The Qing Palace Never Meets Spring

Although she had stayed up most of the night before, Qingwan still woke up early the next morning. She lay in bed for a while, then got up.

As soon as she made a sound, Muxiang lifted the curtain: "You're awake, Madam? Why don't you sleep a little longer?"

"Since you're awake, get up," Qingwan said.

When it was time to eat, Songhua came in and said, "Madam, Lord Gada from the Imperial Household Department has arrived."

Qingwan put down her chopsticks: "Let him in."

After Gada entered, he explained his purpose: to deliver a reward. This was customary; everyone who had a son received a reward, only the gender differed.

Qingwan glanced at them twice and said, "Songhua, take them to the concubine."

Let's see how the eldest prince is doing.

"Yes, slave, go right away."

After the others left, Qingwan continued her meal. Once she finished, she instructed, "Prepare paper and pen."

"Is the Princess Consort writing a letter to the Master?"

"Well, although someone will tell him, I can't just ignore it. I'll write a letter."

As Chenxiang tidied his desk, he said, "This should be the first time that the Princess Consort has written a letter to the Master."

Qingwan kept writing her letter in silence, unaware that Yihuan had entered the room.

"What is your sister-in-law writing?"

Qingwan looked up and smiled when she heard her voice: "Write a letter to your brother and tell him about the eldest prince. It's almost finished. Please sit down."

Yi Huan did not sit down, but carefully examined the red agate pomegranate that Emperor Kangxi had bestowed upon her in front of the treasure pavilion: "This must be the one that Father Emperor bestowed upon me."

"Hmm." Qingwan turned her head to look.

Yi Huan pouted, picked it up and looked at it: "Damn it, really."

Qingwan didn't speak until she finished writing, then put down her pen and asked, "Why aren't you sitting down?"

Yi Huan said "Oh" and sat down with her: "I only heard this morning that Lady Guarjia gave birth to a prince."

"Yes, labor started yesterday evening, and the eldest prince was born at midnight. It was too late, so we didn't disturb anyone else."

"Is the child good-looking? Does he look like his older brother?"

“This…” Qingwan thought for a moment, “I forgot, and I didn’t look closely yesterday, but it probably wasn’t good-looking. I remember that my older brother’s children weren’t good-looking when they were born.”

Qingwan was the daughter of Marhan when he was over fifty years old. She was much older than his eldest son Dingzhu, so Qingwan was already old enough to understand things when Dingzhu's other children were born.

"Would you like to see the child?"

Yi Huan thought for a moment and said, "I'll go to his room to see him. It's too cold to bring the child over. Are you coming?"

“Go ahead, even if you don’t come today, I will go to see you later.”

"Mm." Yi Huan nodded with a smile. While they were tidying up, Qing Wan got up, packed up the letter, and handed it to Chen Xiang: "Give it to them to send out."

The two then went out together. The child was still in Fuling's room, so they went straight to her room.

After entering, Qingwan went to see Fuling first. Fuling was wearing a headband and looked rather unwell.

As soon as Qingwan entered the room, she said, "Keep lying down, you feel much better."

"Yes, thank you, Madam. I was so scared yesterday."

"You're welcome. It's always better to raise your own child yourself."

"Take good care of yourself. I'm going to see the eldest prince. I've already written to the master about the eldest prince's situation."

Yi Huan looked at the eldest prince as soon as she entered the room. When Qing Wan went over, she saw Yi Huan and Ming Xin looking at the eldest prince from either side of the cradle.

Mingxin reached out and poked the eldest prince's face: "He's so small."

Yi Huan removed her hand: "Don't poke me."

"Why? I've been here for a long time, and he's been sleeping the whole time. The wet nurse won't let me sleep like this."

Upon hearing this, the wet nurse felt a cold sweat break out all over her body. She didn't let Mingxin sleep because she was worried that if she slept too much during the day, she wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Fortunately, Yi Huan knew that these were just children's innocent remarks, so she didn't ask any further questions.

But she rarely interacted with such young children, and after thinking for a moment about how to say it, she said, "They will wake up, and they will cry when they wake up."

Qingwan walked over and stood behind Mingxin, patting her head: "Your little brother is still young, he needs to sleep more. You slept a lot when you were little too."

Mingxin nodded as if she understood, but Qingwan naturally heard what she said. She and Yinxiang could not allow the wet nurse to mistreat the child in their own courtyard.

Yi Huan looked at the eldest prince for a long time before saying, "Although he is still wrinkled, he looks more like her than her brother."

When they grow up, Mingxin and I should be able to tell at a glance that they are siblings.

"Oh, by the way, I brought something for the eldest prince; please have the wet nurse keep it."

After speaking, a palace maid handed over the things she had prepared for the eldest prince. Yi Huan teased Ming Xin for a while longer before preparing to leave.

"Sister-in-law, I'm going back now. I wouldn't want to go out if it weren't for the birth of my child."

As for the eldest prince's third-day celebration and full-month celebration, there are precedents set by the twelfth brother and his family, so sister-in-law, don't trouble yourself."

"Okay, I understand. You should go back now."

Yinxiang, who was far away by Kangxi's side, received Qingwan's letter almost ten days later because it was winter.

At this time, he and Kangxi were at the Zunhua Hot Spring Palace. Earlier, Kangxi had offered wine before the spirits of several empresses, including Empress Renxiao, and the crown prince was very depressed.

After comforting him, Yinxiang couldn't help but think of Consort Min and became somewhat depressed.

When Zhang Rui brought Qingwan's letter to Yinxiang, he noticed that Yinxiang was in a bad mood. He proudly took the letter out of his pocket, as this was the first time his wife had ever written to Yinxiang.

"My lord, a letter has arrived from the Fujin (princess's wife). It just arrived, and I brought it to you immediately upon receiving it."

After he finished speaking, he felt that Yinxiang seemed to be in a better mood, so he quickly handed the letter closer.

Yinxiang opened it unhurriedly, and what caught his eye was the elegant and graceful handwriting. This handwriting was indeed worthy of the calluses on her hands.

After reading it once, he asked Zhang Rui, "Just this one letter?"

"Yes, just this one letter." Zhang Rui didn't know what was written in the letter, but he felt that Yinxiang's mood didn't seem so good.

"Is there anything else?"

"There are also some winter clothes. Do you have any instructions, Master or Madam?"

Yinxiang took the letter and read it carefully again. Apart from the initial few words of greeting, the rest was all about Fuling, the eldest prince, and the day the eldest prince was born.

Helpless, Yinxiang put the letter in his bosom, sat down at the table, and without calling anyone, ground the ink and picked up his brush.