Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

Chapter 123 Something happened

Seven days later, the imperial examination was held in the capital. However, this time the chief examiners were the emperor's nephew and son. Prime Minister Lin, who was supposed to be one of the chief examiners, claimed to be ill and had not attended court for many days.

Although Prime Minister Lin did not attend court, rumors spread among the people. There were two versions of the story. One version said that Lin Rou'er, the eldest granddaughter of Prime Minister Lin, offered herself to the Crown Prince, but by a twist of fate, she ended up in the bed of the Third Prince. The Emperor gave face to the Lin family and did not blame them. Instead, he bestowed upon Lin Rou'er the title of the Third Prince's concubine.

Another version of the story says that Lin Rou'er dragged Consort Ye's niece into the mess in order to get into the prince's bed, turning it into a drama of one woman and two men. However, the Ye family's daughter slandered the crown prince, wanting to become the crown princess, and so on.

After listening to Dingding's reply, Xiao Lan knew that the first rumor was probably instigated by His Majesty, or perhaps by someone else.

But the second rumor must have come from the Empress. Since she couldn't marry a girl from the Lin family, she naturally wouldn't want Ye Lanyi either. After all, no one wants a rival's niece as their daughter-in-law, especially for such a disgraceful reason.

The Empress probably didn't expect that her actions would offend the Lin family. After all, Lin Rou'er is the eldest granddaughter of the Lin family. Even if Prime Minister Lin is sexist, he still cares about his reputation. Slapping Lin Rou'er in the face is the same as slapping Prime Minister Lin and the Lin family in the face.

So Prime Minister Lin began to slack off, claiming illness and not attending court. He said that the court and the harem would not interfere with each other, but Prime Minister Lin's actions showed that he was already dissatisfied with the Empress.

Using this as an excuse, the Empress, who had been back in the palace for seven days, sent someone to Weiyang Palace to retrieve the Phoenix Seal. However, Consort Tong refused, saying that the Phoenix Seal was given by His Majesty and that without His Majesty's decree, no one could do anything.

However, anyone with discerning eyes knows that without the emperor's authorization, Consort Tong would not dare to answer the empress in this way.

Because of this incident, the Fengyi Palace was noisy all night long, with crackling and popping sounds. Those who knew were that the Empress was smashing things in the palace; those who didn't know would have thought it was some kind of festival with firecrackers going off.

Xiao Mu'an had already finished the spring imperial examination, and Xiao Lan suggested that the three siblings, Wu Yuyu, go out for a trip together.

Other places were too crowded, so the three of them decided to go on a boat trip instead.

Once on the boat, Wu Yuyu dragged Dangdang to the stern with her, saying she wanted to go fishing.

Xiao Mu'an directly told Xiao Lan about the strange things that had happened these past few days. It turned out that Cui Jiuhan had also come to participate in the Spring Examination. He had been trying to contact Xiao Mu'an through various means, but on the day the exam ended, even though Cui Jiuhan clearly saw him, he immediately turned and left, for reasons unknown. "Maybe he knows the outcome is already decided, and probably doesn't want to get too involved with you, brother," Xiao Lan thought for a moment but couldn't figure it out either, so she could only comfort her brother. "I hope so. But Lanlan, the capital has been in an uproar lately because of the Crown Prince and the Third Prince. I hope it won't affect your marriage to Prince Su?" Xiao Lan replied calmly, "Neither Prince Su nor I went hunting, so how could An Ye be targeting us? It's just that I think the Lin family suffered such a big loss this time, they probably won't let it go easily. I wonder if that palace maid in Fengyi Palace can handle being broken." As Xiao Lan spoke, she fiddled with her teacup. Xiao Mu'an looked at her and thought for a moment before saying, "Although I didn't speak to Cui Jiu that day, I ran into some classmates from Qingcheng Academy and overheard something else." Hearing Xiao Mu'an say this, Xiao Lan knew that her brother wouldn't gossip for no reason, so she asked, "What is it?"

"After they came to the capital, they became disciples of the Lin family. During their casual conversation, I overheard them saying that the Lin family's daughter was going to marry Prince Su."

Xiao Mu'an went to Qingcheng Academy to study. Because of the tense relationship between Xiao Daren and Xiao Zhenwei, he only told outsiders that he was a relative of the Jiang family. Moreover, because Xiao Mu'an was going to participate in the Spring Examination, Xiao Lan and Yan Nanhui never introduced Xiao Mu'an to outsiders.

Even the princes who went to school with her didn't know that Xiao Mu'an was Xiao Lan's older brother.

So when those two people told Xiao Mu'an, they didn't expect that Xiao Mu'an was the brother of the future Fifth Prince's wife, and they revealed all the secrets of Prime Minister Lin's side.

When Xiao Mu'an heard that the Lin family was going to marry their daughter to Prince Su, he was furious, since Yan Nan had said he would not take a concubine when he asked for her hand in marriage.

This is why Xiao Mu'an wanted to talk to Xiao Lan today. After listening to her brother's words, Xiao Lan pondered for a long time, thinking that the Lin family really knew how to take advantage of information asymmetry, deceiving both the father and the son.

Whether Yan Nan Hui will take a concubine in this lifetime is something he dares not say for sure. After all, even the deepest vows cannot withstand the power of time. But while it's hard to say about other things, at least when Xiao Lan learned that she was the "little white rabbit" that Yan Nan Hui had been longing for in his previous life, she was certain that Yan Nan Hui would never take any concubine for at least three to five years.

Besides, the emperor has already said that the Lin family's daughter is not allowed to marry into the Eastern Palace. If Yan Nan wants to compete, he certainly won't give himself any leverage. If he marries the Lin family's daughter, the Lin family won't turn around and help the Tong family's grandson.

This is completely unreasonable and illogical. I don't know how my brother could believe it. However, although Yan Nan Hui is not interested, it doesn't mean that the Lin family wants to let go of this son-in-law of Jackie Chan.

It seems that Prime Minister Lin also realized that the Emperor was dissatisfied with the Lin family and wanted to marry off more of his granddaughters to various princes' residences. The Lin family's scheme was almost blinding the Emperor.

What her brother could hear had probably already reached the emperor's ears. She wondered if the Lin family was going to continue using the medicine or try some other tricks. Xiao Lan was really looking forward to it. Recently, business at Wutongju had been on track, and she wasn't so busy anymore. It would be a good opportunity to meet Prime Minister Lin. In her previous life, when she was fighting with the Ye family, Prime Minister Lin had also sent Lin Rou'er and another concubine's daughter into the palace.

However, these two were only granted the titles of Noble Lady and Consort, respectively, their ranks neither high nor low, so even their greetings had to be exchanged in the outer room. I honestly have no recollection of them.

Thinking of this, Xiao Lan stopped worrying. If Yan Nanhui said he wanted to take a concubine, then she would be generous and give up the position of the principal wife. However, the premise was that she had to play the victim. The emperor would probably give her a lot of benefits if he saw that his beloved daughter had been wronged.

Consort Tong has been good to me, so she should be able to give me a fair share of "compensation for emotional distress." Just as Xiao Lan was feeling happy, Yue'er and Consort Cui hurriedly boarded a small boat and came over. Once on the boat, Yue'er ran up to Xiao Lan and said, "Miss, hurry back! Someone from the palace has come to Wutong Residence to report that the Imperial Concubine has had a miscarriage."

"What?" Upon hearing this, Xiao Lan calculated the time; even if twins were to be born early, it would be at least a month later. This was far too abnormal. Without saying anything, she told Xiao Mu'an and Wu Yuyu, and then, with Dingdingdangdang and the Cui family's wife, headed for the palace without even changing her clothes.