Emperor Kangxi sent me to marry

Chapter 283 Birthday Banquet (Three in One)

Changchun Garden was decorated for the Queen Mother's birthday.

The first snow had just fallen a few days ago, and the snow had not yet taken off. Thousands of red plum blossoms were like a warm rouge, smeared on the skin that could be broken by the white snow.As a result, a healthy blush appeared on the frosty beauty's face, and the entire royal garden came to life.

The lake that once served as a stage has long been frozen, making it impossible to sail boats.Haifeng just arranged a skating performance for the guests upstairs in Yanshuang to watch.

As the birthday girl, the Queen Mother wore a sable fur coat and watched with great interest from the window.Kangxi, who was wearing a black fox cloak, moved a chair to accompany him.

"It's good for Enie to be happy, but it's windy here, so why not move in a little further."

"It's okay. The Ai family is not that weak. If you go inside, you can't see clearly. The emperor's eyes are still good. If the Ai family doesn't have glasses, she will be a blind old woman."

Kangxi winked at Liang Jiugong, who was standing next to him, and Liang Jiugong quietly retreated. Not long after, Haifeng came over from the table and advised the Queen Mother to take care of herself.

"Ma Ma only cares about Bingxi, why doesn't she pay attention to her great-grandchildren's birthday greetings? The children have been waiting for a long time."

"Really? The Ai family will go back now."

Haifeng took action personally, helped the Queen Mother to stand up, called several Kangxi's grandsons over, and kowtowed to the Queen Mother one by one.

It's interesting to say that Kangxi gave birth to so many sons, seven of whom were married, but not many grandchildren.Children are easy to catch cold and die young, so only four people attended the birthday banquet.

Moreover, the eldest grandson is not the eldest brother's child, but the prince's descendant, Hong Zhou, who is six years old this year.

In order to show his respect for the Mingzhu Party, the eldest brother still did not ask other concubines to have children in the concubine even though the daughter of his direct wife Fujin and Shangshu Keerkun gave birth to four daughters in a row. Until three years ago, the first brother Fujin gave birth to a child. The eldest son, Hongyu, stopped trying to avoid other women around him.

There are gains and losses.

The prince seized this opportunity and made his eldest son the eldest grandson of Kangxi, who was highly valued.

Not only could this child go to Qianqing Palace to see his grandfather from time to time, Kangxi would also review his homework from time to time and give guidance.

Among the grandchildren, no one is as doting as Hong Zhou.

The Crown Princess led Hong Zhou and his younger brother Hong Jin forward. Behind them, the eldest brother and the third brother were waiting behind, holding their eldest son who was only two or three years old.

Although the Queen Mother was happy to accept the congratulations from her great-grandchildren, seeing these three children, she was somewhat lacking.

After the children had all received their rewards and retired, the Queen Mother whispered to Kangxi who was sitting next to her.

"It has been almost ten years since the brothers got married. These are the only children that the Ai family is puzzled about. Especially the fourth brother. His eldest son is sick every three days. So the Ai family doesn't ask him to come. It’s a cold day, what if you get frozen? The emperor likes Hong Zhou, so don’t neglect other children. Brothers are all like you, it’s better to have more children and more blessings.”

This inevitably reminded Kangxi that two days ago, when he was talking to the fourth princess, he talked about someone having a successor.

Not only should we look at the princes, we should also look at the princes and grandchildren.

The throne must be passed down from generation to generation. If there is no outstanding one among the emperor's grandsons, the country may be shaken after a hundred years.

Wasn’t that the case in the previous dynasty?
Haifeng held his daughter in his arms and came over to join in the birthday celebrations with a smile.

"Ma Ma, please take a look at your great-granddaughter. Although she doesn't speak well, you can finally understand what she is saying."

After a few days of teaching, Little Gege managed to learn a few convoluted Mongolian sentences, and stumblingly congratulated the Queen Mother on her longevity and health.The old man was so happy that he asked his grandma to bring little Gege over and put him in her arms to comfort her.

"Oh, it's hard for us Lian'er! What can I do? There are not many of the emperor's grandchildren, but you are the only one at the moment. If there is anything fresh and favorite on the table, point to it with your little hands. "

Little Princess looked around on the Queen Mother's table with no interest, and opened and closed her little mouth. This time, she could pronounce words clearly.

"Enie! Breasts~"

The Queen Mother laughed even more heartily and kept asking people to get some milk snacks.

"This is the daughter of the Mongols. She likes milk. The Ai family also likes it."

Haifeng sent a message to the kitchen to see if anything could be cooked quickly, and quickly brought up two portions.

"I remember, the double skin milk will be served last. If it's too late, I'll serve this first."

Kangxi, who was thinking about something nearby, heard an unfamiliar dish name and asked curiously:

"What new tricks did the Fourth Princess come up with? Double-skinned breasts, what is this?"

"I can't explain it in just a few words. I'll explain it in detail to Khan Ama and Ma Ma when it's served."

As expected, the kitchen didn't have time to make anything else, so it sent over double-skinned milk with honey red bean topping.Haifeng opened the lid, and the little eunuch responsible for tasting the food next to him wanted to come up to do his errand, but Haifeng waved him away.

"On weekdays, I don't have to show my filial piety in front of Ma Ma. Today, I will do it myself."

After saying that, he scooped some out of the porcelain bowl and put it into his mouth.I tasted both portions and presented them to the Queen Mother with both hands.

Kangxi watched from the side and saw a bowl of snacks that looked like steamed egg whites. They were as white as jade. The red beans on top were coaxed by the heat and exuded a sweet smell. Coupled with the fragrance of milk, it really tempted the appetite.

"Is this what you're talking about, Shuangpi Nai?"

"Yes."

Seeing her daughter eagerly eating, Hai Feng shook her head helplessly.

"This tongue, born in an ordinary family, is afraid of starving. She gets tired of eating very easily. She will not touch the spoon after eating a meal she liked a few days ago three or four times. The cooks in the princess's house , researching new foods all day long. One time, the cook was making steamed cheese, but the heat was not good enough and it spoiled. I thought it was a pity, so I left it there and planned to eat it later. While he was busy, the cook took the bowl of milk I forgot about it. I remembered it the next day, opened the steamer and saw that it was fine. It tasted lighter and moister."

"What do you call it, double-skinned milk?"

At this moment, the Queen Mother was halfway through the bowl. She discovered that in addition to the top layer of milk film, there was another layer inside, so she asked her mother to bring it to Kangxi.

"It has two layers of skin, so it's called double skin. The cooks in the fourth princess's house are smarter than those in the palace."

Little Gege, who had eaten the middle layer of skin, found that there was nothing she wanted, so she pouted again and shouted to her mother:
"Eni, Guoguo~"

It was difficult for Haifeng to do what he did, so he gently advised his daughter to make do with it.

"Guoguo only has it at home, not in the palace. When we get home, Eni will make it for you."

"Hey, does Fourth Sister have anything at home that is not in the palace?"

The person who said this was none other than Ba ​​Fujin, who was sitting next to Ba Age.

Her loud voice attracted many people at the table to look at the fourth princess.

Haifeng was not angry and explained to the Queen Mother and Kangxi as usual.

"The things have just been made, and the taste needs to be adjusted again, so I don't dare to offer them rashly. The fruit Lian'er mentioned is native to Taiwan Island, and is called Fanxiang among the people. This name is difficult to remember and write, so Princess In the house, they call it mango. They can only eat it in summer. I asked them to try the method of candied lychee to see if it can be stored for a few more months without spoiling. I just opened the jar a few days ago to taste it, and it seemed too sweet. "

The fifth elder brother has always been attentive to these things of enjoyment. The double-skinned milk just made his index finger move. When he heard about candied mango, he couldn't help it anymore and stood up to coax the Queen Mother to ask for it.

"Ma Ma, since the fourth sister got married, the food in the palace has not been as good as before. This mango, my sister will give it to Ma Ma as a gift. How about we brothers also take advantage of it and taste it fresh?"

After hearing this, the Queen Mother looked at the fourth princess with a smile.

"How is it?"

"Then Mama has tasted it. If she thinks it's not good, give her granddaughter some face."

"Of course, you can get it."

Haifeng asked Aunt Sai Lun to go back to the princess's house and use a fast horse to deliver all the candied mangoes without leaving a can.

After all, Changchun Garden is somewhat far away from the Princess Mansion. By the time the things were picked up, most of the less important guests had already left and gone home; those who remained were those who had extremely close relationships with the royal family, such as Kangxi's brothers, Prince Yu and Gong Gong. The prince's family.

Also, uncle Tong Guo.

The kitchen urgently steamed a new batch of double-skinned milk, cut the soft mango pulp into dice-sized pieces, and distributed it evenly into each bowl, almost using up all the stock in the Princess Mansion.

When the dessert was delivered, the fifth elder brother personally directed the eunuch who served it to be more agile.

Liang Jiugong tried his best to hold back his laughter. He watched the little eunuch who was trying the food take a small bite of milk skin and eat half a piece of mango meat. There was nothing unusual about it.He took it and was about to give it to Kangxi when his face suddenly darkened.Cursed in a low voice:
"Don't be careful with the bowl for the emperor! Why is there a small crack at the bottom of this bowl? Go and change it quickly!"

Kangxi was holding Haifeng's daughter in his arms and playing with her. He was in a good mood. He accidentally heard Liang Jiugong scolding his subordinates, and he said magnanimously that it was okay.

"Little Princess has been waiting for this for a long time, why are she starving again? Serve it up. It's the Queen Mother's birthday banquet. It's not a good idea to punish them."

Liang Jiugong quickly thanked his subordinates and brought the mango double-skinned milk to Kangxi.

Kangxi knew that if he didn't move the spoon, no one would dare to eat it, so he deliberately picked a piece of mango meat and put it in his mouth to taste.

The other guests thanked him and started eating the dessert.

In the small bowl, there were less than five spoons of double skin milk and three to four pieces of mango.The fifth elder brother was the first to finish the meal, smacking the aroma in his mouth, still wanting to finish it.

"Oh, Fourth Sister, why are you so stingy after you get married? Get a bigger bowl and put a few more pieces in it. What is this, mango, mango?"

Hai Feng covered her mouth with joy and walked up to him. When she saw that the small porcelain bowl was empty, she felt a big stone fall in her heart.

Thanks to her heartless brother, at least she won't be named as a suspect if there is a fuss later.

"Next year, next year I will seal the three altars and send them to your home."

Soon everyone had finished eating, except for the bowl in front of Ba Fujin, which remained untouched at all.

Haifeng asked casually like a breeze blowing on his face:

"Eighth younger sister, why don't you move the spoon?"

"It smells a bit disgusting and I dare not eat it."

The fifth elder brother happened to have not eaten enough. Seeing Ba Fujin's coquettish behavior, he seemed to despise the good things brought by the fourth princess. He snorted and took the bowl in front of Ba Fujin and put it in front of him. "My younger siblings are so happy that they don't want to eat it. It gives me an advantage."

Just when the bowl of double-skinned milk changed hands, a "clang" sound suddenly sounded.Everyone quickly raised their eyes to look at the source of the noise, and found that the bowl in front of the emperor had been thrown to the ground.

Little Gege cried loudly, and there were still stains on her hands and clothes left by double-skin milk and mango juice.

"Don't eat! Don't eat!"

She shouted so loudly that Haifeng was so embarrassed that he knelt down on the spot and confessed:

"Khan Ama, Ma Ma, this child is not like this on weekdays. Maybe he is too tired today."

"Fourth Princess, please stop being busy. This child might have saved my life!"

As soon as Kangxi said these words, everyone present left the table and knelt down, not daring to say a word.

Liang Jiugong turned pale and stumbled out.

After a while, he brought back a pug that was jumping around, held down the dog's head, and induced it to lick the double-skin milk spilled on the ground.

The puppy was very resistant and had no choice but to have its head pressed many times, so it had no choice but to lick it twice.

The empty Yanshuang Building was so quiet at the moment, like a cemetery.

The poor puppy slowly lost its vitality, whimpered, and finally lay on the ground motionless.

Bafujin was the first to speak out and attack the fourth princess before everyone else.

"The things are donated by the princess's palace, such as double-skinned milk and mangoes. They are all foods that have never been heard of before. What is the intention of the fourth princess to donate poisons to the palace?"

After hearing this, the fifth elder brother couldn't bear it anymore. Huo Di stood up and was about to slap Ba Fujin, but he was grabbed by the seventh elder brother and fourth elder brother next to him.

"You vicious woman! The fourth sister begged for mercy for you. For the sake of you having a child and Prince Lao An, Khan Amma pardoned your sin. You were also allowed to come over today to wish Ma Ma her birthday. It was nothing but consideration for the royal family. With a little face, you can drive your new daughter-in-law back to her parents' home, and there will be speculations from outside. Okay, you can repay kindness with hatred, and come and rely on Fourth Sister!"

Bafujin also stood up, completely ignoring her husband's dissuasion, and argued loudly.

"Didn't you see the way the puppy died?"

"Hmph! Not only are you evil-hearted, but you are also stupid! Twenty or thirty bowls of snacks were served, and everyone ate them. The little eunuch tried poison on the bowl in front of Khan Ama, and he was still alive and kicking! If the fourth sister was in Mango, There is poison in the milk, aren't we all meeting the King of Hell at this moment?"

Haifeng seized the opportunity, stood up, took the untouched bowl of double skin milk in front of the fifth elder brother, and ate a big spoonful.

"If you want to accuse me unjustly, it must be reasonable. I also ate this snack. You see, the reason why this snack is called double-skin milk is because the first layer of milk skin at the bottom of the bowl is frozen solid, and then half a bowl of milk is poured on top. , and then you will have a double-layer structure. The little eunuch who tried it, and the Khan Ama ate it, it was the first layer that was non-toxic, so it was fine; the poison was at the bottom of the bowl, and you had to keep eating it to get rid of it. Killed."

After listening, Kangxi nodded in agreement and asked people to scrape up the remaining residue on the ground bit by bit, and then Dr. Xuan came over to check.

"The eldest daughter of the fourth princess ate from the same bowl as me. Did she risk her own child's life to murder me?"

The fifth elder brother was so proud that he gave Ba Fujin a hard look and mocked the eighth elder brother:
"Eighth brother, take care of your Fujin. It's not her turn to interfere in our own family affairs."

In this way, the suspicion of the fourth princess can be removed for the time being, but the suspicion of the other brothers has been aggravated.

Especially, the prince and his wife.

Because the fifth princess could not see her husband's family, she did not come to the birthday banquet at all. Her work was taken over by the crown princess.

The Crown Princess knew that double-skinned milk would appear at the birthday banquet, and she also knew how to make it.

The fourth princess helped the frightened Queen Mother and her daughter back to the bedroom to rest, leaving the Yanshuang Tower with thousands of things for Kangxi to sort out.

The fifth princess was afraid that her plan would not succeed, so she always wore clothes that she could go out in and kept her makeup neatly waiting at her residence so that she could go to the rescue at any time.

Later, she simply ran to the gate and looked around.Seeing the light of the lantern in the distance, she quickly ran out and met Haifeng and the Queen Mother head-on.

Seeing the expressions on the faces of her grandma and sister, the fifth princess knew that the progress should be very smooth.

The grandparents and grandson returned to the inner room. The Queen Mother was still unfinished and couldn't wait to ask Haifeng:

"What I acted is pretty much like that, right?"

Hai Feng poured hot almond tea for the Queen Mother to drink to keep away the cold, and kept praising her.

"If Ma Ma goes to sing in an opera, she will definitely be a famous actor in the world. There will be no flaws at all."

The fifth princess felt relieved. She sat in front of the mirror and began to remove her makeup.

"There are always a few of them plotting against our sisters all day long, but once, they fell into our hands. I wonder what's going on now?"

Haifeng was aroused by what she said and called Axiang to ask questions.

"Has Yanshuang Tower dispersed?"

"Back to the master, the emperor made a big fire and put everyone in Yanshuang Tower to spend the night in Luhua Tower. It is in the lake. The emperor ordered a large circle to be cut through the ice. In this way, there are no boats. No one can get out of there. It's called resettlement, but it's actually house arrest."

"What did the doctor say?"

"What else can you say? There is a triggering drug in Shuangpi Nai, and the quantity is not light. It can poison people to death."

Haifeng asked the confused Axiang to go down and rest, then walked behind the guilty fifth princess and asked questions seriously.

"You studied medicine. It hasn't been neglected since I left the palace and opened a mansion, right?"

"Well, sister, tell me to study hard by myself!"

"Then let me ask you, what is the triggering medicine?"

"Oh, that's Nux Vomica. Used in small amounts, it can unblock meridians and relieve pain, dissipate knots and reduce swelling. But if used too much, it will make it difficult to breathe. Song Taizong once poisoned Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, with this medicine. Because his head and feet were connected when he died, it is also called the medicine that leads the way."

The Queen Mother, who was listening next to her, didn't think of the trick in those pair of breasts for a moment, and hurriedly asked someone to bring little Princess.

"Oh, Lian'er is young. If she misses a moment, go and see her."

"Don't worry, Mama. There's just a lot of ginger juice in it. Lian'er gets angry every time she smells the spicy smell. The trigger medicine was put in later."

"No, isn't that pug dead?"

The fifth princess saw that the queen mother was really anxious, so she quickly ran to the bed to comfort her.

"Why did Ma Ma forget everything? The dog just drank too much sweat medicine and fell asleep. How can Ma Ma kill any living thing in such a good life! This was specifically ordered by the Fourth Sister!"

The Queen Mother then remembered how thoughtful the Fourth Princess was, even taking her birthday into consideration, so she lay down and fell asleep with peace of mind.

"My memory is getting worse and worse. I said it several times yesterday, but I forgot it again in a hurry."

Haifeng and the Fifth Princess served the Queen Mother to bed together. Seeing her falling asleep, she quietly opened the door and went out to discuss what to do next.

The spy responsible for eavesdropping in Luhua Building has already sent the first batch of records of the brothers' conversations.

The Fifth Princess and Haifeng didn't even bother to rest for a while. They drank a few large cups of strong tea to refresh themselves, and then looked over it very carefully to see what the brothers had said.

"Fourth sister, fifth brother is still the same, unable to hide even a single word. One moment he complained that there was no hot water, and the next moment he complained that sleeping on the ground was too hard."

"He may not be a blessed person if he is like this. You see here, the tenth brother and the fourteenth brother are similar. They speak freely. On the contrary, Khan Amma will not be suspicious of them from now on."

The fifth princess nodded and then looked down.

"Among so many people, except for these few who are outspoken, that is the fourth brother, who really cares about who poisoned him, and kept questioning the brothers present. When he mentioned the bowl with fine lines, he probably was poisoned He also said, even if Little Princess ate double-skinned milk, Fourth Sister, you can’t completely clear away the suspicion. What, it is said that when Wu Zetian was fighting for favor, he killed his own daughter and framed the blame on Queen Wang. With Fourth Sister’s Your character may not be so ruthless."

Haifeng did not pay too much attention to Si Age's accusation. If she put herself in his shoes, she would not directly exclude herself from the suspects.

The fifth princess looked at the scrawled records with great interest, and the speed of turning the pages gradually stabilized at a consistent rhythm.

"Fourth sister, why do you have so many ingenious ideas? The method of having double-skinned breasts, locking them all in a room, and watching their reaction to Khan Amma being poisoned, etc., you are all How did you come up with it?"

Haifeng didn't know how to explain to the fifth princess that in about 400 years, a game called "Script Killing" would appear in the world.

If you include the current environment of Luhua Building, it can barely be regarded as a "room escape".

"Hurry up and take a look. There are many things, just use your brain more. There are always more solutions than difficulties."

The two of them divided their work intensively. The first batch was not finished yet, but the second batch had arrived, and it contained more content than the first batch.

The brothers' quarrel gradually became more intense. Prince Yu, Prince Gong and Uncle Tong were all pulled up from their sleep to participate in the debate.

Because of this "reasoning game", it has entered the stage of analyzing the motive for committing the crime.

The fourth elder brother bluntly said that if Kangxi died at this moment, there would be a fight over the successor; which elder brother was most likely to succeed would have a greater motive for committing the crime.

This is almost as clear as saying that the first suspect is the prince, and the second suspect is the eldest brother.

Then the fifth elder brother jumped out again and said that Ba Fujin had a deep grudge with the fourth princess, and maybe she wanted to kill little princess with drugs.It was an accident that the double-skin milk came into Khan's hands.So the eighth prince was also included in the discussion.

Haifeng put the book aside and wanted to rest his eyes, but unexpectedly found that the fifth princess had fallen asleep due to exhaustion.

Kangxi's strategy was almost completely successful.

He has thrown the seeds of suspicion into the hearts of his sons.

Wait for it to break ground and sprout.

　Sorry for the late post!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)