Following Lanqin's suggestion, the Fourth Prince indeed began to send people to investigate the Crown Prince's estates and private properties. Since there was no longer any need to stay in the palace, the Fourth Prince decided to take Lanqin back to his residence.
Before returning to her residence, Lanqin made a special trip to the Qianqing Palace to pay her respects to Emperor Kangxi.
"Oh, what brings Princess Niu here? This servant must be seeing things." Liang Jiugong said sarcastically.
"I've come to pay my respects to His Majesty. Please inform him, sir," Lanqin said, blushing as she knew he was deliberately mocking her for refusing Kangxi's invitation at the palace banquet.
"I'll go right away, Princess, please wait a moment." Liang Jiugong suppressed a smile, flicked his whisk, and turned to walk into the palace.
Lanqin and her servant waited outside. She turned and looked at the white jade railings and towering buildings outside the Qianqing Palace, suddenly feeling as if the entire world lay before her. It must be said that the ancients' design of the imperial palace embodied boundless wisdom and beauty. This aesthetic combination of power and beauty has deeply moved later generations. When Lanqin was still Lin Mengyao, she had visited this place many times with her mentor, each time experiencing the magnificence and profound meaning of this vast palace.
"Princess, His Majesty invites you in!" Liang Jiugong's high-pitched voice came from behind.
Lanqin turned around and followed him into the Qianqing Palace. Nianxue, who was behind Lanqin, nervously looked at the palace where the emperor lived and followed him in.
"Lanqin greets Your Majesty, may Your Majesty be blessed with ten thousand years of happiness and peace!" Lanqin saw that Kangxi was sitting behind the imperial table reading a book, so she immediately curtsied and bowed.
"Girl, why did you remember to pay your respects to me today?" Kangxi asked without looking up from his book.
"I knew it! All the men in your Aisin Gioro family are petty and hold grudges over the smallest things!" Lanqin thought to herself.
"Your Majesty, I will soon be leaving the palace with my master and returning home. I remember Your Majesty's invitation for me to accompany you to appreciate paintings, so I have come to pay my respects." Lanqin still had her legs half-bent, and she dared not be presumptuous unless Kangxi told her to get up.
"Get up. At least you still have some sense." Kangxi finally looked up from his book and turned to Lanqin.
"Jiugong, go and bring over Zhao Mengfu's 'Winter Crows' painting for the maid to see!" Kangxi said, then suddenly felt a tickle in his throat and coughed a few times.
"If Your Majesty has a cough, Lanqin knows a folk remedy that is remarkably effective. Would Your Majesty like to try it?" Lanqin said with concern. Regarding her attitude towards Kangxi, she always kept in mind the principle of 'neither getting too close nor flattering him.' Lanqin always felt that serving an emperor was like walking on thin ice; unless absolutely necessary, it was best to stay away from the center of the power struggle within the imperial court.
"This cough is an old ailment. The imperial physicians in the palace have prescribed a lot of medicine, but it can't be cured. Sigh, I'm really fed up with this cough." Kangxi rarely complained to Lanqin.
"Your Majesty, why don't you try my method? It's not difficult at all, and it's made entirely from ingredients, so it won't harm your health. Long-term consumption will benefit your throat and cough." In the 21st century, Lanqin had this folk remedy for coughs told to her by one of her mother's sisters, who was a traditional Chinese medicine doctor. She had tried it and found it very effective.
"Oh, tell me about it." Kangxi thought it made sense, so he didn't object.
"Just cut white radish into shreds, add honey and boil it in water. Take it three times a day, and it will relieve your cough." Lanqin recited the folk remedy her aunt had told her, based on her memory.
Liang Jiugong had already brought the painting. Upon hearing Lanqin mention the folk remedy, he immediately signaled a junior eunuch to prepare the medicine for the Emperor. Having served Emperor Kangxi for over forty years, he still possessed this much discernment.
"Girl, come and look at this painting. I like it very much." Kangxi beckoned to Lanqin, signaling her to come over.
Lanqin walked to Kangxi's side and looked at Zhao Mengfu's famous "Winter Crows" painting. In the painting, the forest was deep and the snow was piled up. The cold was piercing and the crows were flying around, with a look of hunger and cold.
"Your Majesty, this painting is a work from Zhao Mengfu's middle period. At that time, he left the Yuan court under the pretext of illness and returned to his hometown. He must have had a profound realization about life. He was the 11th generation descendant of Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, yet he served in the Yuan court. He must have been very conflicted. This painting was created when he was deeply disappointed with the Yuan court. Your Majesty, please look at the painting. The crows in the cold have a sorrowful expression, and the scenery is also a desolate winter scene, which is consistent with the painter's state of mind at that time."
Following Lanqin's directions, Kangxi looked around again, nodded, and said, "You little girl, at such a young age, the principles you speak of are quite insightful."
After watching for a while, Lanqin took her leave. Actually, it was because Liang Jiugong said that "Consort Hua" had arrived that Lanqin knew she should leave.
As Lanqin and her maid walked out of the gate of Qianqing Palace, Zheng Chunhua, dressed in gorgeous clothes, had already alighted from her sedan chair and walked over with the help of palace maids, bumping right into Lanqin.
"May you be blessed, Noble Lady Hua!" Lanqin bowed respectfully according to her status.
"Sister, get up quickly. Why aren't you going to your sister's place?" Ever since Zheng Chunhua met Lanqin that day, she had been thinking about Lanqin. After hearing some things about her from Emperor Kangxi, she felt even more fond of her.
"Then I'll go see my sister before I leave the palace tomorrow," Lanqin said, feeling embarrassed to refuse, unaware of Zheng Chunhua's intentions.
"Okay, it's a deal!" Zheng Chunhua reached out and shook Lanqin's hand as she walked past her.
Wow, so cold! Are all beautiful women's hands this cold?
Lanqin couldn't help but turn around and glance at that stunningly beautiful figure, feeling deep regret for her fate and future, yet helpless.
Zheng Chunhua, you shouldn't have, you absolutely shouldn't have, trusted that man who didn't deserve your trust.
These words stuck in Lanqin's throat; she didn't know how to say them, because she didn't know where to begin. The affair between Zheng Chunhua and the Crown Prince was clearly recorded in historical texts, but not when it occurred. If she were to expose this now, it might cause unpredictable consequences.
With these thoughts in mind, Lanqin, supported by Nianxue, stepped down from the white jade railing and walked out of the square.
"Niu Gulu Lanqin!" Suddenly, a clear voice rang out behind Lanqin and her servant.
Needless to say, Lanqin didn't even need to turn around to know who made that voice, and he was the only one who always called her by her full name.
"This humble servant greets the Fourteenth Prince. May the Fourteenth Prince be blessed!" Lanqin turned around and curtsied, and unsurprisingly saw the Fourteenth Prince in a brownish-red brocade robe.
“When we meet in private, there’s no need for these formalities!” the Fourteenth Prince said.
Lanqin noticed that the Fourteenth Prince seemed to have grown taller. At only sixteen years old, he was naturally growing taller every day. His originally handsome face now had a touch of masculinity due to the stubble on his chin.
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