To allow the child a transition period, the Fourth Prince decided to postpone bringing Hongli back. After all, Hongzhou first needed to be raised by Lady Geng, and there would be an adjustment period, plus preparations for housing. He shared this idea with Emperor Kangxi, who agreed.

After returning home that day, the Fourth Prince was busy preparing for the expansion of the house and did not go to Lanqin's place, nor did he know that Consort De had punished Lanqin by making her copy Buddhist scriptures.

Lanqin stopped going to the palace after the third day of the lunar new year and began preparing to send Hongzhou to Gengshi's place. Wuya, on the other hand, disguised herself as a maid of the Fourth Prince's wife and went to the palace with him.

“Master, how about I help you copy this Buddhist scripture?” Nianxue saw that Lanqin was indeed sitting in her study copying the scripture.

“No. My handwriting is different from yours. The Empress already harbors resentment towards me. If she gets this opportunity to use against me, she will have an even worse impression of me in the future!” Lanqin said.

"Oh dear, Consort De used to like you a lot, how come the wind has changed so suddenly?" Nianxue placed a cup of tea on Lanqin's table.

"I guess they're afraid I'll become too powerful." Lanqin felt her wrist getting a little sore, so she put the brush in the brush washer.

Xi Cha handed her a hot cloth, and Lan Qin wiped her hands with it before picking up the cup of tea and holding it in her palm.

At this moment, Si Hua lifted the curtain and came in from the outside. There were still some snowflakes scattered on her shoulders and head, and it started to snow lightly again outside.

"My lord, Lady Geng has arrived," Si Hua reported.

"Alright, let Sister Geng come over. Xi Cha, make Sister Geng another cup of tea," Lan Qin instructed.

Several maids were busy with their own tasks, surrounding Lanqin and serving her comfortably.

After the cotton curtain was opened from the outside in, Madam Geng walked in, supported by Green Balustrade.

"Cui Niang, quickly carry some snow for Sister Geng, there are some snowflakes on her shoulders too!" Lan Qin said.

Cui Niang responded and went to brush the snowflakes off Geng Shi's shoulder.

"Come sit down, sister, it's warm here!" Lanqin called to Gengshi.

"What is Consort doing?" Madam Geng walked over and saw a stack of Xuan paper on Lanqin's desk, with copied Buddhist scriptures beside it.

"Copying scriptures!" Lanqin gave a bitter smile.

"It seems that Consort Geng has never copied scriptures before. Why did she think of copying these now?" Geng asked, looking at the scriptures.

“My sister knows me. She wouldn’t have copied these things willingly. She had no choice but to!” Lanqin said.

Geng was surprised. She looked at Lanqin's expression and felt that she was not joking. She asked, "Is it a concubine from the palace?"

Lanqin knew that Geng was an extremely intelligent person; she could guess without saying much.

“Now that the Prince’s position in the court is rising higher and higher, perhaps we will soon have new sisters joining us. However, I also understand that these things are beyond our control,” Lanqin said.

"Yes, judging from the looks of it, our master's inner quarters have the fewest people. I wonder which family will be coming in this time? If it's someone of too high status, it's really unbearable. If it's someone of lower status, it'll be easier to get along with," said Madam Geng.

“One is the eldest daughter of the Fucha family, and the other is the daughter of the governor of Shanxi,” Lanqin said.

"Which Fucha clan?" Geng asked.

"They are from the family of Fucha Fuheng, the tutor of Prince Heshuo." Lanqin also learned this from the Fourth Prince.

"That's really strange. Since they are the people of the Prince of Heshuo, why would they marry their eldest daughter into the Prince's household? Isn't it obvious that they want to curry favor with our Prince?" Geng said.

“Indeed. That’s why our inner quarters are getting more and more interesting. Sister Geng, actually, there’s something I wanted to discuss with you today,” Lanqin said.

Madam Geng gestured for Lanqin to continue. Lanqin then dismissed all the maids in the room, and Madam Geng nodded to Lülan, signaling her to leave as well.

"Sister, Hongli and Hongzhou were separated by the Emperor after they were born. Do you know why?" Lanqin asked.

Geng shook her head, her heart clenching involuntarily.

“Hongli and Hongzhou’s destinies are incompatible; they cannot live together. Especially Hongzhou, even I am incompatible with him. Therefore, I want to entrust Hongzhou to my sister’s care,” Lanqin said through gritted teeth.

Geng Shi was taken aback when she realized that Lan Qin had summoned her to ask her to raise the Seventh Prince. She had long desired a child, but the Fourth Prince refused to favor her, leaving her childless. The few times she had been able to conceive, she had failed to produce a child, a fact that had always troubled Geng Shi.

"You mean, I should raise the Seventh Prince?" Geng asked with difficulty. She hoped that what Lanqin had just said was true, but she was also a little hesitant to believe it.

“Yes, we want my sister to raise the Seventh Prince. But there’s one thing we must make clear: Hongli and Hongzhou must never meet,” Lanqin said.

When Lanqin repeated herself clearly, Geng finally believed it was true.

"Qin'er, I really don't know what to say. Although Hongzhou's fate is different from yours, I'm still very touched that you immediately thought of me. Don't worry, I will definitely raise the Seventh Prince well," said Madam Geng.

“Hongzhou is practically my sister’s son now. Master has already said that we’ll pick a suitable day to bring him over. However, I will go to see Hongzhou, but don’t tell him any of this until he grows up,” Lanqin said. Compared to leaving Hongli in the palace, although Hongzhou was placed under Geng’s care, at least he hadn’t truly left Lanqin.

“Alright, you can come and see me anytime. Don’t worry, I won’t say a word about Hongzhou. I’m just afraid of what others might say.” Geng Shi said.

“I’ll have Master keep quiet about the others. You just need to take good care of Hongzhou. Also, your room needs to be moved a bit; see if we can add a few more rooms over there,” Lanqin said.

"Thank you, Consort!" Lady Geng then bowed deeply to Lanqin.

"Sister, get up quickly, what are you doing? If anyone should thank you, it should be Lanqin thanking you, sister, for raising the Seventh Prince well." Lanqin helped Geng up and said.

"Qin'er, I really want to thank you. From this day forward, I have something to rely on; from now on, the Seventh Prince will be everything to me," Geng said excitedly.

Lanqin deliberately kept Gengshi for a day to play with Hongzhou, and had Gengshi come over for half a day every day to get to know him. Hongzhou really liked Gengshi; whenever she held him, he would stay quietly in her arms, even more obediently than when he was in Lanqin's arms.

Lanqin sighed inwardly, wondering if Hongzhou was indeed Geng's son, but had mistakenly entered her womb by accident? Historically, Hongzhou was indeed Geng's son.