"Fourth Master is back!" After Lanqin returned to the manor, Fourth Master practically came to visit her every day. After this incident, all the previous misunderstandings between them disappeared, and their relationship was sweeter than summer grapes.

"Yes, the deposed crown prince's concubine, Lady Li, is dead." Fourth Prince stretched out his arm, gesturing for Lanqin to help him undress.

Ah! Lanqin was slightly taken aback, expressing some incomprehension regarding Li's death.

"How did he die?" Lanqin asked.

"It's said she hanged herself. But Mother has already sent people to investigate, and they said it doesn't seem like she committed suicide," Fourth Prince said. "She deliberately led you deep into the Western Hills hunting grounds, it seems she was staging this play with the Crown Princess and the Shi family."

"Yes, but Father hasn't made a move yet, how could she have committed suicide?" Lanqin didn't believe that Li would kill herself; after all, she still had two sons. A mother couldn't bear to abandon her young children.

“If Lady Li was murdered, and died in the Crown Prince’s palace, then it must have been him. Otherwise, who would dare?” the Fourth Prince said. “Why would he kill his own favorite concubine?”

Lanqin said, "The deposed crown prince is utterly heartless. How could he kill Li Shi? She was the woman he once favored, and she even bore him two sons."

The Fourth Prince understood perfectly well that the Crown Prince must still have something he hadn't revealed, otherwise he wouldn't have acted at this time.

"When do men's struggles always have to come at the cost of women? Isn't that the case?" Lanqin couldn't help but sigh. Regarding Li's death, she could only express regret. Although Li had once colluded with the Shi family to plot against her, Lanqin still felt happy during the brief time she spent with Li.

Fourth Master was taken aback by Lanqin's words, and he also said, "This is not what men want. Where there are people, there is struggle. It's unavoidable."

Lanqin knew that what the Fourth Prince said was true, but she still couldn't help but say, "Anyway, it's you men who are emperors, and the women are all fighting each other in the inner quarters. They're happy when they win and they lament when they lose."

“But when a man becomes emperor, he eventually passes the throne to the son born of a woman. This empire belongs to both men and women,” the Fourth Prince said.

After helping Fourth Master take off his clothes, Lanqin glanced at him and said, "Master, stop being sentimental, we've finished our meal." Then, Lanqin gave Cui Niang and the others a meaningful look. They noticed that after Lanqin and Fourth Master returned from the Western Hills hunting grounds, their previous awkwardness seemed to have dissipated, and most importantly, Nian Shi in the East Courtyard was now under house arrest.

After being banished from the Western Hills hunting grounds by the Fourth Prince, Lady Nian was confined to the East Courtyard, where she spent her days smashing things and beating the maids, turning the place into chaos. When the Fourth Prince returned, she tried every means to plead for him, but he ignored her completely. Lady Nian was furious and helpless, unable to think of any way to resolve her predicament, so she wrote a letter to her elder brother. Nian Gengyao also wrote to the Fourth Prince mentioning Lady Nian, but the Fourth Prince refused to listen at this time, acting as if he hadn't seen it.

With summer approaching, Lanqin planned to take the Fourth Prince on a trip to Jiangnan. Since the Crown Prince had been deposed and Kangxi had not appointed another Crown Prince, she wasn't worried that taking the Fourth Prince out would interfere with his bid for the throne.

The Fourth Prince was also eager to travel, since he didn't want to be in the Emperor's sights at this time. So, the two decided to go for a trip to the south of the Yangtze River.