The Qing Palace Never Meets Spring

I thought that Yinxiang would just be ignored by Kangxi like he was on New Year's Day, but I didn't expect that after New Year's Day, Kangxi would bring Yinxiang back to his side.

After the initial excitement of accompanying the emperor for the first time, Yinxiang fell silent again. Although he was once a trusted confidant, now it was more about surveillance. Kangxi kept this son, whom he trusted the least, by his side.

On the 21st, Kangxi brought up the matter of establishing a crown prince again, but unexpectedly, Ma Qi, Tong Guowei and others still recommended the eighth prince, Yinzhi, as the crown prince.

At first, Kangxi patiently explained that although the Crown Prince was imprisoned, he did not resent it and was still concerned about his health. If the Crown Prince made another mistake, he could be imprisoned again.

But when Yinzhi was mentioned, he became furious, stating that Yinzhi was a criminal in prison and that his mother's family was of low social standing.

Yinxiang and the others knelt at Kangxi's feet, somewhat admiring Yinsi's ability to win people's hearts.

After his release, Yinxiang gradually sorted out the events of those days.

Since last year, Emperor Kangxi has repeatedly claimed that the Crown Prince was framed by Yinzhi, thus shifting the blame for the Crown Prince's mistakes onto Yinzhi.

Later, when the matter of establishing a crown prince was first raised, the officials, knowing Kangxi's intentions, recommended Yinzhi, and Kangxi stripped Yinzhi of his title.

They thought they had made their stance clear, but to their surprise, when the matter of establishing a crown prince was brought up a second time, everyone was determined to elevate Yinzhi to the position of crown prince, even at the risk of incurring Kangxi's wrath and disregarding Yinzhi's life or death.

Since ascending the throne and assuming personal rule, Emperor Kangxi has been constantly consolidating power, suppressing the Three Feudatories and capturing Oboi. Not to mention that he now has the intention to reinstate the crown prince, even if he did not, he would not allow Yinzhi, who has no foundation but has the support of many princes and ministers, to become the crown prince.

Perhaps Yinzhi was indeed of outstanding character, otherwise he would not have gained the support of so many princes and ministers. However, the struggle for power is never based on character. Those who supported him naturally wanted something in return, and what these princes and ministers wanted was something that Kangxi absolutely could not tolerate.

As for his mother's family being of low social standing, Yinxiang was somewhat relieved, relieved that although he was disliked by Kangxi, at least he did not implicate Consort Min.

The family backgrounds of Kangxi's four consorts and Consort Liang were actually quite similar. Not only the four consorts, but many of Kangxi's consorts also came from similar backgrounds, and there were even commoners like Consort Wang who came from humble origins.

Therefore, no matter how much they were favored, their rank could only be limited to that of a concubine.

If Yinzhi's maternal family was of lowly status, how many of these princes had good maternal families? Kangxi was ultimately angry with Consort Liang because of Yinzhi.

Perhaps even Yinzhi himself did not expect that when he was ambitious in the past, he earned a concubine rank for Consort Liang, but now that he is even more "ambitious," he has brought Consort Liang a lowly status.

When Emperor Kangxi was in a fit of rage, he could even curse Yinreng, who had been raised and taught by him since childhood, by saying that he was born to bring misfortune to his mother, let alone Yinsi and Consort Liang.

Yinxiang turned his head to look at the Crown Prince kneeling beside him, and sure enough, he saw the sarcasm on the Crown Prince's lips.

In the end, it naturally ended on a sour note.

The princes were the last to leave. After Yinxiang left, he heard someone calling him. He turned around and saw that it was Marhan. He stood still and waited for Marhan to come closer before gently calling him "Father-in-law".

Marhan had been on the battlefield, and although he was nearly eighty years old, he was still strong and upright. However, when he was in front of Yinxiang, he was inevitably short of breath and bowed his hands, saying in a low voice, "This old minister is ashamed."

Yinxiang knew he was referring to what happened two months ago, and simply said, "It's all in the past, let's not talk about it."

Marhan bowed again and said, "How are the Princess and the Prince? My wife at home is always concerned about the Prince, the Princess, and the Prince."

"Everything is fine, don't worry about it."

"That's good." Marhan hesitated for a moment before saying, "The reason I stopped you today is that there is something I want to discuss with you. This old minister is already preparing to retire."

“Alright.” Yinxiang immediately replied to Marhan, “I will go back and tell Qingwan, and father-in-law need not worry about Qingwan.”

Marhan was worried that if he resigned, no one in his family would be in office, which would be detrimental to Qingwan. However, considering the hardships Qingwan and Yinxiang had endured together during the two months they spent in Yangfeng Alley, he decided to talk to Yinxiang. He seemed to be in good health, but his energy was waning. If he continued to hold this position, he was afraid that even he himself could not predict what would happen.

After returning, Yinxiang told Qingwan about Malhan's decision to resign. Qingwan was stunned for a moment before saying, "That's good too. My father is indeed at an age where he should retire."

Yinxiang held Qingwan's hand and said, "Your father was ultimately implicated because of me."

Qingwan simply shook her head: "There's no question of who implicated whom between you and my father."

When Yingyu's maid came over, the two had just finished talking about Malhan's resignation. When Muxiang mentioned it, both of them thought about how the Second Prince's health was probably not good again.

The Second Prince was born prematurely. Even though Qingwan and Yinxiang were not around these days, Yihuan kept an eye on him from time to time, so he still received proper care. But how can deficiencies in the womb be so easily made up for, especially since the Second Prince's health was really poor.

Therefore, without even inviting anyone in to ask questions, Qingwan said, "Let's go take a look."

Yinxiang nodded.

Qingwan accompanied Yinxiang to Yingyu's room, only to find it in a mess upon arrival. Qingwan glanced at Muxiang, who then stepped forward and stopped the chaos.

Yingyu, holding the child, ran towards Qingwan and Yinxiang while crying. Qingwan did not stop her; instead, she stepped back slightly to create distance between herself and Yinxiang. She then went to see the imperial physician, who shook his head at her.

She couldn't help but feel sorry for Yingyu, and seeing that Muxiang had made arrangements for everyone, she then took Muxiang out.

After going outside, I saw Fuling standing on tiptoe by the window, looking inside.

"What are you looking at?"

Fuling was startled and, after regaining her balance, bowed and said, "This servant greets the Princess Consort. I heard there was a commotion here, so I came to check, but it seems the Second Prince is unwell again?"

After Qingwan returned to the palace, she heard that Yingyu was not close to the child, let alone cared for him. On the other hand, Fuling couldn't bear to see the child suffer and took him in. When the child was not feeling well, she would stay up all night with the wet nurse to take care of him.

Seeing that her concern now seemed genuine, he said, "It's a problem he had in the womb. You took care of him for a while, so you must know about his condition."

Hearing Qingwan's words, Fuling craned her neck even further to look inside. Qingwan stepped aside and said, "Want to go in and take a look?"

Fuling quickly shook her head: "When Master and Madam were not here, she did not want to take care of the children, but now that you are back, she has become a loving mother."

After speaking, Fu Ling quickly explained, "Whether she has come to her senses or for other reasons, it's not appropriate for me to go in now." She then secretly glanced at Qing Wan's expression, and seeing that she didn't seem to mind, she said, "This servant will take her leave now."

He left only after Qingwan nodded.

Mu Xiang said, “The concubine is quite interesting. It’s obvious that she wants to compete with you and Princess Shijia. But when you were pregnant, she would tell you to eat less hawthorn cake and she would take care of the second prince when you and the master were not around.”

Qingwan didn't speak, but listened to Yingyu's crying inside the room. However, the child, who should have been uncomfortable, was too weak to even hear crying. She sighed softly.