"Your Highness, we will have to put in a lot of effort to succeed this time. The Shi family has gone all out for Your Highness," said Shi Shi.

"I know. If I ascend to the throne, your Shi family will be the greatest contributor, and you will be the Empress. You will be the mother of the nation, bringing glory to the entire clan," the Crown Prince promised Shi.

The Crown Princess Shi smiled and said, "Therefore, we have prepared a foolproof plan for this operation. If we still cannot achieve the Crown Prince's grand ambition, then it is the will of Heaven." In fact, her thoughts were not limited to the Empress. The Crown Prince was eccentric, but she had already controlled him by using a mere eunuch. It was not impossible for her to rule from behind the curtain in the future. Didn't the Tang Dynasty produce a Wu Zetian?

"Then tell me, what foolproof plan do you have?" the crown prince asked.

“Naturally, it would be through hunting. In the palace, getting close to the old man is extremely difficult. Anything put into his mouth has to undergo multiple tests, so it’s impossible to succeed this way. Although Your Highness has a few loyal and brave men, if they want to stir up any trouble in this imperial city, it would require Your Highness to control the Imperial Guards,” said Shi.

“No, the Imperial Guards are all from the Bordered Yellow Banner, and they are all his trusted advisors. There’s no way he can control them. Unless he controls the leader of the Imperial Guards,” the Crown Prince said.

"So there are only so many scapegoats during hunting trips. Your Highness can feign illness and not go to the scene, making it less likely that suspicion will fall on you," Shi said.

"Father Emperor has many guards around him, so getting close to him won't be easy. Unless we can plant our own people among his men," the Crown Prince said.

“Your Highness is not that kind of person. As long as we can find a way to arrange for them to be by Father Emperor’s side back then, then the matter will be half done,” said Shi.

"Easier said than done. What kind of matter is this? They all have to think it over. Without a hefty reward, how can they dare to risk the lives of their entire family or even their entire clan?" the Crown Prince said. "Every single one of these deals comes from an exchange of interests."

“Then grant them benefits. Your Highness, at this time, we cannot think of anything else. As long as we can achieve our goal, let alone granting benefits, even some sacrifices are necessary,” said Shi. “Your Highness, once you ascend to that position, whether you want to take back those powers will depend on your mood.”

The Crown Prince nodded and said, "What you say is very true. Then let's make some plans. It's time to use those loyal assassins we've been raising."

"They've been raising soldiers for a thousand days to use them for one. It's time for them to repay Your Highness," said Shi.

Meanwhile, Lanqin was washing her face and hair under the care of Sihua. She had experienced quite a lot that day, and she needed time to process it all. What upset her was that the Fourth Prince hadn't left the palace and was shamelessly insisting on spending the night with her. Perhaps Consort De had deliberately arranged it this way; otherwise, why didn't they arrange another room for him in such a large palace like Yonghe?

Lanqin watched as the Fourth Prince was also washing his face with the help of palace maids, and she felt indignant. Was this man forcing her to hurry back to the manor with him? Lanqin didn't know why, but she just felt a little resistant to this kind of reconciliation, which had a coercive feel to it.

Lanqin decided to pretend to be asleep and ignore him. So as soon as she finished washing up, she quickly took off her clothes, rolled into bed, and didn't wait for Fourth Master.

After the Fourth Prince finished washing up, he dismissed all the palace servants and painters, ordering them not to keep watch at night anymore.

After everyone left, the room fell silent. Lanqin couldn't help but feel nervous. She didn't know why she was nervous; she had slept with Fourth Master for seven years, so why was she nervous today?

In fact, it wasn't just Lanqin; even the Fourth Master started to get a little nervous. He walked step by step toward the bed and saw the little woman lying there with her back to him.

"I know you're not asleep. Get up and talk to me." Fourth Master was still thinking about Lanqin's acquaintance with that Indal, and he felt really uncomfortable about it.

Lanqin rolled her eyes inwardly, thinking: Let you taste the bitterness of jealousy too. No explanation needed, there's nothing to explain. Figure it out yourself. Humph!

Lanqin closed her eyes and continued sleeping. Since she neither answered nor opened her eyes, the Fourth Master couldn't very well force her to open them.

When Fourth Master saw that the little woman hadn't moved an inch, he got angry. He walked a few steps to the bedside, sat down, kicked off his shoes, and climbed onto Lanqin's bed.

Fourth Master lay down next to Lanqin, but Lanqin kept her back to him, neither speaking nor moving.

"When are you going to stop being angry with me?" Fourth Master asked, lying on his back and looking at the pale blue mosquito net.

Lanqin slightly opened her eyes. In fact, she was also thinking about how she could open her heart to the Fourth Master again, completely clear away all the mess in her heart, and start her life in the South Courtyard anew. But what had already happened was already done. She clearly didn't trust and rely on the Fourth Master as much as before. Although the Fourth Master had dealt with that Wuya woman, it didn't mean that Lanqin's heart was without scars.

"I know you've been wronged, and I know my feelings for her have made you uncomfortable. Now I've seen her true colors, and I want to reconcile with you and go back to how things were before, Lanqin," Fourth Master said. He had long since lost face in front of this woman, so Fourth Master felt no qualms about saying these things to Lanqin now.

Lanqin listened to Fourth Master's words and felt a little emotional. After all, she was the mother of four children, and she couldn't really abandon her children and leave Fourth Master. Besides, she wasn't without love in her heart.

"I'm waiting for you to pursue me again, Master. Anyway, you said you'd pursue me again, so I'll wait," Lanqin said.

"Then I'll come find you after court tomorrow. I'll take you somewhere, okay?" the Fourth Prince continued. Originally, he had wanted to do *that* with Lanqin today, but after hearing this, he didn't dare to have those thoughts anymore and could only suppress his internal injuries and continue like this.

“Alright, but it depends on whether Father Emperor wants me to serve him. Otherwise, I won’t have the time,” Lanqin said.

"Anyway, I'll come to Yonghe Palace to wait for you after court," the Fourth Prince said.

"Qin'er, I don't quite like that Indal." Fourth Master said again when he saw that Lanqin was silent.

"Why?" Lanqin asked.

"Because he dared to covet my concubine!" the Fourth Prince said.

Lanqin silently gave him the middle finger in her heart. Sometimes, men's jealousy really is more intense than women's.