Transmigrated Female Official

Seeing the guests arriving one after another, each one a stranger, Chu Qingluo was very confused and asked in a low voice, "Mother, who are these people you invited?"

“My business partners, and my neighbors. Oh, and your grandmother and Lord Gongsun will be coming over later.”

"Is Lord Gongsun also coming?"

"Yes, I had Gongsun Yu deliver the invitation personally."

"Oh..." Gongsun Yu was quite efficient this time, and he hadn't mentioned it before.

"Stop saying 'oh,' someone else is coming."

As if on cue, Gongsun Ruyi walked into the hall, and Chu Qingluo quickly straightened up and bowed to her.

"Lord Gongsun, please take a seat."

Gongsun Ruyi smiled and said, "Greetings, Lord Chu. You are the star of the show today; I'll just join in the fun."

"...I'm sorry to have made you laugh, Lord Gongsun."

"The Seventh Prince is here too?" Gongsun Ruyi also saw Ji Qiran standing to the side, and the two nodded to each other as a greeting.

Chu Qinglu smiled a little awkwardly... This kind of thing should be kept low-key. Even if it's a celebration, it doesn't have to be so grand. Just have a wild party behind closed doors.

Sigh, what can I say about having a mother who loves to show off?

Just as she was feeling awkward, two women of similar age affectionately put their arms around her: "Qingluo! It's been so long since we've seen you!" One on each side, they said as they hugged her, "No, no, from now on we should call you Lord Chu."

Chu Qingluo was quite certain that she didn't recognize the two women in front of her, and asked in confusion, "You..." She wanted to ask 'Who are you?' but then realized that their faces looked exactly alike and she couldn't tell them apart at all, so she changed it to, "Are you twins?"

The two sisters exchanged a glance, and one of them suddenly exclaimed with ecstasy, "I knew it! She has amnesia, but you didn't believe me! You lost, give me the hairpin." Before she finished speaking, she ripped the coral hairpin off the other woman's head.

"Tch!" The woman whose hairpin had been stolen stomped her foot in exasperation. "What a spoilsport!" But she still held onto the hairpin tightly, unwilling to let go.

"You have to accept the consequences of your bet, don't try to renege!"

"Humph!!"

Chu Qingluo stared wide-eyed at the two of them... What's going on? She silently withdrew her hand and said, "You two talk first, I have something to do over there."

The two were still arguing over the hairpin and had no time to pay attention to Chu Qingluo.

She rushed up to Chu Yilin, and the first thing she thought of asking him was, "Second Brother, who are these two people?"

Chu Yilin glanced at her: "So you're thinking of asking me for help now? Wasn't it quite difficult to ask you before?" He was referring to the matter of waking her up to go boating on the lake this morning.

"Tsk... A grown man like you, so petty." Chu Qinglu rolled her eyes. "I haven't even held a grudge against you for causing me to fall into the water for no reason while accompanying you on your lake trip!"

"Ahem." Knowing he was in the wrong, Chu Yilin cleared his throat and whispered, "The taller one is the older sister, Hu Yun, and the shorter one is the younger sister, Hu Duo. Their house is diagonally opposite ours, and Madam Hu and my mother have a very good relationship."

Chu Qingluo nodded: "Then what about their relationship with me?"

"As for your relationship with these two sisters... it seems alright on the surface."

How can you tell it's just on the surface?

"Are you stupid? So you used to hang out with them all the time. But since you became a female official, I haven't seen them at all. Isn't that just on the surface?" Chu Yilin stared at Chu Qingluo, who looked completely bewildered, and said, "Don't ask me why we don't keep in touch anymore. I don't know. A woman's mind can change in an instant."

Chu Qinglu rolled her eyes at him, amused: "I've lost my memory, haven't I?! Besides, Second Brother, you're too kind. If you don't understand women's thoughts, then no one else will."

Chu Yilin: "..."

After snatching the hairpin, the two sisters showed no sign of letting Chu Qingluo go and continued to pester her. Hu Yun, with her sharp eyes, spotted Ji Qiran sitting on the other side of Chu Yilin and was completely stunned: "Who is this handsome man...?"

Seeing Ji Qiran frown, Chu Yilin smiled wickedly: "This is the most handsome man in Yancheng, the Seventh Prince."

"What?! So he's the Seventh Prince!" Hu Yun and Hu Duo hurriedly bowed, unable to contain their joy, and moved closer to Ji Qiran. "Seventh Prince, my name is Hu Yun." "I am your younger sister, Hu Duo."

The two sisters introduced themselves in a flurry of chatter, striking poses and making Peony, who was watching from the side, stare wide-eyed.

Ji Qiran suddenly stood up, his voice cold: "Excuse me, gentlemen." He had no mood to deal with the ladies and walked straight towards Zhuqing Courtyard.

Seeing this, Chu Yilin could only stand up and say, "Miss Yun, please make yourselves at home."

As soon as the two of them left, Hu Duo immediately pestered Chu Qingluo again, asking, "So he is the Seventh Prince that you wanted so badly before? No wonder you didn't give up even after taking the official exam several times, and even made me lose a pair of jade bracelets back then."

"What do you mean? I don't understand," Chu Qingluo asked.

Hu Yun covered her face and laughed: "When you took the official exam for the third time, we made a bet. Duo'er bet that you wouldn't pass, so she gave me these jade bracelets." After saying that, she shook the pair of green bracelets she was wearing.

"Let's get down to business. Did you fail to get permission from the Seventh Prince?"

"Yeah, it looks like they failed."

Chu Qinglu felt ashamed; these two sisters' mouths seemed even more repulsive than Luo Lifei's...

Seeing that Chu Qingluo didn't respond, Hu Yun continued to press on: "You've worked so hard for so long without any results, why don't I take the exam to become an examiner?" He finished speaking with a look of longing for the future.

Hu Duo joined in the fun, saying, "I want to take the exam too!"

Peony was already seething with anger and could no longer contain herself. She stepped forward and sneered, "The palace only selects ten executive officers a year. It's not like you can just take the exam and pass!"

These words greatly displeased the two sisters, who stared at Peony and looked her up and down: "Who are you?"

Sensing the tension between the three, Chu Qingluo stepped forward and said, "This is Lady Mo, a lady-in-waiting in the palace." This introduction was mainly to remind the two sisters not to overstep their bounds.

These two didn't even take Chu Qingluo seriously, so why would they be afraid of Peony, who had no rank? Their momentum didn't weaken at all. Hu Yun even smoothed his long hair and snorted coldly, "We two are really going to take the exam next year."

Peony was furious and wanted to continue arguing with them, but Chu Qingluo stopped her and pulled her aside: "Don't pay attention to them, they're so boring."

It's easy for these women to start a war, and it can even be quite inexplicable.

Peony pouted, swallowed angrily, and had no choice but to give up.

It wasn't until Grandmother Chu arrived and dinner officially began that Ji Qiran and Chu Yilin came over from Zhuqing Courtyard. Throughout the meal, the Yun sisters and Shaoyao's eyes were glued to Ji Qiran, unwilling to look away for even a moment.

Ji Qiran was nothing but displeased, extremely displeased. His eyes kept darting to Gongsun Yu sitting next to Chu Qingluo, noticing him frequently serving her food, their intimacy quite evident! He had risked his life to save her today, and she hadn't even offered a word of thanks, yet he had to watch her being so affectionate with someone else…

Chu Yilin could clearly sense a sinister atmosphere surrounding the person next to him, and couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "You seem to have changed your personality?"

Ji Qiran glanced at him sideways: "What do you mean?"

Chu Yilin stopped beating around the bush and asked directly, "You never had any feelings for my third sister before, so why do you seem to mind now? Besides, you used to be very patient with women, but now you don't even want to talk to them."

Ji Qiran did not deny it, his eyes sharp: "So you deliberately dragged her out to the lake today to provoke me?"

Chu Yilin raised an eyebrow: "Heaven and earth bear witness, I wanted to provoke her." He then stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth.

Ji Qiran then turned his gaze back to Chu Qingluo: "How can she swim?"

"Huh?" Chu Yilin recalled the scene from earlier that day. When he rescued Shaoyao, she did seem to be... floating on the surface of the water by herself. "This doesn't make sense..." Chu Qingluo had hardly ever had the chance to go into the water since she was a child, so how did she become self-taught?

The things happening to Chu Qingluo are getting increasingly bizarre.