The Prince Consort's Beloved

winter solstice.

News came early in the palace that a banquet would be held for all civil and military officials on the Winter Solstice.

Because the palace banquet was scheduled for the evening, Li Yuanrou and Xiao Luobai entered the palace with Daya in the afternoon, and the coachman and attendants were waiting outside the palace gate.

The two walked side by side, the man's talent and the woman's beauty complemented each other, adding a different color to the bleak palace road in winter.

Li Yuanrou spoke slowly: "I have been recuperating for some time and have not been to the palace for a long time. I want to go see my mother first."

As he was speaking, a young boy and a girl came towards them. They were the children of Li Yuanrou's nominal uncle, Prince Yun, who now controlled the government.

When the young man saw Li Yuanrou, he rushed up, his handsome face full of anger: "Shanyang, what do you mean!"

He pointed at Xiao Luobai and said angrily: "Are you and him now really the same as the rumors outside, then what am I?"

Li Yuanrou was slightly surprised. When she recognized the person, a string in her brain suddenly tightened and she became alert in an instant.

She asked in a deep voice: "Li Yanchen? What nonsense are you talking about!"

The girl next to Li Yanchen pulled his sleeve from below with her hand: "Brother, stop talking and let's go."

Li Yanchen shook off his sister's hand: "Chun'er, don't pull me. I must ask for clarification today."

Li Yanchen stared at Li Yuanrou angrily, his complaints seeming to burst out: "Didn't you say you didn't like Xiao Luobai? Why are people talking about your love affair with him? You clearly said you loved me before and asked me to kill him. I didn't go, so you hurt him yourself. Why do you two look so close now!"

Li Yuanrou opened her thin lips slightly, with a hint of guilt in her eyes.

She took a deep breath, calmed down, and pretended to be calm.

Li Yanchen looked extremely distressed, and it seemed that he was about to burst into tears. After a moment of silence, he said slowly and sadly, "You lied to me."

Li Yuanrou clutched her sleeves tightly, her mind in a mess and she couldn't find an excuse.

This is indeed the case. Princess Shanyang once confessed her love to Li Yanchen, but it was not her who did it. However, he couldn't say it was not him.

Now there is no way to defend myself and I can only bear the blame silently.

She subconsciously turned her head to look at Xiao Luobai beside her, and met his cold gaze.

Xiao Luobai's eyes swept across her face and fell on her hands that were tightly clutching her sleeves in panic.

A strange light flashed in his eyes almost imperceptibly, and his gaze fell back on Li Yuanrou's face with a playful look, but his whole body emanated a hint of coldness.

Li Yuanrou suddenly shuddered and had an inexplicable bad feeling.

She turned to Li Yanchen and stammered, "Ah, this, that, is it, um... this must be a misunderstanding."

Then she said anxiously: "I am in a hurry to visit my mother. I will explain to you later."

After she finished speaking, she hurriedly pulled Xiao Luobai away.

Li Yanchen behind him wanted to chase, but was held back tightly by his sister Li Chun.

Li Yuanrou could still hear his voice drifting from afar: "Shanyang, Shanyang, please tell me clearly whether you have ever loved me..."

A thousand horses were galloping through Li Yuanrou’s heart: Goat, goat, goat, fuck your goat.

She dragged Xiao Luobai all the way to the corridor, and when she saw that no one had caught up with her, she took a deep breath of fresh air as if relieved.

Suddenly she felt a chill all around her, her heart skipped a beat and she looked over with a guilty smile.

Xiao Luobai sneered, put one hand on the column behind him, used his long arms to confine Li Yuanrou to a small space, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

Li Yuanrou staggered back a step, and Xiao Luobai took a step forward, forcing her into a corner with an ambiguous smile on his lips.

He said sarcastically: "Your Highness the Princess is really merciful."

When Li Yuanrou saw him narrow his eyes, she knew something bad was going to happen. He was going to settle accounts with her. Every time this guy narrowed his eyes, he was either going to accuse her or to plot against her.

She was already crying violently in her heart, but she still forced herself to remain calm.

She raised her head and chest, and asked in a forced and firm tone: "What are you doing?"

Xiao Luobai chuckled, his handsome face approached, and his voice contained a hint of intimidation: "What do you think?"

Li Yuanrou looked at his resolute and heroic face so close to her, and her breathing suddenly became disordered and her heartbeat quickened.

She swallowed and explained in a panic: "There is nothing between him and me. That's not me, you know. Besides, I have slept with you so many times. Don't you know if I have someone else in my heart?"

Xiao Luobai pretended to be surprised, raised his eyebrows slightly, and said coldly with an unfathomable expression: "Are we asleep?"

Li Yuanrou was startled: "Uh..."

I slept, but it seemed like nothing happened.

Li Yuanrou's face changed into various colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Her eyes turned twice very quickly, and she immediately forced out a fake smile: "Ahem, husband..."

She took Xiao Luobai's arm, put on an affectionate and loving look, and said with a smile: "My handsome husband, I swear, I only love you in this life. All of them can't even compare to you. Don't be jealous."

Li Yuanrou looked at him lovingly, climbed up his neck on tiptoe and kissed him twice on the lips.

Xiao Luobai was pleased by her. He curled the corners of his lips subtly and snorted in a hypocritical manner.

He reached out and put his elbow around her neck and walked away: "I'll let you go for now, and we'll settle the score together another day."

Li Yuanrou was almost lifted up by him, and she had to walk on tiptoe, but she still smiled and said, "Yes, yes, my husband is the best."

Li Yuanrou started to speak eloquently again, praising Xiao Luobai to the highest level.

Who doesn't like to hear good things?

Xiao Luobai raised the corners of his mouth, his brows relaxed, he let go of her neck, and led her towards Fengqi Palace.

Li Yuanrou breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.

When Li Yuanrou arrived at Fengqi Palace, the eldest princess and Li Youan were also there. The empress dowager was chatting and laughing with them and seemed to be in a good mood.

Although Xiao Luobai is the royal son-in-law, his status is not as noble as imagined, or rather, it is quite embarrassing.

If a noble person respects you, you will have a higher status. If he ignores you, you are nothing and your status is equivalent to that of a servant.

Li Yuanrou naturally regarded him as a treasure, but the Queen Mother did not, so Xiao Luobai waited for her outside while Li Yuanrou went in alone.

She pushed open the door and called out with a smile, "Mother."

The woman raised her head. She was in her 40s but she looked very well maintained and only 30 years old, except that she had a lot of gray hair.

Seeing that the person coming was Li Yuanrou, she quickly put away her smile, glanced at her indifferently, and said without any emotion: "Here I am."

After saying that, he stroked Li Youan's head again, and asked him with a smile what lessons he had learned recently and whether he had practiced martial arts.

Li Yuanrou smiled awkwardly.

The Queen Mother has always been like this, favoring the eldest sister and ignoring her and Yuanqi since they were young.

Whether it was her and Yuanqi's studies or their daily lives, her eldest sister took care of them. Even her marriage was arranged by her eldest sister, as if she were their mother. Her real mother probably didn't even know who her husband was.

The eldest princess went over and talked to Li Yuanrou for a while. Li Yuanrou sat for a while and then went out. When she closed the door, she saw Xiao Luobai and the little emperor standing outside.

Li Yuanrou said, "Yuanqi, why don't you go in now that you're here?"

Li Yuanqi gave a helpless smile and said, "Sister, can you say a word to the Queen Mother when you go in?"

He looked lonely and sighed, "What am I going to do in there?"

Li Yuanrou's heart sank. She said a few words to the emperor, looked back at the closed palace door, and then took Xiao Luobai to the palace banquet.

This palace made her feel depressed, and she just wanted it to be over quickly so she could return home.

There was nothing special about the palace banquet. It was attended by all officials and their families, except for the empress dowager.

After the death of the previous emperor, the empress dowager never attended any palace banquets and stayed indoors for most of the year.

The emperor left soon after the banquet started and wine was served. It was said that Censor Cao did not come to the palace banquet and was now kneeling in front of the Changsheng Palace, unable to get up, asking the emperor to choose a queen and take concubines to continue the family line.

Because the late emperor had only one empress in his life, who is now the empress dowager, he had few offspring. The ministers in the court attached great importance to the issue of Li Yuanqi's offspring and refused to give in.

The other officials were fine, except for Censor Cao, who refused to listen.

He is now kneeling in front of the Changsheng Palace. If the emperor does not go over to coax him, Censor Cao will really be willing to shed his blood in the Changsheng Palace.

If Censor Cao hit his head against the pillar, the next morning's court session would certainly not go smoothly.

Li Yuanrou sighed: "Emperor Yuanqi is a coward. He is controlled by a censor. If he wants to bang his head against the pillar, he can do it."

Xiao Luobai: "The death of the censor will inevitably give Your Majesty the bad name of a tyrant. Someone with ulterior motives will use this to influence the court and cause unrest. Your Majesty has committed a sin of murder..."

He stopped talking in time, turned his head to look at Li Yuanrou, and felt relieved when he saw that she didn't notice.

Li Yuanrou shook his head and gave a fair evaluation: "This Cao Yushi is really trying to squeeze shit out of a toad."

Xiao Luobai raised his eyebrows slightly, glanced at her, and felt that her metaphor... was very special.

Li Yuanrou clicked his tongue again: "Do you remember when I went to the Prince Consort's Mansion to pick you up? I heard that Censor Cao reported me every day in court, and in order to bring you back, Yuanqi wrote several imperial edicts."

Xiao Luobai said with a very tricky focus: "So, Your Highness the Princess condescended to go to the Prince Consort's Mansion because she was pressured."

It's an affirmative sentence.

Li Yuanrou was startled, then realized that she had let the cat out of the bag. She immediately put on a flattering smile and said, "Oh, why are you still bringing up the past? I had just arrived at that time, so how would I know who you were?"

Xiao Luobai snorted coldly and made another note in his little notebook.

Li Yuanrou felt that the reasons why he was angry were really bizarre. She glanced at him guiltily and saw that his brows were cold. Li Yuanrou came up with a plan and poured wine and served food to Xiao Luobai like a maid.