Mo Yunhan wore a dark green robe embroidered with a dragon soaring through the clouds in gold thread, exuding an extremely imposing aura.

His gaze swept over the crowd and landed on Qin Minglang.

They were staring at him directly.

Beneath the armor, he had a tall and slender figure, and between his brows, there was also a heroic air.

She's not ugly.

He withdrew his gaze, his tone indifferent, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"General Qin has fought valiantly on the border and his military achievements are outstanding. He doesn't need to curry favor with the Su family and abandon his wife for a better future."

Qin Minglang's handsome face instantly turned bright red, and he hurriedly tried to explain.

"Your Highness misunderstands. I met the county princess at the border, and we fell in love. It was never about me trying to curry favor. As for my wife, she is just an orphan. I took pity on her when I was young and had nowhere to go, so I took her in. I did not..."

"She wasn't welcomed into the house with a grand sedan chair carried by eight men?"

Mo Yunhan's voice rose at the end, his imposing aura intensifying.

The more she looked at this man with her alluring fox eyes, the more disgusted she became. Apart from his decent appearance, she couldn't understand what Jiang Qingwan saw in him.

Is it just that you like physical appearances? That's so superficial.

Qin Minglang was speechless for a moment, and wanted to explain further, but Mo Yunhan had already walked away with a cold expression.

The court officials bowed in unison to see them off, and after a moment they raised their heads, exchanged glances, each lost in their own thoughts.

Those who have served as officials in the imperial court for many years are all shrewd and capable.

They gave Qin Minglang two awkward laughs and then turned and left.

Just moments ago they were fawning over me, now they're avoiding me like the plague.

It was obvious to everyone that the Ninth Prince disliked this newly promoted second-rank general.

Nobody wanted to get into trouble and offend that powerful figure.

Qin Minglang was both anxious and angry. He strode after them, trying to ease the tension between himself and the court officials, but no one paid him any attention.

The moment he stepped into Zhaoyang Palace, a very bad premonition suddenly rose in his heart.

He had experienced that intense unease three times on the battlefield.

Instinctively, he reached for his waist, but did not find the familiar red jade.

My heart skipped a beat, and I panicked terribly.

As expected, when the official titles were being conferred, Mo Yunhan immediately raised objections, arguing that Qin Minglang was of questionable character.

In the end, he was only given the position of Supervisor of Construction in the Ministry of War.

The so-called supervisor was just an official in charge of the improvement, repair and construction of weapons, but he had no real power.

A dignified second-rank official became the laughing stock of the entire court.

...

Inside the east wing of the Qin residence.

Su Yulan slept very poorly last night; for some reason, she kept having nightmares.

I also felt a cold wind blowing by my bed at night.

But she just couldn't wake up.

After a night of tossing and turning, my eyes are lifeless, and my eyes are even bluish-gray.

She angrily poked the wooden table with her gold hairpin.

“The feng shui of the place where this lowly child lives is terrible. Chunmei, go find a Taoist priest to come to our house and perform a ritual today.”

Chunmei was her personal maidservant brought from her fiefdom. She had lived with her in the county princess's mansion since childhood and was very dissatisfied with everything about the Qin family.

“Miss, why don’t we move to the county princess’s mansion? This place is really too much of a disservice to you. I went to the kitchen this morning and there wasn’t even any bird’s nest or ginseng. They’ve prepared salted vegetable buns, the kind only the lowest class eats, for breakfast. And that Zhang Shi even sent a maid to urge you to perform the morning greeting. How ridiculous!”

Su Yulan gave a cold laugh.

"Those two old bastards! Now is not the time to deal with them. Help me to see Qin Run."

Qin Run had already woken up and was drinking plain porridge with a pained expression.

After last night, he regretted not heeding Jiang Qingwan's advice, which led to his suffering.

Su Yulan almost vomited as soon as she entered the room because of the sour and foul smell.

She instinctively wanted to back out, but Qin Run had already seen her and greeted her with a happy expression.

"I have seen my mother. Last night, my mother worked hard to find a miracle doctor for me, and I am no longer in pain."

The closer you get, the stronger the stench of feces emanating from him becomes.

Even Chunmei couldn't help but cover her nose.

Su Yulan suppressed her nausea and forced a smile.

"Recovery from illness is a slow and gradual process, so you still need to take good care of yourself."

He then handed over a silver note worth one hundred taels.

"Tell the servant what you want to eat. Don't let last night's events affect you. Even the princes of the court taste dishes from all over the world. If you're afraid of getting sick and dare not eat anything, how can you grow up?"

Qin Run suddenly realized that this made sense, and his regret from just now vanished, replaced by resentment towards Jiang Qingwan.

A country orphan girl, who knew nothing, yet she truly misled him in many ways.

He accepted the silver and then asked ingratiatingly, "Mother, when can I enter the Imperial Academy?"

Su Yulan naturally wanted to send him in as soon as possible, so that she would have more leverage in the Su family.

However, she couldn't use the Su family's name to offer the position; she needed Qin Minglang to accept it so that it would be legitimate.

"No rush, once you've fully recovered, your mother will send you there."

He then gave a few more instructions and left.

Once she stepped out of the courtyard, she couldn't help but take several deep breaths, her eyes filled with disgust. Just as she recovered, Zhang Shi came over with her maid.

She was already middle-aged, but she wore a bright red embroidered dress and her head was covered with pearls and jade, as if she wanted to stick all her jewelry on her head, like an old peacock with its tail feathers spread out.

Chunmei couldn't help but chuckle.

Zhang, however, did not take it seriously and looked at Su Yulan with the airs of a mother-in-law.

"As a daughter-in-law, you must abide by the rules of paying respects to your parents morning and evening. I feel sorry for you because you were busy yesterday, so I won't hold it against you. But from now on, you must pay your respects to them morning and evening and serve them medicine. You must not miss any of these things. This is the rule of the Qin family."

"Also, I've hired a lion dance troupe and bought firecrackers and red silk. They're setting up outside the mansion. Take out some silver; we'll be distributing some money to congratulate my son on his big day. We don't want outsiders to think the Qin family is stingy and to bring shame to the Qin family."

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!