"What are the eldest and third princes doing right now?" Lanqin, supporting Zhao Quan's arm, walked into the winding corridor and headed towards the courtyard where the two princes lived. When the Fourth Prince moved his two sons here, he specially arranged for the children's rooms to be in a side courtyard with two entrances and two exits, separated from the Fourth Prince's room by a garden corridor.
"Reporting to Your Highness, the First Prince and the Third Prince should have finished their classes by now. This servant guesses they are practicing archery at the training ground." Zhao Quan learned from his master that Lanqin had come here on the orders of the Fourth Prince. As for why she was allowed free access to the front courtyard, that was none of his business.
"Wasn't this morning's archery practice? Why are you still practicing now?" Lanqin pulled her hand away from that arm. She looked at Zhao Quan walking with his back bent over and felt really sorry for him.
“It was the eldest prince who insisted. We servants tried to persuade him, but to no avail,” Zhao Quan replied, but inwardly he was suspicious: Why was Niohuru meddling in the affairs of the two princes?
"Alright, then take me to the training ground." Lan Qin paused for a moment, then followed Zhao Quan to the training ground.
The drill ground of the Fourth Prince's residence was located in the northeast corner of the front courtyard, right behind the courtyards of the two young princes. Therefore, they did not take any back roads, but simply turned a small path and arrived at a small corner gate of the drill ground.
The First Prince was standing in front of the target in the archery range, holding a bow taller than himself. A young eunuch stood nervously beside him, afraid the bowstring might injure his hand. If he made even the slightest mistake, the servants attending to him would either die or be half-dead. Several boys of eight or nine years old stood in the western corner of the training ground; they were likely Honghui's youngest son, Haha Zhuzi, who had recently entered the manor. The Third Prince was among them.
"Aunt Niu!" The Third Prince saw Lanqin standing at the side gate, who was staring at his eldest brother drawing his bow. Upon seeing Lanqin, he jogged towards her.
The children were surprised, and the eldest prince also turned his head to look.
"Aunt Niu, what's in your basket?" The Third Prince had eaten a bite of Lanqin's zongzi last time, and now that he saw Xicha carrying a basket, he immediately stared at it with eager eyes and asked.
"It's pastry, would you like some, Third Prince?" Lanqin squatted down and gently stroked the Third Prince's nose with her index finger.
"I want to eat!" The Third Prince immediately beamed. Being only four or five years old, his thoughts were easily read. It wasn't that he lacked food; Consort Li often sent him things, but the cooks in the manor were truly inferior to Niu Baoquan. Therefore, whenever our Third Prince saw Lanqin, his immediate thought was: what delicious food does she have now?
Lanqin took the Third Prince's hand with one hand and the basket from Xicha's hand with the other, walking towards the First Prince and the others. Although the sun was setting, the lingering heat was still intense, and beads of sweat, like golden beans, clung to their young, yet vibrant faces. Lanqin knew that these children were chosen as "Haha Beads" for Honghui. They were to return home every five days, staying only one day before immediately returning to the Fourth Prince's residence. Considering they were only eight or nine years old, and had always been the apple of their parents' eyes, it was a cruel twist of fate that they had been selected to live a life similar to a boarding school. Leaving their parents' protection was certainly for their "future," but it also seemed rather cruel.
Thinking of this, Lanqin called out to the eldest prince and the children behind him, "Eldest prince, call your Haha Zhuzi over for some snacks and lemon iced tea." Besides the snacks, Lanqin also brought some of the lemon tea she had prepared a few days ago. This tea was very simple to make: slice a few lemons, marinate them in sugar for a few days, then brew tea with jasmine flowers, add some of the marinated lemon slices, pour it into a sealed tea jar, and lower it into the well to chill. Originally, Lanqin's rank wasn't high enough to use ice, but the head nanny had already sent summer ice to the South Courtyard. So, this jar of lemon iced tea already had a few ice cubes added.
Upon hearing this, the children's faces lit up. They were naturally delighted to see something to eat; children are children after all.
"Aunt Niu, you shouldn't be here without Father's permission!" The eldest prince handed the bow to a eunuch beside him and said in a deep voice. Even his own mother couldn't come to the front courtyard without permission; how could a mere princess be so disrespectful!
Upon hearing this, Lanqin was startled. Although she had been somewhat prepared, being criticized by an eight or nine-year-old child still made her feel uneasy. In fact, Lanqin wasn't much older than the eldest prince, but her heart belonged to Lin Mengyao, a worldly-wise woman in her early thirties.
Judging from his tone of voice and facial expression, the child was quite uncomfortable with Lanqin's "transgression." Perhaps in his heart, he had long harbored resentment towards Lanqin, after all, he was the son of the primary wife.
Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked and dared not come over. When the Third Prince heard this, he had no choice but to pull his little hand away from Lanqin's hand under the First Prince's gaze.
Xi Cha never expected that the princess's good intentions would be met with such questioning, especially coming from a child of a lower generation than herself.
Lanqin seemed completely unconcerned. Her smile vanished, replaced by a mischievous grin. "I know," she said, "but Aunt Niu reluctantly accepted your father's order to check on your studies. If you don't believe me, show me this." With that, she took out the jade pendant that Fourth Master had given her and showed it to them.
Although Lanqin didn't want to approach the two children in this way, she knew that without the Fourth Prince's powerful backing, she couldn't control these two princes based on her status.
There was no other way; the "imperial sword" had been laid bare.
The eldest prince clearly hadn't received any hints from his father. He stared intently at the jade pendant in Lanqin's hand. Yes, it was his father's! He remembered that the jade pendant had always been on his father's person, never leaving his side. Now, his father had actually given Lanqin this jade pendant that even he himself was reluctant to give away.
"Did Father really allow you to freely enter and leave the front yard?" Honghui asked incredulously, but he knew it was pointless. She could possess Father's personal jade pendant and dare to enter so openly; she must have Father's permission. Although Honghui didn't want to admit it, Lanqin's presence here forced him to acknowledge it.
"Your father just sent me to keep an eye on whether you're slacking off!" Lanqin said casually, though she underestimated the impact her presence in the front courtyard would have on the people in the inner quarters. The eldest prince's reaction was proof of that.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
