Chapter 23: Yun'er's Probe

  After traversing for seven whole years, today, Qing Sang finally thoroughly understood this mysterious imperial family of the Xuanyuan dynasty.

  The current emperor has gone through three generations of emperors. The current emperor's children are not many, with a total of eight sons, but only five sons are still alive. Among them, the eldest son is the son of the empress, who died at the age of three; the second son is the son of Li De Fei, who died before he was one month old. Later, Li De Fei gave birth to another son, the fifth son Tang Hao, who is now the crown prince. After Li De Fei's death, she was raised by the empress. In between, there are also Shen Fang Yi's third son Tang Rong, Chen Xian Fei's fourth son, but the fourth son died at the age of one. Later, Chen Xian Fei gave birth to the seventh son Tang Xun. The sixth son Tang Ping is the son of Lin Cai Ren, who is 18 years old; the eighth son Tang Kan is the son of Qian Fang Yi, who is only five years old. In addition to the five sons, the emperor also has three princesses: the eldest princess Bao Yan is the daughter of the empress, titled as Jia Ren Princess, and married to He Yan, the commander of the Thousand Cow Guard; the second princess is the daughter of Xia Shu Fei, named Bao Yu, titled as Jia De Princess, and married to Tang Feng, the son of Xi Guo; the third princess is the daughter of Chen Xian Fei, named Bao Ying, who is seven years old and a close sibling with Tang Xun. Currently, there is also Snow Fang Yi's unborn child, whose sex is unknown.

  The fifth prince, Tong Hao, was made the crown prince for two reasons. Firstly, he was raised by the empress herself and secondly, because the first, second and fourth princes had died young, while his only older brother, the third prince, Tong Rong, was somewhat dull-witted and far less intelligent than his younger brothers. Therefore, the emperor made the fifth prince the crown prince and the third prince the Duke of Rong, residing in Xinzhou, not far from the capital city.

  The sixth and eighth princes have not yet been enfeoffed, while the seventh prince was once enfeoffed as Prince Qing but later had his title revoked.

  Every time he mentions the Seventh Prince, Fu Jiayearn always takes a glance at Qing Sang, afraid of hurting her heart.

  But seeing Qing Sang's expression was still calm, he continued to speak with ease.

  The three princes and the six princes have all been married, with a formal wife. The crown prince only has two concubines, both of whom were originally palace maids serving the crown prince. Until now, he has not yet taken a formal wife, nor even a secondary wife. This is mainly because the crown prince's wife will be the future empress, and the current emperor and empress are being cautious and have not yet selected someone they like. The seventh prince had a concubine, but she contracted an acute illness and died half a year after entering the palace. Until now, the seventh prince has also not taken a wife.

  The current emperor has only one younger brother, who is the King of Xi. The king has his own independent army and Xi is his fiefdom. He has two sons and one daughter: the eldest son is Tang Feng, who married Princess Jia De; the second son is Tang Yan and the eldest daughter is Huan Yue, both of whom are not yet married.

  It took Qing Sang a good while to basically understand the imperial family.

  After nightfall, Xue Pan replaced Qing Sang to take care of the medicine. At noon, the family invited a doctor to examine him, and there was no major problem, only that the wound was quite deep and might leave a scar.

  After taking the medicine, Qing Sang felt tired and went to bed early.

  Suddenly, I felt the bed curtains fluttering, and a figure flashed in. Just as I was about to cry out in alarm, my mouth was covered by the newcomer.

  "It's me!" Hearing that familiar voice, Qing Sang knew it was Tang Yun

  Tang Xuan knew she had already heard his voice, put down her hands and sat on the edge of the bed.

  "Your Highness..." Qingsang whispered

  In the darkness, unable to see each other's faces, this instead made Qing An afraid to see Tong Xuan's injured expression and desperate gaze, also afraid that she couldn't control her own heart.

  Tang Xuan said solemnly: "Sang Er, during the few days I was away, what exactly happened that made you make such a decision because of pressure at home?"

  "No... Your Highness, I'm willing," said Seika

  "Voluntarily? Because of the emperor's position?" Tong Xun heard Qing Sang no longer calling him by name, his heart felt a chill, yet he was even more unwilling to believe that in just these few days, Qing Sang had changed her mind.

  "Marrying into the prince's household is my best destination" Qing Sang had no choice but to let him give up

  "If it's because of the Emperor and Empress, I'll go ask for their current decree. There is still room for change." Tong Xun grabbed Qing Sang's shoulder and said urgently. In the darkness, he could vaguely see Qing Sang's face, but couldn't tell what she was thinking.

  "No!" Qing Sang's heart was slightly moved, but her rationality told her that from the moment she had personally promised to marry the prince, everything could no longer be reversed.

  Tong Xun's hand on her shoulder tightened, making Qing Sang feel a sharp pain, and also letting her know the pain in Tong Xun's heart at this moment.

  "Do you know, with your status, marrying the crown prince would at most make you a concubine. I defied the imperial edict and refused to marry, all so that I could give you the status of my official wife. Besides you, no one else could possibly become my wife. Why, why did you choose the crown prince?" Tong Xun was somewhat angry and also a bit out of control. Before Qing Sang could respond, suddenly Tong Xun's lips covered hers, taking advantage of Qing Sang's momentary daze. His cold tongue slipped into her mouth, greedily devouring her breath, forcefully exploring every corner.

  Qingsha had been kissed before, but at this moment she was a bit dazed. This stubborn kiss made her a little breathless.

  Tong Xuan exerted force and sucked on her red lips, wantonly exploring inside her mouth.

  Tang Yun's breath made Qing Sang feel dizzy, and suddenly she pushed Tang Yun away with all her might, throwing off the quilt and jumping down from the bed, kneeling on the cold ground, saying painfully: "Your Highness, please restrain yourself"

  Tang Xun stood up and looked down at Qing Sang, who was kneeling on the ground, and said coldly: "Have you really made up your mind?"

  "Ah," Qing Shesheng responded.

  Tang Hu's hands were clenched into fists, his face was ashen, and his heart was already riddled with holes.

  The room was pitch black, and Qing Sang couldn't see Tang Yun's expression at this time.

  After a long time, without hearing any sound, Qing Juan slowly lifted her head from the ground, but still didn't see Tong Hua's figure.

  Qing Sang thought it was dark and his eyes were blurred, so he got up and walked a few steps, calling out softly, but didn't see Tong Xuan.

  A cold breeze blew, and Qing Sang couldn't help but shiver.

  One window was open, and it seemed that Tong Huan had left through the window just like last time.

  Qingsang closed the window in the past, she knew that her fate with Tonghuan had come to an end.

  He collapsed onto the bed, closed his eyes, and two lines of clear tears flowed down his cheeks, wetting the pillow.

  The next day, snowflakes floated in the sky. It was just after Chen time when the gatekeeper Xiao Si led Ge Yun'er into the courtyard.

  The charcoal fire in the Qing Sang room is burning vigorously, and for the sake of calming his mind, Qing Sheng is practicing calligraphy there.

  Suddenly saw Ge Yun'er coming through the snow to find her, and was very surprised.

  She and Ge Yun'er have also played together a few times in the past two years, but her feelings are not as good as those with Zi Yu.

  Today, snow suddenly fell at the mansion, Qing Sang thought it must be related to Seventh Prince Tong Yin.

  As expected, after exchanging a few casual words, Ge Yun'er said with a sorrowful tone: "Sister is carefree and practicing calligraphy in the mansion, but has no idea how I've been suffering these days. The news of Seventh Prince's refusal to marry due to having someone in his heart has spread throughout the capital, leaving me with no face left. I heard that Seventh Prince refused the Emperor's arranged marriage because he had someone in his heart, does sister know who that person is?"

  Qing Sang glanced at her and knew that she was asking this question because she already knew it was him, otherwise she wouldn't have come to find him to complain.

  Qing Sang's face didn't change color, she smiled slightly and said: "Sister is joking, little sister has been living in the inner chambers for a long time, how would you know who is the person in Seventh Prince's heart?"

  "Really? Sister is also here to tell her younger sister about the distress in her heart. Actually, I'm not that petty person. If Seventh Prince likes her, he can take her back and marry her. I will treat her as my own sister, without any distinction."

  Qing Sang heard this and felt that Ge Yun'er was also a simple woman, she was only three months older than this body, but already had such a heart.

  Qing Sang put down the wolf hair in her hand and smiled lightly: "Sister is really good-tempered, Seventh Prince marrying sister is truly a blessing"

  Ge Yun'er stared at Qing Sang's pale face, unable to see through her thoughts. She wiped away tears with a handkerchief and pretended to cry, saying: "I'm afraid I don't have that good fortune. The Seventh Prince rejected the marriage proposal, and it will be hard for me to marry into a good family in the future."

  "Sister, don't worry, maybe the Seventh Prince will change his mind later. Besides, His Majesty has not agreed to the prince's refusal of marriage, so sister is still recognized as a daughter-in-law by the imperial family." Qing Shang said with a smile.

  "Sister Anwei comforted her, saying that it's just that the Seventh Prince has no regard for me in his heart, but the days are still long. If I were to marry him, I'm afraid he wouldn't be pleased either." Ge Yun'er sighed.

  Qing Sang knew that this sentence was truly heartfelt, and couldn't help but feel sad for the women of this era. Their joys and sorrows seemed to be placed in the hands of men, never having a self of their own.

  Now, Qing Sang feels that he is also gradually becoming like this.

  "Sister, you don't need to worry. If the Seventh Prince sees you, he will surely take a liking to you. When that happens, you'll receive his favor and your days will be spent in happiness." Qing Sang comforted her once again.

  Ge Yun'er's older brother was a qian niu wei in the palace. On that day, when they were seeing off at the North Gate, he happened to be on duty and witnessed the scene of Qiandi holding Qing Shangma's carriage. Only then did he realize why Qiandi refused to obey the imperial edict and marry his sister Yun'er. It seemed that he had taken a liking to this girl in his arms. After making some discreet inquiries, he found out that she was the third young lady of the Pu family, Pu Qing Sang.

  He remembered that his sister also had dealings with this person and recalled that she used to come to the mansion to play "Leaf Games" together.

  Then she told her sister about it.

  Ge Yun'er was so angry that she didn't sleep all night. Early in the morning, she packed up her emotions, dressed herself up and braved the snow to arrive at the Pu manor.

  Who would have thought that Qing Sang was so calm and collected, pretending to be a person who didn't care, but she couldn't bear to break the silence, tearing her face off in front of everyone wouldn't do anyone any good.

  After a few tentative remarks, Qing Sang didn't respond directly either, so he had no choice but to reluctantly drink a few sips of tea with Qing Sang, exchange a few pleasantries, and then hastily get up and bid farewell.

  The snow outside grew heavier and heavier, and soon the courtyard was a vast expanse of white.

  In the following days, it was peaceful and dull. In the 26th year of Hongjing, Pu Jinye was promoted to Shangshu Ling, a second-grade official.

  After entering spring, the crown prince also asked his mother, and was able to give him a marriage with Qing.

  It's just that for some reason, the Empress reported this matter to the Emperor, and the Emperor actually said: "Don't rush, we'll discuss it later."

  This made Qing Tuo, who was actually thirty-eight years old but looked like a sixteen-year-old girl, wonder if the Emperor was thinking of her again.

  Qing Sang da xin li xiao zhe shi ta zi zuo duo qing.

  Translation:

  It's just Qing Sang being overly sentimental.