“Third sister is here, and your nephew should greet her himself. Bechuk and Ushiha are here too.” Xinyi helped Lanqin down from the carriage road.
After Lanqin was ushered in by Xinyi, Seventh Master, being a man, was not suited to linger in front of Lanqin. After exchanging a few words, he returned to his front yard.
Xin Yi welcomed Lan Qin to the warm couch, personally served her tea, and then sat down to talk. Lan Qin handed Xin Yi the list of gifts that Fourth Master had given to Seventh Master.
"I'm sorry to have troubled Fourth Brother and Third Sister." Xin Yi looked at the gift list; everything was something that could be directly used to repay a debt. It wasn't some inflated, priceless treasure; it all had a market value. For example, there were two sets of pure gold wine cups; two jade items; and some gold and silver objects—all of which could be exchanged for money. Seventh Master had little income, supporting the entire household solely on his salary. Fourth Master naturally couldn't directly offer him money—that would be disrespectful—so he could only take this opportunity to send Seventh Master some cash.
Xin Yi was grateful and naturally had the best tea and snacks served to Lan Qin. Lan Qin could tell from this that the people from the Imperial Household Department really knew how to treat people differently based on their status. Although it was the same Longjing tea, the tea that Seventh Master had given her was last year's vintage.
Lanqin kept it to herself and didn't tell Xinyi directly.
"I heard that the Eighth Prince's wife went to your residence?" Xin Yi asked with concern.
"Yes, he went, and he insisted on going to see the Fujin (wife of the deceased), but I stopped him. He was so angry he almost cried. I even said I wanted to go see Ruzhu," Lanqin said.
Xin Yi was amused by Lan Qin's words and covered her mouth to laugh, but then said worriedly, "Do you want me to go with you to take a look?"
Lanqin shook her head and said, "No need, I'll go by myself. She's not going to eat me alive. You just need to take good care of the child; he's only a few months old and can't be separated from his mother."
Xin Yi led Lan Qin on a tour of the entire Seventh Prince's mansion, while the children were looked after by their wet nurses and maids. Lan Qin then took Xin Yi's hand and began touring the Seventh Prince's mansion.
"Seventh Prince once told me that he was very grateful to Fourth Prince. When he left the palace to build his residence, those people from the Imperial Household Department bullied him and delayed giving him the blueprints and site selection. It was Fourth Prince who went to keep an eye on things with the Imperial Household Department and finally got our Prince the location he has today. He has always remembered that," Xin Yi said.
“They’re all brothers. Seventh Prince has a congenital leg ailment, so as his elder brother, I should naturally take better care of him,” Lanqin said. As she toured the place with Xinyi, she noticed that the Seventh Prince’s residence was much smaller than the Fourth Prince’s, almost half the size of the Fourth Prince’s residence. She sighed inwardly: Being a prince is different; the Seventh Prince is inferior to others in every way.
“That’s true, but who can care for their brothers like the Fourth Prince?” Xin Yi said.
Lanqin followed Xinyi around for a long time, and finally came to a garden pavilion to rest.
“My mother told me that my eldest brother is going to participate in some operation to protect the crown prince, and she came to tell me about it,” Xin Yi said. The mother she was referring to was not her biological mother, but Anjia Shi.
Upon hearing this, Lanqin exclaimed in surprise, "Your mother came here again?"
Xin Yi nodded and said, "Perhaps he was afraid that Big Brother would go astray. But our Seventh Master has never been in charge of anything, and he has no connection with Big Brother's side. He really can't help with anything."
"Don't take it to heart. Mother is really something. Eldest brother isn't a child anymore; he should be responsible for his own future." Lanqin felt utterly helpless towards Anjia.
“No wonder, my sister-in-law is so pitiful, going along with all this while heavily pregnant. Third sister, if you have any ideas, try to persuade my brother. It’s best to stay away from politics these days,” Xin Yi said.
Lanqin looked at Xinyi approvingly and said, "You're absolutely right. At times like these, it's best not to get involved with either side. But our eldest brother doesn't understand this at all and keeps trying to take sides. He's really confused!"
Xin Yi nodded, looked at Lan Qin for a while, and said, "It's obvious that the Fourth Prince dotes on Third Sister. Third Sister looks so happy."
Lanqin rolled her eyes at Xinyi and said, "Aren't you the same? Seventh Master also dotes on you. Look, even I don't dare to wear such red, but he lets you wear it. He treats you like his primary wife."
The two sisters held hands and teased each other for a while before starting to walk back. It was getting late, and Lanqin decided not to stay for dinner and to take the children home early.
When the two of them walked back to the front yard, they found that Fourth Master had actually arrived and was having tea with Seventh Master.
"Why are you here, Master?" Lanqin looked at Fourth Master in surprise, as they had agreed that only she would be allowed to come out.
"Fourth Brother was worried about his concubine, so he came to pick her up." Seventh Master joked.
"No, I came to Seventh Brother's residence to ask for a drink," Fourth Master joked, a rare occurrence for him.
“Welcome, Master brewed his own wine, so I’ll bring it out to drink with Fourth Prince,” Xin Yi said quickly.
“Great! Great! I want to try the wine that Seventh Prince brewed himself!” Lanqin said.
After the table was set up, Seventh Master invited Fourth Master to sit down, and Xinyi also pulled Lanqin to her seat. Because of the cold weather, they naturally ate hot pot, a steaming hot pot of mutton.
"We don't need the maids to serve us, we can do it ourselves!" Lanqin suggested.
Seventh Prince wasn't the type to be waited on by servants in everything, and neither was Xin Yi. So the four of them cooked and ate their own food, and the atmosphere quickly improved. Fourth Prince even fell in love with the plum wine Seventh Prince brewed, drinking one cup after another.
"Master, be careful not to get drunk. You've almost finished the plum wine." Lanqin blushed as well. The plum wine tasted good at first, but it had quite a strong aftereffect.
"I never expected Seventh Brother to brew such good plum wine. I'll definitely be coming here often to ask for some wine from now on," Fourth Master said earnestly.
"Fourth Brother, please come. Even if you're drunk, you can rest here. Although the Seventh Prince's mansion isn't big, there's still room to entertain you and your sister-in-law." Seventh Master was also a bit drunk, and his speech was starting to become slurred.
“When we were building your mansion, those bastards in the Imperial Household Department didn’t do it properly. They chose a small place for you, which is really unfair to you,” the Fourth Prince said.
“If it weren’t for Fourth Brother keeping an eye on things, we might not even have this place. Come, Fourth Brother, Seventh Brother will always remember this kindness.” Seventh Master said, slightly agitated.
“We’re brothers, there’s no need for such formalities. You’re doing well now, holding a sinecure in the Ministry of Revenue, with your whole family happy. That’s a blessing,” Fourth Master said.
Lanqin never expected that Fourth Master could say such a thing. She tilted her head and looked at Fourth Master, and found that he seemed different from usual, with more human touch.
"Fourth Brother is a man of great talent and ambition. In my humble opinion, the position of Crown Prince should be held by Fourth Brother," Seventh Master suddenly said.
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