My father-in-law is Kangxi

Chapter 1885 Half Penalty

Kangxi ordered not to use the static whip.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, a group of people walked slowly.

Half a quarter of an hour later, Kangxi got off the sedan chair in front of the gate of Zhongcui Palace.

Although Zhongcui Palace was "sealed off", the entrance looked no different from other palaces and no one was on duty.

After all, this is the Western Six Palaces, and it is not easy for the guards to enter and exit.

Under the emperor's order, there was no one guarding the place, and no one dared to enter or leave at will.

Before Zhongcui Palace was closed, Kangxi would come there once or twice a year, if not often.

Looking at it now, everything seems gray.

Kangxi signaled Liang Jiugong to knock on the door.

Liang Jiugong went up and rang the door knocker. The eunuch at the gate raised his voice and asked, "Who's outside..."

Liang Jiugong said: "The emperor is here, open the door quickly!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the tightly closed door opened immediately, and the two eunuchs at the gate knelt down tremblingly.

This is the palace, no one dares to impersonate the emperor.

Kangxi entered the Zhongcui Gate, turned around the screen wall, and looked up at the Zhongcui Palace.

Only the western side room of the main hall was lit; the windows of other rooms were dark.

In the entire Zhongcui Palace, there is only one master living there, Concubine Rong, and the rest are the eunuchs, palace maids and maids under her name.

There was no one in the yard, so no one noticed that the emperor was coming.

This palace is no longer inhabited and is quickly falling into disrepair, looking old and shabby.

Kangxi went straight into the Zhongcui Palace and went to the west side room.

This is a small Buddhist temple.

He thought that just like last time, Concubine Rong was worshipping Buddha in front of the Buddha, but he actually saw Concubine Rong sitting behind a desk, concentrating on copying scriptures.

Kangxi slowed down his pace, but Rongpin didn't notice at all.

Kangxi stopped behind her chair and looked at the beautiful handwriting.

When Rongpin entered the palace to wait for her retirement, she was illiterate.

It was Kangxi who taught him step by step, and the copybook for practicing calligraphy was also found by Kangxi from the palace collection.

Kangxi was surprised to find that there were no other scriptures on the desk.

Concubine Rong is reciting the sutra silently.

He read two lines of scriptures and recognized them as the Diamond Sutra, and a smile appeared on his face.

When Concubine Rong celebrated her first birthday in the palace, she didn't know what gift to prepare for herself, so she hand-copied a copy of the Diamond Sutra.

The crooked handwriting was unsightly, but for Rongpin, who had just started learning calligraphy, it took her half a month to copy it.

Thinking of the two young children back then, Kangxi fell into memories.

No one knew how frightened he was at that time.

The local area was unstable, the royal family of the lower five banners was powerful, and the four ministers of the upper three banners were becoming increasingly arrogant.

He sniffed and noticed that the smell was wrong, faintly fishy, ​​so he went to look at the inkstone.

The ink in the inkstone is the wrong color, it's not black, it's brown-red.

Looking at Rongpin's hands again, the index finger of her left hand was bandaged.
"Ji Nai!"

Kangxi frowned and asked, "What are you doing?"

Rongpin was startled and a drop of black and red ink fell onto the paper.

She raised her head and looked at Kangxi, with a bit of trance: "Your Majesty..."

Only then did Kangxi see Rongpin's face clearly. She was not wearing any makeup, but her eyes and eyebrows still looked the same as before.

"Humph!"

Kangxi pointed at the inkstone and said, "Is this how I taught you to copy the sutras? And you're still reciting the sutras silently? Aren't you just sitting there doing nothing and wasting your energy?"

Rongpin was like a child who had been caught, her lips trembled and she was speechless for a while.

Seeing her panic, Kangxi's anger subsided a little and he said, "The silent sutra and the blood sutra, when have I ever cared about these empty things?"

Rongpin looked at the page of the scripture that was ruined by ink, and also looked at the inkstone, without making any excuses.

This sutra has nothing to do with the emperor.

Seeing that she had no reaction, Kangxi felt even more sorry for the desolate Zhongcui Palace.

He exhaled and said, "When it gets warmer in February, I will have people repair Zhongcui Palace. You go to Jing... go to the front hall of Qixiang Palace and live there for a while. Come back when the repairs are done..."

Rongpin looked at Kangxi and said, "Your Majesty, are you really here?"

Kangxi remembered clearly that the last time he saw Concubine Rong, only her temples were gray, but now half of her hair was white.

The little girl who cried because she missed home back then has now been a grandmother for many years.

Kangxi looked at Rongpin and said, "Ji Nai, be well, don't make me worry..."

Concubine Rong bit her lips and tears fell drop by drop.

Kangxi looked at this and felt a little sad.

But he didn't want to mention the crown prince, nor did he want to mention whether Queen Yuan took action or not.

The emperor and his concubine left the desk and sat on the kang.

He mentioned the Third Prince and said, "The Third Prince is not bad. He is now working in the Ministry of Rites and is a person who can calm down and study."

Rongpin lowered her head and wiped her tears, saying, "I remember that when the Third Prince was young, he was like a monkey and couldn't sit still. Later, the Emperor found a way to discipline him, and he studied hard."

Kangxi thought of the situation when the Third Prince just returned to the palace, and said, "He didn't develop good habits outside the palace. He just kept eating. His teeth are almost damaged. He gets sleepy when he eats too much and sleeps in the study. I told the eunuchs in charge not to bring him steamed buns from the steamed bun room for half a month..."

When Rongpin mentioned her son, her face was full of love, and she said, "He is not as sensible as his sister, and he is not very smart."

But he is my biological son, and the only one among the five who can stand. What else can I do except treat him as my eyeball?

Thinking of this, Rongpin looked towards Kangxi. In addition to resentment, she also felt some gratitude.

Fortunately, the Emperor made the decision to send the Third Prince out of the palace to be raised, otherwise if he had stayed in the palace, he might have died like his brothers.

Kangxi thought of the Third Prince and shook his head, saying, "He only looks smart. Others are foolish on the outside but cunning on the inside, but he is different. He is cunning on the outside but foolish on the inside. He is really confused!"

If he wasn't so confused, he wouldn't be able to sort out the household chores and lose his eldest daughter in vain.

Rongpin was a little embarrassed and said, "It's because I'm stupid. I'm not as smart as the other sisters. The Third Prince I gave birth to is not as good as the other princes..."

People say that the Fifth Prince was not very smart when he was young. He usually spoke Mongolian and could not speak Mandarin or Chinese. Few people know that the Third Prince could not even speak fluently at the time and was not a smart child either.

Kangxi said: "It didn't count at that time. Children need to be taught. I was negligent at that time and didn't arrange for someone to teach the third prince."

Rongpin said: "Your Majesty didn't do it on purpose. At that time, the Three Feudatories were in turmoil and the Yellow River was flooding. There were so many military and national events waiting for Your Majesty..."

It was because the emperor was busy and had no energy to take care of the prince that he brought Concubine Rong to the Qianqing Palace to take care of the prince.

"Yes, at that time I was really too busy to handle everything..."

Kangxi also recalled those years of crisis.

When he lived in the Qianqing Palace, he did not dare to sleep in the west warm pavilion, but always slept in the attic.

Except for the people in the imperial court, no one knew where he would be placed in the attic, as it had to be changed every night.

The purpose is to prevent spies in the palace from breaking into the Qianqing Palace.

It seems so far away, as if it was a lifetime ago.

Kangxi looked at Rongpin, fixed his eyes on her white hair, and said, "Tomorrow I will ask Liang Jiugong to send you some black hair cream. Take good care of your hair and don't let the Third Prince worry. On his birthday, he will kowtow to you..."

Rongpin looked at Kangxi with disbelief on her face.

Before, Kangxi said that he wanted to renovate the Zhongcui Palace, but Rongpin was not moved because she thought that renovating the palace was for the purpose of continuing to seal the palace in the future.

As a result, Kangxi meant that the Third Prince could pay her respects...

Does this mean that the seal on the palace will be lifted?

"Your Majesty, this... this, can the Third Prince really come?"

Rongpin said timidly.

Kangxi nodded and said, "You can come. I said so..."

At this point, he remembered something and said, "Concubine Gao of Yikun Palace gave birth to the 20th prince. He is now in Zhaoxiang Palace. When the Zhongcui Palace is renovated, Concubine Gao and the 20th prince will move to the back hall. You will raise the 20th prince then!"

"emperor……"

Concubine Rong exclaimed in surprise.

Kangxi said: "Teach her well, so that the Third Prince will have a close brother in the future. The Second Princess is too far away from the capital..."

*
When the emperor moved, the news did not spread outside the palace, but those who were well-informed in the palace knew about it.

*
In the Yiku Palace, in the east side room of the main hall.

Concubine Yi was accompanying the Eighteenth Prince, helping him organize his New Year's gift bag.

There were gifts from the emperor, rewards from the Ningshou Palace, gifts from my brothers, gifts sent by my sister-in-law, and gifts that the fourth princess smuggled in as part of the New Year gifts.

All together, there is a box of gold ingots of various colors.

"To the Queen..."

The Eighteenth Prince is very heroic and looks pure and innocent.

After hearing this, Concubine Yi couldn't help but laugh and said, "If you give it to me, you won't have any left. What will you do when you grow up and want to buy something?"

"Not buying!"

The Eighteenth Prince said without thinking: "No, my father-in-law and the queen gave it to me..."

He was still young, and in recent years he often followed Concubine Yi in the garden and saw Kangxi more often than others.

Concubine Yi touched his forehead and said, "Then I'll keep it for you. When you grow up and can leave the palace, tell me if you want to buy something..."

The Eighteenth Prince looked at Concubine Yi's headdress, which was often decorated with velvet flowers in winter, and on top was a delicate purple-red magnolia flower.

He said, "When my son leaves the palace, I will go buy velvet flowers for the queen..."

Seeing the familiar features and listening to the familiar childish words, Concubine Yi's eyes became hot. She hugged her child and said, "Okay, okay, mother will wait for the velvet flower from my prince..."

It's time to light the lamps.

The children all went to bed early, so Concubine Yi asked the nanny to carry the Eighteenth Prince downstairs to put him down.

Pei Lan then stepped forward and reported in a low voice: "The emperor went to Zhongcui Palace..."

Concubine Yi was sitting in front of her dressing table taking off her hairpin. She was not surprised at all when she heard the news.

The emperor is nostalgic.

For these senior and older ladies, this is a good thing...

(End of this chapter)