Since we still had to go on a journey, the brothers made arrangements for dinner and then dispersed.
The team set off again, and because the official road was flat, they arrived at Yaoting Palace at noon.
People from Jiubele Mansion have already bought ten buckets of fresh fish and sent them over.
The ninth elder brother directly called the palace manager and said: "Today is my birthday, I will add dishes in the evening. For me, the emperor and the queen mother will each serve eight dishes, the concubine and the prince will each serve six dishes, and the concubines will serve four dishes.
There are two each from Dafujin and Thirteen Fujins..."
At this point, he said: "Purchase another table and bring it to my residence. Use less rice wine and soju, and prepare some fruit water."
The palace manager bowed in response.
Brother Jiu knew that there was no good chef in the palace dining room, so he said: "Let's see which of the master chefs who came out is idle, and I will be rewarded with money to be more busy in the afternoon..."
After saying that, he asked He Yuzhu to take the purse to the steward and said: "It's my birthday and it's hard for them. You can reward me with the money on my behalf."
The steward was obedient, took the money, knelt down and said, "It's actually Jiu Ye Qianqiu. I'm here to congratulate you and wish Jiu Ye a long life and good health."
These old people in the House of Internal Affairs do not dare to treat Brother Jiu lightly just because he is no longer the head of the House of Internal Affairs. Who knows when Brother Nine will come back.
Besides, there is currently a twelfth elder brother in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a person who is not a prominent person, but he happens to be in charge of the Construction Department.
The accounts of these palaces outside are also in charge of the twelfth prince.
Brother Jiu smiled and said, "It's a clever talk. I accept your good advice."
He signaled to He Yuzhu to reward him with a tea envelope, and then Brother Jiu sent him off.
When only the master and servant were left, Brother Jiu frowned.
He asked He Yuzhu: "It should be enough for me to pay filial piety to the prince, right? It's not easy to have dinner at night, so just bring the prince away. The younger brothers are okay and they are not guests. Just call him..."
In the morning, he had a great time preparing for the evening meal. When he got there, he felt a headache when he thought of the prince.
The prince is also a prince, not a brother.
Brother Ninth somewhat avoided the prince.
He Yuzhu whispered: "If the prince is here, I'm afraid he will be unhappy, and the younger brothers will also be uncomfortable."
Brother Jiu's brows relaxed and he nodded: "I think so too."
Prince Edward, it's better to support each other and don't get close to everyone else, otherwise both of you will feel uncomfortable.
If you get together, trouble may easily occur, and you, the host, will also have to bear the responsibility.
He Yuzhu hesitated for a moment and said: "In the past, when I was filial, wasn't it just the Queen Mother and the Queen? Why are there so many empresses and nobles included this time?"
Others are fine with it, since the age of the concubine is here, and the adult prince also needs to avoid taboos.
Brother Ninth said helplessly: "What can we do? When we encounter delicious food, we eat and drink without caring about our elders? That is the biological mother of the fourth brother, the biological mother of the thirteenth brother, and the biological mother of the two younger brothers..."
It was his birthday and he was supposed to kowtow to his empress, but she was not there.
Here in the palace, there is no biological mother of his, but there are a lot of biological mothers of his brothers, so he should be treated with some respect.
He and his concubines had nothing to rely on, but since they were filial to their concubines, the concubines just followed the crowd.
If others find fault with this, they are making trouble out of nothing.
He Yuzhu said: "Where are those Gegechu people?"
This is talking about the fourth elder brother and the female family members around the prince.
Brother Jiu shook his head and said: "Don't worry about it, what is Zhou Quan doing? If they are all given away, then do the few Qianqing palaces agree to give them away as well? Even if those few have low status, they are also from the Khan's Ama palace, and are better than the princes It’s extremely precious.”
When I came out in the morning, I had made an appointment with some of the older princes, but the younger one hadn't told me yet.
Brother Jiu then told He Yuzhu, "Go on my behalf and tell the younger brothers that they should come over for dinner tonight."
He Yuzhu responded and went out to spread the word.
He Yuzhu came here first, the fourteenth elder brother.
The fourteenth elder brother slapped his forehead and said: "I have been confused by my endorsement these days. I forgot the birthday of Ninth Brother. I will go over to congratulate Ninth Brother on his birthday soon."
He Yuzhu smiled and said: "Our master said that it was because Miyun had fresh food from the river. We got up early and just came up with the idea. We are all members of the family, so we are not afraid of being neglected."
The fourteenth elder brother nodded and said: "What the ninth brother said is right. We are not foreigners. We are all brothers. Why do we still need to send a post?"
He Yuzhu reported the letter and went to the fifteenth and sixteenth elder brothers.
The fourteenth elder brother touched his chin and complained to the people around him: "Seeing that he is about to go to the capital, he still wants to celebrate his birthday. Why is the God of Wealth? This is a string of money. He is trying another way to ask for rewards from his elders!"
The people around me didn’t dare to talk nonsense, so they only said cautiously: “What about the birthday gift from the master?”
The fourteenth elder brother hummed softly and said: "Can we still save money? Let's pick out four items from the gifts received in Rehe. There is nothing you can do about it when you are away from home."
The man agreed and went down to prepare.
The fifteenth elder brother and the sixteenth elder brother had already been reminded by the eunuch and the nanny that they remembered the birthday of the ninth elder brother and were changing their clothes and planning to give birthday gifts.
Hearing that the ninth elder brother was holding a banquet in the evening, the fifteenth elder brother said, "Yeah, um, we'll go there then."
Brother Sixteen smiled and said, "Even if Brother Ninth doesn't do anything, we still plan to take advantage of Brother Ninth's longevity today."
He Yuzhu said: "Our master remembers that you two like to eat fish balls, and he specially ordered us to have fish balls tonight."
Children have no patience for eating fish, and they feel uncomfortable eating with servants around them.
These fish balls have been deboned, so they are just right for being savory and tasty.
Brother Sixteen was even more looking forward to it, and hurriedly asked: "Is it with stuffing or without stuffing?"
He Yuzhu said: "I ordered both. The ones with fillings will be made into fish balls in clear soup, and the ones without fillings will be made into sweet and sour ones..."
Brother Sixteen immediately said: "Then I will eat less at noon and wait for the meal in the evening..."
*
At Ninth Brother's place, Aunt Bai came over to give birthday gifts.
There are so many grandchildren, and the Queen Mother can only remember them on one hand.
The reason why Ninth Age is remembered here is because both his ancestors and grandson were present during the two northern tours, and a Mongolian prince gave Ninth Age a birthday gift, so the Queen Mother remembered it.
Birthday gifts are not those vain things.
A set of ermine coat, a mink hat, a pair of deerskin boots, and twenty pounds of silver silk fabric.
Most of them are worn and specially prepared.
The gown is made of pomegranate red Ningbo material with a swastika pattern.
Brother Jiu liked it very much and said, "It's the imperial grandmother who knows how to choose the colors. I like this bright one."
Aunt Bai smiled and said: "My wife made two gowns like this, both of this color."
Brother Jiu's eyes lit up and he became even happier and said: "When the time comes, I will wear the same clothes as Fujin and go over to kowtow to the imperial grandmother."
Aunt Bai is a loyal servant and knows the Queen Mother's love for her grandson and granddaughter-in-law. She is also happy to see Brother Jiu appreciate his love.
Brother Ninth still asked people to reward him with tea bags.
But when Aunt Bai left, Brother Jiu ordered He Yuzhu: "Tell the manager of the palace to cook two more dishes, one for Manager Liang and one for Aunt Bai..."
On weekdays, these two people often interact with each other. Since today is a good day, everyone has something to add to their meal.
As for Wei Zhu, it’s not about this.
In the early days, Ninth Brother's behavior was rough, but now he is more and more thorough.
He knows that the more humble people are treated, the more respect they have to show.
This way the other person feels comfortable and you feel comfortable too.
Of course, this is also related to the identities of the two, and it can be regarded as another kind of "love the house and the bird".
Not long after Aunt Bai left, Wei Zhu came and received instructions to deliver birthday gifts.
A plate of beeswax beads, a tapestry belt, a pair of burnt blue gold eight-treasure pendants, and ten rolls of mink fur.
Brother Jiu received the reward, and after realizing it, he said to Wei Zhu: "Today I am going to make a small fortune..."
The Queen Mother and the Queen Mother have both received birthday gifts, so the Crown Prince and the ladies will follow suit.
Wei Zhu smiled and said: "It's Master Jiu's birthday, so I can't just kowtow to celebrate his birthday. Just a while ago, I gathered an eighteen-child bodhi bracelet in Rehe as a filial gift to Master Jiu."
After that, he took out a purse from his sleeve and gave it to Brother Jiu with both hands.
Brother Jiu immediately took it and said: "You have always had good taste, but I won't be polite to you anymore."
When he poured it out of his purse, he looked at the simple Bodhi bracelet and put it on his hand directly. He said: "I have collected a lot of tourmalines for Fujin in the past few years, and they are almost all in various colors. Do you like it?"
What kind of sex are you looking for? I’ll give you a bunch of them later..."
Wei Zhu knew that Jiu Age collected pink tourmalines for Jiu Fujin, and said with a smile: "Green or black will do, the bright colors will be eye-catching even if I wear them."
Brother Jiu nodded and said: "Then I will give you two skewers, one in black and one in green."
Wei Zhu went back to resume his life.
He Yuzhu looked at the bracelet and said, "Sir, doesn't this need to be consecrated?"
Brother Jiu shook his head and said: "Wei Zhu is young, but he can act thoughtfully. He has been designated as a consecrated person."
As he spoke, he raised his arm and smelled the bracelet. In addition to the smell of Bodhi seeds themselves, there was also a faint scent of sandalwood. It must have been offered before the Buddha.
As soon as Wei Zhu left, the people sent by the prince also arrived.
Brother Jiu also asked He Yuzhu to prepare a tea envelope.
Before dinner, congratulatory gifts from several empresses also arrived.
However, the noble king, due to his status, is not qualified to prepare gifts for the prince.
She was surprised to see the dishes brought by Brother Jiu on the dining table. However, she heard that there were several concubines and concubines, so she understood the reason. However, she was still torn about whether to give her a replacement birthday gift.
A while.
She now enjoys the title of concubine, but she has not been granted the title of concubine. It would be a big mistake to really prepare a birthday gift for the prince.
Wang Guiren put the matter aside and planned to wait until Jiu Fujin's birthday to add the return gift to the two little brothers' gift lists...
*
In front of the emperor, Kangxi looked at the fish on the table and knew that it was the trick of Brother Jiu.
This is not a regular dish in the palace, it is probably a new dish.
Kangxi knew that Brother Jiu was having a banquet there, so he felt a little uncomfortable.
He thought of inviting his elder brother, calling him younger brother, but his own Khan Ama was also here, and the ninth elder brother didn’t even think of inviting him over.
Unfilial son!
While eating the sweet and sour fish balls, Kangxi raised his eyebrows.
He didn't like sweet and sour food, it was sticky and not refreshing enough, but he remembered that he and his concubine loved it.
He said to Liang Jiugong: "This dish is a treat for concubines..."
As he said this, he thought of the noble Wang who was from Jiangnan and loved fish the most, so he pointed to another dish of fish fillet in sour soup and said: "This dish is a reward for the noble king..."
Liang Jiugong did not answer immediately, but reported: "Your Majesty, Master Jiu sent people over this morning and bought ten buckets of fish. In addition to the Queen Mother and the Queen Mother, the Prince, several empresses and nobles also showed their filial piety..."
Kangxi was a little surprised.
Although Brother Jiu is loose-minded, he still abides by the rules when it comes to paying homage to the palace.
Among the main positions in the inner court, apart from Ningshou Palace and Yikun Palace, there is a reason why Concubine Hui paid filial piety a few times.
At that time, when Concubine Yi gave birth to the eleventh elder brother, the ninth elder brother had been taken care of by Concubine Hui in Yanxi Palace.
"How to be filial?"
Kangxi asked.
Liang Jiugong had already asked in advance and explained several dishes in detail.
Kangxi nodded and said: "It's really thoughtful, which is rare!"
The crown prince and Concubine De have the same procedure, the two concubines have the same procedure, and the two princes Fujin and the nobleman have the same procedure.
Your Majesty Wang...
The noble king is an outlier in the palace.
Because of her origin, it is not easy to be given a high title.
Otherwise, after more than ten years in the palace, it would be appropriate to give birth to three princes and one concubine.
Brother Ninth Brother can respect even kings and nobles, and it is also because he respects himself as Khan Ama.
Kangxi looked gentle, thinking about the care that the ninth elder brother had given to the fifteenth elder brother and the sixteenth elder brother, and said to Liang Jiugong: "The ninth elder brother followed Yi Fei in his actions. Yi Fei said she was not forgiving, but her heart was right.
She is also compassionate towards the weak, and takes good care of the nobles and concubines below..."