The Virtuous Concubine

After hearing Malu's words, the Fourth Prince felt warm in his heart, as if a warm current was flowing in his chest. He felt an unprecedented sense of belonging and happiness of being loved. However, he did not go in immediately, but walked around the back of Yonghe Palace twice to let his excitement slowly calm down before returning to the main hall.

When she went in, Malu was still looking after the child, checking and recording the child's development, just like when she raised the Fourth Prince. Every turn of the child and every physical change were recorded by her with great care.

The Fourth Prince stood quietly aside, unwilling to disturb the tranquility. He looked at Malu, remembering that Malu had recorded him in the same way when he first came. After a while, Malu noticed the Fourth Prince's arrival. She raised her head, smiled and said to him, "Little Fourth Prince, you are here. Look at your brothers and sisters. Have they grown up a little?"

The fourth prince approached the cradle and stood on tiptoe to carefully examine his sleeping brothers and sisters. Their faces were round, their breathing was steady, and they looked so peaceful. He replied softly, "Yes, mother, they are growing up so fast."

Malu nodded, his eyes full of pride and satisfaction: "Yes, you were like this when you were a child, changing every day."

The Fourth Prince finally felt at ease when he saw his peaceful mother. When he first came into this world, he thought his mother would send him away in exchange for Kangxi's favor and love, just like in his previous life. But she didn't. During the most tiring confinement period, she gritted her teeth and planned, and handled the greasy wool by herself just to keep him.

His brother's healthy growth made him think that she had come back again and wanted to make up for her regrets, but when he saw that she did not attack him or the Eighth Prince and others, he realized that this might not be the world he grew up in.

It seemed that everything was the same, including everyone's appearance, origin, personality, and the development trajectory of some major events in the previous dynasty. But because of her changes, everything seemed different. But it didn't matter, in this life, he would ascend to the throne that was destined to belong to him in a faster and better way!

After this rebirth, his state of mind was very different from before. He cherished everything in front of him more and understood the value of family affection more. He knew that he was no longer the lonely prince, but a lucky man with his mother's love and his brothers' company.

Thinking of this, he looked at Jingyi. So far, she has not been chosen by the emperor to join the harem. Then his thirteenth brother... Forget it, let's see when the time comes. If Yinzuo and Yinzhen did not oppose him in this life, and even planned to become his left and right arms, then he would not have to interfere.

After all, the last thing he wanted was to make his mother sad. If Kangxi fell in love with the maids around her, the whole harem would laugh at Concubine De for either flattering the emperor and willingly pushing others to the top, or saying that she was incompetent and couldn't even control her own maids from climbing into bed.

Seeing that he was a small person, but sitting with a gloomy face, Ma Lu thought that he was unhappy about something: "What's wrong, Xiao Si'er?"

Yinzhen smiled and said, "I want a string of eighteen seeds, but I haven't found a good one in the storehouse."

The Eighteen Seeds bracelet is made of eighteen different kinds of Bodhi seeds, each of which has its own unique symbolic meaning. In Buddhism, the Eighteen Seeds bracelet corresponds to the Eighteen Realms, which refer to the six roots, six dusts, and six consciousnesses.

In addition, the 18-bead bracelet also symbolizes the 18 Arhats and serves as a talisman. Ma Lu knew that in the Qing Dynasty, the 18-bead bracelet was often used as a bracelet and prayer beads, and was a popular decoration among the bannermen.

But Malu was a little curious after hearing this: "Why did you suddenly think of this?" Could it be that his own son wanted to become a Buddhist in the Beijing circle when he was just this old? ?

Yinzhen, relying on Malu's favor, collapsed on the couch with his arms and legs spread out, without any princely manners at all: "I just want it! I see others have it, and I always feel itchy, I want to get one and try it."

Seeing that he was not serious, Malu also smiled and said, "Okay, okay, go look for it in my warehouse. I remember that the abbot of Baohua Temple or somewhere donated a whole box. Your mother doesn't like those, so you can pick them yourself."

Yinzhen was excited after hearing this, he turned over, thanked her and ran away. Bai Xia quickly took the key to the storeroom and followed. Yinzhen finally picked out eight Tianyi beads and eight Jingang beads as the main beads, and two five-eye six-way beads as decorations, and gave them to Jingyi to string them together and send them to Baohua Hall for consecration.

Jingyi also knows a little about Buddhism. In fact, many concubines in the harem and many people in the Qing Dynasty believed in Buddhism. Malu's palace did not have a small Buddhist temple, which was an anomaly. She looked at the eighteen-seed material selected by the Fourth Prince, and her heart was pounding.

Tianyizi, as the name suggests, symbolizes following destiny and being content with whatever happens. Vajrazi is named for its hard and indestructible nature, symbolizing steadfastness. Five eyes and six supernatural powers are a very special kind of bodhi seed, symbolizing the five abilities and six supernatural powers of practitioners, including the physical eye, the divine eye, the wisdom eye, the Dharma eye, the Buddha eye, as well as the divine feet, the divine ears, the divine eyes, the telepathy, the destiny, and the wisdom of the end of defilements.

On the one hand, he follows the will of heaven, and on the other hand, he is indestructible? And why does the Fourth Prince seem to be very well versed in Buddhist teachings, even knowing the meaning of this kind of seed material? Jingyi and Dachun can be said to have watched the Fourth Prince grow up, and the Empress of Yonghe Palace does not believe in Buddhism. Without any influence from her, how could the Fourth Prince arrange these seed materials so appropriately?

Jingyi silently took note of this matter, and then prepared to wrap the eighteen beads with a handkerchief to make a bracelet. The Fourth Prince had no idea that his previous efforts to cover up were all in vain. He hadn't finished choosing yet! He picked for a long time, and finally selected moon beads, phoenix eye bodhi, fairy peach and other beads, and made a string suitable for girls for Concubine De and his sister, and then made a string of sun beads and Burmese eggplant for his brother.

By the time the arrangements were made, only half of the box of seed material was left. Bai Xia simply found a few sandalwood boxes for Jingyi and asked her to put them away as the Fourth Prince had instructed before locking the storeroom and leaving.

After listening to Bai Xia's report, Malu laughed: "This brat, at such a young age, he knows how to borrow flowers to offer to Buddha! He takes my things and tries to curry my favor, really."

Bai Xia couldn't help but laugh out loud: "My Lady, the Fourth Prince is very smart. He will have no trouble finding a wife in the future!"

Jingyi was very quick, and after finishing all the bracelets, she took the box to show to Malu, and by the way, she talked about the meaning of these seed materials, suggesting that Malu should find out why the Fourth Prince knew all this. However, she did not think of rebirth, after all, it was too bizarre, and the Fourth Prince was raised by her.

She was simply afraid that someone around the Fourth Prince would teach him these things, which would be bad. Ma Lu smiled and said, "You are thoughtful and you did a good job on this."

At this moment, Kangxi's cheerful voice suddenly came from the door: "What's good?"

It turned out to be Kangxi who arrived!