"Is the marriage of your eldest daughter settled? Which family is she from?" Madam Song asked.
"Ah, if only I could marry into the capital like my elder sister's eldest daughter, then I could visit her often. Now, my Yilan is probably going to marry into Mongolia. I'll never see that place again in my life," said Madam Mao.
Song could understand Mao's bitterness. Both were princesses, but Mao had a wife above her and only gave birth to a daughter. Her life's support was sent to Mongolia by someone else, and she would never see her again. It was truly heartbreaking.
Lanqin had a good impression of Madam Mao, and seeing her sadness, she advised, "The Khorchin are the maternal family of the Empress Dowager, and also the maternal family of our Empress Dowager. Most of their daughters are sent to the Qing Dynasty to become concubines and princesses, and half of the Qing princesses and noblewomen marry into the Khorchin as princesses. Madam Mao, everyone has their own destiny. Perhaps your Yilan will marry a good husband. I heard that the eldest princess of the Prince Zhi is doing quite well."
Upon hearing this, Madam Mao's expression softened slightly, and she sighed, saying, "It's all because I'm useless; I couldn't protect my own daughter."
Upon hearing this, Lanqin and the other two felt different emotions.
When the time was right, Lanqin took Song and Geng to find the Fourth Prince, and Mao also went to find her own wife.
Following the time and location given by Fourth Master, Lanqin and the others went there, and Lady Nian and Lady Wu also arrived.
After consulting with the abbot on some Buddhist matters, Fourth Master came out to escort Lanqin and the others to the dining hall for a vegetarian meal.
Sure enough, the Third Master's family and the Eighth and Ninth Master's families were all in the dining hall; there was no way to avoid them.
"Fourth Prince, your concubine actually managed to have her fortune told by Yichen. She has quite a connection with Buddhism." The Third Prince walked over from his seat to the Fourth Prince's table and said to him.
Fourth Prince glanced at Lanqin, then turned to Third Prince and said, "That's natural. I've always been lucky. My concubine's luck is naturally not bad either."
Lanqin almost choked, but looked at Fourth Master's profile with a smile and mentally gave him a big thumbs up.
Third Master was taken aback by Fourth Master's unusually high-profile behavior, and stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to say next. Then, Eighth Master and Ninth Master walked over.
"Third Brother, Fourth Brother, why don't we sit over there together? Let's put the tables together and enjoy the vegetarian meal at Huangjue Temple," said Eighth Master.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Third Master chuckled a few times and quickly said, "Yes, Master Yichen has already read the fortune of Fourth Brother's Consort Niu. Why don't you sit over and tell me about Master Yichen?"
Lanqin sighed silently: "Third Prince and his wife are both the same, they're like this, once they've got their grip on someone, they won't let go."
Seeing that they refused to leave, the Fourth Prince had no choice but to agree. So, the Third Prince and his wife, along with Consort Tian and Lady Guarjia; the Fourth Prince and Lanqin, along with Lady Nian, Lady Song, Lady Geng, and Lady Wu; the Eighth Prince and his wife, along with Lady Mao and Lady Zhang; the Ninth Prince and his wife, along with Lady Gu and Lady Fucha; a total of eighteen people, yet they sat at a large shared table.
"Consort Niu, how did Master Yichen interpret your fortune?" The Third Prince's wife spoke first, her tone mirroring that of her husband. The Third Prince had always considered himself more noble than the Fourth Prince, just like his mother, Consort Rong, who had always looked down on Consort De, who was born a palace maid. In fact, Consort Rong's fall from favor coincided with Consort De's rise to power. Therefore, Consort Rong always felt that Consort De was the key to her downfall, leading the Third Prince to always see the Fourth Prince as his imaginary rival. This was common from childhood; brothers of similar age often quarreled over their parents' favor. While not many brothers were like the Eighth and Ninth Princes, it was because the Eighth Prince was almost incomparable to the Ninth Prince. The Eighth Prince had never been favored by Emperor Kangxi and was often forgotten, while the Ninth Prince, the youngest son of Consort Yi and Emperor Kangxi, was greatly favored. The fact that the Eighth Prince could tame the Ninth Prince to his side shows how adept he was at interpersonal relationships.
All eyes were fixed on Lanqin, making her feel like she wanted to hide but had nowhere to go.
"Master Yichen only said that I have a noble destiny, but there will be hardships and obstacles along the way. He told me to overcome these difficulties, and in the end, I will naturally have a good life." Lan Qin thought to herself, "Anyway, you can't verify this with Yichen, so you won't know anything if I just say something random."
After listening to this, everyone felt that these words were too ordinary, and everyone had their own interpretation.
“Fourth Brother has always been highly regarded by Father Emperor, so isn’t that why he has such an auspicious appearance?” Ninth Prince said.
“The high monk’s words make sense. Perhaps if Fourth Brother is made Crown Prince, then the fate of the concubine will be extraordinary,” Eighth Prince suddenly said.
Upon hearing this, everyone in the room fell silent. Fourth Master hadn't expected the usually cautious Eighth Master to say such a thing, and his face immediately darkened.
"Ouch! Ouch!" Lanqin suddenly cried out, clutching her stomach. She was always sensitive to the cold, and after walking in the forest for a while today, she had probably caught a chill, and her stomach started to feel uncomfortable.
Fourth Master hurried over to ask, and Lanqin only said that she might have caught a cold. Fourth Master quickly found someone to prepare a meditation room for Lanqin to rest in.
Fourth Master was worried, so he ordered Song and the others to have a vegetarian meal there, while he accompanied Lanqin to rest.
Lanqin, accompanied by two maids, followed the Fourth Master into the guest room of Huangjue Temple. This was a meditation room behind the main hall, specially used for distinguished guests to rest.
The furniture in the meditation room was quite nice, which shows that Huangjue Temple was quite wealthy. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to afford to entertain such distinguished guests.
"Nianxue, go with the young master to prepare a bowl of brown sugar water," Fourth Master instructed.
After the little monk left, Fourth Master said to Lanqin, "Alright, you don't need to pretend anymore."
Lanqin quickly lowered her hand from her stomach and smiled at the Fourth Master, "Did you know from the beginning that I was faking it?"
Fourth Master scooped Lanqin up in his arms and carried her to the bed in the meditation room, saying, "You deliberately didn't want me to talk to them there. Too much talk leads to trouble. Eighth Brother deliberately provoked me like that, and you were afraid I wouldn't be able to hold back. But let me tell you, I can tolerate it."
Seeing that Fourth Master was about to carry her to bed, Lanqin blushed and said, "Master, this is a sacred Buddhist site!"
The Fourth Prince curled his lips and said, "I know, but my concubine is not feeling well. Am I not allowed to rest with her for a while?"
Lanqin blushed to the roots of her neck and buried her head in Fourth Master's shoulder. While she had been feigning a stomachache to distract him, she genuinely felt unwell; perhaps she wasn't dressed warmly enough, or perhaps it was her period…
"Master, um, it seems like my period has started," Lanqin said to the Fourth Master, her face flushed.
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