The Duke's Daughter is Reborn

Those who can receive the invitation from the Queen Mother to attend the flower-viewing banquet today must be girls from prominent families in the imperial city.

The families of these girls have either followed His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for many years, or are impartial and loyal to the current Emperor. But no matter which faction they belong to, it seems as if they had made an appointment today to use all their abilities to compete for the first place in this imperial garden.

Under the east corridor, the one wearing the scarlet dress with golden pheasant patterns is Lu Xiaojin, the daughter of Jingzhao Yin Lu. Around her waist hangs a silk-wrapped agate pendant unique to the Eastern Palace - it was given to Lu Xiaojun by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself. Lu Xiaojun knew that his sister liked it, so he gave it to Lu Xiaojin.

The Imperial Garden is filled with various kinds of precious flowers, which are colorful and fragrant.

However, at this moment, Lu Xiaojin had no intention of appreciating these beautiful flowers. Her eyes were attracted by the noble ladies in gorgeous clothes in front of her.

These noble ladies were in groups of two or three, or alone; some were talking in low voices, while others were standing quietly, and each of them exuded a unique temperament and charm.

Lu Xiaojin couldn't help but feel a strong sense of uneasiness and tension in her heart. She knew that today's gathering was very important to her.

Her brother once told her that the Crown Prince was an extremely filial man and that the Queen meant a lot to him.

If she could leave a good impression on the Queen today, then His Royal Highness the Crown Prince might look at her differently in the future.

Moreover, ever since my brother followed His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he has had almost no free time. He is busy dealing with various official duties every day. Even such a big thing as getting married has been delayed. Over the years, my mother has been very anxious and has often complained about this in front of my brother.

Lu Xiaojin thought that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince must have more things to worry about than his brother, and he certainly has no energy to consider the candidate for the Crown Princess.

In this way, the matter of marriage would most likely fall into the hands of the Queen.

"My brother said that the Queen has always been kind and friendly to others. She is a very easy person to get along with." Lu Xiaojin muttered to himself, trying to relax himself a little.

However, when she looked around and saw those equally outstanding girls, her uneasiness increased a little. She just didn't know if the Queen liked girls like that kind of girls.

Following Lu Xiaojin's gaze, he saw a woman in a moon-white gauze skirt standing there gracefully. She was Su Wanrou, the eldest daughter of the Minister of Justice.

As the Minister of Justice, Lord Su has always been famous for his "integrity and uprightness" in the court and the country.

Su Wanrou's outfit today was also quite simple and elegant. She didn't even wear a pearl hairpin, only a bamboo-jointed silver hairpin.

However, she wore a half-opened wild rose in her hair. The tender pink petals swayed gently in the breeze, as if emitting a faint fragrance. It was more eye-catching than those gorgeous gold hairpins and more in line with the atmosphere of the Queen's flower-viewing banquet.

At this time, Su Wanrou was standing next to a Taihu stone. Her jade-like fingers gently stroked the moss on the stone, as if she had a special interest in this inconspicuous moss.

When she noticed someone's eyes on her, she nodded slightly, raised a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, and said softly: "This moss is interesting."

However, at this moment, a burst of crisp laughter suddenly came from the crowd.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, and saw Princess Cheng'an leading a group of palace maids walking over like stars surrounding the moon. Princess Cheng'an was wearing a gorgeous brocade dress and had exquisite makeup. Her laughter seemed particularly abrupt in this quiet garden.

"Sister Su is doing very well today. However, the Queen took great pains to organize a flower-viewing banquet, but Sister Su only focused on the moss. Isn't that a bit of a waste of time?"

Today she was wearing a lake blue shirt with lotus pattern, and a pair of jade bracelets on her wrists that were awarded by the emperor last year. At this moment, she was holding a teacup and walking to Su Wanrou's side, "Sister, although this moss is beautiful, it is not as noble as the peony of the queen. I see that the Yaohuang over there is in full bloom, do you want to go and see it?"

Seeing Princess Cheng'an arrive, everyone including Su Wanrou hurriedly stood up and bowed respectfully to greet her.

Although Princess Cheng'an's family has gradually shown signs of decline in recent years, she has a certain connection with the royal family after all, so no one dares to neglect her.

Even though the Su family, the Lu family and other families have already held real power in the court, they still need to show due respect to Princess Cheng'an in such occasions.

Su Wanrou smiled as she walked towards Princess Cheng'an and said softly, "Although the peony is beautiful, it is ultimately created through careful manipulation by humans. In comparison, I prefer this moss, which can grow naturally and vigorously without the need for people to water or fertilize it."

Today, Su Wanrou's words revealed an appreciation for the beauty of nature and an indifference to artificial sculptures.

Princess Cheng'an felt a surge of anger in her heart when she saw Su Wanrou dressed so simply and elegantly.

She originally thought that after Bai Yuxin was imprisoned, she would be very close to the position of Crown Princess, but she never expected so many people to show up at once, including Su Wanrou in front of her, who behaved exactly like Bai Yuxin.

Su Wanrou clearly has a crush on the Crown Prince, but she always pretends to be noble on the surface, which is really annoying.

Just as Princess Cheng'an was feeling dissatisfied, Su Wanrou hadn't finished her words when there was a "clang" sound, and the teacup in Princess Cheng'an's hand suddenly hit the stone table heavily.

This sudden sound instantly attracted everyone's attention and startled everyone present.

However, facing this scene, Su Wanrou did not even blink. She just bent down slightly and picked up the teacup for Princess Cheng'an with graceful movements. Then she smiled and said, "Did your hand slip? This moss is not like a peony. It does not need water to be watered. If the princess has any extra tea, why not save it to water the Yaohuang."

However, Su Wanrou's tone remained gentle, as if she was not affected by Princess Cheng'an at all.

There was a slight and subtle sound of footsteps coming from the corridor. Although the sound was not loud, it was particularly clear in the originally quiet atmosphere, and the conversation of the crowd came to an abrupt end.

Everyone turned their heads to look, and saw a beautiful woman in a lake blue dress slowly walking towards them.

She has a graceful figure and light steps, just like a fairy descending to earth.

The person who came was Concubine Li. She was holding the arm of the maid beside her. She had a pair of gold and jade bracelets on her wrists. As she moved, the bracelets collided with each other, making crisp and pleasant jingling sounds.

The appearance of Concubine Li made the originally noisy scene quiet in an instant.

Everyone was silent, all eyes focused on her. Li Guiren walked to the pavilion and sat down gracefully. Her movements were gentle and slow, as if everything around her had nothing to do with her.

After everyone stood up and saluted, Concubine Li just nodded slightly without saying much.

However, her presence was like an invisible pressure, causing all the nobles present to lower their voices unconsciously.

Yang Qi naturally noticed the arrival of Concubine Li, but she did not try to please or cater to her like others did.

On the contrary, Yang Qi chose a relatively secluded place, sat down quietly, and looked at the people in the Imperial Garden from afar. In an occasion like today, he didn't want to attract attention and get into trouble.