Within a few days, all the imperial relatives, princes, and ministers in and around the palace received Kangxi's order to go hunting with the emperor after the Golden Festival. Suddenly, these women, who had been confined to their inner quarters, began to stir with activity; they could finally go out and get some fresh air.
Following Emperor Kangxi's instructions, Lanqin stayed at Yonghe Palace with Hongli until after the pilgrimage to the capital. Thus, the Fourth Prince tried to find ways to remain in the palace, visiting Lanqin at Yonghe Palace every few days, but each time he was met with a sharp rebuke from Lanqin after only a few words.
Consort De noticed that the Fourth Prince was coming frequently and began to figure things out. She observed that Lanqin seemed indifferent to the Fourth Prince and had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
That day, after her afternoon rest, Consort De asked her nanny to call Lanqin to her left side room for a chat.
"Lanqin, you've been staying with me for a while now, and I'm growing to like you more and more. It was absolutely the right decision to bestow you upon the Fourth Prince as a princess," Consort De said with a gentle smile.
Lanqin looked at Consort De with a blank expression, because at this time her afternoon nap was not yet over when Sihua pulled her out of bed.
"I've noticed that the Fourth Prince seems to be coming to my place more and more often. Heh, is that because you and your son are here with me?" Consort De said.
Lanqin didn't know what Consort De wanted to say, so she nodded blankly and continued to look at Consort De's incredibly kind face.
"The reason I've summoned you here is actually to tell you something. I know about that matter, and I know the Fourth Prince wronged you. Now that it's over, you should treat him the same way you would have treated him, but don't go too far, understand?" Consort De said.
"I understand now, is this advice telling me not to act too much and to immediately obediently return to the Fourth Prince's embrace?" Lanqin stared blankly at Consort De, suddenly feeling extremely irritated. Why should it be Consort De's decision when she forgives the Fourth Prince?
"Daughter-in-law understands," Lanqin replied, though she just wanted to get out of the room immediately and go back to bed to continue sleeping.
"Hmm, you're quite clever. Alright, I'm going to collect the rice now. Go check on Hongli." Having finally finished her reprimand, Lanqin immediately took her leave.
These words startled Lanqin awake from her drowsiness.
Lanqin felt increasingly uncomfortable. "You can't control everything, can you? You can't control what other people do!" Although Lanqin had somewhat forgiven the Fourth Prince, the Empress Dowager's words, though seemingly meant to reconcile, still carried a coercive undertone, leaving her truly displeased.
Lanqin walked along, and before she knew it, she had arrived at a corner gate of Yonghe Palace. She suddenly had the idea of going out of Yonghe Palace for a walk. Anyway, Consort De was at the West Buddhist Hall at this time, so whether she was in Yonghe Palace or not should not matter.
Feeling frustrated, Lanqin left through the side gate and headed west towards Yonghe Palace. She remembered that that direction seemed to lead to the Imperial Garden. Since she was feeling agitated anyway, she figured she might as well go to the Imperial Garden to clear her head.
Lanqin's sense of direction was correct; she headed northwest and indeed found the Imperial Garden. Lanqin recalled that the last time she came here, she had accompanied Emperor Kangxi and encountered Consort Yi, with whom she had even exchanged a few words. The usually arrogant Consort Yi had actually suffered a loss at Lanqin's hands; who knew what she would be like back in the palace?
Lanqin strolled leisurely into the garden, where she saw large patches of fruit hanging from the branches, which were truly tempting.
She walked to a pear tree and saw green pears hanging on it, some of which were so ripe that they had fallen to the ground. Lanqin picked up a pear from the ground, held it to her nose, and smelled it; it was very sweet.
So, Lanqin looked around to see if there were any movable bricks on the ground. She thought she could climb the tree to pick pears, and she actually found a few stones.
After placing a few stones under her feet, Lanqin stepped onto the tree. She grabbed a relatively thick branch of the pear tree, lifted her leg (wearing a flowerpot-soled dress), and tried to reach the lowest branch. Fortunately, her Qing Dynasty qipao had a large slit, otherwise her leg would never have been high enough to reach it.
After some struggle, Lanqin climbed to the lowest branch of the pear tree. She carefully lifted her bottom and sat on a slightly higher branch, then began to turn her head to look at the pears on the tree.
Unfortunately, the pears were all quite tall, and Lanqin couldn't reach many even when she stretched out her hand.
Lanqin then decided to climb a little higher to pick the pears that were higher up. She carefully took off the bottom of the flowerpot, threw it down, and began climbing the tree without caring about her image, wearing only white knee-high socks.
"Hey, what are you doing!" A young voice came from under the tree.
Lanqin thought he was a eunuch, so she said, "I've got my eye on these pears. Don't worry about me, go do whatever you need to do."
"You're a young lady, be careful not to fall," the voice from under the tree said again.
Lanqin was trying to find a branch to put her feet on, and at that moment she wouldn't listen to a servant's advice. She said impatiently, "I told you not to worry about me, so just leave it at that. Go and do your thing."
"If you want to get the pears up there, I have a way that won't require climbing the tree or much effort, and I can pick a lot for you in no time," the voice said, sounding quite stubborn.
"Who do you think you are? I just wanted to pick a few pears, what's it to you!" Lanqin felt another wave of annoyance. She was already venting her anger at Consort De's place, and now a little eunuch was yelling at her for not letting her climb the tree. Did they all think she was an easy target?
"Watch out!" the voice cried out urgently.
As Lanqin was speaking, the branch she was stepping on suddenly snapped with a crack. What happened next was that our Comrade Lanqin tragically lost her balance and fell from the tree in freefall.
Oh no! Will I get a concussion, or will I be crippled? Lanqin was filled with regret at this moment, wondering why she hadn't listened to the eunuch's advice.
Just as she closed her eyes, preparing to fall to the ground and faint from the pain, she suddenly felt someone lift her by the waist, and then her body fell into an embrace before she tumbled down. But she didn't feel any pain at all, because there was a cushion of flesh beneath her!
Lanqin was caught by someone, and then she and that person fell to the ground together.
"Thank you, thank you!" Lanqin, ignoring her dizziness, quickly got up from the man and went to pull him up.
That person must have fallen pretty hard; being used as a cushion to crash into the ground must have hurt terribly.
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