Li Lingling excitedly went to the Taiji Palace, but before she could see Emperor Huilin, she noticed that Eunuch Quan was about to the East Palace with the birthday gifts from Emperor Huilin.

Li Lingling said to Eunuch Quan, “Eunuch Quan, wait, you don’t have to go to the East Palace now. Let me enter and meet Father first!”

If Emperor Huilin knew that Qiao Jinniang dared to use a fan made of Ke Silk, the East Palace would be punished severely for rebellion.

Then Emperor Hulin certainly wouldn’t give Qiao Jinniang any birthday present!

Eunuch Quan smiled and said, “Consort Huai, forgive me for not being able to obey your order. There is Ke Silk among the birthday gifts. The Ke Silk is precious, so I dare not to delay. If the fabric is destroyed, my sin will be great!”

Li Lingling opened her eyes wide and asked, “Ke Silk? Father actually gave the East Palace Ke Silk as a gift?”

“Yeah, Shanggong Bureau recruited several Ke Silk craftsmen recently, and there are a lot more of Ke Silk than before, so His Majesty bestowed some of it to the Queen and the East Palace. It happened to be the birthday of the Crown Princess today, so I’m going to send this over as a birthday gift!”

Li Lingling walked out of the Taiji Palace despondently, clenching her hands. How could His Majesty be so partial?

Only Lu Chen was his good son? Wasn’t Prince Huai his son too?

In the East Palace, unlike Qiao Jinniang and the Crown Prince, the others were not in the mood at all to watch the performances of the opera actors.

Although the conjuring tricks were really interesting, a fish tank appeared on the conjuror’s hand out of thin air, in which there were even a few koi fish swimming…

Little Lu Xi and the little junior dukes really enjoyed the show, and they all ran up to see if the fish in the fish tank were real.

Prince Su’s concubine and her son, Lu Zhen stood on the side, coldly watching Lu Xi playing happily and sneering in their hearts. Lu Xi was almost four years old, but he had no idea that he was going to be in trouble.

If the East Palace was punished by the Emperor, could he, the heir to the Crown Prince, not be implicated?

Lu Zhen looked at Lu Bao, Lu Yun and the others with disdain. Grandfather must be furious if he knew that the East Palace used Ke Silk, which could only be used by the Emperor!

How could they be so stupid as to still play with Lu Xi? They would definitely be implicated.

“Eunuch Quan has come to announce an imperial decree.”

Everyone in the banquet hall knelt down. Zhou Sisi laughed at Qiao Jinniang in her heart, but then she was thinking, if Lu Chen was implicated, what should she do?

Now, her parents had already pledged loyalty to Prince Huai, what about her?

One was Prince Huai, who treated her so well, and the other was the prince who didn’t even care about her life. How should she choose?

Zhou Shihui, Madam Zhou and some people were very glad. Eunuch Quan was the personal eunuch of His Majesty. He personally came to announce the imperial decree, which showed that His Majesty must have been furious.

Eunuch Quan walked to the middle of the banquet hall, followed behind by some other eunuchs who carried several big boxes.

Eunuch Quan said, “His Majesty said, the Crown Princess performed her duties well in serving the Queen, assisting the Crown Prince and bringing up the imperial grandson since she married into the East Palace, and she keenly found out about the flood disaster in the South so that the imperial court could send an imperial envoy to the South to deal with the flood in time, so I hereby bestow her two bolts of Ke Silk…”

Eunuch Quan had announced a long list of rewards, but the only thing everyone heard was two blots of Ke Silk.

Qiao Jinniang and Lu Chen knelt down together to thank the Emperor. Qiao Jinniang held the Ke Silk and said, “This pattern is so beautiful. It’s even more delicate than Cloud Brocade’s.”

Lu Chen said, “If you like it, make some clothes with it. Clothes made of this material are beautiful and cool in summer.”

Everyone present: “…”

So what were they worrying about just now? How could they forget that His Majesty had always been partial to His Royal Highness?

When His Royal Highness was three years old, he even slept on His Majesty’s throne, but His Majesty didn’t mind at all.

Now it was just a Ke Silk fan.

Listening to the crowd talking about how much His Majesty favored the Crown Prince, Li Lingling was so ashamed that she didn’t want to go back in.

Qiao Ruoyi also breathed a sigh of relief, and one of her friends said to her, “Everyone says that the Crown Prince’s supporters have all left him, but I don’t think so. What His Royal Highness relies on is not those East Palace officials, but His Majesty!”

“Exactly. As long as His Majesty still favors His Royal Highness, countless people will want to serve for him. The Duke Wu Mansion and the Crown Prince’s teacher think too high of themselves!”

“The Duke Anyuan Mansion is much more powerful than the Duke Wu Mansion, and they also have great military power. It’s not a bad deal for His Royal Highness to choose the former over the latter.”

Qiao Ruoyi said proudly, “His Royal Highness chose my sister out of his love for her, not for the power of our Qiao family!”

“I really envy the women of your family. The daughters of your Qiao family are all very well married.

“Especially your eldest sister, the wife of Young Master Qin Shu. She has been married for four years and has not yet been pregnant, but Young Master Qin still respects and adores her!”

“Yeah, Young Madam Qin is really lucky. If she hadn’t exchanged identities with the Crown Princess, how could she have married into such a good family and have such a good husband?”

Qiao Ruoyi said, “Sister Ruoyun is also my father’s daughter. She is from a noble family too.”

Qiao Ruoyi really hated to hear some people say that Qiao Ruoyun didn’t deserve to marry Qin Shu.

In any case, since the Duke Anyuan Mansion had recognized her as the Duke’s eldest daughter, the others shouldn’t despise her for her identity.

The eldest daughter of the powerful Duke Anyuan married to the young master of the Duke Qin Mansion that was obviously declining, so who on earth was not worthy of marrying whom?!

After Qiao Jinniang ordered the servants to put the birthday gifts into the warehouse, she was searching for Li Lingling with her eyes. Why did Li Lingling leave in such a hurry? She really wanted to see her embarrassed look.

However, when she spotted Prince Huai’s concubines, she sneered. Li Lingling’s life in the Prince Huai Mansion was probably not easy. Why bother with her!

Today’s incident is enough for Li Lingling to be laughed at for a long time.

Zhou Shihui looked at Qiao Jinniang with disappointment. Why was His Majesty so tolerant of the East Palace?

Because Qiao Jinniang was the Crown Princess, her poor senior brother had to obey Qiao Jinniang’s order and marry that vulgar woman, Fulu, who he didn’t like at all!

No, she had to write a letter to her mother and ask her to come to Chang’an to help her.

Although her uncle and aunt took sides with Prince Huai due to Zhou Sisi, her grandmother and Queen Zhou were still on Qiao Jinniang’s side.

His Majesty doted on the Crown Prince too much. She didn’t know how long she would have to wait for Prince Huai to take the Crown Prince down!

And her mother had always been favored by her grandmother.

And her mother said that she kept away from Chang’an because the woman His Majesty took a fancy to was actually her, but she didn’t want to be locked up in the imperial palace, to be a canary locked in a cage, so she simply left Chang’an.

When her mother came to Chang’an, her grandmother would definitely help her marry her senior brother, and Qiao Jinniang, this bad woman, wouldn’t be able to occupy the position of the Crown Princess anymore.

…

In Huayue Lake, the fragrance of lotus flowers wafted with the lake breeze.

Qiao Ruoyun was a bit embarrassed. She had thought that at least there would be servants and maids, only to find that only she and Qian Yin were in the Mid-Lake Pavilion.

She and Qin Shu had been married for four years, but they had never had a meal alone.

“Your Highness!”

Qian Yin said, “Don’t call me that. You can just call me by my name.”