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

The antidote was served bowl after bowl, which Fu Luan threw away one by one; not only that, she also refused to let anyone take her pulse, citing the reason that "one should always be wary of others," not even Fu Ling.

This presented Wei Mian with a dilemma—taking the pulse of the empresses and concubines was the duty of the Imperial Medical Bureau. Now that the empress wouldn't allow him to take their pulses, how could he record the results?

“If that’s the case, I’ll only speak to his daughter. Bring Wei Ling’an here!” Fu Luan ordered.

"This concubine, Wei Ling'an, greets Your Majesty the Empress! May Your Majesty enjoy boundless blessings and peace!" Wei Ling'an kowtowed repeatedly upon seeing Fu Luan.

Her eyes were glazed over, and she looked like she hadn't had a good rest in a long time!

Fu Luan took a sip of tea and said with a half-smile, "Oh, why isn't Consort Wei wishing me 'good fortune, longevity, health, and many descendants' today?"

Wei Ling'an, who had just stood up with the help of the lady-in-waiting, knelt down again with a thud upon hearing this and said:

"When I served tea that day, it was my foolishness that offended Your Majesty the Empress! I beg Your Majesty to forgive my rudeness..."

Fu Luan still smiled and said, "You're quite obedient now. I suppose you've been doing well since leaving Ling'an Palace!"

Upon hearing the words "Ling'an Palace," Wei Ling'an shuddered. Remembering her days as the head of Ling'an Palace, she crawled to Fu Luan's side and hugged her legs, saying:

"Your Majesty! Ever since I returned to 'Jade Snow and Rainbow Robes,' Consort Ni Chang and Consort Zhao have been keeping me company day and night, either playing leaf games, reading, playing chess, or copying the 'Great Wei Ancestral Instructions'!"

"It's alright during the day; but once night falls, they play for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before going to rest, leaving the palace maids to do it for them. It's so hard on the concubines!"

As Wei Ling'an spoke, she began to cry.

Fu Luan continued with a smile, "Now that you're in the palace, we're all sisters. The two of them are playing with you because they like you; if you don't want to, just refuse them!"

"Now you've agreed to their request in person, but you're complaining to me behind their backs. Isn't that... a bit inappropriate? Or perhaps..."

Fu Luan lifted Wei Ling'an's chin and said with a light smile, "It's not that Consort Wei has any opinions about Consort Ni Chang and Consort Zhao, but rather that she dislikes the 'Great Wei Ancestral Instructions'."

"Ah? I beg Your Majesty to see the truth. Even if I had a hundred lives, I wouldn't dare..." Wei Ling'an hurriedly explained.

"Alright! Where did your temper go when you used to publicly slander me? Now you're so humble and subservient, I can't stand it!" Fu Luan interrupted with a look of disgust.

"I...I..." Wei Ling'an looked up with a face full of tears, at a loss for what to do.

Fu Luan said calmly, "Tell your father, who is the Imperial Physician, that the records of my pulse diagnosis will be kept as normal. If you manage to do that, the people from 'Jade Snow and Rainbow Robes' will no longer make things difficult for you."

"But if you disobey... I'll have to settle all the old and new scores with you!"

Wei Ling'an hesitated, "But...but..."

"Hua Luo, invite the Minister of the Imperial Clan Court here and have him thoroughly investigate the matter of Consort Wei slandering me last time, and see..." Fu Luan paused, waiting for Wei Ling'an's reaction.

"Your Majesty, I know I was wrong! I will definitely do as Your Majesty commands! I hope Your Majesty will give me more guidance in the palace in the future!" Upon hearing "Minister of the Imperial Clan Court," Wei Ling'an was startled again, and quickly released Fu Luan's legs, kowtowing repeatedly.

The "Zongzhengqing" was a third-rank official in the Imperial Clan Court of the Great Wei Dynasty, in charge of the crimes and punishments of the emperor's relatives.

If any prince, princess, or concubine commits a crime, they must first explain everything to the Minister of the Imperial Clan, who will then decide whether to allow these noble prisoners to see the Emperor. The Minister of the Imperial Clan has immense power!

In reality, most of the nobles who were taken away by the Minister of the Imperial Clan never had the chance to see the Emperor again! Therefore, Wei Ling'an preferred to be punished by Fu Luan rather than meet the Minister of the Imperial Clan.

Fu Luan knew this, which is why Wei Ling was completely convinced. Sure enough, her father, Wei Mian, never bothered Fu Luan again with matters such as "peaceful pulse" or "recording."

By not punishing Wei Ling'an in any way, she achieved the effect of "killing the chicken to scare the monkey," and the concubines finally quieted down, realizing that this young empress, who was not even twenty years old, was not to be trifled with!

Things have calmed down inside the palace, but the situation outside the palace is far from over.

As Anagui's delivery draws ever closer, the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions have petitioned the court to send envoys to offer their congratulations, demonstrating the Western Regions' dependence on the Great Wei.

This was something that should have been a matter of course and extremely ordinary, but it gave Yuan Rui a hard time.

"The Western Regions failed to win your hand in marriage last time, and now that the envoy has come again, they'll probably try to bring it up again in a different way!" When Yuan Rui arrived at Changqiu Palace, she found a seat and sat down without waiting for the usual greetings.

Fu Luan smiled and said, "I thought it was something important, but it turns out it's about a marriage alliance again. Before, little..."

"When your ninth brother was still alive, the Emperor promised that he would never again send a princess away for a political marriage. Don't you trust your father?"

Yuan Rui said worriedly, "I'm not afraid of the Empress's reprimand, but..."

She raised her eyes, and Hua Luo knew that the two of them had something to say privately, so she led the palace maids away on her own.

Yuan Rui then continued, "When Your Majesty and Father Emperor got married, Father Emperor held a banquet at Changqiu Palace for two consecutive months. How loving they were!"

"But ever since Her Majesty fainted at Tianlu Pavilion on the first day of the third month, Father Emperor has become a different person. He only visits Her Majesty on the first and fifteenth of the month, according to palace rules!"

“If it were the first two months, Father would naturally have given in to the Empress’s every whim, but now…”

As she spoke, Yuan Rui shed tears several times: "If only Your Majesty would marry my Ninth Brother... Father Emperor, he is not worthy of you!"

“Your father… he has never changed! Didn’t he only come to Changqiu Palace on the first and fifteenth of the month before?”

“Besides…” Fu Luan knew she missed Yuan Jiu, so he stroked her hair and wiped away her tears, saying with a smile, “How is he ‘unworthy’?”

Yuan Rui choked up and said, "Your Majesty used to win the championship on the horse racing track and bring glory to the Great Wei. How glorious you were! Now you are trapped in this deep palace..."

"Your Majesty married my father so that Ninth Brother could become the Crown Prince, but in the end, Ninth Brother... Father should have let you leave the palace! It's clear that Father is a man who doesn't keep his word!"

"He promised not to let me go on this marriage alliance, but maybe that lousy envoy will just sweet-talk and trick him into agreeing! I wonder who this envoy is..."

The identity of this envoy was indeed kept very secret, and no one knew; Fu Luan, because of his memories from his previous life, had some idea of ​​who it was.

She held Yuan Rui in her arms and whispered, "Don't talk nonsense! If you're worried that your father will change his mind, I have a way, but... I'm afraid you'll have to suffer!"

Yuan Rui sat up straight, her eyes wide, and said, "What method? I'm not afraid of being wronged! For me, what in this world is more humiliating than being married off to a distant land for political reasons?"

Fu Luan covered half of her face with a gauze fan and smiled faintly: "Naturally... you recognize me as 'Empress Dowager,' and I will marry you off!"