The Qing Palace Never Meets Spring

The next day, at the crack of dawn, Gada arrived with his men from the Imperial Household Department to wait for him.

No matter how grief-stricken Yingyu was this time, the rules were set in stone, and Qingwan didn't wait for her anymore. She had someone bring the child out and also stopped Yingyu from leaving the house.

After Qingwan saw the people from the Imperial Household Department take the child away, she asked Gada, "Second Prince, what will you do with him?"

Gada said, "If we were outside the palace, we would follow your orders, but since we're inside the palace, we must follow the palace rules. For the young masters who died in infancy..."

Gada lowered his head even further, and after a long while, he uttered a soft "Jie".

"Clean" refers to cremation, which was originally a Manchu custom. However, after so many years of conquest, many Manchu families, including those in the palace, have switched to traditional burial practices.

However, about twenty years ago, Emperor Kangxi issued an edict that princes and princesses who died young should not be buried. But even after so many years, not every prince and princess who died young was cremated.

Qingwan instructed Muxiang to hand the letter to Gada, saying, "Deliver it to Master as soon as possible." Then she waved for Gada to leave.

Then, she said to Fuling, who had somehow appeared behind her, "Your eldest princess and eldest prince, as well as my second princess, have all grown up quite smoothly."

Especially the eldest princess, who survived even the most dangerous smallpox vaccination, made us forget that raising a child is far more difficult than killing one.

Upon hearing this, Fuling suddenly knelt on the ground and said, "This servant understands. Thank you for all these years, Madam."

Yinxiang received the letter two or three days later, and he read it several times before accepting the fact that the Second Prince was gone.

Although I had accepted the fact that the child might not survive, I never expected him to die at such a young age.

He remembered that child, thin and small, whose eyes almost took up his entire face.

Her little face was already red, but her cries were still very weak.

He raised his hand and rubbed the acupoints around his eyes, calculating the days; the child should have already been taken away from the palace. Before the confusion in his mind could dissipate, he heard Zhang Rui cautiously say from the side:

"Your Majesty, we should go to His Majesty's side."

Yinxiang raised his head, his eyes gradually clearing. He folded the letter and put it in his sleeve. He said nothing more and got up to go to Kangxi's side.

When Yinxiang returned to the palace, it was already the end of March, and Qingwan was still waiting for him at the door.

"I am back."

"The children know that their master is coming back today, and they are all waiting for him. Let's go see them first."

Further inside, Mingxin led Hongchang and Moyaqi, while only Moyaqi was eager to get closer to Yinxiang.

"Father, why aren't you here?"

"Huh?" Moyaqi's question left Yinxiang bewildered. "Father is here."

"Not now, but that day."

Yinxiang looked at Qingwan for help, and Qingwan said, "That day I was writing a letter to you at your desk, and Moyaqi probably remembered that you often sat there, so she asked about you."

The day the letter was written was naturally the day the Second Prince was not present. Yinxiang immediately thought of it and asked, "Did you frighten any of the children that day?"

"No, they were all confined to their rooms. The palace gates didn't open until the next day, and Gada arrived with his men."

Aside from Mingxin, who is older and might have some awareness, Hongchang and Moyaqi only knew that they would never see their younger brother again.

As for why they can't see each other, they won't keep focusing on that question.

"You've worked hard these past few days," Yinxiang said.

"It's no trouble at all, it's what I should do anyway. Would you like to go check on Yingyu? She's not feeling well."

"Okay. I'll go check on her later."

After the two returned to their room, Qingwan said again, "She had a difficult childbirth. I promised her I would give her some things, but it was delayed. Master, please take them to her to see her later."

Perhaps she thought she could manage on her own.

"it is good."

Yinxiang returned after sunset. He saw Qingwan playing with Moyaqi on the bed, so he changed his clothes and lay down on Qingwan's lap.

Moyaqi climbed even closer to him, and he reached out to steady her so she wouldn't fall off the bed. Then, after a long sigh, he said:

"When I received your letter that day, I thought you had something to say to me, but I didn't expect it to be about the Second Prince."

Perhaps it was because I didn't spend much time with that child, or perhaps it was because I already knew that the child probably wouldn't survive.

I read the letter repeatedly, and by the time I returned to Khan's side, I had accepted the fact that the child had passed away.

After waiting anxiously by her father's side for several days, she had almost forgotten about the Second Prince's passing. If it were before...

At this point, Yinxiang smiled bitterly. If it were before, he might have been able to ask for the grace of being allowed to return to the capital ahead of schedule.

But now that Kangxi is more inclined to reinstate the crown prince, he is more worried about becoming a complete pawn.

“Just now in Yingyu’s room, she was crying very sadly. Although I felt sorry for her losing her child, I also knew that I was far less in pain than she was and could not empathize with her. I could not say any more words of comfort, even though that was my child too.”

Qingwan simply said, "Because Master has more than one child. Just like today, when Master came back, I brought the eldest princess, the eldest prince, and Moyaqi to wait for you."

In the future, I will have more children: the Third Princess, the Fourth Princess, the Third Prince, the Fourth Prince, and even more.

But for Yingyu, this might be her only child.

After several rounds of illogical questioning with Moyaqi, Yinxiang said, "When I went to see her, she begged me to take good care of her mother if she died. Only then did I understand why you suddenly gave her mother something."

Yinxiang closed his eyes and rested on Qingwan's lap. Moyaqi also leaned against Yinxiang and asked Qingwan, "Father, are you sleepy? But I haven't gone to sleep yet."

Because she always had to be coaxed to sleep by others, she was very curious as to why Yinxiang was asleep before her.

"Father came back from a very far place, that's why he's sleepy." Qingwan pulled the blanket up for Moyaqi.

"Oh." She reached out and patted Yinxiang, then raised her hand to her lips, "Father, go to sleep."

Yinxiang listened to her childish words, and although he didn't open his eyes, he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.

Qingwan gently brushed away the dark circles under his eyes. Compared to the days in the beekeeping alley, Yinxiang had become even thinner.

She wasn't worried that Kangxi would mistreat Yinxiang in terms of food and clothing, but she was worried that Kangxi would be harsh on Yinxiang in his words, and even more worried that the pain of losing his son would make Yinxiang despondent.

"Oh, by the way, there's some good news. My sister is coming to Beijing."

Before Qingwan could speak, Moyaqi got up, leaned close to Qingwan's lower abdomen, and asked, "Where's your little sister?"

Qingwan pointed to her forehead, and Moyaqi giggled and fell onto the bed. She then crawled up to Qingwan and said, "Fourth Aunt said there are younger brothers and sisters here."

Yinxiang turned over and stood up, laughing, "So it turns out that this child wasn't unable to speak, just as Aunt Yan said, but rather unwilling to speak."

“That’s right, so they just didn’t want to deal with us,” Qingwan added.

Moyaqi was unaware that her mother was talking badly about her. Seeing Yinxiang and Qingwan laughing, she laughed along and fell into Qingwan's arms.