After swallowing my anger and taking the blame, I became the lucky little queen

She gritted her teeth to prevent herself from laughing, and asked doubtfully: "Then Your Highness, come to the East Wing..."

"I came here to remind Miss Nian that at tonight's palace banquet, the emperor will choose wives for several princes."

"what?!"

Nian Susu's expression collapsed in an instant. He no longer cared about being reserved and elegant. His brows were furrowed, and he stood up and paced back and forth in the room.

He kept turning around and muttering: "What should I do...what should I do..."

If the Queen wanted her to marry Qin Fengtian, she still had room for consideration. But if the Emperor issued an edict to grant the marriage, she would have no choice but to obey the order or die.

Qin Junyu was dazzled by her, "Are you scared?"

Nian Susu suddenly stopped, puffed up his cheeks, and said in a rush, "Of course I'm afraid! What if the emperor wants me to marry Prince Qing?"

She thought about it and shook her head violently, "No one else can do that either. I don't want to get married yet!"

She still has the task of taking the blame on her shoulders, so she can't be too far away from Nian Qiaoyue for the time being.

To Qin Junyu, this had a deeper meaning. She didn't want to marry Prince Qing, nor did she want to marry any other prince, including himself.

A hint of self-mockery appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he shook his head with a wry smile.

He had wanted to test her attitude. If she was willing to marry him, he would take the initiative to ask his father tonight to grant them marriage. It would be better than passively watching her being assigned to other people.

Regardless of whether the emperor agrees or not, since he asked for marriage first, there is no reason for the other princes to compete with him.

Even if the Queen took action, the Emperor would be caught in a dilemma and would not agree to assign Nian Su Su to Prince Qing.

Now it seems that his trip was in vain.

She has no intention of showing me that doing so would only cause her trouble.

So all the prepared words were useless. He gently comforted her, "Father will not easily marry you to someone in the royal family, especially my third brother. Miss Nian should understand this."

Nian Susu was stunned and slapped her forehead. She forgot all about this in her panic.

She had already analyzed it clearly long ago. The royal family had to check and balance the power of various parties and could not let any one party dominate. Therefore, the prime minister's mansion was particularly critical. No matter which prince she married, there would be turmoil in the court.

For now, she is safe.

She never wanted to get involved in party struggles, but she didn't expect that she had already become a part of it.

Nian Susu, who realized what was happening later, broke out in a cold sweat and sat back on the stool exhausted.

Qin Junyu had said everything he needed to say. He asked her to prepare well for tonight's palace banquet and then left.

Qin Junyu had just left when Zhihua arrived.

She brought three maids with her, each holding a tray with three styles of clothes and matching jewelry on it.

Looking at the fancy style, you can tell that it was sent by Yang Yuerong. She is well-informed and must have used a lot of persuasion to get it out of Nian Chengyun.

Nian Susu glanced at them one by one, showing no interest. "Too eye-catching, put them in the warehouse."

She said to Zhihua, "Just pick something plain from the cabinet, and don't wear jewelry that's too flashy."

Zhihua nodded in confusion, not knowing what it meant.

When they went to get the clothes, the lady said that tonight's palace banquet was particularly important, and asked them to carefully help the young lady change clothes and do her makeup, and not to let other young ladies outshine her. But the young lady didn't seem to want to be in the limelight.

Zhihua signaled the three maids to take the clothes away.

Nian Susu added, “Don’t let mother know.”

The maids responded respectfully, “Yes.”

at dusk.

There were three carriages parked in front of the prime minister's residence, one big and two small.

Nian Chengyun stood beside the largest car with his hands behind his back. He looked up at the setting sun and the darkening sky, then looked towards the mansion gate, feeling extremely anxious.

The butler at the side could not help but advise: "Master, it's still early. It will take some time for the two young ladies to dress up. Don't be impatient, Master."

Nian Chengyun's face darkened, "Women are troublesome when they go out."

As soon as he finished speaking, Nian Susu brought Zhihua out. She greeted Nian Chengyun first and then asked, "Is sister Qiaoyue not here yet?"

She had walked into a trap. Nian Chengyun was already impatient, and if she asked again, he would explode.

"Humph! What time is it now? Are we going to ask the Emperor to wait for our family?"

Nian Susu shut up and moved aside.

The housekeeper didn't dare to say a word.

The two of them stood in the chilly autumn wind and waited for a quarter of an hour before Nian Qiaoyue finally arrived.

Nian Chengyun noticed the eye-catching scarlet dress she was wearing at first sight. The complicated hairpins on her head swayed with the rhythm of her walking, and if you didn't look closely, they seemed to be tangled together.

Then he turned to look at Nian Susu who was standing beside him. She was wearing a snow-blue silk skirt and had few hairpins in her hair. Although she was not outstanding, she was well-behaved and pleasing to the eye.

He immediately felt that Nian Qiaoyue was too ignorant.

At a banquet like this, it's human nature to want to stand out, but if you do it too obviously, you'll only cause others to laugh at you and say that you're acting like a small family and you'll bring shame to the Prime Minister's Mansion!

Nian Qiaoyue secretly glanced at Nian Susu and felt confident that she would be able to beat her tonight.

She walked up to Nian Chengyun and bowed politely, "My daughter is late, please forgive me, father."

Nian Susu glanced at her face and it seemed to be almost healed. There were still a few places where she was scratched badly and the scars had not completely disappeared, but if you didn't look closely, they were almost invisible.

Nian Chengyun was too lazy to say anything to her. He just nodded and turned to get in the car.

The two sisters looked at each other in silence and got on the carriage.

The three carriages rocked to the East Gate. The officials had to go to the Qinghui Hall first and sit down in their respective seats, while the female family members were led in by eunuchs after everyone was present.

Nian Qiaoyue got off the car first. She was dressed beautifully and wanted to impress everyone, but she didn't expect that as soon as she showed up, there were sighs from the crowd.

"How dare she come here? Wasn't she caught having a secret meeting with Prince Qing a few days ago? How could the Emperor allow such an unruly person to come to the banquet?"

"If I were her, I would have hit my head against a wall and died a long time ago. How can I still have the nerve to come out and see people? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at? I think if it weren't for her status as the second young lady of the prime minister's mansion, she would have been thrown into a pig cage a long time ago!"

"Don't tell me, her status as the second daughter of the Prime Minister's Mansion is totally unjustified! I heard from the maid in the mansion that her mother was just a slave, and she climbed into Prime Minister Nian's bed when Madam Nian was pregnant with Miss Nian. Her mother has been dead for so many years, and Prime Minister Nian has not said that he will give her a concubine."

"So, what's the difference between her and a concubine? No wonder she is so shameless that she dares to seduce the prince to have a secret meeting with her. She must be crazy to want to become a phoenix!"

Nian Susu felt upset listening to these words in the carriage, not to mention the person involved, Nian Qiaoyue. She was a proud and arrogant person, so wouldn’t she be mad at this moment?

Logically speaking, if a man and a woman have a secret meeting, both should be scolded, but who can blame the man for being the Prince of Qing? And with the support of the Queen behind him, who dares to say anything bad about him?

Anyway, these young ladies from aristocratic families didn't dare to do that, so they just kept scolding Nian Qiaoyue, and some of the words were unbearable to hear.