Since the Fourth Prince started working in the Ministry of Revenue, he has been busier than ever before. To prepare for the autumn imperial examination in the 43rd year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, he spends almost every day in the Ministry of Revenue discussing matters with the Vice Minister and Assistant Ministers.

She rarely went to the inner courtyard, but most of the time she went to the South Courtyard. Our Comrade Lanqin remained the imagined rival of all the women in the inner courtyard. Although Consort Li wanted to "befriend" Lanqin, when she went to visit her that day, she happened to witness the Fourth Prince's gifts to Lanqin: the head nanny brought over the finest and softest bolts of Shu brocade and satin from the storeroom, along with two sets of headdresses—one set of red coral with gold accents, and the other of pearls. The pearls in the entire set were all the same size and had a rich color, including several large Eastern pearls. At that moment, Consort Li lost face. This was hardly the allowance of a princess; it was far better than what she, a mere consort, received.

Fourth Master, you're so biased! Since then, Madam Li has noticeably reduced her contact with Lanqin, but for Lanqin, this was actually a good thing. She really disliked dealing with that kind of feigned sisterly affection. Besides, there was no real sisterly affection in Fourth Master's household; everyone wanted that man's favor, so who would truly want to share a man with another woman?

Therefore, Lanqin was happy that Li Shi stopped coming to see her. As for Geng Shi, Lanqin still enjoyed associating with her. Firstly, Geng Shi's status was the same as Lanqin's, so she didn't need to worry about etiquette when speaking to her. Secondly, Geng Shi had a really good personality. Sometimes she would quietly keep Lanqin company while playing cards or having private conversations, and sometimes she would tease Fu Bao with Lanqin. In any case, she never mentioned the Fourth Master and always left when it was time to leave.

That day, the embroiderers delivered the work Lanqin had instructed them to do—six sets of modified "battle uniforms" in various sizes. The garments were made of light green Suzhou satin. Lanqin looked at them again and again, a little excited—she had created the first set of battle uniforms in the Qing Dynasty! Looking at the work clothes, Lanqin was quite satisfied. She immediately said to Huanbi, "Go quickly to the front yard and tell Zhao Quan to tell the eldest prince and the others to come here for lunch after class!"

After Huanbi left, Lanqin personally went to the small kitchen and told Niu Baoquan to prepare more dishes for lunch, such as bell peppers and corn kernels, salt and pepper chicken strips, eggplant stuffed with meat, braised salmon, and braised chicken. (Do these dish names sound familiar? That's right, Lanqin deliberately brought 21st-century dishes to 300 years ago.) Then, she went to check on the dye packets that the head nanny had sent over a few days ago. At that moment, she was thinking about how to get the slingshot bullets to carry the dye.

Seeing Lanqin staring at the pile of dye, Zi Ran tentatively asked, "Is Princess thinking about how to coat these bullets with dye?" For the past few days, Lanqin had been talking to the maids about organizing a "CS" live-action battle for the First Prince. Although Zi Ran had no idea what "CS" was, she roughly understood what the game was about—two teams fighting each other like in a war.

"Yes, do you have any good ideas?" Lanqin asked.

“This servant thinks we can sew the dye into the bullets of a slingshot, so that when the bullets hit a person, they will soon leave marks. The dye is in powder form, which is perfect for sewing into bullets made of cloth and gravel,” Zi Ran said.

"That's right, I was just thinking about what kind of bullets to use. Now that you mention it, it's perfect. Wrapping the pebbles in cloth will allow us to fire them, and if they hit someone, they won't hurt too much. If we put dye in them, they can be used as markers." Lanqin pulled Ziran's hand and cheered.

"Princess, what are you doing? Quickly put down my hand." Zi Ran was clearly surprised that Lan Qin would be so intimate with her without regard for her status, and immediately said nervously.

"I'm so happy, Zi Ran, you're so smart." Lan Qin didn't expect Zi Ran's thoughts and continued to shake her hand.

"Princess, quickly let go of me. The eldest prince and the others are probably coming soon. I'll go to the small kitchen right away to see if the meal you ordered is ready." Seeing that Lanqin had no intention of letting go of her, Ziran quickly made up an excuse.

Then Lanqin released his hand and let her leave.

"This princess, when she's happy, she really has no manners at all!" Zi Ran thought to herself, but Lan Qin's behavior just now had also infected her, and she couldn't help but smile.

At noon, the First Prince, the Third Prince, Fu Weiting, Zhang Rongyuan, Tongjia Feiyanggu, and Da and A arrived at Lanqin's South Courtyard. When they saw the prepared food laid out in the main house, their eyes lit up. This was the first time Lanqin had stepped into the South Courtyard for a meal since she was confined to her quarters. Several of them, especially the Third Prince, were already drooling.

"Aunt Niu, I can finally dine here with you again. I'm so hungry!" The Third Prince rushed to the table, eager to start eating.

"Hongjun!" The eldest prince Honghui interrupted, frowning unhappily. He said to Lanqin, "Aunt Niu, I only have half an hour. I need to go back to my mother's place for a midday rest."

"Okay, come and eat. I have a surprise for you later!" Lanqin warmly invited the children to sit down, her eyes casually sweeping over Honghui. She noticed that Honghui seemed different from the Honghui she knew before.

The children ate heartily as usual. Lanqin gave Huanbi a wink, signaling her to bring out the "battle uniforms" she had prepared for them.

"Aunt Niu, are these clothes made for us? Why do they look so strange?" The Third Prince looked at the two-piece workwear-like field uniforms, his small eyes filled with countless question marks.

“This looks like the clothes foreigners wear!” Fu Weiting picked up a shirt, looked at it, and said.

“We’re going to have a two-team match, and wearing these clothes definitely requires a lot more flexibility,” Zhang Rongyuan said.

Lanqin watched them discuss among themselves without interrupting, and even Fei Yanggu couldn't help but say, "I can't wait any longer."

"Big Brother, what do you think? I'd like to hold the slingshot competition in our courtyard for the next two days. What do you all think?" Lanqin sensed that Honghui seemed to have something on his mind, so she deliberately asked for his opinion.

Honghui remained silent, and the others cast questioning glances at him.

“My aunt said that the eldest prince doesn’t have time to play these games!” Da Yu A couldn’t help but say.

"Da Yu A! Who told you to be so talkative?" Hong Hui glared at Da Yu A.