Cui Niang looked at Lan Qin with a flickering gaze, as if she wanted to say something, but seemed hesitant. Seeing her hesitant expression, Lan Qin quickly comforted her, "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. We may not have the chance to meet again. Do you want me to ask the Fourth Prince to help you find a favor and let you leave the palace?"

Cui Niang quickly waved her hand and said, "No, Princess, I don't want to leave the palace. I'm past my prime, and I have no relatives left. Marrying just anyone wouldn't necessarily be better than staying in the palace."

Although Lanqin hadn't spent much time with Cui Niang, she somehow developed a very good impression of her. Her patience and thoughtfulness were all focused on this woman in her early thirties, even though she and Lin Mengyao were probably around the same age.

"Are you really unwilling to leave the palace?" Lanqin couldn't help but ask.

"I have lived in the palace for twenty years. Once I leave, I will probably have no one left. I have no relatives outside the palace, so I would rather grow old alone in the palace. Perhaps there is still a glimmer of hope there." When Cui Niang finished speaking, it seemed that there was a hidden meaning in her words, but Lan Qin did not understand the meaning.

"Alright then, I'll leave the palace tomorrow. You can continue living here as usual. Remember, stay away from those oleanders in the future, they are poisonous," Lanqin instructed.

"Yes, I will be careful in the future. When you return to the manor, you must also be careful. Don't trust anyone easily, especially—" Cui Niang wanted to say something, but in the end she didn't.

Lanqin heard her leave before she could finish her sentence, and seeing that Cui Niang seemed to have something difficult to say, she pressed her for an answer: "Especially what?"

Cui Niang looked at Lan Qin with complicated emotions, her words swirling in her mouth, but she couldn't bring herself to say them.

Seeing her distress, Lanqin comforted her, saying, "Niang Cui, if you don't want to talk about it, then don't. Just rest and don't do anything for the next few days."

After saying this, Lanqin was about to leave when suddenly Cui Niang grabbed the hem of Lanqin's robe and hurriedly said, "Princess, please sit for a while. This servant wants to talk to you about something."

Lanqin looked at Cui Niang with a puzzled expression, having no idea what important matter she had to discuss.

"Princess, you must be careful of the Fujin after you return to the manor!" Cui Niang swallowed hard, as if these words were extremely difficult to utter.

"Fujin?" Lanqin slowly sat down, staring at Cui Niang and asked again, "When you had a fever, was the Fujin you were calling out for the current Fujin?"

Cui Niang nodded and instructed Lanqin, "The Fourth Prince's wife is introverted and gloomy. If you, Princess, are able to bear children for the master, you must be careful of her. Besides, now that the First Prince Honghui has passed away, I'm afraid the Fourth Prince's wife will not be able to bear seeing you give birth to children."

Lanqin had always had a good impression of the Fujin (principal wife). Although she always held the principal wife in awe, she could truly open her heart to the Fujin, only seeking to live in harmony and avoid trouble.

"Does Your Highness not believe what I'm saying?" Cui Niang naturally saw the doubt in Lan Qin's eyes.

"No, it's not that. Since I entered the manor, the Fujin (wife of the Fujin) has always been kind and gentle. I've never seen her manipulate us. I wonder how Cui Niang came to think that the Fujin is a bad person?" Lanqin said truthfully.

“What you see is only the surface. Fourth Princess Consort is always good at pretending. If she were truly kind and gentle to her concubines, she wouldn’t have harmed Second Prince in the first place,” Cui Niang hurriedly said.

"Second Prince?" Lanqin became more and more confused as she listened.

"Do you know that the current Consort Li once lost a child?" Cui Niang asked.

"Consort Li now has the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince. Did she have another child before? I only know that the Second Princess was also her son." Lanqin was surprised that Consort Li had given birth to another child.

"Consort Li is truly blessed; Heaven has granted her three sons. It's just that her first child died somewhat unjustly," said Cui Niang.

Lanqin thought for a moment. She knew that Cui Niang had been here for more than ten years and must know something about the Fujin, Li Shi, and Song Shi in the Fourth Prince's residence. But hearing these words from the Fujin really surprised her.

"Li was favored by the master back then. When the Fujin was pregnant with the eldest prince, she was also pregnant. But when Li gave birth to the second prince, the child died in less than a month." Cui Niang squinted her eyes, as if recalling something from a long time ago.

"How did the Second Prince die?" Lanqin asked subconsciously. She knew that the women in the inner quarters would fight over love and jealousy, and would stop at nothing to stop it, even using it on young and innocent children.

"The Second Prince must have been poisoned, but unfortunately the Master didn't find out, and he died innocently." There seemed to be tears in Cui Niang's eyes.

Lanqin looked at her and thought to herself: What was Cui Niang's status before? How could a third-class maid serving in the outer palace know about the deaths of the Fujin and the Second Prince? Could it be that she was not the person she claimed to be?

"Cui Niang, were you not a third-class maid who tended flowers and plants before?" Lanqin asked.

“Your Highness is truly intelligent. I am not a third-class maid who tends to flowers and plants, but a servant of the Princess Consort. The Princess Consort killed that child with her own hands,” Cui Niang murmured.

This time, Cui Niang's words greatly surprised Lan Qin. She stared at Cui Niang in disbelief and said, "Then why don't you go and tell Fourth Master?"

A hint of guilt flashed in Cui Niang's eyes as she said, "I've kept this a secret for almost ten years. Every time I think of that child, I feel sorry for him. The Fujin (wife of the emperor) has always warned me not to tell anyone, otherwise it will be bad for my family. That's why I haven't left the palace."

Lanqin was almost unable to react. So what Cui Niang had said before wasn't the truth, but now it was all true?

Seeing Lanqin's stunned expression, Cui Niang said guiltily, "I'm sorry, I lied to you before, Princess. I had no choice. I've been living in seclusion here for almost ten years, and I never intended to tell anyone about this."

"Then why are you bringing this up now?" Lanqin asked, conflicted. She didn't know why Cui Niang was suddenly bringing these things up with her.

“Compared to those who don’t value their servants’ lives, I think you are a good person, Princess. You’ve been so good to me, and I can’t bear to see you suffer the same grief as Li Shi in the future. The only thing I can do for you is to remind you not to trust just anyone who is kind to you. In the inner quarters, there is never any peaceful coexistence; there is only open and covert struggle and turbulent undercurrents,” said Cui Niang.

Lanqin gave Cui Niang a complicated look, feeling a little unsure of what to do, but in the end she chose to believe that Cui Niang meant well, and gave a gentle smile, saying, "Thank you for the reminder, Cui Niang. I will be careful."