Su Peisheng returned to Fourth Master's side, grinding ink and pouring tea for him.

After a while, seeing that the Fourth Prince still showed no sign of stopping, the eunuch, fearing that Lanqin would get impatient waiting, said, "Your Majesty, you have been reviewing memorials for a long time. Why don't you stop and rest for a while?"

Fourth Master thought he was right. He put down the cinnabar brush, raised his head, and eased his throbbing neck.

The eunuch said, "Your Majesty, Consort Xi has been waiting outside the palace for a long time. Shall we summon her in?"

"Then why didn't you say so sooner?" Fourth Master said.

Fearing the Fourth Prince's wrath, the eunuch quickly said, "Your Majesty, Consort Xi heard that you were reviewing memorials and didn't want to disturb you, so she didn't ask me to tell you. She originally wanted to wait until you were finished before coming in, but I saw that you would have to wait a while, and I didn't want Consort Xi to wait too long, so I took the liberty of doing so..."

"Alright," the Fourth Prince interrupted him. "Bring Consort Xi in."

"This servant will go immediately."

The eunuch came out of the hall and said to Lanqin, "Your Highness, the Emperor wants to see you."

Lanqin followed the eunuch inside. The Fourth Prince asked, "Why didn't you let the eunuch announce your arrival? If I hadn't rested for a while, when would you have been able to come in?"

Lanqin said, "Your Majesty does not wish to disturb Your Majesty's handling of state affairs."

Fourth Master asked, "What brings you here today?"

Lanqin told the Fourth Prince about the Third Prince's visit that day, where the Third Prince's wife had asked her to arrange a marriage for her eldest son.

Fourth Master nodded. What she said was indeed reasonable. It was only right to arrange a princess for Third Brother's eldest son.

Lanqin continued, "What you said, Third Princess Consort, reminds me of your recent dealings with the Eighth Prince and the Ninth Prince. This matter has strained the relationship between you brothers. I think we should try to appease one of the other princes, using the method of pointing at the princess."

The Fourth Prince nodded and said, "Indeed, we need to appease them. I don't want them to think that I am a person who doesn't care about brotherhood."

The Fourth Prince considered for a moment and said, "Let's arrange a concubine for the Fifth Prince's eldest son. Although the Seventh Prince's son is still too young, let's arrange a princess for him as well. The Tenth Prince's son is even younger, so we won't need him for now. Let's arrange a concubine for the Tenth Prince. The Thirteenth and Seventeenth Princes don't need any concubines. We'll also arrange a concubine for the other brothers. Since we're going to arrange a concubine, we need to choose a good one. We can't let others think that we're neglecting our duties."

Lanqin nodded, keeping in mind everything the Fourth Master said.

Lanqin felt the burden on her shoulders growing heavier. This selection of concubines was closely related to the previous dynasty. Men were in charge of the court, while women were in the harem. If either the court or the harem was not managed properly, it would shake the foundation of the country. Lanqin knew that managing a country was not easy, and managing the harem was no less difficult.

Lanqin sat down next to Fourth Master and massaged his shoulders. The hard work of the past few days had left Fourth Master looking exhausted.

After the two had been tenderly cuddling for a while, Lanqin said:

"Then I will go back and choose someone."

Having received the Fourth Prince's approval, Lanqin had to hurry back to handle the selection of concubines. She stood up and said, "Your Majesty, you go ahead with your work. I need to go back and take care of the selection of concubines."

Fourth Master looked at her and said, "You've been working hard lately. Take care of yourself and don't be too busy. Things will calm down after this period."

Lanqin nodded, then left the Hall of Mental Cultivation and returned to her own Changchun Palace.

Back at Changchun Palace, Lanqin took out the information on the young ladies-in-waiting, read through their family backgrounds one by one, and thought about which ones to choose to be assigned to the various princes.