Scheming (Part 2)

  Entering the twelfth lunar month, Yunzhu was fetched back to the Fu family residence and began a new round of busy life.

  The first important day of this month is the eighth day of La Yue, on which Laba porridge is eaten to worship ancestors and gods, pray for a good harvest and auspiciousness.

  On the evening of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, Yunzhu and several sisters-in-law, led by Guwaljiashi, began to wash rice, soak fruits, peel, remove pits, and carefully select ingredients such as glutinous millet, white rice, Jiangmi, small millet, water caltrop, chestnuts, red azuki beans, and peeled jujube paste. They mixed these with water and cooked them until they were done, then used dyed red apricot kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, white sugar, and red sugar to decorate the dish. After midnight, they began to simmer the mixture over low heat, continuing to cook it until dawn the next day, at which point the Laba congee was finally cooked.

  This activity is very attractive to modern people who are increasingly indifferent to festival customs. At least, Yunzhu has been enthusiastically participating in it every year since the Qing Dynasty, and she has a deeper understanding and appreciation of this era than others.

  It's said that there is no fixed recipe for Laba congee, each family has its own secret recipe, some are salty and some are sweet, and some even add lamb cubes and butter. In short, the variations are numerous. However, in recent years, because Yunzhu secretly added Yulan fruit to their congee, their congee, whether salty or sweet, had an extra fragrance and received high praise.

  The well-cooked Laba porridge should be offered to the gods and ancestors first, then distributed to relatives and friends. It must be sent out before noon. In addition to Laba porridge, Yunzhu also mobilized several aunts and Huizhu to use dates, red bean paste, yam, hawthorn cake and other colorful foods to shape eight immortals, old Shouxing, arhat images, non-inverted dolls and cute small animals such as chickens, ducks and geese.

  This year, Li Rongbao was also fortunate enough to receive the emperor's gift of Laba congee. The Fu family had many people, and each person only got one mouthful, but it was actually just an honor. The congee in the palace wasn't even as delicious as the congee cooked at home, especially when looking at three-year-old Mingliang twisting his small body to eat with relish, making him feel joyful.

  In the evening, Guajia saw Li Rongbao looking unhappy and asked: "Master, why are you so depressed? Did the Emperor scold you?" This wasn't a bad omen, as there were no officials in the imperial court who hadn't been scolded by the Emperor... but surprisingly, none had. On the contrary, today Li Rongbao was granted many things that other officials could only dream of, including a bowl of Laba congee bestowed by the Emperor himself. In previous years, such gifts were mostly given to relatives and trusted advisors of the Emperor.

  Li Rongbao sighed: "If His Majesty only scolded us, I'll tell you, His Majesty might have taken a liking to our family's Yunzhu!"

  "Is the old master saying... Fourth Prince and Fifth Prince?" asked Gua Erjia with surprise and uncertainty. She had also heard the rumor that next year's imperial selection would choose consorts for the two princes, but she never thought it would fall on her own daughter's head. What might be considered a great honor by other families, to Gua Erjia and Li Rongbao... was not as good as being betrothed to a member of the imperial clan. If their daughter did not live well after marrying into the imperial family, they could at least appeal for justice, but if she entered the palace, whether it was bitter or sweet, she would have to swallow it herself.

  Li Rongbao nodded silently, the more intimate the emperor was with him, the more terrified he became. His daughter's fate was probably sealed. Pointing to the Fourth Prince, in the future, she would likely become the mistress of the inner palace. Could such a life be carefree? Could it be happy? How many people had achieved that since ancient times?! Pointing to the Fifth Prince wasn't much better either. Although he wouldn't have to face the three palaces and six courtyards in the future, being the imperial son's consort was not an easy role. In the future, she would probably have to be constantly on guard against the Fifth Prince.

  "What can be done?" Guwalgiya was somewhat anxious, "Yunzhu is clever, but to suppress... I'm afraid it's not enough... Ah, didn't the Empress Dowager assign a gege from the Saurongtuhai family as the consort of the Fourth Prince last year? We share the same surname, so she shouldn't appoint another woman with the same surname as the legitimate Fu Jin, right?"

  Li Rongbao hesitated, then shook his head: "It's hard to say, Weng Guotu and our branch are of the same surname, but they have been out of the five degrees of mourning for a long time... Ah, we can't protect her all her life, you'd better teach her more."

  The princess had been well-educated since childhood, and Yunzhu had always done a good job. However, the sinister tactics of the imperial harem were completely different from what she had heard about. When faced with making a choice, could her daughter bring herself to do it? The struggle for power in the imperial palace was far more cruel than that in the mansion of a duke or marquis. Even with nursemaids and maidservants to take care of them, abundant food, warm beds, and imperial physicians attending to them... there were still many children who were miscarried or died in infancy every year.

  Guarjia was silent, originally the etiquette selection of her daughter did not need to be specially taught by a nanny, but now she decided that with still a few months left, it would be better to ask someone to teach her more, at least in order to have more defense and self-protection in the future.

  "It's also worrisome that the daughter is raised too well." He still has to think about the future of his own family, can they all still follow the old path and send their children to the emperor's side and to the battlefield? Obviously not... It's not that being an outsider doesn't have its advantages, as long as you have ability, you can rely on real achievements to stabilize your foundation in the court and protect your family. But once you become an outsider, it's too dangerous for all the imperial guards and generals to be from your family. When emotions are good, it's not a problem, but when emotions turn bad, people will think that your family has the capital to usurp the throne.

  She glared at her husband with a mixture of laughter and tears, but Gualjia was calm. She had always been a rational woman, and now that she knew her daughter might marry into the royal family, she naturally began to recalculate for her daughter's future.

  First, the personal maids, including four senior maids and eight secondary maids, as well as the servants brought from their hometowns, had been carefully selected and trained to ensure they were loyal, capable, and not prone to causing trouble.

  Secondly, it is the power that can be mobilized by the family. The three uncles (Ma Wu) have been operating in the Imperial Palace for over a decade, and although they are gone now, their sons are still there; most importantly, there is the Imperial Household Department, which is closely related to the inner palace... Grandfather had served as the head of the Imperial Household Department, and several uncles also have people inside who can be used.

  Moreover, strive to give birth to a legitimate son as soon as possible... This is not a problem, Yunzhu's body is very good.

  Besides, the dowry needs to be re-determined.

  Finally, don't hold back your daughter... Hmm, Master should have some ideas, find a time to discuss it...

  The next day, Li Rongbao and his wife both appeared with dark circles under their eyes, which attracted the attention of their children. The more mischievous ones thought to themselves, "Ah Ma is indeed getting better with age!"

  Gua Lijia didn't have time to care about others' thoughts, the things she thought about last night had to be started, and there were a lot of things for New Year's... She thought for a moment and decided to let several wives take charge.

  The Laba porridge at home has always been in short supply, so Gualei set aside some early on to show that there was leftover, a good omen for the New Year... Two days later, she had the housekeeper send the porridge and some stored grain to a famous temple in Beijing, where it would be added to the temple's charitable distribution of porridge, accumulating merit for the whole family.

  There are still over ten days until the Lantern Festival, and she had originally wanted to find a few experienced palace women from her mother's family and niece (Yun You Fu Jin) to teach her daughter. However, this proposal was rejected by Li Rongbao from the start, with sufficient reason: "It's too obvious at this time, what if the Emperor finds out?" It's not about whether his daughter can avoid the fate of being a princess consort, but rather the stance of the Fuca clan as a whole. They have always been known for their loyalty to the emperor and love for the country, and any slight change in behavior would affect the future of the entire clan.

  There's no other way, so I can only rely on myself and a few trusted ladies-in-waiting. Fortunately, the Gualgiya clan has always been a large family that intermarries with royalty, so they've learned a thing or two about these matters. With decades of experience in palace intrigue, it should be enough to give her daughter some extra support.

  Fu Cha: Yu Zhu originally wanted to enjoy the last New Year's as a Manchu lady, spending her days making window decorations and preparing New Year's food with Xiao Mingliang. Even Hui Zhu was infected by their enthusiasm and threw away her usual cautiousness, following them around every day... but before they knew it, their carefree days were over and they had to start their intense studying life again.

  Hui Zhu initially just observed from the sidelines, but later saw that under the guidance of her stepmother and several nannies, she was studying so diligently... it really shocked her. She had always thought that she spent all day learning etiquette and rules, and that her life wasn't as happy and glorious as her older sister's. Now she realized that in reality, she was actually working even harder than herself behind the scenes.

  The little girl had completely overthought things, but fortunately, after this incident, her emotional knot also loosened a lot, and from then on, she could face Yunzhu with courtesy and no longer be cold and arrogant.

  On the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Rongbao entered the palace to receive "Fu" and returned to his residence. He also received imperial gifts including "Ke Shi", three large and small lotus-leaf-shaped silk bags, twenty pieces of purple sable fur, twelve pieces of fire-red fox fur, twelve pieces of sheepskin, twelve pieces of grey squirrel fur, two bolts each of Song brocade, embroidered silk, and cloud-patterned silk... as well as fresh fruits such as pomelos and Hami melons.

  Even if it was received by Fu Min, the governor of Zhejiang province, it was only a imperial calligraphy "Fu" character and a sheep's head.

  Even if Li Rongbao knew that this was the emperor's reward to his daughter through him, others didn't know. Under the gaze of envy, jealousy and hatred from the various officials, he returned to his mansion with cold sweat, only to face a pile of New Year's gifts sent by the Yi Qin Wangfu. He was speechless - had the Yi Qin Wang gone crazy? Hadn't he been cautious in his words and actions these past few years, not getting too close to the high-ranking officials in court? Why would he suddenly send so many precious gifts to his household? Could it be that the medicinal dishes, flowers and tea his daughter had sent really had an effect on his illness? Or was it just a hint to him that his treasured daughter had been betrothed to someone?

  This kind of favoritism is really overwhelming...

  No matter what, neither of them is someone he can go and question himself, so he continued his low-key "convalescence" life. Li Rongbao twitched the corner of his mouth and learned to play dumb, no matter who came to visit and ask questions, he would pretend to be confused. Anyway, he was in a leisurely position and wasn't afraid of being called "old foolish".

  Yongzheng was reading the materials about Fuca Mansion sent by the sticky stick in the Yangxin Hall, laughing and slapping his thighs. This Li Rongbao is really too interesting, and it's great to be a relative with such an interesting and sensible person!

  Poor Li Rongbao had no idea what was going on, the emperor and Prince Yi's generous gifts were indeed a reward for Yunzhu's "merit". The medicinal recipe and jade orchid tea that she had been craving not only improved Prince Yi's increasingly severe illness over the years, but also alleviated his neurotic headaches caused by overwork, and he felt much lighter physically, no longer as weak and heavy as before.

  Such a great achievement must be rewarded, but it can't be done openly, only by taking advantage of this opportunity... Didn't expect to scare Li Rongbao so much.