The Fourth Prince then began to busy himself with the autumn imperial examinations. Sometimes he didn't return to the garden, and when he did, he was busy with things at the Jiuzhou Qingyan, and he almost never stayed overnight anywhere else.

Lanqin then began to inform the various masters about the benefits given by the Fourth Master, allowing those with relatives to invite them to stay for a while, since there were buildings everywhere in the garden and they wouldn't have to worry about finding a place to stay.

Neither Song nor Wu's relatives were in the capital. Upon hearing that Lanqin had received this favor, they quickly wrote to their families, asking them to come to the capital to meet them and ease their longing.

Upon hearing this, Lady Liu and Lady Fucha naturally had their own thoughts. Lady Fucha was first; she had been in the household for half a year and hadn't served the Fourth Prince much. Originally, in her rebirth, she couldn't understand it at all, but now, after being tormented for half a year, she understood what she needed to understand. In this life, the Fourth Prince favored Lady Niohuru, while Lady Nian felt resentful.

They would definitely take this opportunity to see their families, and each of them would send someone to Lanqin to report to her. When they entered the garden, they would also come to pay their respects to Lanqin.

On this day, Lady Fucha's mother arrived first. They lived in the capital and naturally rushed over as soon as they received the news.

Lady Fucha entered the Yuanmingyuan Garden, supported by her maid. Lanqin already knew she was going to the garden today, so she specially had someone wait at the entrance to take Lady Fucha to Quyuan Fenghe.

"Jin'er!" When Lady Fucha saw her daughter whom she hadn't seen for half a year, her voice choked with emotion.

"Mother~" Lady Fucha was also excited. Her six months in the Fourth Prince's inner quarters had not been very smooth. It was still far from what she had expected.

"Jin'er, why have you lost weight?" Madam Fucha held Princess Fucha's hand, looked her up and down, and said with concern.

“Your Highness isn’t eating anything, you’ve lost weight,” Hongqiao quickly said, stepping forward. She used to be Fucha’s personal maid, and when they were in the mansion, the madam treated her like one of her own, entrusting her with taking good care of Fucha.

"Jin'er, why won't you eat? Your mother is worried about you." Upon hearing this, Madam Fucha asked in surprise.

“Mother, I’m not not eating. I’m just eating less. Don’t listen to that girl Hongqiao’s nonsense,” said Madam Fucha.

"Jin'er, tell your mother, how have you been doing these past six months in the Fourth Prince's household?" Lady Fucha asked immediately. The most important thing for a concubine is how she is doing in her husband's family; this is what a mother cares about most.

A strange glint flashed in Lady Fucha's eyes, then she led Lady Fucha to sit down and ordered the maids to serve tea and snacks, without giving a direct answer. Lady Fucha noticed this and began to make her own plans.

“Jin’er, don’t be shy. Tell me, I have more experience than you. With my daughter’s looks and family background, she can’t possibly be just an unfavored princess,” Lady Fucha said confidently.

“Mother, the Fourth Prince thinks differently from me. He is now completely focused on Consort Niu, and it is very difficult for us to get close to him,” said Lady Fucha.

"Consort Niu? From the Niohuru clan?" Lady Fucha asked.

Lady Fucha nodded, holding a handkerchief in her hand, and said, "I never expected her to be so favored. We can't even get close to the master."

Lady Fucha was a legitimate wife, and in her youth, she had managed to control several of Lord Fucha's concubines. Now, her own daughter was a concubine, and another woman in charge of them was a secondary consort (侧福晋), who was neither the principal wife nor a concubine of the same rank, and was even listed in the imperial register. The origin of this secondary consort was a unique status created by the Manchus. They married women from noble families to win over more nobles to their cause, but since they already had a principal wife, they added the prefix "secondary" to indicate that her status was different from that of ordinary princesses. Generally, there were two secondary consorts, but there were exceptions, such as Nurhaci, who married several principal wives, all of whom were considered his legitimate wives.

"Wait a moment, Mother will go and pay her respects to this Consort Niohuru. Mother brought some special gifts to pave the way for you." Lady Fucha planned to pay her respects to Lanqin, which could also be considered as asking for a favor for her daughter.

“Mother, you don’t have to go. She usually excuses us from paying our respects and we basically never see each other,” said Madam Fucha. Because Lanqin doesn’t play by the rules at all, she can’t figure out Lanqin’s temperament. Since they never see each other and have no contact with each other, even if she wanted to curry favor, she wouldn’t have the chance.

"Oh, so she's that kind of easygoing person?" Lady Fucha frowned. She wasn't afraid of the proper wives who followed the rules, because she was one herself, but she was afraid of these unruly wives, because they didn't play by the rules at all.

"Yes, it's said that she never allowed servants to serve her meals, and she taught the children strange things. The Fourth Prince's wife was ruined by her and was treated as a mere decoration by the Prince," said Lady Fucha.

“Then Mother must go and see her. Let Mother see what kind of methods she uses. Jin’er, if you want to win a man’s heart, it’s best to understand his temperament and preferences. It’s never wrong to flatter him. But sometimes men like women to have a little romance and to throw a little tantrum,” said Madam Fucha.

“Mother, Jin’er knows. But Master doesn’t give us any chance at all,” said Fucha.

“If you don’t have an opportunity, you have to create one yourself! Jin’er, you need to think about it carefully. Opportunities are given to you by yourself,” said Madam Fucha.

After offering a few more words of comfort, Lady Fucha, carrying the gifts for Lanqin, went to Wanfang Anhe with the help of her nanny.

Lanqin was helping the children practice calligraphy. Today, Wuxiha received praise from his teacher and was so happy that he immediately wanted to drag Lanqin to practice calligraphy again as soon as he got home.

"Master, Lady Fucha is requesting an audience outside," Jinju said to Lanqin as she entered the study.

Lady Fucha? Lanqin looked up at Jinju in surprise, the image of Lady Fucha flashing through her mind, and then she remembered that her mother had come to the garden to see her today.

"Please come in," Lanqin said helplessly. She didn't want to go through these formalities, but since they had already come to the door, it wouldn't be right not to see them.

Lanqin instructed the palace maids to take good care of Wuxiha and the others, and then went to her own main room.

Lady Fucha was also a first-rank noblewoman, and her status was not necessarily lower than Lanqin's; at least Lanqin was a proper lady. When she entered Lanqin's main room, she expected to see a charming or beautiful woman, but when she looked at Lanqin, she felt that Lanqin's stature was not even as tall as Lady Fucha's, and she immediately looked down on her.

"This concubine greets Consort Lanqin!" Although Lady Fucha thought this, she still curtsied to Lanqin.