The following day, at the Fourth Prince's behest, Lanqin brought gifts to pay her respects to the Crown Princess. The Fourth Prince was currently the Crown Prince's close friend. Lanqin remembered that historically, the Fourth Prince had always been the Crown Prince's man, yet he ultimately replaced the Crown Prince and was once chosen by Emperor Kangxi as the final heir to the throne. It must be said that our Fourth Prince was very good at reading the room and choosing sides.
Originally, Lanqin was not qualified to pay her respects to the Crown Princess, but the Fourth Prince asked her to go, and Lanqin did not refuse. After all, cultivating a good relationship with the Crown Prince's household was one of the ways to help the Fourth Prince.
Lanqin changed into a light pink qipao, styled her hair in a simple double bun, and, holding Nianxue's hand, went to pay her respects to the Crown Princess.
After the visitor identified himself, the palace servant acknowledged him and hurried inside to report.
The Crown Princess was practicing needlework with the Third Princess when a palace maid came to report that the Fourth Prince's princess, Niohuru, was requesting an audience.
The Crown Princess frowned and said, "What right does a mere princess have to come and see me? Send her back. Tell her I am not feeling well and cannot receive guests."
The palace maid glanced at the Crown Princess, but dared not say anything more, and immediately went to report back to Lanqin.
After listening to the palace servant's explanation, Lanqin, who was standing at the door, blinked a few times but had nothing to say. It was indeed somewhat impolite of her to ask to see the Crown Princess when she was not feeling well.
Lanqin glanced towards the inner hall, and was about to leave with Lanqin's support when she suddenly heard a clear, melodious voice: "Is this princess the Fourth Prince's Princess Niu?"
The palace maid looked in the direction of the voice and quickly curtsied, saying, "Greetings, Consort Li!"
Lanqin was startled and quickly followed the palace servant's gaze. She saw a woman dressed in a light autumn-colored qipao and with a large, elaborate hairstyle looking at her with a smile.
"This is Consort Li, the Crown Prince's concubine!" A palace maid quickly reminded Lanqin when she saw that she had not yet bowed.
"Lanqin greets Consort Li, may Consort Li be blessed." Lanqin quickly curtsied, but thought to herself: This must be the Crown Prince's favorite concubine. How come both the Fourth Prince and the Crown Prince's favorite concubine have the surname Li?
"Get up quickly. I've long heard that Fourth Prince's Consort Niu is clever, lively, and interesting. Seeing her today, I can confirm it's true." Consort Li walked up to Lanqin, grabbed her hand, and looked Lanqin up and down as she spoke.
Lanqin also sized up this "Consort Li," and indeed she was a stunning beauty; no wonder she could outshine the Crown Princess.
"Would you like to come into my room for a while, little sister?" Li asked.
"Alright, I'm sorry to bother you, Consort." Lanqin hesitated for a moment, because she had come to pay her respects to the Princess Consort, and going to Li's place now might displease the Crown Princess. But since Li had already invited her, it would be unreasonable to refuse.
Lanqin followed Li Shi into Yuqing Palace with trepidation. After passing through the winding corridors, Lanqin observed the Eastern Palace. To be honest, the Crown Prince's territory was not very large, not even as spacious as the Fourth Prince's residence.
"Lanqin, the Fourth Prince has come to the palace this time on the Emperor's orders to investigate a major matter. May I ask what that major matter is?" Madam Li suddenly asked.
"Well, Lanqin is unaware of this, please forgive me, Consort." Lanqin naturally knew that the Fourth Prince had entered the palace this time to collect debts for Emperor Kangxi. He was currently staying at the Ministry of Revenue and was checking the accounts.
“Oh, Princess Niu, I have a pair of talking parrots. Would you like them, little sister?” A hint of disappointment flashed across Li’s face as she suddenly changed the subject.
"A parrot?" Lanqin asked, a hint of surprise in her eyes.
“Yes, that’s the one, look!” Li pointed to a large iron cage hanging below her house, inside which stood a sky-blue parrot with green skin.
The two walked down to the parrot cage and looked at the beautiful parrot.
"Hello, brother! May you be blessed, brother!" the parrot suddenly said.
Lanqin was immediately delighted. She couldn't help but reach out and scoop up some feed from the bowl to feed the parrot.
Standing to the side, Li watched and, seeing Lanqin's expression, said with a smile, "If Princess Niu likes it, I'll give it to you."
"Ah, for me?" Lanqin said with a beaming smile, then went to tease the parrot again.
“Yes, I think this parrot and Princess Niu get along very well, so why don’t we give it to Princess Niu as a small gift?” Madam Li said sincerely.
Lanqin was quite moved upon hearing this. She had just been turned away by the Crown Princess, but received such courtesy from Consort Li. She immediately felt a little guilty, because Nianxue was still holding the gift she had prepared for the Crown Princess. Since Consort Li had already given her a gift, she couldn't just leave without giving anything in return.
“Consort Li, Lanqin doesn’t have anything good to offer. Nianxue, give the brocade box you have to Consort Li as a gift from Lanqin to the Consort.” Lanqin wasn’t the type to like owing favors, so she didn’t hesitate and readily made the decision.
Following Lanqin's instructions, Nianxue handed the brocade box to the palace maid beside Consort Li. Consort Li took the brocade box and opened it. It turned out to be a strange and unusual pottery piece!
"What kind of pottery is this?" Consort Li asked, picking up the handle-covered object and examining it from all angles.
"This is called a mug; it's very convenient for drinking water. Lanqin really can't think of anything nice that the Crown Princess doesn't have. I hope the Crown Princess won't find it offensive." Lanqin almost blurted out that it was a gift for the Crown Princess.
"A mug?" Consort Li said in surprise, "The mug is so big, it can hold more water!"
“What you say is true, Madam. This was specially ordered by Lanqin to be made so that you can hold more water,” Lanqin said patiently.
"Nianxue, go and get some milk tea for Madam Li!" Lanqin couldn't resist letting Madam Li taste the milk tea.
Well, our Comrade Lanqin always loves sharing her food and drinks with others!
After Nianxue took her leave, Madam Li led Lanqin into the inner room. Lanqin took a good look at the Crown Prince's favorite concubine's room; it was indeed a bit small, but the furnishings were all very luxurious. The display shelves were filled with all sorts of rare and precious antiques, and the walls were covered with calligraphy and paintings.
After examining everything, Lanqin became somewhat curious about this Lady Li. Judging from the furnishings, this favored concubine was clearly a woman with considerable knowledge of classical Chinese literature.
“This painting is excellent. The orchids in it are both unrestrained and elegant, making it my favorite painting,” said Li, standing beside Lanqin.
"This is Wu Changshuo's 'Ink Orchid Painting,' which is extremely rare. I never expected to see his early work here with you, Madam Li," Lanqin said knowingly, her eyes even filled with emotion. She had spent some time studying Wu Changshuo's paintings during her doctoral studies. She had only seen small versions of this "Ink Orchid Painting" in books and had never seen the original. She never expected to see it with this Madam Li from the Qing Dynasty.
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