"Your Majesty, I understand. I will certainly live up to your expectations," Hongli said.

The Fourth Prince nodded, exchanged a glance with Lanqin, and smiled, saying, "Your mother is planning to have your principal wife bring the newborn princess to the Yuanmingyuan Garden tomorrow. She's a month old, isn't she?"

"Replying to Father Emperor, it has been a month and a half. I will have Mingyu bring the child to pay respects to Father Emperor and Mother Emperor tomorrow," Hongli said.

“The child is too young. Perhaps we should wait until three months have passed before offering the gifts,” Lanqin said. “Your Majesty, let Hongli take the gifts we gave the child back with him.”

It turned out that after Mingyu gave birth to her daughter, Hongli, following the Fourth Prince's instructions, selected some items from the Imperial Household Department and sent them to Mingyu as a reward from the Fourth Prince and Lanqin, which prevented anyone from suspecting anything.

Now, the things Lanqin said she would give to Mingyu's newborn daughter were naturally things she had bought along the way from Huangshan. They weren't anything particularly valuable, but they were more precious than those things.

Hongli naturally accepted it with great pride. After exchanging a few more words with the Fourth Prince, he returned to the palace.

Upon returning to Chonghua Palace, Hongli presented Mingyu with some of the trinkets that Lanqin had bought along the way.

"Your Highness, did Mother give you this? How did you get these? They don't seem to be from the palace." Mingyu picked up a gourd and asked.

"Perhaps Mother bought them herself at the market. They're all things the child likes," Hongli said. Since they weren't available in the first place, they can't be now.

Mingyu carefully examined the items, and found that some of them were suitable for Yonglian to play with.

"Father and Mother have been staying at the Yuanmingyuan for more than half a year. When are they finally coming back? The New Year is almost here," Mingyu asked.

"They'll be back soon. Mingyu, how are you recovering?" Hongli recalled the Fourth Prince's instructions to him, and thought that Mingyu would be the Empress in the future, and the burden on her shoulders would not be light.

"Yes, Princess Sheng is not feeling well; she hasn't been feeling well. Thank you for your concern, Your Highness," Mingyu said with a smile.

"Then let's have the imperial physicians come for a consultation. Take good care of yourself, because you'll be busy from now on," Hongli said.

He wondered if Empress Fucha, with her temperament and physique, could manage the entire vast harem.

The imperial harem was inextricably linked to the imperial court, and the Emperor instructed himself to rectify the harem's practices, with the Empress being of paramount importance. The Ulanara clan is a prime example.

Hongli had witnessed firsthand the lifelong struggle between his mother and the deposed Empress Ulanara. He certainly didn't want his own harem to be like that again.

Seeing that Hongli was lost in thought, Mingyu walked behind him, hugged his waist and said, "I only hope that Your Highness can always stay with me."

Hongli turned around and hugged her, saying gently, "Of course I will always be with you. We are husband and wife, and we will be buried together in the mausoleum after we die."

Mingyu nestled in Hongli's arms. She knew that Hongli would not belong to her alone in the end. He had Ulanara before, and now there were many more women. Hongli would be the emperor in the future, so the women and children he would have would definitely not only be his own.

Hongli held Mingyu in his arms, but his mind was on much bigger things. He knew that the burden he had taken over from his father, the Emperor, was not easy.

“Mingyu, Gao is intelligent and capable. You should let her help you more in the future. Her father is indeed a capable minister. I have already promoted him to the position of in charge of waterways.” Hongli said, “The Qing Dynasty suffers from floods every year, and Gao Bin is very good at controlling the water.”