Chapter 5 House of Five Princes

I have four grandmothers in total, and the so-called Prince Chunxian's descendant Fujin Yehenala is not my real grandmother.She died ten years before I was born.I heard that this old lady's personality is completely different from her sister's. It can be said that she is rigid and meticulous.After Tongzhi's death, Cixi continued to listen to operas and have fun, but she was not. Once this grandmother was called into the palace to watch an opera, but she closed her eyes while sitting in front of the stage. Cixi asked her what she was doing, and she said without opening her eyes. : Now it's a national funeral, I can't watch the show!There was nothing Cixi could do to help her.She has a lot of taboos, and the family members have to be very careful when speaking in front of her. Words such as death are replaced by words such as happy and so on.She worshiped Buddha all her life, released animals and burned incense all her life, and did not go into the garden in summer, saying that she was afraid of trampling ants to death.She is so kind to the ants, but she is merciless when it comes to the servants.It is said that the fatal facial convulsions of an old eunuch in Prince Chun's Mansion were caused by her cane whipping.

She bore a total of five children.The first daughter lived to be six years old, and the first son was less than two years old. These two children died within 20 days of each other in the winter of the fifth year of Tongzhi.The second son was Guangxu, who left her at the age of four.After Guangxu entered the palace, she gave birth to her third son, who only lived for a day and a half.After the fourth boy, Zai Qing, was born, she didn't know how to love her. She didn't wear enough clothes for fear of freezing, and eat too much for fear of being stretched.There is so much wine and meat in the rich family that it stinks, and the common problem of the rich family's children is indigestion. In "Dream of Red Mansions", Jia's mansion starving for a day is a very representative way of keeping in good health.My grandmother believed in this way of health preservation very much, and she was always unwilling to feed her children. It is said that a shrimp should be divided into three parts to eat. As a result, the fourth boy died before the age of five due to insufficient nutrition.Niu Xiang, an old eunuch in the palace, once said: Otherwise, why would the fifth master (Zaifeng) take over the prince? It was that old Fujin who loved the children and delayed the previous young masters instead.

Although my father Zaifeng is not her biological son, according to patriarchal law, he must be disciplined by her.The dietary restrictions she placed on my father and uncles are gone, and the spiritual restrictions are still not relaxed.According to the Niu eunuch, the fifth and sixth masters have to be careful even when they laugh in front of her old man. If they laugh out loud, they will hear the old man yelling: What are you laughing at?There are no rules! Prince Chunxian's first side, Fujin Yanzha, died very early.On the second side, Fujin Liu Jiashi is my own grandmother. She became the family after the death of Nala's grandmother.Although she is not as rigid as Nala's grandmother, she is often in a state of abnormal mentality.The cause of this disease is also related to the fate of children and grandchildren.The grandmother also lost a two-year-old daughter.However, it was the birth of her youngest son that caused her spirit to be stimulated to become abnormal at first.She gave birth to three sons, namely Zaifeng, Zai Xun and Zai Tao.The seventh uncle, Zaitao, grew up in her own arms. When he was eleven years old, he suddenly received a decree from the Empress Dowager Cixi, letting him adopt my grandfather's cousin, Yimo Beizi, as his son.When my grandmother received this decree, she cried until she died.After this stimulation, her spirit began to become a little abnormal.

Yimo had no children under his knees, so he was very happy to have an adoptive son. He regarded it as having a son, and on the third day he had a full moon, and had a feast for relatives and friends.This Beizi is usually not good at flattering Cixi, and Cixi has long been dissatisfied. Seeing him so happy this time, she became even more angry, and decided not to give him good feelings.Cixi once had a famous saying: Whoever makes me unhappy for a while, I will make him unhappy for a lifetime.I don’t know what kind of torture Yimo suffered from her before. When he was complaining, he drew a picture with only one foot, alluding to Cixi’s messing around, messing up family affairs and state affairs, and wrote a doggerel to vent his complaints: The old man's feet are so sad that he tried his best to manage the foot platform. The height of the foot platform is three hundred feet, and the height of three hundred feet is still there.For some reason, Cixi found out, and in order to vent her anger, Cixi suddenly issued another decree, asking my seventh uncle, who had been adopted for more than five years, to re-adopt my grandfather's eighth younger brother, Zhongjun Wang Yipin.Yimo and his wife were hit by this and fell ill together.Soon, Yimo died, and Cixi deliberately ordered the snatched son Zaitao to represent the queen mother to pay homage. With this status, Zaitao naturally could not kneel before the spirit.Less than half a year later, Yimo's old wife also died of anger.

At the same time as appointing the seventh uncle to adopt for the second time, Cixi also appointed the sixth uncle Zaixun to adopt, and gave me another cousin, Wang Yizhi of Shumin County, as his heir.Just like what Mobeizi said in his poem: The platform is three hundred feet high, and the foot is still three hundred feet high.Liu Jia's grandmother sat behind closed doors at home, and suddenly lost another son, which was another unexpected blow.Not long after, came the third blow.My grandmother had just arranged a marriage for my father when she received an order from Empress Dowager Cixi to marry my father.It turned out that my father had engaged in a marriage earlier. When the Eight-Power Allied Forces entered Beijing in the Gengzi year, many banner people committed suicide because they were afraid of foreign soldiers. This family was also a so-called martyrdom family.When my father was in Xi'an with Empress Dowager Cixi, my grandmother re-engaged him with a marriage, and let go of the father-in-law, that is, handed over a Ruyi to the unmarried daughter-in-law.According to the custom, sending a purse is called Fang Xiaoding, and there is still room for expansion and contraction. When it comes to Fang Xiaoding, the girl is considered to be a member of her husband's family.After zooming in, if the man dies or something goes wrong, under the feudal ethics, tragedies such as widowhood or martyrdom often occur.Of course, Cixi doesn't care whether you and your parents agree or not. No one dares to talk about what she does.Liu Jia's grandmother was afraid at both ends. She was afraid that Cixi would blame her, and she was afraid that the withdrawal of the Dading would cause an accident to the woman.Although someone comforted her at the time, saying that there would be no problem in announcing the Queen Mother's order, she still couldn't think about it, and the insane patient had another attack.

Six years later, her illness had another major attack, and that was the day the Minister of Military Aircraft sent a decree to send me into the palace.When I was born, I was raised by my grandmother.Grandma loves me very much.I heard from my wet nurse that my grandmother would get up once or twice every night to come and see me.She didn't even wear shoes when she came, for fear that the noise of the clogs would startle me.Looking at me like this, I grew up to three years old, and suddenly heard that Cixi wanted me to go to the palace, and she fainted immediately.Since then, her illness has become more prone to attacks, and it has been going on and on until her death.She was fifty-nine years old when she died, that is, the year I left Beijing for Tianjin.

Since Prince Jin Zaifeng lost his father at the age of eight, he has lived a traditional noble life under the teachings of Prince Jinxian and the discipline of these two old people.He became the regent, enjoying the salary and the supply of the fief, his mother took care of the housework, and a set of offices headed by the hereditary Sanqilang Erpin Changshi [1] led his financial management and entertainment. A large number of guards, eunuchs, and servants are at his service, and there are also a group of pursers who give him advice, chat and play.He does not need to worry about family life, nor does he need any production knowledge.He doesn't have much contact with the outside world, except for the routine contacts, he doesn't have much social experience.Such was his environment and his life.

My father had two Fujins, who gave birth to four sons and seven daughters.My second mother came after 1911, and my triplets and two half-brothers and four younger sisters were born in the Republic of China.In this family until now, apart from the eldest sister and third brother who died early, the father died in early 1951, and the mother died earlier in 1921. Mothers and fathers are completely different types.Some people say that the aunts of banner people are often more capable than the uncles, and it may be true.I remember that my wife Wanrong and my mother Guarjia knew more things than me and my father, especially enjoying things and shopping.It is said that Banner girls can be in charge of affairs at home and are respected by their brothers and sisters-in-law because every girl has the opportunity to be selected as a concubine in the palace (as far as I think, it is probably because the brothers are either idle or busy with official duties, Responsibility for stewardship and financial management naturally fell to the sisters, so the girls were more capable).My mother was very favored when she was in her natal family, and Cixi once said that this girl is not even afraid of me.Mother spends the money, causing grandmother and father such a headache that there is nothing they can do about it.Father's income, not counting the farm, the prince's double salary, and some kind of maintenance silver [2] was 50,000 taels per year, and it was still paid every year by the small court in the Republic of China.Every time the salary was not long after I got it, my mother spent it all.Later, my father thought of many ways. He once divided the property with her and set a fixed amount of money for her, but none of them took effect.My father also used the method of throwing guys, such as picking up the bottles and cans on the bar table and throwing them on the ground to show anger and determination.Because I was always reluctant to drop things, I specially prepared some unbreakable copper pots and lead cans (my younger brother has seen these props). Soon, these prestige was also seen through by my mother. In the end, it was my father who took out the money Come for her flowers.It took my grandmother to sigh and shed tears at the bill sent by the accountant, and my father had no choice but to ask the steward to sell the antiques and properties.

Mother also often took out her precious dowry jewelry to sell off quietly.I later found out that in addition to enjoying life, she used to avoid her father and spend money on political activities. She used Ronglu's old department, such as Yuan Deliang, the infantry commander in the Republic of China, to campaign for Fengtian generals.This kind of activity was carried out in collusion with the concubines.For the dream of restoration, they took out a lot of jewelry and spent a lot of money.When Pu Jie was a child, he saw her negotiating with the concubine's eunuch furtively, and asked her what was the matter, and she said: You are still young now, and when you grow up, you will understand what I am doing.But she didn't know that all the treasures of her and the concubines were filled by the eunuch and Yuan Deliang.She has a special trust in her father's old department, and she can understand Yuan Shikai.After 1911, all the people in Prince Chun's mansion scolded Yuan Shikai. When Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor, the children picked out the eyes of Yuan Shikai's portrait in the newspaper. Only the mother had a different opinion: it is not Yuan Shikai's fault, but grandson's. arts!

My younger brothers and sisters were not afraid of their grandmother and father when they were young, but they were only afraid of their mother.Not to mention servants.One day, my father came back from the outside and saw that the window was not closed properly, so he asked an eunuch: Why not close it properly?The eunuch replied: "Grandma hasn't come back yet, don't worry about it."His father got angry and punished him to squat on the ground.A maid said: If you are an old man, I won’t beat you to pieces!The old man refers to the mother. Like Cixi, she likes to be called a man by others.

I entered the palace at the age of three, and I didn't recognize my grandmother and mother until I was eleven. They were called into the palace by the concubine.When I met them, I felt very strange, not friendly at all.But I still remember my grandmother's eyes never leaving me, and they always seemed to be shining with tears.The impression my mother gave me was completely different. When I met her, I felt a little bit of fear in addition to being unfamiliar.Every time she sees me, she always likes to say some official words with a straight face: the emperor needs to read more of the hadiths of the ancestors, the emperor should not be greedy, the emperor’s body is the holy body, and the emperor should go to bed early and get up early. The feeling of bang still seems to exist, the grandmother who came from a lowly background and the mother who was born as a lady in a university scholar's house, the human feelings revealed are so different. [1] Second-rank Changshi is the nominal top steward assigned by the Royal Household Department to the princes' mansions, and is a hereditary second-rank official.In fact, he doesn't care about business, except for going to the palace when there are important weddings and funerals, he doesn't go to the palace on weekdays. [2] In addition to the regular salary of officials in the Qing Dynasty system, the imperial court also gave money to officials in order to show the intention of requiring officials to be clean, which is called Yanglian silver.