"There are so many good things here, Lady Li. Lanqin can't take it all in," Lanqin exclaimed as she looked around.
"Hehe, if Princess Niu likes it, she can come over often," Li said with a smile.
"Thank you for the invitation, Madam. I will come to visit you whenever I have time!" Lanqin really liked this Li Shi. She was completely different from the one in the Fourth Prince's mansion, even though their statuses were similar and they even shared the same surname.
"Don't be so polite. Seeing you, sister, is like seeing my own sister. Alas, there aren't many people I can talk to in this Liuqing Palace. If you're bored while you're in the palace, come and chat with me." Lady Li had already instructed a palace servant to bring over a cup of tea.
"May Your Highness be blessed!"
"May Your Highness be blessed!"
A chorus of greetings rang out from outside, which Lanqin naturally heard as well. She couldn't help but feel a surge of nervousness. Although she knew that this crown prince would never become emperor, he was, after all, the only crown prince that Kangxi had ever appointed, and she still felt a little uneasy.
A man in a light yellow robe embroidered with a four-clawed dragon in blue thread entered the room. He curiously looked at the unfamiliar woman beside Li.
The crown prince was also quite handsome; all of Kangxi's sons were such good-looking men!
"This concubine greets Your Highness, may Your Highness enjoy boundless blessings and peace!" Lanqin curtsied and said.
“My lord, this is Princess Niu, the daughter of the Fourth Prince. She has come today to pay her respects to the Crown Princess. I found her very friendly, so I pulled her over to sit down,” said Lady Li, helping Lanqin to her feet.
"Oh, from the fourth prince's family." The crown prince looked somewhat puzzled.
"I have been bothering Consort for quite some time now, so I shall take my leave!" Lanqin felt that she was not quite able to handle the Crown Prince, so she took her leave.
"Why are you leaving so soon after I arrived? Are you afraid of me?" The prince's tone revealed neither displeasure nor joy.
"I was just afraid of disturbing Consort Li and the Crown Prince too much," Lanqin said, blushing.
"Oh dear, sir, don't frighten Lanqin. Let her go back for now. She might come to visit more often in the future!" Madam Li said, trying to ease the tension.
Lanqin, understanding the situation, curtsied again and quickly took her leave. Lady Li instructed the palace servants to promptly bring the parrot, which had been promised to Lanqin, and follow her.
The Crown Prince walked to the main couch and casually asked, "Where are Hongxi and Hongxi? I haven't been here much lately. Have they been taking care of their studies?"
Lady Li walked to the Crown Prince's side, raised her slender, white fingers and gently massaged his shoulder, saying softly, "They are all very diligent, studying and practicing calligraphy every day, and they have never neglected their riding and archery skills."
The Crown Prince raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, saying in a deep voice, "I have been busy with official duties lately and have not had time to check their studies."
Lady Li glanced at the Crown Prince's profile and said gently, "I know Your Highness is busy with state affairs. I will prepare a bath for Your Highness immediately, is that alright?"
The prince paused, turned around and stared at Li's proud breasts. Suddenly, he pulled Li into his arms and began to rub her breasts with both hands. He said in a deep voice, "You vixen, I haven't been here for a long time. You must have missed me?"
Li pressed herself against the Crown Prince's chest, her eyes sparkling with allure, and said, "Your Highness seems to have forgotten me!"
Gazing at those small, luscious lips, as delicate as cherry blossoms, the Crown Prince couldn't resist pecking at them. The two thus indulged in their debauchery in broad daylight, while the palace servants standing in the room silently turned away.
Meanwhile, the Crown Princess had already heard from the palace servants that Lanqin had gone to Lady Li's place. Thus, the narrow-minded Lady Guarjia harbored resentment towards Lanqin. Little did she know that it was precisely her own arrogance that led to Lady Li's favor with the emperor.
"What? The Crown Prince is back? And he went straight to that vixen's room as soon as he got back?" the Crown Princess said angrily.
The palace servants dared not speak. The Crown Princess had never been favored by the Crown Prince. If it weren't for her powerful maternal family background, she probably wouldn't have been chosen to be the Crown Princess.
"That bitch, last time she saw that the Crown Prince wasn't going to her place anymore, she came running over to me begging me to quell that rumor in the palace," the Crown Princess said angrily.
“Your Highness, in my opinion, why don’t you let the Crown Prince know that you helped him quell that rumor?” said the palace maid Mo’er.
“If the Crown Prince doesn’t mention it, but we go up to him and say it, what might he think?” The Crown Princess glared at Mo’er and said.
"This servant knows her mistake. If Master is angry, no matter how arrogant Li is, she is only a concubine. The Crown Princess is the future Empress!" Mo'er glanced at the Crown Princess's expression and said ingratiatingly.
"You brat, what Empress? Don't let anyone hear this!" The Crown Princess scolded, but in her heart she was quite pleased with Mo'er's words.
"Once the Crown Prince ascends the throne, won't the Crown Princess become the Empress?" Seeing the Crown Princess's joy, Mo'er quickly continued to flatter the horse. Actually, this Guarjia woman is quite pitiful. She's only managing to stay afloat because of this hope. Otherwise, given the Crown Prince's attitude towards her, she would have long since given up.
In the still of the night, Guarjia would lie alone on the imperial bed, gazing at the canopy of a hundred sons and a thousand grandsons above her head, and a pang of pain would often grip her heart. She could only maintain her position as Crown Princess by clinging to her longing for the former Empress's throne.
Because of prolonged neglect and loneliness, Guarjia's personality had become somewhat aloof and arrogant, and her obsession with the Empress's throne had reached an excessive level. At this moment, Guarjia had dismissed everyone else, leaving only Mo'er to help her into an inner room of her bedchamber.
Touching the empress's auspicious robe embroidered with colorful phoenixes in gold thread, she murmured, "I must wear this new dress and make that vile woman kneel at my feet."
Mo'er said with a fawning smile, "Master, it will definitely happen. The Li family will fall into your hands sooner or later."
The Crown Princess nodded, firmly believing that one day, Li's fate would be in her hands. And she would not only be the Empress, but also the future Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty!
In her increasingly unbalanced mind, a crazy idea gradually took over Guarjia's heart, making her already less-than-beautiful face now filled with a ferocious and terrifying expression.
After a passionate night of lovemaking, Lady Li and the Crown Prince were exhausted. They wiped each other's sweat and nestled together. Since the rumor, the Crown Prince had indeed visited Lady Li less often. His eagerness to be intimate today was truly overwhelming for Lady Li.
"Is the fourth prince's daughter visiting the Guarjia clan today?" the Crown Prince asked.
"Yes, but it seems the Crown Princess didn't see her. I couldn't bear to see her like this, so I had to pull her over to sit down," said Madam Li.
"How foolish! Although the fourth prince's princess is not of equal status to her, the fourth prince has always been my person, yet she actually turned her away." The crown prince said with dissatisfaction.
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