“As they wish, I don’t care.” Chen Ning slowly stood up.

  Her hair was like a cloud with only a single pearl hair pin through it. She was wearing a blue skirt that seemed like it was made of clouds, with an orchid embroidered pattern on the collar and hems of the robe. It was a simple and elegant style, that made her seem like mist as she walked forward.

  Su Jin noticed that with such a simple and elegant dress on her, it did not lose to the ladies who wore heavy makeup.

  *

  The Empress Dowager’s spring banquet was set on the lake pavilion in the center of the Peaceful Life Palace’s garden.

  Chen Ning noticed from a distance that the Empress Dowager was impressively sitting there. Around here, there were three beautiful girls that were around sixteen-seventeen years old. One glance could tell that they were ladies of nobility, sitting straight in their seats, looking straight forward.

  If one wasn’t paying attention, they would have thought that these were three logs dressed in beautiful clothing.

  She lowered her head and covered the smile on her lips. She walked into the lake pavilion and greeted the Empress Dowager.

  “I greet the Empress Dowager.”


  The three girls were still looking forward without turning, but they had already looked over Chen Ning several times.

  They already guessed why the Empress Dowager called them into the palace today. On the surface it was a banquet, but it was to test their talent, secretly picking a wife for the emperor.

  Even though they had already asked around and found that the emperor would not be at this banquet, they still did their best to dress themselves as beautifully as possible, trying to win the Empress Dowager’s favour.

  After seeing Chen Ning’s simple and elegant dress, their hearts were filled with regret. They had dressed themselves up too flashily.

  “Ding Yuan Princess, rise and sit.”


  When Chen Ning had not appeared yet, Empress Dowager Zhou had sat in between the three girls and had been talking to the three girls with a smile on her face.

  Although she was very gentle, the three girls were just too nervous. They couldn’t convey their thoughts properly with their answers or they stuttered their words.

  The three girls was covered in perfume and even with the strong flower fragrance of the garden, Empress Dowager Zhou’s nose couldn’t help wanting to sneeze.

  She worked hard to hold back in order to not lose face in front of these juniors, but her face became less kind. The three girls’ hearts began to tremble, not knowing what they said to displease the Empress Dowager.

  Once Chen Ning appeared, Empress Dowager Zhou’s eyes suddenly lit up. Her dress was very simple and elegant, but it did not make her lose her prestige. She was even more pleasing to the eye compared to the three girls dressed like phoenixes.

  “Come, Ning’er. You are this widow’s granddaughter in law, so sit beside this widow. This is Master Xia’s palace’s Xia Yu Yan, this is Imperial Censor Wu’s daughter, Wu Yue Er, and this is historian Liu’s daughter, Liu Wan Ting. You are all around the same age, so you can get to know each other.” Empress Dowager Zhou smiled as she introduced them to each other.

  “Hello three elder sisters.” Chen Ning smiled as she greeted the three of them.

  The three girls stood up together and bowed to her, “We don’t dare be greeted by the Princess Consort like this. We greet the Princess Consort.”


  Empress Dowager Zhou waved her hand with a faint smile and said, “We aren’t splitting ourselves into seniority today. You are all girls of the same age, so there’s no need to be so polite.”


  The three girls were still very cautious. After sitting down, the palace girls began to serve beautiful fruit wine and various dishes.

  Empress Dowager Zhou told a few jokes and got everyone to laugh, causing the stiff atmosphere to become lively once again.