Chapter 3 Princess Jing's Conspiracy

As soon as Ji Ruoyu returned to her boudoir, she found Qiuyu and Dongmei kneeling on the ground crying. When they saw Ji Ruoyu coming, they rushed over and hugged Ji Ruoyu's thighs. "Girl, you are finally back." The person who spoke was Qiuyu, but Dongmei had already cried so hard that she couldn't speak, and could only hold Ji Ruoyu's thigh and cry.

"You two... I'm fine, don't cry." Qiuyu had already raised her head and looked directly at Ji Ruoyu, but she couldn't stop crying. Ji Ruoyu wiped her tears for her, and then looked at Dongmei who was still crying while holding her thigh. No matter how he persuaded her, she refused to look up. Ji Ruoyu had no choice but to put his hands on both sides of Dongmei's cheeks and forced Dongmei to look at him: "Dongmei, don't cry, okay?" Dongmei still couldn't speak, and could only nod desperately.

Ji Ruoyu was almost amused by the two of them. It was obviously herself who was in danger, but they were the ones who cried the most. In order to compensate the two for being frightened by the danger, Ji Ruoyu specially allowed the two of them to sleep on the same bed with him at night. The two of them didn't forget to hold Ji Ruoyu in their hands when they slept, for fear that Ji Ruoyu would disappear again if they didn't pay attention.

Three days had passed in the blink of an eye, and the flower-viewing banquet held by the Minister's Mansion was held as scheduled. Early in the morning, Ji Ruoyu was pressed by Qiuyu and Dongmei to the dressing table to dress up.

After putting on makeup, Ji Ruoyu carefully observed herself in the bronze mirror. "Is this makeup too delicate?" Ji Ruoyu felt that this makeup was a bit too much for the organizer. "Don't worry, young lady, we only drew eyebrows and put on some rouge for you, and it won't steal the limelight from Miss Mengqiu."

"Okay, let's do it." Then Ji Ruoyu changed into a lavender pleated skirt with a few pale pink plum blossoms embroidered on it under the help of the two.

Dongmei was stunned. "Miss, you are so beautiful." Ji Ruoyu smiled and gently touched Dongmei's forehead with her hand: "You are a talkative person." Qiuyu looked at the scene of the two people playing and couldn't help but say: "Dongmei is right, the girl is really beautiful, plus this dress, it can be described in one sentence."

"What are you talking about?" Before Qiuyu could reply, Dongmei took the lead: "Of course it is a goddess descending to the earth!" After saying that, the two couldn't help laughing. "Okay, you guys, you team up to bully me, right! I will beat you up!" After saying that, Ji Ruoyu lifted the hem of her skirt and chased them.

Before the three of them started playing, the maid at the door had already said: "Second Miss, the time has come." Ji Ruoyu had to stop playing and responded: "I know, let's go." After saying that, she walked out, and Qiuyu and Dongmei followed closely.

When the carriage set off, Ji Ruoyu remembered something, "Today is the day of the beauty pageant, right?" Qiuyu replied, "Yes, I heard that there are only 20 beauties participating in this beauty pageant..." Ji Ruoyu asked again, "Are the results out yet?"

"Not yet, we'll know after the flower viewing banquet." After Qiuyu finished speaking, Ji Ruoyu was silent for a while and then asked the two, "How old do you think His Majesty is this year?"

Dongmei said without thinking, "His Majesty is already 42 years old this year, and he has three princes and two princesses. The eldest prince and the second prince are already The prince has already married a princess, the eldest princess has also married, and the third prince and the second princess are the only ones who haven't married yet. "Speaking of this, Dongmei seemed to remember something interesting: "I also heard that the second prince married the daughter of a second-rank official, and the eldest prince married a brothel girl!"

Ji Ruoyu and Qiuyu both questioned: "Brothel girl? Will your majesty let the eldest prince marry a brothel girl as a princess?" Dongmei said excitedly: "That's right, as an emperor, how could he let his son marry a brothel girl as a princess? I heard that the woman was a brothel girl, but she was still She was innocent, and only sold her art but not her body. But even so, His Majesty did not agree. It is said that the eldest prince cried, made a scene, and even tried to hang himself in the Yangxin Palace the day before yesterday, and almost crashed into the pillar of the Yangxin Palace. The eldest prince also swore that he would not marry anyone but that woman. Finally, His Majesty could not bear to see his son like this, so he agreed to let the eldest prince marry her..."

Ji Ruoyu was stunned, and Dongmei continued: "The eldest prince's biological mother is Xianfei, the second prince's biological mother is Shun Zhaoyi, the third prince and the second princess are both born of the same mother, and she is the highest-ranking Shufei among the concubines, The eldest princess's biological mother was a little talent who didn't even have a title. The current emperor is not immersed in women, so the number of concubines from the time when your majesty was still a prince to the present can be counted on ten fingers, so your majesty's offspring is thin. "

After listening, Ji Ruoyu remained silent. She couldn't imagine that those selected girls would not only have to serve the same age as her father, but if the queen mother's condition was still serious, she couldn't even imagine the ending of those girls...

Seeing Ji Ruoyu's reaction, Dongmei finally realized that she had said the wrong thing, and hurriedly stopped talking. In this way, the three of them came to the Minister's Mansion in silence. Dongmei helped Ji Ruoyu get off the carriage and secretly apologized to Ji Ruoyu: "I said the wrong thing, please forgive me, young lady." Ji Ruoyu shook her head and said to Dongmei: "It's not your fault. I just think of the fate of those girls who are about to enter the palace, and I feel sad for them..." Dongmei also felt Ji Ruoyu's mood, and the master and servant became depressed in an instant. Qiu Yu, who was standing by, heard the conversation between the two and saw their reactions, so she had to comfort them, "Don't think too much, girl. It's a flower viewing party now and it's your favorite plum blossom. Why don't you get yourself in a good mood and face the surprise that Miss Meng Qiu has carefully prepared for you?"

"You're right. You go for a walk first. I'll go talk to Sister Mengqiu." After Ji Ruoyu finished speaking, she was led by the maid of the Minister's Mansion to Pan Mengqiu's yard.

After watching Ji Ruoyu leave, Qiuyu held Dongmei's hand and whispered to comfort her: "Dongmei, don't think about it. It's not easy to come to the Minister's Mansion. Let's go around and have a look, okay?" After seeing Dongmei nodded in agreement, the two of them walked around the Minister's Mansion hand in hand.

After Ji Ruoyu arrived at Pan Mengqiu's boudoir, he pushed the door and walked in. "Sister Mengqiu." Pan Mengqiu looked up when she heard someone calling her. Seeing that it was Ji Ruoyu, she immediately laughed: "Ayu, come here and sit down."

Ji Ruoyu sat down obediently. Pan Mengqiu took Ji Ruoyu's hand, looked at Ji Ruoyu's face carefully and said: "Didn't you eat? Why are you still so thin?"

"Well? I ate. I eat a lot every day!" Ji Ruoyu was a little excited when she talked about eating. Halfway through, she remembered the purpose of coming here. "Sister Mengqiu, this is for you." Ji Ruoyu picked up the box hidden behind her and handed it to Pan Mengqiu.

"What is it? A hairpin?" Pan Mengqiu picked up the hairpin and looked at it carefully, then she seemed to have discovered something new and said, "The same one?"

"Hehe, sister is right, you have one and I have one, this is the boudoir hairpin!" Pan Mengqiu looked at Ji Ruoyu's appearance and couldn't help pinching Ji Ruoyu's cheek and said, "If it is a boudoir hairpin, why don't we put it on each other?"

"Okay, okay." After saying that, Ji Ruoyu took out one of the hairpins and pinned it on Pan Mengqiu, and Pan Mengqiu also pinned it on Ji Ruoyu. Ji Ruoyu looked at Pan Mengqiu, and her eyes lit up immediately: "Sister is so beautiful, if I were a man, I would want to marry you."

"You are so sweet." Pan Mengqiu pinched Ji Ruoyu's cheek and said to her, "I have some plum blossoms planted in my yard, let's go, I'll take you to see it." After saying that, Pan Mengqiu took Ji Ruoyu's hand and walked towards the yard.

As soon as she arrived at the yard, Ji Ruoyu saw her favorite plum blossoms placed in the middle. "Wow!" Ji Ruoyu trotted over and smelled the fragrance of plum blossoms before she got close.

Ji Ruoyu looked at the various plum blossoms in front of her and was so excited that she couldn't speak clearly. "They are so beautiful, especially the green plums!" Pan Mengqiu chuckled and walked over: "I knew you liked green plums the most, so I found a lot of green plums from all over the world for you. This is just a part of it, and the more beautiful ones are still in the courtyard."

"I knew that my sister treats me the best~" After saying that, she hugged Pan Mengqiu. Sure enough, Pan Mengqiu's arrogant expression was really like the expression of a cat who wants to be touched but doesn't say it.

"Hello, Miss Ruoyu. The lady's wife asked you to go to the front hall to help receive guests." The nanny beside Pan's mother came to report to Pan Mengqiu. "Okay, Ayu, you go to the courtyard and wait for me first. I'll go after I'm done with my work." Ji Ruoyu nodded and signaled Pan Mengqiu to go without worry. Then Pan Mengqiu followed the nanny and left.

Ji Ruoyu was idle, so she walked around the small lake in the backyard of Pan's mansion. When she was kicking the pebbles on the ground out of boredom, a woman suddenly appeared beside her. The woman's hair was tied into a bun, and she wore a pair of golden phoenix hairpins on her head. There were countless maids around her. The woman seemed to deliberately bump into Ji Ruoyu, and she went in the direction of Ji Ruoyu as soon as she came. "Second Miss Ji." The woman said to Ji Ruoyu. "Do you know me?" Ji Ruoyu had never seen the woman in front of her. "My queen is Princess Jing." The maid next to Princess Jing had already answered first. "Your servant greets Princess Jing, and please forgive me for not knowing Taishan."

"Oh, it's okay, it's too abrupt for me to come here this time. By the way, why is there no maid accompanying Miss Ji?" Princess Jing looked around after she said that. "I want to walk alone, so I told them not to follow me. It's getting late, and the banquet should start soon, so I'll take my leave." Ji Ruoyu really felt that Princess Jing had bad intentions, so she found an excuse to leave.

After Ji Ruoyu walked away, the maid next to Princess Jing said to her: "My lady, this Miss Ji doesn't look easy to approach..." Princess Jing laughed disdainfully: "No matter what she is, I will only approach her according to the instructions of the prince... As long as I get close to her, it is equivalent to getting close to the Ji Mansion... The whole world is ours..." When saying this, Princess Jing spoke very quietly, and even the maids next to her couldn't hear it. She regained some rationality, took a deep breath and said to the maids: "Let's go."