"Master, it's late, you should rest," Cui Niang said to Lanqin, who was reclining on the couch reading. The maids in the room were all silent. Their master's return today should have been a good thing, but from preparing dinner to preparing hot water, he hadn't come. Lanqin had initially tried to comfort herself, thinking perhaps the Fourth Master was held up by something, but it was unprecedented for him to return without showing up or even saying a word. Shuiling went to the front courtyard to inquire, but only received Su Peisheng's words. But one must sleep eventually; even if the Fourth Master was busy, he still needed to sleep.
"Okay. Let's get settled!" Lanqin put down the book in her hand. She felt inexplicably flustered, but she didn't know why.
Nianxue tidied up the books Lanqin had been reading, while Xicha and Shuiling quickly brought in water for Lanqin to wash up. After helping her wash her face and hands, Sihua helped Lanqin sit down at the dressing table to remove her hair. Lanqin looked in the mirror at the particularly beautiful side-swept hairstyle Sihua had styled for her, realizing she hadn't even had a chance to show her face to the Fourth Master. She had specially dressed up for him, but now she hadn't even seen him.
“My lady, I’ll style your hair again tomorrow, and it will be even prettier than this one,” Si Hua said, trying to make Lan Qin happy.
"Okay, then do my hair into a pretty bun again tomorrow. Take it down!" Lanqin said with a smirk.
After helping Lanqin into bed and lowering the gauze curtains, Cui Niang instructed Xicha to hold Xia outside and rest, ready to be summoned by Lanqin at any time. She then discussed matters with Nianxue and the others.
“Let’s go check the front yard again. Master hasn’t been back for the past few days, and when he did return, he didn’t even come to deliver a message. It’s different from usual. Although Master didn’t say anything, he’s clearly unhappy inside,” Nianxue said.
“Hmm. Nianxue, go and ask him yourself. Su Peisheng is close to you. I always felt that the master was acting a bit strange today. Perhaps it's inconvenient for him to say,” Cui Niang said.
Nianxue nodded and was about to leave when Cui Niang called her back: "You should take a purse with you. It's never a bad thing to be a good gift."
When Nianxue arrived at the front yard carrying the gas lamp, she saw that the front gate was not closed and someone was standing at the door. When Nianxue got closer, she was surprised to see that it was Su Peisheng.
"Eunuch Su, what are you doing here?" Nianxue asked in surprise. She carried the gas lamp up the steps and shone it on her.
"Nianxue, what brings you here?" Su Peisheng knew that Nan Xiaoyuan had come to inquire about the situation since Nianxue was so late, but he still couldn't help but ask.
"Eunuch Su, our master is worried. I wonder if something has happened to him?" Nianxue wondered why Su Peisheng was guarding the door so late at night.
"Go back, Nianxue. I'm not going anywhere tonight. Listen to me, let your concubines live peacefully. As long as you have offspring and status, you have nothing to fear." Su Peisheng couldn't help but offer a few words of comfort after seeing the South Courtyard visit twice in one day. But what exactly the Fourth Prince was doing, he didn't really know, but it was definitely related to that Wuya Wanru!
Seeing that Su Peisheng had put things this far, Nianxue felt even more strongly that something was amiss, so she immediately pleaded, "Eunuch Su, please tell me the truth. Our master has been unhappy all night. We were worried about him too. Our master and we will always remember your kindness." With that, she took out the large purse from her sleeve and stuffed it into Su Peisheng's hand.
“Nianxue, what are you doing? I will never forget the kindness of the concubine. If I could have spoken to her first, I would have told you all. But for now, let’s wait a few more days. Perhaps things will get better in a while,” Su Peisheng said anxiously.
Seeing that Su Peisheng absolutely refused to accept it, Nianxue grew increasingly anxious. Finally, she had no choice but to give up and said, "Eunuch Su, since you can't say it, I can't force you. But if there's an opportunity, you can mention it to the master. You must mention it!"
“Of course. Go back quickly, it won’t be good if the master sees this when he comes back,” Su Peisheng said.
Nianxue returned to the South Courtyard with a head full of questions. Cui Niang and the others had been waiting for her news and hadn't slept yet.
Upon hearing the sound of the bolt being locked inside the courtyard gate, several maids who were in the side room of the main house came out with lamps and candles.
"Nianxue, come here!" Cui Niang said, standing at the door of her room, wearing a coat. "You all go back to your rooms and sleep."
Seeing that Cui Niang had given such instructions, the maids had no choice but to suppress their unease and turn back to their own rooms. Nianxue followed Cui Niang into her room.
"Well, what did Eunuch Su say?" Cui Niang asked, pulling Nianxue's hand and making her sit down.
“Eunuch Su didn’t say anything specific, but from what he said, I felt that Master must have something on his mind.” Nianxue quickly repeated what Su Peisheng had said.
Cui Niang frowned and remained silent for a while before saying, "You mean Su Peisheng is standing at the gate of the front yard, seemingly waiting for the master?"
Nianxue nodded and said, "Judging from Eunuch Su's last words, he must be waiting for the master. But if the master goes anywhere, he will definitely take him with him. So the master didn't let him go with him this time."
Cui Niang sighed and said, "Reports have come from Nian Gege, Song Gege, Geng Gege, and Wu Gege's quarters that Master has not been there. So, where has Master gone at this time?"
Meanwhile, the man whom all the women in the inner quarters were worried about was standing outside a courtyard. He looked inside but couldn't see any lights. He stood there for a long time but still didn't go up to knock on the door.
After circling the courtyard twice, the Fourth Prince finally rode away on horseback, heading straight for the Fourth Prince's residence.
When Fourth Master returned, all the candles in the courtyards were extinguished, and he stayed in the front courtyard under the care of Su Peisheng.
The next day, instead of going to the morning court, the Fourth Prince sent someone to the South Courtyard to tell Lanqin that he would come over at Chenshi (7-9 AM) to have breakfast together.
Lanqin hadn't slept well all night, so she showed no sign of waking up in the morning. Normally, Cui Niang would never have let anyone wake her, but at this moment, Cui Niang came to Lanqin's bedside herself and said through the gauze curtains, "Master, get up. The master will be coming for breakfast later."
But Lanqin showed no sign of waking up; she turned over and continued sleeping.
Seeing that she couldn't wake Lanqin, Cui Niang had no choice but to steel herself, quickly roll up the gauze curtains, then shook Lanqin's arm and said loudly, "Master, get up. The master is coming for breakfast!"
Lanqin finally woke up, rolled her eyes, and said shyly, "You're here, so be it."
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