Early in the morning the next day, Consort Huai, Consort Qi and others came to the East Palace.

  Li Lingling had heard that there was a flower viewing banquet in the East Palace yesterday, and came to inquire about how many girls had been selected to marry into the East Palace. Although she had become Consort Huai, she had never let go of her obsession.

  She was different from those superficial women. She had fallen in love with her imperial cousin since she was a child.

  Although she knew that the Empress Dowager hated the Crown Prince.

  Now Li Lingling hated Lu Chen but she still couldn’t forget him, and the last thing she wanted to see was that Qiao Jinniang was favored by the Crown Prince.

  As soon as Qiao Jinniang got up, she heard the news that Li Lingling had entered the imperial palace.

  She couldn’t help but say, “Why does she enter the imperial palace every single day even before dawn? Prince Huai might as well move his residence to the imperial palace!”


  Lu Chen smiled. “Maybe that’s exactly what Prince Huai wants!”


  Qiao Jinniang smiled. “That’s true.”


  She and Lu Chen agreed that Prince Huai was not as indifferent to power as he seemed. Prince Mediocre was too scheming but didn’t know how to hide it.

  On the other side, Prince Huai’s real thoughts were difficult to detect, but the only thing that was certain was that, as the first son of the Emperor who had many people supporting him, could he really be willing to be a mere minister?

  He kept a low profile when everyone was praising him to be worthy of becoming the crown prince. It could be seen that Prince Huai’s heart was unfathomable!

  When Qiao Jinniang walked in, Li Lingling bowed to her reluctantly.

  “Why did you come so early today, Sister-in-law?”


  Li Lingling smiled and said, “I heard that there was a flower viewing banquet in the East Palace yesterday, and I think you may have a few sisters in the East Palace soon, so I came to congratulate the Crown Princess for having some sisters as company.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “It’s no wonder that you enter the imperial palace as soon as the palace door opens every day, Sister-in-law. It turns out that you need more sisters to accompany you in Prince Huai Mansion. That’s really the fault of the Crown Prince and I. How can we forget that Consort Huai doesn’t have enough sisters as company?

  “I will ask Mother to choose a few sisters to marry into the Prince Huai Mansion to share your worries!”


  Li Lingling’s eyes widened. She didn’t care about Prince Huai’s favor. She only hated that Prince Huai had been holding back and couldn’t let her take revenge.

  But even though she didn’t care about the favor of Prince Huai, it didn’t mean that she wanted her husband to have more concubines!

  Qiao Jinniang said, “Mother must have got up by this time. Let’s go to her palace to greet her and report this matter to her by the way. Consort Qi, Consort Lu, do you need more sisters at home as well?”


  The two consorts hurriedly shook their heads and glared at Li Lingling.

  If it weren’t for the fear of offending the Empress Dowager, they wouldn’t want to associate with Li Lingling at all!

  When they arrived at the Queen’s palace, Qiao Jinniang reported this matter to the Queen, and Queen Zhou asked Qiao Jinniang, “Which girls do you think are suitable to be Prince Huai’s concubines?”


  Queen Zhou didn’t want to be involved in this matter too much. She was the Queen, but she was also the princes’ nominal mother.

  If the concubines’ family background was too low, Prince Huai might be angry, but if their family background was very high, their family might complain.

  Qiao Jinniang said, “I have met the fourth daughter of the Qin family several times. She is a very nice girl and deserves to be the concubine of Brother Huai.”


  Li Lingling stood up and glared at Qiao Jinniang, but thinking that the Empress Dowager was not here, she could only hold back.

  How dare she, Qiao Jinniang!

  Did she think that their alliance with the Qin family was unshakable because Qin Shu’s wife was her sister?

  How could she be willing to marry off one of the most outstanding daughters of Duke Qin to Prince Huai as his concubine?

  Wasn’t she afraid that Prince Huai would take the opportunity to win over Duke Qin?

  After all, Qiao Jinniang and Qin Shu’s wife were not related by blood!

  But Fourth Miss Qin was the Qin family’s daughter.

  What Li Lingling was more worried about was that if Fourth Miss Qin married into the Prince Huai Mansion, she might threaten her status…


  The Queen said, “Oh, Fourth Miss Qin? I remember that her sister is a good girl, so she can’t be bad. Okay, pass on my decree.”


  Li Lingling wanted to rush to the Empress Dowager’s palace and beg the Empress Dowager to stop it, but on a second thought, she realized that through this marriage, the Prince Huai Mansion and the Duke Qin Mansion would be connected, and both the Queen and the Crown Princess had agreed to this marriage. The Empress Dowager must be more than willing to agree to it!

  When Li Lingling and Qiao Jinniang left the queen’s palace side by side, Li Lingling removed her disguise and lowered her voice, speaking in a voice that only the two of them could hear, “Don’t be happy too soon.

  “Do you think your sister who has no blood relationship with the Qin family is more important to the Qin family than Fourth Miss Qin?

  “You let Fourth Miss Qin be the concubine of Prince Huai, which is basically sending the Qin family to be on the same boat with Prince Huai.

  “Aren’t you afraid that the Crown Prince will call you stupid?”


  How could the Crown Prince not blame Qiao Jinniang for pushing the Duke Qin Mansion to Prince Huai?

  Li Lingling really wanted to go to the East Palace to watch the fun.

  Qiao Jinniang looked at Li Lingling in surprise.

  Li Lingling smiled and said, “Are you scared silly, Crown Princess?”


  Qiao Jinniang shook her head, still looking extremely panicked.

  Li Lingling was even more smug. “A woman like you only deserves to manage restaurants. See? Only a few days in the imperial palace, you’ve made such a disastrous mistake.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “Sister-in-law, His Royal Highness and I had both thought that Brother Huai was innocent and was set up by Prince Mediocre, but you mean that Brother Huai really has ulterior motives?

  “And you even want to form a party to seize the throne?

  “I just wanted to find a suitable concubine for Brother Huai, but you actually regard it this way! I’ll report this to His Majesty and His Royal Highness!”


  Now the one in panic became Li Lingling. She anxiously said, “Don’t you even think about slandering me. Who heard me say that? His Majesty will never believe your false accusation.”


  Qiao Jinniang smiled and said, “As long as His Royal Highness believes me.

  “I wonder what Brother Huai will do if he learns that he has been holding back for so long but his ambitions were exposed by you so easily?

  Li Lingling felt chills all over. Now she just wanted to slap herself hard!……

  Back in the East Palace, Qiao Jinniang told Lu Chen what happened just now.

  Qiao Jinniang laughed. “You don’t know how ugly her expression was just now. I got her a concubine so that she won’t be so idle to enter the imperial palace so early every day.”


  Lu Chen laughed too. “I will have someone tell Prince Huai the silly words that Li Lingling said. I think she will disappear from your eyes for quite a while.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “I pushed the Qin family to Prince Huai. Don’t you blame me?”


  Lu Chen said, “It is nothing but a daydream if Prince Huai wants to rely on the Qin family to win the throne.”


  Qiao Jinniang nodded. “I think so too. Although my parents are not that reliable, my grandmother is very wise. Qin Shu is the husband that my grandmother chose for Sister Ruoyun. He never blames Ruoyun for being unable to have children. Such a man will definitely not stupidly rebel for wealth and power! I think he is a good husband.”


  “How do you know that Qin Shu is a good husband? Fortunately, Concubine Qian exchanged you and Qiao Ruoyun. Otherwise, you would be Qin Shu’s wife.”


  Qiao Jinniang smelled jealousy and smiled. “Of course he’s not as good as you!

  “Even if we weren’t exchanged, with my honey in Chang’an, who is so incomparably handsome and intelligent, how can Qin Shu catch my eyes?”


  If she hadn’t been exchanged with Qiao Ruoyun, they might have known each other since childhood…


  Lu Chen put his arm around her waist, placed her on the couch, and began to kiss her…


  “Imperial Cousin, Sisi is here to play with you.”