pretext of being pregnant.

As it happened, the young ones did not survive this wave of smallpox.

When the smallpox epidemic broke out, families with strangers or children would close their doors and refuse visitors, for fear that the smallpox epidemic would be brought in.

The same is true for the Gao family.

Unfortunately, Gao Yanzhong's mother-in-law is old and fell at the end of last month, and the old lady has been bedridden to recuperate.

When Gao Yanzhong's elder sister-in-law heard the news, she came to "attend to her mother's illness" every day under the pretext of being filial to her.

She had evil intentions back then and arranged for her niece from her husband's family, who had lost her virginity and was pregnant, to be matched with her nephew Gao Bin. Later, the truth was revealed and the two families severed their ties.

Now that the Gao family is doing well, my aunt's family has fallen on hard times, so they are hoping for a chance to reconcile with this family.

It is unclear whether the smallpox was brought by her or brought back by Gao Yanzhong during his daily duty.

Gao's grandson died young.

Gao Yanzhong's mother-in-law felt so guilty that she became seriously ill and showed signs of dying.

Every family has its own problems, and this is what I am talking about.

The Ninth Prince thought of the four words "the end of the year is difficult".

It seems that every winter is quite dangerous for those elderly people over 60 years old.

The Ninth Prince said, "Has the family prepared the ginseng? If you need any medicine, send someone to the Prince's Mansion to let us know. There's no need to be so polite."

Gao Yanzhong said gratefully: "It's ready. Thank you, Master Jiu, for thinking of me."

At this moment, the twelfth prince lifted the door curtain and came out of the duty room.

It turned out that the young eunuch beside him came out to the bathroom, saw the Ninth Prince in the yard, and turned back to report.

"Brother Nine is looking for me?"

The twelfth prince's voice was somewhat cheerful.

The Ninth Prince nodded, waved his hand to let Gao Yanzhong go down, and followed the Twelfth Prince into the duty room.

Since the Eighth Prince was not there, the Ninth Prince felt much more at ease and sat directly on the chair in front of the Twelfth Prince's desk.

"Is it too late this year for the Construction Department to settle accounts with the Royal Merchants?"

The Ninth Prince asked straight to the point.

The 12th Prince shook his head and said, "It's not late. The settlement was done normally. Almost everything was settled on Laba. I remember the document, the last settlement was on the seventh day of the first lunar month."

It was only when the Ninth Prince entered the Imperial Household Department that he remembered that the Twelfth Prince was now in charge of the Construction Department.

The Ji family was the royal merchant that supplied Taihu stone to the Construction Bureau.

But the Ninth Prince also knew that the little devil was difficult to deal with, and he was afraid that the petty officials would deceive their superiors and lie to their subordinates.

Seeing that it was not a matter to be settled, the Ninth Prince let the matter go.

Anyway, I'll see him in the afternoon and I'll know the reason then.

The Ninth Prince chatted with the Twelfth Prince.

"Next year's birthday gift will be different from previous years. You should be more careful and ask how the Thirteenth Prince prepares it. You have to prepare it similarly to his."

The year after next, when the eighteenth prince is six years old, he will enter the upper study and will have to move out of the palace.

There is no place left for the prince.

The day for the twelfth and thirteenth princes to leave the palace is approaching, and they must move out before the first freeze of next year at the latest.

We also need to spare some time to renovate the residence.

Even if the two are not granted titles at that time, the money and property from the division of the family property will still be allocated.

The twelfth prince was a little hesitant when he heard this, and said, "Doesn't Khan Ama always like to be frugal?"

At today's court session, it was also mentioned that officials were not allowed to prepare auspicious signs.

The Ninth Prince glared at the Twelfth Prince, feeling very disappointed with him.

"Do you still want to be frugal on the birthday? Are you stupid? All your money was given by Khan Ama. If you use Khan Ama's money to honor Khan Ama, even if you give him everything, will Khan Ama let you suffer a loss?"

At this point, he lowered his voice and said, "You know the rules of courtesy and reciprocity, right? You are so stingy with Khan Ama, and Khan Ama is not willing to reward you when he rewards others. You have avoided it before, but now is not the time to avoid it. Think about it, you will leave the palace next year..."

The Twelfth Prince knew that these were all nice words, and even though they were not what he wanted, he still nodded obediently.

The Ninth Prince said, "I will prepare a housewarming gift for you when the time comes!"

The twelfth prince shook his head and said, "No, I don't need anything."

The Ninth Prince snorted and said, "You are in the palace now, you don't have to worry about the daily necessities. You will understand when you live your own life."

He came here just to ask about the Ji family's affairs, and since there was nothing to ask, he sat for a while and then left.

When he returned to the duty room of the Ministry of Revenue, the Ninth Prince felt a little reluctant when thinking about Gao Yanzhong's old age.

He ordered He Yuzhu, "Take my father's invitation and go to the Imperial Hospital to see if there is any old sick person free. Then take it to Gao's house and let the old lady see it."

He Yuzhu agreed, took the Ninth Prince's invitation, and went to the Imperial Hospital.

When He Yuzhu came back, it was already time for lunch.

The Ninth Prince and the Fourth Prince had just finished their lunch and were lying on the ground digesting their food.

"Why did you come back just now? Is it serious?"

The Ninth Prince looked at He Yuzhu and said.

He Yuzhu nodded and said, "The imperial physician said that the previous prescription is fine. The old lady is indeed old. Please prepare whatever she wants to eat."

Brother Ninth: "..."

The Fourth Prince was listening in confusion and asked, "Whose old lady? The one from the second branch of the Dong-E family?"

The Ninth Prince shook his head and said, "No, it's Gao Yanzhong's mother-in-law, the one who is living in his home."

Gao Bin served as the Ninth Prince's attendant for two years, and later followed the Fourth Prince to farm in Haidian. The Fourth Prince naturally knew who Gao Yanzhong was.

He glanced at the Ninth Prince and said, "After all, there are differences between the noble and the humble. Don't be too lenient."

To be honest, the father and son did not do anything for the Ninth Prince, but they still benefited a lot from him.

Gao Yanzhong had been promoted to the fourth rank and was also awarded the title of assistant commander.

When Gao Bin was in his early twenties, other young men of the same age in the Imperial Household Department were still doing odd jobs and might not even pass the examination to become a ninth-rank clerk. However, Gao Bin had already been a senior official for two years.

"It's a million difficulties for them, but for me, it's just a piece of cake. There are bad news in the twelfth lunar month every year. I just hope the end of the year is over..."

Brother Ninth said.

Since the beginning of winter this year, many elderly members of the royal family have passed away. However, due to the smallpox epidemic, most of their deaths were not announced or their funerals were kept simple.

Otherwise, they would have enough trouble with the funerals in the twelfth lunar month every year.

There is no movement in the royal family now, but the people around them and those with elderly people at home have heard several things that make them feel uneasy.

When they came out of the yamen in the afternoon, the Ninth Prince met up with the Tenth Prince.

He asked, "Did Ji Hong send a visiting card to your house?"

The Tenth Prince shook his head and said, "I haven't heard that the Ji family's New Year gift was sent at the beginning of the month, right?"

The Ninth Prince said, "Since it has nothing to do with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, nor with the foreign goods shop, why is Ji Hong in such a hurry to come to the capital?"

At this point, he thought about the Ji family's roots in Jiangnan, and their hometown was more than 200 miles away from Suzhou.

"Could it be that the Li family is making things difficult for him? How dare Li Xu?"

Although Ji Hong is not a disciple of the Ninth Prince, he runs errands for the Ninth Prince and has business dealings with the Prince Dun's Mansion. If Li Xu bullies the Ji family, he will have to settle the score with him.

After hearing this, the Tenth Prince shook his head and said, "Li Xu would not do that. I heard that after Li Xu went to Jiangnan, he became more socialized than Cao Yin and was well-liked. He was called 'Li Fo' and acted like a 'timely rain'. How could he embarrass the Ji family?"

The Ninth Prince thought about it and said, "Could it be that the Ji family wants to be the agent for the export business of cashmere fabrics because they sell well in Jiangnan? If so, they have a good vision."

Businessmen seek profit.

It’s a long journey in the cold winter.

If it's not for the hardship, it's for the profit.

As the brothers were talking, the carriage arrived at the North Official House.

The Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince got off the carriage.

The Tenth Prince pointed to the right side of the main gate of the Prince's Mansion and said, "You are quite anxious. People are already here."

There was a carriage parked there, just an ordinary blue tweed carriage.

After the Tenth Prince finished speaking, he had no intention of returning home, and said to the Ninth Prince, "I haven't seen him for a year, let's go check on him."

He was afraid that Ji Hong would use sweet words to deceive his ninth brother.

Ji Hong was waiting in the back room next to the gatehouse.

When he heard that the Ninth Prince had returned, he hurried out to greet him.

The Ninth Prince nodded in return and beckoned him, "Go in and talk with me."

As he said this, he led the person to the front side hall.

When the guests and hosts were seated, Ji Hong handed over the gift list and said, "This is the gift list prepared by my father to congratulate Fu Jin in advance."

The Ninth Prince raised his eyebrows and asked He Yuzhu to take the gift list and hand it over.

After taking a quick look at it, he found that the gift was quite heavy.

A string of peach blossom tourmaline court beads, a pair of purple-pink Yunnan jade bracelets, a pot of peach-red coral tree, and eighteen pink rubies of various sizes.

Although I haven't seen the real thing yet, it must be something that Ji Hong's father, the richest man, might have given as a gift.

The Ninth Prince looked at the gift list and complained, flicking his finger and saying, "You helped me buy it two years ago, but there was nothing as good as this. Did you keep it for yourself?"

After Shushu gave birth, she liked pink clothes for a while, so the Ninth Prince bought a lot of pink tourmalines and gemstones for her head ornaments, and asked Ji Hong to inquire at the Suzhou and Hangzhou customs.

Ji Hong hurriedly explained: "These items are the first time I have seen them. If I knew they existed, I would have asked my father to send them to the capital..."

(End of this chapter)