Even the Fourteenth Prince, who was barely out of his teens, poured several cups of fruit wine for the Fourth Prince.
The Fourth Master's reprimanding gaze had lost much of its intimidating power due to his drunkenness.
The indulgent Fourteenth Prince became even more reckless. His Fourth Brother was already drunk, and besides, wasn't his Second Brother also there?
In just half a day, the Fourteenth Prince had changed his address for the Crown Prince from "Crown Prince" to "Second Brother".
Back when the Fourteenth Prince, the Eighth Prince, and the Ninth Prince could still get along, the Eighth Prince and the others talked a lot about how the Crown Prince was unpredictable in private.
The Fourteenth Prince has always been afraid of the Crown Prince, but today, while riding and hunting with the Crown Prince, the Fourteenth Prince's attitude towards the Crown Prince was even closer than that towards his own brother, the Fourth Prince.
The Fourth Prince always claimed to be bad at riding and archery, but the Fourteenth Prince, a greenhorn, didn't care about such things.
It's a rare opportunity to leave the palace and enjoy a leisurely horseback hunt, so naturally, we should do whatever makes us happy.
When they went horseback hunting, they didn't care about the Crown Prince anymore and went wild with archery and hunting. Half of the game they hunted today was caught by the Fourteenth Prince.
The Fourteenth Prince was indeed quite skilled in horsemanship and archery.
From a young age, he was a mischievous little monkey in front of Consort De, always making a ruckus, almost climbing trees and going down to the river.
Although the Crown Prince hunted fewer prey than the Fourteenth Prince, he smiled more often.
The two even managed to get Fourth Master drunk at night, a rare display of tacit understanding.
However, the Crown Prince did not stay overnight at the estate. Firstly, he knew that the Fourth Prince had brought his female relatives with him today, and if anything went wrong, it would be difficult to explain.
Furthermore, the Crown Prince knows perfectly well that within half a day of his departure from the palace, his father, the Emperor, has likely already presented him with a record of his whereabouts on his desk in the Qianqing Palace.
He could go out of the palace with the Fourteenth Prince to ride horses and hunt outside the estate. If this got back to the Emperor's ears, he would only say that they were brothers. However, if the Crown Prince did not return to Yuqing Palace tonight, the Emperor might start to think that "the Fourth Prince, the Fourteenth Prince and the Crown Prince are plotting to seize the throne."
Having experienced those things in his previous life, the Crown Prince knew all too well what his Imperial Father was thinking.
However, when the Crown Prince got up to take his leave, he also took the Fourteenth Prince with him.
They said, "Fourteenth Brother, you should go back to the palace, otherwise Consort De might worry about you."
The Fourteenth Prince originally wanted to stay, but since the Crown Prince had already spoken, he decided to give the Crown Prince face.
However, before leaving, the Fourteenth Prince couldn't help but mutter, "I haven't met Fourth Sister-in-law yet."
The Fourteenth Prince also knew that his Fourth Brother had brought his female relatives today.
Fourth Master rubbed his temples without speaking, but he was too dizzy to say anything at the moment.
However, when the Crown Prince and the Fourteenth Prince took their leave, the Fourth Prince heard the key words and became more alert. He looked at Su Peisheng and spoke with relatively clear speech.
"Tell the gatekeeper to prepare a carriage to send the Crown Prince and the Fourteenth Prince. You go with them yourself, and also tell the guards around the prince to come along."
Summer days are long and dark, but the distance from the outskirts of Beijing to the Forbidden City is still quite far, so the safety of the Crown Prince and the Fourteenth Prince must be the top priority.
Su Peisheng withdrew very cautiously, leaving Fulu to carefully serve the Fourth Master.
Once Fourth Master sobered up a bit, he was able to stand up on his own without Fu Lu's help, and he ordered, "Go to Xinlutang."
If Fourth Master doesn't rest in the front yard right now, then he can only go to Xinlutang.
Fu Lu then led the way carrying a hexagonal palace lantern. Along the way, because the lantern's candlelight was so bright, Fu Lu was bitten by mosquitoes several times.
Before even reaching Xinlutang, Fulu secretly scratched his face, but when he looked up, he saw that the candlelight in Xinlutang had been extinguished at some point, and there was no light left.
Fu Lu knocked on the tightly closed courtyard gate, never expecting that one day his master would be turned away.
The servant from Xinlutang on the estate opened the gate, and was startled to see Fourth Master and Fulu.
When Fulu heard from the servant that the concubine had gone to the hot springs on the estate after dinner, his face fell, and he hurriedly turned to look at the Fourth Prince's expression.
The palace lanterns illuminated the Fourth Prince's flat face. Despite being drunk, the Fourth Prince did not lose much of his composure, and his back did not even bend an inch.
As he spoke, Fourth Master coughed twice, covering his mouth with his fist, before finally saying, "Go to Shu Garden."
Shuyuan was the name that the Fourth Prince gave to the hot spring resort.
As for Li Chenjiao, she knew that Fourth Master would probably come to Shu Garden to find her.
However, when Li Chenjiao arrived at Shuyuan, she realized that she had forgotten to send someone to the front yard to inform the Fourth Master.
But the hot spring was really comfortable, and with chilled seasonal fruits placed next to it, Li Chenjiao was so comfortable that she didn't want to open her eyes.
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