There's a limit to how much you can stir up trouble. Stirring up conflict between wives and concubines might be understandable if it's just a mother-in-law disliking her daughter-in-law or her son's concubine. But using the grandson as a pretext to sow discord is absurd.

When she came out of Yonghe Palace, Ulanara's face turned pale and she was surrounded by a cold aura.

For the first time, Le Shu felt the power of Consort De. As expected of someone who had fought her way out of Emperor Kangxi's harem, she could break the Fourth Prince's composure with just a few words.

It was also the first time she had experienced the atmosphere of palace intrigue; if only she weren't one of the parties involved.

Once outside the palace, Ulanara's expression softened somewhat. She said to Le Shu, "You don't need to take Her Majesty's words to heart. Hongxu, take good care of yourself. If you need anything, just send someone to the main courtyard."

"Xie Fujin".

Consort De's instigation was blatant, aiming to provoke Ulanara's resentment. Her plan was to adopt Hongxu into the main courtyard, causing Le Shu to clash with Ulanara and thus fall out of favor.

She disliked Le Shu, so she tried her best to make things difficult for her. However, Le Shu was a member of her son's inner circle and lived outside the palace, so her influence couldn't reach that far. She could only instigate Ulanara to suppress her.

As for why she didn't take action herself, it's simply because she felt her status wasn't worth her personal intervention. Didn't you see that even when she was trying to sow discord, she used praise for Hongxu's grandson instead of elevating Le Shu?

The arrogance of those in power, even though Consort De had once been a person of low status, could not prevent her from developing such a flaw.

After returning, Le Shu still had people strengthen the protection of Hongxu. It wasn't that she didn't trust Consort Ulanara, but she was afraid that Consort De would do something disgusting.

Judging from Consort De's behavior, Le Shu felt that she was capable of anything. She wouldn't take Hongxu's life, but she could very well make him sick.

Later, Consort De summoned Yue Shu again, and she was in a similar situation.

Le Shu was helpless, but thankfully Hong Xu was alright.

Soon it was the end of the year, and Le Shu received a letter from Yinzhen that he would be returning soon. Along with the letter was a painting of peonies.

The painting bears his personal seal, and he painted the flowers so vibrant and beautiful, with dewdrops dripping from their stamens…

This immediately brought to Le Shu's mind some scenes that were difficult to describe.

Le Shu, feeling embarrassed, asked someone to put the painting away and place it in a place in the study where it couldn't be seen, hoping it would never see the light of day again.