The Qing Palace Never Meets Spring

After staying at the temporary palace for a few days, Yinxiang went ahead to return to the palace to recuperate.

The closer they got to the capital, the more embarrassed Yinxiang felt, especially since Qingwan was quite skilled at horseback riding, and Mingxin, although only seven years old, also expressed a desire to learn to ride.

When they arrived at the palace gate, the palace staff thoughtfully prepared a sedan chair, so Yinxiang arrived at the prince's residence without touching the ground.

Zhang Rui lifted the sedan curtain, and Yinxiang looked at the familiar scenery and said, "Help me out."

Now that they were back in the palace, Zhang Ruike felt more confident and immediately said, "Please wait a moment, Your Highness. This servant will go and inform the Princess Consort to tidy up the room first."

Having said that, he turned and left.

Yinxiang could only shout, "Zhang Rui, get back here and have someone carry me inside."

"Yes, sir." Zhang Rui immediately bowed.

Qingwan was reading a book inside the room when Moyaqi was making a fuss at her feet.

Upon hearing that Yinxiang had been carried back, her eyes widened in disbelief: "Carried back?"

"Yes," Mu Xiang quickly explained, "It's probably not because something happened, since Master arrived at the door in a sedan chair."

"And they even rode in a sedan chair?" Not just anyone can ride in a sedan chair in this palace.

"Let's go take a look." Qingwan felt that she was almost numb to the commotion that Yinxiang kept making.

As soon as he stepped out, Zhang Rui came to greet him: "This servant greets the Princess Consort. The Prince has injured his leg. I hope the Princess Consort can tell me where the Prince should rest."

"Go to the main room." Before Qingwan could speak, Yinxiang spoke first.

Qingwan nodded, "Let Master go to the main room."

She stepped aside and looked at Mingxin who was running over. Mingxin bowed first before asking, "Madam, what happened to Father?"

Most of Emperor Kangxi's granddaughters were raised in the inner court, living with the empresses and concubines or the imperial concubines.

Mingxin lived in the palace with Yinxiang, but this year, Qingwan and Yinxiang sent her to the inner palace to study with the other imperial granddaughters.

However, after she finished school, she went back to her brother's residence.

"Go back first, and come to pay your respects later after your father has settled in."

"Yes." Mingxin always listened to Qingwan, so when she heard Qingwan say this, she didn't ask any more questions and went back to her room first.

When Qingwan returned to the room, Yinxiang was already lying in bed. Aunt Yan was standing by the bed with Moyaqi, presumably because Moyaqi wanted to climb on Yinxiang, but Aunt Yan stopped her.

Moyaqi asked curiously, "Father, are you going to sleep? It's not dark yet."

"No, Ama just lies in bed for a while and only goes to sleep at night."

"Oh." Moya looked around again, feeling a little bored, so she let go of Aunt Yan's hand and went to play by herself.

Seeing this, Aunt Yan also went to make arrangements for preparing the medicine in the future.

Qingwan sat on the edge of the bed and said, "Master, explain yourself?" She pointed to his leg.

"He fell off his horse." Yinxiang turned his face away.

Although surprised that Yinxiang had fallen from grace, Qingwan did not show it on her face, and only said, "You were too careless."

He then asked Zhang Rui, "What did the imperial physicians say?"

Yinxiang coldly looked at Zhang Rui from behind Qingwan. Zhang Rui was naturally not stupid enough to say anything about how a poorly conceived child would affect his ability to walk in the future. He was also afraid of frightening Qingwan and causing a miscarriage, in which case Yinxiang would really kill him.

He said, "The imperial physician said that as long as I take good care of myself, I will get better sooner or later. It's just that I can't move my leg for the time being."

"Where are you injured?" Qingwan asked Yinxiang.

Yinxiang pointed to his right knee.

Qingwan reached out to lift his trouser leg, and Yinxiang moved his leg.

Qingwan had no choice but to withdraw her hand: "If you still want to say that once you take your pants off, you can't put them back on, I don't mind. After all, I've seen everything I need to see."

Zhang Rui, who hadn't gone out yet, buried her head in her chest desperately, unable to bear hearing this.

When Yinxiang heard her say that, he decided to act like a rogue: "It's broad daylight, and Moyaqi is still here, so there's no need to be in such a hurry."

"What did Father call me for?" Moyaqi ran over and knelt by the bedside.

Qingwan suppressed a laugh and sat down next to Moyaqi, saying, "Father said he hasn't seen Moyaqi in a long time, so he misses you."

Moyaqi patted Yinxiang: "Actually, I miss Father too. I don't blame Father for speaking loudly to me."

Yinxiang then realized that Moyaqi still remembered what happened before he left the palace.

In the evening, Mingxin brought Hongchang to pay their respects. Since Yinxiang had returned, they should have come to pay their respects.

They usually greeted each other in the outer room, but now that they were inside, Hongchang didn't seem to notice anything amiss. Mingxin, however, turned to Muxiang with some confusion.

"Sister Muxiang, Father is having some trouble."

"Replying to Your Highness, I am feeling a little unwell, so I am resting in bed."

"Then my brother and I might come another time." Mingxin stopped outside the door of the inner room.

"Let them in," Qingwan said, having heard the commotion inside.

Upon hearing Qingwan's words, Mingxin pulled Hongchang inside.

The two first greeted Yinxiang, and then greeted Qingwan.

As usual, Yinxiang asked a few questions before asking Mingxin, "Now that you've entered the inner court and are studying with your cousins, are you getting used to it?"

"Father, don't worry, your daughter is fine, and your sisters are all fine. It's just that you're not feeling well, Father. Just now, Sister Muxiang said that you weren't feeling well."

"It's nothing serious, just a minor ailment. You'll be fine after a few days of rest. You don't need to come to pay your respects to Hongchang these days."

"Yes, I understand. Then I will not disturb Father and Madam's rest."

Father and Princess, please take good care of yourselves, especially Princess, you can't afford to overwork yourself these days.

Qingwan also reminded her, "Don't play too much tonight, go to bed early."

"Yes." Mingxin smiled. "Don't worry, Madam."

After Mingxin left with Hongchang, Qingwan felt a pang of nostalgia: "When I married you, Master, Mingxin was only two years old. She was carried by her wet nurse to greet me."

Not long ago, he was still a playful child, but in just a few months since entering the inner court, he's already taken on the air of an adult.

Yinxiang said, “It is said that pregnant women are prone to being sentimental, and I have seen it today.”

"This child seems quite well-behaved, unlike Moyaqi who was so unruly back then." These words were actually directed at the one in Qingwan's womb.

"That's true. If the imperial physician hadn't taken my pulse, I wouldn't have felt the baby growing. I didn't really feel pregnant."

That evening, when Yinxiang saw Muxiang and the others opening the wardrobe and moving out bedding, he hurriedly stopped them, saying, "What are you doing?"

Qingwan told people not to stop and explained, "Now that your leg is injured and people are bumping into it, and I'm also not feeling well, I've asked them to tidy up the house so I can move in for a while."

Yinxiang sighed, "If I had known, I shouldn't have gone back to the main house."

Qingwan simply waved her hand and left the main room, not bothering to say anything more about the matter, not only because of Yinxiang's leg injury, but also for her own comfort.

This continued until September when Kangxi returned to Beijing. After returning, Kangxi first went to Changchun Garden.

At this time, Yinxiang was already able to walk a few steps slowly with the help of a cane.

He was thinking of going to greet the emperor, but Qingwan told Qi Jiazhao to make it sound as serious as possible.

He told Aunt Yan about it, and Aunt Yan took out her handkerchief and went to Yinxiang to wipe away her tears.

Qingwan didn't try to persuade her, but each time she covered her lower abdomen and looked at Yinxiang's legs, hesitant to speak.

On the stove, not only Yinxiang's medicine was being simmered, but also Qingwan's pregnancy-stabilizing medicine.

After a day or two, Yinxiang stopped mentioning going to pay his respects.