The Qing Palace Never Meets Spring

On the day she learned that Mingzhao was going to enter the palace to become a princess, Qingwan smashed an entire tea set, which was the first thing Yunxiang sent after taking over the Imperial Workshop.

The servants at Prince Yi's mansion today are nothing like those at the Thirteenth Prince's mansion back then; inside and out, a whole place is filled with people kneeling in fear.

The main room was in a mess, with porcelain shards scattered everywhere, but no one dared to step forward to clean it up.

Mingzhao stood in the courtyard outside the main house, biting her lip to keep her tears from falling. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Moyaqi arrived.

"Second Sister," Mingzhao called out, her voice choked with emotion.

Moyaqi quickly ran over and hugged her: "Zhaozhao, what's wrong? Wasn't Your Majesty summoned to the palace by the Empress to speak, and you were brought back at the same time?"

Mingzhao shook his head.

Mu Xiang continued, "His Majesty and the Empress said they want to bring the Fourth Princess into the palace. From now on, our Fourth Princess will be a princess."

The princess's face immediately changed, and in her panic, she called out "Your Highness," which frightened the empress so much that she pleaded for the princess, saying that the princess was just too happy and that's why she spoke without thinking.

Fortunately, His Majesty did not blame her. He only allowed the Princess Consort to bring the Fourth Princess back to stay for a while, and then brought the Fourth Princess back to the palace after some time.

After leaving the palace, the princess consort kept a gloomy face. The prince probably wanted to say something, but by then the princess consort was no longer listening.

After they returned, things turned out like this. We couldn't persuade them otherwise, so we had to send someone to invite the princess over.

Mu Xiang thought to herself that the Fujin probably didn't even know that the Fourth Princess hadn't left yet, otherwise she wouldn't have been so impatient.

"And what about my father?" Moya asked curiously.

"The prince was summoned away by officials from the Ministry of Revenue as soon as he left the palace."

Moyaqi first comforted Mingzhao, who was still holding her waist: "Don't be afraid, it's okay."

"But I'm very angry. Even though she's still smiling at me, I know she's very angry." Even though she heard Moyaqi say that, she was still uneasy.

Moyaqi said to Muxiang, "Let them disperse."

After everyone had left, she pulled Mingzhao to sit down on the veranda and said, "Zhaozhao, do you know why your father is angry?"

Mingzhao nodded: "I'm worried that if I become a princess, I'll end up like Aunt Wenke and Aunt Dunke."

"When did you find out that your father wanted you to enter the palace to become a princess?"

“The first time I heard the Emperor ask was in the first month of the lunar calendar,” Mingzhao said after thinking for a while. “But at that time, the Emperor seemed to be teasing me, so I said that I didn’t want to, and that I only wanted to stay by my mother’s and father’s side.”

After that, my father never mentioned it again, but the Empress brought it up a few more times. I always said I didn't want to, but the Empress said it was a favor and I only needed to express my gratitude.

Later I told my father about it, and he said he would handle it and told me not to tell anyone else.

"And what about yourself?" Moyaqi asked again, "Do you want to be a princess? If you go to Mongolia in the future, will you be afraid?"

Mingzhao thought about it seriously: "I don't know if I want to or not. Maybe I can do it, or maybe I can not."

I've never been to Mongolia, and I don't know what Mongolia is like, so I can't say whether I'm afraid or not.

But…” Mingzhao suddenly brought up someone unrelated, “I heard people in the palace talking about Aunt Kejing, my second sister. She’s very capable, and Father spoke of her with admiration.”

Moyaqi flicked her forehead: "No wonder you're Father's daughter. You don't even know what ambition is, yet you already have it."

Mingzhao said dejectedly, "But I don't want my mother to worry, Second Sister. Is there no way to change my mind about entering the palace?"

Moyaqi didn't answer directly: "Isn't being a princess good? I'll be relying on you in the capital from now on."

Mingzhao pursed her lips and didn't say anything.

Moyaqi stood up: "Alright, you go back first. I'm going to talk to my mother. If she asks you about it later, remember to tell her what you just said, okay?"

Mingzhao nodded again, then her eyes lit up: "Father, you're back."

Yunxiang nodded and asked Moyaqi, "How is your mother?"

“I’m very angry,” Moya asked curiously. “The maids can’t handle it, so I came here.”

Yunxiang glanced inside twice, still hesitant about whether to go in: "Or maybe you..."

Before she could finish speaking, Moyaqi interrupted her: "Father, when did you find out about Mingzhao's matter?"

After a long silence, Yunxiang said, "I knew it a long time ago. Mingzhao's entry into the palace is actually a good thing, whether for her, for the Qing Dynasty, or for Prince Yi's Mansion."

He finished speaking with a headache and some confusion, "I didn't expect you to have such a strong reaction, and you didn't even want to listen to my explanation."

Moya nodded knowingly: "Father, have you ever considered that the reason I'm angry about this isn't just because of Mingzhao, but also because you kept it from her?"

Yunxiang had never thought of this before and couldn't help but wonder how likely it was.

Moyaqi added, "You have to talk to my sister about this yourself, otherwise, given my sister's personality, she will remember it for the rest of her life, and it will be difficult for you and my sister to go back to how things were before."

Yunxiang nodded, and his action of entering the door carried a sense of resignation to his fate.

As soon as he entered, he saw a mess on the floor. He recognized it at a glance as the things he had brought back. Yunxiang's heart sank. Then he saw the book in Qingwan's hand and tried to convince himself that maybe Qingwan had figured things out.

He said, "Why didn't you call someone in to clean up?"

Qingwan held the book in her hands, but couldn't concentrate on reading a single word. The pages were crumpled and wrinkled from her grip.

She took a deep breath and calmed herself down before saying, "I can't understand why the prince would send his daughter down that path, nor can I understand why he kept it from me until there was no other way out before telling me."

However…” Qingwan looked up and coldly stared at Yunxiang, “Your Highness is now His Majesty’s right-hand man, the Minister of State Affairs, and the head of the household. I am just a woman in the inner quarters who depends on Your Highness for my existence.”

Therefore, I dared not argue with the prince, but I also did not want to listen to the reasons that the prince had come up with for so long to make excuses, otherwise I was afraid I would not be able to help but argue with the prince.

"If I were to quarrel with the Prince today, His Majesty might personally issue an edict reprimanding me tomorrow. Therefore, Your Highness should go to someone else."

"Qingwan, do you have to talk like that? Why can't you just listen to my explanation?" After more than ten years of marriage, this was the first time Yunxiang had been treated like this by Qingwan, and the first time he had ever seen Qingwan speak so harshly.

"Because of your explanation, I know what you're going to say without even listening: the greater good of the nation and the grace of the emperor."

Qingwan stood up: "If Your Highness won't leave, I will." Then she called out: "Someone come here."

Yunxiang suddenly grabbed her and shouted at Muxiang and the others who entered the room, "Get out."