Ye laughed embarrassedly. How stupid her daughter was! She meant to signal Gu Zhihua to stand up for her so that Prime Minister Gu would agree to her proposal. Gu Qiang was the name card of the Prime Minister Mansion now, and Prime Minister Gu had to consider her opinion. However, the opinion would be decided by Prime Minister Gu at last.
Prime Minister Gu turned around and told Gu Qiang, “Let’s give a party to remove bad luck. End of discussion. The day after tomorrow is an auspicious day. Let’s invite our friends to the party. They will be glad to join it, won’t they?”
Then he stood up as if he was afraid that Gu Qiang would disagree. In fact, she didn’t intend to. It was up to Prime Minister Gu. Though she was an infanta, he was still her father.
Before leaving, Prime Minister Gu told everyone else at the table, “Enjoy yourselves. Feiling, why not live here and stay with Qiang?”
Feiling nodded. Then she sat down happily next to
It was Granny Zhang’s voice. She used to bully Gu Qiang and her servant girls with Ye being her patron. However, after Gu Qiang rose to the position of an infanta, she was too embarrassed to enter the yard.When Gu Qiang walked to the main hall with Ting Feng and Chui Xue, there were full of people and carriages in the front yard.Many people from the palace were present in the banquet hall. Compared with the autumn harvest party, this one was much more magnificent. Many madams and ladies usually kept in touch, but there were even more at this occasion.Shen Zhongbai was sitting at the main seat, and Princess Changning was seated next to him. Infanta Ziyan who hadn’t put in an appearance for several days were present too. All of them enjoyed the favor of the Empress Dowager. They were making a small chat quietly, and others sitting at the table didn’t dare to talk.When Gu Qiang arrived, lots of people had been seated. Curious abou
Prime Minister Gu and Gu Huaian were both embarrassed.“Qiang, why did you invite him? He said he would never be one of the Gu Family, didn’t he? Why does he come here shamelessly?” Prime Minister Gu looked at Gu Qiang in the beginning and then turned to Gu Huaian.Gu Huaian sneered. He didn’t expect his father would still hold a grudge after such a long time.Prime Minister Gu had unique insights into what happened in the country and was thought to be a magnanimous and righteous official. However, he was abnormally strict with his son.Gu Huaian was controlled completely by Prime Minister Gu like a puppet. If going astray, he would be crushed by his father with the so-called expectation, which was extremely heavy.Prime Minister Gu never asked if he liked it, or if he hoped to live a life as planned. The blueprint drawn by Prime Minister Gu was darkness in the eyes of Gu Huaian.Gu Huaian stood silently a
“Do you know what filial piety is?” Old Lady said while rolling her eyes.Gu Qiang lowered her head and answered respectfully, “Grandma, blind piety is not good. Maybe you think filial piety means we must do everything carefully as told. Then how boring life will be. It seems safe to repeat the same road but uninteresting.”Gu Qiang said in a low voice which could only be heard by herself and Old Lady. The old woman was experienced. She was sulky and shocked by the way Gu Qiang talked, but she didn’t show that and just stared at Gu Qiang’s eyes.“Qiang, you have to reflect on your misdeed. Don’t think we can do nothing with you as an infanta. I will teach you a lesson someday.” Old Lady said.Someday? Gu Qiang raised her eyebrows. Old Lady thought she would survive tomorrow, but Gu Qiang was sure that she was near her end.“Yes, grandma. But you look pale recently. Is it because you’ve had too much nutritious food? Not
Hearing what Gu Qiang said, the Third Prince’s face fell and seemed to be unhappy, but he managed to refrain from anger and said, “Why do you refuse my invitation?”Gu Qiang looked fearlessly at Shen Zhongbai’s eyes and answered, “Your Highness, you are my sister’s fiancé, so I should reduce my contact with you, or she will be angry. Besides, as her elder sister, it’s inappropriate for me to do that.” Then she leaned forward, signaling to him that it was time to leave.Shen Zhongbai stared at Gu Qiang as if deep in thought. She was right, but did she forget their exclusive sweetness? At that time Gu Qiang was so tender to him. However, now she acted as his sister-in-law. Did it mean that he had no chance to develop a relationship with her?He bit his lips and was about to leave when he saw someone land at the northwestern corner of the yard. The comer was in white and waving a fan casually. After landing on the ground, the person
Without glancing at her, Gu Qiang retorted, “I’m looking forward to that. But I am curious. You love Shen Zhongbai deeply while he just accepts you as a concubine. It seems that you will have a miserable life.”Then Gu Qiang returned to her room with Gusu Liang. Gu Zhihua rushed her but was stopped by a servant, who soothed in a low voice, “My Lady, please calm down. She is an infanta now. If you irritate her in her yard, the Prime Minister will scold you.”Gu Zhihua was clear that the status meant everything, but she would burst with anger if she didn’t vent it.It was dark when Gu Zhihua was pulled away by her servant.Sitting before the window, Gu Qiang watched the sun-setting direction silently and couldn’t help sighing how long the day was. So many things came to her like dark clouds, leaving her no breathing space.Fortunately, she had been accustomed to it. But she didn’t know… she took out her cherished diary.
The Empress was clear that their love had disappeared and thus felt at ease. But when hearing Shen Zhongbai said she liked Shen Qianshan, she fluttered her long eyelashes. Indeed, she became close to Shen Qianshan recently and cared about him. It was just because she didn’t think he should come to such an end.“Your Majesty, not everyone around you is bad. The whole country is yours. Please don’t kill an innocent person!” The Empress still lowered her head respectfully and looked at the ground silently. She looked calm, and it seemed that she was not scared of Shen Zhongbai’s sudden rage at all.“He is not bad? Does it make sense? Do you know how powerful Qianshan is? If he wants to overthrow me, he can do it anytime. It seems that you look forward to that day, right? You think you can still be the empress after he becomes the king, so you seduce him and help him usurp the throne, don’t you?” Shen Zhongbai became more emotional and thought he was right. Aft
Shen Qianshan looked around and said coldly, “I’m going to investigate the Empress. She seemed to be completely different from before.”Su Ge thought carefully. His master was worthy of the title of a duke because he was more insightful.Gu Qiang tossed and turned on the bed at night. She wanted to read her diary, but she knew there must be nothing in it. Without anything to say, she just felt good that another her existed in an unknown place and they were like a pair of wings. She was desired to talk endless with the other one, but she couldn’t part her lips. Finally, she drifted into sleep in such a contradictory mood.The next morning, guests from the palace returned successively. The Gu Family saw off every guest outside of the Prime Minister Mansion. Shen Zhongbai mounted his horse and then told Gu Qiang in public, “Qiang, I will come to visit you when I’m free. Wait for me at home. Understand?”Gu Qiang refrained from rolling
The palace was quiet at midnight. Groups of soldiers were patrolling like ghosts, expressionless, uniform, and heartless.The Empress was sitting in her room with a diary in front of her. She looked out of the window. There was a pear tree whose huge branches stretched peacefully in the darkness. The Empress couldn’t calm down. She took a deep breath and told Sha, “Has Ling gone out of the palace?”Sha nodded. She was not talkative and preferred body language to oral one. She was as composed and cold as one-thousand-year-old iceberg.“I want to go out for a walk. Come with me.” Then the Empress stood up and went out. Sha glanced at the diary on the table and wanted to remind the Empress, but she said nothing at last.Outside the Weiyang Palace, the night breeze blew gently and fluttered the Empress’s wide robe. The whole palace was like a sleeping beast that closed its bloodshot eyes and was not aggressive anymore. However, some pe