Duke Qin put away his anger, turned to look at Gu Yanyue, and asked cautiously: "Empress, are you satisfied with this result?"

Gu Yanyue put down the teacup in her hand, neither expressing satisfaction nor dissatisfaction. She stood up and adjusted her dress slightly. "Now that the truth has been revealed, I will not disturb Duke Qin's mansion any further. I also ask the Duke to take good care of his backyard in the future. I don't want to see anything like what happened last night again."

When Gu Yanyue said the last sentence, she stared at Duke Qin. Duke Qin had no choice but to bend over and promise: "Don't worry, your majesty. I promise that such things will never happen again in Duke Qin's mansion."

Gu Yanyue snorted coldly: "It's better this way."

Just as Gu Yanyue was about to step out of the study, Duke Qin suddenly caught up with her and said, "Your Majesty, you have specially left the palace for my daughter's matter. Why don't you have lunch at home before returning to the palace?"

Gu Yanyue turned around and raised her eyebrows slightly, "Then I will respectfully obey your command. Thank you, Duke Qin, for your hospitality."

Duke Qin originally just wanted to be polite, but he didn't expect Gu Yanyue to take it seriously. Now he was in a difficult situation, so he could only ask Qin Ruoruo to take good care of Gu Yanyue first, and then he went to the kitchen himself to arrange the dishes for lunch.

After Duke Qin left, Qin Ruoruo said that she had something to give to Gu Yanyue, so she left Gu Yanyue alone in the study and went back to her boudoir to get the thing.

There was no one in the study, and Gu Yanyue was bored so she started looking at the books that Duke Qin had placed in the study. She wanted to take a book down to relieve her boredom, but when she pulled one out, she saw that it was all ancient sayings like "Confucius said, Confucius said". She instantly recalled the pain of being dominated by Chinese classical texts during her school days, and her head was buzzing.

Gu Yanyue immediately put the book back to its original place. It was not that she didn't like reading, but as a modern person, she really had no interest in reading those ancient texts.

Gu Yanyue waited and waited but Qin Ruoruo didn't come back. With the lesson learned from last night in mind, she walked out of the study and stopped a maid from Duke Qin's mansion, "Take me to your eldest lady's courtyard."

The maid was shocked. She had never thought that one day she would be able to speak to the Empress. She immediately leaned forward and bowed, feeling a little flattered: "Your servant greets the Empress."

Gu Yanyue waved her hand, signaling her to stand up, "No need to be so polite."

The maidservant, still thinking about what Gu Yanyue had just said to her, hurried forward, taking half a step ahead of Gu Yanyue, and said, "This servant will take the queen to the eldest lady's courtyard."

When turning the corner of the corridor, she heard the sound of quarreling from the other side. Gu Yanyue had excellent hearing and recognized Qin Ruoruo's voice among them. She walked quickly in that direction, leaving the maid who led her here behind.

"Qin Ruoruo, don't you know who you are? How dare you talk to me like that? You are a complete disaster! My mother sent people to kill you for the good of Duke Qin's mansion."

"Qin Ruoruo, you know that you'd be worse off dead if you were alive, so what's the point of living like this?"

Shen listened to Qin Ranran's words and advised her insincerely, "Ruoruo, don't bother with your sister. After all, she has always been outspoken and what she said is basically the truth."

"I don't think so. I never thought that the second lady of Duke Qin's Mansion, who is from a famous family, would be so uncultured when she speaks." Gu Yanyue adjusted her hair, walked forward gracefully, and stood directly in front of Qin Ruoruo.

Shen and Qin Ranran had both gone with Duke Qin to greet Gu Yanyue outside the palace this morning, so they naturally knew her identity. They immediately knelt down and said, "Greetings to Her Majesty the Queen—"

Gu Yanyue didn't tell them to get up, so Shen and Qin Ranran had no choice but to kneel on the ground.

Gu Yanyue looked at them with a half-smile: "I arrived late just now, and I didn't quite hear what the Second Miss and Madam said just now. Why don't you repeat it again? It would be bad if I wrongly accused you."

Shen and Qin Ranran did not answer. They knelt there with their backs straight, but their bodies were trembling.

Even if they were given a hundred more courage, they would not dare to say to Gu Yanyue what they had just said to Qin Ruoruo.

"Then I will send Madam an imperial decree. Duke Qin's legitimate wife, due to her lack of talent and virtue, will be directly demoted to a concubine and will never be allowed to be promoted to a legitimate wife!"

In a word, the possibility of Shen being promoted to the main wife was blocked.

Shen collapsed directly to the ground. She had fought for half her life to get the position of the first wife, but she was demoted before she had sat on it for a few days.

Gu Yanyue raised the right corner of her lips, a cold smile appeared on her face, and she said to the palace maid beside her, "Draft an imperial edict for me, then return to the palace to affix my phoenix seal, and then send it back to Duke Qin's mansion."

The maid took the order and left.

"Tell Duke Qin that I am taking Ruoruo back to the palace first, and ask your wife to obey the order carefully after receiving it this time." Gu Yanyue asked the maid who had just brought her here to pass the message to Duke Qin, and then she took Qin Ruoruo back to the palace first.

By the time Duke Qin got the news and rushed over, Gu Yanyue had already taken Qin Ruoruo on a carriage and was heading towards the palace.

Qin Ranran and Shen almost hated Qin Ruoruo.

Qin Ranran clenched the handkerchief in her hand and looked at Qin Ruoruo's departing back. The hatred in her eyes was almost bursting out. She wished she could eat her flesh and drink her blood. But now her mother was demoted to a concubine, and the only one who could help her was King Xiang. Qin Ranran had no choice but to take the initiative to visit King Xiang.

She stayed in the study room of Prince Xiang's mansion for more than two hours. After she came out, Prince Xiang was very considerate and personally sent her back to the mansion. After watching Qin Ranran's figure disappear at the gate of Duke Qin's mansion, Prince Xiang ordered the driver: "Don't go back to the palace yet. I want to go to the palace first."

After hearing the purpose of Prince Xiang's visit, the Queen Mother sighed and said, "Although Qin Ranran is the daughter of Duke Qin, she is still a concubine in the end."

Prince Xiang said, "Your Majesty, your words are wrong. Although Ranran is a concubine's daughter, she is more favored by Duke Qin than Qin Ruoruo, the legitimate daughter."

The Empress Dowager was relieved after hearing this: "Then I will go and talk to the Emperor and ask him to issue an order."

Seeing that the purpose of his trip had been achieved, King Xiang took his leave from the Queen Mother and left the palace in a happy mood.

After Prince Xiang left, the Queen Mother asked someone to wait for Yuwen Ran on his way back to the palace and invited him over.

As soon as Yuwen Ran entered, the Queen Mother spoke directly, "Prince Xiang just came to the palace to tell me that he and Qin Ranran, the second daughter of Duke Qin's mansion, have reached an agreement and want you, the royal brother, to decree that he will marry this concubine. But he's afraid you won't agree, so he asked me to be his lobbyist and have me speak to you, the royal brother."

Yuwen Ran heard this and felt that this move completely confirmed the rumors of the Duke of Qin's Mansion and the Prince of Xiang's Mansion joining forces. Although he was unhappy, he still wore a faint smile on his face, "Your Majesty, you are joking. I am of course willing to do this."