Chapter 20 Queen Mother: "Are you afraid that she will compete with you for the position of queen? ...
The construction of Luo Palace was finalized.
As Xiao Yu had said, no one in the court dared to raise any objections. Fortunately, the treasury was now full, and there was more than enough money to build a palace.
Moreover, Luochi was the royal garden, which was usually used for the imperial concubines to go boating and enjoy the scenery. Building a palace here could be regarded as a demonstration of the country's strength and the majesty of the Xiao Palace, which was reasonable.
As for the start date of construction, it was set in July, but Yan Shu felt that the weather was too hot and it was not suitable for the craftsmen to start work, so she carefully persuaded Xiao Yu to set the start date in autumn.
Xiao Yu agreed and everything was up to Yan Shu's wishes.
As for Yan Shu, she slept extra soundly these days thanks to the cold jade couch. Her only worry was that even after trying the positions in the silk painting with Xiao Yu for half a month, she still couldn't get pregnant as she wished.
On her side, Aunt Jiang only advised her not to be hasty and to try more often. As time went by, she would naturally have children.
But Yan Shu was worried, always suspecting that Xiao Yu had used some contraceptive method on her, which led to her infertility.
Yan Shu even wanted to ask someone to check everything she touched in her bedroom and the food she ate every day to see if there was any musk or other contraceptives in them.
But on second thought, all the doctors in the palace were Xiao Yu's spies. If it was really Xiao Yu who did it deliberately, how could they dare to tell her the truth?
Just when Yan Shu was worried, news came that Empress Dowager Zhao Jing would arrive in Yongcheng soon.
Empress Dowager Zhaojing returned to the palace and wanted to perform sacrificial ceremonies in the ancestral temple with Xiao Yu.
At that time, Yan Shu, as Xiao Yu's only concubine, will also attend the ceremony.
Yan Shu pondered this and began to consider ways to please Empress Dowager Zhao Jing in the future. If there was no hope of having an heir, then she would have to cling to Empress Dowager Zhao Jing's support, perhaps she could find a way out in the future.
Three days later, Empress Dowager Zhaojing's carriage arrived safely in Yongcheng.
Yan Shu stood under the sunshade canopy and waited with Xiao Yu at the palace gate. After waiting for a long time, the girl's legs were sore, and finally she saw the line of carriages and horses gradually appear at the palace gate.
The leading carriage stopped, and a slender hand lifted the curtain, followed by a beautiful face that came into view of everyone.
She was wearing a green dress and had an exceptionally slim figure.
Yan Shu knew that the woman was the niece of Empress Dowager Zhao Jing, the noblewoman Chu Yuan from the State of Chu.
After Chu Yuan got off the carriage, the palace maids on both sides opened the curtains, and Chu Yuan extended her hand to invite Empress Dowager Zhao Jing out of the carriage.
Yan Shu raised her eyes and her gaze fell on the well-maintained face of Empress Dowager Zhao Jing.
Even though she is over 40, her face is still radiant and dazzling, even more graceful and elegant than that of a young girl.
No wonder I heard that when Ning Guojun was alive, he favored Madam Zhao Jing the most. With such beauty and temperament, how could one not fall in love with her?
"Your Majesty, you have been traveling all the way and you are exhausted. I have already asked people to tidy up the Suning Palace. Please come and have a rest." Xiao Yu spoke, looking at the empress dowager with a calm gaze.
Empress Dowager Zhao Jing nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this, a hint of a smile on her face, "Yu'er, you are so thoughtful." She then called the girl beside her over, "Yuan'er, why don't you come and meet your cousin?"
Chu Yuan blushed upon hearing this, and walked forward to bow to Xiao Yu, speaking softly.
"Yuan'er greets the king."
Seeing this, Empress Dowager Zhao Jing smiled and said, "We are all family, there is no need to be so formal. Yuan'er will live with me in Suning Palace from now on. She can help me entertain myself on weekdays."
Xiao Yu nodded: "It's up to you, Queen Mother."
After scanning the crowd, Empress Dowager Zhao Jing's gaze finally landed on Yan Shu, who was standing behind Xiao Yu. She hesitated for a moment, "Who is this?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Shu immediately bowed to Empress Dowager Zhao Jing.
"I pay my respects to the Queen Mother. May the Queen Mother be well and safe."
"This is my son's beauty, Princess Yan Shu of Yan State." Xiao Yu spoke, explaining Yan Shu's identity.
Empress Dowager Zhao Jing's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and then she revealed a strange smile: "If I remember correctly, the late king also had a Concubine Yan in his harem."
When Chu Yuan, who was standing by, heard this, his gaze fell on Yan Shu, and a hint of surprise flashed across his eyes.
Xiao Yu's expression was calm, with his thin lips slightly raised.
"The victors are the kings and the losers are the bandits. So what if I am really alone? Now I am alone."
Empress Dowager Zhao Jing's expression changed slightly, then returned to normal, and she said softly, "Never mind, as long as Yu'er likes it. I'm old now, and I can't worry about you so much in the future."
After Empress Dowager Zhao Jing had said this, she was helped by the palace maids to sit in the sedan chair that was waiting on the side, and then she set off towards the Suning Palace.
Yan Shu looked at the sedan chair going away, thinking about something.
Just like in her previous life, the first time Empress Dowager Zhao Jing saw her, she was quite dissatisfied with her because of her status. However, she relied on Xiao Yu's support at the time and did not care about Empress Dowager Zhao Jing's attitude at all.
Now it seems that if she wants to please Empress Dowager Zhao Jing, she will have to work hard.
Looking at the absent-minded girl beside him, Xiao Yu reached out and pinched her fair cheek.
"Don't worry about what the Queen Mother says. I'm not close to her."
Yan Shu came back and shook his sleeve coquettishly, "I know, of course I only care about the king."
The girl smiled and said the same words as in her previous life, but her state of mind was no longer as foolish and naive as in her previous life.
In her previous life, after Empress Dowager Zhao Jing passed away, Xiao Yu had also said something like this, seemingly comforting. Yan Shu was deeply moved at the time. She thought that even if the Empress Dowager didn't like her, it didn't matter, at least Xiao Yu loved her alone.
Now that she thought about it, Xiao Yu was just trying to prevent her from getting close to Empress Dowager Zhao Jing.
Empress Dowager Zhaojing disliked her, so she had no support in the palace. Her favor returning or falling out of favor depended on Xiao Yu's words.
Moreover, his acts of pampering her would only make the Queen Mother hate her even more.
Here, Yan Shu was still pondering over how to please Empress Dowager Zhao Jing, while over there, the situation in Suining Palace was not as calm as it seemed.
The faint scent of sandalwood wafted out from the small bronze incense burner on the small table.
Empress Dowager Zhaojing was leaning on a small carved pearwood couch, resting her eyes.
Chu Yuan, who was standing by, gently massaged her shoulders. Thinking about what had just happened, she felt a little complicated.
Earlier at the Baidi Temple, my aunt had clearly said that this cousin Yu had no concubines around him, but I never thought that he would now take the beauties of the previous king into his harem.
Moreover, Yan Shu was so beautiful that one could feel ashamed of oneself at first sight.
Chu Yuan had been quite confident about her looks, but now, after seeing Yan Shu, she finally understood the meaning of a beauty so stunning that it could make fish sink to the bottom of their chests and geese fall to the ground. No wonder, even though she was a concubine of the previous king, Cousin Yu had forced her to stay and be his beauty.
Not to mention her stunning beauty, Chu Yuan was also quite wary of Yan Shu's identity.
Not only is she stunningly beautiful and beloved, she is also a princess of a country. Wouldn't she be the best candidate to become queen one day?
Then she would have no chance at all... Chu Yuan's heart skipped a beat when she thought of this, and she lost some of the strength of her massage.
"Hiss..." Empress Dowager Zhao Jing took a slight breath, and her phoenix eyes suddenly opened, with a hint of displeasure in her eyes.
Chu Yuan reacted, her face turned pale, and she immediately knelt down.
"Yuan'er was too rough just now, please forgive me, aunt."
Empress Dowager Zhao Jing glanced at her and said, "Alright, I know you didn't mean it. Get up quickly."
Chu Yuan hurriedly responded and thanked him, then stood up and stood aside.
Empress Dowager Zhao Jing reached out and gently pressed her swollen solar plexus, saying in a normal tone, "But I'm still thinking about Concubine Yan."
Chu Yuan was shocked and could only lower his head and stammer.
"As expected, nothing can be hidden from my aunt's eyes."
The Queen Mother raised an eyebrow, looking as if it was just as she expected.
"Are you afraid that she will compete with you for the position of queen?"
Chu Yuan nodded upon hearing this, a look of worry on her face. "That Concubine Yan is incredibly beautiful, and she's also the Princess of Yan State. Seeing how Cousin Yu defended her today, it's only a matter of time before she's made Queen."
The Queen Mother was slightly annoyed upon hearing this. She looked at Chu Yuan in front of her and lightly scolded her, "You've only just returned to the palace, and you've already lost your morale after just one meeting with Yan Shu. You're defeated without even fighting. Is this what I always teach you?"
Chu Yuan lowered his head in fear when he heard that.
"Aunt, Yuan'er is just..."
The Queen Mother interrupted her, her eyebrows raised slightly: "As long as I am here, and with the support of the Chu State, are you still worried about having no one to rely on in the future?"
Empress Dowager Zhao Jing was once a princess of the State of Chu, and her mother's family was powerful. Now that she was the empress dowager, she naturally hoped that the position of Empress Dowager of the State of Xiao would also belong to her family.
If the State of Chu did not have a princess of the right age, she would not have supported her niece Chu Yuan to ascend to this high position.
"Although Yan Shu is the princess of Yan State, she is not valued by King Yan Wen. The fact that she was sent to be the late king's little beauty shows that she is a discarded child of Yan State."
The Queen Mother held her forehead with her hand, her eyes half-closed as she spoke, "Although the King is not my biological son, it is because I recognized him as my legitimate son that he is where he is today. When it comes to establishing the Queen, could you not even consider me at all?
Chu Yuan felt more confident after hearing what Empress Dowager Zhao Jing said. Fortunately, she still had her aunt's support, so she wasn't too afraid.
On the second day after Empress Dowager Zhaojing returned to the palace, she and Xiao Yu performed a sacrificial ceremony in the ancestral temple to pray for the prosperity of the country.
While worshipping outside the temple, Yan Shu always felt a faint gaze on her. She leaned sideways several times and finally met the person's eyes.
Chu Yuan was caught and immediately lowered his head in panic.
She just thought Yan Shu was dressed particularly eye-catchingly today, so she secretly took a few more glances at her. She never thought she would be discovered, and her face suddenly felt hot.
Seeing Chu Yuan's guilty look, Yan Shu looked down at her clothes in confusion, thinking there was something strange about them.
But after looking at it, it was just an ordinary court dress, and there was nothing wrong with it.
Suddenly I felt something strange and became a little alert.
Fortunately, the sacrifice was completed and Yan Shu did not notice anything unusual, so she felt relieved.
After returning to Baohua Palace and resting for a while, Yan Shu thought that it was time for her to pay a proper visit to Empress Dowager Zhaojing.
Little did she know that after the empress dowager returned to Suining Palace, she learned about the construction of Luo Palace from the old ministers who came to pay her a visit, and her face immediately became displeased.
The author has something to say:
----------------------
I'm going to post a new preview of "Wealthy Flower". If you're interested, you can collect it in advance [shy]
Copywriter:
As the most favored little princess of the Wei Dynasty, Zhaohua has always been arrogant and domineering.
Whenever he went out, everyone in the Wei Palace would flatter him.
Even his future son-in-law was the third place winner carefully selected from the newly-appointed Jinshi scholars by Emperor Yuan of Wei.
In Zhaohua's eyes, everything in this world should go according to her wishes.
One day, she saw a palace maid having an affair with a guard, and the young girl, who was just beginning to fall in love, suddenly felt strange ripples.
But Zhaohua was not interested in the greasy-haired and powdered male lovers sent by her aunt. Instead, she turned around and glanced at the ten shadow guards sent by her father to protect her.
The shadow guards all stood tall and straight, like silent statues.
Zhao Hua's gaze moved between them for a moment, and finally stopped on the figure with icy eyes in the corner.
She stretched out her slender legs, and said in her usual arrogant tone: "Okay, you will serve me."
…
The country was destroyed, and he and his brother suffered all kinds of hardships before they sneaked into the enemy country to serve as shadow guards.
After going through layers of selection and being given to Wei Laogou as his beloved daughter to be his shadow guard, Xie Jiao felt that he finally had the chance to avenge his brother.
So he was determined to take revenge and took every step carefully.
But ever since he became Princess Zhaohua's shadow guard, Xie Jiao noticed all sorts of strange feelings in his body whenever it was his brother's turn to be on duty that night.
He and Xie Chi have a natural empathy, so no clues will escape his eyes.
After discovering that his always cold and solemn brother Xie Chi had secretly hidden the handkerchief of Wei Gou's daughter, Xie Jiao felt as if the sky had fallen, and immediately wanted to settle all the new and old grudges with the Wei family.
So, relying on the same appearance, he pretended to be the elder brother and took over the job for a few days.
Only then did Xie Jiao realize that his good brother actually did this kind of work at night.
Spoiled and pretentious princess x aloof older brother/yandere younger brother (male c)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
