The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 17: Heading to Hushan

The Qing Dynasty's imperial palace complex is divided into three levels from outside to inside: the Imperial City, the Inner Imperial City and the Palace City (Forbidden City).

From the outermost imperial city all the way to the palace city, it is all royal restricted area with extremely strict security.

In Dream of the Red Chamber, the servants of Jia's mansion all lived in the alley behind the mansion. They could only enter the mansion with their badges when they were on duty.

The palace maids and eunuchs living in the imperial city were forbidden to enter and leave the imperial city at will, but the servants of the Jia family were free to go shopping anytime and anywhere as long as they were not on duty.

Objectively speaking, the palace maids and eunuchs had no freedom of movement.

The next thousand taels of silver in the palace means closing the palace gates.

Once the palace gates were closed, anyone who dared to open them without Kangxi's permission would lose his head.

Yinyu heard the creaking of the door hinge of the prince's residence and asked casually, "Who is on duty tonight?"

Chunxi, who had been guarding outside the door, pushed the door open and came in, squatting and reporting: "My lord, tonight, Yingyue is working inside, and I am guarding the door."

Living in the palace is full of inconveniences!
In the evening, Yinyou really couldn't find any suitable entertainment except making babies and reading.

As a person in a high position, Yinyou knew better than anyone that he should not be too close to the servants around him.

If you are close to them, they will be disrespectful; if you are far away from them, they will complain. This is basically the truth!
Because he got up too early, Yinyou went to bed very early.

Yingyue has been sleeping with him at night for some time, and Yinyu has already figured out the mysteries of her body.

With Yinyu's rich knowledge of sex, he could turn Yingyue into a puddle of mud with just a move of "young man pushing the cart".

As a woman, with her crushing status, harmony on the couch, and unique tenderness and care, Yinyou was not worried at all that Yingyue was the Eighth Prince's woman.

After sweating profusely, Yinyu hugged Yingyue and asked her with a smile: "Are you feeling comfortable again?"

"Master..." Yingyue hid her head in Yinyou's armpit out of shame.

However, Yinyu noticed that Yingyue had been maintaining a strange posture with her legs facing upwards.

Haha, Yingyue probably thought that Yinyu didn't understand the meaning of this gesture. However, Yinyu is an old driver, how could he not understand?

Yinyu smiled slightly. This was just a good start. Once she got pregnant and gave birth to a royal grandson, things would be easier to talk about.

Having children together is the closest emotional bond between men and women.

Nowadays, many middle-aged couples have long lost their emotional foundation, but they still wait until their children take the college entrance examination to officially divorce. It is obvious that they put their children's future first.

After school in the afternoon, Yinyou went back to his room, took a bath, changed into light clothes, and then took Wulin out to visit the Crown Princess in Yuqing Palace.

According to the etiquette of the Qing Dynasty, boys and girls over the age of seven were not allowed to sit at the same table, and married women were not allowed to meet their younger brothers-in-law privately.

However, no matter how great the etiquette is, it varies from person to person.

So far, three of Kangxi's empresses have died.

After the death of Empress Xiaoyi, Kangxi was afraid of being branded as a wife-killer, so he simply decided not to appoint another empress.

However, the affairs of the inner palace needed someone to preside over them, so Kangxi ordered Crown Princess Guaerjia to take charge of the affairs of the six palaces.

Among all the princes, the current Crown Prince Yinreng, although the second son of the emperor, is the eldest son born to the Empress.

According to feudal etiquette, after the death of his wife, it was completely reasonable for the master to arrange for his eldest daughter-in-law to be responsible for managing household affairs.

If the master actually arranges a concubine to be the housekeeper, he will definitely be ridiculed by outsiders!
As a brother-in-law who had not yet married, Yinyou came to pay a visit to the Crown Princess with full justification and was not afraid of any criticism.

Zhang Jia Ma had been waiting in the gatehouse of the front gate of Yuqing Palace since early morning. When she heard that Yin Yu had arrived, she hurried out to greet him. "Old servant Zhang Jia, I wish you the best of the fifteenth master." Zhang Jia Ma had no intention of showing off and knelt down to salute in a proper manner.

Yinyu leaned down and personally helped Nanny Zhangjia up, saying in an unusually gentle voice, "Thank you, Nanny."

Wu Lin, who was standing aside, glanced at Nanny Zhangjia, then looked at Yinyou's back, but he kept his mouth shut and said nothing.

In fact, Wulin knew it very well in his mind. Nanny Zhangjia changed her name to "old slave" and Yinyou changed her name to "nanny you", which obviously showed their closeness to each other.

As the saying goes, it takes two to tango!

At present, it seems that Yinyou is obviously happy to accept the goodwill expressed by Nanny Zhangjia.

Led by Nanny Zhangjia, Yinyou passed through Xiangxu Gate, Dunben Hall, and the long and narrow hall before arriving at the door of the rear hall.

Yinyu was no stranger to Yuqing Palace, because during festivals, in addition to paying respects to the Empress Dowager and Emperor Kangxi, he would also come here to pay respects to Crown Prince Yinreng.

In fact, as the prince's eastern palace, Yuqing Palace is not very suitable.

This is because the entire Yuqing Palace complex is too long and narrow from north to south, and extremely narrow from east to west, and is nowhere near half as spacious as the Zhai Palace to the west.

If we look at it from a purely military perspective, Yuqing Palace is easy to attack but difficult to defend, and has no defensive depth at all.

However, Yuqing Palace also has its advantages. It is adjacent to Fengxian Hall in the east and Jingyun Gate, the east gate of Qianqing Palace in the west.

It is worth mentioning that the spirit tablet of Crown Prince Yinreng’s biological mother, Empress Xiaocheng, is enshrined in the Fengxian Hall.

The son went to pay tribute to his mother. He went out of the Qianxing Gate and entered the Chengsu Gate, and thus he arrived at the place, which was very close.

When he entered the hall, Yinyou vaguely heard Yinreng's angry roar.

In the cannibalistic palace, it is definitely better to have less trouble than more. The more you know, the faster you die!

Yinyou couldn't help but quicken his pace, not daring to stop for a moment, for fear of arousing suspicion from everyone in the Eastern Palace.

After seeing this scene, Nanny Zhang Jia couldn't help but nod secretly. The Crown Princess really had good vision and the Fifteenth Master really had no ambition.

The Eastern Palace today is completely different from the Eastern Palace in the past!

In the past, when Soetu was still alive, although Yinreng was also very domineering, he was quite restrained and it was rare for him to lose his temper with important ministers.

However, ever since Kangxi found a low-brow excuse and used a shady trick to kill Soetu, Yinreng's temper became worse and worse.

The worse your temper and the worse your reputation, the harder it is to stay in your position!

In neighboring Japan, ever since Hideyori was born, the life of Toyotomi Hidetsugu, the nephew of Kinoshita Tokichirō and the old heir who had been trained for many years, has become more and more difficult.

Eventually, Hidetsugu gained the notoriety of being the killer, and his entire family was brutally killed by Kinoshita Tokichirō.

The traditional politics of East Asia as a whole has always been a winner-takes-all politics, with the winner taking all and the loser having only a small chance of not being exterminated!

In the Eastern Palace, there are clear divisions. The Dunben Hall in the front and the main hall of the Yuqing Palace are where Crown Prince Yinreng handles government affairs and rests.

The rear hall is the territory of the Crown Princess.

As for the back room behind the rear hall, that was where Yinreng's women lived.

Unlike in the TV series, so far, there are only three women of status around Crown Prince Yinreng, namely: Crown Princess Shi, Crown Prince's Concubine Li Jia, and Crown Prince's Noble Lady Lin.

With the help of the warm sunlight, Yinyou could see clearly that the second prince of the Eastern Palace, Hongxi, was standing at the steps at the entrance of the palace with a smile on his face.

(End of this chapter)