The abandoned concubine who transmigrated woke up shouting "Long live the widow!"

Jingxue thought about it for a long time that night, and still felt that she couldn't leave the children in the mansion. This time was different from the last time she went to the palace to take care of the Empress Dowager. Last time, at least Ye Muchen was in the mansion.

Ye Muchen had a lot of things to do during the Cangbei delegation's visit and couldn't attend to everyone, so he could only bring Jingze along. Since he could bring one or four of them anyway, he might as well bring them all!

So, the next day she went to Baichuan Academy with An'an and Jingze to find Lu Zijing. She could ask Ying Jiu for a day off, but this time she didn't know how long it would take, maybe even until after the New Year, so she had to come and tell Lu Zijing in person.

After watching An'an and Jingze enter the schoolhouse, Jingxue led Ying Shiwu to the door of Lu Zijing's headmaster's office.

Just then, a senior student came out. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Senior Wang, the relative of the gatekeeper whose arm Jingxue had dislocated when he first came to the academy.

Upon seeing Jingxue, Senior Wang immediately bowed and greeted her, "Your Highness, the Princess Consort, please come in!"

Jingxue nodded slightly. "I've come to see Headmaster Lu about something."

"Master Lu is inside. I must go give a lesson to my students. Please excuse me, Your Majesty!"

"Okay, senior, you can go ahead and get busy!"

Senior Wang bowed again and left. Ying Shiwu stepped forward and knocked on the door. After receiving permission, he opened the door for Jingxue.

Upon seeing that the visitor was Jingxue, Lu Zijing hurriedly stood up, walked around the desk, and bowed respectfully, saying, "I was unaware of Your Highness's arrival; I have failed to greet you properly! Please, have a seat."

Jingxue waved her hand and said bluntly, "There's no need for formalities between us. I'm here today to ask for leave for An'an and Jingze."

"Oh, Your Highness, please have a seat. I'll make you some tea." Lu Zijing said as he went to the tea stove to get the teapot.

"No need to trouble yourself, I'm not thirsty."

Ying Shiwu stepped forward and took the teapot from Lu Zijing's hand. "Headmaster, let me take it!"

Lu Zijing handed the teapot to Ying Shiwu without any hesitation.

"Your Highness, are we going to the palace?"

Jingxue was taken aback at first, then she remembered that Lu Zijing was also a member of the imperial family.

“Yes! It’s because the Cangbei delegation is coming that I need to go to the palace for instruction and stay there. As you know, Ye Muchen is very busy and can’t take care of the children, so I have to bring them with me.”

Lu Zijing sat back in his chair and said with a smile, "I understand. Besides, I will also be going to the palace. Not only me, but many other children from aristocratic families will also be going to the palace for temporary instruction. Not to mention that I am also a member of an aristocratic family, I will also be teaching and talking about the history of Cangbei. Actually, I learned it all from books."

"Oh, I really didn't know that."

Lu Zijing said, "I also discussed this with several senior students at the academy today. Since two of them are going to the palace, the academy's classes cannot proceed normally. Therefore, the academy wants to suspend classes and have a holiday."

Jingxue laughed immediately, "Oh my! Then my presence is unnecessary; there's no need to ask for leave at all."

Lu Zijing was also amused by Jingxue. "It's not superfluous. I have an idea. Although it's winter now, could we take advantage of the academy's holiday to cut down those trees in the back first? This would save some time for the project next spring."

“Of course!” Jingxue replied without hesitation, feeling that Lu Zijing’s words made sense.

She then added, "Although it's a bit cold to work in winter, it also gives people who want to find work some opportunities, which is good. Otherwise, the construction here next year would also affect the children's classes."

Lu Zijing nodded, "That's right, but we'll have to trouble Prince Qin for this."

"It should be fine. He has a lot of men under him. I'll go talk to him about it! Don't give your staff a holiday yet. They still need to cook some hot meals and boil some water for the workers at noon. I reckon Qin Jing will be going to the palace soon, so we really need to hurry up with this!"

Lu Zijing was also a quick and efficient person. "I will give instructions to the academy and ask them to cooperate. There are still two senior students left. The children are on temporary leave, and some of them need to be settled in for their return home. There are quite a few things to do."

Jingxue stood up and said, "Then I'll go find Qin Jing first. Oh, by the way, An'an and Jingze won't be coming to the academy tomorrow because we're going to the palace to visit our parents."

"Alright, no problem! Your Highness, if you need anything in the future, just have your attendants deliver a message. It's so cold, you don't need to come in person," Lu Zijing said.

"I'm fine, goodbye!"

"I'll see Your Highness out!" Lu Zijing gestured for her to leave.

Jingxue didn't stand on ceremony any longer and led Ying Shiwu outside.

Once inside the carriage, Ying Shiwu asked, "Young Miss, where are we going?"

Jingxue really didn't know where to find Qin Jing. "Let's go to West Street! Let Manager Peng go find Qin Jing."

"Yes!"

When we arrived near the beauty salon, we saw two luxurious carriages parked in front of it.

"Someone's getting a beauty treatment this early?" Jingxue thought for a moment, "She's probably a young lady from some wealthy family who's preparing to enter the palace!"

Since Ying Shiwu was a man and couldn't easily enter, Jingxue pushed open the door and walked into the beauty salon herself.

The Wen sisters, who were busy doing manicures for customers, wanted to stand up and bow when they saw their boss, but Jingxue quickly raised her hand to stop them, saying, "You're busy, I'm here to find Manager Peng."

Miss Wen said, "Master, the manager is in the backyard."

"Okay, I understand!" Jingxue said and walked straight to the backyard.

The two girls, who were focused on getting their nails done, inadvertently caught sight of Jingxue, whose only visible feature was her pair of large, bright eyes. They exchanged glances, and one of the girls spoke first, asking the young lady next to her, Wen, with curiosity, "Your employer wouldn't happen to be the legendary Princess Consort of War, would she?"

Upon hearing this, Miss Wen maintained a polite and appropriate smile, and replied softly, "Miss, we servants dare not gossip about our masters. Besides, the master has already instructed us not to speak out of turn. Miss, please don't move, or your nails will look bad!"

Another girl scoffed dismissively. It turned out that this was Hu Yucheng's second daughter, Hu Shuer, while the one who had just asked the question was her best friend, Tian Xianglan, the eldest daughter of Tian Fang, a senior official in the Ministry of Revenue.

This time, the Emperor ordered all adult children of noble families of the fifth rank or above to enter the palace for training, and to select the best to accompany the delegation.

As expected, Hu Shuer got the news early and dragged her friend to get a beauty and manicure.

Hu Shuer initially favored the War King Ye Muchen. Her older sister married the Second Prince and became his principal wife. Although she couldn't become the War King's principal wife, she could accept being a concubine.

However, her father consistently disagreed, so she had no choice but to give up.

She was determined to make the best choice during this training trip to the palace. If she could win the emperor's favor and become a concubine, that would be wonderful. She felt that she was no less capable than her cousin, Consort Li. At only 15 years old, she was in the prime of her youth, so she was determined to perform well.