After Shuhui was betrothed to the Tenth Prince, Dachun was summoned by the Fourth Prince. When he heard the Fourth Prince instruct him to go and serve Lanqin, he was slightly disappointed. He had originally wanted to serve the Fourth Prince, but since the Fourth Prince had spoken, he couldn't very well refuse. Besides, going to Lanqin's side was not bad either; at least she was family, and he wouldn't have to be so careful in front of the Fourth Prince.
Lanqin didn't give him any instructions for the time being, only letting him stay at the estate, because she hadn't decided what she wanted Dachun to help with.
On the day the new princess entered the manor, our Comrade Lanqin was nestled in her study, writing a storybook. Every day, besides playing with her two young children—letting them sleep when they were tired—she would go to her study to write, then take a midday nap, have lunch, or read, or go horseback riding. Her life was quite pleasant, much freer and more comfortable than in the South Courtyard. She was the most important mistress of the estate, needing no formal greetings to anyone, able to eat, drink, and sleep as she pleased. With two children by her side, Lanqin felt no discomfort at the occasional absence of the Fourth Prince.
When Da Chun told her the surnames of the two newly arrived princesses, Lan Qin was slightly lost in thought for a moment, muttering, "The Nian family has finally come out." Then she thought about the Yehe family, and realized that the Fourth Prince did not have a concubine of this name after he became emperor. So, was she just another cannon fodder?
Da Chun thought Lan Qin would be depressed for a while, but she seemed unconcerned and continued to throw herself into writing her storybooks. You know, living a life of eating, drinking, and sleeping every day was too unambitious; our Comrade Lan Qin felt she should find something to do.
That day, after waking from her afternoon nap, Lanqin went horseback riding with her maid. Lanqin rode Rouge, galloping wildly across the grass, while Nianxue and Xicha watched her from under the shade of a tree. Lanqin's riding skills were already quite good, all thanks to the Fourth Prince's efforts during his winter here. When the Fourth Prince was alive, he often taught Lanqin to ride.
“Master has been gone for a while now. I heard that two new princesses have come in. Does Master seem to be feeling down?” Xicha said, holding Lanqin’s cloak.
"I haven't seen them. It seems like Master doesn't care. Master doesn't even come to see the two young masters." Although Nianxue denied that Lanqin was unhappy, she was actually worried that Fourth Master would become infatuated with the two new ones and forget about Lanqin.
Just then, Si Hua suddenly came running up from behind them and hurriedly said, "Sisters, quickly tell the master to stop. The master is here."
Nianxue was overjoyed that her remark had actually brought the Fourth Master to her attention. She ran after Lanqin's horse, calling out as she went.
Lanqin heard someone shouting behind her, and vaguely heard something else, so she pulled on the reins and stopped.
"Master, the master is here." Nianxue saw that Lanqin had finally heard her, so she ran up to continue. As soon as she stopped, she put her hands on her knees and gasped for breath.
"You're here, so why didn't you wait until I turned around to your side before calling out? You even chased after my horse, aren't you tired?" Lanqin noticed Nianxue's flushed face, caused by the vigorous running.
"Master, why aren't you going back? The master hasn't come for several days." Nianxue was anxious seeing Lanqin's unhurried demeanor.
"Okay. You and Xicha can come back on your own later, no need to rush. I'll ride back first." Lanqin nodded and rode off towards the manor. Lanqin, Xicha, and the maids, including Sihua, could only jog back on their own.
After handing the horse over to the stable manager, Lanqin headed towards her own Lanchun Courtyard. Along the way, servants greeted her respectfully, but she ignored them, hurrying on to see the Fourth Master.
To say she had no thoughts at all would be unrealistic. Lady Nian had arrived! Lanqin knew that Lady Nian had been historically favored by Emperor Yongzheng; otherwise, she wouldn't have given birth to two sons and two daughters in quick succession. Unfortunately, she seemed to lack fortune, as none of her children survived. Later, after the Fourth Prince became Emperor, Lady Nian was even granted the title of Consort Nian. Now that Lady Nian had arrived, would the Fourth Prince favor her? And what would become of her?
However, she also knew that there was nothing she could do but accept the course of history.
"Master!" Lanqin called out loudly as soon as she entered the main room. But the room was empty; there was no sign of the Fourth Master.
"Master, the master is in your study." Seeing that Lanqin was covered in sweat, Cui Niang quickly pulled off her handkerchief to wipe Lanqin's sweat. "Master, please change your clothes first, they must be soaked with sweat inside."
Lanqin was already soaked in sweat, her clothes clinging to her body, making her very uncomfortable. She was also anxious to see the Fourth Master, and after Cui Niang's suggestion, she thought: "Alright, I'll take a bath before seeing him." She had heard that Lady Nian was very beautiful; although she wasn't as beautiful, she couldn't go to see the Fourth Master covered in sweat.
Meanwhile, the Fourth Prince was at Lanqin's desk, reading the scripts she had written. As he read, he would sometimes frown, sometimes relax, and sometimes even chuckle. He knew that even in his absence, this little princess could live a fulfilling and happy life.
"Does the concubine write these things here every day?" the Fourth Prince asked. A maid stood in the room, who was in charge of cleaning the study.
"Yes, the concubine comes every day, sits down and writes, sometimes until very late. Sometimes she writes with a hearty laugh, and sometimes she writes with sighs and lamentations," the maid said.
Looking at the storybook written by Lanqin, Fourth Master had an idea.
"You come in and start peeking at other people's things, humph!" Lanqin's voice came from the doorway.
"You put it here so that I could see it. If you didn't want people to see it, why didn't you put it away?" Fourth Master had completely lost his cunning demeanor in front of Lanqin.
"I was so bored that I found some storybooks to read, but I couldn't stand them anymore, so I started learning to edit them," Lanqin said as she walked over and stood behind Fourth Master, hugging his collar from behind.
"I think your revisions are quite interesting. If you're bored, I'll find a group of actors to perform for you," said the Fourth Master.
Upon hearing this, Lanqin hugged Fourth Master's neck in disbelief and said, "Really? Can what I wrote really be used for acting?"
Fourth Master grabbed Lanqin's small hand: "Why not? I think what you wrote is even more exciting than the original stories in these books!"
Lanqin was very happy to hear the Fourth Master praising her like this, and couldn't help but lower her head and kiss the Fourth Master's neck!
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