Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

Because the Crown Prince and all the other princes were coming to Minglu Academy, Xiao Lan thought about it from afternoon till night, still undecided whether to do well on the exam or deliberately do poorly. Finally, lost in thought, she fell asleep. She even dreamt of her past life, how Ye Lanyi had tricked her into drugging her, almost ruining her reputation. Fortunately, Yan Nanhui found a palace maid who brought her out, and the person she ended up having an affair with became Yueji, the one who betrayed her. However, after being brought out by the palace maid, she was in a daze, and when she woke up the next day, she felt extremely dizzy. Yan Nanhui said that soaking her in cold water would counteract the drug's effects, but soaking her for too long gave her a cold, and she had to stay in bed for seven days to recover. Although she managed to preserve her purity that time, she suffered greatly. In her dream, Xiao Lan once again felt that hazy, intoxicating sensation of the antidote from that night, alternating between hot and cold. Something seemed to be there, something she wanted to climb up but couldn't, and then once she did, she couldn't come down. She floated up and down.

Having been plagued by nightmares all night, Xiao Lan barely got out of bed the next day. Yue'er and Dangdang called her twice, but she didn't wake up. Finally, Dingding wrung out a damp towel and wiped Xiao Lan's face, which finally brought her to her senses. She hurriedly dressed, grabbed the food box prepared by Madam Xue, and, with Dingding and Yue'er, got into the carriage and set off. Today, Li Yuan and Zhang Jiabao were traveling together. Firstly, they wanted Da Bao to familiarize himself with the route, and secondly, Xiao Lan was thinking that after the exams, she would go to Yong'an Street to see the Wutong Residence.

Xiao Lan barely ate anything along the way and leaned against Yue'er for a nap. When they arrived at Minglu Academy, Xiao Lan took a nap and felt better. Before getting off the carriage, she stretched and then got off with Dingding's help. Because there were many people taking the exam today, there were two exam halls: the inner hall and the outer hall. Those taking the exam in the inner hall had directly obtained their admission based on their fathers' official positions, so the exam was just a formality for them. The Outer Academy recruits students from all over the country, with only five places available each year, selected based on merit. In previous years, only thirty to fifty people participated, but this year, for some reason, the Outer Academy exam hall had nearly one hundred and fifty people. The Inner Academy usually had only a dozen or twenty people, but today, Xiao Lan saw that there were almost thirty. No wonder this year's exam was divided into Inner and Outer Academies. Xiao Lan found her name, took her seat, and began to look at the group of people. Goodness, they were all familiar faces, and the seating arrangement was also strange. Sitting next to her was actually Crown Prince Yan Jingtian. The Crown Prince was the second son among all the princes. There was a rule in the Great Xia Dynasty that if the Empress did not give birth to a legitimate son, the concubines in the harem could not have children. However, since the Emperor's first three sons were all born when he was a prince, the Crown Prince was not the eldest. The Emperor had seven sons. The eldest, Prince Yi, Yan Zhenquan, was twenty-two years old at the time. He was born to a concubine before the Emperor was made a prince. It is said that the Empress Dowager directly abandoned the mother and kept the son, so Yan Zhenquan was raised by a wet nurse. His birth mother was of low status, and at the age of seventeen, she left the palace to join the army. Later, she was enfeoffed as the Prince of Yi and stationed in Lingnan. Later, during the struggle for the throne among the five princes, Xiao Lan went to Lingnan to help Yan Linfeng form an alliance with the eldest prince, becoming a major contributor to Yan Linfeng's later ascension to the throne. Xiao Lan calculated the time; Yan Zhenquan should have already won a battle on the border and would soon return to the capital to receive his title.

The emperor's second son was Crown Prince Yan Jingtian, who was twenty years old at the time. He was born to the emperor's principal wife, and the empress's maternal family was the Lin family. Lin Yuxuan's grandfather was the Left Prime Minister. If the crown prince had not died unjustly, Prime Minister Lin would not have fallen ill, and there probably wouldn't have been the later struggle for the throne among the five sons.

The Emperor's third son, Yan Linfeng, was nineteen years old at the time. He was the son of Consort Ye, who was originally the daughter of a merchant. It is said that when the Emperor was still a prince, he went to Xiwu Prefecture one year for unknown reasons, and then returned three months later. In order to give Consort Ye a formal title, the Emperor knelt in front of the Imperial Study for three days and three nights, finally persuading the old Emperor to grant her the title of concubine. Moreover, not long after, the current Emperor was made Crown Prince, and later, after ascending the throne, he directly granted Consort Ye the title of Imperial Consort, bestowing upon her the power to assist in managing the six palaces. Many folk tales say that Imperial Consort Ye brought good fortune to the Emperor, and that the Emperor doted on her exclusively. However, in her previous life, Xiao Lan truly did not see how much the Emperor liked Imperial Consort Ye. Otherwise, after the Empress died, the Emperor would not have mentioned making Imperial Consort Ye Empress. It was because Imperial Consort Ye never became Empress that she always wanted to fulfill the Ye family's dream of becoming Empress through Ye Lanyi. In the end, Xiao Lan became Yan Linfeng's Empress, and Imperial Consort Ye, who became the Empress Dowager, made things difficult for Xiao Lan quite a bit. Thinking of the dirty tricks used by Consort Ye and Ye Lanyi in the past, Xiao Lan felt exhausted. She quickly shook her head.

The emperor's fourth son is said to have died less than three days after birth, while his twin brother, the emperor's fifth son Yan Nan Hui, survived. Yan Nan Hui was eighteen years old at the time, born to Consort Tong. Consort Tong's family was a prominent and wealthy family in Jiangnan, so in her previous life, Xiao Lan had never seen Yan Nan Hui poor. This guy often spent money extravagantly, thus earning him the nickname "spoiled brat." Because of the premature death of his fourth son, the emperor did not favor Yan Nan Hui from a young age, but he always let him off lightly when he made mistakes.

The emperor's sixth son, Yan Mobei, was eighteen years old at the time, only three months shy of Yan Nanhui's birthday. He had been favored by the emperor since childhood, but despite his seemingly harmless appearance, he was actually extremely petty and vindictive.

The emperor's seventh son, Yan Moyan, was seventeen years old at the time. Born to the empress, he was actually the most popular candidate among the five princes vying for the throne, as he held the title of legitimate heir due to being the empress's son. However, he was also not very bright and was framed by Yan Mobei, which directly led to his loss of the throne.

Xiao Lan glanced around and saw that all of the emperor's sons were present. Yan Linfeng was sitting next to her, but surprisingly, Ye Yuandong was also sitting next to him, nodding at her. Xiao Lan ignored him and pretended not to see him. There was an empty seat in front of her, with Yan Mobei and Yan Moyan sitting on either side, and Luo Yuanyuan behind her. Now, all of the emperor's sons except Yan Nanhui were present. Xiao Lan was thinking about her past life and forgot that she had intended to answer the questions on the less important ones. She only remembered this after she finished answering all the questions. However, the questions were somewhat different from those in her past life. She had answered too quickly and didn't want to hand in her paper too early and attract attention. So, she could only look at the familiar faces in the room to pass the time. Xiao Lan searched for a long time but couldn't find Ye Lanyi. Moreover, there was only one empty seat in the examination room, which should be Yan Nanhui's seat. Ye Lanyi was her biggest rival in her past life because of that scumbag Yan Linfeng, and she would cause trouble for her every now and then. Xiao Lan wondered if many things had changed, and Ye Lanyi was no longer coming to Minglu Academy to study, which made her happy.

Just then, a familiar face appeared at the door, and the purple robes he wore awakened Xiao Lan's memories of her past life. It was Yan Nan Hui, the纨绔 (wán kù, a spoiled, dissolute prince), who was indeed the last person to help Xiao Lan. The Fifth Prince, Yan Nan Hui, dressed in purple, stood tall and elegant, like a jade tree in the wind. His face was exceptionally handsome, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, his deep gaze exuding a mysterious aura. His purple robes fluttered in the wind, further enhancing his nobility and mystery. At this time, Yan Nan Hui still possessed a certain naiveté, but his seemingly casual gaze lingered on Xiao Lan before he sat down in the empty seat in front of her and began to answer questions. For some reason, after seeing Yan Nan Hui, Xiao Lan's restless heart, which had been turbulent for the past half-month, finally calmed down considerably. Xiao Lan thought that this might be the most sincere friendship from her youth. It was on the old dormitory balcony that Xiao Lan first met Yan Nan Hui. Xiao Lan was young then, in a new place, feeling out of place and with no one to confide in. That's how she met a classmate who had some alcohol, and the two started drinking. In the end, Xiao Lan couldn't outdrink Yan Nan Hui and passed out. She didn't even know how she got back to her room. Anyway, afterwards, whenever they had free time, the two would meet up for drinks at the old dormitory.

Thinking of this, Xiao Lan chuckled to herself, wondering why this friend felt like a drinking buddy.

Looking at the time, it was almost time. He gestured to the proctor, left the exam paper on the table, and went out.