The Qing Palace Never Meets Spring

Yinxiang gritted his teeth again, and just as he tilted his head, Qingwan covered his ear and said, "Don't bite."

The two sat down side by side. Qingwan leaned against Yinxiang's back, looking tired. Yinxiang didn't move. After a long while, he said, "Why did you have to go to Father Khan's side?"

Qingwan smiled bitterly and remained silent. After asking the question, Yinxiang realized that his question was somewhat ridiculous. Anyone else could choose not to go, but Qingwan could not. At this time, no one would praise Qingwan for being prudent and protecting herself.

So he let out a long sigh: "You're quite honest."

"If I don't go, will Master treat me with hostility?"

Yinxiang did not answer immediately. After considering it seriously for a long time, he said, "I don't know. I have no way to give a definite answer to something that has not happened."

Yinxiang found it somewhat difficult to answer this question.

"After what happened today, will I be different in your heart?" Qingwan continued to ask.

Yinxiang turned around and slowly traced Qingwan's face with his eyes.

Yinxiang's pupils were a very light brown, but now, Qingwan felt as if a bottomless abyss was slowly swallowing her up.

She knew she couldn't let herself get carried away, and she did just that. She raised her hand to try to block Yinxiang's gaze, but Yinxiang grabbed her hand and said, "You've been different since the day you became my wife."

This sentence perfectly matched Qingwan's understanding. She lowered her head and chuckled: "Before we got married, my father said that Master was good at understanding people's hearts, so in the past two years, although I had some little thoughts in front of Master, I never thought of hiding them from him."

The same applies today. I could easily say that I begged to come here to please the master, but what happened today wasn't a secret, so I might as well tell the truth. After all, one lie requires countless lies to cover it up, which is too tiring.

As for why we had to go to the Emperor's presence, we were imprisoned by the Emperor after the incident with our grandfather, and we didn't even know what had happened.

I don't know how many people in the court spoke up for me and pleaded for me, but in this harem, it's just the Tenth Princess and me.

Especially me, if anyone really had to ask why, no one would be more suitable than me.

"I didn't mean to blame you, I was just saying." Yinxiang brushed aside her loose hair, wondering what she had been through that day. Her usually neatly combed hair was now disheveled.

He slowly traced the dark circles under Qingwan's eyes with his fingers, and suddenly said "I'm sorry." Qingwan was stunned for a moment, then just shook her head and didn't say anything. She didn't want to say that this had nothing to do with Yinxiang, nor did she want to say that it was unrelated.

Yinxiang then said, "Do you want to rest first? We can talk about things outside after you wake up. Someone will bring you food later, and I'll call you then."

"Okay." Although Qingwan said okay, her eyes never left Yinxiang's face.

In fact, Yinxiang's appearance wasn't much better. His eyes were bloodshot and there were dark circles under them. He hadn't been sleeping well these past few days, and even his lips were covered in bruises.

Yinxiang touched his chin, which felt a little prickly, and said with a wry smile, "I really don't have the energy to take care of it. Let's talk about it tomorrow." After saying that, he reached out and took off the jewelry from Qingwan's hair one by one.

After Qingwan fell asleep, Yinxiang stared blankly at Qingwan's profile, feeling utterly bored.

These days, apart from the palace maids and eunuchs who deliver things at regular intervals, he is all alone. No one talks to him, and when he tries to ask someone to bring in some books, no one responds.

He would sit by the window or under the eaves all day long, although these days were much better than when he was first locked in a dark room where there was no sunlight.

That room had only one small window through which food was brought in, besides the locked door. Looking back now, I don't know how I survived it; I thought I was going to live like that for the rest of my life.

Qingwan has always been honest with him despite her hidden thoughts, and this time was no exception. She thought it was out of deep affection, but she didn't expect that he didn't say a single word of falsehood. When he heard Qingwan's truth, he thought it was only natural.

Moreover, regardless of Qingwan's thoughts, by pleading with Kangxi, she could at least give an explanation to both herself and others, no matter the outcome.

He had been thinking too much, and he realized that he could actually understand Qingwan's predicament. He shook his head to clear his mind of the thoughts, and simply closed his eyes and lay down next to Qingwan to sleep.

When Qingwan woke up, it was already pitch black outside. Inside, candles were lit, and Yinxiang lay beside her with his eyes open, seemingly lost in thought.

Qingwan was still a little confused about her new location. She stood up and stood there for a while before saying, "Didn't I sleep for very long?"

Yinxiang did not get up, but remained lying flat, and said, "It's alright, it will be dawn in a little while."

"Dawn?" Qingwan covered her face. "I actually slept for so long, and Master didn't wake me up. Could he still not wake me?" Qingwan's words were filled with disbelief as she said the last sentence.

Yinxiang pulled her along: "It's neither too early nor too late, there's no point in getting up now. Lie down for a while longer, and we can talk."

Qingwan gave a blank "oh" and lay down again.

Yinxiang then said, "Seeing that you were sleeping soundly, I didn't wake you. Later, I also fell asleep myself." Not only did Qingwan sleep soundly, but he himself also had a rare good night's sleep.

As Qingwan listened to him speak, she felt uncomfortable lying in bed and kept moving around. She thought to herself that she had really gotten used to a good life. She was uncomfortable with this slightly firm bed. She hadn't noticed it before, but now that she had come to her senses, it was different.

"What are you doing? You only just realized you're not sleeping well, but it's too late, you can't get out now."

Qingwan sighed, somewhat helplessly, thinking that given Yinxiang's treatment here, she would have someone make up his bed tomorrow.

Hearing her sigh, Yinxiang reached out and, with a gentle touch, Qingwan reached out to him.

Qingwan obediently lay on top of him and said in a muffled voice, "Thirteenth Master, your bed is really hard, it's not comfortable at all."

As Yinxiang pulled the blanket up, he said, "You're not in bed, you're on the Thirteenth Prince."

"The Thirteenth Prince is also quite tough." Qingwan said with a forced smile.

Upon hearing her words, Yinxiang slowly lowered his hand from Qingwan's waist and then slapped her.

Qingwan's face changed several times, finally turning bright red. She gritted her teeth, tore open Yinxiang's inner garment, and bit down on his chest.

Yinxiang took a deep breath, his tense body slowly relaxing. Qingwan sensed the change in him and even gritted her teeth: "It really is hard."

How could he not be hard? Yinxiang knew his body well; his muscles were rock hard. All those years of horseback riding and archery training hadn't been for nothing.

Although it didn't hurt much, Yinxiang still pinched Qingwan's waist again after he had recovered before saying, "Are you a dog?"

Qingwan leaned back down, the sound of Yinxiang's heartbeat still ringing in her ears: "What's my zodiac sign? Doesn't Your Highness know?"

Yinxiang rolled over and pinned her beneath him, whispering in her ear, "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten. But in terms of age alone, I should still call you 'Fujin'."

"elder sister."