And Wei Mingrui’s father Wei Kangcheng was just a second-rank Assistant Minister of Appointments. But his sister Wei Lijuan was one of the Emperor’s current most favored consorts.
It was said that because of her outstanding appearance, when she first entered the Palace, the Emperor flipped her green tablet* sixteen days in a row, even breaking Wan Meiran’s record of twelve days in a row when she entered the Palace.
*[How Emperors chose who to sleep with that night.]
Even Wei Kangcheng rose two ranks from a third-rank General Department official to a first-rank Assistant Minister of Appointments because of his daughter’s blessing.
So, the current situation was that none of the “Four Tyrants” had a Zhengfei or main wife. Even their engagements were not finalized yet.
In short, the women whom they liked didn’t necessarily like them and they did not like certain women who like them. “Can’t match high, but the low comes” summed up the current marital status of the Four Tyrants.
Shangguan LingRan looked at the love-struck fools and suddenly smiled devilishly. He originally looked devilishly charming. Now that he smiled, he was even more unspeakably charming, making Yu Meilian stare straight at him.
Love-struck fool! Shangguan LingRan was even more contemptuous towards her, but smiled tenderly at her.
He had never shown a pleasant expression to Yu Meilian before. This really made Yu Meilian overjoyed today. She looked at Shangguan LingRan and felt that her heart was about to jump out of her chest.
Shangguan LingRan smiled to his gang of friends and lazily smiled. “You chat. This Shizi will go check on imperial grandmother. I don’t know if that old lady is drunk yet.”
Then he turned to leave. Yu Meilian was as if she had lost her soul. She followed Shangguan LingRan and even threw Ke Yuner to the side.
Almost everyone saw this. They were all contemptuous to the extreme. They thought that she was really shameless. She could even do such an improper and shameless thing.
Shangguan LingRan walked in the front as Yu Meilian followed behind. She stared at that upright and handsome posture in front of her as if everything in the world didn’t exist. There was only that moving back between heaven and earth.
That was until Shangguan LingRan suddenly stopped and turned to look at her. She was shocked and bent her head in shyness and panic.
Shangguan LingRan walked over to her. He wasn’t like he was in the past and ignored or mocked her. Instead, he said gently, “Yu Xiaojie, would you like to go with me to see imperial grandmother?”
Of course she would! Yu Meilian shyly nodded. She didn’t even think about it and followed Shangguan LingRan.
Zi You saw this from the garden and curtsied to Taizi and Third Wangzi. She said softly, “Chennu just drank too much. Chennu is feeling a little dizzy and wants to find a place to rest.”
“Let me show you.” Taizi had not spoke before Third Wangzi immediately interrupted Zi You. He kindly acted like a guardian angel. “You don’t come to the Palace often, so I’ll take you to Ronghua Palace Hall. That is where important guests rest.”
“I’m also a bit dizzy too.” Taizi quickly and elegantly smiled. “Third brother doesn’t need to specially make this trip. I’ll send Mu Xiaojie there. It’s on the way.”
Third Wangzi immediately became displeased. He sneered at Taizi. “Taizi gege is really interesting. Everything of mine, you……”
“Third Wangzi!” Zi You immediately smiled as she interrupted Third Wangzi’s words. “Since it’s like this, why don’t you come with us to Ronghua Palace Hall too? Let’s see if there are any other gongzis or xiaojies there. After a rest, maybe we can have a kickball game.”
Third Wangzi’s face had sunk, but it rose back up after hearing Zi You’s words. He looked triumphantly at Taizi and replied. “Okay. I haven’t played it in a long time. You’er likes playing kickball? Let’s be on the same team later.”
Taizi seemed to have made up his mind not to let Zi You and Third Wangzi be alone together. He also quickly echoed. “After You’er’s words, I really do want to play now. But this sport is too intense. You’er, you have to hide behind me later and don’t get hit by the ball.”
“Okay.” Zi You answered particularly easily. “Then we three will be on a team together and win. Taizi, you should give out a prize. That way, it will be even more fun.”
Zi You really seemed to have drunk too much today. Her usual coldness was gone. She smiled brightly and revealed some charms of a cute girl. She was already beautiful, but now her eyes shone, revealing some drunken mistiness. She was a different kind of breathtaking beauty now.
Taizi and Third Wangzi left with her. Not only was Third Wangzi’s prospective wife Wen Chuyan angry and jealous, but Shangguan Lingluo also exploded. She broke off a fingernail and gave it to her palace maid Cailing. She whispered and said, “Give this to Taizi. Tell him that I’m waiting for him at Yaohua Palace.”
Yaohua Palace was Shangguan Lingluo’s palace. It was the closest to the Empress’ Fengming Palace. After Shangguan Lingluo’s Mufei passed away, the Empress had treated Shangguan Lingluo and her brother as her own children. However, only the Empress knew how much real emotion there was.
In short, the Empress’ own daughter Second Gongzhu had once scolded Shangguan Lingluo. “Bah! What do you think you are? Muhou just can’t bear for you to be insulted by others, so she brought you over to raise. Do you really think that you are Muhou’s biological child? You have to fight with me over everything. So annoying!”
Second Gongzhu Shangguan Yunluo was sixteen years old. She was already married to one of the Duke Dingguo’s, one of the five great dukes, sons: Teng Yixuan. Teng Yixuan was nineteen years old. He came third in the imperial examination and had a bright future, but Second Gongzhu had fallen in love with him. He could only helplessly dissolve the engagement with Marquis Wuan’s Di daughter, Bai Hanyan, marry the Gongzhu, and end his officialdom path. There was a rule in Great Yan that the Emperor’s son-in-law could not hold an official position. It was established by the previous Emperor and no one could defy it.
Second Gongzhu and Shangguan Lingluo did not get along. Zi You smiled craftily and asked Taizi, “Taizi, where’s Second Gongzhu? Chennu heard that Second Gongzhu plays kickball very well. Chennu really wants to learn from her!”
Since someone had praised his sister and it was exactly the person whom he wanted to please, a charming smile immediately appeared on Taizi’s handsome face. He turned to Eunuch Lin. “Go to Ronghua Palace Hall and invite Second Gongzhu over. Tell her that this Taizi is looking for her.”
Because Taizi frequently took Shangguan Lingluo’s side, his biological sister Second Gongzhu had long misunderstood him. Taizi was not sad about it, but Second Gongzhu’s in-laws were Duke Dingguo fu. Taizi really wanted to bury the hatchet with her and fix their relationship. After all, it was better for a hundred-year-old family to support him rather than have them as an enemy.
Perhaps because of Mu Zi You, he might fix the relationship with his sister today. As such, Mu Zi You was really more useful to him than Shangguan Lingluo.
Shangguan Lingluo was really becoming more and more arrogant. Just because she spoke some nice things about him in front of Fuwang, she was becoming more willful.
You’er was better. If she became his woman, not only would he get Old General Mu’s support, but he could patch things up with his sister and get Duke Dingguo fu’s help. Muhou would also be happy. This was really killing multiple birds with one stone.
Ronghua Palace Hall was not far from the Jade Palace Hall. It didn’t take more than a quarter of an hour to get there. Taizi, Third Wangzi, and Zi You walked there with palace servants. In a short time, their group increased in size and some gongzis and xiaojies were added.
They heard that they would have a kickball match after taking a rest and everyone was interested. Zi You looked around. Among these people, there was Ke Yunfeng, Ke Yuner’s brother. There was also Minister of Revenue’s Di son, Yu Meilian’s brother, Yu Maorui; Duke Weiguo’s grandson, Li Huafeng; Assistant Minister of War’s daughter, Yin Xiaoxia; and Wei Mingrui and favored consort Li Pin’s sister, Wei Yajuan.
Zi You’s three sworn sisters wouldn’t there. She didn’t know whether Liu Ruixue would be jealous seeing Taizi hovering around her. Zi You had pretended to be drunk as an excuse to leave them, but now she was with Taizi and Third Wangzi. She hoped that Liu Ruixue wouldn’t misunderstand.
When they arrived at Ronghua Palace Hall, Zi You then discovered that it was divided into four chambers. Tables, chairs, and beds were placed in each chamber. It looked like this place was really for guests to rest here.
On the way here, Zi You had been chatting with Wei Yajuan and Yin Xiaoxia. They were envious of, but also admired Zi You. After all, in half a year, she had made that arrogant and domineering Fourth Gongzhu suffer a loss, but also had the Emperor personally summon her and confer her as the first commander of a female medical team in the throne room. Great Yan had never had a precedent for a female official before.
Zi You, Wei Yajuan, and Yin Xiaoxia rested for a quarter of an hour. Zi You suggested, “I seem to have smelled plum blossoms when we walked in here. Are there plum blossoms here? Do you want to admire plum blossoms?”
“Okay! I also like plum blossoms, especially wintersweets.” Yin Xiaoxia was very lively. She was only two months older than Zi You. She immediately agreed to Zi You’s suggestion and the three girls left the chamber.
They pushed the door open and encountered Third Wangzi and the other gongzis. There was also a young woman with a high bun, wearing a red gold hairpin divided with phoenixes with beads in their mouths. She was wearing a red coat embroidered with gold and silver peonies and a honey-colored sable satin dress.
Zi You saw that her face was 40% similar to the Empress’. She immediately walked over to curtsy. She slightly smiled and said, “Chennu pays respects to Second Gongzhu. Wishing Second Gongzhu good fortune!”
