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After returning home, Lu Songli and her daughter received two waves of people from the palace in the afternoon. These two waves of people brought two edicts. One wave was a decree from the Empress Dowager summoning Lu Songli to the palace to attend a banquet, and the other wave was a decree from the Emperor summoning Lu Desheng to the palace for an audience.
After the eunuch delivering the decree from the first wave finished, Lu Desheng handed over a purse and inquired if his wife could accompany their daughter into the palace. The eunuch receiving the purse glanced at the Lu family and shook his head.
After seeing off the two waves of palace officials, the Lu Songli family of three gathered to discuss. Lu Songli felt that the Emperor summoning her father to the palace was probably related to the rewards he had mentioned before. As for the Empress Dowager’s summons, it was likely not for a good reason, as the saying goes, banquets are rarely without ill intentions.
Lu Desheng and Madam Jiang looked worriedly at their daughter, Lu Songli knew that this indicated that the Empress Dowager was indeed going to interfere in the marriage matters between their Zhao, Lu, Xie, and Qin families. After sending someone to inquire at the Qin family, it was confirmed that Qin Sheng had also been summoned. It was clear that if Qin Sheng was summoned, the others, including Xie Zhan and Zhao Yutan, were also involved.
“A Li, I’m afraid you will be wronged this time,” Lu Desheng said apologetically.
When the Empress Dowager personally summoned Lu Songli to the palace, Madam Jiang had no way to follow along. Whatever happened, she could only handle it on her own.
Lu Songli understood that her father was referring to the incident where he offended the Empress Dowager in the past, and this time the Empress Dowager was likely going to make things difficult for her. Lu Songli knew that her father did not want this, he was not a person of great integrity, if given a choice, would he choose to offend the Empress Dowager? It was definitely out of helplessness.
“Father, Mother, don’t worry about me, I can handle it.”
After guessing the Empress Dowager’s intentions, Lu Desheng and his wife also resigned themselves to the situation. Since the Empress Dowager had intervened, there was nothing they could do. They had already prepared for the worst-case scenario, even if it meant losing the marriage alliance with the Xie family. When the situation was beyond their control, the Lu family knew when to yield.
Father and daughter realized that the time for their audience was at the hour of Shen, at the same location, so they decided to set off together.
Before entering the palace, Lu Songli bathed and dressed herself up nicely. After putting on her clothes, she prepared to do her own makeup.
As the saying goes, one’s outlook is influenced by their appearance. Lu Songli had benefited from her looks in her past life. Although she didn’t know what topics would be discussed after the Empress Dowager summoned them, she was certain that she would be facing the famous beauty of Chang’an City. If she didn’t groom herself properly, she would easily fall short against Zhao Yutan’s stunning appearance. Lu Songli couldn’t afford to let herself fall behind in this aspect.
When Madam Jiang saw her picking a moon-white palace dress, she hesitated, “Is it too plain?”
“It’s fine, Mother, trust me,” Lu Songli replied as she applied her makeup. As a career woman, makeup was a basic skill, and her current face bore a striking resemblance to her previous one, with some areas even more superior than before, making it easier for her to apply makeup.
As the saying goes, to look charming, wear a white mourning dress. A moon-white palace dress was just right. She had always had a soft appearance, suitable for both heavy and light makeup. In truth, white was the most suitable color. In the upcoming drama, she was the weaker party, so why not amplify her advantages of being cold, beautiful, and sorrowful.
When she finished the last stroke and stood up, Madam Jiang was stunned. She no longer thought about having her change into another outfit.
“Let’s go, your father is already waiting. You two go and come back early.”
At the entrance of the imperial palace, military officials had to dismount, while civilian officials had to alight from their sedan chairs.
As the Lu family’s carriage stopped, a eunuch approached and asked, “Is this the carriage of Lu Desheng, the Imperial Censor?”
The father and daughter exchanged glances in the carriage, and Lu Desheng was the first to alight.
As soon as the others landed, the eunuch urged, “Lord Lu, you have finally arrived. Please follow me quickly, don’t keep the Emperor waiting.”
This scene fell into Xie Zhan’s eyes, who arrived at the palace gate first. He greeted them, “Uncle Lu, A Li.”
Lu Desheng nodded at him, barely having time to say a few words to Lu Songli before being led away.
Looking at this scene, Xie Zhan thought to himself, “Lu Desheng is really favored. It’s already evening, and the Emperor is still summoning him into the palace.”
The other two looked at each other but remained silent. To be honest, when Xie Zhan first saw Lu Songli, he was a bit hesitant to recognize her.
This was the second time he had seen Lu Songli since the incident in the water. Her transformation was significant, completely different from her previous submissive appearance. In fact, when he visited the next day, she had already changed. Upon closer inspection, her attire and appearance had not changed much from before. Now dressed in a pale white dress, with a neatly arranged traditional maiden hairstyle and makeup, she no longer had thick bangs covering her forehead. Instead, she had tied up her bangs, revealing her entire face. Her eyes were bright and clear, like shimmering pearls, exuding a lively and charming aura.
Just then, the Zhao family’s carriage arrived at the palace gate and naturally came to a stop. Zhao Bin personally drove the carriage, and after stopping it, he jumped down and offered his hand to the person inside the carriage.
A slender hand rested on his forearm, and then, a beautiful woman in red emerged from the carriage. It was none other than Zhao Yutan.
Lu Songli calmly watched this scene unfold, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the display.
Perhaps her gaze was too direct, as the Zhao siblings turned to look at her first.
Zhao Bin showed no concern, merely glanced at her before turning away, as if he had seen something distasteful.
On the other hand, Zhao Yutan’s complexion appeared even paler against the backdrop of her red attire. Her makeup gave off a sense of recovering from a serious illness. As she looked at Lu Songli, her eyes were teary and filled with unspoken words, evoking pity from those who saw her.
Lu Songli clicked her tongue in her mind, feeling like they were on a collision course.
Zhao Yutan was also clever; no matter what she had done, she could always appear innocent when facing her. Lu Songli wondered how she managed to delude herself so convincingly.
Zhao Yutan’s cherry lips parted slightly, “Ali, Brother Xie.”
Soon, Lu Songli realized that Zhao Yutan’s gaze was not on her but behind her, where Xie Zhan was standing slightly to her rear. She was about to turn her head to see Xie Zhan’s reaction.
Just then, someone on a white horse galloped towards them from a distance.
Xie Zhan, Zhao Yutan, Zhao Bin, and Lu Songli all turned towards the source of the sound.
Upon recognizing the person on horseback, Zhao Bin’s expression became quite unpleasant.
The rider approached quickly, and as he reached them, he held the reins with one hand, performed a final, difficult equestrian maneuver, and then gracefully dismounted.
Qin Sheng, clad in the official uniform of a Cloud Cavalry Officer, exuded youthful vigor and naturally drew everyone’s attention.
Zhao Yutan couldn’t help but stop and stare at him intently.
Qin Sheng, without looking to the side, walked past her towards the inside.
Zhao Yutan’s mouth slightly opened, as if she wanted to call out to him, but in the end, she could only lower her gaze in dejection.
Qin Sheng was exceptional. In her precognitive dream, he died saving her during their exile. But forgive her, she didn’t want to live that kind of precarious life as a prisoner. Perhaps, after their engagement was broken off, without her, even if the Qin family was exiled, he wouldn’t have needed to die saving her?
Lu Songli openly admired the young man’s passionate boldness. Her mother was right, Qin Sheng’s equestrian skills were truly impressive.
Meeting her gaze, Qin Sheng paused slightly, then looked suspiciously at the three of them, his brows furrowed.
None of the four spoke.
The four of them stood in silence, and even the guards at the palace entrance felt awkward for them.
As previously analyzed, the four of them now represented the attitudes of their respective families. Xie Zhan couldn’t say anything right: Zhao Yutan had finally secured the position of the wronged party, so it wasn’t appropriate for him to speak up now: Qin Sheng was too lazy to speak.
At this moment, the most suitable person to break the silence was Lu Songli. But why would she do that? For Lu Songli, as long as she wasn’t the one feeling awkward, it was others who would be.
Finally, Qin Sheng showed an expression that was difficult to describe and walked into the palace. A group of sick people standing at the palace gate but not entering—what were they looking at? What was there to see?