The maid ran over and wiped her sweat. Qu Xuexin found out that it was not the maid who bumped into her before, and she couldn't help feeling disappointed.
"You... who is your master?" Hongmei was as excited as she was, looking at the maid and asked anxiously.
The maid was stunned for a moment, looked at the two of them in confusion, and asked back: "Isn't our master the concubine? Who else could she be?"
"No... no one. I thought there were other masters in the East Palace." Qu Xuexin hurriedly stopped Hongmei from asking any more questions. The blush on her face faded, and she felt disappointed.
"The only master of the inner courtyard of the East Palace is our concubine. There is no one else." The maid curled her lips and said, "Our queen forgot to give rewards to the young ladies just now. Please wait for a moment, young ladies."
"Give... give us a reward?" Qu Xuexin was stunned for a moment.
They came here today to apologize. It's good enough that they can explain this matter. There is no reward for them.
As they were talking, three more maids came out from behind, and this time each of them held a brocade box in their hands.
The maid in the lead said with a smile, "This is a reward for Miss Qu, and the other two are for Miss Qu San and Miss Qu Si."
Qu Qiuyan and Qu Moying, who were in the carriage, heard the noise and got out of the carriage again. They looked at the brocade boxes in the hands of the three maids. One of the brocade boxes was pink, and the two behind it were exactly the same, green.
The maid pointed at the brocade box in the middle. This box was not only different in color, but also larger in size and looked like it contained more things.
Qu Moying glanced at Qu Xuexin calmly, then looked away. She was the youngest now, and she had Qu Xuexin and Qu Qiuyan in front of her, so she was not in a hurry about how to act.
"Thank you for the reward, Concubine!" Qu Xuexin said hurriedly.
Qu Qiuyan and Qu Moying followed suit and bowed.
The maid in the lead waved her hand and said, "Miss Qu, you are too polite. Maybe you can have a long relationship with our queen in the future. This incident can be regarded as a case of no acquaintance without fighting."
Three brocade boxes were presented, and the maids of the three people each took one as instructed. Hongmei was almost overjoyed.
Hongmei's personality is somewhat similar to Qu Xuexin's. Both of them looked very steady in the past, but now their eyes are bright and excited, sparkling and moving.
Since the reward was given, the maids from the East Palace withdrew, and the three people got back into the carriage one by one.
The carriage changed direction and headed towards Qu Mansion.
"What's in eldest sister's brocade box?" Qu Qiuyan opened her brocade box and took a look as soon as she got on the carriage. There was a hairpin. Although it was also very beautiful, it was just an extremely ordinary one. For a concubine in the Eastern Palace, it should be the most inconspicuous one.
Qu Moying also opened it silently and took a look. It was the same as Qu Qiuyan's.
Only Qu Xuexin held the brocade box tightly and did not open it.
After hearing what Qu Qiuyan said, Qu Xuexin shook her head: "Let's go back and take a look. It's not good to open it now!"
"Sister, I'm just taking a look, why are you so stingy!" Qu Qiuyan was unhappy and reached out to snatch the brocade box from Qu Xuexin's hand.
Qu Xuexin was caught off guard and was robbed. If she wanted to snatch it back now, it would seem a bit deliberate, so she had to let it go.
Qu Qiuyan quickly opened the brocade box and immediately saw a flower-shaped tassel inside. She picked it up and saw that it was extremely delicate and beautiful. She couldn't help but widen her eyes: "Big sister, this is excellent. It's not like ours, which looks ordinary and we really didn't put much thought into it."
It seems more like a foil to Qu Xuexin.
Qu Qiuyan wasn't narrow-minded, she just didn't want Qu Xuexin to get better than herself. After flipping through the box, she threw it back into the brocade box and pouted: "It was obviously my elder sister who had a conflict with Concubine Ji, but now it's my elder sister who got Concubine Ji's blue eyes. I don't know why her luck is so weird!"
Qu Xuexin didn't know how to respond to this, so she just took the brocade box that Qu Qiuyan threw to her and carefully put it into her sleeve, unable to hide the smile on her face. Even now she still felt like she was dreaming.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was actually in love with her and even kept her sachet.
A woman's sachet cannot be given away casually, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knew this. However, he still asked for her sachet, which actually proved a fact that the Crown Prince liked her, but she didn't know when the Crown Prince fell in love with her
Was it yesterday
But did the prince, who was so far away yesterday, also see me
Thinking of this, my face became even hotter and I became more excited.
Originally, she thought she had lost hope, but now it seems that there is more hope. It is right in front of her. Among the sisters in the Qu family, she may be the one who gets married best in the end.
"Sister... Sister..." Qu Qiuyan's voice beside her ear awakened Qu Xuexin from her endless fantasies.
She raised her head quickly: "What's the matter?"
"What are you thinking about, elder sister? You are so moved that you didn't hear what I said just now?" Qu Qiuyan was very unhappy. She had just asked several questions one after another, but in the end, she didn't get anything. She was really unwilling to accept this.
"I really feel a little uncomfortable and I'm sorry for neglecting my third sister!" Qu Xuexin said evasively.
Qu Qiuyan glanced at her and cursed inwardly, "What a joke!" She must be kidding. She thought she was a fool despite such an obvious abnormality.
But after taking a look at Qu Moying who was sitting opposite her with his eyes closed, Qu Qiuyan stopped talking.
The carriage fell silent, with the three people sitting inside each having their own thoughts.
Some were excited, some were sarcastic, and some were heavy-hearted and puzzled...
"Your Highness, I just heard that Miss Qu fell down, so I hurried over. Then I heard that she was gone, so I asked someone to send rewards to the three young ladies of the Qu Mansion." Ji Youran was sitting in Pei Luoan's study. She was dressed very delicately and looked a little pale and haggard.
But he still smiled and was very decent and generous.
"Just leave!" Pei Luoan said indifferently, without raising his head, and continued to look at the copy on the desk.
"Miss Qu just said..." Ji Youran hesitated to speak.
Her appearance finally made Pei Luoan look up. He reached out and pressed his forehead, and asked gently, "What's the matter?"
"She said she saw His Highness and a woman setting off the same-heart lanterns last night, and out of curiosity, she went to take a look. She didn't expect that this would lead to such a misunderstanding between her and me." Ji Youran glanced at Pei Luoan's expression and smiled tentatively, "I don't know who His Highness went with yesterday. Should I tell her today?"
"What?" Pei Luoan's face darkened.
"This lamp is broken. Do you want to hang a pair more? Our house can make more beautiful concentric lamps. Your Highness has mentioned them before." Ji Youran lowered his head hurriedly, not daring to peek at Pei Luoan's expression again.
Pei Luoan once brought a pair of concentric lanterns to Ji Hanyue, but Ji Hanyue did not go, and finally the pair of concentric lanterns fell into the hands of Ji Youran.
Someone secretly placed the pair of concentric lanterns on the sea of lanterns, and pretended that the prince was with her.
Because of this, she accidentally hurt her hand. The prince felt very distressed and said that he would accompany her to release the same-heart lanterns in the future.
But I didn't expect that now that Ji Hanyue is dead, it's still not me who is lighting the same lantern with the prince.
Ji Youran's eyes were slightly red and her expression became gloomy. Although she still had a smile on her face, it was obvious that her smile was forced.
"Okay, this is mother's idea, not mine." Seeing that she looked gloomy, but still smiling while handling matters for him, Pei Luoan's heart softened.
What he liked most was Ji Youran's character of always thinking about him and being gentle, which pleased him very much.
But recently Ji Youran has been doing too many small things in private, which made him very unhappy.
"Who has the Queen taken a fancy to?" Ji Youran lowered her head, tears streaming down her face, but she did not say a word of criticism. Her expression just looked extremely pitiful.
It was very natural for this topic to be passed through Qu Xuexin, and the prince would not suspect that she had followed him.
Pei Luoan stood up from his chair, turned around the table, reached out and held Ji Youran's hand to comfort her, "Now everything is arranged by the Queen Mother. I may not be able to give you the position of the principal wife, but don't worry, as long as I am here, I will never let anyone bully you, no matter if it is Han Yue in the past or anyone else in the future."
This was considered a promise to her, but Ji Youran couldn't smile.
This also marked her as a concubine. She could only be a concubine, and Liu Jingyu was the principal wife. But on what basis? If it weren't for him helping the crown prince, Ji Hanyue would still be alive and well, sitting firmly in the position of the crown prince's principal wife, and there would be no chance for Liu Jingyu!
Why should I retreat to the position of concubine? It was clearly said that the position of principal wife was mine, and I only needed to wait for the right opportunity to be promoted from concubine to principal wife.
“Your Highness, I… I…” Ji Youran couldn’t control her tears, and her voice trembled uncontrollably, but she tried hard to control it, but she couldn’t control her emotions no matter how hard she tried.
Pei Luoan looked at Ji Youran quietly. Seeing her aggrieved look, he knew why she did that and felt a little guilty for a moment. He stretched out his hand, but when his hand was about to reach Ji Youran, his eyes fell on a scar on her cheek and his hand stopped.
Then it slowly fell down, with an unclear look in its eyes.
"Your Highness..." Ji Youran noticed something unusual, raised her head, and looked at Pei Luoan with tears in her eyes. Pei Luoan was all in her eyes, and tears rolled down her cheeks.
The scar on the temple was not obvious, but because of the two incidents, it was difficult to remove for a while. Ji Youran usually covered it with her hair, so it was not noticeable. At this time, her emotions were out of control, her head was raised high, and with Pei Luoan's special attention, the scar immediately became obvious.
The originally beautiful face now became somewhat unsightly, especially the scar.
Even though Pei Luoan reminded himself that this was nothing, he still felt alienated for some reason. That scar was the truth he was unwilling to reveal...
"Go back! Mother's meaning is mine." Pei Luoan said coldly, turning around and going behind the case again.
Behind him, Ji Youran's eyes slowly blossomed with disbelief. She lowered her head and reached out to press down her hair. Hatred filled her eyes. She knew clearly that the prince had softened his heart at that moment, but when he saw the scars on her face...