My father-in-law is Kangxi

Chapter 1923: The Merit of Plaster
As soon as he got off the imperial carriage, the Ninth Prince covered his stomach.

I got up in the middle of the night and couldn't eat anything, so I just ate a few bites.

Now I'm starving.

Seeing this, the Thirteenth Prince also lowered his head to look at his stomach.

Riding a horse was more tiring than riding in a car, and he was already hungry. He looked at the Ninth Prince eagerly and said, "Ninth Brother..."

The Ninth Prince said proudly: "Let's go and eat noodles!"

The team stopped right in front of the post station, and hot water was readily available, which was very convenient.

After receiving instructions, He Yuzhu and Zhou Song went to fetch some boiling water.

The three brothers each made a bowl of noodles and had some side dishes to finish their meal.

After a while, the team set off again.

At noon, the team arrived at Liangxiang.

Li Guangdi was already waiting to greet him.

When he saw the imperial carriage, he knelt to greet it.

Kangxi got off the imperial carriage and raised his hand to ask Li Guangdi to stand up.

Li Guangdi thanked him and stood up.

He was wearing a cowl and looked very dark and thin.

If it weren't for his straight back, he wouldn't look like a governor or a high-ranking official. Instead, he looked more like an old farmer in the country, with traces of wind and sun on his face.

Kangxi looked him over and said, "It's less than last year. You said before that you would inspect all the dikes after the New Year. Have you inspected them all?"

Li Guangdi, the governor of Zhili, was also responsible for the management of the Yongding River.

He said with some excitement, "I have already checked everywhere. The places that were hit by floods last year have all been replaced with mud and plaster to build embankments. There will be no worries within ten years."

The Ninth Prince stood behind the Fourth Prince and watched this meeting between the emperor and his ministers.

Hearing this, his eyes lit up.

Plaster...

He turned around and glanced at the Thirteenth Prince.

The Thirteenth Prince nodded slightly.

It was the mud and ash that had been mixed and fired in the Xishan kiln before. Several mixing recipes had been obtained, and one of them was used for building dams.

The Ninth Prince was excited as he thought about the origin of the mud.

After a while, the emperor moved into the temporary palace and the princes withdrew from his presence.

He asked the Fourth Prince excitedly, "Fourth Prince, since this mud and plaster is useful, shouldn't Khan Ama give me some silver? Should I, the initiator, be rewarded, as well as my Thirteenth Brother, the worker?"

The Fourth Prince looked at the Ninth Prince and asked instead of answering, "Are you short of money again?"

The Ninth Prince shook his head and said, "It's true that I don't lack it, but it's better to have it than not to have it!"

The Thirteenth Prince was standing nearby and felt that he was taking advantage of his Ninth Brother.

If it was Brother Nine who was responsible for firing the mud from beginning to end, there would be no need to share the credit with myself.

At that time, it seemed that the ninth brother was going to be stationed in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

If I had known that Ninth Brother would enter the court so soon, he would have been more suitable to be in charge of this muddy matter.

The Thirteenth Prince was a little embarrassed and said, "Ninth Brother is the one who made the greatest contribution. I just ran errands and spent some time. It's nothing. A doctor or a supervisor can also keep an eye on it."

The Ninth Prince waved his hand and said, "If your two months of hard work is nothing, then my sudden impulse to think of this is even less of a thing!"

The Thirteenth Prince wanted to say more, but the Ninth Prince was no longer interested and said, "I'm going to soak my feet at my residence. I can't let the cold accumulate. My wife brought me a medicine bag for soaking my feet..."

As he said this, he said hello to the Fourth Prince and went to see where they were going to stay.

The Thirteenth Prince was also a man who could not take advantage of others. He was still a little uncomfortable and said to the Fourth Prince, "Ninth Brother is not familiar with river engineering. He doesn't know that mud and lime benefit the country and the people and is a good way to control the river..."

The Fourth Prince said, "Just remember this in your heart. He doesn't care about these things..."

The Thirteenth Prince said, "Back then at the Xiaotangshan Palace, I owed Ninth Brother a favor, and I haven't had the chance to repay it yet. This time, I owe him even more."

The Fourth Prince listened and touched the eighteen beads on his wrist.

To be honest, with the exception of the Eighth Prince and the Third Prince, all these adult princes owed a favor to the Ninth Prince regarding the Xiaotangshan incident.

But the Ninth Prince didn't take it seriously, and no one else mentioned it anymore.

But that is almost equivalent to the income from the division of the family silver. Not to mention one favor, even ten or eight favors cannot make up for it...

*
Several princes withdrew from the emperor's presence, and the crown prince also withdrew.

Although Li Guangdi taught the prince, there were many other ministers who taught the prince. The two of them were teacher and student in reality, but they did not have a teacher-student relationship.

When I got back to my residence, someone reported it.

The Ninth Prince returned to his residence and asked for hot water.

The Thirteenth Prince followed the Fourth Prince to his residence.

The prince's face showed no emotion, and he said, "No need to report it anymore. It's taboo to pry into my mind..."

As for the Thirteenth Prince, the Crown Prince was much older than him and they had rarely interacted, so he had an ordinary impression of him.

This younger brother is quite smart as he can both coax the Fourteenth Prince and make friends with the Fourth Prince.

The Ninth Prince, on the other hand, is still as lazy as ever.

All the other princes' entourage were diligent, except the Ninth Prince, who was of the same bloodline as the Fifth Prince and acted as he pleased.

The prince waved his hand and sent the man away, with envy on his face.

The one who has no desires is strong, this is exactly what the Fifth Prince and the Ninth Prince are like.

This is also the reason why Concubine Yi was able to stand out among the four old-fashioned concubines and was favored for decades...

Compared with this mother and son, who would believe that the other two concubines and one imperial concubine had no ambition to become empress dowager?
*
Although the Ninth Prince asked for hot water, he was not in a hurry to soak his feet.

He still remembered the important matter, so he asked Zhou Song to call Gao Yanzhong.

The person who accompanied the officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs this time was none other than Gao Yanzhong.

The Ninth Prince did not add anything unnecessary and just followed Kangxi's instructions and told him about the hastily made neck and waist pillows.

Gao Yanzhong took note of it carefully and said, "I will arrange for someone to go to the county town to buy Cassia seeds right away."

As for palace silk, it was ready-made.

The Ninth Prince said, "The others can be done slowly. Let's finish the royal blue set tonight, so that Khan Ama can give it to people as a reward."

Gao Yanzhong followed in the team and knew that the Zhili governor was coming to the court, so he did not dare to delay and went down to arrange personnel...

The Ninth Prince then began to soak his feet and said to He Yuzhu, "The Lady's eyes were watery this morning. She must be reluctant to let me go out. Alas, there is nothing we can do about it..."

He Yuzhu did not respond.

Before leaving, my master went to the west wing to say goodbye to Lady Fu Jin, and his eyes were also in tears. Wasn't that because he got up in the middle of the night and was sleepy?
He didn't want to tell lies with his eyes open.

The Ninth Prince continued, "I will be away for two months. I wonder if the eldest princesses will recognize me by then..."

Although it was only the first day he went out, the Ninth Prince already felt sad about leaving.

After soaking his feet, he had no interest in wandering around and just lay down.

He Yuzhu saw it and said, "Master, are you tired? How about I give you a massage?"

The Ninth Prince waved his hands and said, "I'm not tired, I'm just thinking about the mud..."

This was not his initiative!
This was Fujin’s first suggestion!
But this achievement cannot be made public and must be covered up.

The Thirteenth Prince took advantage of this and felt uncomfortable with himself.

I don't feel uncomfortable because I am following the concubine and benefiting from her, I just feel sad.

Cowpox, new grains, mud...

Any one of them that is proposed will be a great achievement.

If the wife is a boy, he would be a potential minister.

Unfortunately, Fu Jin is a woman, not only can she not claim credit for her achievements, but she also has to cover them up...

The Fourth Prince was a little worried because he stayed indoors.

I was afraid that he might have caught a cold and was feeling unwell, so I came to check on him.

Seeing that the Ninth Prince was already lying down, he hurriedly asked, "What's wrong with you? Why don't you call the imperial physician?"

The Ninth Prince sat up, yawned, and said, "I'm not feeling uncomfortable, I just don't have enough sleep. I feel sleepy during the spring, and I'm afraid I'll feel sleepy at night..."

The Fourth Prince looked at him carefully, and felt relieved when he saw that there was indeed nothing wrong with him.

The Fourth Prince, as the elder brother, had his worries, and of course Kangxi, as the father, was no exception.

When it was time for dinner, Kangxi looked at the full table and began to appreciate the dishes.

A dish of braised sea cucumber to reward the prince.

The Fourth Prince was rewarded with a dish of eight-treasure tofu.

A dish of assorted cabbage rolls was given to the Ninth Prince as a reward.

A dish of braised lamb leg is rewarded to the Thirteenth Prince.

The rewards for others were all from the eunuchs running errands.

He was still worried about the Ninth Prince, so he ordered Wei Zhu to go there.

The Liangxiang Palace is close to the capital city, and people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs come to prepare in advance, so the kitchen has a richer variety of ingredients.

The Ninth Prince has quite a few standard dishes here, including four meat dishes and four vegetable dishes.

The Ninth Prince looked at them and really didn't want to eat any of them, so he told He Yuzhu, "Leave two for Zhou Song, and send the rest directly to Erhe and the others!"

He Yuzhu did not move, and said, "All the rewards have been given away, what will the master eat?"

The Ninth Prince said, "Rice soaked in tea. Eat too much noodles in the morning, and eat less at night..."

When He Yuzhu took the lunch box downstairs, Wei Zhu came.

Hearing that there was a reward of food, the Ninth Prince looked at the food box and asked, "What is it?"

Wei Zhu took it from the food box.

The Ninth Prince smiled.

Does this count as "borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha"?

This is not a regular dish from the imperial kitchen, but a recipe that was previously served at home.

Just pick the tender leaves of the cabbage core, blanch them, wrap them with blanched vermicelli, shredded egg skin, shredded wood ear, shredded carrots and spinach, dip them in a sauce, and eat them refreshingly.

"Thank you, Khan, for your grace. I was just impatient to eat, and now something to go with it is here..." the Ninth Prince said happily.

Wei Zhu looked at the two dishes on the table, one meat and one vegetable, and looked unhappy. She hesitated and said, "Your dish..."

The Ninth Prince said, "Looking at the thick and greasy sauce, I didn't want to pick up my chopsticks, so I asked He Yuzhu to take it to the subordinates..."

Wei Zhu's expression finally relaxed.

Seeing this, the Ninth Prince couldn't help but laugh and said, "You're starting to worry too. Who dares to neglect me?"

When Wei Zhu heard the word "also", he understood.

The Fourth Prince must be worried about the Ninth Prince, so he is taking care of him.

It’s not surprising. During the northern tour last year, it was the Fourth Prince who took care of the Ninth Prince.

The Ninth Prince ordered Zhou Song: "Get another set of clean dishes and chopsticks..."

Wei Zhu hurriedly said: "I dare not, I dare not, I still have to go back and report..."

Having said that, he was about to say goodbye.

The Ninth Prince wanted to stay longer, but he remembered that he was in the palace and everyone was watching him, so he let out a sigh and said, "Then let's go back. Thank you for your kindness, Khan..."

Wei Zhu agreed, picked up the empty lunch box and left.

When he arrived in front of the emperor, the dining table had already been removed.

Kangxi asked, "How is the Ninth Prince? Is there anything wrong with your body?"

Wei Zhu answered truthfully.

I didn't have much appetite, so I had already given away the standard dishes. I was planning to have some rice with tea, but I was delighted to see the assorted cabbage rolls.

Kangxi showed disgust on his face, but he felt relieved in his heart.

After all, he was worried about his son, so he instructed Wei Zhu: "Go to the dining room and tell the steward not to serve only the standard dishes for the Crown Prince and the other princes. Make a menu and let the Crown Prince and the other princes order the dishes..."