The Qing Palace Never Meets Spring

As for Yinxiang, who had been summoned away by the Crown Prince, he and Yinzhen were kneeling in the main hall of Qianqing Palace, being reprimanded by Kangxi in a sarcastic tone. The two knew that they had gone too far yesterday. The younger ones were sent back to the palace early, while the older ones each had their own residences outside the palace. Although Yintao also lived in the palace, he was smart enough to know his limits no matter how much others advised him.

So only he and the fourteenth prince were left, completely drunk. Neither of them dared to argue, and they just lowered their heads and listened to the reprimand.

Emperor Kangxi was both angry and amused. He scolded the two brothers before telling them to get lost.

Originally, Yinxiang had planned to go to Emperor Kangxi today to apologize for what happened yesterday. After putting down his book and leaving his bedroom, he found that Qingwan had not yet returned. So, before leaving, he instructed Qingwan to tell her that he had been summoned by the Crown Prince.

After all, it's quite embarrassing to go to your father to be punished right after getting married.

In Qingwan's eyes, Yinxiang had become increasingly busy since being summoned by the Crown Prince that day. He often left before dawn and did not return until bedtime. Occasionally, he would return early and stay in his study, doing nothing.

With Yinxiang so busy, Qingwan and Yinxiang only interacted when Yinxiang told her in the morning that he was going to accompany the emperor or to the Crown Prince's side, and when he returned in the evening, Qingwan asked, "Your Highness is back."

Yinxiang agreed and said, "Go to sleep," as he was about to go to bed.

However, Qingwan was not idle during this time. The Eighth Princess and the Tenth Princess came twice and took her to pay her respects to the several principal consorts in the palace.

One day when she went to visit Yi Huan, she went to pay her respects to Consort Rong. Consort Rong could still manage a few smiles for Yi Huan, who had grown up by her side since childhood, but it was hard to say about Qing Wan. Although she didn't show any displeasure, Qing Wan was fortunate enough to never see a smile from Yi Huan.

Therefore, Yi Huan smiled and advised her: "Sister-in-law, don't worry too much. You must know about the matter between my brother and third brother. Since they are both by the Crown Prince's side now, it's inevitable that they will have disagreements."

I overheard my third brother complaining that the Crown Prince only listens to his elder brother, not his third brother, and that he only involves his elder brother in many matters.

So Consort Rong's attitude towards her sister-in-law wasn't because she was dissatisfied with her; in fact, her sister-in-law was implicated by her brother.

However…” Yi Huan looked around before whispering to Qing Wan, “On the day of the family reunion, the reason Third Brother didn’t speak was because he had difficulty speaking, so Third Sister-in-law spoke for him.”

"Struggling?" Qingwan pondered the word, somewhat puzzled. Seeing her confusion, Yihuan leaned close to Qingwan's ear. Qingwan's eyes widened upon hearing this. As a subject, Marhan must have known about this, but he hadn't mentioned it to her.

Seeing her like this, Yi Huan covered her mouth with her handkerchief and smiled before saying, "So in the future, when you hear Third Brother speak, you must not look surprised, otherwise Third Brother will be unhappy."

Qingwan quickly nodded. Looking at Yihuan beside her, who was chattering about interesting things, she couldn't help but think of Yihuan's situation.

Yi Huan didn't say a word about her situation in Changchun Palace. Judging from the Third Prince's attitude towards Qing Wan, did Consort Rong and the Third Prince really have no grudges against Yi Huan at all?

Moreover, Consort Rong has a biological daughter, Princess Rongxian, who is even more favored by Emperor Kangxi than Yihuan, so she probably cares even less about Yihuan.

Yi Huan sensed that Qing Wan was no longer responding. She looked up and saw that Qing Wan was also looking at her, her expression gentle, but seemingly lost in thought. It was a little strange.

"Is something on your mind, sister-in-law? You seem lost in thought."

Qingwan came to her senses and said, "I was just thinking that if it weren't for you two sisters taking care of me, I'm afraid I would have made a fool of myself in this palace for your brother."

Yi Huan laughed and said, "How could that be? It just takes a little more time to get used to it."

Qingwan smiled and changed the subject. Although the two sisters were kind to her because of Yinxiang, she was still very grateful. After all, she and the two were strangers before she married Yinxiang, so there was no such thing as a free lunch.

Qingwan counted down the days until the eighth day after the wedding, when she was preparing the return gift for her husband's family. Only then did she think of discussing this matter with Yinxiang. But just like the previous days, Yinxiang left in a hurry early in the morning.

Qingwan had no choice but to instruct people to keep an eye on Yinxiang's movements so that they could discuss things when he returned. Fortunately, Yinxiang returned at noon, but the Crown Prince was with him.

When Qingwan went out to greet them, the two were just about to go to the study. Since they had met the Crown Prince, Qingwan had no choice but to pay her respects to him.

Crown Prince Xu raised his hand to help her up: "We are family, sister-in-law, there's no need for formalities. Just call me Second Brother, like Thirteenth Brother does."

Qingwan was naturally not foolish enough to take the Crown Prince's polite words seriously: "Thank you, Your Highness."

The Crown Prince then said, "If you have nothing to do, you should spend more time with the Crown Princess and keep her company."

Yinxiang then said, "You've come at the right time. I still have some new tea that Father Khan gave me. Have them brew this."

"Yes." Qingwan curtsied before instructing someone to make arrangements, then worried that the matter of returning to her parents' home might not be discussed until evening.

After the servants brewed the tea, Qingwan thought for a moment, took the tray, and delivered it herself. Today she was wearing casual flat embroidered shoes, which made her walk lightly and quietly, unlike the heavy platform shoes.

When they arrived at the study door and were about to knock, they heard the name Marhan mentioned inside.

Her knocking stopped involuntarily, but the voice inside was faint; she could only vaguely make out some of the prince's words:

"When you go to the Minister's residence this time, also try to find out what Marhan is saying. That old fox's words and actions... now he's your father-in-law..."

Qingwan had a vague idea of ​​what the two were talking about, so she took a few steps back and deliberately made some noise so that the people inside could hear her. Then she knocked on the door and entered the room. Sure enough, the two inside had stopped talking. When they saw her enter, they both looked at her. The Crown Prince said, "Thank you for your trouble, sister-in-law."

Qingwan simply smiled and shook her head: "Your Highness is too kind."

He poured tea for the two of them, turned and went out, then called Zhang Rui to guard the door before returning to his room.

The crown prince did not leave until the hour of You (5-7 PM). During this time, the two of them did not leave the house, and even their food was brought into the room.

Qingwan was worried that Yinxiang would go directly to Guarjia's room and she would have to stop him. Fortunately, after seeing the Crown Prince off, Yinxiang went straight to the main room.

At that moment, Qingwan was looking at the gift list for tomorrow, which included gifts from the palace and some she had prepared herself.

Yinxiang dismissed her formalities as soon as he entered, and let her sit down. He walked to Qingwan's side, leaned close to her head, and looked at the list together.

Occasionally, their bodies touched, and Yinxiang's mind wandered. He looked up at the still-bright sky outside, and sat down to the side with a hint of regret.

"I see that you've prepared some rather conventional things. I have some more in my private stash; you can choose some to put in there."

Hearing him say that, Qingwan was happy and quickly thanked him.

When Zhang Rui brought over the account books of Yinxiang's private treasury, Qingwan could only sigh as she read them. As expected of a favored prince, even though he had given quite a few things to the Eighth and Tenth Princesses, there were still many good things in this treasury.

Qingwan didn't stand on ceremony and added a few items to the list according to her father's and other people's preferences.

Yinxiang kept looking outside, and watched as Qingwan packed her things for tomorrow. After it got completely dark, he said, "We're leaving the palace tomorrow, so let's rest early tonight."

Although Qingwan was a little puzzled as to why he was going to bed so early today, she still obediently got into bed.