Chapter 42 Chapter 42 Yinzhen went out and Yinsi didn't...

Yinzhen went out and Yinsi didn't dare to stop him. He could only watch him go to the main hall, then turned back and looked at Old Thirteen.

What to do, think of a solution quickly!

Old Thirteen said that he couldn't even walk properly and was really helpless.

Yinsi's eyes rolled and he quickly asked Feicui to go to Yongshou Palace to call Wenshan back. He couldn't handle this situation now.

Yinsi didn't dare to go to find Yinzhen. Until Wenshan came back, he could only stay in the east side hall with Yinxiang.

Yinxiang looked at Yinsi sighing non-stop, thought for a while and asked: "Eighth brother, you have been with Fourth Brother for almost six years. Haven't you ever thought about revealing some things slowly?"

That way, when the truth is revealed, it won't be as messy and difficult to deal with as it is now.

"At first, I deliberately didn't want to tell Fourth Brother, hoping to see when he'd figure it out himself." Yinsi sipped his pear soup slowly. The sweet, refreshing pear soup tasted bland to him now.

He'd just returned then and still harbored some resentment towards Fourth Brother, so naturally, he wouldn't tell him.

"Then, I slowly realized something. If Fourth Brother knew, it would be like today. Fourth Brother simply couldn't accept how he treated me in his previous life."

Yinsi gulped down the bowl of pear soup and wiped his mouth with the handkerchief Feicui had prepared on the tray.

"You know Fourth Brother's character better than I do. If he knew, he'd be resentful not only towards me but also towards himself. So, I figured, why bother telling him?"

"Or maybe wait until we're older and start connecting with the court officials, then tell Fourth Brother that I'm a reincarnated person. As for my past experiences, I initially planned to say I was you."

Yinxiang had been listening intently, nodding in agreement, until he heard Yinsi's last words and erupted in anger.

"What do you mean you're me?!"

Eighth Brother actually tried to plagiarize the touching brotherly love he and Fourth Brother shared in their previous life!

And he even boasted so brazenly and shamelessly in front of him, the person involved!

Yinsi smiled: "Thirteenth Brother, don't be so stingy. I'm doing this for Fourth Brother's own good. Otherwise, how could he accept my honesty?"

"..."

Although he was furious, Eighth Brother's words seemed to have a grain of truth.

Yinsi had truly planned this before Yinxiang was born. He would simply coordinate his confession with Wenshan in advance. Since no one else knew about his previous life, his word was the final word.

Besides, Thirteenth Brother's cover was incredibly easy to wear. With their deep brotherly bond, Fourth Brother would undoubtedly believe him.

What he didn't expect was that Thirteenth Brother had also returned. After much deliberation, he decided not to tell Fourth Brother about his rebirth. He could keep the succession fight a secret for another two years, and then slowly transfer his connections to Fourth Brother once he officially entered the government.

But man's plans are always inferior to fate, and the fourth brother caught him after all.

So now it's a bit difficult to deal with this situation.

Fortunately, Wen Shan returned from Yongshou Palace very quickly after receiving the news.

"Yinsi, Feicui said you were not feeling well. What happened?"

Wen Shan hurriedly entered the room and pulled Yinsi to look at him. She had just been invited by Concubine Nianhulu to stay for dinner at Yongshou Palace, and she couldn't refuse. She was just about to ask Zhenzhu to come back and tell Yinsi and the others that Feicui had suddenly felt unwell, and Wen Shan hurried back.

"Mother, I'm fine," Yinsi said, "I just wanted to find an excuse to ask you to come back quickly."

Wen Shan finally breathed a sigh of relief, sat down on a chair, and fanned herself with a round fan. She had just jogged back and was sweating a lot.

"What's wrong? Why did you call me back so urgently?"

These two unfortunate children couldn't be greedy and called her back to cook.

"Just now, my thirteenth brother and I were chatting about our past lives in the room, and fourth brother heard us," Yinsi said.

"I thought it was something else... wait!" Wenshan looked up suddenly, "Who heard it, and what did they hear?"

Yinsi spread his hands helplessly, indicating that the matter

was done. This was really a big deal.

"Then... where is Yinzhen?"

Wenshan looked around and didn't see Yinzhen, so she asked hurriedly.

Yinsi pointed in the direction of the main hall.

"Fourth brother said he wanted to be alone."

Wenshan asked Yinzhen in detail what he had heard. Yinsi repeated it to her word for word. Wenshan's heart was filled with black lines. He knew everything that should and shouldn't be said. Given Yinzhen's personality, it was normal that he couldn't accept it for a while.

Wen Shan suddenly thought of something and asked, "Yinzhen doesn't know I'm from the future?"

Yinsi nodded, "We haven't discussed that yet."

Wen Shan clutched her heart, feeling the pressure of fainting. It was over. She might as well have just told everything at once. Now she had to explain her origins to Yinzhen alone.

"Mother, you don't have to tell me," Yinsi said quickly, sensing Wen Shan's despair.

Yinxiang chimed in, "Yes, mother, my brother and I can keep it a secret for you."

Wen Shan waved her hand helplessly. "Forget it, we might as well take this opportunity to tell Yinzhen all at once, or I'll be the only one living in fear."

Yinsi pursed his lips and looked toward the main hall. "Then, mother, what should we do now?" The only

other option was to go find Yinzhen and explain everything clearly.

Alone and distraught, Yinzhen realized his mother was holding Yinxiang. Yinsi followed behind his mother and quietly opened the door a crack, allowing the three of them to peer at him like thieves.

Yinzhen couldn't help but laugh, standing up and saying, "Mother, come in."

The three of them finally breathed a sigh of relief and tiptoed into the room. Yinsi and Yinxiang were particularly reserved, unsure how to face Yinzhen. Yinxiang could still play dumb in Wenshan's arms, but Yinsi wasn't so lucky and was the one Yinzhen paid the most attention to.

"Mother, do you know the difference between your eighth and thirteenth brothers?" Yinzhen knew from their expressions that his mother must have known too. It turned out that he was the only one in the entire Xianfu Palace who was kept in the dark.

He couldn't help but feel a little lost, vaguely feeling as if he was being excluded.

Could it be because of those things he did in his so-called past life that made his eighth and thirteenth brothers afraid to tell him?

Wen Shan said cautiously: "Well, actually we didn't mean to hide it from you. The reason why Yinsi and Yinxiang told mother was because mother was not from here either. She came from the future, hundreds of years later..."

"..."

Yinzhen's breath stagnated and he looked at Wen Shan in disbelief. Yinsi also nodded at the side, proving that what Wen Shan said was true.

Yinzhen suddenly felt even more lost. It turned out that his mother and brothers were all people with strange powers. No wonder they kept it secret from him.

Wen Shan looked at Yinzhen with his head down and quickly poked Yinsi. She had explained and it was his turn.

"Fourth brother, Thirteenth brother and I hid this from you because we were worried you wouldn't be able to accept it, so we wanted to take it slow," Yinsi said stubbornly. "Ultimately, it's our fault. Don't be angry."

Yinzhen felt a mixture of emotions as he watched Yinsi look at him pitifully and cautiously.

He finally understood why his eighth brother had hated him so much as a child.

It was because of how he had treated him in a previous life.

Yinsi shouldn't be the one to apologize.

"I understand." Yinzhen's tone softened. "I've been thinking a lot on my own just now, and I really can't blame you."

"If I were in this situation, I'd probably make the same choice."

Yinsi and Yinxiang breathed a sigh of relief. Wenshan smiled and said, "It's good that you know now. We don't have to discuss things in secret anymore."

Yinzhen narrowed his eyes and said, "What did you two and Mother discuss behind my back?"

"..."

Seeing that Yinzhen was no longer angry, Yinsi became bolder and rubbed against Yinzhen as usual, saying, "We will definitely bring Fourth Brother along to discuss this next time."

There was no point in pursuing the previous matter. Yinzhen was more concerned about the past life that Yinsi and Yinxiang had mentioned.

He grabbed Yinsi and Yinxiang and asked them to explain everything in detail.

At first, Yinsi was reserved, trying to be as tactful as possible about the details, but Yinzhen immediately saw the flaws. Under Yinzhen's relentless questioning, Yinsi surrendered and, back and forth with Yinxiang, recounted the details of their past lives. Yinzhen breathed a sigh of relief

when Yinsi explained that they hadn't been raised together in their previous lives, and therefore hadn't been close. If he had done something like that given their current relationship, he would have been utterly ashamed.

"The Crown Prince has been deposed twice," Yinzhen exclaimed in disbelief. Given the Emperor's favoritism towards the Crown Prince, how unreliable would he have to be to be deposed twice?

Yinxiang remarked, "I think the Emperor has lived too long. According to the Crown Prince, there's never been a Crown Prince who's served for forty years before now."

Wen Shan thought, perhaps in the next few hundred years, a Crown Prince who had served for over sixty years would finally emerge victorious.

Yinzhen frowned upon hearing Yinxiang's words: "Thirteenth brother, forget about it in Xianfu Palace, but don't say it so casually outside."

What about the emperor living too long? If this gets out, wouldn't it be treason?

Yinxiang stuck out his tongue, and Yinsi smoothed things over: "It's okay. Not a word can get out of Xianfu Palace. Let Thirteenth brother say whatever he wants."

"You two are defending each other now," Yinzhen said, crossing his arms.

There were too many things going on, too complicated to explain in a short time. Yinzhen then captured Yinsi's able-bodied men and made them write it down for him to see. Yinsi was so heartbroken but didn't dare to resist. After dinner, he went to write it down miserably.

Wenshan was a little surprised that Yinzhen had accepted all this seemingly outrageous information so quickly. Yinsi went to a side hall to write the record, and Wenshan chatted with Yinzhen and Yinxiang.

No one isn't curious about the future. After listening to Yinzhen and Yinxiang talk for an entire afternoon about their father and his reign, Yinzhen couldn't help but wonder what the Qing dynasty would look like after him.

Wenshan then told him the story of his eldest son, Hongli. Yinxiang, not knowing much about this, listened with interest.

"Hongli... that name sounds familiar," Yinzhen thought, suddenly remembering a time when he'd stumbled upon his mother and Yinsi talking, and it seemed they'd mentioned the same name.

His mother had even tricked him into thinking it was a character from a storybook.

Wenshan, evidently recalling this incident, smiled sheepishly and quickly changed the subject.

"To be honest, the heir you've chosen is quite good. Under his leadership, the Qing completely pacified the Dzungars, recovered southern and northern Xinjiang, and won the war against Burma. He's made remarkable contributions to the Qing empire."

Yinzhen nodded repeatedly. This son, whom he had never met, sounded truly accomplished.

Yinxiang was also delighted: "I knew Hongli was a capable kid. I was initially worried he'd have it easy and need more time to grow. Now it seems he's lived up to Fourth Brother's expectations."

"Anything easy? Did I decide on him as Crown Prince all along?" Yinzhen asked.

"That's not the case," Wenshan said, taking a sip of tea. "It's mainly because he's the only one you could choose."

Yinzhen: "?"

What do you mean? He only has one son? That

shouldn't be the case...

Yinxiang was very familiar with the situation and took the initiative to explain to Yinzhen: "Fourth Brother, you don't have many children. Only three of them grew up to adulthood. I don't know what got into my eldest nephew, Hongshi, to plead for mercy on behalf of the imprisoned Eighth and Ninth Brothers. In a fit of rage, you stripped him of his yellow belt and sent him to be Eighth Brother's son."

"..."

How deeply had he hated his Eighth Brother in his previous life?

But his eldest son certainly didn't sound very bright.

"Next up is Hongli, so let's not talk about him. Then there's the fifth son, Hongzhou. He's been mischievous and unreliable since he was little. When he got older, he liked to follow his twelfth brother through funerals, and he often even held his own funeral. How ridiculous is that?" "

There's also a younger one, Hongzhou. He was only two years old when you passed away, so he's even out of consideration," Wen Shan added.

Hongzhou was born in the eleventh year of the Yongzheng reign, long after Yinxiang died, so he didn't even know he had a little nephew.

Yinzhen covered his face and listened in silence for a while. Why did each of his sons sound so unreliable?

How had he raised his children in his previous life?

It seemed he really had no choice. Only Hongli seemed normal.

And he was doing a good job, otherwise he would have been the eternal sinner of the Qing Dynasty. None of his sons were capable. If he handed over the ancestral kingdom to them, he would have been ashamed to face his ancestors even in his grave.

Fortunately, there was still Hongli to support him.

"Well, to some extent, Yinzhen, your sons are all multi-talented." Wen Shan tried to comfort Yinzhen, who was somewhat traumatized by her own failure in parenting.

"Like Hongzhou, he and his uncle were very successful in the funeral, and they sent you brothers away."

"..."

Yinzhen wanted to cry, but he had no tears. Mother, you don't have to comfort me.

"As for Hongli, he was a good emperor, but he loved to show off too much. His literary level was average, and he liked to write poetry all the time. Not only that, he was also keen on putting his seals on famous paintings and historical sites." Wen Shan couldn't help but complain when she mentioned this, "He put more than a hundred seals on Wang Xizhi's 'Kuaixue Shiqing Tie'."

This time, even Yinxiang was silent: "... 'Kuaixue Shiqing Tie' only has 28 characters in total?"

Where did Hongli get so many seals to put on?

Yinzhen didn't know what to say. Wenshan told him that if Hongli was born in the future, he must teach him not to stamp so many seals on ancient calligraphy and paintings. It's okay if he likes to write rambling poems, but don't destroy cultural relics!

Yinzhen held his forehead helplessly.

After these somewhat amusing and lighthearted stories, Yinzhen heard his thirteenth brother recount how, despite heavy pressure, he had implemented the policy of returning the fire consumption tax to the public, the land tax system, and the integration of official duties and gentry into one single tax system at the beginning of his reign. This gave him a glimpse into his governing style at that time.

These issues had long existed, and Zhang Ying and Gu Badai had begun to teach them current affairs in addition to the classics. The masters had touched upon these matters in some depth or another.

However, these issues were extremely complex to address, with each one affecting the entire system. Even the emperor could only turn a blind eye. Moreover, according to his mother and thirteenth brother, the emperor was more concerned with his reputation in his later years and had less energy, so many things were whitewashed and glossed over. This shows that by the time he ascended the throne, he must have been unable to delay any longer before he gritted his teeth and implemented the new policies.

Even Yinsi felt a pang of fear when he thought of the long hours he and his fourth brother worked day and night to handle government affairs at the beginning of the new policies.

The Emperor had left them a mess. There was no way around it. If they didn't address

it, the Qing Dynasty would rot from the very foundation. "Speaking of which, there's an interesting anecdote," Wen Shan teased. "After ascending the throne, Hongli initially wanted to reverse these policies, but then he realized the system you and the Thirteenth Prince had left behind was still more effective, so he reluctantly reverted back."

Yinxiang choked, speechless. "This Hongli..."

The three of them were discussing animatedly, while Yinsi wrote down every important event of the past few years. Fortunately, his memory was good enough to capture such a vast amount. Yinsi toiled for an hour, but when he reached the fiftieth year of the Kangxi reign, he ran over to join them.

"Mother, what are you talking about?"

Wen Shan asked. "It's about your fourth brother's son."

Yinsi had heard a little about all this, and judging by his fourth brother's gloomy expression, he knew he was troubled by his sons, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. And

he had also inexplicably acquired a nephew, who had become his beloved eldest son.

Seeing Yinsi's miserable face as he wrote a thick stack of papers, Yinzhen let him go and made room for him to climb up.

On the table were snacks made by Wenshan. Yinsi grabbed two and ate them, and the hunger in his stomach was relieved.

As expected, mentally demanding things also require physical energy. Although he had just finished dinner, he was hungry again after writing for an hour.

After they chatted for a while, Wenshan felt a little sleepy. Seeing that it was getting late, Yinzhen and Yinsi had to go to the Shangshufang early the next morning, so Wenshan urged them to disperse and go back to rest. Yinsi had been

very nervous all day. Just as he was about to rest after washing up, there was a knock on the door of his bedroom.

Xiao Shunzi was supposed to keep watch tonight, so he went forward to open the door to check.

"Fourth Prince, why are you here?"

Yinsi heard the noise and poked his head out from under the bed curtain. Sure enough, he saw Yinzhen standing at the door.

"Fourth brother, is there anything wrong?"

Yinzhen walked into the room and took a look, then said softly: "It's too late tonight, so I won't go back to the West Fifth House. I'll squeeze in with you for one night."

Yinsi smiled and said: "Okay, Xiao Shunzi, hurry up and prepare bedding for the fourth master."

Xiao Shunzi answered yes and brought bedding and pillows and placed them on the bed. Yinsi slept inside, and Yinzhen lay upright outside. Yinsi secretly looked over and found that Yinzhen was not asleep either.

Yinsi understood that the fourth brother came to sleep with him tonight not only because it was late, but also because the fourth brother had not completely gotten over what happened today.

Sure enough, after Yinsi waited for a long time, Yinzhen moved, turned around and said: "Eighth brother, are you asleep?"

Yinsi opened his eyes and shook his head.

"I just remembered that when I was a child, my fourth brother took me to the Imperial Garden to play." Yinsi blinked and said, "There was a huge pear tree by the Jiangxuexuan, and the fruit was extremely sweet. I always looked at it back then, but the prince occupied the pear tree and didn't let anyone touch it. Fourth brother thought I wanted to eat some, so he secretly went to pick pears for me in the middle of the night."

Yinzhen couldn't help laughing when he thought of this. At that time, his eighth brother was not as close to him as he is now. He would think of ways to make his eighth brother happy. Seeing that his eighth brother always stared at the pear tree for a long time, he thought that Yinsi was greedy. After struggling for a long time, he finally gritted his teeth and secretly went to pick pears for him at night. This was one of the most embarrassing things he had ever done in his life.

Fortunately, the pear was actually useful. After he gave it to his eighth brother, his eighth brother's attitude towards him improved a lot.

"Actually, I didn't really want to eat the pears." Yinsi said slowly, "Looking from that pear tree, there is the clan residence behind it. I had just come back then and I always thought about the past, but since fourth brother gave me the pears, I found that from then on, the only thing I saw when I passed by there was that pear tree."

Yinzhen was silent for a while and finally said the apology.

"Eighth brother, I'm sorry,"

Yinsi said with a casual wave. "I told you, no need to apologize. Throughout history, the loser in a succession struggle never had a good ending. If I were the one to ascend the throne, I'd certainly not go easy on you, Fourth Brother."

Yinsi suddenly gave him a sly smile. "Actually, I've been hiding a lot of things I've done to you that I've done to you, deliberately not telling you."

Yinzhen's expression relaxed a little, and he suddenly turned around. "Forget it, let's go to sleep."

Yinsi leaned over and continued, "Fourth brother, Ninth and Tenth Brothers have their initiation tomorrow. Let's go early."

Yin'er and Yin'e, like in their previous life, had always clung to Yinsi since childhood. Yin'er, in particular, often visited their Xianfu Palace because of Wenshan's good relationship with Concubine Yi. Consequently, he became quite familiar with Yinzhen.

Yin'er was a bit cunning and shrewd, while Yin'e was much more honest and simple-minded, a little idiot and a bully.

Yinzhen remembered what Yinxiang said about his ninth and tenth brothers and his unborn fourteenth brother who was born out of the same mother, who were all core members of the Eighth Prince's party, and he knew that Yinsi also wanted to protect these brothers in this life.

"I know, go to sleep." Yinzhen hummed and said nothing.

The next morning, Yinzhen and Yinsi got up early. The two brothers went to the Imperial Garden together to take Fuqi and Laifu for a walk. When they came back, they ran into Wenshan who was yawning. Wenshan was startled to see Yinzhen.

"Yinzhen? Why are you here so early?"

He left late yesterday, and he came so early today. How many hours of sleep did he have?

"Mother, fourth brother didn't leave yesterday. He slept at my place." Yinsi said with a smile.

Wenshan nodded, and just as she was about to say something, she heard Zhenzhu's voice coming from the east side hall.

"Oh, my Thirteenth Prince, how did you get out of bed by yourself and fall to the ground!"

Then came the Thirteenth Prince's stubborn voice: "It's okay, I have to stand up by myself!"

"..."

The three people outside the door were all laughing and crying, and they didn't know why Yinxiang suddenly had such perseverance.

After breakfast, Yinsi and Yinzhen were about to go out to the Shangshufang when Baoquan hurried in and said anxiously: "Master, it's not good. The Empress Dowager had a high fever last night and she hasn't woken up yet."