After finishing his meal, Fourth Master and Lanqin rested for a while. Without the sweltering heat of summer, Lanqin slept soundly. When she woke up, Fourth Master had naturally already left.
Lanqin led Nianxue and a few others to the courtyard of the Fourth Prince to begin their tour. It was much narrower than the Fourth Prince's residence.
"Princess, look, there's a swing over there. Let me swing you on it," Nianxue said to Lanqin.
"Okay, let's go swing on the swings!" Lanqin ran to one side of the yard with a big smile.
The swing was a chain-type swing, and people could stand on it. So, Lanqin pulled up the chain and stood on it.
"Princess, be careful, you're swinging too high!" Nianxue and Xicha stood behind the swing and watched Lanqin swing up and down, getting higher and higher, which made them a little scared.
"Haha, this is so much fun! The view from here is amazing!" Lanqin stood on the iron chain swing, swinging back and forth, and suddenly she could see the scenery beyond the wall.
Standing in front of the hexagonal window of her room, Cui Niang watched the little girls outside swinging freely on the swings. Gradually, she recalled the scene of the Fourth Prince's wife, Li Shi, and Song Shi in this place.
At that time, the Fujin, Li, and Song were also as unrestrained as they were. The Fujin was somewhat old-fashioned, but dignified and virtuous; Li was innocent and carefree, and was the most favored by the Fourth Prince; Song was gentle and graceful, and also had her own kind of beauty.
At that time, Cui Niang was just a third-class palace maid who did rough work. Every day, she did some rough work in the courtyard of the Fourth Prince, such as pruning flowers and plants, cleaning, and carrying water and charcoal.
Sigh, if that incident hadn't happened, perhaps the three of them wouldn't have ended up in that situation.
Cui Niang sighed heavily in her heart. Because of that incident, she did not leave the palace to get married at the age of 25 and has been living a lonely life in this courtyard ever since.
"Who are you?" This sweet voice pulled Cui Niang out of her memory.
She quickly looked outside and saw that the Twelfth Princess and the Thirteenth Princess had already entered. They stood by the swing and asked Lanqin and her two servants a question.
"This is Princess Niu, brought in by Fourth Master! This servant greets Your Highness the Princess!" Cui Niang hurriedly walked out of the room and addressed the people outside.
"Princess!" Lanqin slowly slowed her pace and let Nianxue help her down from the iron swing.
Lanqin looked at the two little girls with curiosity. They were about eleven or twelve years old and both had their hair styled in two small buns, which were adorned with some silver jewelry.
Why is the princess dressed so plainly!
Lanqin recalled seeing her fifth sister, Niohuru Xinyi, at Lingzhu's residence. Because her mother was not favored by Lingzhu, Niohuru Xinyi's clothes and jewelry were not as good as Lanqin's and Holland's.
"Are you the princess that Fourth Brother brought in?" asked a younger girl, whose brows and features showed a certain air of heroism.
"Yes, I wonder what the two princesses are ranked in?" Lanqin asked with a smile.
"I am the thirteenth princess, and she is my older sister!" The younger one clearly liked to talk more than the older one.
"Oh, so they are the Thirteenth Prince's two younger sisters!" Lanqin naturally knew these two princesses; the Fourth Prince had once told her about the Thirteenth Prince and his two younger sisters.
“You know my thirteenth brother!” the thirteenth princess said.
“Of course I recognize him. The Thirteenth Prince and the Fourth Prince are close friends!” Lanqin said warmly. She had a good impression of the Thirteenth Prince. Seeing that the two princesses were dressed worse than herself, and remembering that they should be being fostered in Consort Yi’s palace, she felt a pang of pity.
"Sister Niu, your clothes are so beautiful!" The Thirteenth Princess said enviously when she saw Lanqin wearing a qipao made of the finest Shu satin covered with fine gauze.
"Princess two, would you like to sit in Lanqin's room for a while?" Lanqin said, thinking to herself: This won't be boring anymore, three people, one table of cards! Nianxue and the others always deliberately lose, it's so no fun.
The twelfth and thirteenth princesses followed Lanqin into the house, with Cui Niang following behind.
Lanqin first instructed Xicha to take out the several mugs she had brought in, and then ordered her to make a cup of Lan's Milk Tea for the two princesses.
"What is milk tea? Is it mare's milk tea?" the twelfth princess finally spoke up.
"No, you'll find out after you have a drink later." Lanqin pulled the two princesses to sit on the main couch and chatted about girly topics. Our Comrade Lanqin was more than capable of handling two twelve or thirteen-year-old girls.
When Xicha brought out two cups of milk tea, the thirteenth princess was immediately attracted by the novel teacups and the white bubbles on them.
She took the teacup with the handle and looked it over carefully. The twelfth princess was more composed; she simply held the mug quietly and took a sip, immediately captivated by what was inside.
Lanqin watched their reactions with satisfaction, knowing that the milk tea would definitely not disappoint them. She then rested her chin on her hand and said happily, "How is it? Not bad, right? It's much better than mare's milk tea."
"Sister, this cup is really special, I like it very much!" The Thirteenth Princess's straightforward personality really pleased Lanqin.
“Then let’s give it to the princess!” Lanqin said generously.
"That won't do, Thirteenth Princess. Consort Yi doesn't like us taking things back without permission." The Twelfth Princess was much more cautious. Although she liked it too, she would never say anything.
"It's just a cup, what's wrong with that?" the Thirteenth Princess pouted.
"Yes, not even a cup can be brought into the palace?" Lanqin had met Consort Yi before and still remembered her somewhat, but she didn't expect her to be so strict with the two princesses.
"Your Highness, you may not know this, but our Consort Yi believes that everything in her palace is the best, and she would never allow us sisters to bring anything from outside in," the Thirteenth Princess said, unable to contain her anger.
"Thirteen, what are you saying!" The Twelfth Princess quickly covered her mouth and then looked at Lanqin apologetically.
The atmosphere became awkward for a moment, but Lanqin immediately took out the playing cards that were placed under the main bed, which prompted the twelfth and thirteenth princesses to change the subject, thus ending the awkward situation.
After learning to play cards from Lanqin for a while, the two little girls quickly mastered the game. The three of them played until it was almost time for dinner. Lanqin wanted them to stay for dinner, but the Twelfth Princess insisted on taking her leave with the Thirteenth Princess.
Lanqin personally saw them off at the door, waving goodbye, but inwardly she felt a pang of emotion: who said the emperor's daughters were the luckiest girls in the world? Lanqin realized that these two princesses were probably not having an easy time, living under someone else's roof, and even being used as political pawns by Kangxi. Of course, that's a story for later.
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