Chapter 257 Taken a Fancy
257 Taken a Fancy
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
Thinking back to the exchange between Gu Yanfei and Empress Dowager Yuan just now, he immediately felt something else.
The green-robed eunuch’s eyes lit up. He thought to himself that he had to quickly report to the Emperor. The Emperor had been looking forward to it for so many years, and he would definitely be happy.
The green-robed eunuch smiled until his eyes narrowed. He nimbly took out another plate of sandalwood and replaced the lingering incense in the incense burner.
Another wisp of smoke curled up and interlaced with the original sandalwood. The fragrance in the air was stronger.
After the green-robed eunuch closed the lid of the incense burner, he quietly retreated from the warm pavilion.
After walking out of the Shou’an Palace, the green-robed eunuch happened to see the girls walking out of the palace gate. He couldn’t help but search for Gu Yanfei. He thought to himself, ‘Second Lady Gu is too thinly dressed. I have to get someone to place two more charcoal pots in the Tinglan Water Pavilion.’
The girls shivered in the vast snowstorm. Although the wind was bone-chilling, several of them felt relieved.
Not everyone was as fearless of the Empress Dowager as Wei Jiaoniang and the others. A few girls had been so nervous that they didn’t even know how to relax their limbs.
“Ladies, this way, please.” The palace maid, Liu Shuang, led the way for the girls. They walked along the limestone road towards the imperial garden in the northeast.
These people were still clearly separated. Noble families were nobles, but aristocratic families were aristocratic families.
The snow seemed to be gradually thinning. Snowflakes floated in the air like catkins, making the surroundings hazy, as if a thick fog was filling the air.
Looking up, she could see that the bright yellow glazed tiles of the roof were already covered in a thin layer of snow.
Several girls who were afraid of the cold cowered under their thick cloaks, eager to hide their entire bodies.
Wei Jiaoniang was in high spirits and wasn’t afraid of the snow at all. Her cheeks were flushed red.
“Yanfei.” Wei Jiaoniang held Gu Yanfei’s left arm intimately and whispered into her ear, “Do you know why the Empress Dowager called us here?”
Wei Jiaoniang was just trying to start a conversation and didn’t really want Gu Yanfei to answer anything. She continued, “Fortunately, you’re here. Otherwise, I would have had to think of a way to call you into the palace.”
She lowered her voice extremely low, and her warm breath almost blew into Gu Yanfei’s ear.
“…” Gu Yanfei tilted her face and blinked in confusion.
Why did she call her into the palace?
Was it to watch the show?!
As she thought about it, Gu Yanfei’s eyes were bright.
Lu Qin watched as they leaned their heads against each other and whispered to each other. She held Gu Yanfei’s right arm with one hand and leaned over to listen.
She also had a stomach full of doubts.
The Empress Dowager was really too strange today. First, she urgently summoned them to the palace, and now, she was sending them to tour the imperial garden on a snowy day. It was simply ridiculous!
Wei Jiaoniang looked around, afraid that someone would eavesdrop.
The howling snow around them became the most natural barrier instead. There was no one within ten feet of them.
As if she was a thief, Wei Jiaoniang whispered, “My mother told me that the Empress Dowager is choosing a princess consort for the Eldest Prince.”
“I see.” Lu Qin gently clapped her hands.
Thinking back to Empress Dowager Yuan’s questions in the warm pavilion, Lu Qin came to a realization.
Imperial Duchess Wei knew that her daughter was a straightforward person, so she specially analyzed the current situation and Empress Dowager Yuan’s thoughts with her in the carriage. She was afraid that her daughter would be accidentally plotted against by the Empress Dowager.
‘My mother said that the Eldest Prince and Kang Wang are about the same age, only two or three years apart. They’re both at the age of marriage.”
“If the Empress Dowager casually says that she wants to arrange a marriage for the Eldest Prince, it’ll inevitably cause gossip. Now that Kang Wang’s marriage is set, the Empress Dowager can use the excuse that she can’t care about one thing and lose another to get the Emperor to set up the Eldest Prince’s marriage.”
Empress Dowager Yuan was determined to let Kang Wang take over, so she naturally wouldn’t find a powerful Yue family for the Eldest Prince. She would definitely dig a hole for him, just like how she had made things difficult for Gu Yanfei in the warm pavilion just now!
Thinking of what had just happened, Wei Jiaoniang looked at Gu Yanfei with pity, as if she was looking at a beautiful flower that had almost been destroyed.
“Heh, the Emperor isn’t anxious, but the eunuch is.”
The Emperor would naturally worry about the Eldest Prince’s marriage. There was no need for the Empress Dowager to interfere!
Wei Jiaoniang held the umbrella in one hand and Gu Yanfei’s hand in the other. She promised seriously, “Don’t worry, Yanfei. I’ll help you.”
The Eldest Prince and her Yanfei were the most compatible. She would definitely not let others intercept them.
She had said that she would help Yanfei!
“I’ll help you too.” Lu Qin held Gu Yanfei’s right arm and patted her chest happily.
Lu Qin and Wei Jiaoniang had been friends for more than ten years, so she immediately understood. She exchanged a smart look with her, meaning that she understood everything!
Gu Yanfei, who was sandwiched between the two of them, only understood half of it. Empress Dowager Yuan wanted to choose a princess consort for Chu Yi, and she would definitely not choose well.
But why were they all helping her?
The snow around them fluctuated, and a few snowflakes drifted under the umbrella.
Before Gu Yanfei could figure it out, Wei Jiaoniang exhaled a white breath from her lips and blew the snow away. She sneered mockingly and said, “My mother also said that the Empress Dowager probably likes me and wants me to be Kang Wang’s secondary consort.’
Really?! Lu Qin’s eyes widened as if she had been struck by lightning, and her jaw almost dropped.
Her next thought was: Was the Empress Dowager crazy?!
“Hmph.” Wei Jiaoniang curled her lips and snorted softly. She said proudly to the two of them, “Dream on!’
She enunciated each word, her cheeks puffing.
It was also because she knew Empress Dowager Yuan’s thoughts that she had rebuked the Empress Dowager so mercilessly in the warm pavilion just now.. She didn’t want to be someone’s concubine!