CH 25

Chapter 25: The Monarch’s heart, visiting the sick

It had been snowing for most of the day, the bluestone road was a bit slippery, and the path was a little unstable. The candles in the lanterns were flickering, dazzling the road.

Although Yinzhen’s steps did not lose the demeanor of a prince, he walked in strides, and those who followed him had to trot to keep up.

“Master, be careful,” Xiao Luzi was terrified and it was not until they arrived at the seventh brother’s place that he was relieved.

"Greetings to the fourth brother,” the guards on patrol saw the fourth brother rushing to the seventh elder brother’s yard at such a late hour, hiding their surprise in their hearts, they greeted him together.

“There’s no need to be too polite,” Yinzhen nodded to the imperial guards, and after Xiao Luzi had finished explaining their purpose for coming, both servant and master entered the gate of Yinyou’s residence.

“Slaves greet the fourth brother,” when the two eunuchs guarding outside Yinyou’s room saw Yinzhen, they knelt down to pay their respects but didn’t dare to open the door directly to Yinzhen.

Yinzhen knew that etiquette in the palace didn’t allow him to be prompt, and although he was worried, he still resisted the urge to open the door directly, and asked with a serious face, “How is the seventh brother?”

A eunuch said, “Replying back to the fourth brother, the master fell asleep after taking medicine half a sichen [1] ago.”

At this moment, Fu Duo came from the corridor and bowed to Yinzhen, “Fourth brother is lucky [2].”

“Why is the seventh brother so sick?”, Yinzhen interrogated with a frown, “How do you servants serve him?”

Fu Duo knew that the fourth brother cared about his master. Looking at the snowflakes on the top of the fourth brother’s head, afraid he actually hurried over just after getting the news that his master was sick.

Thinking of this, Fu Duo pushed open the door and whispered, “Fourth brother, master has been ill for several days but he just thought of it as a minor illness and ignored it. Who would have thought that he caught a cold again last night, and today he couldn’t even wake up?”

Yinzhen threw a glance at Xiao Luzi, but thinking of Yinyou who was sleeping in the room, he quietly stepped into the outer room. Fu Duo bent over, closed the curtain for him, and muttered, “Master must already be fast asleep.”

Yinzhen nodded and went inside the inner room while Fu Duo lit a lamp.

Xiao Luzi who was waiting outside shuddered, this time master might really punish him.

Yinzhen entered the inner room and looked at the carved bed in the room covered tightly by the light blue mosquito net. He couldn’t see what the person on the bed looked like, but the room was lit with charcoal fire, and it felt cozy.

As soon as he lifted his foot and took two steps, he heard a coughing sound, and couldn’t help speeding up. When he lifted a corner of the mosquito net, under the dark red candlelight, he saw Yinyou’s pale face and noticed his breathing was sickly heavy. Stretching out his hand to touch Yinyou’s forehead, he also noticed he was burning and frowned, feeling regretful in his heart. If he knew this would’ve happened, he wouldn’t have taken a few days off of Wuyizhai and instead would’ve gone diligently, like this, he would’ve been able to detect Yinyou’s discomfort.

When he was away from him, he was worried, and when he was close, he felt afraid. How could he ever hide his unbearable thoughts?

Taking out the handkerchief on his body and gently wiping the sweat from Yinyou’s forehead, Yinzhen sighed slightly. He wanted to bend down and embrace the person on the bed in his arms, yet he could only stand aside.

Yinyou on the bed might feel hot subconsciously, and he couldn’t help kicking the thick quilt on his body. Seeing this, Yinzhen hurriedly held down his feet. Yinyou’s body was hot; it would be much better if he sweated. If he kicked the quilt now, he might suffer even more tomorrow. After carefully pressing down the quilt, Yinzhen sat down on the edge of the bed, extended his arm, and pressed the quilt on the other side of Yinyou’s body, as he coaxed him softly, “Seventh brother, don’t make trouble, tomorrow you will be fine.”

“Hot…”, Yinyou twisted his body and his face went from pale to red, “It’s so hot, let me go.”

“It’s alright, it’ll pass in a while, be obedient now,” Yinzhen lay down next to Yinyou and gently patted him through the quilt, “bear with it, it won’t be hot in a while.” Then he brushed Yinyou’s face with his cold palm.

Yinyou rubbed his face against Yinzhen’s palm, “Well, it’s so cool.”

After a while, he fell asleep again.

Fu Duo, standing by the curtain, saw this scene, lowered his head, and thought to himself that when all the brothers sent things in the afternoon, he thought that the fourth brother might’ve had a conflict with his master. Now it seemed that he thought wrong.

Yinzhen stayed with Yinyou for a while, and seeing that he showed no sign of kicking the quilt again, he reluctantly walked out of the inner room and told Fu Duo, “Remember to go and check at night, don’t let your master kick the quilt, and remember to let him take his medicine on time, if he refuses to take it, you send someone to tell me.”

“Aye,” Fu Duo repeatedly nodded as he listened to the fourth brother’s orders.

“If you need anything, just find Xio Luzi,” Yinzhen paused, and then said, “Find a reliable maid to prepare his medicine.”

“This servant will pay attention,” Fu Duo bowed again.

“It’s getting late, master will go back.” Yinzhen glanced at the inner room, “Take care of him carefully. If my seventh brother feels unwell, you  will be sent to the clothing bureau.”

“Aye”.

Seeing that Yinzhen was about to leave, Fu Duo asked the little eunuch to take out an umbrella and a hand warmer, “Fourth brother, take care of your body. If the master knows that you didn’t bring an umbrella when you came tonight and ended up covered in snow, he must nag about it again.”

“You are a caring servant,” Yinzhen took the hand warmer, Xiao Luzi behind him took the umbrella, and then, master and servant left the place.

Fu Duo thought with emotion, who in the palace said that the fourth brother was cold and difficult to get along with? Look at how the fourth brother took care of his master, just like an old father treated his son.

When Yinyou woke up the next day, he felt much better, but his whole body was covered in sweat and he felt a little uncomfortable. He didn’t dare to take a bath at this time, so he simply wiped his body, drank a bowl of porridge, and then sat on his bed again.

“Master, it’s time to drink the medicine.” Yunzhu brought the medicine in a black bowl with white smoke rising from it.

Yinyou was not an actual child nor a squeamish girl, so he didn’t want Yunzhu to torture himself by feeding him in spoonfuls. He simply took the bowl, drank it all in one mouthful, and didn’t take the candied fruit that Yunzhu offered.

“Is it snowing outside?”

“Master, how did you know?” Yunzhu put down the medicine bowl, “The snowflakes are like goose feathers.”

Yinyou smiled, “Your hair has snow.”

If the snow was little, how could Yunzhu get snow on her hair when she was just walking in the corridor? [3]

“It was indeed a heavy snow last night,” Yunzhu straightened the quilt, covered Yinyou’s waist, and handed him a glass of water, “The slave heard from eunuch Fu Duo that it was also snowing heavily when the fourth brother arrived, he even had a layer of snow on his hair.”

Yinyou adjusted the quilt, rinsed his mouth, and asked, “The fourth brother came here last night?”

“He did, and this morning he sent a lot of things too,” Yunzhu packed up her things and went out.

Yinyou buried his head and looked at the patterns embroidered on the quilt, lost in thought.

"The emperor is here," Yinyou was slightly startled by the eunuch's voice outside. He lifted the quilt and was about to get out of bed, but was held down by a big hand, “Lie back on the bed, you are still tossing when you are sick”.

“Erchen will be rude,” Yinyou didn’t continue to struggle and let Kangxi push him to the bed, then Kangxi too sit down, covered Yinyou with a quilt with his own hands, and also shoved a soft cushion behind Yinyou’s waist, “You still need these vain courtesies when you’re sick. Are you getting better?”

“Better,” Yinyou felt a little uncomfortable with Kangxi’s gentle treatment, so he changed the subject, “And I just drank the medicine and I didn’t need servants to coax me.”

“Oh, is our little seventh a man now?” Kangxi smiled a little, “If you don’t need servants to coax you every time you drink medicine when you recover, Huang Ama will give you a piece of warm jade [4].”

Warm jade was a rare thing, and Yinyou didn’t refuse when he heard this, “then wait for Erchen to get well, Huang Ama, you must remember to give it to Erchen.”

“Alright,” Kangxi looked at Yinyou’s bloodless face, thinking of his sons and daughters who died young, his heart softened by two points, “Then little seventh must remember to get better soon."

Yinyou nodded, “I want to be a Manchurian warrior.”

Kangxi kept smiling, “Okay, be a warrior.”

“Emperor, concubine Cheng asks permission to enter,” a eunuch cautiously reported.

Kangxi understood that concubine Cheng was here to see little seventh, so he nodded, “Let her come in.”

When Concubine Cheng entered the room, she didn’t expect to see the emperor, and she guessed he had come right from the court. She entered the inner room and greeted Kangxi. Although she was worried about Yinyou, she didn’t dare to break the rules and ask about Yinyou’s well-being.

Kangxi saw that Concubine Cheng was anxious and didn’t want to make things difficult for her, so he simply said a few more words to Yinyou and was ready to leave. Seeing that Kangxi was about to retire, Yinyou stretched out his hand and pulled the corner of Kangxi’s robe, “Huang Ama.”

Seeing Yinyou’s action, Concubine Cheng turned pale with fright, but Kangxi didn’t shy away from a smile, “What else does Yinyou want to tell Huang Ama?”

Yinyou loosened the corner of Kangxi’s clothes, “Don't forget the warm jade that you promised Erchen”.

Yinyou’s childish gesture made Kangxi both amused and helpless, “Zhen will never forget, yes, you can recuperate with peace of mind.”

Out of the courtyard, Kangxi spoke to Li Dequan behind him, “Li Dequan, later, you remember to bring little seventh that piece of warm jade from my private treasury, so that this child won’t die thinking about it every day.”

“The emperor loves the seventh brother, the old slave dare not forget,” Li Dequan didn’t have much contact with the seventh brother, but in his impression, apart from the seventh brother being too honest, he didn’t have any other problem and was a likable child.

Kangxi listened to Li Dequan’s words, and replied back, “That child also said he wanted to be a Manchurian warrior. In my opinion, he rather looks a little greedy for money.” Although there was reproach in the words, there was also fondness.

Li Dequan’s heart was like a mirror. Although the seventh elder brother’s move was a bit out of manner, the child’s attitude toward his Ama pleased the emperor. After all, Kangxi was an emperor, but he was still an Ama. As an Ama, there will always be times when one’s heart softens.

***

The author has something to say:

Little seventh: Well, it’s so hot, so hot.

Little fourth: Wait for a while, just wait for a while, don’t move.

After a while...

Little seventh: It’s so cool and comfortable.

Butterfly’s friendly reminder: When you have a fever, don’t kick the quilt~ PS, I want to be bad, all the minors, face the wall (don’t look)!

(Bambi: Guys, “cool and comfortable” is a dialogue from when characters in smutty Chinese works are going at it if you know what I mean… Yes, this is an innuendo!!).

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▲ Footnotes

[1] 时辰 shí chen. time / one of the 12 two-hour periods of the day.

[2] “四阿哥吉祥” — 吉祥 jíxiáng: lucky / auspicious / propitious.

Ayana writes: “So 吉祥如意 is to wish someone the best of luck. This greeting is less common in spoken language and more prevalent in calligraphy, painting, and paper cutting. All of the greetings above- except for 新年快乐 – are traditional Chinese greetings. You can use them to bless anyone, from relatives at New Year’s dinner to a stranger on the street. They appear frequently on New Year cards, banners, and doors decoration, but they are also commonly used in spoken language (吉祥如意 is exempt). There are endless ways to bless someone, especially if you know him.”

[3] The word used here was “长廊 chángláng” which can mean promenade, long hallway, or Long Corridor in the Summer Palace, Beijing.

[4] 暖玉  nuǎn yù - warm jade. In my experience, it’s jade that has a warm temperature, just right for people who are cold-bodied. Google and Baidu searches didn’t give me more info, so that’s what we will be sticking to. The image of the Jade dog figure is from the Qing Dynasty, and according to Jan-Erik Nilsson, in his porcelain blog, Gotheborg: “Distinctive jade animals delicately carved in naturalistic poses were popular from the Song dynasty to the early Qing dynasty. (...) Their utilitarian function was as paperweights, but high-quality, sensitively rendered sculptures could also be kept as 'playthings' for scholars or wealthy patrons. In the best examples, the natural interplay between various colors in the stone could be skillfully utilized in the rendering of the figure.”