The fake daughter married into the mountains and had meat to eat every day during the famine

"My God!"

"what?!"

"Le...Le'an County Master is here too?"

Everyone covered their mouths with a look of disbelief.

Seeing that the emperor had revealed her identity in front of everyone, Song Yuntang felt helpless and immediately stepped forward to pay her respects.

"Le An thanks your Majesty for the compliment."

The Queen was surprised, but she understood in her heart that His Majesty had specifically asked her to invite Madam Xu to the palace banquet because of Madam Xu's identity as the Princess of Le'an County.

She turned out to be the Princess of Le'an County who had great medical skills!

No wonder!

No wonder that some time ago, even the imperial physician said that Madam Yan’s illness was beyond saving, but she was cured by the young lady of the Xu family who had just arrived in Beijing.

Now that I know she is the county lady, everything makes sense.

But I didn’t expect that the female healer whose medical skills were better than those of the imperial physician was such a young woman who was less than 20 years old.

Princess Le'an has done a lot for the people in the past few years. Now that she has come to the capital and is the wife of a court official, she should be invited into the palace when a palace banquet is held.

A look of surprise flashed across Concubine Rong's face, and then she looked straight in the direction of Song Yuntang.

Upon closer inspection, he felt that the woman in front of him was as good-looking and elegant as any other noble lady in Beijing.

It is very different from the image of an ordinary peasant woman.

A few days ago, she was discussing with her personal nanny that she and the queen entered the palace at the same time. Now the queen has a son and a daughter, but she can never get pregnant. She hopes to find an excuse to leave the palace and go to the Xinglin Medical Clinic in the south city to meet the famous Princess Le'an.

But I didn't expect that the Princess of Le'an would appear before me in such a beautiful way.

And she knew nothing about it.

If I had known that she was the Princess of Le'an, I should have invited her into the palace when I held the flower-viewing banquet a few days ago.

The ladies who had targeted Song Yuntang before were all surprised and shrank back.

In the past, when ministers in the court impeached each other, if the circumstances were not serious, His Majesty would only mention it at the morning court and let them go back to take care of their family affairs.

But he seemed to take the fact that Mrs. Xu was bullied particularly seriously.

Now that I think about it, Princess Le'an has done a lot for the people, which is equivalent to sharing the worries of His Majesty. She also has remarkable abilities, so she should be valued.

Zhuang Zihan raised his eyebrows and looked in Song Yuntang's direction with surprise.

"You are actually the Princess of Le'an County? How is this possible!"

She had relied on her status as the daughter of the prime minister to make things difficult for her many times before, but she had never revealed her identity as a county lady.

Now it seems that I was probably just a clown in her eyes at that time.

The emperor's gaze swept over Zhuang Zihan, his expression expressionless.

"Why? Miss Zhuang, do you think that the County Lady, who was personally conferred by me, could be fake?"

The emperor's majesty is not something that Zhuang Zihan can offend, even though she has now been conferred the title of noble lady.

She knelt down in panic.

"Zi Han was rude, I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

Prime Minister Zhuang hurried forward to rescue them.

"My daughter is young and ignorant, and her words are thoughtless. Your Majesty, please do not blame me."

Since Prime Minister Zhuang came forward, the emperor had to give him some face.

"I'm not going to compete with a woman. Get up."

Only then did Zhuang Zihan get up from the ground.

The Queen smiled and said, "I heard that Princess Le'an and Miss Zhuang are of the same age, but their temperaments are completely different."

The emperor nodded in agreement and looked in Song Yuntang's direction.

The woman was dressed in a blue dress, with her inky black hair tied up on top of her head. She wore unobtrusive jewelry, and looked neat and tidy. There was a hint of coldness in her bright eyes. She did not stand out among the beauties in the imperial garden, but her freshness and beauty were eye-catching.

Especially when he saw her exquisite appearance, his eyes flickered slightly.

When the queen saw his expression, she had an idea in mind.

Your Majesty has indeed never seen her before.

"Speaking of which, when I first met the Princess of Le'an, I always felt that she looked like an old friend."

The emperor reacted, nodded, and quickly looked away.

"It does look like it. I almost went into a trance."

Shen Yanhua smiled and ordered the eunuch beside her to bring over Zhuang Zihan's peony painting and place it side by side with Song Yuntang's.

"Today, I offer a pot of jade-faced peach blossoms as a prize to the most talented female member of the family. I was just discussing the merits of these two paintings with the other ladies. Now that Your Majesty and the other ministers are here, I hope you will offer your advice."

The emperor did not comment, but only asked the ministers behind him.

"My dear ministers, which of these two paintings do you think is better?"

If Song Yuntang was just from an ordinary farming family, these people would have been biased towards Zhuang Zihan to save face for the Prime Minister's Mansion.

But she is not only the wife of a minister valued by the emperor, but also has the identity of a county lady, and she also has extraordinary abilities.

Judging from the opinions of the emperor and empress, they seem to be biased towards her.

But due to the face of the Prime Minister's Mansion, they could only give the most objective judgment.

"From a purely artistic perspective, the painting on the left, with its clusters of flowers and magnificent splendor, is indeed excellent. However, in terms of painting skill and technique, the one on the right is more sophisticated and novel, with a single branch blooming, creating a sense of pure purity, aloofness, and aloofness. It can be said that each has its own merits."

"Miss Zhuang's painting is not bad, but it's no different from the usual peony paintings. However, I think the painting technique pioneered by the county lady is worth learning from."

The emperor nodded and looked in the direction of his personal eunuch.

"The painters in the palace have not made any progress in their painting skills for decades. I will ask them to discuss their experiences with the county lady."

The chief eunuch, Fan Chihai, quickly responded, "Yes, Your Majesty."

The emperor looked at the queen again.

"I guess the Queen should have made a decision now?"

Today is the Queen's birthday. The talent contest is a game among the female members of the family. Since the rules are set by the Queen, she should be the one to make the decision.

This is the most basic respect that a husband can give to his wife.

The queen smiled.

"Come here, move Jade-faced Peach Blossom onto the Xu Mansion's carriage." Turning to look at the women, she said, "Do any of you ladies have any objections to this decision?"

At this time, the rest of the people naturally dared not stand up.

But Zhuang Zihan was not convinced.

She took a step forward and spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"I refuse to accept!"

She bowed to the emperor and empress.

"Since Your Majesty has set this as a talent contest from the beginning, taking painting as an example, both skill and artistic conception are essential. I do not deny that Princess Le'an is a skilled painter, but a painting without artistic conception is like a soulless puppet, lacking depth and meaning. How can it surpass my painting of peonies?"

The queen's face remained calm as she turned to look at Song Yuntang.

"I wonder what the county lady was thinking when she painted this picture?"

Song Yuntang opened his lips and almost blurted out the words.

"Beautiful, noble, and lonely."

These three simple words seemed to have touched the queen's heart.

Since entering the harem, isn't her situation just like that of this peony?

Although noble and beautiful, it is also lonely and desolate, trapped on this piece of paper, blooming alone and admiring its own beauty.

"Will the Lady of the County give this painting to me? I will exchange it with you for something else."