By the eighth day of the new year, Lanqin finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had visited all the places she needed to go and could finally relax for a while. It must be said, being a steward was no easy task. Preparing the New Year's gifts alone kept Lanqin busy for quite some time. During the New Year, she had to go to the palace to pay New Year's respects to the Emperor, Empress Dowager, and the ladies of the various palaces. After returning to her own residence, she still had to visit her brothers and sisters-in-law to exchange New Year's greetings, and also receive the court officials and their wives who came to pay New Year's respects to the Fourth Prince.

On this day, a large group of court officials and their wives and daughters arrived at the Fourth Prince's residence. They were all on good terms with the Fourth Prince and had come to pay their respects to him as if it were pre-arranged. Among them were: Andala Baili, the Commander of the Imperial Guards, and his wife, son, and daughter; Chen Daming, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and his wife, son, and daughter; Fan Weipeng, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and his wife and son; Gao Mingchang, the Junior Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and his wife; Wang Xuanyi, the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and his wife and daughter; Fucha Qizheng, the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guards, and his wife and daughter; Dai Peng, the Deputy Commander of the Vanguard, and his wife and daughter; Zhao Jiama Hui, the Deputy Commander of the Cavalry, and his wife and daughter; Zhang Yibei, the Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy; and Zhang Tianda, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy.

Fourth Master summoned Da Chun and Cui Da and Cui Er to help, along with his advisors, to accompany the guests. The male guests drank, chatted, and listened to music in the front courtyard; the female guests were preoccupied with Lan Qin's affairs. The south courtyard was small, so it couldn't accommodate so many court ladies and their accompanying young ladies. The young master naturally followed the male guests to the front courtyard.

Lanqin then had a stage set up in the plum grove in the courtyard and invited a theatrical troupe. Tables and chairs were also brought in, and the flower shop immediately sent in potted early spring flowers to decorate the stage. The head nanny assigned twenty servants to help, including errand boys and maids for serving tea and water. Lanqin entrusted all these people to Cui Niang for her to manage and arrange. Her own maids, Nianxue, Xicha, Sihua, and Shuiling, could not be assigned to menial tasks. As the concubine of the Fourth Prince, the head of the household, she naturally needed to maintain a certain air of authority and not fall into the eyes of these court ladies, becoming the subject of gossip and ridicule behind their backs.

After the guests were led by the servants to the temporary "reception room" in the courtyard, Lanqin was ready. She was wearing a peacock headdress with gold and kingfisher feathers, and her headdress was adorned with various pearl flowers, so dazzling that it almost dazzled people's eyes. She had never dressed so richly and solemnly when she entered the palace.

According to Si Hua, once you enter the palace as a secondary consort, you can't be too eye-catching. To put it bluntly, you're there to pay your respects to the emperor, empress dowager, and all the other ladies-in-waiting, so you should naturally act humble and subservient. But now that you're the mistress of the house, you should dress up to be the center of attention and look incredibly wealthy, which is also a matter of your master's reputation!

Well, the little maidservant beside Lanqin was quite eloquent, so Lanqin had no choice but to shoot herself in the foot, silently shedding tears as she carried her heavy head. As for her clothes, Xicha had specially chosen a magenta brocade cheongsam with gold peony patterns that Lanqin usually found too red, paired with a white snow fox scarf around her neck, which made her complexion exceptionally radiant. She wore gourd-shaped ice jade earrings, and on each wrist, she wore either a jade bracelet or a pure gold bracelet inlaid with rubies and sapphires. Even her flowerpot-shaped satin embroidered shoes were worth noting. The shoes were embroidered with a pattern of butterflies flitting among flowers. The uppers were made by the best embroiderers in the manor, the embroidery so lifelike that the butterfly wings were embroidered with seven-colored silk threads, and the eyes and antennae were adorned with delicate gemstones. The flowers were embroidered with the finest silk threads mixed with gold threads, and the buds were adorned with pearls, turquoise, or jade.

“Today, the concubine looks just like the principal wife, so elegant and beautiful.” Xicha and Nianxue each took one hand and helped Lanqin toward the garden.

“Don’t talk nonsense. A concubine is a concubine.” Lanqin glanced at Xicha. “Don’t get carried away. Today, all the guests are ladies of the court and their daughters. Don’t lose face for the Fourth Prince or the royal family in front of them.”

Several maids suppressed their smiles and helped Lanqin walk outside. Sihua and Shuiling, along with several other maids, followed behind. The Second Princess and her personal maid were also invited out by Lanqin to greet the guests. The younger girls remained in the south courtyard, cared for by their respective wet nurses.

When Lanqin and her servants entered the prepared reception area, the ladies and young ladies who were already seated stood up to welcome Lanqin.

Lanqin suddenly felt a little nervous, after all, she had never received so many noble ladies and young ladies before. You see, she was a transmigrator, unlike the original owner who had been taken to various gatherings by Anjia since childhood and was already familiar with all kinds of gatherings.

"This humble servant, Chen, along with my daughter, pays her respects to Consort Chen!" The woman standing closest to them had the most amiable expression. Cui Niang reminded Lan Qin that this was the wife of the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and her legitimate daughter.

"Greetings, Madam Chen. Please make yourself at home and have some tea," Lanqin said with a smile.

After Chen, the others all came forward to greet her one by one, and Lanqin thanked them all and introduced the Second Princess to everyone. This was also a way of guiding the Second Princess; if any of these noble ladies had a young master of similar age to the Second Princess, it could help to arrange a marriage.

Soon, five or six girls surrounded the Second Princess and started talking to her, while Lanqin was surrounded by the ladies of the court and they were talking to her.

"Oh my, Consort, is this Taishan Junzhen tea? I once had it in the palace, and I never expected to have it here again," said Lady Wang, the wife of the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Her expression and manner were slightly exaggerated, and Lanqin could tell at a glance that she was flattering her.

"Madam Wang is truly knowledgeable and well-informed. This kind of tea cannot be bought even with silver. It is said that the annual yield is only a few catties, and it is all tribute tea directly offered to the Emperor," said Madam Gao, the wife of the Junior Chamberlain of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

Everyone looked at Lanqin with envy and admiration, which showed that the Fourth Prince was very much favored by the Emperor; otherwise, such rare tea would not have been bestowed upon him. The fact that this concubine could bring out this tea to entertain everyone suggested that it wasn't considered extremely precious to her; otherwise, why would she be so generous as to offer it to so many people?

Lanqin accepted everyone's attention with an air of nonchalance, and said with a slight smile, "Although this tea is rare, all of you gentlemen and ladies are my honored guests. This little bit of tea is really nothing."