The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 23: Deadly Enemy
As the carriage was slowly moving forward, Yinyu suddenly heard someone shouting, "The Eighth Master and the Eighth Lady have arrived!"

In the past, whenever the Eighth Prince and the Eighth Lady appeared in public together, there would always be quite a stir among the women.

"Fifteenth brother, Eighth sister-in-law has such a temper, tsk tsk tsk tsk ..." The Sixteenth Brother blinked at Yinyou and made a face on purpose.

Yinyu couldn't help but smile and said, "You should change your bad habit of joining in the fun."

Old Sixteen shook his head and said, "What's wrong with just liking to watch the fun? It's not against the law!"

Yinyu frowned and said in a deep voice, "You are not a child anymore, you should be sensible. As long as it is the Eighth Sister-in-law's excitement, you must stay away, understand?"

Old Sixteen stiffened his neck and said with a grin, "I understand. I'll watch the fun from a distance."

Yinyou glared at the Sixteenth Prince fiercely, but felt a little discouraged. He couldn't just beat him up for such a small matter, right?

When the Sixteenth Old Man saw Yinyu's dark face, his eyes rolled and he immediately cupped his hands and said, "Fifteenth Brother, don't worry. I promise that I will only watch the fun and not get involved in the dust."

"Stay away from the dust and smoke" is a common saying among the bannermen in Beijing, which means to stay away from trouble.

The carriage slowly moved to the gate of the Fifth Prince's Mansion. As soon as Yinyu's feet touched the ground, he heard someone shouting, "The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Masters are here!"

Not long after, a small figure ran out from the side door on the left, ran quickly to Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince, and took the initiative to greet them.

"My nephew Hongsheng, please greet Uncle Fifteen and Uncle Sixteen, best wishes!"

Hongsheng just turned eleven this year. He is the eldest son of the fifth brother and his mother is the concubine Liu Jia.

Although they were uncle and nephew, Yinyu did not put on airs because they were of similar age. He smiled and nodded at the folding fan in his hand, saying softly, "That's all."

After Hongsheng stood up, he half bowed and said respectfully, "My fifteenth and sixteenth uncles, my father is inside talking to some of the amuqis (uncles) who arrived earlier. I can't get away for the moment. I hope you two uncles will forgive me."

The Bannermen have many etiquettes, the most important of which is that they must treat distinguished guests well.

Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince were both younger brothers of the Fifth Prince, and neither of them had any title.

No matter what, there was no reason for the fifth brother to leave his two older brothers, the eldest and the third, behind and run out to greet his two younger brothers.

Yinyu nodded and said with a smile: "In that case, would you please lead the way in front?"

Compared with the underworld, strength and status are more important in the government.

To put it bluntly, even among the princes, there are popular ones, those who have lost power, and those who are insignificant.

With Hongsheng leading the way, Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince walked towards the Beile Mansion together.

The originally crowded front of the mansion gate rolled outward like waves split by the sharp bow of a ship.

Even if the people present did not know Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince, they could recognize the golden belts tied around their waists.

Only when attending formal occasions did Yinyou wear a belt representing his status as a prince to avoid being bumped into by others.

When he went out of the palace to play privately, Yinwei would just tie a colorful belt around his waist to hide his identity.

Passing through the crowded crowd, Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince entered the side door of the Beile Mansion side by side.

Opening the middle gate to welcome them was a high treatment only the eldest and third sons were entitled to, because they were both princes, with a higher title than the fifth son, who was a beile.

The architectural layout of the Beile Mansion on the central axis in the capital is almost identical and has no ornamental value at all.

However, after turning to the East Courtyard, one can truly enjoy a pleasant view with every step.

"Please be well, Master Fifteen."

"Greetings, Master Sixteen." The male and female servants they met along the way all knelt down and saluted.

Amid the constant stream of greetings, Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince were invited to the western warm room in the inner house.

When they entered the room, they saw that the eldest brother, the third brother and several older princes were all there. Everyone turned their heads to look at them.

Yinyou quickly led the Sixteenth Prince and greeted his brothers one by one.

The Bannermen were very polite, and after the complicated greetings and formalities, a quarter of an hour had already passed.

Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince were not only young, but also had no rank or status. Although they had seats inside the room, they were in the back row near the door.

After sitting down again, I heard Yinzhi say in a loud voice: "There are a few new girls with decent looks in the Zhuyin troupe. Wait a minute, I will send a note to call them all over, and invite all the brothers to taste them together."

Yinyou quickly lowered his head to avoid laughing out loud and making his boss unhappy.

Damn, he was a dignified Prince, but his words and deeds in public were so vulgar and unrestrained. No wonder he was imprisoned by Kangxi until his death.

The Sixteenth Brother was still young and had no princess to try out for marriage with, so he naturally couldn't understand the dirty talk that the eldest brother said.

Among the princes present, who has not eaten meat since the age of fifteen?

Not to mention other people, there are several stunning Yangzhou skinny horses hidden in the third brother’s Prince Cheng’s mansion alone.

The skinny horses in Yangzhou are all of slim figure, proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and all wear three-inch golden lotus.

However, a top-quality Yangzhou skinny horse is worth at least 1,500 taels of silver. Except for princes, dukes or big salt merchants, even the Beile Lao Wu cannot afford to enjoy it.

Think about it, with the current market price, a pretty virgin girl would only cost twenty to fifty taels of silver.

But, men, even if they are princes, like to talk about women when they are together.

The fifth brother was the host today. Every now and then a prince or a duke came to the door, and he had to come out to receive them personally. As a result, he had no time to talk to Yinyou.

It is completely understandable that Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince had poor backgrounds and were both out of favor, so they were used to playing the role of background board.

The Sixteenth Prince secretly tugged at Yinyu's sleeve and asked him in a low voice, "What kind of horse is Yangzhou Skinny Horse?"

Yinyu pursed his lips and smiled, and whispered: "It's hard to explain right now, but you'll understand when you grow up a few years."

Unexpectedly, this was heard by Old Thirteen, who was also in the background. He suddenly interrupted and said, "Fifteenth brother, what's wrong with telling the truth to Sixteenth brother?"

Yinyou knew that the Thirteenth and the Third were sworn enemies with a hatred deeper than the sky.

It was because, less than a hundred days after the death of the Thirteenth Prince's mother, Concubine Min, the Third Prince actually violated the etiquette and shaved his head on his own initiative.

After the Thirteenth Prince beat the Third Prince, due to Kangxi's preference, the Third Prince was demoted to the rank of Beile, but soon after that he was restored to the rank of Prince.

However, Old Thirteen, who was punished to kneel for a long time, suffered irreversible permanent damage to his knees due to the severe weather of ice and snow.

The grudge was so deep that Old Thirteen was never able to resolve it until his death.

Yinyu smiled slightly and whispered, "Thirteenth brother, Sixteenth brother will know it sooner or later, why should I bother to say anything?"

"Well, since you don't want to say it, I'll say it for you." Old Thirteen actually stood up on his own initiative, walked to Old Sixteen, leaned over and whispered in his ear for a while.

Yinyou couldn't stop the Thirteenth Prince, so he had to let him go.

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(End of this chapter)