Yinreng started sneezing nonstop.

Kangxi panicked and summoned a line of imperial physicians to examine him. Every physician declared that Yinreng was perfectly fine, and in the end, they only prescribed some tonics.

Yinreng turned his head away stubbornly, absolutely refusing to drink them.

If I'm not sick, why should I take medicine? I'd rather just eat more meat.

The head of the Imperial Medical Bureau said, "Medicine and food share the same source. If Your Highness does not wish to drink medicinal decoctions, medicinal cuisine would also be acceptable."

Yinreng lifted his little head, looking extraordinarily obedient. "Right, right? I don't have to drink medicine. Father, I don't want medicine."

Kangxi vigorously rubbed the little prince's head and sighed before finally agreeing.

"I really spoil you too much. Fine, I'll indulge you for a few more years. Once you begin formal studies outside the inner palace, let's see how I deal with you then," Kangxi scolded with a laugh.

Yinreng secretly thought, By then, I'll definitely figure out a way not to get bullied by you.

Before Yinreng even had time to worry about beginning formal studies, another matter arrived that made him even more uncomfortable.

Not long after the smallpox epidemic ended, the seventeenth year of Kangxi's reign also came to a close.

As Kangxi celebrated the New Year, he suddenly smacked his forehead.

Ah! My Crown Prince still doesn't have an Eastern Palace! Every dynasty's Crown Prince has it, so mine definitely can't go without one.

So he ordered Fengci Hall to be renovated and renamed Yuqing Palace to serve as the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.

The civil and military officials all praised it as proof of Kangxi's favor and an enormous blessing.

But when Yinreng heard the news, he nearly cried from grief.

If this "great blessing" is so wonderful, do you want it yourselves?

Where was Yuqing Palace? It's wedged in the narrow gap between Shenxiao Hall and Fengxian Hall.

That tiny square courtyard was cramped wall-to-wall, not even as large as the courtyard homes of ordinary wealthy families in Beijing.

Inside was even worse. Yuqing Palace was already tiny to begin with, yet it was divided by true and false partition walls into countless little rooms.

In his previous life, Yinreng studied in Beijing. He once followed a teacher into areas of the Forbidden City that weren't open to the public and even stepped inside Yuqing Palace.

The Yuqing Palace he saw was already expanded during the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns, yet it still felt suffocating.

In Kangxi's era, the place consisted of only a single hall.

Modern people jokingly called Yuqing Palace the "Little Maze," and Yinreng had once thought that the nickname was amusing. But now that memories from his previous life had returned, he nearly cried himself to sleep.

Mother! Is this a place fit for human beings?!

Just think about it, in the Ming dynasty, the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace occupied the entire area of modern-day Xiefang Hall, Duanjing Hall, and Duanben Palace. It was fully equipped and even had offices for the Eastern Palace officials.

And me? What kind of pathetic Eastern Palace is this?!

Yinreng thought of the sprawling mansions and gardens his brothers would one day have, then compared them to his own shabby little labyrinth of a residence, and kicked his legs in anger.

Kangxi merely assumed Yinreng didn't want to leave him, so he sternly lectured him:

"When you were little, you lived with me. Are you still going to live with me once you're grown? You are the Crown Prince. You should have your own Eastern Palace."

Tears welled in Yinreng's eyes. "Father, I've been to Fengci Hall."

Kangxi: "Mm?"

Yinreng QAQ: "It's very, very, very small."

Kangxi: "Uh…"

Yinreng o(╥_╥)o: "Uncle told me that Prince Yu's manor is huge and beautiful, with lots of flowers and plants and rockeries and little streams."

Kangxi: "Prince Yu's manor is indeed…"

Yinreng (╥╯^╰╥): "Waaah! I don't want to be Crown Prince anymore. I want to be a prince! I want a huge, spacious house! I want pretty flowers and plants! I want rockeries I can climb and streams I can splash in! Being Crown Prince is miserable!"

Kangxi actually thought that Yinreng made a very reasonable argument.

So, then Kangxi raised his hand and gave his son a good beating.

No matter how reasonable it was, Yinreng absolutely shouldn't have wailed about not wanting to be Crown Prince.

This time, Kangxi hit rather hard, leaving Yinreng's little backside swollen.

Afterward, while muttering nonsense like "The Crown Prince should live simply," "The Crown Prince must set an example," "As long as it's livable, don't be picky," and "At least it's close to me," Kangxi fled in embarrassment.

If he stayed any longer, he would have been subdued by the crying little dumpling.

Yinreng lay on the couch nursing his sore bottom with pitiful whimpers.

Thanks to his fierce protests, his porcelain, jade, and gem-inlaid pillows had finally been replaced with soft cotton pillows. Otherwise, lying face down like this would definitely leave deep marks on his chin.

It was the New Year period, and Yinzhī, who had only recently had his studies doubled, was also on holiday.

When he came looking for Yinreng to play, he found Yinreng lying face down on a fluffy cotton pillow, silently shedding tears.

The pillow was enormous. Yinreng's entire little face had sunk into it, turning the pillow into a dented "U" shape, like one of the stuffed pastries he had eaten that morning.

Yinzhī sat beside him and patted the little braid on his head. "What happened?"

Sniffling, Yinreng replied, "Father Emperor beat me."

Yinzhī frowned. "He hit your butt? Is it swollen?"

Yinreng shot him a glance. Big Brother, you don't have to say it so loudly. It's embarrassing.

Yinzhī poked his backside.

"OW!" Yinreng yelped, nearly springing upright.

Yinzhī's brows furrowed even tighter. "He hit you really hard."

Yinreng replied weakly, "Mm."

The two children fell silent for a while. Then Yinzhī kicked off his shoes, climbed onto the couch, and lay beside Yinreng.

Yinreng shifted over and generously shared half the big pillow with him.

"So how did you make Father Emperor angry?" Yinzhī asked quietly.

"It's all because of Yuqing Palace," Yinreng muttered gloomily, recounting his "argument" with Kangxi.

Yinzhī was speechless. "Obviously, Father Emperor got embarrassed and angry."

Yinreng pounded the pillow furiously. "Exactly! Even children can tell he got embarrassed and angry!"

Yinzhī reached out and rubbed his little head. "Is Yuqing Palace really that cramped?"

Yinreng pouted. "Big Brother can go see it yourself. It's Fengci Hall between Shenxiao Hall and Fengxian Hall. Really close to Qianqing Palace."

Yinzhī knew the place, though he'd never gone there to play.

It was where ancestral tablets were enshrined. Even outside ceremonial periods, incense was constantly burning there, and Yinzhī disliked the smell very much.

He asked again, "Are princely estates… really that nice?"

"Mm." Yinreng described the princely estates he had seen in both his past and pre-past lives.

They occupied enormous grounds, blending imperial garden styles with Jiangnan garden aesthetics: magnificent and grand, with pavilions, towers, rockeries, streams, and scenery at every turn.

Princes not only had mansions in the capital but also country estates outside the city.

They could go hunting, work in the fields picking vegetables themselves, fish in rivers, or even swim.

Princes could also wander freely throughout the capital.

Antique shops, restaurants, opera houses… they could go anywhere they wanted in the streets and alleys of Beijing.

Yinreng's storytelling ability was excellent. He described the grandeur of princely estates and the bustling life outside the palace so vividly that longing gradually appeared in Yinzhī's eyes.

"One day, I'll have a princely estate too!" Yinzhī declared firmly.

"Of course you will," Yinreng replied. "By sixteen or seventeen, Big Brother will leave the palace and establish your own household. You're my elder brother, so at minimum, you'll be a prince of the second rank. The difference between that and a first-rank prince's estate is mostly in decoration standards. Big Brother can even supervise the construction personally and choose whatever kind of residence and gardens you want. Wah…"

After saying it aloud, Yinreng felt even more aggrieved.

Why is my life so miserable?!

All my brothers will get giant estates and spend their days roaming around Beijing, while I'll be trapped forever inside these cramped palace walls, staring at a patch of square sky. Whoever wants this Crown Prince position can take it! I quit!

Yinzhī rubbed Yinreng's head again. Beyond that, he had no idea how else to comfort him.

"Is every dynasty's Eastern Palace this small?" Yinzhī asked curiously.

Burying his face deep into the cotton pillow, Yinreng shook his head hard. "The Ming dynasty's Eastern Palace was near the outer court. Around Xiefang Hall, Duanjing Hall, and Duanben Palace. Huge. Right near the palace wall too. You could go out whenever you wanted."

Yinzhī frowned in confusion. "Then why doesn't Father Emperor give you that area?"

Yinreng fell silent for a moment before smiling bitterly. "Because this place is closer, I guess. Big Brother, don't ask anymore. There's no good answer to that question. Keep your voice down. If the servants hear us talking, they'll immediately report it to Father Emperor."

Yinzhī also fell silent for a while before whispering, "I can say whatever I want in Mother's palace. You can't do that here?"

Yinreng: "Mm."

"When will you be able to speak freely? When you're older too? Like at sixteen or seventeen?"

Yinreng buried his face even deeper into the pillow. "I'm the Crown Prince. I'll spend my whole life in the palace."

What does spending your whole life in the palace have to do with not being allowed to speak freely?

A small doubt arose in Yinzhī's heart.

But after seeing Consort Hui cry before, he had already learned not to immediately blurt out every question.

So he didn't bring up the Eastern Palace again.

Instead, Yinreng continued telling stories about the world outside the palace, from Beijing to beyond Beijing, from China to lands beyond China.

Yinzhī kept interrupting the stories constantly. Even when Yinreng told him to "have manners," he absolutely refused to behave.

"I'm the older brother. I don't need manners with my little brother."

Eventually, Yinreng's throat grew dry from talking. After drinking some water to soothe it, he became sleepy.

Yinzhī patted Yenreng on the back of the head, telling him to rest properly.

When Yinzhī left the warm chambers of Qianqing Palace, he looked up at the falling snow and said stiffly to the young eunuch attending him:

"We're not going back yet. Take me to Fengci Hall."

The snowy roads were slippery, so the eunuch carried him all the way to where Yuqing Palace would eventually stand.

Though Kangxi had already decided to convert Fengci Hall into Yuqing Palace, construction had not yet begun since the New Year celebrations were still ongoing.

Ancestral rites were held during the first lunar month, and both Shenxiao Hall and Fengxian Hall, on either side of Fengci Hall, overflowed with the heavy scent of incense.

Yinzhī covered his nose and stepped into the somewhat shabby Fengci Hall.

It truly was very small.

Caught between two enormous palace halls, it was separated from Consort Hui's Yanxi Palace by only two walls and a narrow passageway. Its width was barely half that of Yanxi Palace, though the length was about the same.

In other words, its total area was only about half the size of Yanxi Palace.

Yinzhī strode around with determined little steps, measuring the hall with his short legs.

After becoming old enough to understand things, he had once lived outside the palace for a time.

Officials' residences were spacious and even had little gardens.

When he later returned to Yanxi Palace, he had once complained that Yanxi Palace was too small and bare compared to ministers' homes, even believing for a time that his mother was terribly unfavored.

Now he understood that being mistress of an entire palace complex already made Consort Hui an exceptionally high-ranking consort.

But what about his Crown Prince Little Brother?

All his life, Yinzhī heard people say the Crown Prince was the second most honored person in the entire Qing Empire, even above the Grand Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress.

The Crown Prince was the heir to the nation, the future emperor.

But what did Yinzhī see with his own eyes?

This... This is... This is just a tiny Eastern Palace, not even half the size of Yanxi Palace... This Eastern Palace, which could barely breathe whenever ancestral rites filled the air with incense?

Yinzhī stood silently in the snow.

He was dressed warmly and held a heater in his arms, yet he felt cold.

Very, very cold.

"We're returning to Yanxi Palace," Yinzhī said with a stiff face.

At that moment, he resembled the Yinzhī who had issued commands during the smallpox crisis.

He also resembled his father, Kangxi.

Brothers, father and son, were perhaps all alike.

As Yinzhī left Fengci Hall, he looked back again over the eunuch's shoulder.

From Xiangxu Gate, the entirety of Fengci Hall could be seen at a single glance.

Seen as a whole, the area looked even smaller and gloomier.

Large flakes of snow drifted down from the sky, burying the shabby Fengci Hall beneath a thick white cover.

For a moment, Yinzhī's vision blurred. He seemed to see his tiny milk-dumpling little brother standing inside that cramped, snow-covered square patch of sky, as though trapped beneath a cage.

Yinzhī immediately buried his face against the eunuch's shoulder, not daring to look anymore.

After returning to Yanxi Palace, Consort Hui noticed Yinzhī's dispirited expression and asked in confusion, "Didn't you go play with the Crown Prince?"

The Crown Prince had such a good temper; surely he wouldn't quarrel with her son.

Yinzhī nodded and glanced around at the surrounding servants.

Feeling pleased by his caution, Consort Hui dismissed everyone nearby before asking, "Did the Crown Prince suffer some grievance?"

Her son usually grinned foolishly all day long. Only when he saw the Crown Prince wronged would he himself look aggrieved.

Yinzhī nodded again. "Little Brother got beaten by Father Emperor. Beaten really badly. He couldn't even get up."

Consort Hui's eyes widened in shock. "How could that be?!"

Given how excessively His Majesty doted on the Crown Prince, he could still beat the child so hard he couldn't leave the bed?! The Crown Prince was barely five years old! Wasn't His Majesty afraid of hurting the child?!

Consort Hui sighed inwardly. If she ever saw His Majesty beating her own son too harshly, she would definitely kneel to beg for mercy and stop him. Once Kangxi's anger passed and he calmed down, he usually wouldn't continue holding things against a child.

But the Crown Prince had no mother. Probably no one had even tried to stop the beating, which was why it became so severe.

The child wasn't even five years old yet!

Yinzhī continued, "Little Brother got beaten because he didn't want the Yuqing Palace. I went to look at it myself. It's tiny, narrow, and not even half the size of our place. Here, it's only Mother, me, and some low-ranking concubines. I'll move out eventually, and the lower-ranked concubines don't take up much space. But Little Brother… Little Brother will have to start a family there someday, right? Won't that be unbearably cramped?"

Consort Hui laughed awkwardly. "You don't need to worry about that. His Majesty would never truly mistreat the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince is the heir to the nation."

Yinzhī said, "The Ming dynasty's Crown Prince lived outside the inner harem, in the huge area around Xiefang Hall, Duanjing Hall, and Duanben Palace. But Little Brother only gets such a tiny place. Is he really the Qing Empire's heir?"

Consort Hui fell silent.

Hearing Yinzhī put it that way, even she felt Yuqing Palace seemed rather pitiful.

Fengci Hall was right in front of Yanxi Palace. Of course, she knew what it looked like.

At first, she assumed that the place would be torn down and rebuilt entirely. No matter what, the emperor surely wouldn't mistreat the Crown Prince he had personally raised.

But now she thought, with such a tiny area to begin with, even renovated, how much better could it really become?

Seeing Consort Hui silent, Yinzhī changed the subject.

"Mother, Little Brother told me about princely estates and life outside the palace walls. In the future, you can live with me too, right? A prince's estate is much better than Yanxi Palace."

Yinzhī already understood that if Father Emperor didn't want to resolve the Crown Prince's situation, then no one could save him. He no longer tried to pressure Consort Hui. He merely voiced a little of what he felt.

Children always grow up. This is even more prominent for palace children.

Consort Hui sighed helplessly. "That would have to wait until I become a Dowager Consort."

Yinzhī said seriously, "Then Mother must eat well and stay healthy. Your son will wait until he can bring you out of the palace."

Leaning against Consort Hui, Yinzhī haltingly repeated the stories Yinreng had told him about life beyond the palace walls.

The Manchus did not place overly strict limits between men and women. When Consort Hui herself had still been a child, her father and brothers occasionally took her out to play.

As Yinzhī mentioned familiar things, faded memories regained vivid color in her mind. Now and then, Consort Hui added stories about things she herself had once seen and experienced.

Yinzhī looked up at her.

His dignified, elegant mother now wore an expression as lively as a young maiden's. Even her usually calm eyes sparkled, as though filled with tiny stars.

Mother looks so beautiful like this.

Mother also wants to leave the palace and live in a big house with a huge garden.

"Mother, I'll definitely work hard!" Yinzhī declared, thumping his chest. "I'll definitely become a prince and buy huge estates and gardens for Mother to live in. Mother just has to live long enough. I'll absolutely bring you out of the palace!"

"Don't say such things outside. It's taboo," Consort Hui said with a smile as she drew him into her arms and lowered her voice. "Alright. Mother will definitely try her best to live."

Consort Hui no longer wanted her son to become the Crown Prince or emperor.

Even the Crown Prince, personally raised by Kangxi, suffered so miserably. With how suspicious and cautious His Majesty was, would he really treat her son well?

Leaving the palace would be far better. Becoming an honored old noblewoman in a princely estate, surrounded by children and grandchildren, tending flowers and strolling the streets. That sounded better than being trapped in the palace, exhausting oneself as an old Empress Dowager.

-----

After beating his son, Kangxi immediately regretted it.

He went to complain to his close confidante, Noble Consort Tong. Yinreng was simply too disobedient. He had specially built an Eastern Palace for him. What an enormous honor that was! Yet Yinreng not only failed to appreciate it, but he even wailed about not wanting to be Crown Prince anymore.

At that moment, a eunuch reported that after visiting the Crown Prince, the First Prince had gone to Fengci Hall, only to flee shortly afterward, covering his nose from the incense smoke.

Kangxi: "……"

Noble Consort Tong covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed softly. "Cousin, perhaps you should choose another location? That place really is…"

Kangxi: "……" Why did he fail to consider that his son might be smoked out by the incense?

Kangxi rubbed his forehead. "There isn't any other vacant place that's closer."

Noble Consort Tong said helplessly, "The Crown Prince's Eastern Palace… doesn't actually need to be so close to Qianqing Palace."

Kangxi remained silent.

Smiling gently, Noble Consort Tong continued, "Cousin worries that the Crown Prince is too young to care for himself, so you could build the Eastern Palace first and let him move there after he marries. I imagine the Crown Prince himself would rather continue living with Cousin before then."

Only then did Kangxi finally smile. "That's true."

He sighed. "Fine. I'll think about it some more."

"Cousin should go see the Crown Prince," Noble Consort Tong said worriedly. "The child just recovered from illness and then got beaten…"

Kangxi said awkwardly, "I didn't beat him. I only smacked his backside a few times."

Noble Consort Tong looked disapproving. "The Crown Prince is still little. Cousin, don't you know how strong you are?"

Kangxi knew perfectly well.

How could he not? He could even draw an eleven-strength* bow! (T/N: 十一力弓 - Refers to a traditional draw weight rating for bows where 1 "力" is equal to about 11 pounds or 5 kg)

Kangxi rubbed his nose awkwardly and slipped away in embarrassment.

After he left, Noble Consort Tong let out a long sigh.

When men raise children, they really do it roughly. Poor little Crown Prince.

Ever since the palace smallpox incident, Noble Consort Tong's jealousy and resentment toward the Crown Prince had faded, while her jealousy toward Empress Xiaochengren had deepened.

Such a wonderful child… why couldn't he be my son? If he were mine, I would spoil him to the heavens. How could I ever let the emperor beat him?

"But Your Highness," the old nanny said quietly, "if Empress Xiaochengren's spirit watches from heaven and sees the Crown Prince like this…"

Noble Consort Tong sighed deeply once more.

Palace women needed more than just the ability to have children; their own survival was equally important. Only by ensuring their own safety could they effectively protect their children from being bullied.