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

Fu Luan said with a half-smile, "Where else could I have heard that from? It was just what 'they' said!"

"She, them? Which 'they'? Who are 'they'?" Fu Zhengzheng was completely baffled.

Fu Luan did not answer her, but just smiled and said, "It doesn't matter who 'they' are;

"I know it's enough that Zhengzheng didn't complain about her sister!"

"I suppose Zhengzheng never intended to enter the palace to compete for the emperor's favor; I have a good job here... so I'll just have to let someone else have it!"

"W-What kind of job?" Fu Zhengzheng was stunned.

Fu Luan smiled and said, "What else could it be? It's your older sister here."

"Sooner or later we'll have to go back to the East Palace, and the East Palace and the harem..."

"On the surface, they are not supposed to interfere with each other, but in reality, there are some intricate connections between them."

"Now that I'm the Crown Princess again, how can I manage without a spy in the harem?"

Hua Luo deliberately stomped her foot and said, "Oh dear, my lady! How precious is our second young lady!"

"How can we let her go into the palace to be your spy? The Emperor will say that our family is 'miserly and born out of wedlock'!"

Fu Zhengzheng heard it clearly; the four words "harsh and illegitimate child" came from Hua Luo's mouth.

He spat out each word carefully, biting them down quite hard.

It seems that everyone in Fu Luan's household still remembers the incident at the last family banquet very clearly!

"It's all my aunts' fault; they made me feel ashamed at home."

"Even the servants can mock me!" Fu Zhengzheng couldn't help but grit her teeth in anger.

She always looked down on her birth mother's poor relatives!

If she also had those good relatives in the Fu family, she, Fu Zhengzheng, would probably be the Crown Princess!

With such a cushy job in hand, Fu Zhengzheng had no time to care about what the servants were saying.

"Oh? No, no!" She quickly put aside her previous dissatisfaction and doubt;

She hugged Fu Luan's leg and kept flattering him, saying, "As the saying goes, 'Don't let the good stuff go to outsiders.'"

"My dear sister, how unreliable are you to find other people? Do you think those sluts will listen to you?"

"Why don't you come to me... I'm your own sister!"

“Oh, really? Then…” Fu Luan saw that Fu Zhengzheng had taken the bait;

He then threw a palm-sized brocade box at Fu Zhengzheng's feet.

Fu Zhengzheng looked closely and realized that this was the very box she had used to store the soothing cream!

"What if I asked you to give this to Consort Shu, who has recently been disfigured and fallen out of favor?" Fu Luan said with a smile.

Fu Zhengzheng shoved the box far away and screamed in panic, "Are you crazy?!"

"No, no, I'm the one who's crazy... I must be crazy to agree to such a ridiculous request!"

Fu Zhengzheng stared intently at the scratches on Fu Luan's face.

These days, Fu Luan always appears with these scratch marks on her face and no makeup.

Even on the day she was conferred the title of Lady of the County, she made no attempt to cover it up with cosmetics.

Fortunately, a beauty is a beauty; without makeup, her beauty becomes even more pure and refined.

Even if she's disfigured, she's still a hundred times prettier than those ordinary, tacky women!

No one knows how those scratches came about;

Only Fu Zhengzheng was secretly pleased, feeling that her soothing cream had worked.

But now Fu Luan is throwing that soothing cream at her and expecting her to give it to the empress in the palace?!

Although she rarely entered the palace, she had heard of Consort Shu's "prestige" to some extent!

Leaving aside her reliance on the favored concubine Mei Yuanfei, she was also quite capable herself.

Even if she temporarily loses favor, she is still the head of the Six Ceremonies and a third-rank noble lady;

How could she, a mere illegitimate daughter of a noble family, possibly contend with such a figure? If it were back when she was in the Eastern Palace…

Fu Zhengzheng licked her lips; she thought of Yuan Lu.

With Yuan Lu as a powerful backer, this matter is guaranteed to succeed!

But if Yuan Lu were still alive, why would she be at Fu Luan's mercy?

Moreover, it is unknown who was behind this, but the "horse trampling the Xiongnu" incident caused Yuan Lu to lose his throne and be adopted into the royal family.

There is no possibility of him returning to the Eastern Palace and inheriting the throne!

I heard that during the chaos in Zhaoyang, Yuanlu's left arm was somehow broken.

Now, Yuan Lu has lost two of his limbs and is practically a cripple...

"Zhengzheng, Zhengzheng! I'm asking you a question!" Seeing that she seemed dazed, Fu Luan called her even louder.

Fu Zhengzheng snapped out of her daze and quickly knelt down again. "W-what? What did my sister ask?"

Fu Luan said with a half-smile, "I asked... why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"

"This is just a beauty cream, for applying to the face."

"I also have scratches on my face, but they've faded quite a bit after applying the ointment."

"Shu Guiyi has a scar on her face, but it is currently the season when osmanthus flowers are in full bloom."

"She is allergic to osmanthus flowers. Even a gust of wind blowing from a osmanthus tree can cause her to break out in a rash!"

"So applying the medicine every day not only didn't help, it actually made it worse."

"How important is face to women, especially women in the palace?"

"She's now seeking a cure for her face at great expense, and I've already shown you the way:"

"Give her this ready-made ointment, and her face will be healed and she'll be favored again."

"Won't I have to worry about not thanking you, my great benefactor, then?"

Fu Zhengzheng looked at Fu Luan, then at the ointment, and gritted her teeth, saying, "Sister, please stop teasing me!"

"This...this ointment...how can it be sent to the palace? It..."

Fu Luan smiled and said, "Why? This was a gift from our fourth brother!"

“I use it every day, and my face has improved a lot! Why can’t it be sent to the palace?”

"Oh... does Zhengzheng think that Shu Guiyi is not worthy of using such good things?"

Seeing Fu Luan's feigned surprise, Fu Zhengzheng quickly waved her hand in denial, "No, no! It's just..."

She was at a loss for words; she couldn't very well admit that the ointment wasn't a gift from her fourth brother.

Was it something Fu Zhengzheng asked Doctor Zheng to teach her to make that could cause skin rot?

“‘But’ what? If Zhengzheng doesn’t want to, just say so, and I’ll find someone else!” Fu Luan said, feigning impatience.

“This, this… but…” Fu Zhengzheng stared at the box on the ground, too anxious to say anything.

She had heard a little about the news that Shu Guiyi had treated her face, and it didn't seem to be false;

If I can truly solve her urgent problem, I will naturally reap many benefits.

She wanted to take on this task to pave the way for her entry into the palace;

But how could she send the ointment to the palace when she knew it was defective?

Fu Zhengzheng looked up at her sister's face and was surprised again—

Fu Luan said she uses this ointment morning and night, but why hasn't her face broken out?

Just as she was having an internal struggle, Fu Luan suddenly stood up, opened the door, and said with a smile:

"My sister remained silent for a long time; she must be unwilling to take on this 'difficult task'!"

"Yes, Zhengzheng must think that Consort Shu is a difficult person to get along with..."

Fu Zhengzheng hurriedly said, "No, no, that's not how it is!"

"I'll take it, okay? I'll take it."

She couldn't worry about anything else; she just had to take on this task.

Go back inside and think about it slowly, or discuss it with someone, so as not to benefit others!

Fu Luan then smiled and said, "This job was something my sister eagerly took on."

"Don't go around saying that it was me, the legitimate sister, who was mean to you, the illegitimate sister!"

Fu Luan stopped smiling and slammed her hand on the table, startling Fu Zhengzheng.

She suddenly said, "Wait a minute... what if there's something wrong with this ointment?"

"If Shu Guiyi ruins her face, who will be responsible?"