The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 14: Appreciation
Because they were not in a hurry, the carriage did not move very fast. After about an hour, they finally arrived at the west entrance of Songniang Hutong.

Yinyou didn't want to cause trouble for Aunt Li's family, so he deliberately didn't send anyone to notify her in advance.

After the carriage stopped at the entrance of the alley, Wu Lin ran into the alley to look for Aunt Li.

After a while, a middle-aged woman came running over, panting and wiping her tears.

"I am Li Jia, my servant, wishing the best to my master." Aunt Li rushed to the side of the carriage and knelt down to pay her respects.

Yinyu heard the noise, raised his hand to lift the curtain, gently raised his folding fan, and said with a smile: "Today is a big wedding day in my aunt's family. I came to ask for a glass of water and wine to share in the festive atmosphere. I hope I didn't cause any trouble to you, aunt?"

"Master, you are of such a noble status, why did you come to this dirty cat's place?" Aunt Li still liked to nag as always.

If someone else had nagged him, Yinyou would definitely be unhappy.

However, Aunt Li has been serving Yinyou since he was a child and has indeed taken good care of him, so let her nag.

This person, who is in a blessed situation, must know how blessed he is.

Yinyu got off the carriage, personally helped Aunt Li up, and said with a smile: "I'm here now, Aunt, you won't chase me away, right?"

Aunt Li also knew Yinyu's temper. She pulled her adopted son to her side and ordered him sternly, "Quick, kneel down and kowtow to me."

Yinyou saw clearly that today's groom was wearing a bright red wedding gown and a wedding hat, and was about seventeen years old.

Li Sibao was so overwhelmed with joy that he didn't know where to put his hands and feet, and his mind was a mess.

"I am Li Sibao, my servant, and wish my master well." After hearing Aunt Li's reminder, Li Sibao finally came to his senses and knelt on the ground without hesitation, "Dong Dong Dong..." and kowtowed nine times in a row.

Nowadays, even a fool knows what Yinyu’s presence at the wedding means to the entire Li family.
Are you kidding? My adopted son is getting married, and the current fifteenth prince came in person to congratulate him. Oh my god, he is giving him too much face!

Ask around Beijing, whose servant has such a distinguished status?

Even after a few decades, the Li family will be fully qualified to brag and not be afraid of being looked down upon!
Yinyu raised his folding fan and said with a smile, "Get up. When you have a good job in the future, you must know how to cherish it and do your job well. Don't embarrass me."

How could Aunt Li not understand Yinyou's hint? She immediately pulled Li Sibao and knelt down together to express her gratitude.

"I thank the master for his grace on behalf of Sibao."

Yinyu bent down again, personally helped Aunt Li up, and said with a smile: "Today is Sibao's big day. It's unlucky to cry. You should laugh more!"

A group of people surrounded Yinyou and walked into the alley.

There are straight and crooked alleys in Beijing. The Songguniang Hutong where the Li family lived is not only crooked, but also has an uneven surface.

Li Ding and Yuzhu were afraid that Yinyou would fall, so they held his arms nervously.

Seeing that the bottom of Li Ding's robe was stained with a lot of black mud, Yinyu couldn't help but nodded secretly.

Putting aside Li Xu, who was trying to curry favor with the powerful, at least Li Ding at the moment was of the same mind as him.

Yuzhu was more careful. He held up Yinyou's robe carefully, fearing that it would get dirty and affect the image of the prince.

Yinyou basically knew the situation in Longkodo's family.

Yuzhu's biological mother, Li Si'er, was looked down upon even after she entered the Tong family because she had served two men successively, who were also the father-in-law and the son-in-law.

As early as the 27th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, Longkodo was already a first-class imperial guard. Soon after, he was promoted to Imperial Envoy and Deputy Commander of the Zhenglan Banner Mongolian Army.

However, eighteen years later, in the 45th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, Longkodo's career had become worse and worse. He was dismissed from all his part-time jobs, leaving him only as a first-class guard of the third rank. Longkodo, who had reached the peak of his career when he debuted, was not doing well, which greatly affected Yuzhu's future.

When Yinyou was six years old and needed to go to the Shangshufang to study, Longkodo racked his brains to turn the jade pillar into Yinyou's haha beads for his son's future.

After all, Yinyou is Kangxi's biological son. When he comes of age, he should at least be given the title of Beizi, right?

According to the rules, the Beizi Mansion has three ceremonial stewards, one of whom is from the fifth rank and two from the sixth rank.

As long as he follows Yinyou, Yuzhu will always have a stable life in the future and won't have to sit at home and eat up all the food.

This is really how pitiful the love of parents is!

Yinyou could see through Longkodo's thoughts of loving his youngest son better than anyone else.

However, Longkodo himself did not know that Kangxi's strategy for appointing him was to suppress him first and then promote him.

When a king employs people, he always pays attention to the principle that if jade is not polished, it cannot become a useful object.

The more Kangxi planned to use Longkodo in the future, the more he would suppress his future now.

Yinyou also knew that in the past, Longkodo was a well-known member of the eldest prince's party, and therefore was hated by Kangxi.

At that time, the eldest prince Yinzhi supported by Mingzhu and the crown prince Yinreng supported by Soetu fought each other fiercely, making the entire court a mess.

After weighing the pros and cons, Kangxi decisively abandoned the stubborn eldest prince Yinzhi and chose to continue supporting the crown prince.

So, when Mingzhu collapsed, Longkodo was also hit hard.

Later, Cixi learned Kangxi's good tactics and deliberately sent Ronglu to a remote post, ignoring him and allowing him to fail for many years.

It was not until he was almost in despair of his official career that Ronglu was recalled to the capital and gradually gained important positions.

As for Li Ding's Haha beads, they are a special way for Concubine Wang to repay Li Xu.

In a nutshell, Yuzhu was here just to get a job, while Li Xu's expectation for Li Ding was that he would take over Suzhou Weaving in the future.

Aunt Li's house is located in the middle of Songguniang Hutong.

When Yinyou came closer, he saw that the front of the barbarian's door was full of people kneeling.

According to the strict hierarchy, the gates of the courtyard houses, from high to low, are: Palace Gate, Prince's Palace Gate, Guangliang Gate, Jinzhu Gate, Manzi Gate and Ruyi Gate.

In the capital these days, the shape of the houses cannot be wrong at all.

Although the Li family was a member of the upper three banners, Aunt Li's brother was just an idle bannerman and did not hold any official position.

Therefore, the main gate of the Li family can only be a Barbarian Gate which is only slightly higher than the Yi Gate.

Yinyou raised his folding fan lightly and said lightly, "That's all." Then he walked into the courtyard surrounded by the crowd.

After passing through the screen wall and the hanging flower gate, Yinyu carefully looked at the second courtyard. He saw that there were lights and decorations everywhere, and the left and right wing rooms were filled with large round tables and long benches.

Under the guidance of Aunt Li, Yinyou completely satisfied his curiosity about ordinary dwellings and took a complete tour of the entire courtyard.

(End of this chapter)