Noble Lady

There were many carriages and horses at the palace gate.

When Xue Chenyu was waiting to enter the palace for inspection, she met Chen Lizhu and her maids Cui Liu and Huang Li knocking on her carriage.

"Sister Xue, I didn't expect you to come so early."

Xue Chenyu quickly asked her to get in the car and joked, "I think the Duke's Mansion is much closer to the Imperial City than our Marquis' Mansion. How come you arrived later than me? I thought you had already entered the palace first."

Yuzhu, Qiuhua, Huangli and Cuiliu were waiting outside.

There were only Xue Chenyu and Chen Lizhu in the car.

"Ms. Chen San's outfit today is truly elegant." After carefully examining Chen Lizhu's outfit, Xue Chenyu praised.

Chen Lizhu covered her mouth and laughed, "Sister Xue, you're joking. How can your county lady's dress be as outstanding as yours? You were personally appointed as a princess by His Majesty."

After they finished speaking, they couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Xue Chenyu has always known that Chen Lizhu was also invited to the flower viewing banquet today.

Among the many noble ladies in Shengjing, Chen Lizhu's background is outstanding.

Born in the Duke's Mansion, he has a father who is the Duke, an aunt who is the Imperial Concubine, and cousins ​​who are the Sixth Prince and the Seventh Princess.

How many people in Shengjing can surpass her?

Moreover, Concubine Chen has always wanted Chen Lizhu to be her daughter-in-law, so as to strengthen the relationship between them and completely tie the Chen Guogong Mansion to them and their son.

This is also the reason why the imperial concubine has been pampering Chen Lizhu for so long.

Compared to her elder sister who was once famous in Shengjing, Chen Lizhu's age is more suitable for the Sixth Prince.

"It's my grandmother and my mother who have been arguing for several days over which hair crown I should wear at the flower viewing banquet today. They still can't reach a consensus and won't let me choose for myself." Chen Lizhu said helplessly.

"So how did you solve it?"

"There's no way around it." Chen Lizhu said with a wry smile, "In the end, I used the crown that my fifth sister-in-law chose for me and my aunt gave me."

Xue Chenyu was stunned for a moment and could only laugh out loud.

Ever since Chen Mingxuan returned from his trip to Lingnan, His Majesty has rewarded him, saying that he is courageous and knowledgeable, and deserves special promotion.

Therefore, he was promoted from a teacher at the Imperial College to an assistant teacher, bypassing the positions of academician and registrar.

Teaching assistants 6-8 are from the sixth rank and above, assisting doctoral students in teaching and guiding students' studies.

Later, he solved a cheating case among scholars in an exam and caught a doctor who came from a noble family but was just sitting in his position doing nothing.

His Majesty simply issued an imperial decree, allowing him to replace that person and become a doctor overnight.

The teachers of the Imperial College were only responsible for teaching daily courses, including classics, mathematics, etc.

But the doctoral degree is of the fifth rank, responsible for teaching the classics, formulating courses and assessing students, and is divided into Guozixue, Taixue, Simenxue, etc.

At his age, his rapid promotion speed has already left the other children of the Duke's Mansion far behind.

Of course, many of the noble children in the capital could not compare to him.

Chen Mingxuan's status in the court has risen rapidly, so one can imagine his and Du Jingyuan's status in the Duke's Mansion now.

Let that silly Du Jingyuan make the choice, and bring out the Imperial Concubine, which not only solved the dispute but also did not implicate her.

It's indeed a good idea.

However, since this method is effective, she should have been able to solve it long ago, instead of waiting until today to let A Yuan step in.

Unless, she has other plans.

"Actually, I deliberately stayed late to enter the palace today because I have something I want to tell you in person." Chen Lizhu suddenly lowered her voice.

Xue Chenyu said that she has always been a person who knows the importance of propriety and would not do this for no reason.

She sat up a little straighter, "What's wrong?"

"Yesterday afternoon, my aunt suddenly summoned me to the palace, but as soon as I arrived at the palace gate, Madam Fang from Ci'an Palace stopped me. She said my aunt was with the Empress Dowager and asked me to go and pay my respects to her on the way."

"Although I often go to the palace, the Queen Mother likes quietness and usually doesn't let us disturb her. Only her favorite, Prince Cheng, can enter and leave Ci'an Palace freely."

Xue Chenyu was a little confused. What were these two singing about?

Chen Lizhu continued, "But this time, I was led by Nanny Fang into Ci'an Palace. After arriving there, the Queen Mother asked me what my impression of Prince Cheng was."

Xue Chenyu paused, unable to hide the surprise in her eyes, "...You mean, the Queen Mother might hope that you can become Prince Cheng's..." legitimate wife?

"I still can't recall the look on my aunt's face when she saw me appear in Ci'an Palace." Chen Lizhu nodded uneasily, "But before this, I never thought that the Empress Dowager would have such thoughts."

My aunt is the biological mother of the Sixth Prince. She hopes that the Crown Prince will lose power so that the Sixth Prince can take the opportunity to ascend to the throne.

How could she possibly watch her niece from her mother's side marry the right-hand man chosen by His Majesty for the Crown Prince?

Moreover, the Duke of Chen's Mansion was a place where the Imperial Concubine and the Sixth Prince were on the same side, tied to the same boat. This was something everyone knew.

The Queen Mother couldn't possibly be unaware of this, and she shouldn't have thought of letting her marry Prince Cheng, as this would only add to the conflict between them.

Moreover, everyone now knows that the Queen Mother also sent a letter to the eldest daughter of the Xue family. Everyone knows that the Prince of Cheng has a close relationship with the Marquis of Wu'an's Mansion.

She was even more afraid that Xue Chenyu would misunderstand.

However, Xue Chenyu's eyes were clear, and she didn't think at all that Chen Lizhu was trying to steal her lover.

She pondered for a moment and then proposed a bold hypothesis, "Miss Chen San, have you ever considered that perhaps the Imperial Concubine's decision to allow you to enter the palace was not her intention?"

Chen Lizhu was stunned. "...That's impossible. Yesterday was just like any other day. I only entered the palace after someone from the palace summoned me."

But I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as long as Sister Xue didn't misunderstand.

She and Prince Cheng had only met a few times on some occasions in the palace and were not familiar with each other at all.

Moreover, she liked tall and handsome men. Prince Cheng was too handsome and did not conform to her aesthetic taste.

"But I remember you saying that the Imperial Concubine gave you a badge for her bedroom to make it easier for you to enter and leave the palace. Except when the palace gates are locked, you can enter the palace at any time with this badge."

Xue Chenyu raised doubts.

Chen Lizhu nodded.

"So, if someone in the palace sends a message saying that the Imperial Concubine has summoned you, then you can be fooled into thinking it's the Imperial Concubine who summoned you, and then you can enter the palace with your badge?"

Chen Lizhu nodded subconsciously, but as a thought flashed through her mind, she was shocked.

Normally, when the imperial concubine was sent to see someone, it was always someone specific, but this time he was busy preparing for the flower viewing banquet, so he didn't see anyone directly.

She didn't even think that someone might be involved, and just went there without any preparation.

It is conceivable that when her aunt saw her in Ci'an Palace, she was shocked and surprised, and felt so strongly betrayed.

Chen Lizhu was not a fool. She was just blinded by one thing before and didn't think it through. Xue Chenyu cleared the fog with a few words. Once she figured it out, she felt cold all over, as if she had fallen into an icy cave.

"Sister Xue, I..." Is the Queen Mother going to deal with the Chen family?

"It's hard to say, but I'm afraid today's flower viewing banquet won't be that simple. You must be careful."

In her impression, the Queen Mother was a very wise old person.

A'niang also said that even though Your Majesty had been living among the people and the Queen Mother had already given birth to another child, she never thought of giving up the older one and letting the younger one take his place.

Even after His Majesty returned to the palace, he still urged the current Prince Cheng to assist his brother.

Although this is also related to Prince Cheng's own incompetence, not all mothers can realize that their children are incompetent.

Like my grandmother, she was determined to support my second uncle to take the throne, even though he was truly incompetent and immoral.

Moreover, over the years, there have been very few major incidents in the harem due to jealousy, and most of them were due to the Queen Mother's efforts.

She didn't think that such a wise old man would deliberately create conflicts on the eve of the flower viewing banquet and deliberately provoke the relationship between the imperial concubine and the Chen Guogong Mansion.

On the contrary, she always felt that the Queen Mother must have some purpose of her own when she suddenly proposed to let Chen Lizhu marry Situ Zhen, the Prince of Cheng, as his principal wife.

It would be nice if my mother were here.

She will definitely figure out the connection immediately.

When the truth became clear later, she was shocked to realize that the Queen Mother did this to protect the Duke of Chen's Mansion.

However, that is all a story for later.

At this time, there was an urging voice outside.

The carriage in front had already verified their identities and was about to go in, and it would be their turn soon.

After expressing her gratitude, Chen Lizhu hurriedly said goodbye to Xue Chenyu and left with Cui Liu and Huang Li.