Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

On the morning of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Yan Nan returned to the Jiang family's old residence to pick up Xiao Lan. This time, Xiao Lan only brought Ding Ding with her. Xiao Lan realized that when going to the banquet at the palace, it was more suitable to bring Ding Ding, who had the highest martial arts skills, than anyone else.

After Yan Nan returned to the Imperial Study, Xiao Lan strolled alone in the Imperial Garden, admiring the vibrant flowers in full bloom. A gentle breeze carried their rich fragrance, making her feel refreshed and relaxed.

Just then, a commotion broke the tranquility. Looking in the direction of the sound, one could see a woman in magnificent attire angrily berating and whipping a servant in a pavilion in the garden. The servant's cries and pleas for mercy rose and fell, sounding quite pitiful.

Originally, Xiao Lan didn't want to meddle in other people's business and just wanted to continue quietly admiring the flowers. However, the woman leading the group seemed to have noticed her presence and deliberately walked towards her, with a hint of provocation and arrogance on her face, as if she wanted to show off in front of Xiao Lan.

As the woman drew closer, Xiao Lan frowned slightly and quickly gave her personal maid, Dingding, a meaningful look. Dingding instantly understood and immediately raised her voice, saying, "Princess Lan, it's getting late! Let's hurry back to the banquet, or His Highness Prince Su will be extremely anxious if he can't find you!"

As soon as Dingding finished speaking, the noblewoman stopped abruptly in her tracks as she approached Xiao Lan, her gaze then falling upon him. After a brief eye contact, the woman seemed to suddenly realize something, immediately lowered her head, turned, and led her entourage in a hurried departure in another direction, not daring to linger any longer.

Xiao Lan merely smiled at the scene, not taking it to heart. After all, she never liked to meddle in other people's affairs, especially disputes between wealthy and noble families. So, she ignored the servants still weeping in the pavilion and strolled leisurely towards the banquet with Dingding. The two chatted and laughed along the way, quickly disappearing at the end of the flower-lined path.

Xiao Lan didn't rush to the banquet. After all, at such a banquet, arriving too early would inevitably invite ridicule and accusations of being unsophisticated; but arriving too late, especially after the Emperor and Empress had already arrived, and if they happened to be in a bad mood, she could easily be accused of serious disrespect. Therefore, Xiao Lan felt genuinely annoyed by these formalities. Back in her previous life, she often couldn't stand the constraints of the palace and liked to run away whenever she had free time.

At this moment, Xiao Lan sat leisurely in the flower hall before the banquet, sipping fragrant tea. Before long, she unexpectedly ran into several acquaintances—the wife of the Minister of Works and the daughter of the Minister of Revenue. Coincidentally, these were all regular guests and VIP members of Wutongju! Since they had met by chance, they naturally exchanged pleasantries and chatted about recent events. Time passed quietly amidst laughter and conversation, and as the appointed time approached, they entered the banquet hall together. Following court etiquette, Xiao Lan naturally sat below Yan Nanhui's seat.

After sitting down, Xiao Lan subtly glanced around, then paid special attention to her own seat. She was at the fourth table. Moving her gaze further forward, as expected, the First Prince, Yan Zhenquan, had already returned, and the table below the Emperor was clearly empty—presumably a seat reserved for him. Xiao Lan pondered this to herself, and her guess was soon confirmed.

First, Consort Tong arrived gracefully, taking her seat to the left of the Emperor's throne with impeccable poise. Shortly after, the Empress appeared, surrounded by her retinue. However, unlike usual, the Empress was accompanied by a young woman. Xiao Lan curiously looked up and realized this woman was not the Crown Princess from her previous life. She had never seen this unfamiliar face in her past life. Despite her doubts, she quickly composed herself and, along with the others, rose to pay her respects to the Empress. Only after the Empress took her seat and gestured for everyone to dispense with the formalities did Xiao Lan return to her seat.

At this moment, the Empress, seated in the main seat, turned her gaze to Consort Tong's prominently protruding belly. Although she wore a smile, the smile did not reach her eyes: "Consort Tong, it seems you are already seven months pregnant?"

Upon hearing the Empress's question, Consort Tong bowed slightly and respectfully replied, "Your Majesty, I am indeed seven months pregnant, and will give birth in about two more months. I am deeply grateful for Your Majesty's care and concern during this time." With that, Consort Tong lowered her eyes and nodded, appearing docile and humble, but a barely perceptible wariness flashed deep within her eyes. In fact, Consort Tong's words were a reminder to the Empress not to forget the Emperor's warning to both the Empress and Consort Ye: if Consort Tong's unborn child were harmed, the Empress would be disgraced.

Upon hearing this, the Empress instantly understood the deeper meaning. She turned her beautiful eyes slightly, her gaze sharp as she looked at Xiao Lan, and a subtle smile appeared on her lips as she said, "Princess Lan, I have heard that you have recently been buying up quite a few shops in the capital!"

Xiao Lan was lost in her own thoughts when she was suddenly called upon by the Empress. Startled, she quickly looked up at the Empress. Upon recognizing her, she wondered to herself, "Could it be that the Empress, unable to find fault with her future mother-in-law, is turning her attention to me?" Thinking this, Xiao Lan dared not be negligent. She quickly stood up, bowed gracefully to the Empress, and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, this is indeed true. However, my ability to do so is entirely due to His Majesty's boundless blessings and majestic imperial power; it is also thanks to the current favorable weather and peace in our Great Xia Kingdom! It is because of this that I have the opportunity and ability to acquire some property. However…" She paused deliberately, glancing furtively at the Empress's eager questioning expression, and inwardly cursed: "This old hag, she's truly a troublemaker!"

"But what is it?" The Empress was immediately intrigued when she saw Xiao Lan stop halfway through her sentence and hurriedly asked.

"Actually, it's all because of my mother! She often taught me that I must never act recklessly just because of my grandfather's high reputation. After all, for a woman, having her own career is of utmost importance. Only in this way can she truly earn respect and recognition after marrying into her husband's family."

So, my mother told me that since I was fortunate enough to marry into this incomparably noble royal family, I must take Your Majesty as my role model and learn from you! Although I may not be able to compare with Your Majesty in terms of virtuousness and grace, I should at least be able to support myself and earn my own money, right? That way, even if I have some shortcomings, they will be somewhat compensated for.”

As Xiao Lan spoke, a faint smile graced her face. Ever since learning that her mother had been the emperor's unforgettable love, she had become increasingly audacious, even bordering on reckless. She secretly pondered that if the Empress dared to punish Jiang Nihuang, she would have to see if the Emperor would allow it first! Moreover, Xiao Lan was certain that the Empress knew the Emperor had once been infatuated with her mother in his youth.

As expected, after hearing Xiao Lan's words, the Empress, though burning with anger, managed to suppress her rage. However, her deeply embedded fingernails mercilessly betrayed her true emotions.

Just now, Xiao Lan appeared to be praising the Empress for her gentleness, virtue, and exemplary conduct, but anyone with a modicum of sense could tell that her words were actually full of sarcasm. Who didn't know that this Empress had only risen from a concubine of the Crown Prince to her current position as Empress, second only to the Emperor, thanks to the power of her maternal family, the Lin family?

Thinking of this, the Empress's resentment grew increasingly uncontrollable. Especially recently, Tong Yinyin, relying on her pregnancy, had made her wary of her and hesitant to take any action. She never expected that even Tong Yinyin's daughter-in-law, Xiao Lan, would dare to be so arrogant and domineering, openly mocking and ridiculing her, the Empress, simply because she was the granddaughter of one of the Eight Pillars of State!

The Empress was filled with rage at the thought that the Crown Prince had once confided in her, expressing his fondness for Xiao Lan and his unwillingness to marry a daughter of the Lin family. At that time, she had reprimanded the Crown Prince without hesitation; after all, how could a woman already betrothed to Prince Su possibly have the chance to become the Crown Princess? Even without this arranged marriage, judging from Xiao Lan's audacious behavior today, the Empress thought: even if she had a hundred lives, she would never dare to bring such an arrogant and presumptuous daughter-in-law into the family!

Just as the Empress was brooding alone, footsteps approached, and Emperor Yan Zhen entered with a group of people. Surprisingly, the person accompanying Yan Zhen was not the Crown Prince, but a burly, rugged-looking man. However, upon closer inspection, everyone was astonished to find that this man bore a striking resemblance to Emperor Yan Zhen.

Xiao Lan couldn't help but stare curiously over, and when she saw the man's face clearly, she was shocked—it turned out that this big man was Yan Zhenquan!

Following closely behind the Emperor and Yan Zhenquan were Crown Prince Yan Jingtian, Fifth Prince Su Wang Yan Nanhui, and Third Prince Yan Linfeng, who had not appeared before the ministers for a long time.

After everyone had finished their greetings, Yan Linfeng and Yan Nanhui walked together towards the table where Xiao Lan was. Yan Linfeng first smiled and nodded slightly to Xiao Lan, then said, "Princess Lan, it's been a long time! I heard that you returned to Xiwu Prefecture for the New Year this year. If I had known this sooner, I would have told my cousin to accompany you on your return. Back then, we came to the capital together."

Xiao Lan cursed inwardly, "Good! To so blatantly tear off the mask of civility, it's utterly shameless!" Sure enough, as soon as Yan Linfeng finished speaking, the entire banquet hall erupted in chaos, with people whispering and gossiping among themselves.

Seeing his fiancée being humiliated like this, Yan Nan was furious. He clenched his fists and was about to rush forward to argue with the other party or even fight, but Xiao Lan quickly pulled him back.

Xiao Lan remained unfazed, a cold smile playing on her lips. She looked directly at Yan Linfeng and slowly said, “Third Prince, you are too kind. I was indeed in a hurry to register at the academy, which is why I boarded your cousin’s ship. However, at that time, I didn’t know that the ship belonged to the Ye family. Furthermore, Third Prince, you should remember that I paid a considerable sum—a full three hundred taels of silver—to reserve the entire second deck of your esteemed ship. Has the Ye family fallen so low that they must try to get even this small amount of money back?”

In fact, Xiao Lan hadn't actually brought out that much silver at all. However, things took a dramatic turn. Later, when she unexpectedly discovered that the ship she was on belonged to the Ye family, a brilliant idea struck her. Without hesitation, she openly and generously handed Ye Yuandong a thick stack of silver notes in front of everyone.

There were actually two reasons for doing this. First, she naturally wanted to avoid any unnecessary entanglements or troubles with the Ye family in the future. After all, nobody wants to invite a bunch of troubles for no reason, right? Second, Xiao Lan knew perfectly well that Ye Yuandong would definitely not tell Yan Linfeng the truth about what happened that day.

As expected, Yan Linfeng was completely stunned after hearing Xiao Lan's words, utterly unsure how to handle this sudden situation. Fortunately, he was, after all, an emperor in his previous life, and quickly recovered, hurriedly saying, "Princess Lan, how could you act like this? While I was quietly cultivating in the temple, I happened to meet my cousin, and only then did I learn that you, Princess, were previously engaged to him!"

"What?!" Xiao Lan's eyes widened, her face filled with disbelief. She deliberately feigned surprise and shouted, "Besides being betrothed by His Majesty, when have I ever been engaged to your cousin? Your Highness, you can't just spout such nonsense! If that's true, then this princess will have to beg His Majesty to uphold justice for me!"

"Before this, my uncle was already engaged to your grandmother. However, regrettably, before the important ceremony of matching the birth dates could be held, my younger brother, the emperor, eagerly asked the emperor to let him marry you."

Lately, Yan Linfeng has been experiencing a series of misfortunes. Every six months, the Ye family would send him a full million taels of silver for living expenses, but now this sum has vanished without a trace. Worse still, according to his uncle, since Xiao Lan took a million taels of gold, it will likely be difficult for them to continue providing such a large amount of financial support in the future. As a result, Yan Linfeng's situation in the court has become increasingly difficult. Faced with this series of setbacks and predicaments, his anger burns ever brighter.

Finally, today, Yan Linfeng could no longer suppress his anger and dissatisfaction. Even knowing that this move might invite his father's reprimand or even blame, he still decided to take a desperate gamble and vowed to ruin Xiao Lan's reputation.

Standing to the side, Xiao Lan naturally took in Yan Linfeng's almost manic, demonic state. But was she the kind of person who would stand idly by and let others bully her? Since the other party had already taken the initiative to provoke her, wouldn't it be contrary to her usual style if she didn't retaliate?

Just as everyone was stunned, Xiao Lan suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs, "Oh no! There's a ghost!" Then, she flashed forward like the wind, rushing towards the table where the Emperor and Empress were. Upon reaching them, she knelt down without hesitation, directly before Emperor Yan Zhen. Then, she raised her head, her eyes slightly red, and cried out with a face full of grievance, "Your Majesty, I was truly forced to act this way! But who could have imagined that the Third Prince would act like he'd gone mad? I was truly terrified!"

Yan Zhen had just been discussing Yan Zhenquan's background with the Empress and Consort Tong, intending to introduce him to the others at the banquet later. He was so engrossed in the conversation that he hadn't noticed the exchange between Yan Linfeng and Xiao Lan. However, to his surprise, Xiao Lan acted in this unexpected way. Knowing Xiao Lan's usual character, Yan Zhen was certain she wouldn't do this intentionally, and asked with concern, "Princess, what's wrong? Please rise and explain."

Unfortunately, Yan Zhen was truly wrong this time. Xiao Lan's actions were precisely premeditated. Without hesitation, Xiao Lan stood up and raised her voice, saying loudly, "Just now, the Third Prince actually told me that his cousin and I are already engaged, and that this engagement was arranged by my grandmother. However, Your Majesty, please understand! My grandmother passed away when my father was only four years old, a fact that many in the court are surely aware of. It is no exaggeration to say that when my grandmother passed away, she had no way of knowing that she would have a granddaughter like me. How could she have arranged a marriage for me? In my opinion, is this Third Prince perhaps possessed by evil spirits and out of his mind, hence his incoherent ramblings?"

"I wasn't talking about your biological grandmother, but Xiao Hou's second wife." Yan Linfeng hadn't expected Xiao Lan to just run up to his father and say this, so he quickly came over to explain.

“My grandfather never took a second wife, Third Prince. Did you marry one for my grandfather? But when my grandmother passed away, the Imperial Concubine was only two or three years old. Is the Third Prince possessed?” Xiao Lan was not going to tolerate Yan Linfeng. If he offended her, he would not get away unscathed.