Peach Blossom.

Originally, Tao Ye had always believed that the person who ruined her reputation must be Chen Chong, because ever since she asked to be the queen, she had heard in several places that Chen Chong's opposition was the strongest.

But after meeting Chen Chong today, Tao Ye discovered that this person has an extremely upright character. Although he is impulsive and irritable, he is a gentleman who speaks what he thinks and is unlikely to use such despicable means.

Therefore, the person who spread the rumors must be someone else.

The two maids who died on the abdication platform were both girls bought by Shen Hui after Taoye left Meixiangxie. Although they did not know Taoye, Taoye could not help feeling guilty.

Therefore, during the following period of time, Tao Ye never went out again, and asked Mada to take a message to Chen Ji, asking him to give a proper burial to the two girls and provide relief to their families.

Taking advantage of this free time, Tao Ye read many books of this era and tried hard to memorize the writing methods of ancient Chinese characters in order to make up for his shortcomings.

Fengming Garden was finally completed, and Ma An respectfully invited Tao Ye to move in.

Then, relatives from near and far came to congratulate the Ma family. There were more than ten waves a day, and it took many days to entertain them all. The gifts piled up like a mountain in the warehouse.

It was the first time that Tao Ye knew that the Ma family had so many relatives.

It is sad that when Mada was young, his parents died and he was left on the streets, and not a single relative bothered to look for him.

What made Tao Ye even more speechless was that whenever relatives and friends praised him, Ma An would inevitably brag about himself as well, wishing he could lift his toes above others' heads.

After so many times, Tao Ye was too lazy to see these relatives, so she locked herself in the small attic under the pretext of feeling unwell and refused to go out, leaving Ma An to take care of things and show off.

On the appointed day, the Ministry of Rites appointed Chen Wei, the Minister of the Left, as the chief envoy and Qin Yan, the Minister of State, as the deputy envoy to come to Fengming Garden and read the canonization document written by Chen Ji himself:

"Tao, the daughter of Marquis Liyang, is beautiful and intelligent, modest and well-mannered. She is a role model for the six palaces and a model for the mother of the world. Therefore, she is canonized as the empress, to control the concubines at home and to assist me. The yarrow and tortoise shells are auspicious, so the 15th day of the sixth lunar month will be chosen for the ceremony and canonization."

Ma An led the entire family to kneel in the courtyard. After the document was read, they kowtowed to express their gratitude according to the rules, took the document from Chen Wei, and then stood up.

Chen Wei motioned Qin Yan behind him to come forward. Qin Yan and several attendants behind him were holding trays in their hands, on which were placed the queen's robe, phoenix crown and other items used in the wedding.

Qin Yan led his men to Tao Ye, Ma An and others, and said with a smile: "These are the costumes to be used in the enthronement ceremony. Please keep them, Queen Mother and Marquis Liyang."

"I understand." Ma An responded with the dignity of a father-in-law. He held his head high, held the document in one hand, and put the other hand behind his back. He casually told the servants, "Take the things."

The servants rushed forward and took all the trays of documents.

Tao Ye hesitated for a moment, feeling that it seemed inappropriate for even the document tray in Qin Yan's hand to be taken by a servant.

But Ma An made the decision too quickly, and Tao Ye was too embarrassed to refute, so she smiled and said to Ma An: "Father, the two adults have worked hard on the way, why don't you invite them to my house for a cup of tea."

"Yeah." Ma An nodded and coughed symbolically. He still kept his composure and said to Chen Wei and Qin Yan, "Did you hear that? This is the Queen's grace! Go inside and have some tea!"

Hearing this tone and wording, Tao Ye suddenly felt a headache. This Ma An, it's okay to put on airs in front of his poor relatives, but he actually behaves like this when he meets an official appointed by the imperial court. Isn't this a joke?

Sure enough, when Chen Wei and Qin Yan looked at each other, their expressions seemed very surprised, and then their surprise eased a little, but they wanted to laugh but couldn't.

After the strange atmosphere, Chen Wei spoke up to refuse: "Thank you for your kindness, Queen. We are busy with official duties, so we will not bother you and Marquis Liyang."

After saying this, the people from the Ministry of Rites turned around and left.

Ma An was completely unaware of everything. As usual, he respectfully asked Tao Ye to go back and rest, and then began to give orders to his servants.

That attitude really embodies four words: a villain succeeds.

However, for Tao Ye now, it is not a bad idea for me...

Tao Ye just smiled slightly and went back to the attic, leaving Fengmingyuan to Ma An to take care of everything.

On June 15th, at four o'clock in the morning, the world was still in darkness, but the lights in Jiankang Palace were as bright as day, and the palace servants were all busy.

The bright red carpet started from the Taiji Hall, passed through the three palace gates, and was laid all the way to the city gate of Jiankang City.

Festive lanterns are also hung high on both sides of the official road. From a distance, they look like two long dragons.

The palace had been fully decorated several days ago. All the palaces were decorated with lights and colors. Needless to say, the decorations were exquisite and luxurious. The festive atmosphere spread to every corner of the palace.

Of course, Si Rong’s Zi Ji Palace is an exception.

Chen Ji was worried about Tao Ye's safety, so he arranged heavy guards along the way from Fengming Garden to Jiankang Palace. All civil and military officials in the court, women with titles, as well as all concubines, palace maids, and guards were required to be present.

Of course, Si Rong’s Zi Ji Palace is an exception.

As dawn was about to break, civil and military officials, led by Chen Liang and Chen Chong, entered the palace from Wanchun Gate and Qianqiu Gate respectively, bypassed the south side of Taiji East Hall and Taiji West Hall, and then stood neatly on both sides of Taiji Hall according to their official ranks.

All the officials had bright red silk ribbons tied around their waists, which were gifts from the emperor. To show the joy, Chen Ji ordered that all those present today must tie them around their waists.

Soon, Mada led five envoys from the neighboring country Qiuchi into the Taiji Hall, all wearing the same silk ribbons.

The arrival of the envoy from Qiuchi was also a new thing in the capital recently, because Qiuchi had no dealings with the former Qi State, but now it came to congratulate Chen State on the establishment of the queen, which was really a bit unusual.

But Chen Ji thought it was a great thing. He wished that more distinguished foreign officials would attend the ceremony to crown the queen, in order to demonstrate the recognition of the new queen.

Therefore, Chen Ji ordered the Ministry of Rites to entertain the envoys from Qiu Chi and arrange for them to stay in the post house while they wait for the ceremony of conferring the queen.

Ma Da served as the Right Minister of Rites and personally led the way for the envoys from Qiu Chi, ordering them to stand in the ranks of officials behind Chen Liang.

After looking around and confirming that all officials were present, Mada left and went inside to report.

In the square right in front of the Taiji Hall, there is a huge altar with all kinds of offerings on it. There is also a golden incense burner with smoke rising slowly in the dim morning light.

On the long avenue from Taiji Hall to Duanmen Gate, the guards standing on both sides stood straight in complete silence, with a solemn atmosphere everywhere. The only difference was that the guards had a red silk tied to their spears, which fluttered in the wind like a girl's soft ribbon.

Time passed quietly, and after a long wait by the citizens of the city, the gates of Jiankang City finally opened and the grand imperial guard of honor began to enter the city.

The people in the city looked up and saw large groups of people marching in rows, with dragon and phoenix flags fluttering in the wind, majestic and awe-inspiring, demonstrating the unique royal majesty; the silk and brocade canopy embroidered with colorful auspicious clouds stood proudly, shining with glory, gleaming with the unparalleled honor of the emperor.

The minister in charge of the welcoming ceremony this time is Chen Mi. After Chen Mi recovered from his injury, he undoubtedly became the most favored member of the royal family. Therefore, he was entrusted with the important task of going to Shitou City to welcome the queen into the palace.

Behind the cavalry of more than a dozen imperial envoys, a golden sedan chair was slowly carried in.

"Pure gold...it's really pure gold..." Some people among the onlookers on both sides whispered.

Ten thousand golden rays of light reflect the morning glow, so brilliant and dazzling that it is rarely seen in the world.

The shape of the golden sedan chair is like an exquisite attic. The roof is divided into three layers, upper, middle and lower. The layers are decorated with pearls hanging down in an orderly manner, like falling stars, emitting a charming halo.

The patterns carved on the sedan are extremely delicate and ingenious. On the left is a smile on the face of a happy person, on the right is a boy holding a carp, and on the back is a dragon and a phoenix. They are so lifelike that even every scale of the dragon has clear textures, and the two magpies on the plum branches seem to be about to fly out.

The door and windows of the sedan chair are covered with bright red satin curtains. Brilliant gold threads shuttle back and forth on the red silk, embroidering countless dancing butterflies, with jade-like pink flowers and green leaves inlaid among them, creating a poetic picture.

As the golden sedan swayed, the curtains were slightly lifted by the wind, floating like clouds. Occasionally, one could glimpse the soft velvet carpet inside the sedan. The carpet was so finely crafted and had such intricate patterns that it was absolutely rare in the world.

No one could help but be surprised that in the early years of the establishment of the State of Chen, when the treasury was empty, the king actually sent people to collect high-quality gold from all over the country, gathered it together, and melted it into this barefoot pure gold sedan chair carried by eight people.

Behind the golden sedan chair was a dowry procession that stretched for miles.

The Ma family was ordered by the emperor to prepare a dowry for the empress, and they did not dare to be careless in the slightest. It included the finest silks and satins, exquisitely crafted cloud-head shoes, countless jewels, new rosewood furniture, white jade porcelain vases... all the necessities for food, clothing, and daily life, as well as all kinds of rare treasures.

The people watching on the roadside were so numerous that they could not see the end of the guard of honor by standing on tiptoe. They only seemed to see that the flags at the head of the team were approaching the palace gate, while the servants carrying the dowry at the end of the team had not yet completely entered the city.

Inside and outside the city, wherever the golden sedan passed, there were layers of guards. Most of them were elite soldiers from the Emperor's personal Flying Dragon Army. Each of them was mighty and majestic, wearing festive red clothes inside and silver-gray armor outside, standing solemnly.

The entire team moved in an orderly manner toward the palace along the route paved with red carpets.

In compliance with the imperial edict, Concubine Si Yao and Noble Lady Zhang Xiaowan had to dress neatly early in the morning and lead all the officials and ladies to stand in rows in accordance with their ranks in front of the gate of Taiji Hall to respectfully welcome the new queen.

However, the journey was long and the etiquette was complicated. Although the imperial envoy had set out with a large group of people at dawn, the phoenix carriage only arrived when the sun was high in the sky.

These noble ladies were already exhausted, especially Si Yao, who had been spoiled since childhood. How could she have ever stood for an hour or two in a row? She already had backaches and leg pains, and was full of complaints.

Finally, the golden sedan chair was carried into the Dasima Gate, the Taiyang Gate, and the Taiji Gate. The sedan chair landed on the ground and the bearers withdrew.

The sun was shining brightly, casting light on the dazzling golden sedan, casting a waterfall of golden light that was almost blinding.

This dazzling light made Si Yao’s hatred even stronger.

She has been cared for by her mother, Queen Mother Meng, since she was a child, and everything has gone smoothly for her. However, since Tao Ye appeared, her life has become a mess.

The hatred for her husband being stolen away, the hatred for being stabbed with a sword, and even the tragic murder of her biological mother were all related to this person, but she had to stand here and respectfully welcome this person to be the hostess here.

This land originally belonged to her family, and it was the palace where she grew up happily... She was once the most noble woman here...

"Empress Shufei." Zhang Xiaowan beside her called softly.

Si Yao woke up as if from a dream, and hurriedly walked to the front of the golden sedan chair with Xiao Wan and a group of ladies, and bowed together: "Your servants respectfully welcome the Queen."

On one side of the golden sedan, Xue Yi opened the curtain, revealing Tao Ye, who was wearing a nine-phoenix pearl crown and embroidered clothes. She was dignified and charming, and she leaned forward slightly under the gazes of countless people.

The light gauze on her arms was as long as her long skirt, dragging on the ground. The phoenix crown was covered with a red silk gauze. The thin veil half covered her face but did not affect her vision.

Caiwei hurriedly supported Taoye.

Just as she stepped out of the curtain of the sedan chair, a pair of phoenix-shaped shoes fell out from under her red skirt embroidered with phoenixes and rolled right in front of Si Yao.

The ladies in their best attire all looked surprised.

"Hey...how did my shoes fall off?" Through the hazy red gauze, Tao Ye smiled and looked at Si Yao beside her, and said softly: "Excuse me, Concubine Shu, please help me put them on."

A surge of anger suddenly rushed into Boss Yao's heart, "Tao Ye! You..."