"What's wrong? Are you being mistreated outside?" Lanqin asked, turning her head.
“Your Majesty, that’s not what I meant. It doesn’t matter if we servants are mistreated or not, but if Your Majesty continues to be at odds with the Emperor, it will only give others an opportunity to take advantage of you!” Baoqin said with a frown.
"These people are so opportunistic. They probably think I've fallen out of favor just because I haven't seen the Emperor for a few days?" Lanqin sneered.
"Your Majesty, these people are all so slick, and their eyes are practically glued to their foreheads," Yu Xiao teased.
Lanqin chuckled and said, "Go to the accounting office and get some silver. With silver and silver, they'll serve you better."
“Your Highness, you don’t need to spend money on us. They wouldn’t dare to embezzle from Changchun Palace. If they did, His Majesty would never allow it,” Baoqin quickly said.
"I'm afraid they'll be craning their necks, trying to figure out how to curry favor with Yikun Palace," Lanqin said, a dim light flashing in her eyes.
Although Lanqin understood the Fourth Prince's predicament, when Hongli faced a life-or-death situation, she began to doubt whether everything she had stood by was truly worthwhile. If Hongli were really killed, would she still have the strength to stay by the Fourth Prince's side?
The days passed by uneventfully. In August, the heat intensified, and for more than half a month, not a single drop of rain fell. Under the scorching sun, the entire Forbidden City shone even more brilliantly.
Although Lanqin found peace and quiet and entertained herself, she didn't really feel lonely. However, the palace maids and eunuchs of Changchun Palace were always very careful, and their words and expressions were extremely cautious, for fear of upsetting Lanqin.
Everyone in this palace depends on the Fourth Prince for their livelihood, and his every move affects the entire harem. The fact that the Fourth Prince didn't step into Changchun Palace all summer was enough to send a message to the world—Consort Xi has fallen out of favor!
Lanqin was bored and feeling unbearably hot; her neck was stiff from a long nap. She suddenly craved ice cream or a big tub of ice cream, or even just a small bottle of Sprite. After thinking for a while, she decided it would be more practical to make some mung bean paste herself. So, Lanqin called out to Baoqin several times, but received no response. Lanqin had no choice but to get up and go to the small kitchen herself.
"Why are you crying like this? Who bullied you?" Lanqin heard someone crying softly in the shadows of the trees. Curious, she stopped and listened from behind.
The palace maid sobbed, feeling wronged, "It's all because of those snobbish eunuchs in the Imperial Household Department! Today I saw Her Highness sweating profusely and having no appetite, so I thought I'd go to the Imperial Household Department to get some ice to make some chilled sweet soup for Her Highness to cool her down. But... but look..."
The palace maid tearfully handed the small bucket in her hand to another palace maid.
"Ah... what... what are all these?!" The palace maid was shocked. She frantically moved the ice around with her hands and angrily cursed, "How dare they give ice like this to our Changchun Palace?"
"Yes, if I wanted ice for eating, he would just throw me some crushed ice, saying that all the ice he promised was given to Yikun Palace by the Emperor... Look, there are still some bits and pieces in here. How can the Empress's food be made with ice like this..." The palace maid carrying the bucket cried even more bitterly, tears streaming down her face.
“Wait here, I’ll go tell Consort Xi…” Another palace maid couldn’t bear to watch any longer and turned to leave, but was stopped by her: “Sister, let’s just forget it… Even if we tell Consort Xi, it will only add to her troubles. The Emperor hasn’t come to our Changchun Palace for months, and everyone outside is saying that Consort Xi has fallen out of favor. I think that although Consort Xi isn’t too heartbroken, she must be feeling terrible. Letting her be bothered by these trivial matters now would only make her unhappy…”
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