The Qing Palace Never Meets Spring

After Qingwan finished her postpartum confinement, she and Ningyin made an appointment to visit Jingyu, who was lying in bed taking medicine.

Qingwan entered first and said, "I was afraid you'd be bored, so I came to keep you company and talk to you."

Jingyu saw that the two of them rarely smiled: "Please sit down, you've come at the perfect time."

Why didn't you bring the Second Princess along?

"She's still asleep. She ate something, fussed for a while, and then the wet nurse lulled her to sleep," Qingwan said, which was the truth.

The three of them then tacitly avoided mentioning the child who had just died, no matter what they said next.

They waited until they saw that Jingyu looked tired before leaving together.

After returning home, Aunt Yan noticed her silence and took the initiative to ask about Jingyu: "The Princess Consort went to see the Twelfth Princess Consort; she's feeling much better."

Qingwan shook her head: "I don't know either. She looks better, but whether she's really better or just superficially better, only she knows."

"There are so many women in this palace who have lost their children, but that doesn't mean they can understand the Twelfth Princess Consort."

Moreover, since the twelfth prince's wife has not yet been separated into her own household, her every move is being observed by the twelfth prince's birth mother, and she cannot allow her to simply collapse like this.

Whether it's truly cured or not, it has to be cured. We already have no children; we can't risk the baby in my belly too.

Qingwan sighed softly. These words were unpleasant to hear, but they were the truth.

By the end of April, two events, neither major nor minor, occurred in the palace: Emperor Kangxi returned to the palace, and the Eleventh Princess passed away.

The reason it was described as neither major nor minor is twofold: firstly, Emperor Kangxi was frequently away from the capital, and secondly, the death of the Eleventh Princess, like that of her mother, did not cause much of a stir.

Emperor Kangxi had many children, and many of them died. So even though the Eleventh Princess was the youngest of Kangxi's children, she did not receive much favor from him. Her death was only addressed by Kangxi's words of respect.

Yi Huan was also a little sad and often spaced out. Qing Wan didn't know how to comfort her, so she asked her to come to the prince's residence to sit and talk.

Yinxiang had a special place in the innermost part of the courtyard where he kept his three hunting dogs. One of them was a dark brown greyhound. Because it was so affectionate, it was kept in the palace more often than Yinxiang took it out.

Today, Yi Huan was bored, so she asked the eunuch in charge of the dog to bring the greyhound to the front yard to play. She idly threw the ball out and let the dog fetch it. Whether she was having fun or not, no one knew, but everyone could see that the eldest prince, who was watching from the side, was very happy.

Yi Huan simply asked someone to bring a blanket and spread it on the ground, then put the eldest prince on the blanket, and threw a clean ball to the eldest prince in an attempt to get him to pick it up, but a five-month-old baby, no matter how well cared for, can only barely sit up, let alone crawl.

He could only lie on the blanket, barely managing to throw the ball that Yi Huan threw to him. The eldest princess squatted to the side, shaking her head as she watched their boring game.

Inside, Qingwan was sewing a bellyband for Moyaqi. When Muxiang mentioned it, she only opened the window and glanced out, then laughed and said, "Let them be. Have someone keep a close eye on the two children and that dog. No matter how smart and docile it is, it's still an animal. Don't let it go crazy."

"Don't worry, Madam. The princess has already given instructions. The little eunuch is holding the dog by the leash and won't let go. But the eldest prince," Chenxiang said in a low voice, "it seems like the princess wants to use him like a dog to fetch a ball. It's just that the eldest prince is too small to climb out."

Qingwan could only smile helplessly at this.

As soon as Yinxiang entered the room, he saw Yihuan throwing a ball at the First Prince. The First Prince was lying on the cushion, his limbs flailing as if they weren't his own, and the tail of his greyhound next to him was also wagging as if it weren't its own.

He pressed his temples, feeling that Yi Huan's way of teasing the child was beyond common sense, so he stepped forward, grabbed the eldest prince's clothes from his back, and lifted him up.

The eldest prince bounced around even more happily after being lifted up, and the greyhound next to him was also very happy to see its owner, circling around him.

With a dark expression, he handed the child to the wet nurse and said to Yi Huan irritably, "That's my son, not your toy."

Yi Huan pouted: "I see your son is having a lot of fun, he's drooling all over himself, and your daughter is having a great time watching too."

Sure enough, Mingxin seemed to want more.

Yinxiang glared at her: "You're really getting worse as you get older. You can play with a four-year-old and a five-month-old."

Yi Huan stood up from her chair: "I'm happy to go back. Don't nag me."

Yinxiang had the two children taken back before returning to the main house.

Moyaqi's cradle was in front of Qingwan. Qingwan reached out and touched the wind chimes on the cradle. The wind chimes made a pleasant sound. Yinxiang could not see Moyaqi's face, but he guessed from Qingwan's actions that Moyaqi should be smiling.

Qingwan looked up and saw Yinxiang standing by the door. She smiled and said, "Your Highness is back."

The scene was somewhat reminiscent of the day Yinxiang returned from beyond the Great Wall. Yinxiang probably thought of it too, and suddenly laughed, "Now that I'm coming in, my wife shouldn't be able to smell anything else, right? I rode back on horseback."

Qingwan couldn't help but laugh. She walked to Yinxiang's side, put her arm around his shoulder, stood on tiptoe, and tilted her head to his neck.

Yinxiang could even feel her warm breath. He raised his hand and grasped Qingwan's waist, pulling her closer to him: "You'd better be careful."

The atmosphere was so romantic that it seemed like something was about to happen, until Moyaqi reached out and plucked the wind chimes, making a sound, and only then did Yinxiang release Qingwan.

Qingwan pulled his sleeve toward the cradle: "Grandpa, take a look at our Moyaqi. She's a month old now and looks much better than when she was born. But Aunt Yan said that babies at this age don't recognize people yet."

Yinxiang walked with her to Moyaqi's side, bent down to look at the child, and wondered why she said he looked like her. Yinxiang thought to himself, she clearly looked more like the child.

What a cheerful child! He watched her for a while, and she kept laughing. He reached out and gently touched Moyaqi's face, but Moyaqi tilted her head and opened her mouth. He didn't know what Moyaqi wanted to do, but he quickly pulled his hand back.

Then he saw Qingwan's puzzled look and explained, "I just came back from outside, I'm covered in dust, including my hands. She opened her mouth, and I was scared..."

Qingwan also went to see Moyaqi and noticed that her mouth was opening and closing. She said, "She's probably hungry. I'll call the wet nurse to hold her, otherwise she'll start crying. I don't know who she took after. She's impatient. If you're a little slow, she'll cry. She has a terrible temper."

After the wet nurse took the child away, Yinxiang said, "How can you say he looks like me? I think he looks more like you."

Qingwan didn't call anyone. She opened the wardrobe herself, found a set of clean, casual clothes, and said to Yinxiang, "Your eyes are like yours, beautiful phoenix eyes. But Aunt Yan said that children can't really tell much. Maybe you look like me now, but you'll look like yours later."

She handed the clothes to Yinxiang: "I made these while you were away, but they've been starched, so the fabric is softer and more comfortable to wear casually. Please go wash up first, and then try them on, okay?"

Yinxiang, holding the clothes, hadn't even had a chance to speak when Qingwan pushed him towards the clean room.