The Qing Palace Never Meets Spring

On the second day of the seventh lunar month, Yi'an left the Forbidden City to get married. On the third day, she was granted the title of Princess Heshuo Wenke and Cangjin was appointed as the Heshuo Efu.

At that time, Yi Huan was holding Qing Wan's hand at the horse farm. After these days of practice, Yi Huan was already able to trot on the horse.

When Emperor Kangxi received the memorial about Yi'an's marriage, he suddenly thought of another daughter who had accompanied him, so he sent someone to summon Yi Huan.

Yinlu said, "Tenth Sister should be riding horses at the racecourse with Thirteenth Sister-in-law and Fifteenth Brother right now. Tenth Sister has been studying hard lately and goes every day."

This made Yinxiang a little curious. He knew his sister was studying, but he didn't expect her to be with Qingwan, since Qingwan was always there when he went home every day.

Emperor Kangxi also became interested and said to Yinxiang and the others, "Since we have nothing to do today, let's go and see how this girl is doing in her studies."

"Yes." Since Kangxi had said so, no one else could say anything. In the end, Kangxi only took the Crown Prince, Yinxiang, Yinlu, and a few others with him.

When the group arrived, they could only watch from afar as the two horses galloped away. Although Yinwu and his guards followed at a distance, Yinxiang felt that Yinwu was still young and was somewhat worried. After speaking with Kangxi, he had someone fetch a horse and rode after them.

Halfway there, he saw the guards following behind Qingwan and her companion on horseback, and he became increasingly uneasy, whipping his horse faster and faster.

Sure enough, as they got closer, they saw Yinwu pointing at several guards on the ground, holding the horse back to prevent it from jumping off. Yi Huan on the horse was only holding onto the reins and dared not let go.

He knew something was wrong, and his anxiety intensified. In a moment of distraction, he saw Qingwan land very nimbly behind Yihuan and, with the help of the guards, steady the horse.

As he approached, Qingwan was comforting Yihuan. Yinxiang raised his whip and it landed on the nearest guard. Instantly, a group of guards around him knelt down, saying, "This servant deserves to die. Please forgive us, Thirteenth Prince."

Yi Huan tugged at Yin Xiang's sleeve: "Brother, don't be angry, I'm fine now."

Yinxiang suppressed his anger and asked, "What happened?"

Yi Huan raised her hand and shook it, saying, "I was trying to urge the horse to run faster just now, and I got a little excited. I moved a bit too much and the bracelet on my hand fell off, which startled the horse."

But I'm really okay. It was just for a very short moment, and I wasn't scared at all. Don't worry, brother. She only had one piece of jewelry on her, and yet she still had to have her bracelet fall off and her horse startled. That's really unlucky of her.

Yinxiang said somewhat anxiously, "You've really made something of yourself. You've only been learning for a few days, and you already dare to drive a horse at high speed."

Seeing that Yinxiang's brows were still furrowed, Yihuan pulled Qingwan aside and changed the subject, saying, "Brother, look at your sister-in-law. She was amazing just now. She appeared behind me as if she had fallen from the sky and helped the guards subdue the horse."

Kangxi and the others watched from afar, but could not see clearly. They only saw that the procession had stopped and the figures were moving.

Kangxi casually pointed to a guard and said, "Go and see what's going on. Has something happened to the princess?"

Yinlu said, "Father, don't worry. Thirteenth Brother has already gone. If you are still concerned, why don't you let Zichen lead some people to go and take a look?"

Kangxi nodded, and Yinlu led his men to mount their horses.

Yinxiang, still annoyed by Yihuan's attempt to change the subject, glared at her before looking at Qingwan. He was relieved to find that apart from slightly disheveled hair, her complexion and overall demeanor were unchanged.

"Is everything okay?"

Qingwan shook her head: "It's alright. The guards have almost subdued the horse. I just took a little action."

Yinxiang actually disagreed with her approach: "That was too dangerous just now. Aren't you afraid of scaring the horse again?"

Qingwan looked up at Yinxiang. She was already quite tall for a woman, only the Tenth Prince's wife, who had married from Mongolia, could compare to her, but she still had to look up at Yinxiang.

She looked at Yinxiang's face, which was full of seriousness: "I am not acting on impulse, and I am confident that with the cooperation of the guards, I can subdue the horse under the princess."

"I value the princess's safety just as much as you do, so I won't risk it. Besides, at that time, I couldn't possibly let the guards mount their horses, and I certainly couldn't let my fifteenth brother take any risks."

"you......"

"Thirteenth Brother." Before Yinxiang could finish speaking, Yinlu arrived in front of them. He quickly dismounted and said, "Thirteenth Brother, Fifteenth Brother, what's going on? We only saw you stop over there. Father was a little worried and sent us to check."

Yinxiang took a deep breath: "It's alright, it's been resolved. You and your brother take your tenth sister back and let her talk to Father Khan herself."

Yi Huan reached out and pulled Qing Wan. Caught off guard, Qing Wan ended up behind her. She heard Yi Huan say, "Don't talk loudly to my sister-in-law. This is my own fault, I'll take responsibility for it myself." She seemed determined not to leave until Yinxiang agreed.

Yinxiang sighed helplessly, "I know, I won't raise my voice at your sister-in-law. We'll follow you back, okay?"

After saying that, he didn't forget to comfort Yinwu: "Fifteenth brother, don't worry, this has nothing to do with you. Just go back in peace."

Yinwu's anxiety subsided: "It was my fault for not taking good care of Tenth Sister."

Yi Huan patted him and said, "I am the older sister, so it is my duty to take care of you. Don't worry about Father, I will talk to him myself."

Without asking for help, he mounted his horse himself.

Yinxiang felt his brow twitch again: "Looks like you really weren't scared, Sixteenth Brother, you..."

"Why call him Sixteenth Brother? He's not even as tall as me, yet you have the heart to keep ordering him around."

Yinlu, who had just turned twelve and was only beginning his growth spurt, innocently called out, "Tenth Sister..."

Yi Huan looked down at him and comforted him, "It's okay, you're still young. You'll definitely be taller than Thirteenth Brother in the future."

Yinlu said with a blank face, "Thank you for your kind words, Tenth Sister."

Yi Huan then rode away. Yin Lu and the other man turned to look at Yin Xiang, who said, "You should all go back with her."

He then called to the guards who had been kneeling: "You can all go back now, you don't need to kneel anymore."

"Thank you, Thirteenth Prince." After the group of guards thanked him, they got up and left with Yinlu.

In a short while, only Qingwan and Yinxiang remained. Qingwan then realized that the horse behind Yinxiang was the same one she had seen in the stable before, and she looked at it again and again with a hint of longing.

Yinxiang turned around, stroked the horse, and asked her, "Want to try?"

Qingwan nodded hesitantly.

"Then give it a try."

After saying that, she mounted her horse herself. Yinxiang saw that her movements were still agile, and thinking of Yihuan, he thought, "Fine, they're both bold."

He then sat up behind Qingwan, grasped her waist, and rode back on horseback.

Qingwan froze, too stiff to move, until she heard Yinxiang's deep, teasing voice: "Aren't you tired?"

Qingwan tentatively relaxed her body, but as soon as she moved, she felt a hand tighten around her waist. The thin summer clothes couldn't keep out the warmth from Yinxiang's chest coming from her back.

Seeing that the horse beneath her was moving slower and slower, she had no choice but to slowly lower her body until she was completely leaning against Yinxiang.

He further explained, "I thought the master was still angry."

"Yeah, he's still angry, but there's not much good about him except that he's reasonable."

But you don't seem like the type to be afraid of making me angry. When have you ever not argued back?

Yinxiang's words were right beside her ears. Qingwan felt that the sun was even brighter than usual today, and her face was flushed red from the heat: "I have been married to you for almost a year now. I know that you are a reasonable person, which is why I am like this."

"Your words don't make sense," Yinxiang retorted bluntly.

Taking advantage of the fact that Yinxiang couldn't see her face, Qingwan pouted and replied expressionlessly, "Whatever Your Highness says goes."

Yinxiang was amused by her shameless attitude. Having spent a lot of time with the Yi'an sisters, he had learned from them and said, "You're willing to play along with her nonsense. After all, she is a princess."

“I don’t agree with what you call nonsense, sir.” Qingwan said helplessly, but she had to say, “Being a princess is different from being a younger sister. You are still by the princess’s side. For the princess, having her brother by her side means she has someone to back her up no matter what she does. That’s why she dares to do this. So how can you say it’s nonsense? Besides, don’t you know why the Tenth Princess is like this?”

On the second day of our marriage, my father took me to meet the two princesses. I still remember that the eighth princess was lively when we first met, while the tenth princess was quiet and followed behind the eighth princess obediently.

Later I learned that the Tenth Princess was actually quite lively and playful, while the Eighth Princess had become increasingly quiet due to her marriage. Did the Prince wish for the Tenth Princess to be like that too? Although the Tenth Princess had been behaving rather obviously these past few days, did the Prince truly not know why?

After speaking, Qingwan felt somewhat uneasy, but fortunately, the expected anger did not materialize; only Yinxiang's helpless words came:

"I've managed to win you over." Yinxiang was silent for a moment before saying, "I've thought about it, how could I not? Her behavior was so obvious, how could my eighth sister and I not see it?"

"I understand what you mean, sir. But no matter how much scheming you have, when it comes to your closest relatives, you can only subconsciously use the clumsiest way to cover it up."

Yinxiang smiled and said, "You're right. When Eighth Sister was first betrothed, she was always anxious and worried, but she's not like that now."

Qingwan said gently, "You worry about her, and she naturally doesn't want you to keep thinking about her."

Yinxiang lowered his head and leaned on Qingwan's shoulder, no longer continuing the topic: "Your horsemanship is good, it doesn't seem like you just learned it."

Qingwan said with a hint of helplessness, "Your Highness must know that the princess has been learning to ride horses mainly from me lately, and only the Fifteenth Prince and the Sixteenth Prince come over occasionally."

Yinxiang genuinely didn't know; he thought the two of them had just learned it, and Qingwan and Yi'an hadn't mentioned it either: "I thought they learned it from the fifteenth brother and the others."

Qingwan sighed before saying, "I learned to ride horses from my father when I was little. Later, when my father got older, I learned from my older brother. I only stopped after my older brother passed away. I wouldn't dare say that my riding skills are top-notch, but they are decent enough."

Yinxiang then realized: "No wonder you were so confident back then."

"Yes, I meant it when I said I wouldn't risk the princess's safety, and I deliberately chose this moment."

Yinxiang knew he was being impulsive, so he shut his mouth and focused on riding his horse.

The journey wasn't far to begin with, and even if he spoke slowly, they would arrive in no time. Yinxiang spurred his horse and quickly left the horse farm. Kangxi and the others had already left, and Yinxiang didn't linger, heading straight for the imperial palace.