Chapter 763 Are you sure you don’t want to try rolling with my family?
"Shut up, everyone."
The Queen had approached without her noticing. She glanced at the scattered plum blossom petals on the ground without looking at anyone. The palace attendants behind her immediately stepped forward and quietly separated the noble ladies and ministers who were watching the excitement from a distance.
"Your Majesty," the Empress turned to the Emperor and spoke gently, "Today is New Year's Eve, a day of celebration for the nation and family. It's normal for the younger generations to have some quarrels and frictions. If this incident causes discord between the Emperor and his subjects, wouldn't it make the world laugh at us?"
She glanced at Zhao Chen'an, whose face was ashen, and said, "Chen'an, you too, are you so impatient? How can you get so angry when you haven't even figured out the whole story yet?"
Princess Jiahe saw that the Queen not only did not make a decision for her, but instead casually defined the matter as a "verbal friction". She immediately became anxious and wanted to speak unwillingly: "Your Majesty, I saw it with my own eyes..."
"Enough." The queen finally set her eyes on her. Her eyes were calm, but they made Princess Jiahe feel as if she had fallen into an icy cave. The rest of the words were stuck in her throat.
"I am tired." The Queen withdrew her gaze and instructed Nanny Zhang beside her, "Gu's girl's hair is a little messy, I think she was frightened. Take her to the side hall and wash her up and change into clean clothes."
The Queen's voice was filled with emotion, "Don't neglect the daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo."
"Yes." Nanny Zhang responded, walked up to Gu Qingchen, and made a "please" gesture, her attitude respectful but not forbidding refusal.
Gu Qingchen glanced at her father, and Gu Junze nodded imperceptibly. Then, she followed Aunt Zhang and left this troubled place without a word.
A storm that was big enough to cause a huge uproar was suppressed lightly by the queen with just a few words.
Zhao Chenan looked at Gu Qingchen's departing back, his clenched fists turning white, and the humiliation and murderous intent in his eyes almost solidified into reality.
On the way back in the carriage, the atmosphere was so depressing that it was suffocating.
Chu Ruohan remained silent until the carriage drove out of the palace gate. She finally spoke, but there was no emotion in her voice.
"Tell me, is this true between you and Qian Zhenyun?"
Gu Qingchen leaned against the car wall, looking a little tired. She shook her head: "No."
"No?" Chu Ruohan's voice suddenly rose. She stared at her daughter. "It's not true. You're putting on such a show at the New Year's Eve palace banquet in front of all the civil and military officials? Gu Qingchen, do you know what you're doing tonight?"
"I know." Gu Qingchen replied in a low voice, "I just want the royal family to stop targeting me."
Chu Ruohan laughed in anger. "Are you risking your own reputation and the dignity of the Zhenguo Mansion? And that Qian Zhenyun? He's the Crown Prince's companion and a trusted confidant he personally promoted! You dragged him into this drama. Have you ever considered what will happen to him?"
Chu Ruohan's voice became increasingly stern. "Betraying the Crown Prince and coveting the future Crown Princess is a heinous crime punishable by the death of nine generations of your clan! When you dragged him into this, did you ever consider that he is also someone else's son, and that he has parents and relatives too?"
Gu Qingchen's face turned pale.
"He...he volunteered." Her voice was soft. "He said it was to help me."
"Helping you?" Chu Ruohan sneered, "He's using his own life and his entire family's future to help you! Do you think you're breaking off the engagement? You're forcing the prince to kill and forcing the emperor to punish him! Gu Qingchen, your cleverness is clearly not being used in the right place!"
Gu Junze, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened his eyes at this moment.
"Alright." He interrupted his wife's lecture in a deep voice, "Now that things have come to this, there's no point in saying more. What matters now is figuring out how to deal with it."
He looked at Chu Ruohan: "What do you think of the Queen's reaction tonight?"
When it came to business, Chu Ruohan immediately suppressed her anger and frowned, "She's not going to give up yet."
"She suppressed the matter to save the royal family's reputation and to give you and me some wiggle room. She didn't get angry right away because she didn't want to take things too far."
"As long as tonight's events remain unresolved, it will remain just a vague affair. Once the storm has passed, she will have plenty of ways to get the Emperor to grant her a marriage."
Chu Ruohan analyzed, "By then, if you and I continue to object, we will be disobeying the emperor's order."
Gu Qingchen felt a chill in his heart as he listened to his parents' conversation.
She leaned dejectedly against the cushions, muttering to herself, "Why? Aunt Queen was so kind to me before, why does she insist on forcing me to enter the Eastern Palace now? Why has she become so annoying?"
Chu Ruohan looked at her daughter's innocent look, feeling both distressed and helpless.
She sighed and spoke more slowly: "Silly child, people treated you well in the past not because you were Gu Qingchen, but because you were the only daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo."
"At that time, you represented the military power of the entire Zhenguo Mansion and were the most sought-after candidate for the future Crown Princess. Her kindness to you was paving the way for you and the Crown Prince. It was a well-informed investment."
Chu Ruohan reached out and smoothed down her daughter's messy hair, her voice carrying a hint of coldness.
"Now, it's time for her to recoup her investment, but you want to run away. How could she let you get away?"
The carriage slowly stopped in front of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion.
As the car curtain was lifted, Song Ruyan's bright and heroic face peeked in, with an expression of uncontrollable ecstasy on her face.
"My dear Qingchen! You are finally back!"
She grabbed Gu Qingchen who was about to get out of the car. Her strength and enthusiasm formed a sharp contrast with the dead silence in the car just now.
"Aunt Song." Gu Qingchen's voice was a little dry.
"Oh, why are you still calling me Auntie Song!" Song Ruyan's eyebrows danced with joy, and she looked Gu Qingchen up and down, as if she was looking at a rare treasure that had been lost and found again. "I heard it! I heard it all! Well done! That little Gungun of ours has finally come to his senses and done something great and promising!"
Chu Ruohan got off the carriage from the other side with an expressionless face. She glanced at her daughter indifferently, and the meaning in her eyes was very clear: You have to solve the problem yourself if you caused it.
After saying that, she walked into the mansion without looking back.
Gu Qingchen's heart instantly rose to his throat.
She was half-pulled and half-dragged aside by Song Ruyan. Looking at Aunt Song's face that was almost glowing with excitement, all the explanations she had prepared were stuck in her throat.
It's over, this is a big misunderstanding.
"Aunt Song, things are not what you think." Gu Qingchen gritted his teeth and spoke cautiously.
Her heart was pounding, and her mind was racing as she wondered whether she should apologize first or run away if Aunt Song got angry.
But with her mediocre skills, she probably wouldn't even have a chance to escape when facing Aunt Song, who is highly skilled in martial arts.
"What's not what I thought?" Song Ruyan looked at her in confusion. "You were caught in the plum forest by that girl Jiahe, and the story has spread everywhere! My Gun Gun even dared to offend the Crown Prince for you! Isn't that enough?"
"It's enough, but..." Gu Qingchen gritted his teeth and risked his life, "Aunt Song, that was a play I asked him to help me put on."
The smile on Song Ruyan's face slowly froze.
Gu Qingchen looked at her nervously, not daring to breathe.
The expected wrath of thunder did not come.
Song Ruyan just stared at her for a long while, then heaved a long, deep sigh, filled with the regret of being disappointed with someone.
"I knew it." Song Ruyan held her forehead, her face filled with grief. "I knew that with his wooden head, he couldn't come up with such a bold idea. You get the moon first when you're close to the water, understand? We grew up together, so why didn't he win you over?"
Gu Qingchen was stunned.
This reaction was completely different from what she expected.
"Aunt Song, aren't you angry? I, I took advantage of Zhenyun. This time..."
"Why should I be angry?" Song Ruyan interrupted her, reached out and pinched Gu Qingchen's face, her tone full of helplessness.
"I'm mad at that guy from my family. He had such a great opportunity right in front of him, but he was just putting on an act! If he really had the guts to make you a fait accompli, I'd go straight to your mother and ask for you back today!"
Gu Qingchen was completely dumbfounded. She felt that her brain was not enough.
Song Ruyan looked at her dazed look, sighed again, but her eyes became serious.
"Qingchen, Aunt Song is asking you a truth."
Her voice slowed down, with a gentleness and solemnity that was unique to an elder.
"Are you sure you don't want to try rolling with my family?"
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