The Qing Palace Never Meets Spring

The next day, when Qingwan woke up, Li Jia was by her side. The baby's cradle had been moved into the bedroom, and Li Jia was playing with the baby using a rattle.

Although she was exhausted, she didn't sleep well all night, constantly feeling that the baby was crying. But she knew in her heart that the baby was with the wet nurse, so she felt even more tired after sleeping all night.

Although Li Jia was playing with the child, she didn't forget to keep an eye on Qingwan for a moment, so as soon as Qingwan woke up, she bent down and picked up the child.

Mu Xiang helped Qing Wan slowly get up. When Li Jia saw Qing Wan get up and stare at the child, she smiled and said, "Does it still hurt? Do you want to hold the baby? She's very well-behaved after nursing."

Qingwan nodded quickly, not even caring whether she felt uncomfortable. Under Li Jia's guidance, she slowly took the child into her arms.

"So soft." It's like it has no bones. It's a different feeling from holding my nephews at home, and they wouldn't let me hold them when they were first born.

"It's a bit different from yesterday; it looks better than yesterday."

Li Jia smiled slightly as she listened to her childish words: "She will change every day from now on."

Upon hearing this, Yi Huan stepped through the door and said before Li Jia could even bow, "Madam, there's no need for such formalities."

As she spoke, she sat down on the edge of the bed to look at the child, and Qingwan turned slightly to the side so that she could see the child more clearly.

Yi Huan said, "Yesterday, the Crown Princess and Fourth Sister-in-law said he looks like my brother, especially his eyes. I didn't see it."

"Actually, I didn't notice it today either." Yi Huan paused, then continued softly, "But the baby looked so good. I wish my sister were here too; she's been really looking forward to this baby."

Yi Huan hadn't expected the people in the room to agree with her, so she quickly continued, "I'm writing to my brother. Does my sister-in-law have anything to say to him?"

Qingwan looked at the child. She had something she had been thinking about for a long time, and now she was eager to share it with Yinxiang, so she said:

“Tell your brother that I want to give the child a nickname, Moyaqi, so that she can grow up well.”

“Moyaqi, longevity herb,” Yihuan murmured, “What a nice name, I’ll tell my brother.”

Then she saw Li Jia smiling at Qingwan, who was holding the child. She suddenly became a little stunned, not knowing why.

He unconsciously took two steps back before saying, "I'll go back first; I need to get them to send the letter out as soon as possible."

Yi Huan ran out and returned to her residence with her head down. After sitting down at her desk, she picked up her pen to continue writing to Yinxiang, but before she could put pen to paper, she fell into a daze again.

He only came to his senses when the ink from his pen dripped onto the paper and seeped through it, and said, "When I was just born, did you hold me like this, with eyes full of love?"

These words seemed to be directed at Xunmei, but also at herself: "But I was taken to Consort Rong's side when I was only a month old. Consort Rong probably wouldn't see me that way."

Even Aunt Lianyan cried when she saw me again, so I guess I will too. When I was little, I used to resent her for not visiting me often.

If only Consort Rong could have been like Consort Yi back then, allowing me to see her often.

Yi Huan's crying wasn't loud shouting; tears just kept falling. The last time was when she left Princess Wen Ke's residence, and the time before that was when Consort Min left.

She hastily wiped her face, raising her hand to stop Xunmei from speaking. She changed the paper and rewrote the letter, then, after thinking it over, included the Crown Princess's comment from yesterday that he seemed more like Yinxiang in the letter.

After she finished writing and let it dry, she put it in an envelope and gave it to Xunmei to deliver. Only then did she feel relieved and sat there in a daze.

Everyone knows that when the wife is in confinement, the princes are quiet and peaceful, and the gentle and refined wife is even more so.

Now, only Qingwan and Li Jiashi are in the room, and Muxiang is waiting for instructions outside. Everyone else is sitting outside, either in the corridor or on the steps.

Seeing this, Chenxiang went to the pharmacy to get medicine. Yesterday, she saw that Aunt Yan's handprint was very deep. People of Qingwan's status all have the habit of growing nails, but the length varies.

When she arrived at the pharmacy, she thought for a moment and asked for some scar-removing medicine as well.

When she got back, Aunt Yan was resting. She had stayed up all night watching over the two young maids because she was worried about them. Today, with Li Jiashi around, she was resting in her room.

Although Chenxiang opened the door very gently, it still startled Aunt Yan. She was a little flustered when she got up, but she slowly relaxed her stiff body after seeing Chenxiang: "You're back."

Chenxiang was so focused on being quiet that she didn't notice anything amiss with Aunt Yan. When she realized she had woken her up, she blushed and said, "Aunt Yan, did I wake you up? I saw you had an injury on your hand, so I went to get some medicine."

After Aunt Yan sat down, she said, "It's just a few marks, it will be fine in a few days."

Chenxiang smiled and walked to her side: "Since you've already brought it, let me apply the medicine for you."

Chenxiang acted quickly, and Aunt Yan didn't even have time to refuse. When the medicine was applied, Aunt Yan was in pain and twitched. Chenxiang was in a dilemma.

She wasn't using much force, so why did it hurt so much? She had to be even gentler, and in just that short time, both of them were sweating a lot.

After applying the medicine, Chenxiang said while tidying up, "If you're so afraid of pain, why didn't you say so? You didn't even utter a sound."

Aunt Yan simply said, "What pain is this? The most painful time for a woman in her life is probably childbirth. Compared to the Fujin, what pain I'm experiencing is nothing."

You'll understand when you get married and have children.

"I'm not getting married," Chenxiang replied in a muffled voice, then added, "That's not how it works. When I was punished before, I kept it to myself because Sister Muxiang was older than me and was punished more severely, so I didn't dare to cry out in pain."

Later, when the Fujin (wife of the emperor) learned that we had been punished, she applied medicine to our wounds and told me that the pain was on my own body, and that just because others were in more pain than me, my own wounds were not important.

If you don't even care about yourself, how can you expect others to care for you?

She placed the medicine next to Aunt Yan: "Aunt Yan, I've put the medicine here. If I don't come back, you can come again later. And this," she took out another bottle of medicine, "this medicine is for removing scars, you can use it anywhere. I took quite a lot. If you run out, just tell me and I'll go get more."

After saying that, she didn't look at Aunt Yan anymore and ran out on her own, moving so fast it was as if someone was chasing her.

Aunt Yan has a scar on her back that looks like a burn. Chen Xiang noticed it on the first day she moved in, but it was also because Aunt Yan herself didn't hide it.

When she went to pick up the medicine today, she felt like she had inexplicably chosen the scar removal medicine.

Aunt Yan watched her run out in a panic, then slowly smiled after rubbing the medicine in her hand.