Chapter 85 - Qiao Ruoshui's First Night

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Qiao Jinniang stroked the head of her youngest brother, Ah Li. “Does Ah Li also want a rabbit?”

Qiao Li flinched in fear, and then looked at the doll rabbit in Tuan’er’s hand again, hesitating but not daring to speak.

Qiao Jinniang didn’t know why her youngest brother was so afraid of her, so she could only say, “I will make one for you tomorrow.”

Tuan’er tugged at Qiao Jinniang’s sleeve and said, “Make one for Daddy too. His eyes look so fierce.”

Qiao Jinniang glared at Lu Chen.

Lu Chen said to Tuan’er, “No need, your mother has already given me a big rabbit.”

Hearing Lu Chen’s ambiguous remarks, Qiao Jinniang gave him a warning look. “How can you talk about that in front of children?”

Lu Chen said, “I just told the truth.”

It was getting dark and an eunuch came to urge Lu Chen to leave. Lu Chen whispered to Qiao Jinniang, “Come to the East Palace early tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Qiao Jinniang responded.

…

In the main hall of the Duke Mansion.

The Duchess directed the servants to sort out the birthday gifts from yesterday’s birthday banquet and put them into storage, and then she checked the list of the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts that would be sent to the imperial palace tomorrow.

Then she returned to her courtyard, only to see the Duke looking very worried, she asked, “What’s the matter?”

Duke Anyuan sighed and said, “It’s because of Jinniang! His Royal Highness put aside his dignity to please Jinniang many times, but Jinniang still didn’t show him any respect.

“Not only did she insist on marrying Li Yun, but she also wronged His Royal Highness for Li Yun, which really annoyed His Royal Highness!”

“Ah?” The Duchess said in surprise, “I had thought His Royal Highness still loves Jinniang.”

The Duke sighed and said, “That day, Jinniang even blamed His Royal Highness for manipulating the Imperial Examination and setting up Li Yun. How could the Crown {rince not be angered by her?

“Now you have to restrain everyone in the Duke Mansion and make sure no one gossips about the Crown Prince.

“And no one shall mention that Jinniang is going to marry into the East Palace. I don’t think His Majesty and Her Majesty will allow it.”

The Duke had pondered about this matter for a whole night yesterday. He said, “They said that Jinniang could marry another man freely, which showed clearly that they didn’t want Jinniang to marry the Crown Prince!”

The Duchess’s tears fell. “My poor daughter, even if it is the Crown Prince, I don’t think His Majesty will treat Jinniang like this, after taking into account Duke Anyuan Mansion and Earl Zheng Mansion’s contribution to the country!”

The Duke said, “Earl Zheng Mansion is nothing in His Majesty’s eyes. The Zheng family has been running amok over the years. That’s why they were demoted from the Duke Zheng Mansion to the Earl Zheng Mansion.”

“Then what about our family? Will we just sit and watch Jinniang being laughed at?”

The Duke said helplessly, “Jinniang really doesn’t want to marry His Royal Highness. If not, she would not have offended him.

“His Royal Highness was really angry in the East Palace that day.

“I should be grateful that His Majesty put me in such an important position. If I use my military power to threaten His Majesty to give Jinniang a good position, it will only make him suspicious of me.

“From now on, you must restrain everyone in our family from discussing this matter.”

When the Duchess heard this, she began to cry again. “Why is my girl’s life so tragic?”

…

Prince Mediocre’s mansion.

Only then did Qiao Ruoshui hear the news from her mammy. “What? Qiao Jinniang is actually the biological mother of the imperial grandson?”

How could she be worthy of that? That slave-raised b*tch!

The mammy said, “Yes, Qiao Jinniang is really cold-blooded. She knew about this but she still let you make a fool of yourself and annoy the Duke and the Duchess.”

Qiao Ruoshui smashed the teapot on the floor. “Qiao Jinniang! How could she do that to me?!”

Now she had become a joke.

No wonder she felt uncomfortable whenever she saw Qiao Jinniang. It turned out that they were born to be enemies.

“Qiao Jinniang, she is really calculating, pretending to be weak in front of my mother and making me lose my mother’s love. I will never spare her!”

The mammy poured a cup of tea for Qiao Ruoshui and said, “Miss, please calm down. Although Qiao Jinniang is the biological mother of the imperial grandson, now everyone is laughing at her for dumping His Royal Highness…”

Qiao Ruoshui frowned and said, “That’s not true. I heard from my mother that Qiao Jinniang was abandoned by the Crown Prince…”

The mammy said, “Isn’t it great? If the Crown Prince wants Qiao Jinniang to marry into the East Palace, she would have long been in the East Palace. Why would he wait until now? Even though Qiao Jinniang is the mother of the imperial grandson, she will never be able to marry the Crown Prince.”

“Mammy, Consort, good news! His Highness has come.”

Qiao Ruoshui hurriedly asked the maids to clean up the broken pieces of porcelain on the floor, and went out to greet Prince Mediocre.

Prince Mediocre looked at the woman under the lantern. To be honest, although Qiao Ruoshui was a stupid nuisance, she was really a beauty.

Even in Chang’an, she could be said to be one of the most beautiful women.

More importantly, she looked like Qiao Jinniang very much!

He wanted to make Qiao Jinniang his concubine previously, but it turned out that she was the Crown Prince’s woman!

This made him look like a fool!

When the rumor about him and Qiao Jinniang was widespread in Chang’an, he had thought that the Crown Prince defended Qiao Jinniang to win her father’s support.

Now it turned out that he just didn’t want to be cuckolded by him.

However, yesterday the Duchess said that the Crown Prince had divorced Qiao Jinniang in Lin’an.

Although the Duke was very perfunctory about Qiao Ruoshui’s wedding, he was just being angry. Qiao Ruoshui was still his daughter after all!

The Duke might have been trying to distance himself from him before, but now that the Crown Prince had no intention of marrying Qiao Jinniang…

The Duke was definitely annoyed! And if Qiao Ruoshui could win his favor, maybe the Duke would change his mind and turn to help him.

Qiao Ruoshui was very nervous. This was her first night after all…

The mammy walked outside. Hearing the swaying sound of the wooden bed inside, she smiled.

Facing the round moon, she folded her hands together. “Moon God, please bless Miss with an imperial heir soon.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the mammy heard the sound stop. She was stunned for a while. It hadn’t even been three minutes…

She remembered the “teapot mouth” rumor. She had thought it was fabricated by Imperial Consort Zhou.

But now when she thought about it carefully, she didn’t think so. Consort Zhou would not dare to fabricate it!

Consort Zhou had lost her natal family. If she slandered the prince, how could His Majesty tolerate her?

No matter how much His Majesty disliked Prince Mediocre, he was still his son!

So the “teapot mouth” rumor must be true!

In the room, Qiao Ruoshui didn’t expect that her first night would pass so easily.

When taking a bath, Qiao Ruoshui thought proudly, now she had won the favor of Prince Mediocre…

As for Qiao Jinniang, she was just a woman abandoned by the Crown Prince, and she would have plenty of chances to torture her in the future!

…

The next day, the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Qiao Jinniang was woken up by Hongling early in the morning to dress up.

Nuomi took out a set of gold silk headwear inlaid with top-quality pearls from the makeup niche, “Miss, this was sent by His Royal Highness yesterday, do you want to wear this?”

Qiao Jinniang reached out and touched the gorgeous headwear. What woman would not love such superb headwear?

Qiao Jinniang said, “Okay, I’ll wear it today. It’s Xi’er’s birthday today. I can’t embarrass my son.”

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, there would be a banquet for the ministers in the evening, while the birthday banquet of the imperial grandson would be held at noon. Only the royal family members could attend it.

Qiao Jinniang went to the East Palace early in the morning. When she arrived, Lu Chen happened to come back from the imperial palace.

Seeing Qiao Jinniang, Lu Chen couldn’t take his eyes off her. Today, she was wearing a red wide-sleeved skirt with a circle of top-quality pearls embroidered on the cuffs. Inside was a thin chest-length skirt, on which a white lotus flower was embroidered with pearls. Her hair was tied into a high cloud bun, which was then decorated with a top-quality gold filigree inlaid pearl headwear.

He had never seen Qiao Jinniang dressed up like this, not even at their wedding. Although the Qiao family was rich at that time, they still couldn’t afford such an expensive set of clothes.

Qiao Jinniang walked up to Lu Chen, raised her chin and asked, “Do I look like an immortal descended to Earth today?”