The banquet ended at nearly midnight.

The Princes and Princesses also returned home one by one.

Lu Mingyu and Li Jing took a carriage and slowly returned to the Lu Mansion to rest. The next morning, the couple took a carriage to the palace together.

Lu Mingyu was in the early stages of her pregnancy, so she shouldn’t travel too much. However, today was the day Meng Yunluo came in to serve tea, so it was inconvenient for her as a sister-in-law to be absent.

Another reason why she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud was that everyone in the palace knew about her past with Li Hao. If she avoided coming, who knew how many people would gossip about it.

She didn’t care what others said, but she didn’t want Li Jing to be involved.

After much deliberation, she decided to enter the palace.

Along the way, Li Jing kept reminding him: “When you enter the palace today, I will handle whatever the Empress Dowager says. Don’t get angry.”

Qin Jieyu was in trouble, and Empress Dowager was furious. If it weren’t for the unavoidable occasion today, he really didn’t want Lu Mingyu to meet Empress Dowager.

No matter how capable Lu Mingyu was, she was still the granddaughter-in-law. She would always suffer some disadvantages in terms of status when facing the grandmother-in-law. Empress Dowager was also very stubborn and unreasonable. Once she started to quarrel, it would not end well.

Lu Mingyu responded with a smile.

Li Jing was still worried, so when he reached the palace gate, he held Lu Mingyu’s hand.

“Second brother! Sister-in-law!”

As the couple entered the palace, they heard a familiar voice behind them.

Lu Mingyu and Li Jing turned their heads together, only to see Hui’an Gōngzhǔ, dressed in bright and beautiful clothes, walking towards them in high spirits. Wu Fùmǎ, dressed in a royal blue brocade robe, looked handsome and elegant.

Hui’an Gōngzhǔ affectionately pushed Li Jing over, held Lu Mingyu’s hand and said with a smile: “What a coincidence, we met outside the palace gate. Let’s go into the palace together.”

Lu Mingyu smiled and said “OK”.

Li Jing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Royal sister, it would be fine if we entered the palace together, but why did you deliberately push me away?”

Hui’an Gōngzhǔ used to dislike Lu Mingyu, but now she liked her very much. She smiled and rolled her eyes at Li Jing: “I want to talk to my sister-in-law, please move aside.”

Li Jing: “…”

Lu Mingyu chuckled.

Hui’an Gōngzhǔ had countless shortcomings, but she also had a straightforward side. Now it was clear that because she was pregnant, she temporarily put aside her prejudice and got close to her.

No one was perfect, for Li Jing’s sake, let’s not delve into it. On the surface, they were harmonious and happy, which was not bad.

Wu Fùmǎ smiled and teased, “Your Highness, please come with me! Don’t upset the Gōngzhǔ. Otherwise, I, the Fùmǎ, will have to wear out my lips again.”

Hui’an Gōngzhǔ smiled and playfully swished at Wu Fùmǎ.

…

The group went to Shouning Palace chatting and laughing.

Today the new bride was coming in to offer tea, and everyone gathered in Shouning Palace.

The palace maid guarding the palace gate smiled and welcomed the Eldest prince and his wife into the hall. Turning around, she saw the Second Prince and his wife and Hui’an Gōngzhǔ and her husband coming, and the palace maid hurriedly greeted them with a smile.

Then, she looked at the Second Prince Li Jing with an awkward look and whispered, “Your Highness, the Empress Dowager has specifically instructed that today is a good day for the Third Prince’s Consort to serve tea. Please ask the Second Huangzifei to stay away and not enter Shouning Palace.”

After saying this, she didn’t even dare to raise her head.

Li Jing’s expression suddenly darkened, his smile vanishing entirely, and coldness seeped into his voice: “Nonsense! The Empress Dowager is kind-hearted and deeply affectionate towards her juniors. How could she say such things? You must be fabricating her words to deliberately cause trouble.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Hui’an Gōngzhǔ raised her eyebrows and shouted angrily: “Get out of here! If you dare to stop me again, I will tear your mouth off!”

Hui’an Gōngzhǔ was unruly and overbearing, and everyone in the palace knew it.

The palace maid secretly groaned in her heart and dared not stop them. She watched the group of people enter Shouning Palace.

The palace servant beside her whispered to comfort them: “The Empress Dowager has given an order, and we have followed her orders to stop them. The Princess and the Second Prince are of noble status, there is no way you and I can stop them.”

Empress Dowager issued this oral order, which was intended to annoy the Second Huangzifei. Given how powerful the Second Huangzifei was, how could she be stopped so easily?

The maid’s face was filled with sorrow, and she sighed, “I know all this. But if the Empress Dowager gets angry and blames us, we will be the ones who suffer.”

When masters fought each other, it was always the servants who suffered.

The two palace maids looked at each other and sighed together.

At this moment, Li Jing was not in a very good mood.

Of course, he had already thought of what the palace maids had thought of. Even if he had thought of it, this was all he could do.

After entering the main hall of Shouning Palace, Li Jing saw the smiling Empress Dowager sitting at the top. He held back his anger and went forward to pay his respects: “Greetings, Royal Grandmother.”

Lu Mingyu also paid her respects.

When Empress Dowager saw Lu Mingyu, she was furious but said with a fake smile: “Lu Shi is pregnant, why didn’t she stay in the Lu Mansion to take care of the baby, but come to the palace again? I even specifically told the palace maids guarding the gate to stop Lu Shi from coming in, lest she get upset and that becomes my fault.”

Such sarcastic words naturally made people angry.

Lu Mingyu’s eyes flickered slightly, but before she could say anything, Li Jing beside her smiled and replied, “The Royal Grandmother is the Empress Dowager of Wei, and she is also the most respected and blessed person in the world. This Shouning Palace is the best place in the palace for feng shui.”

“Besides, the Empress Dowager is the most considerate of the younger generation. Xiaoyu is happy to be in Shouning Palace, so how could she be upset? The Empress Dowager is really worrying too much.”

Hui’an Gōngzhǔsmiled and took over the conversation: “Second brother is right. Just now the palace maid opened her mouth to stop us, and I got annoyed and scolded her. I have had this bad temper since I was a child, and if the Royal Grandmother feels unhappy, she can just scold me to vent her anger.”

Empress Dowager: “…”

She only said a few words. The two siblings chattered a lot.

Lu Mingyu was quiet for once, with a slight smile on her face.

It was indeed very refreshing to charge into battle and defeat thousands of enemies. The feeling of having someone protecting you was unexpectedly wonderful.

Empress Dowager couldn’t get angry at her grandchildren, nor could she chase Lu Mingyu out in public, so she snorted in annoyance.

Without Qin Jieyu, who loved to talk, laugh, and smooth things over and appease Empress Dowager, the atmosphere in Shouning Palace quickly grew cold.

Fortunately, not long after, Empress Qiao and Meng Guifei arrived. With more people, it naturally became lively. After a while, Emperor Yongjia and Su Fei arrived together.

Qin Jieyu was unlucky. On such a good day as today, she didn’t even show up.

Su Fei looked radiant and her eyes were full of joy.

Meng Guifei glanced at Su Fei and snorted in her heart.

Yesterday, the Third Prince Li Hao got married, and Emperor Yongjia went to Yihua Palace to stay overnight.

Su Fei, this foxy woman, besides crying and wiping tears, was also first-rate in pleasing men. Now that Qin Jieyu was under house arrest and Emperor Yongjia no longer went to Qin Jieyu’s bedroom, Su Fei had seized the opportunity to flatter.

(End of this chapter)