The Return of the Marquis's Daughter

After much difficulty, she was brought by the palace servants to Kunning Palace, which was the first checkpoint for every court official, lady and noble girl to meet the queen.

Kunning Palace. She didn't expect to step into this place again so soon after her rebirth. Inside the magnificent palace, the fleeting past flashed through her mind. In this life, she would no longer be led like a puppet by others!

"My wife pays homage to the Queen."

"My daughter pays homage to the Queen."

"Your humble servant greets Her Majesty the Queen." Qin Wenlan followed behind Yu and Qin Shu and went forward to pay her respects to the Queen.

The Kunning Palace was already full of people, including concubines, ladies of state, and daughters-in-law like Qin Wenlan who had not yet married into the royal family. The whole palace was shining with golden light, and the gorgeous silks and brocades made the entire palace look golden.

"Everyone get up!"

The queen's voice was gentle and calm, making it impossible to tell what her mood was at the moment.

"Thank you, Queen."

"..."

Qin Wenlan followed Yu and the others and said.

The queen's surname was Wen. Like Yu, she came to power as a concubine. Queen Wen's family background was not very powerful, but she gave birth to two princes and a princess.

It was for this reason that the Emperor of Great Xia pushed her to the throne against all odds. The fifth prince Gu Yunzhou was born to Empress Wen.

Because Qin Shu had some reputation in the capital, and the Qin Hou Mansion had some financial resources and connections, Empress Wen also intended to win over the Qin Hou Mansion, so she treated the people of the Qin Hou Mansion quite well.

At this moment, Yu brought Qin Wenlan and Qin Shu to visit her, and of course she looked very friendly.

"Is this the girl the Qin family just brought back to be married to Prince An?"

After some greetings, Queen Wen looked in the direction of Qin Wenlan and spoke with a smile.

Empress Wen said this to Qin Wenlan himself, and of course Yu and Qin Shu would not say anything.

They stood quietly by and looked at Qin Wenlan, with a hint of excitement in their eyes, waiting to see Qin Wenlan make a fool of himself!

Especially Yu, she really wanted Qin Wenlan to embarrass herself once. If a careful person saw this scene, he would definitely be able to guess that this was the daily life of an orphan girl.

Of course, Qin Wenlan would not let Yu succeed. He carefully stepped forward, lowered his body, and performed a standard etiquette to Queen Wen. He was very elegant and did not have the vulgar look that they described at all.

Then, she replied in a steady tone, "Your Majesty, it is you, your servant."

Both her behavior and demeanor were neither humble nor arrogant, without a trace of pettiness, and certainly not as vulgar as Yu described!

This surprised Queen Wen a little. She had originally intended to embarrass Qin Wenlan, but she didn't expect to be slapped in the face.

"Well, not bad. Your manners and speech are very good. You are worthy of being from the Qin Marquis Mansion. Please stand up." Queen Wen said to her coldly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Qin Wenlan thanked her, then slowly stood up and returned to his original seat.

Haha, so what if the queen is no good? She is just like Yu, narrow-minded and not presentable. It is true that a dragon gives birth to a dragon, a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix, and a mouse's son will dig holes. Gu Yunzhou's condition is half due to Queen Wen!

Because Qin Wenlan was not at all as rude as the rumors said outside, which surprised the ladies in the hall!

Everyone was secretly muttering, "Didn't they say that this young lady who just returned is very mediocre?"

"I just saw that she has very good manners! She doesn't look like she grew up in a manor at all!"

"That's right, that's right, I'm afraid there's something in there that we don't know about!"

"That's true. After all, Yu is not a pushover."

"Have you all forgotten that she is the mistress of the house who rose from a concubine to the throne? Do you still expect her to treat the legitimate daughter well?"

"Well, don't you see where we are? Are there some things that can be discussed here?"

"..."

In a corner far away, Concubine Shu was also quietly observing Qin Wenlan's every move. As one of the four concubines, she certainly would not come over to speak for Qin Wenlan.

In their eyes, any royal daughter-in-law who has not yet married into the family is not considered a real family member. After all, there are too many variables, not to mention that she has been living in fear in the palace.

In addition, the little tricks between her and the Queen never stopped, so even though the Queen was clearly looking for trouble with Qin Wenlan just now, Concubine Shu did not come out.

After all, the queen is the master of the palace, and she is openly finding fault with the ministers. If the concubine comes forward, the situation will change, and it will be even more disadvantageous to Qin Wenlan.

Besides, Concubine Shu also wanted to test whether Qin Wenlan could be a good daughter-in-law to her royal family. So why not give it a try if she had the opportunity?

Of course, Qin Wenlan sensed all of this from her spiritual sense, but she didn't care at all, because she knew that the first thing to do to be a royal daughter-in-law is to be able to withstand the ups and downs on her own.

Besides, her engagement with Gu Changan was originally a collaboration!

Qin Wenlan followed closely behind Yu, looking straight ahead with his shoulders straight. Out of the corner of his eye he saw other noble ladies gathered in groups of three or four, talking together.

Soon someone came over to greet them, of course, it was Yu and Qin Shu.

"Qin Yu, is this the girl your Qin family just brought back from the manor?" A middle-aged woman with a high jawbone and a pointed chin asked Yu.

"Yes, she is Qin Wenlan, the eldest daughter of the Marquis' Mansion." Yu replied perfunctorily.

Then he turned around and looked at Qin Wenlan and introduced, "Wenlan, this is Madam Jin from the Prime Minister's Mansion."

Of course Qin Wenlan knew this person. In his previous life, she had often laughed at him behind his back. Jin was also a snob, a short-sighted person who took sides.

Perhaps it was because of her that his two daughters did not end up marrying into good families, so Qin Wenlan did not say anything, especially since this was inside the imperial palace.

He just responded indifferently, "Hello, Madam Prime Minister."

Mrs. Jin saw that Qin Wenlan didn't seem willing to talk to anyone, so she didn't say anything else.

Because several middle-aged women who looked like ladies were coming over here, Qin Wenlan took a quick look and found that they were all ladies from families that Yu usually interacted with.

Upon seeing this, Qin Wenlan slowly moved a few steps inside, trying to reduce her presence as much as possible. Perhaps it was because of her cultivation in this life, as long as she didn't want to attract attention, she really had no sense of existence!

Less than an incense stick of time passed before the queen stood up and led everyone to the palace where the banquet was to be held.

Qin Wenlan just found out that today was the birthday of the Emperor of Daxia. Fortunately, the gifts were ready, and she followed the crowd without any panic.

After passing through high walls and palace gates, we finally arrived at the Qinzheng Hall.

They had just arrived when the emperor, his court officials, and the kings also arrived!

They shouted "Long live the emperor" and bowed down in respect.

Prince An exchanged a glance with Qin Wenlan quietly, then turned his gaze away as if nothing had happened. After all, even though he was a prince, he had to be careful about his words and actions at this moment.

The emperor doesn't like his son to only focus on women, especially since today is his birthday as an emperor.

The emperor sat high up, the empress sat beside him, followed by the seats of several favored concubines, and below them were court officials and ladies of honor.

They are lined up in an orderly manner.

The next part was the birthday celebration. Only the empress, the kings, the princes and the princesses were lucky enough to present birthday gifts to the emperor.

The first one is the Queen, Gu Yunzhou, his younger brother Gu Yunfeng, and his younger sister Gu Yalan.

The items they presented were: a jade statue of the God of Longevity, a glass luminous cup, a set of jade writing brushes, inkstones, paper, and a set of jade chess pieces and chessboards. All of them were brightly colored and in good condition, and were obviously high-quality products at first glance.

The emperor was very happy and praised the queen, Gu Yunzhou, Gu Yunfeng and Gu Yalan.

Following closely behind were the Imperial Concubine and Prince Cheng presenting gifts, the Virtuous Concubine and Prince Li, and then the Shu Concubine and Prince An...

The gift from the imperial concubine and her son was a precious jade pillow for soothing the mind, while the gift from the virtuous concubine and her son was a screen with a picture of thousands of galloping horses, which was eye-catching and brought the vivid grassland to life right in front of them.

The gift from Concubine Shu and her son was a screen embroidered with a picture of mountains and rivers, which was even more astonishing than the gift from Concubine Xian and her son. After all, the entire Great Xia Kingdom, all the land seemed to be condensed on a screen, which was very exciting to look at.

In particular, the Emperor of Daxia was in a state of joy he had never felt before. He had never thought that one day he would be able to see the entire world under his jurisdiction laid out before his eyes. This was something that could not be compared to a battle blueprint.

In fact, Gu Changan and Shufei are just aunt and niece. His mother is the former queen. After the former queen passed away, Shufei has already become a concubine.

Originally, because of Gu Changan, the emperor wanted to promote her to the position of noble concubine, but she directly refused and said that she was very satisfied with having An'er.

Because she was unable to bear children, the Emperor of Daxia directly asked her to take in Gu Chang'an, who was only five years old at the time. Fortunately, both the aunt and the niece were kind people and had always gotten along well with each other, which was indeed a good story.

In the palace, whether they were trying to keep each other warm or for their own future, it was very rare for them to get along as harmoniously as real mother and son.

After all, there is no true father-son love or mother-son harmony in the palace. There are only intrigues, conspiracies, and constant calculations. There is really no one who lives in harmony like Gu Changan and Concubine Shu!