Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

Headache. Xiao Lan slowly opened her eyes. The emerald green above her head swayed. This wasn't Qifeng Palace; it was her own boudoir in her old home in Shaozhou, which had been burned down three years ago. What was going on? Didn't she commit suicide in front of that scumbag during the fire at Qifeng Palace? She hadn't left any room for maneuver back then. She shouldn't still be alive. And when she touched her wounds, there were none. Xiao Lan calmed herself down. Could it be that her dying wish had come true? Returning to the past, to three years ago, before the ancestral home in Shaozhou was burned down, Xiao Lan began to survey everything inside. When she saw the phoenix painting, she realized this wasn't three years ago, but at least five. Five years ago, due to Ye Lanyi's instigation, she had been forced to tear up the phoenix painting in public. Xiao Lan slowly rose and walked to the dressing table. Looking in the mirror, she saw a beautiful girl with delicate features and skin like jade, though her face was somewhat pale. At this point, Xiao Lan was certain that this was eight years ago. At sixteen, she had come to visit her maternal grandfather. She and her cousin, playing, climbed a lychee tree to pick fruit. Because they slipped, they both fell. She hit her head and was unconscious for three days. Her cousin had broken her leg, but because she had pulled her back, the fall wasn't as severe, although her leg was fractured. At the time, everyone in the family was busy with her, and the family doctor didn't examine her closely. By the time she recovered and went to see her cousin, she found that her posture was incorrect, and by then, her bone had already misaligned. As a result, her cousin walked with a limp, which affected her marriage prospects, leading her to marry a scoundrel...

Thinking of this, Xiao Lan quickly shouted: "Yue'er, Yue'er!"

"Young Miss, you're awake! That's wonderful! You scared me to death! Is there anything else that's bothering you?"

Xiao Lan slowly shook her head. "No."

"Then I'll inform the master that you've woken up, and have Yueji bring over the warmed medicinal food," Yue'er said as she started to walk out.

"Wait," Xiao Lan called out to Yue'er. "Go find your aunt and have her send someone to find the best orthopedic doctor in the city. I need it urgently. But don't make a fuss about it. Just bring him to the outer room of our courtyard when he arrives. Also, send Yueji to your aunt to get the thread for the phoenix pattern I wanted to embroider last time."

"Miss, you've just recovered, isn't that exactly when we need help? Even if you go to get the thread, it'll take at least half a day. And what are you thinking about embroidering now that you've woken up?" Yue'er asked, puzzled. Why was her mistress acting so strangely after waking up? She usually called for Yueji or Jasmine when she needed something. It was strange enough that she was being asked to come in and serve her today, but now she even wanted to send Yueji away to do something unimportant.

"Just do as I say. Also, have Jasmine go to the kitchen and make me a bowl of Yue Rong soup. I suddenly feel like drinking it," Xiao Lan said calmly. She thought to herself, "There are four maids in total. Two have been bribed, and the last one who followed me didn't get a good ending either. Oh well, never mind. Thinking about it gives me a headache. Anyway, I'll avoid running into those unpleasant people in this life. If I do encounter them, I'll stay far away."

The main theme is "If you can't afford to offend them, you can't afford to avoid them either."

Thinking of this, Xiao Lan slowly got up, walked to the clothes rack, and put on her outer garment. Yue'er returned just then, having finished her errands. "Miss, Madam has already sent someone to fetch a doctor. Yueji has gone to Aunt's to get her thread, and Jasmine has gone to the kitchen. Shall we wait for Madam to come?" Yue'er, covered in sweat, ran in.

"Yue'er, help me with my hair and makeup. We'll wait for the doctor and then go to Aunt's courtyard together." Xiao Lan knew that Luo had directly told her aunt that she had invited the doctor for her cousin. Her aunt probably thought she was making a fuss. The main reason was that although her cousin had fractured her bone, she was really unlucky because the dislocation was very tight. Although she couldn't walk, it didn't really hurt, so everyone thought it wasn't a big problem. Moreover, she had bumped her head and was bleeding profusely. The family doctor had only taken a quick look at her cousin's injury and misdiagnosed her. After all, the family doctors of high-ranking families were best at treating common illnesses like colds and flu. Which high-ranking family would have fractures or a bunch of knife and sword wounds every day? After all, her maternal grandfather was just a minor official in the Ministry of Revenue. It wasn't like a general's mansion where people might have the chance to get injured while practicing martial arts. Her cousin's situation was either really unlucky or just plain unlucky. How could a child from a civil official's family have the chance to suffer such an injury? In modern times, people would be urging her to buy a lottery ticket.

(Yes, you read that right, it's about buying lottery tickets. Xiao Lan is actually a modern soul who transmigrated. If you don't like it, please don't criticize. You can drop the story, but please don't give it a bad review. Please respect the author's hard work. Writing is not easy.)

After Xiao Lan finished washing up, she was helped by Yue'er to her aunt Jiang Xiuzhi's courtyard. Aunt Jiang Xiuzhi was twenty years old and had only one daughter, Wu Yuyu, who was fifteen. Since her first child was born in a difficult labor and died, Aunt Jiang had been childless for many years and was not favored by her uncle. Finally, when Xiao Lan was born, she became pregnant again. Because of the strange celestial phenomena at Xiao Lan's birth—a phoenix phantom in the sky—and the continuous drizzle during Xiao Lan's delivery (it's rare for drizzle in winter), and the rainbow appearing after Xiao Lan's first cry, rumors spread that the youngest daughter of the city lord was born with a phoenix destiny. This almost alarmed the capital city, but fortunately, her mother, Jiang Nihuang, was also very wise. Knowing that standing out was not advisable, she spent some money to hire storytellers who pinned the blame for Xiao Lan's birth on the then nearly two-year-old Ye family daughter, claiming that her recovery from a serious illness triggered the phoenix destiny. In reality, it wasn't just the Xiao family's efforts that ultimately led to Ye Lanyi being born into the Ye family. Jiang Nihuang was afraid of bringing trouble upon herself, so the storyteller had many versions of the story, with seven or eight young ladies as the main characters. The version featuring Ye Lanyi was the most widely circulated, largely due to the Ye family's influence. Because of this, Ye Lanyi, a daughter from a collateral branch of the family, was taken to the capital by the Empress Dowager, who was then the Consort Ye, and raised by the Ye family. The Ye family transformed from a merchant family in Xiwu Prefecture into imperial merchants, their wealth skyrocketing.