Noble Lady

"But think about it. When we were there, they kept to themselves. But what if we left? Would they feel free to come back and attack us?"

Xue Chenyu nodded seriously, "That's possible. So the prince took advantage of the situation in the north at that time and asked Fang Rui to investigate. I believe he gained a lot, which is definitely not just some clues that you just glossed over."

Situ Zhen raised his eyebrows. "Our Miss Xue is really smart. Do you want to guess what she has discovered?"

"I believe the prince has already told my father all these things, so I won't bother you to tell me again."

Xue Chenyu joked, stood up and went to the desk to pick up a painting he had just drawn today, which was based on a corner outside the window.

In spring, the flowers in the backyard of the Marquis's Mansion are in full bloom, which is just in time for the flower viewing banquet in a few days.

So Xue Chenyu has been practicing with the crabapple tree outside the window recently.

"This is just a humble practice, please appreciate it, Your Highness."

"Saying I'm an expert is too flattering. Miss Xue, have you forgotten that I'm just an uneducated and unskilled playboy?"

Situ Zhen put his arms around her beautiful waist, which was so slender that it could be held in one hand, causing Xue Chenyu to let out a series of low moans.

"...Prince, it's a good thing I asked Yuzhu and the others to leave. What if this gave them any bad thoughts?"

"I am sorry for being rude, my lady." Situ Zhen said, but he had no intention of letting go.

He rested his chin on Xue Chenyu's neck and took a deep breath, "It smells so good."

A low sigh made Xue Chenyu blush, but she didn't dare to push him away.

Xue Chenyu had a premonition that he was carrying some secrets, and she briefly wanted to reveal them to her, but in the end she didn't say it out loud because she was afraid of burdening her.

They just hugged each other, no one spoke.

……

Situ Zhen stayed in Qinglong Temple for a few days.

He did not return to Prince Cheng's Mansion until the eve of the flower viewing banquet.

"Oh, the busy man finally decided to go back home?"

As soon as he entered the door, he met his good-for-nothing second brother Situ Shan.

Situ Zhen raised his eyes and glanced at him, then signaled Fang Sui to take the things back to Songyuyuan first.

Situ Shan sneered again, "Since you like burning incense and worshiping Buddha so much, why don't you just become a monk in Qinglong Temple? Why did you come back?"

Situ Zhen stared at him for a few breaths, which made the Second Young Master Situ Shanhou's back shiver. "You, what do you want to do?"

"If I become a monk, the position of the crown prince will fall on you, right? What if my father has other sons outside? What will you do?"

"Nonsense! As long as you're gone, the throne will definitely be mine!"

Situ Zhen raised his eyebrows. "You finally spoke your mind. You've been eyeing this position for many years, right?"

The second son, Situ Shan, felt guilty for a moment, "...You, you are talking nonsense, I, I am telling the truth."

After saying this, he regretted it in his heart. Why should I feel guilty? Isn't this the truth? If it weren't for this unlucky star, how could my mother hurt herself and give birth to him after so many years?

This person was clearly born at eight months old, yet he managed to live to this age. If he had died at birth, the position of crown prince would naturally be mine.

Instead, for so many years, he was also the child of Prince Cheng, and was also born from the mother's womb, but he, Situ Zhen, was the prince of Cheng, the one loved by both His Majesty and the Queen Mother, and the one who could enter and leave the palace at will.

And he, Situ Shan, was only the second son of Prince Cheng’s Mansion. Many people didn’t even know that there was such a second son in Prince Cheng’s Mansion.

As long as Situ Zhen dies, all of this will be his!

"Situ Shan, don't treat what others have as your own loss. Some things, even if they are given to you, you can't catch them." Situ Zhen said with a smile.

Situ Shan couldn't help feeling guilty when he met his gaze, but after he left and looked at Situ Zhen's departing back, a gloomy look appeared on his face again.

"Situ Zhen, don't think you are so great. If I were the Crown Prince of Cheng, and if I could enter and leave the palace at will, what would the other princes have to do with me?"

"This world will be mine sooner or later!"

From a distance, Situ Zhen seemed to hear the "brave words" coming from Situ Shan behind him.

He shook his head and said four words: "Stupid beyond belief."

……

While Situ Shan was plotting and scheming to replace Situ Zhen, Princess Cheng was in a constant state of panic because of some rumors she had heard recently.

Some people actually said that Situ Zhen was the legitimate son of the late queen. How could this be possible?

Back then, she had clearly kept the matter secret, and the late queen had already died, so how could such rumors still be spread?

At the palace banquet that year, she, the queen and Concubine Hui all took medicine containing safflower.

The food with safflower in it was originally prepared by her for herself.

Because she had already learned from the imperial physician that the baby in her womb had stopped developing, but in order to avoid taking the blame, she was instigated by others to come up with such a bad idea.

Unexpectedly, the Queen and Concubine Hui were implicated.

Among the three pregnant women, her child was the youngest, only about eight months old. She had eaten so much safflower that there was no way the baby would survive.

She didn't even bother to look at the child after it was born, and she did hear the maid beside her say, "What should I do? The child is dead!"

Then he fell asleep from exhaustion.

When she regained consciousness, everyone said that the queen had given birth to a stillborn baby and died of heavy bleeding.

She gave birth to a child with congenital defects but was relatively healthy.

She knew something was wrong.

But at that time, she could not tell the delighted Queen Mother and Prince Cheng that the child was not hers. She was afraid that the position of princess would be lost to someone else, and even more afraid of losing her favor, so she went with the flow.

Even when His Majesty gave this child the name he had originally intended to give to the child in the Queen's womb, she did not dare to say a word.

But what she could not have imagined was that the older the child grew, the more he looked like Her Majesty. Everyone said that the child was a distant relative and looked like his royal grandfather, the late emperor.

She became more and more uneasy.

In particular, Prince Cheng suspected her of infidelity because the child was clearly born prematurely, but Situ Zhen did not look like an eight-month-old baby at that time.

Out of fear, she found someone to spread rumors, saying that the child was unlucky and should be disposed of, but she tried several times to kill him but failed.

Later, the Queen Mother decided to bring the child into the palace to raise him. She was also afraid of the child, so she agreed without thinking.

Everyone thought it was a good thing that Situ Zhen looked like His Majesty, and for so many years, she didn't dare to say a word.

But now that such rumors have spread, could it be that the person who knew the inside story from back then has reappeared?

Yes.

There are no impervious walls in the world.

When the Queen, Concubine Hui and she gave birth together, there were more than one or two palace maids, imperial physicians and midwives serving them. If only one or two of them were still alive and revealed any clues, the matter would have been revealed.

But she doesn't even know who switched the baby. If His Majesty and the Queen Mother investigate, they won't believe her if she says she didn't do it, right?

Princess Cheng became more and more panicked.

If it is really confirmed that Situ Zhen is the legitimate son born to the late queen, then her repeated attempts to kill him in the past will become a sharp knife that will take her life!

Thinking of this, Princess Cheng became more and more frightened.

……

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed since Xue Chenyu received the invitation to the flower viewing banquet.

The flower viewing banquet in the palace finally started in late March.

As she was going to the palace today, Xue Chenyu got up early in the morning, washed, had breakfast, combed her hair, dressed, changed her clothes, and then prepared to go to the palace.

Of course, the same goes for other noble ladies who received invitations to the flower-viewing banquet.

Women in prosperous dynasties had the tradition of wearing crowns.

Because pearls are extremely rare and precious, concubines in the harem, princesses, and other members of the royal family, as well as some people with colds and fevers who have been granted imperial decrees, are allowed to wear expensive pearl crowns.

Other nobles, or women from ordinary families, often wore flower hairpins and crowns during grand festivals.

As the name suggests, the flower hairpin crown is a flower-shaped hair crown, but it is not only made of fresh flowers. There are also bionic flowers, and flower-shaped hair crowns made of raw materials such as gold, silver, jewelry or silk.

But they all have one thing in common: they are exquisite and elegant.

The flower hairpin crown that Xue Chenyu wore today was made of silk and silver threads. It had a silk base and twelve peony flowers coiled on top with silver threads.

She was a county lady personally appointed by His Majesty. According to regulations, she was allowed to wear a pearl crown, but she did not wear that crown today. She only wore the corresponding dress.

She wore a cross-collared, wide-sleeved skirt that trailed on the ground, and a hairpin crown with twelve peony flowers. Her eyebrows were lightly raised and her lips were lightly touched. Wherever she stood, she was a graceful beauty.

Xue Chenyu glanced into the floor-standing bronze mirror, turned around with satisfaction and said, "Let's go, it's time to enter the palace."