The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Princess Rong Le is over thirty years old. She has an oval face, fair and radiant skin, and slightly furrowed brows. However, she does not look weak. Instead, she has a grace and dignity that can only be cultivated in a wealthy family.

She was not much older than the emperor, and although she was not particularly favored by the late emperor, her biological mother was also a well-read lady from a wealthy family. After the late emperor passed away, she left the palace to reunite with her daughter. However, a few years ago, this concubine claimed that she was too old to be accustomed to the climate of the capital, so she asked Empress Dowager Hu for permission to go to the south to recuperate.

"Are you Lin Qiao?" Princess Rong Le broke one of her legs, had many abrasions on her back, and had dull pain in her ribs. The imperial physician who came to treat her suspected that the bones in her shoulders and back were also injured, but it did not look serious, with no fractures or dislocations. Most fortunately, she did not injure her spine, and there was only a large swelling on the back of her head.

Before Lin Qiao came over, Princess Rong Le had already taken medicine, which had a pain-relieving effect, but while she was speaking, a thin layer of crystal sweat beads could still be seen on her forehead.

She was still wearing the clothes she was wearing when she fell from the building, lying on her side on a low couch with soft cushions underneath her. Her broken leg was clamped on a board and slightly raised on a small rack with a groove on top that looked like a human leg.

Normally, it would be inappropriate to meet a "foreign man" in this state, let alone a familiar guest. However, Princess Rong Le herself did not care about this. In addition to Nanny Wan, there were several women whom Lin Qiao was not very familiar with guarding her. Two of them were wearing the official uniforms of the chief secretary of the princess's mansion. She had enough manpower and was not afraid of the rumors of the pedantic people.

Lin Qiao had not expected that Princess Rong Le would be so uninhibited and let her in while lying down, so she stepped forward a little awkwardly, bowed and said, "I am Lin Qiao, meeting Her Royal Highness Princess Rong Le."

"I have met the Empress before. You two cousins ​​don't look alike." Princess Rong Le gradually relaxed after meeting Lin Qiao. She even wanted to tease her, "The Empress is as pretty as the sun, shining brightly in the Han Palace. You are not bad either, beautiful and elegant, but your skin color is a little darker. If you can take good care of yourself and make it whiter, you will be more pleasing to the eye."

Lin Qiao, who deliberately tanned herself several degrees, pulled the corners of her mouth into a wry smile. Just when she was about to come up with an excuse like "a man doesn't care about appearance" to deal with Princess Rong Le's teasing.

Princess Rong Le continued to speak on her own: "Don't be nervous. I have always been lenient to beauties, especially a handsome young man like you who is eighteen or nineteen years old."

Lin Qiao: “…”

Suddenly I realized that the older sister opposite me seemed to be teasing me.

Not too serious, and looks very relaxed.

But Lin Qiao did not dare to let down his guard at all, and instead treated it with even more caution: "Your Highness summoned me because..."

Princess Rong Le's smile suddenly disappeared, and her eyebrows knitted together, looking very distressed: "Although I took the medicine, I still feel some pain in my body, especially in my head..." She raised her right hand with a trembling hand and pointed behind her head, "The imperial physician said that it's just the skin that's swollen, and the bones are fine. I just don't know what's going on inside."

"Although it doesn't look serious, I don't remember what happened before I fell from the upstairs." Princess Rong Le put down her hand and said gloomily, "Maybe there are other things that I have forgotten, but even I don't know if there is anything else I have forgotten..."

She said something like a tongue twister and coughed twice: "Do you know why I summoned you?"

Lin Qiao lowered her eyes, not looking at the way Princess Rong Le coughed and touched her chest: "The nanny in His Highness's residence has already told me, but I am still young and have little knowledge. I don't know if I will disappoint Her Highness the Princess."

"Haha." Princess Rong Le saw that she didn't look at her, so she chuckled as if she had found something interesting. After she finished laughing, she continued, "The Second Young Lady of Duke Shen's Mansion is also familiar to me. She is a very competitive and arrogant person. She actually praised you, a mere scholar, so highly. I am really curious about how capable you are to make Chen Peiluan obsessed with you!"

Lin Qiao sighed deliberately: "There are only some minor misunderstandings between me and Madam Chen."

"She captured two of her concubines. They are pretty, aren't they? Are you in love with them now?"

As she was talking, Princess Rong Le seemed to start to act frivolously again, but Lin Qiao felt that she had grasped something from her erratic attitude. She raised her dark eyes and said, "They are just two little girls. If I am lucky enough to have a younger sister, I think she will be about the same age as them."

"Moreover, at the beginning, I only had the chance to meet the Duke of Shen's Mansion, and I had never met Madam Chen. I didn't know that Madam Chen was so broad-minded. Not only did she not mind my unintentional offense to her, but she also praised me so highly. I was really terrified and ashamed."

"Ah! By the way, my father and I are two single men, living in a poor house. I finally asked my aunt, Madam Xie from the Yongjia Marquis's Mansion, to help settle the two girls. If Your Highness the Princess is curious about their appearance, she can go to the Yongjia Marquis's Mansion to find out."

Princess Rong Huan nodded slightly and straightened her expression: "You were able to snatch these two children from Madam Chen's mouth. It's the ability of the Yongjia Marquis's Mansion. I am more curious about your own ability."

She gave a look to the chief clerk on her left, and the chief clerk walked up to Lin Qiao.

"I just took some medicine and feel a little sleepy. Heyi Tower will be sealed for another hour. I hope you can give me an answer within this hour, Master Lin." Princess Rong Le yawned and leaned lazily on the soft pillow. She relaxed completely. "After I fell from the building, Aunt Wan and the others checked the room I was in before, but no one was there. They suspected that it was my husband who was with me at that time, but now they can't find any trace of him... I can only trouble Master Lin to help me find the missing husband."

"Although he is beginning to lose his looks due to his age and should be replaced, he is still my consort after all."

After saying this, Princess Rong Le closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Lin Qiao followed the chief clerk out of the room quietly. After the door was closed, Lin Qiao took the initiative to talk to the chief clerk: "What is your name, sir?"

"I'm not worthy of being called a lord. My last name is Lan, so you can just call me Lan Changshi." Lan Changshi was not tall, with a slightly round and chubby face. She looked up at Lin Qiao without any embarrassment, "Master Lin, do you have anything to ask me?"