C174

The next day, in the evening, by the side of the Blue Lotus Pool.

She was surrounded by the wives and daughters of officials from the previous dynasty. She was covered in makeup and dressed in gorgeous clothes, as if she wanted to compare all the lotuses in the pool with hers.

"Oh, Madam Qin, the Qin family's second young miss has really changed at the age of eighteen. How many days has it been since I've seen the second young miss? She looks so graceful and graceful now." Fang Rou twisted her waist and paced around while she turned her head to a lady in her forties and said gently.

"Esteemed wangfei is exaggerating. My daughter is mischievous and this subject's already had a headache." Madam Qin frowned on the inside, her attitude humble and orderly.

Fang Rou didn't reply. Her gaze only fell on the green-clothed young girl that was enjoying the beautiful scenery of the lotus by the side of the Blue Lotus Pool.

Even the beautiful Fang Rou could not help but sigh as she looked at her. After staying in the imperial harem for so long, she had clearly aged quite a bit despite her age. When she was at the general's estate, she probably had the same carefree and happy appearance.

Thinking like this, Fang Rou's footsteps unconsciously left the group of thirty or forty year old women and headed towards the direction of the Shangguan Family's daughter.

"Little Sister Qin, are you satisfied with this Blue Lotus Pool?" Fang Rou's gentle voice sounded as she stood behind Qin Wanyin, the second daughter of the Duke of Qin, as she spoke with a smile.

"This subject's daughter greets esteemed imperial concubine Rou." Qin Wanyin looked back. When she saw that it was Rou Fei who had come, she immediately put away the mischievous smile on her face and politely bowed to Fang Rou.

"Quickly get up. Little Sister Qin is really a knowledgeable girl." Fang Rou's face was filled with satisfaction.

This kind of woman was cute and playful on the surface, but she also knew about etiquette. It seemed that ever since the eldest daughter of the Duke of Qin was bestowed with the marriage to Vice Minister Liu by the Emperor, and after the destruction of the Kingdom of Qiao and the tragedy of his family, the second daughter of the Duke of Qin had been taught very well by her family.

"Many thanks to the Empress for her praise." The curve of her lips was just right, but she wasn't a carefree little girl. It was just that today, before leaving home, her father and mother had repeatedly instructed her to act in front of Imperial Concubine Rou so that she wouldn't have to go home and scold her.

"I wonder if little sister likes this palace?"

Fang Rou's voice became even softer. Although today she wanted to give Qiao Qiao a date of return for this palace banquet, if she really could choose a couple of women of similar age and looks from the family of ministers and present them to the emperor, then the emperor wouldn't feel grief from Qiao's misfortunes today.

"In reply to the Empress, Wan Yin naturally likes it. This palace is filled with precious treasures, filled with a myriad of beauties. The scenery is extremely beautiful, one can't even see this from outside the palace." Qin Wanyin looked at Fang Rou's friendly appearance and the wariness in her heart couldn't help but drop. Her tone of voice also gradually became casual.

"It's good that Little Sister Qin likes him. Has little sister ever seen His Majesty today?" Fang Rou continued to ask.

Qin Wanyin's face turned red. Speaking of the current emperor, she had the honor of meeting him once when she was young, but that was on the day of her wedding, and the current emperor still carried the title of Regent to congratulate the Emperor on entering the palace. At that time, the emperor was already like a goddess, unparalleled in beauty.

"Haha, I now know what Sister Qin looks like." Fang Rou chuckled faintly. Looking at Qin Wanyin's shy appearance, she understood everything. It seemed that she had chosen the right person.

"Empress, please don't make fun of Wanyin." She slowly lowered her head. Although she looked like she was looking at the lush lotus flowers in the Blue Lotus Pool, she was actually sizing up Fang Rou's expression from the corner of her eyes.

Of course, she understood what Imperial Concubine Rou meant by this. She had long since heard that the palace banquet was specially arranged by Imperial Concubine Rou to present to the emperor a few of the thousands of gold coins. It was because of this reason that she forced her mother to bring her to participate in this banquet.

"Esteemed wangfei has arrived ~ ~"

Outside the Green Lotus Pond, a loud announcement sounded out, causing the bustling crowd to stop one by one. Besides Fang Rou, everyone else respectfully bowed towards the side of the pool.

"Greetings, esteemed wangfei."

"Everyone, get up." Yu Ziyi, dressed in noble purple clothes, walked slowly as he spoke to the madams with a gentle voice.

"Many thanks, esteemed wangfei."

The crowd rose to their feet and saw a woman dressed in plain white, her skin as white as snow and her eyebrows slightly raised. Her face was covered with a layer of cold air.

All of the ladies were shocked. The palace banquet was filled with beautiful women with thick makeup and intentionally dressed up for the competition, yet the girl dressed in coarse clothes had somehow managed to compete with them. She was like a gentle stream by the side of the Blue Lotus Pool.

"Sister Qiao, this way please."

Yu Zihui's tone was polite and amiable, making everyone present even more confused about this woman's identity. To be honest, the only one who could be changed by esteemed wangfei was a concubine, and right now, the only other person in the harem was esteemed wangfei. Who was this woman in front of them that could garner such respect from esteemed wangfei?

Qiao Qiao still nodded his head and did not speak. He followed Yu Zihui's hand gesture and slowly entered the Green Lotus Pool.

"Oh, sister really did come. I am truly honored." Fang Rou walked past Qin Wanyin and headed in Qiao's direction. Her tone was frivolous, causing everyone to be even more shocked.

Even the person who had called the exalted esteemed imperial concubine 'elder sister' couldn't be underestimated.

As they thought of this, they prepared to bow in worship to Joe.

Fang Rou was afraid that she could see the group of women behind her. She slowly turned her head and explained to the crowd:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid you all are staying in your rooms. I wonder if there's someone else in the imperial palace besides my sister and Imperial Concubine Hui, who is favored by the Emperor."

Everyone looked at each other in dismay. This was truly something they had never heard of before.

"This palace shall introduce you to the young lady who took the place of sister Lan Fei and served in the palace. Afterwards …" Fang Rou's voice paused, then her lips curled up into a smile as she continued speaking. "Later on, the Emperor sent him into the cold palace in a fit of rage. I'm afraid that the various madams and young ladies may have heard of what happened afterwards."

Naturally, some people had heard of this before, and some people had not. While everyone was still unable to figure out what was going on, a pretty girl wearing light pink clothes walked over and pointed at Qiao Qiao with indignation.

"She, she was the one who replaced my sister in the palace and trapped my sister in the cold palace, pretending to be my sister to sleep in the palace. Fortunately, the Emperor decided to be wise and exposed this woman's scheme, and beat her into the cold palace.

Red Crane Head!

They did not expect that this woman was the witch from a few days ago. Although these madams had never heard of the affairs of the imperial court, they had heard about how her murder of their imperial concubine and the disturbance of the imperial court.

Fang Rou's lips slowly curled up and her eyebrows were filled with pride.

This woman who pointed the finger at Qiao Qiao was Jiang Lanxin's concubine sister, Jiang Ruoyun. Yesterday, she had found her and told her that the real culprit who had killed her sister would appear by the Green Lotus Pond the very next day. Although Jiang Lanxin and her little sister were not on good terms, Fang Rou had promised that if Jiang Ruo could point at Qiao still be in front of everyone, she would definitely let her take Jiang Lanxin's place and take the place of the noble imperial concubine in the imperial harehab.

Qiao Qiao's face was still unperturbed, as if he had already expected this outcome, but Yu Zihui, who was at the side, revealed an unhappy expression.

"It's not like that, Sister Qiao is not that kind of person." Yu Zihui explained anxiously.

"Sister Hui Fei must have been deceived by the adulterers. Why would such a person be willing to speak up for her?" Fang Rou's gaze swept over them as she stared at Yu Zihui. It was as if if if she dared to speak another word, she would order her men to seal her mouth.

Yu Zihui's body trembled and the light in her eyes turned. Her body trembled as she tried to open her mouth, but she was stopped by Qiao Qiao who was beside her.

"Esteemed wangfei's self-directed performance today was a good show I enjoyed." Qiao Qiao finally said something slowly. He stepped forward and spoke to Fang Rou at a leisurely pace.

"What do you mean? Do you want to deny what you've done?" Fang Rou's gaze turned cold. She was afraid that Qiao was still secretly playing tricks on her, so she brought the Shu girl from Lord Jiang's house over to testify. Could it be that she wanted to deny the truth?

"Of course I know what I did, but do you know what you did?" Qiao Qiao continued to walk forward and actually passed through the crowd of people, directly heading to the highest point on the bed beside the Green Lotus Pond.

Fang Rou's expression turned cold. She was the head of the imperial harem and the highest position was clearly prepared for her. Why was this woman here!?

She was about to step forward to block him when Qiao Qiao suddenly turned her head. Her clear and cold gaze could not help but shock her from where she stood, causing her to be momentarily dumbstruck.

"Jiang Ruoyun." Qiao Qiao still turned around. He lightly waved his sleeves and sat on the highest couch as he called out with a carefree expression.

"You evil woman, you killed my sister, what right do you have to call me now?" Jiang Ruoyun was already attached to the great Buddha, Rou Fei, so she naturally wasn't afraid of Qiao's evil words.