After the princess entered the palace, the war god prince broke his back

Seeing Chu Nanyue's humble and submissive appearance, the Queen Mother had no heart to blame her. In addition, her hips felt smoother than she had felt for a long time, and her face was full of smiles. "Good child, really good child. Although you are bold and reckless, you are capable of what others cannot do. You cured my long-standing illness. I can't thank you enough. Come, bring me that set of hibiscus purple inlaid crystal jewelry!"

A hint of surprise flashed across Jiang Wanyan's eyes, and then it turned into endless jealousy.

The Empress Dowager's set of hibiscus purple inlaid crystal jewelry was a gift from the late emperor, and now she wants to give it to Chu Nanyue? A humble concubine?

Sure enough, after Zhu Ruo presented it, the Queen Mother said to Chu Nanyue: "My good child, I see that you are dressed too plainly without any ornaments. Han'er is really a fool, only knowing how to prepare brocade clothes for you but ignoring the jewels. After all, he is a careless man and does not understand these things. I will give you this set of hibiscus purple inlaid crystal jewelry!"

Chu Nanyue looked at the jewelry set with surprise, a jade hairpin, a pair of earrings, a necklace, and a jade bracelet, all of which were extremely finely crafted. The jade was pure and without any other colors, and it flashed a light noble purple. It was obviously the most beautiful jade at first glance, and it complemented the brocade clothes she was wearing today, so noble and luxurious.

In fact, she wanted to ask, can it be exchanged for hard cash?

She was afraid of being robbed if she wore this when going out.

But she didn't have the guts to do so, so she pretended to thank him: "Thank you, Queen Mother, for your reward!"

Jiang Wanyan's bright eyes moved, and she opened her red lips slightly: "Madam Chu, let me help you put it on. If the King of Yan sees it, his eyes will light up!"

The Eighth Princess also echoed excitedly: "Yes, yes, when the Fourth Sister-in-law wears it, she will definitely be the most dazzling one in the world, and will blind Fourth Brother's eyes."

Chu Nanyue ignored the Eighth Princess and smiled at Jiang Wanyan for a while before she spoke slowly: "This set of jewelry given by the Queen Mother is really too valuable. There are so many people here today, and I am afraid it might get damaged accidentally, so I won't bother you. But I like this set of jewelry very much, and I believe Your Highness will like it too. When I see Your Highness later, I will immediately wear it for Your Highness to see."

Humph! Little Bailian, don't think I can't see your ulterior motives.

Isn't it just to make her the target of public criticism?

Wearing this conspicuous set of jewelry, you will become a thorn in the eyes of many noble ladies as soon as you go out.

The Queen Mother won't protect her then, so she has to deal with it all on her own, right?

She doesn't have three heads and six arms.

It seemed that the Queen Mother was rewarding her, but in fact it was for her fourth grandson to see. So whether she wore it or not was not the point. The point was to let her fourth grandson know about it.

As expected, the Queen Mother smiled kindly: "What is rewarded to you is yours, you can do as you please. Well, this is your first time in the palace, right? Let Fuxing take you to the front hall!"

Chu Nanyue let out a long sigh, and with a faint smile on her face, she kowtowed with the Eighth Princess and left Yikang Palace.

The Queen Mother couldn't help but narrow her eyes as she looked at her slender figure.

This woman is charming and attractive. She is bold and reckless in her actions but knows when to act. She seems humble but actually neither humble nor arrogant. If she were a person of status, she would be worthy of being the Princess of Yan.

It's a pity...after all, she is just a concubine who is not presentable...

Chu Nanyue and the Eighth Princess happened to meet Xiao Yihang when they passed by the Imperial Garden on their way to the front palace.

When Xiao Yihang saw Chu Nanyue, he quickly walked over, smiling: "Chu... Fourth Sister-in-law, I have been waiting in Prince Chen's Mansion for three whole days and you have not sent anyone to invite me!"

Chu Nanyue felt guilty for a moment. She had only mentioned it casually that day, but she had never thought that Xiao Yihang would take it seriously. She coughed lightly and said, "I... have a fever... I was afraid that I would pass the disease on to you, so I didn't invite you."

Xiao Yihang couldn't help but raise his voice: "You have a fever? Are you okay now?"

"It's been a long time since I've been here!" Seeing Xiao Yihang caring about her so much, she felt even more guilty. "We are good friends. I've already said that the door of our Chu family is always open to you. You can come whenever you want!"

Looking at the extremely pleasing smile on Xiao Yihang's face that was gradually getting bigger, Chu Nanyue became suspicious.

Why is it that the younger brother is so likable while the older brother is so disliked, being two brothers born from the same mother?

The Eighth Princess interrupted: "Seventh Brother, you sneaked out of the study again?"

Xiao Yihang retracted his gaze from Chu Nanyue and scratched his head. "This time, the three countries sent envoys respectively, and my father made a long speech in the imperial study to show off the prestige of our Northern Xiao Kingdom. I took a look and felt that I was really redundant, so I took the initiative to sneak out to avoid annoying others!"

Then, he covered his lips with his hand and whispered, "Don't you think I am more self-aware than my eldest brother? The Western Region is the country of my third brother's mother's clan. The prince and princess of the Western Region are entertained by my third brother. The small country of Dongyu is really not worth mentioning. It is a country of saliva. Second brother can deal with it. As for the powerful Nanye Kingdom, although it is the most difficult to deal with, it was defeated by my fourth brother three years ago. Therefore, as long as my fourth brother stands in front of them, they will be scared and dare not say a word."

Chu Nanyue couldn't help but nod: "Prince Chen, you are good. Your analysis is very logical. Everyone is assigned to a position according to their talent. If you put away your dandy nature and use it in government affairs, you will be no worse than anyone else!"

Xiao Yihang frowned: "Why do you speak exactly like my fourth brother?"

The Eighth Princess snorted: "This is what they call people from the same family tend to marry each other, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get along with each other!"

Chu Nanyue held his forehead and said, that’s not called seeing eye to eye, that’s called blindness!

Xiao Yihang glared at the Eighth Princess and said, "Lucky Star, I just saw people from your mother's palace looking for you everywhere!"

The Eighth Princess: "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I have to go back quickly. It's too late for my mother to recite the sutras again!"

After she finished speaking, she put the hibiscus purple crystal jewelry in the servant's hand into Chu Nanyue's hand and ran away.

Xiao Yihang ordered the servant to take it and chuckled, "It seems that I worried too much. The Royal Grandmother likes you very much. That's right, the Royal Grandmother favors Fourth Brother the most. How could she make things difficult for the woman he finally likes?"

Chu Nanyue laughed sarcastically, without commenting, and asked, "Why does the Queen Mother favor your fourth brother the most?"

"Perhaps because my fourth brother and I are only three years apart in age, and my mother couldn't take care of him alone, so my fourth brother was raised in the Imperial Grandmother's Yikang Palace. Therefore, the Imperial Grandmother likes my fourth brother the most."

Chu Nanyue asked again: "Then isn't your fourth brother childhood sweethearts with Princess Zhaoren?"

Now Chu Nanyue understood why Jiang Wanyan had such an inexplicable hostility towards her?

It turns out that rivals are jealous of each other.

In fact, she wanted to say that it was not necessary, because she would be away from Xiao Hanye soon.

Xiao Yihang looked lonely for a moment. Chu Nanyue was indeed very affectionate towards his fourth brother. However, he soon became clear again and raised his eyebrows and said, "Princess Zhaoren was brought to the palace by our father six years ago. At that time, my fourth brother had already secretly joined the military camp. Therefore, the two of them did not have much interaction, but they did have some friendship, because my fourth brother fought under the command of Princess Zhaoren's father Jiang Yu when he first joined the military camp."

"At that time, Fourth Brother entered the military camp in secret. As a young boy, he relied on his own strength to earn military merits one by one, and step by step became the marshal of the 300,000-man Changlin army. The hardships he went through are beyond words."

At this point, Xiao Yihang's eyes showed pride. He put away his smile and spoke solemnly.

"Originally, I was not qualified to be crowned king. It was my fourth brother who asked our father for the title on my behalf. He said that my personality was not suitable for the palace. He often warned me that there would be countless unfair things in one's life, and if one wanted to change them, one had to rely on one's own hands. My fourth brother did it. He relied on his military merits to change the status of the three of us in the palace."

"My mother is the daughter of a merchant. She was able to enter the palace because my father went out drunk. Merchants have the lowest status. Later, my father met the Empress Xiaoren, the one he loved the most in his life, who was also my third brother's biological mother. My mother became a decoration and was bullied by almost everyone in the palace. She and the Empress Xiaoren gave birth to princes at the same time. My father did everything for my third brother, but he didn't care about my fourth brother. The servants in the palace were the best at flattering the powerful and looking down on the weak. My mother and my fourth brother were bullied in secret. I remember that when my fourth brother was a child, he was often beaten up by those people to protect me. Even so, my fourth brother never backed down. Whenever someone bullied me, he would be the first to rush forward, no matter when. So, he gradually became a thorn in the eyes and flesh of those people."

"Later, in order not to implicate us, my fourth brother quietly left the palace when he was only twelve years old..."

At this point, a sparkling light flashed in Xiao Yihang's eyes. He looked up at the sky before continuing.

"Fortunately, the most difficult time has passed. Now Fourth Brother has finally reaped the rewards of his hard work. Over the years, he has developed a domineering, vindictive, gloomy and sinister character, but I know that is just a protective color for him to protect outsiders."

"Actually, he's a very nice person. You just need to go along with him."

Chu Nanyue was slightly moved one second ago, and it was gone the next.

People's kindness is mutual.

Xiao Hanye sincerely protects Xiao Yihang, so Xiao Yihang is willing to endure his tyranny.

Chu Ziyu also spared no effort to be good to her, so she was willing to give him all the good things.

But why should she follow his fourth brother? He is not her fourth brother!

She laughed it off without taking it seriously: "You've become a little fanboy of your fourth brother, stop talking about him. This is my first time in the palace, take me to visit the Imperial Garden."

Xiao Yihang regained his composure, pulled out a standard smile with eight big white teeth, put on the attitude of a host, and said generously: "Today I will take you for a good stroll!"

The two were chatting animatedly and didn't notice the two pretty figures behind the rockery at all.