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

Fu Luan bit her lip, pondered for a long time, and finally left with Fu Yuan.

She knew her older brother and believed he was indeed capable of doing such a thing.

"Take good care of Xiao Jiu. If he wakes up, tell him I'll come again tomorrow..." As soon as she stepped out, Fu Luan ran into Hua Luo and Qing Luan.

She left in a hurry without having time to explain; Hua Luo, unaware of what was going on, had no choice but to follow her mistress.

As Fu Luan was leaving, she learned that Ana Gui had never left; she was standing at the entrance of Yao Hua Palace, waiting for Yuan Jiu.

The palace servants of Yaohua Palace were coming and going.

She would occasionally mutter complaints under her breath about being "so annoying, blocking the doorway," but the little princess from the Western Regions didn't react; she simply stepped aside.

Only after Fu Luan and his sister left did she lazily lead her group of Western Region maids back to her residence.

Qingluan gazed at the backs of the Fu family master and servants for a moment, then entered the warm pavilion alone.

She stared at Yuan Jiu's face, just as her father had stared intently at her earlier.

Her slender, delicate fingers caressed his handsome face, moving downwards.

A cool hand slipped inside Yuan Jiu's clothes and touched his burning chest.

"Ah Luan, Ah Luan..." Xiao Jiu was still talking nonsense, her hands grabbing haphazardly by the bedside.

Seeing this, Qingluan took his hand and said softly, "I'm here... Xiaojiu, Aluan is here..."

She felt a surge of heat within her; so she licked her lips, anticipating what would happen next.

She entered the palace at a young age, and she knew all too well what kind of people these princes and nobles were beneath their dignified and glamorous exteriors.

Perhaps out of pride, they would initially reject a "lowly woman" like her;

But if they just beckoned to them, they would scramble onto their beds like dogs in heat...

“I’m not calling you. I’m calling ‘A-Luan,’ my ‘A-Luan.’” Yuan Jiu suddenly came to his senses.

He suddenly opened his eyes, but only stared at the roof, not even glancing at Qingluan.

Qingluan was startled and quickly released Yuanjiu's hand, kneeling down to apologize:

"Your Highness, please forgive me! This servant is Li Qingluan from Yaohua Palace; my name also contains the character 'Luan'."

"So when I heard His Highness the Prince of Yan calling 'A-Luan,' I thought he was calling me."

"This servant was unaware that Your Highness had summoned someone else. I beg Your Highness's forgiveness!"

She bowed again and again, but all she heard was Yuan Jiu's cold laugh: "Don't you know who I'm calling?"

"Those calls of 'Little Jiu' were so affectionate!"

"Now that I am awake, why are you calling me 'Prince of Yan'?"

Qingluan kowtowed repeatedly, crying, "Your Highness, please forgive me! This servant will never dare to call Your Highness by your name again!"

"This servant was originally a lady-in-waiting in the Department of Pharmacy, and I was doing a good job;

“But, Lady Yuan thinks that my features resemble hers somewhat.”

"She insisted that I dress up as her and follow the path of Yun and Yun Cai Nu to compete for favor, and become her spy in the palace."

"From that day on, I not only had to dress and dress according to her requirements, but I also had to change my name to 'Qingluan' as she requested!"

"I am about to serve the Emperor in bed. The Emperor is nearly forty years old, but I am only eighteen!"

"Please grant my request, Your Highness, and allow me to serve you for one night. Would that be alright?"

Although Li Qingluan's long speech was mostly nonsense, it also contained a bit of sincerity.

She certainly won't get the Empress's position;

Rather than wasting her years in the deep palace, competing with so many concubines for an old man;

It would be better to find a young and handsome prince; there would be fewer competitors.

Originally, she had her eye on Prince Yuanjia of Longxi, who was a perfect match—a man of integrity, skilled in both literature and martial arts, and without wives or concubines.

Who knew that Yuan Jiu would be living in Yaohua Palace today? No wonder she has such a privileged position.

After all, if you put a prince and a duke together, anyone would choose the prince;

Moreover, Yuan Jiu has Fu Luan, the golden phoenix, as his backing;

Behind Fu Luan are the Marquis of Chang'an's mansion, the Fu family, and numerous princesses, princes, and generals...

Yuan Jiu is undoubtedly the most sought-after candidate for crown prince at present!

Rather than becoming a concubine to an old emperor in his thirties, it's better to take a gamble on Yuan Jiu.

However, Yuan Jiu was clearly not buying it.

He lifted Qingluan's chin, and Qingluan genuinely thought he wanted to admire her face.

So he knelt down properly and obediently raised his head;

But to everyone's surprise, Yuan Jiu raised his hand and slapped him across the face!

"Ah!" The slap made Qingluan dizzy, and blood even seeped from the corner of her mouth.

She suddenly fell to the ground, staring at Yuan Jiu in disbelief, "Your Highness, you..."

Yuan Jiu sat up, supporting his cheek with one hand;

He smiled knowingly: "Don't let my appearance fool you; I know more about palace affairs than you, you lowly servant!"

"Back then, you were envious of Yun's favor, so you rushed to ask A-Luan to promote you."

"You're using your resemblance to her to curry favor with the emperor and seduce my father;"

"But now it's said that she treated you like a plaything and sent you to the dragon's bed?"

"If Ah Luan really wants to send beauties to the palace, it's not your place!"

Li Qingluan struggled to her feet and said with difficulty, "Your Highness, please don't be fooled by Lady Yuan!"

"It is not mentioned that she frequently visited the residences of the Prince of Youbeiping and the Prince of Longxi."

"Just now, I saw her and General Fu walking out arm in arm, very intimately."

"Who in Chang'an doesn't know that General Fu is an adopted son of the Fu family, and although he and the County Lady are said to be siblings, they are not related by blood! She..."

Yuan Jiu shouted, "They're siblings with a deep bond, why are you interfering?"

"You keep saying you want to be A-Luan's spy in the palace, but you haven't helped her at all."

"Now they're spying on her! And they even came to me to sow discord and slander her!"

"I...this servant..." Qingluan wanted to say a few more words in her defense;

Unfortunately, a eunuch from the Liangyi Palace had already come to report that Li Qingluan, a palace maid from Yaohua Palace, was to serve the emperor.

Qingluan had no choice but to quickly wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth and get up dejectedly.

If the eunuch who delivered the message had arrived earlier, perhaps many of the things that happened later would not have occurred.

Even Li Qingluan herself didn't know that Yuan Jiu hadn't listened to the words she had carefully crafted.

Only the sentence about Fu Yuan, like a thorn, quietly stuck in Yuan Jiu's heart;

It will take root and sprout there; and at some point in the future, it will grow into a sharp blade that will separate the two...

But how could Yuan Jiu know any of this right now?

He resumed lying flat, still gazing at the roof, thinking of his "A-Luan".

After he was injured, he had a very long dream...

He dreamt of his childhood—when he was still called "Yuan Ge"—when his brothers were vying to play with A Luan.

A-Luan stood out among the princes, making him irresistibly drawn to her.

But his mother, Consort Su, knelt down and said to him:

"That beautiful lady is the future Crown Princess of Great Wei, someone only His Highness the Crown Prince can be close to..."

"Since the Great Wei must have a crown prince, why can't the crown prince be a child?"