Deep Palace Pet Peach Blossom Flawless

The Lan family finally waited for the people from the Dali Temple and Jinlin Guard, who were being escorted back to the imperial city over a long distance.

Madam Lan was already nearing death. Her eye sockets were sunken, her cheeks were sunken, and her long bed rest had left her unable to distinguish between day and night, and she was unconscious. One day, she suddenly regained consciousness and called out to the maid beside her to comb her hair and make up.

Mrs. Lan half-sat on the bed, her face gradually flushed. The maid combing her hair beside her suddenly realized that the lady was nearing her last moments of life. With slightly trembling hands, the maid slowly combed Mrs. Lan's hair, applied makeup, and dressed her...

Madam Lan asked, "Has there been any news from outside today? Are those people still surrounding our mansion?"

"Yes! But Lord Xu has ordered them not to embarrass the women in the mansion! And the people from the Imperial City who came to investigate the case have already taken the general and his men away."

Madam Lan sighed softly, "It seems I won't be able to wait for them to come back! The fact that the women weren't imprisoned together is also thanks to the blessing left by my father-in-law."

The old woman quickly comforted her, "What are you talking about, Madam? You will definitely be able to wait for the general and the major generals to return safely!"

Madam Lan shook her head and said no more. She knew her own body was at its end. "At this point, I can't worry about anything else. The general is a man of integrity. This disaster will surely be averted. What I worry about most is... my daughter, far away in the palace. She has always had a different temperament than others. She looks weak and timid, but she is stubborn and resilient inside. That year, I was ordered to go to the palace to accompany her while she was giving birth. I advised her more than once that the emperor, who was so high above, was different from ordinary men and that she shouldn't monopolize him. With so many eyes watching her, how could she not be jealous and hateful? How could she not be plotted against!"

"But, my daughter has never heard of me since she was little! I'm so worried now! My heart is burning with worry. Can my daughter always live this noble and high life? Can that supreme man in the world always show his unwavering favor to my daughter?"

Mrs. Lan spoke worried words one by one, but unfortunately, her voice was as soft as a mosquito in the end. She was dressed neatly, put on her favorite beautiful clothes, put on her favorite makeup, and was supported by the old woman as she slowly lay down on the bed with her weak body.

At the last moment of her life, Mrs. Lan was always muttering about her daughter who was not by her side, and was worried about her situation. What came to Mrs. Lan's mind was the time when she had just punished Lan Qingwu as a child. Her daughter's tiny body and tiny head were sticking out of the doorway, cautiously looking at her mother to see if she was still angry.

Thousands of miles away in the Imperial City, in the Cold Palace, Lan Qingwu was also dreaming. She dreamed that she had returned to her childhood, when she was seven or eight years old. She had angered Madam Lan again, and was peeking in to see if her mother was still angry.

Mrs. Lan saw her daughter's little head, still a little angry. "Come here, what are you doing there?"

Lan Qingwu hurriedly walked over in small steps. She didn't want to make her mother angry, but she had a mature soul from another world inside. It would be really difficult for her to take the "Female Commandments" and "Female Rules" as her guiding principles.

Madam Lan frowned slightly. "Do you know where you've gone wrong? Don't think I don't know. You have a very clever little brain. I heard from the female teacher that if you just put a little effort in, you can easily recite poems and essays. Why is it so difficult for me to teach you the ways of being a wife?"

Lan Qingwu lowered his head and listened to his mother's scolding.

Madam Lan asked, "Let me ask you again, if a woman gets married and has a husband, how should she deal with it?"

Lan Qingwu said softly: "Three obediences and four virtues, three blessings... and four etiquette!"

"Which three obediences and which four virtues? Which three blessings and which four rituals?"

Lan Qingwu secretly glanced up at Madam Lan's face and said, "At home, obey your father; after marriage, obey your husband; after your husband's death, obey your son... Virtue, the four virtues... refer to a woman's virtue, speech, appearance, and skills, that is, a woman's moral character, speech, manners, and needlework."

"Blessing ceremony, kneeling ceremony, and also the ten thousand blessings ceremony, the kowtow ceremony... the kneeling ceremony, the bare-handed ceremony..."

Lan Qingwu was already talking nonsense at the end. Seeing that Madam Lan's face was getting worse, she hurriedly said, "Mother, I will carry you again. Please wait!"

Lan Qingwu ran off, leaving Madam Lan angrily saying, "Wait a few years until you grow up, and then you can say anything about me! You run away as soon as I say something, and you run away as soon as I say something. Can your mother still harm you?"

Lan Qingwu didn't run far before she arrived at the backyard, which was full of flowers. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and felt helpless. She didn't want to make her mother worry too much, but she really couldn't fully integrate into these things.

She thought for a moment and told Ruhan beside her, "Go pick some flowers!"

Lan Qingwu was very clever and skillful, and in a few moments she had woven a beautiful crown. Satisfied, she took the crown to Madam Lan and, with some trepidation, handed it to her. Madam Lan's expression remained cold, but a hint of a smile flickered in her eyes. The nanny next to her also smiled and praised the crown's beauty. Lan Qingwu had escaped another disaster.

After she left, Mrs. Lan sighed softly, "Look at this child, she's looking at me so cautiously, as if I'm really scolding her! She looks so well-behaved, but she's so stubborn inside!"

The attendant beside her immediately tried to persuade her: "The young lady is still young, Madam, you can teach her slowly! Look at this flower crown, it reflects the young lady's filial piety!"

Only then did Mrs. Lan really smile.

Unexpectedly, what happened the next day made Madam Lan angry again. She pointed at Lan Qingwu and said, "Where is this month's allowance? I told you over and over again not to do those meaningless things and not to care about those things! You are a lady from a wealthy family. If you can save one person, can you save everyone? Look at other young ladies who are like you! Also, you took the money I asked you to make new clothes for you and used it up? What about your new clothes? The Ma family's ancestor's birthday is in two days, and you're going to leave like this?"

Lan Qingwu said softly, "Don't worry, mother. I've thought of a way and I won't embarrass you. Everything you said is right. I won't do it again!"

"Next time! You said the same thing last time and the time before that!"

Lan Qingwu shrank his neck and said, "Mother, I feel that I have enough food and clothing, but those people can change their fate with just a little money..."

Mrs. Lan slammed the table in anger: "You don't want to listen!"

Lan Qingwu nodded quickly: "I understand, daughter! Don't be angry, mother! It's just that I'm missing a new dress. I'll find a way to change it up and it will definitely be more beautiful than their new clothes."

"And mother, it doesn't really matter to me whether my daughter goes or not. You don't know, when a bunch of little girls like us get together, we're always comparing clothes or jewelry! It's so boring!"

Madam Lan said expressionlessly, "Then what can you say that is not boring?"

Lan Qingwu said, "Mother, look, they get together and talk about how gorgeous their clothes and jewelry are. In fact, in my opinion, the new styles of clothes and jewelry must be popular in the Imperial City and the Palace first. After the concubines there wear them, some royal relatives and the families of aristocratic families will wear them, and then the wives of high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants in the Imperial City will wear them. The common people in the Imperial City will definitely follow suit. By the time the new style becomes popular in the surrounding cities and finally reaches the border, who knows how much time has passed. The center of the Imperial City must have had new styles. But if the ladies in the Imperial City see us, what will they think if we are still gathered together to compare clothes and jewelry?"

"They would definitely think: What a bunch of narrow-minded people! That's why my daughter feels that it's pointless to get together with a group of little girls to compare their heights and heights, and then mock others!"

"You!" Mrs. Lan pointed at Lan Qingwu and was speechless.

Lan Qingwu cried out in her heart, "Oh no! How could I have said such things carelessly?" She quickly lowered her head.

Mrs. Lan was so angry at Lan Qingwu that she was speechless for a long time, just because she was also one of the people who was high and mighty and was being compared.

"Go! Go inside and kneel down!"

Of course, Lan Qingwu didn't get to kneel that day because her grandfather showed up. After hearing about this, he just gave Lan Qingwu a deep look and instructed his attendants, "From now on, give the young lady an extra monthly allowance! Use my private account!"

Madam Lan didn't dare to disobey her father-in-law and only said softly, "Father, this... there is no precedent for this! And from now on, your daughter-in-law will take good care of Qingwu!"

Lan Qingwu looked at his grandfather and said, "It's nothing! The kid didn't use the money to do anything bad!"

General Lan turned to his granddaughter and said, "With this money, go make some new clothes! If you need anything in the future, you can come and see me!"

Lan Qingwu immediately smiled and nodded.

General Lan sighed: "This child has such beautiful eyes!"

Mrs. Lan looked at her father-in-law who looked at her daughter differently, but she didn't say anything else.

From childhood, Lan Qingwu had superficially learned etiquette well. While accepting Madam Lan's teachings, she resisted them inwardly, occasionally despising herself, and even rebelled. Madam Lan was right. Lan Qingwu appeared to listen to everything she taught her, but she didn't follow a single one. When she was older, General Lan would often ask about Lan Qingwu's affairs, and Madam Lan finally stopped caring about them.

Later, Lan Qingwu entered the palace, and behind the carriage was Madam Lan's voice calling out: "Weiwei! Weiwei!"

When mother and daughter met again, Lan Qingwu was pregnant for the first time. Lan Qingwu was of course happy to see her mother, but her mother eventually turned away and began to persuade Lan Qingwu that in the harem, the emperor must treat everyone equally! She was terrified to see her daughter pregnant, while the emperor continued to favor her day after day!

Madam Lan was afraid. She was afraid that this exclusive favor would harm her daughter. She risked upsetting Lan Qingwu, and before leaving the palace, she still gave Lan Qingwu a lecture, warning her not to monopolize the emperor's favor! That man was a noble emperor. What would so many people in the harem think? What would the people around him think? How many hidden arrows were waiting for her daughter?

Throughout their lives as mother and daughter, Mrs. Lan forced everything she thought was right onto Lan Qingwu, but Lan Qingwu never agreed with it from the bottom of her heart, nor did she ever do it, no matter whether it was the Three Obediences and Four Virtues or not interfering in other people's affairs. Until their final separation, Lan Qingwu still did not follow her mother's wishes. She had decided on that difficult path at that time, so how could she listen to her mother's final earnest advice?

Lan Qingwu fell into a dream, wondering why she could dream of something so long ago. Some things she had long forgotten, yet in her dream she could clearly see the details. She frowned slightly, wanting to wake up, but a woman's delicate hand gently stroked her cheek, and Lan Qingwu finally opened her eyes.

"Mother? Is it really you? You came to see me?"

Madam Lan was sitting beside her bed, looking at her tenderly, "Are you awake? Ruo Ruo, have you listened to your mother all these years? Have you suffered?"

"I……"

Lan Qingwu was stunned. She held her mother's warm hand and said, "Mom, you've come to see me! Can you spend more time with your daughter?"

Mrs. Lan's eyes were full of smiles, "Okay! Okay!"

Mrs. Lan said okay, but her body was slowly disappearing and soon disappeared without a trace.

Tears streamed from Lan Qingwu's eyes, "Don't go! Mother, don't go!"

"Weak, wake up! Weak, wake up!"

Lan Qingwu was awakened, the heartbroken feeling from her dream still lingered in her chest.

She looked around in confusion and realized that she was still in a dream. She saw her mother in her dream!

Lan Qingwu touched the corners of his eyes, where traces of tears still remained.

Emperor Shenwu couldn't help but hug Lan Qingwu, "Weak!"

Lan Qingwu saw his three children through Emperor Shenwu's shoulders. They were all in this cold palace, and they looked sad, as if they didn't dare to meet his gaze!

"Brother Heng, what happened?"

The Emperor Shenwu held Lan Qingwu's shoulders and looked at her quietly, "Ruoruo, you look after me. No matter what happens, I'm here. Do you understand?"

Lan Qingwu's hands trembled slightly. She looked at the Emperor Shenwu with pleading eyes, as if silently begging him not to tell her the news, so that she could deceive herself. Her mother was always there, always there! She had never been far away from her.

Emperor Shenwu finally couldn't bear it anymore and said, "Your mother has passed away!"