The Eldest Daughter Reborn: She Provoked the Obsessive Crown Prince and Couldn't Escape

Even the maids who had served in the Chang'an Marquis's mansion since childhood had never seen Fu Yuan angry! Let alone angry at Fu Luan!

Fu Luan sat in front of the dressing table and said with a light smile, "She's about to become my sister-in-law, what's there to hide?"

"Didn't my elder brother personally go to Father and say that you were going to marry Cuiyun? Why are you getting angry at me now? Besides..."

Fu Luan paused, sorting out the myriad sorrows in his heart, and continued, "Brother knows in his heart that if you really don't like Cuiyun, no one can force you!"

"You never said you wanted to marry me, and now that I want to remarry, you're putting up all sorts of obstacles!"

Knowing he was in the wrong, Fu Yuan could only coldly say, "Who stopped you? Who dared to stop you? I'm just curious, what methods did you use to win the Emperor's heart in such a short time?!"

"You must know that he ascended the throne and assumed personal rule at the age of thirteen; you must also know that he and Empress Zhaoshen had a deep and devoted love for each other..."

"I only went out for a short while, but who knew that when I returned, Chang'an would be about to undergo a complete upheaval?!"

Fu Luan smiled and said, "Brother is being too modest! You suppressed the Xianbei people's disguised peasant uprising, and you just described it as 'going out for a trip'!"

"Marquis Yongning, Fu Yuan, has had his fief increased to 23,000 households for his meritorious service in repelling the Xianbei, making him the head of the current marquises... Who wouldn't praise Cuiyun, the future 'Lady of Marquis Yongning,' for her good fortune?"

Fu Yuan's face darkened as he said, "No matter how 'lucky' she is, how can she compare to you, A-Luan, who can be the Empress and the head of Changqiu? I suppose that night, you served the Emperor... extremely well!"

Xiao Jiu had said the same thing, which made Fu Luan so angry she wanted to hit him! But Fu Luan wasn't angry at all this time; instead, she laughed.

A sprig of winter plum blossoms stretched in through the window. She broke off a branch, brought it to her nose, and smelled it, saying, "What ability do I have? I'm just lucky to have my father as my matchmaker!"

Fu Yuan frowned, finding the words strange, and asked, "What do you mean?"

Fu Luan yawned and said softly, "How can a girl like me go into all these details? Our servants have the longest tongues, brother... just ask them!"

Upon hearing this, Fu Yuan immediately turned and left without even saying goodbye.

No one knows what the Marquis of Yongning did after his fief was increased; all that is known is that the Marquis of Chang'an, Yu Weiyan, was found dead in the main hall of his mansion the next day!

"I heard... the old Marquis was beaten to death with a spiked club, it was horrible!"

"Yes! The corpse was riddled with holes, and the spiked club was covered in dark red blood, its original color was no longer visible!"

"That's the family law of the Yu family. I reckon even his ancestors couldn't stand his marriage into the family!"

"I also heard that... his first wife's memorial tablet was placed on his face!"

"Yes, yes, yes! It must be the Lady's spirit appearing! The Lady's death was so suspicious! The Marquis didn't allow the coroner to examine the body and buried her in a hurry!"

"There seems to be a plum blossom as well, but I don't know where it came from..."

In the mourning hall, the guests were talking amongst themselves; even though they all lowered their voices, Fu Luan could still hear everything clearly.

No one knew that she was the one who planted that wintersweet, and that it was the very branch she had broken off in front of Fu Yuan...

Before the funeral was even over, the emperor issued an edict that Fu Ze, the second son of the Marquis of Chang'an, would inherit his ancestral line and title. Because Fu Ze and Yu Weiyan had different surnames, this matter caused quite a stir in the court.

But Fu Ze himself had meritorious service and was the future Empress's older brother. With the Emperor's support, who would dare to say "no"?

Furthermore, the Xue family, to which Yu Xi's husband's family belonged, petitioned on Fu Ze's behalf, agreeing to his inheritance of his father's mansion and family business. Yu Xi was Yu Weiyan's own sister; if she agreed, what could anyone else say?

The court officials' opposition not only failed to prevent Fu Ze from being enfeoffed as a marquis, but they also persuaded the emperor to use the "imperial and empress's wedding" as an excuse to enfeoff Yu Weiyan's other three sons—Fu Che, Fu Ze, and Fu Qing—as marquises to silence the gossip!

On the day of the Emperor and Empress's wedding, the long-silent Changqiu Palace finally welcomed its new master. From then on, on the first and fifteenth of each month, the Emperor would no longer have to "stay alone in his empty room" in Changqiu!

The simultaneous bestowal of titles upon the four sons of the Fu family was an even greater honor!

Fu Luan, dressed in the Empress's robes and wearing a crown with nine tassels, sat regally in Changqiu Palace, awaiting her husband's arrival.

"Ugh..." Suddenly, Fu Luan clutched her chest. She felt a sharp pain explode in her chest! It felt as if her internal organs were being burned!

A sweet, fishy smell suddenly spread in her mouth... She inadvertently glimpsed herself in the mirror, and the peony hairpin that had followed her day and night since her rebirth was gradually fading and then disappearing!

She knew that as long as she put on this Empress's robe, something was bound to happen! She just didn't know where this strange phenomenon would manifest.

"Ah Luan, what's wrong? Don't be afraid, I'm here..." The Emperor entered at some point and picked Fu Luan up in his arms, just like that night at the Marquis of Chang'an's residence.

"Xiao Jiu, has something happened to Xiao Jiu...?" Fu Luan didn't know why, but she always felt that this matter was related to Xiao Jiu!

I still remember the day I was reborn. It was the dead of summer, yet it was snowing heavily in Chang'an... That was the day Xiao Jiu was supposed to commit suicide! Were those untimely snowflakes tears shed by the heavens for this wronged and suffering person?

The Emperor laughed loudly, "How could that be! He's going to be officially appointed tomorrow. He didn't even dare to drink too much wine at the banquet just now, for fear of being too hungover to get up and delaying the ceremony."

"Anyway, he's doing great! Tomorrow he'll be able to come and pay his respects to you and call you 'Mother'! And you...?"

The Emperor leaned closer to his newlywed wife, inhaled the fragrance from her neck, and said in a low voice, "It's not good to be thinking about other men on your wedding night, not even if that man is my son!"

"No matter how much I pamper you and love you, I can't tolerate this kind of thing!"

"Your Majesty, I... um..." Fu Luan was about to speak, but the Emperor turned her face and kissed her directly, sealing her mouth with his own; his large hands unceremoniously reached inside her clothes and roamed over his wife's body.

Fu Luan's eyes were half-open, her face flushed, and her expression revealed an undisguised desire.

She bit her lip, trying not to let herself feel any passion, but a seductive moan still escaped her lips.

She sat on the emperor's lap, and even through their clothes, she could feel something pressing against her. When she realized what it was, her face turned even redder…

On the very first day of her rebirth, she divorced that good-for-nothing Yuan Lu; and in every day since, she has never actually done that kind of thing with a man...

"Ah Luan, don't be afraid..." The man, already aroused, placed her on the bed; that night, she truly became the Queen Mother of the Great Wei, the mistress of Changqiu Palace...

"Your Majesty and Your Majesty the Empress, the Prince of Yan... has passed away!"

Early the next morning, Prince Yuan Jiu of Yan, who was scheduled to attend the investiture ceremony at 9:00 AM, was found dead in his palace...