After the Fujin (principal wife) led the Fujins, Consorts, and Princesses from various households to the main house in the main courtyard, Lady Li led all the Princesses out to greet them. After exchanging greetings, they stood up straight and greeted each other.
Lady Li was arranged by the Fujin to receive the concubines of the Fifth Prince and the Ninth Prince; while Yan Yu was directly summoned by the Fujin to greet the principal wives, and then led the Third Prince's Guarjia wife, the Fifth Prince's Lady Li, the Seventh Prince's Lady Dong, and the Fourteenth Prince's Lady Chen to a side room to sit down and have tea; the Fujin herself led the Eighth Prince's Lady Guoluo and the Thirteenth Prince's principal wife, Lady Zhaojia, to the main room to sit down and have tea.
Seeing that the Fujin (principal wife) hadn't assigned her anything, Lanqin had no choice but to follow the others and go with Yan Yu to the side room to entertain the princesses.
"Sister Niu!" Madam Dong had already exchanged glances with Lanqin. She deliberately slowed her pace and waited for Lanqin to step forward before walking together towards the side room.
"Sister, come over to my place when you have time later, let's have a good chat!" When Lanqin saw Dong Shi, she felt a surge of warmth, as if she were seeing an old classmate. Although Yan Yu had just said that she was from the same year of the imperial concubine selection, she was far inferior to Dong Shi.
“Okay, I heard there’s a play scheduled for this afternoon. I don’t really like listening to plays. I wonder if you’ll like it, sister?” Madam Dong asked, her small eyebrows curving upwards.
“That’s perfect. I don’t like listening to opera either. Shall we sneak over to my yard and sit for a while?” Lanqin had absolutely no interest in the only pastime of the ancients—listening to opera.
Although Yan Yu was walking in front and talking to the Third Prince's concubine, Guarjia, she kept an eye on Lan Qin's movements. Taking advantage of the opportunity to talk to Guarjia, she glanced back at Lan Qin and Dong, who were lagging behind in the group. Seeing that they were chatting happily, she made a mental note of Dong.
After the princesses who had entered the mansion were all seated, Yan Yu introduced them to Song Shi, Wu Shi, Geng Shi, Wang Shi, and finally Lan Qin and herself, in the order of their arrival.
Seeing Yan Yu acting like the mistress of the house, Wu Shi was not convinced at all, so she said, "In my opinion, Princess Yan Yu is the last one to enter the mansion, so it is not wrong for her to call everyone here 'elder sister,' right? Sister Song is the most senior here, so she should be the one to introduce everyone."
Her words made Yan Yu's pretty face turn red and white in turns. She could only say, "My wife and I have been preparing for the master's birthday these past few days, so we are quite familiar with the arrangements here. If Sister Song minds, then Yan Yu would like to ask Sister Song to make the arrangements, is that alright?" She knew that Song Shi was always weak and indifferent, and did not want to get involved in anything, so she deliberately retreated to advance, throwing this embarrassing situation to Song Shi.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Madam Song panicked. She knew nothing about it, and the Fujin (Prince's wife) had never spoken to her about it. Now, seeing Yan Yu trying to push the responsibility of entertaining the princesses from various households onto her, wasn't this just asking for trouble? If things went wrong, not only would she lose face, but she would also embarrass the Fourth Prince. She had finally managed to regain some of the Fourth Prince's attention through her status as the eldest princess, but she didn't want to lose it all again.
Wu Shi did not expect Yan Yu to directly "stir up trouble," making Song Shi feel embarrassed. She could not find a suitable word to smooth things over, and the atmosphere became tense.
“Sister Song has been serving the Fourth Master for over ten years, and she has also helped the Fujin take care of him a few times in the past. Now, you should let her take a break. It’s time for the newcomer to experience what it’s like to worry about things. Sister Song should rest for a while.” Lanqin couldn’t help but speak up to defuse the situation when she saw Song’s embarrassed expression.
Okay, Lin Mengyao's tomboyish nature has resurfaced! She gets extremely annoyed when she sees seemingly weak and harmless women like those from the Song family being bullied!
Everyone immediately nodded in agreement, showing their respect to Madam Song. Madam Song responded with a polite smile to the smiles from all sides.
When Yan Yu saw that Lan Qin had easily helped Song Shi escape an embarrassing situation with just a few words, she was slightly shocked and said with resentment, "That's right, I've only just entered the manor, it's time for me to help lighten the burden on the Fujin and the other sisters."
When Guarjia saw Lanqin, she couldn't help but say sarcastically, "Princess Niu hasn't been in the manor for long, shouldn't it be you who's worried about her?"
Lanqin pretended not to see Guarjia, but every time she saw her, this woman would speak in a condescending manner, which Lanqin found utterly repulsive. Now, this was supposed to be her territory (though it wasn't hers, it was the Fujin's territory), yet she was still so unforgiving, which infuriated Lanqin. Despite her anger, she couldn't afford to cause any embarrassment on the Fourth Prince's birthday, so Lanqin smiled and said, "It's just a pity I'm clumsy and not as clever as Consort Yan Yu, who won the Fujin's favor. I wonder how Sister Guarjia fared when serving the Third Fujin last time? I heard they were both confined by the Third Uncle. Is that true?"
If I keep putting up with you, I'll be your son!
Sure enough, when Guarjia heard Lanqin bring this up, her face immediately turned bright red with embarrassment. But what happened next was even more embarrassing for her.
Lanqin then said, "However, it seems that Sister Guarjia is quite favored by the Third Prince. Otherwise, why would he bring her along to celebrate the Prince's birthday? We are all so envious of her. I wonder if the Third Princess and Consort Tian are thinking of her back home right now!"
Upon hearing this, Lady Guarjia's heart stirred. Actually, the Third Prince had brought her along because Lady Dong'e had suffered from heatstroke and couldn't come, and Lady Tian was breastfeeding and couldn't come out, so he chose her. This was thanks to Lady Guarjia's usual skill in ingratiating herself with the Third Prince's wives, which was why Lady Dong'e had recommended her. However, after Lanqin's manipulation, Lady Guarjia truly couldn't quite fathom the feelings of the Third Prince's wife and Lady Tian.
Seeing that Guarjia hadn't gotten any advantage from Lanqin, Yan Yu changed the subject and said, "There's still a while before we leave the banquet, how about we play some games!"
Upon hearing her words, everyone's attention shifted back to Yan Yu, which finally made Guarjia breathe a sigh of relief. She glanced gratefully at Yan Yu, then immediately left Lanqin behind and went to Yan Yu's side to echo her suggestion.
"Want to play mahjong?" Chen asked.
"No, it's a game of musical chairs. Whoever gets the flower has to say a birthday greeting to our Fourth Master, but they can't repeat what anyone else has said," Yan Yu said with a bright smile.
Lanqin sighed inwardly, thinking to herself: "Princess Yanyu, do you have to be so appropriate for the occasion? Playing mahjong is so much more fun."
“Okay, let’s play this.” Guarjia was the first to respond, naturally to repay the rescue she had just received.
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