20demayo Chapter 2 The First Prince's Reputation Was Damaged
Chapter 2 The First Prince's Reputation Was Damaged
Although Yinzhen was nothing but grass to Consort De, Yinzuo was a treasure to her, and the only treasure in her heart at the moment. Since Yinzuo had already spoken, Consort De, no matter how unwilling she was, still agreed to let Yinzhen in.
"Fourth Brother, come sit here."
Yin Zuo wasn't embarrassed at all about acting cute and charming in front of an eight-year-old child. Putting aside the fact that his current body was only six years old, Yin Zuo had been spoiled by Consort De since childhood, and acting cute and charming was something the original owner of the body was used to doing. It would be suspicious if he suddenly became sensible.
Furthermore, Yin Zuo didn't have any great ambitions. In his previous life, he had to work from nine to five and day and night just to make ends meet. Now that he has been born into a good family, all Yin Zuo's ideal is to live a peaceful and comfortable life for the next few decades. He might as well try to please his future powerful backer and act cute to make his later life more comfortable. It's all for the sake of making a living, so he doesn't have to be ashamed.
Yinzhen had no idea that Yinzuo was now planning to cling to him and make him take responsibility for the rest of his life. Seeing Yinzuo patting the edge of the bed obediently, beckoning him to come and sit down, Yinzhen was a little nervous, but he still pretended to be calm and walked over. Then, under the vigilant gaze of Consort De, he sat down next to Yinzuo.
"Sixth brother, I'm sorry. This time it was my fault. I shouldn't have hit you..."
Yin Zuo—no, he should be called Yin Zuo now—looked at the young version of Yongzheng in front of him, who was earnestly apologizing to him in a serious and earnest manner. He couldn't help but purse his lips. He remembered reading somewhere online that Yongzheng was quite talkative as a child. Later, because his scumbag father, Kangxi, scolded him for his unpredictable temper, he forced himself to suppress his true nature. Who would have thought that he would overcorrect and become cold, aloof, and indifferent? But wasn't he only eight years old? Had he already been scolded by his scumbag father?
"Fourth Brother, it was my fault. I shouldn't have been naughty and hit Laifu with the stick. I won't do it again. Please forgive me this time, okay?"
On the surface, Yinzhuo looked pitiful, tugging at Yinzhen's sleeve and begging for forgiveness, but in his heart he was shouting, "Quickly, please forgive me for being so sincere! Please don't write this down in your little notebook!"
The current Yinzhen is not the cold-faced prince he will be decades later. Although he was very angry about Yinzuo's bullying of his little dog, this is, after all, his own younger brother. His mother, the Empress Dowager, always taught him to be magnanimous, and Yinzhen had pitifully begged him. So, he would reluctantly forgive him this time. If he goes back on his word, then next time...
"Alright, Fourth Brother will forgive you this time. But Sixth Brother, you'd better change your ways. Otherwise, when you go to the Imperial Study and study with your brothers, if you offend your eldest brother, he really will beat you up..."
Thinking of how Yinqi easily knocked the guards to the ground in the cloth storeroom, Yinzhen couldn't help but seriously instruct Yinzuo. After all, this guy was really weak. Even though he didn't push him with any force, he still couldn't stand up. If it were his elder brother, the scene would be unbearable to watch.
Yinzuo had watched a lot of Qing Dynasty dramas in his previous life, and he knew about the eldest prince, Yinti. In the dramas, he was often portrayed as a reckless and impulsive man. Yinzuo always felt that this portrayal was biased and deliberately smeared him. Could it be that people really did not smear him, and that he was really like that in reality?
"Fourth Brother, is Eldest Brother really that scary? Would he really hit a child?"
Yinzhen recalled his elder brother's fierce and ruthless appearance in the cloth storeroom, and solemnly nodded to Yinzuo. Yinzuo, who thought he understood the truth, immediately decided that when he went to the Imperial Study in the future, he must stay away from his elder brother. After all, based on his understanding of Yinzhen, this man never lied. If he said that his elder brother had a bad temper and would beat children, then it must be true.
But this guy completely forgot that his supposed understanding of his fourth brother was entirely based on information he found online in his past life. Yes, the stern and authoritative Prince Yong, the iron-fisted Emperor Yongzheng, never lied. But the fourth brother in front of him was just an eight-year-old kid. He wouldn't lie, but he would spout nonsense...
At this point, the two brothers got along well. It was just a pity for our eldest prince, Yinti. Without his knowledge, his reputation was ruined. For a long time afterward, Yinti couldn't understand why his fair-skinned, eloquent, and seemingly frail sixth brother would act like a mouse seeing a cat whenever he saw him, as if he wanted to avoid him.
Of course, that's all in the future. At least for now, this elder brother, whom Yinzhi had never met before, provided a good opportunity for the two brothers to get along. The two of them had a series of discussions about how bad-tempered and cruel their elder brother, Yinti, was. In the end, if Yinzhi's little body, which had just woken up, hadn't been so weak, the two of them would have been roasting him.
Fourth Brother, will you come to see me again tomorrow?
Seeing Yinzhuo's reluctance to part with him, Yinzhen was actually quite pleased. After all, the number of children in the palace now was not as large as it would be later, like the seven gourds on one vine. There were only a few, and each of them was a precious treasure, protected by their mothers for fear of being harmed. Yinzhen usually only saw a few children of his age in the Imperial Study.
The eldest prince, Yinqi, is much older than them, so they don't play with him. The crown prince has his own tutor and doesn't attend classes with them, so they can't play together. The third prince has been weak since childhood and often takes sick leave. As for the fifth prince, Yinqi, he is being cared for by the Empress Dowager and is still not fluent in Manchu and Chinese.
Not to mention the Sixth Prince, Yinzhuo. Although he shared the same mother, the two rarely interacted and were not close. However, after the Sixth Prince was injured and woke up, he seemed to have become much better and was more willing to be close to him.
"Fourth Brother will be studying in the Imperial Study tomorrow during the day. If he doesn't have much homework after school, I'll come to see you in the evening."
Upon hearing the word "homework," Yinzhu sighed silently. Thinking of Kangxi's famous "120 repetitions" method, how could this amount of homework be too much? It was simply too much! And then, thinking that he was already six years old this year and would soon be going to the study to read, Yinzhu felt even more distressed. However, it was impossible to repeat it 120 times. He hoped that his scumbag father wouldn't be so angry that he would die.
"Fourth Brother, you have to focus on your studies. You can come and play with me when you're resting, or I can go to the South Third Institute to play with you when I'm better."
Yinzhuo's purpose was to spend more time with Yinzhen to cultivate a brotherly relationship, so as to prepare for his future alliance with Yinzhen. Since Yinzhen was busy with his studies during the day, he naturally wouldn't let anyone sacrifice their rest time to play with him. After watching Yinzhen leave the palace, Yinzhuo, who had been forcing himself to stay awake, suddenly lost his strength and lay back on the bed. This action startled Consort De, who almost couldn't help but scream.
"Yinzuo, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Be good, Yinzuo, listen to your mother, stay away from your fourth brother from now on. He's a jinx; nothing good ever comes from running into him..."
While Yinzhuo and Yinzhen were talking, Consort De kept a close eye on him, afraid that if she didn't keep an eye on him, Yinzhuo would be harmed by Yinzhen again. Now that she saw that Yinzhuo looked extremely weak as soon as Yinzhen left, she couldn't help but start nagging again.
Yinzhu frowned upon hearing Consort De's words. Although Consort De was about the same age as him in his previous life, she was still his biological mother. In this era where filial piety was paramount, Yinzhu, as her son, could not speak ill of her. However, he was too lazy to listen to her nagging at the moment, so he simply closed his eyes and tried to avoid seeing her.