Chapter 106: Spicy Ninth Princess Consort 3

The Fujin never used to wear such bright colors, dressing herself in an old-fashioned and somber manner. Was she suppressing her own stunning beauty?

The Fujin’s features were the kind of enchanting beauty that men adored, but they were definitely not the type to find favor with women or elders, as such allure was often seen as a lack of dignity.

Others might not like it, but he loved this face. It seemed his Imperial Ama^[1] still loved him after all, having chosen such a grand beauty to be his Fujin.

The saying that the Donggo Clan produced beauties was certainly true. The Third Fujin was also a noble daughter of the Donggo Clan and was quite good-looking, but she was still a few degrees short of his own Fujin.

Young love – that was exactly the state the Ninth Prince found himself in right now!

“Eating big portions of meat and fish every day gets greasy, and I’m tired of radishes and cabbage. I thought I’d try growing something myself. If they grow, at least I’ll have something palatable to eat. It’s such a small matter, why did it trouble you to come and ask?” Su Huandan spoke with a sarcastic edge. In the past, the Ninth Prince would have definitely stormed off in a rage, but wasn’t he currently infatuated with Su Huandan’s face?

The Ninth Prince, who possessed a bit of a superficial streak when it came to looks, actually found her sarcasm quite interesting at this moment, viewing it as a form of marital banter.

“I was just asking casually. It doesn’t matter if they don’t grow. I’ll make arrangements with the Imperial Kitchen to ensure the Fujin has something she likes.” Looking at Su Huandan’s face, the Ninth Prince’s promises came easily.

Unfortunately, Su Huandan really didn’t think much of them.

During this half-month of recovery, Su Huandan’s professional habits from her previous life had kicked in. She had performed a full inventory of the original owner’s dowry and cross-referenced it with the ledgers and warehouse records the Ninth Prince had handed over. At first, she had thought that the Ninth Prince was, as expected of an Imperial Prince, a wealthy man.

However, with only a month left until the New Year, the original owner’s natal family had sent someone to deliver five thousand taels of silver and several crates of antique ornaments. These were all high-quality items, explicitly sent to help the original owner and the Ninth Prince with their New Year gift exchanges.

Since the items had been delivered, they couldn’t exactly be sent back, could they?

Su Huandan spent an entire day studying the gift lists from the Ninth Prince’s previous years, eventually reaching a conclusion: the Ninth Prince was shockingly broke. If the original owner’s family hadn’t sent these things, the Ninth Prince would have had to rob Peter to pay Paul just to get through the upcoming holiday season.

The New Year celebrations for the Manchus during the Qing Dynasty involved gift exchanges that were frankly excessive. After looking over the gift lists, Su Huandan felt a headache coming on.

Calculating the gifts required for the various festivals throughout the four seasons – not even counting precious items like antiques or calligraphy – a “bare-headed” Prince^[2] like the Ninth Prince had to spend at least ten thousand taels of silver a year just on social gifting.

Of course, others gave him gifts as well, so the books generally balanced out. But it was strictly a matter of breaking even each year; there were no debts, but trying to save money through receiving gifts was truly difficult.

The original owner had married in this autumn. It was now December, and in the three months since she had entered the household, she had spent over six hundred taels just on various tips and rewards.

The original owner didn’t even go out often and still spent that much; what about the Ninth Prince?

“How much silver do you have left? Can you afford this level of spending? I was thinking of setting up a few small red clay stoves in the house so I can buy my own rice and flour to cook for myself. That way, we can save some money.” Saving money was one aspect, but the main reason was that the Qing Dynasty only had two meals a day – one in the morning and one in the evening. Lunch, which should be a proper meal, was replaced by just snacking on pastries.

Even if there were many varieties of pastries, both savory and sweet, Su Huandan couldn’t stand it. She simply wasn’t someone who enjoyed pastries.

Furthermore, if the Ninth Prince were truly wealthy, why would the Donggo Clan need to secretly send money, antiques, and calligraphy to keep up appearances for him?

As Su Huandan spoke, her mind was filled with memories of what the original owner’s mother had said the night before the wedding: “When the Prince is short on funds, he will send someone back to speak with us. Before an Imperial Prince is granted his own manor and official duties, they aren’t that well-off. If the in-laws don’t help out now, the Prince won’t need it later.”

From this, it was clear that Kangxi’s sons, before being granted manors and assignments, actually went through a period of being supported by their wives’ families.

If this wasn’t an unwritten rule or a common practice, would the original owner’s mother have dared to say such a thing?

It was evident that the Ninth Prince’s elder brothers were currently being supported by their respective in-laws.

Thinking of this, Su Huandan felt that Kangxi was truly unkind. He had so many sons but couldn’t afford to raise them, so he found wealthy in-laws to raise them for him.

The Ninth Prince’s face darkened again at Su Huandan’s words. He pulled a silver note from his person and slapped it onto the table. “If the household funds are insufficient, just tell me.”

The slap on the table was loud, but it was only a fifty-tael silver note.

The Ninth Prince pursued prestige, while Su Huandan pursued practical benefits. Their future days together were bound to be lively.

Compared to the original owner’s dowry and the annual income from the properties within that dowry, the current Ninth Prince was truly poor!

Su Huandan stood up, went into the inner chamber, and brought out an envelope from her jewelry box, handing it to the Ninth Prince. “My family gave this. You handle the external affairs as you see fit. Take this silver for now. I’ll also give you a gift list; the New Year is coming, and it’s time to send out the presents.”

The Ninth Prince: …

He knew there were silver notes in the envelope. He desperately wanted to be firm and refuse, but if he didn’t take it, he truly had no money.

Why did all the Imperial Princes look forward to coming of age?

Once they came of age, they could take on official duties. With duties came followers, and with followers providing support, they would no longer lack silver.

But currently, the Princes were all living in the palace. Although the elder brothers had duties, no one dared to openly align with them yet. Thus, they each relied either on their maternal clans or their wives’ clans for support.

The Ninth Prince didn’t know what his brothers thought, but he truly felt that relying on his wife’s family was a very shameful thing.

But there was no other way. His maternal clan, the Gorolo, was currently barely managing to support his Fifth Brother. It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford two Princes, but doing so would be too conspicuous.

And since the Fifth Fujin’s natal family was unremarkable, his Fifth Brother couldn’t rely on his wife’s side. Therefore, he, as the younger brother, had to endure the embarrassment of being supported by his in-laws.

Feeling a bit restless, he took the gift list and the envelope Su Huandan had prepared and hurried to the front courtyard.

After reviewing the gift list, he was very satisfied. For those close to them, she had listed practical items; for those they weren’t close to, she had listed gifts that were inexpensive but looked very respectable.

The gift list the Fujin had drafted would save over three thousand taels of silver compared to previous years.

This Fujin of his was actually quite sensible when it came to managing finances and handling social obligations.

Looking down at the five thousand taels in banknotes in his hand, and then thinking of the indifferent expression on her face just now, the Ninth Prince felt a bitter tang of unease in his heart.

In truth, his Fujin was quite good. Whether she was being difficult with him or getting angry, she never faltered when it came to serious matters. Her family was also very thoughtful to send this money, which would allow him to breathe a bit easier during this year’s Spring Festival.

It was just a pity about the child she had miscarried, and the fact that it had caused such a rift between them.

After sending He Yuzhu off to handle the gift lists and deliveries, the Ninth Prince turned around and headed back. On the way, he even thought to himself that he should treat her well and live a good life with her from now on.

Su Huandan had just sat down at the dining table when she saw the Ninth Prince return. She curled her lip. Now that he had the five thousand taels in hand, the man actually knew to come back and accompany her for a meal.

Su Huandan couldn’t help but feel that the Ninth Prince was incredibly expensive. Five thousand taels of silver? His appearance fee was damn near astronomical!