Gradually, the Empress Dowager's birthday arrived again.
The Empress Dowager spends her days in the Buddhist hall worshipping Buddha and has not appeared in public for a long time.
Emperor Zhou then ordered the Ministry of Rites to hold a grand celebration for the Empress Dowager.
Chu Xinxin was woken up early in the morning to dress up, put on flowers and powder.
Haitang used all her skills to make her young lady the most dazzling star at the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration.
"Begonia, please spare me."
"No, Miss, breathe!"
"I'm going to run out of breath."
With one foot on the ground and the other against the wall, Haitang used all her strength to pull Chu Xinxin's waistband.
Chu Xinxin was nearly killed before Haitang finally stopped.
"Miss, it's done."
Chu Xin boarded the carriage with a feeling of utter despair.
—Under Chu Yun's resentful gaze.
Sister, I think Liu and Chu Yun are up to something today.
"Oh? How do you know?"
[Chu Yun carried a sleeping potion and aphrodisiac.]
Chu Xinxin immediately perked up: "They want to catch that rich husband?"
All the adult princes have already been betrothed, and Chu Yun's name is not among them.
Given Chu Yun's ambitious nature, she's probably unwilling to give up and wants to take a gamble.
System: [Guess?]
Chu Xinxin: "...Tell me if you want, or don't."
The provocation tactic had no effect on the system, so Chu Xinxin had no choice but to suppress her temper and follow the Prime Minister's carriage into the palace.
After entering the palace, Chu Xuan went to find Emperor Zhou, while Liu led Chu Yun and Chu Xinxin to the Empress Dowager's palace.
On the way, Chu Yun said fiercely to Chu Xinxin, "How dare you come here!"
Chu Xinxin looked straight ahead, as if she didn't take Chu Yun seriously at all: "If Second Sister dares to come, why shouldn't I? Besides, whoever loses face at the Hundred Flowers Banquet knows."
"You!" When the embarrassing incident was mentioned, Chu Yun was so angry that she wanted to slap Chu Xinxin twice on the spot.
Chu Xinxin grabbed her hand: "Bear with it. If you touch me, I can't guarantee that some scorpions or insects won't crawl on you."
Chu Yun recalled a scene that had sent chills down her spine and quickly pulled her hand back.
Liu walked ahead, seemingly oblivious to their argument, her gaze fixed ahead as she walked with great poise.
There were already many women in the Empress Dowager's palace.
As soon as Liu entered, the entire room fell silent for a moment. Liu acted as if she hadn't heard anything and led Chu Yun and Chu Xinxin forward to wish the Empress Dowager a happy birthday.
Her etiquette, demeanor, and speech were impeccable.
The Empress Dowager paused in her hand, which was holding Buddhist prayer beads, nodded slightly, and then dismissed them.
The other women, seeing which way the wind was blowing, also ignored Liu, leaving a circle of empty space around the three of them.
Chu Yun, who was always the center of attention wherever she went, had never suffered such grievances before, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears.
"Mother, let's go back..."
Liu glanced at Chu Yun indifferently, and Chu Yun lowered her voice.
Chu Xinxin didn't mind at all; if someone was peeking at her, she would just stare back without any hesitation.
A few others, annoyed by the stares, muttered under their breath, "Ugly monster."
Finally, the banquet began.
The Zhou Emperor, Empress Dowager, Empress, and a host of imperial relatives sat at the front, followed by ministers, and then the women of each family. They were so far away that Chu Xinxin couldn't even see the hem of Zhou Huaichuan's clothes.
After playing with the chopsticks for a while, she slipped away to the pond in the Imperial Garden to watch the koi.
Not long after, Zhou Huaichuan took him to the nearby artificial hill.
"Zhou Huaichuan, it's so dark here, are you up to something?" Chu Xinxin teased.
Zhou Huaichuan wrapped his arms around her waist, pressed down hard, and frowned, asking, "Why have you lost weight?"
"The food at the banquet is cold, I don't want to eat it."
"Hmm." Zhou Huaichuan took a light peck at Chu Xinxin's food. "It really doesn't taste good."
Chu Xinxin hugged him and said, "Zhou Huaichuan, I'm so sleepy, how much longer until it's over?"
"It will be a while, they are writing the performance for the Empress Dowager now."
"Then why did you come out?" Chu Xinxin said, but she still lingered in his arms: "Those princes will definitely try their best to make trouble for you later."
"I came out to see you, then I'll go back now. Don't stay outside by yourself for too long; the palace is not like the outside world."
"good."
Before leaving, Zhou Huaichuan left Chu Xinxin a trusted palace maid.
Chu Xinxin fed the koi until their eyes rolled back in their head before clapping her hands and getting up. But the palace maid grabbed her hand and hid back in the artificial hill.
Two eunuchs carried a person furtively to the edge of the pond.
"Leave it here and get out of here."
They took something out and stuffed it into the mouth of the unconscious person, then quickly disappeared.
Chu Xinxin peeked out and saw it was An Yi.
They fed her the aphrodisiac An Yi.
Sure enough, An Yi started unconsciously tugging at her clothes.
Chu Xinxin stood up to save her, but was pressed down by the palace maid.
The First Prince and Consort Rong have arrived.
The eldest prince and Consort Rong arrived with several trusted confidants.
"Rui'er, is this really going to work?"
Consort Rong felt a little flustered. Given Princess Pingyang's temperament, she was afraid that Princess Pingyang would not let the matter rest.
"Mother, I have already put the aphrodisiac on the third prince. You just need to insist that we were just out sobering up when we met."
Consort Rong was about to speak again when she heard a commotion.
"The Empress Dowager and the others are coming to watch the fireworks! Mother, please help me!"
After Zhou Rui finished speaking, he pushed An Yi into the water and jumped in himself.
A resolute glint flashed in Consort Rong's eyes as she shouted, "Help! Someone has fallen into the water!"
The Empress Dowager and others appeared by the pool, and Emperor Zhou asked, "What's wrong?"
"Princess An Yi has fallen into the water."
Upon hearing this, Princess Pingyang hurriedly came out to check, and the Empress Dowager quickly ordered the palace maids and nannies who were skilled in water to go down and rescue the person.
"Are all you people doing just standing on the shore shouting?"
Princess Pingyang was extremely anxious and directly confronted Consort Rong.
Consort Rong said aggrievedly, "Your Highness, just now when Rui'er and I came out to sober up, we saw An Yi fall into the water from the pavilion, and Rui'er immediately jumped in after her."
No sooner had the words left her mouth than a palace maid shouted, "Found it! Found it!"
Zhou Rui carried a woman out of the water, and everyone rushed to help.
The woman's clothes were mostly undone, and everything that should and shouldn't have been revealed was exposed to everyone.
Pingyang's vision went black, and he almost fainted.
"An Yi!"
Someone offered to drape a coat over An Yi, but Consort Rong pretended to be concerned and rushed over, blocking their path and allowing Zhou Rui to hold her for a longer time.
"An Yi, how are you?"
Zhou Rui brushed the wet hair that was covering the face of the person in his arms to both sides, revealing a swollen face.
"Ahhh!"
Consort Rong screamed and fell to the ground.
Without her obscuring the view, everyone looked up and saw that this was not An Yi at all, but clearly a female corpse that had been dead for who knows how long.
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