The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

"Your Highness, His Highness Shouan is here to visit."

Princess Cheng An, who had just caught the maid and had not had time to ask anything, frowned a little irritably and asked, "What is she doing here?"

"Has she finished all the official duties assigned to her by my mother so quickly?" Princess Cheng'an winked at the nanny, put on a calm expression, and went out to greet her sister in person with a heart full of suspicion.

Princess Shou'an was quietly and obediently waiting for her in the front hall. When she saw her sister coming, she smiled harmlessly, "Big sister."

Looking across her elder sister's red eyes, Lu Baohui pretended that she didn't notice that Lu Yanzhen's emotions were on the verge of losing control: "I'm asking for a meeting rashly, please forgive me, elder sister."

Lu Yanzhen tried hard to suppress his voice to stop it from trembling, and raised his chin slightly: "Sit down, what happened that made you come here in person?"

"It's father..." Lu Baohui's face was small, revealing the fragility of a long-term illness. "Father is ill, and mother said that we should be arranged to take care of him, but my sister has always been weak, and now there are so many things on hand. If I have to take care of both, it is inevitable that I will be unable to do it. Sister goes in and out of the Ministry of Revenue, and can also manage the internal affairs of the Princess's Mansion and the Konghou Mansion at the same time, so I want to learn from you, so as not to disappoint the elders."

Her voice was soft and her expression was sincere and admiring, as if she was just a younger sister seeking help from her older sister.

But Lu Yanzhen still heard a hint of showing off - now she couldn't calmly distinguish whether this feeling came from her own anxiety and dissatisfaction, or whether Lu Baohui really wanted to show off.

She just felt uncomfortable all over.

Then he said politely with a slightly stiff tone: "With your ability, there is no need to be so self-deprecating. You should handle it first, and then think about whether to ask for help from others."

Princess Shou'an's health was indeed not good, but in Lu Yanzhen's opinion, it was precisely because her poor health was known to everyone that Lu Baohui was particularly moving when she showed her tenacious and unyielding side in front of others.

Lu Baohui did not respond, but said in a nostalgic tone: "Big sister, do you still remember the time when we went fox hunting in the mountains with Aunt Rong Le?"

Princess Cheng An frowned even deeper: "What?"

"Of the two foxes hunted by aunt, she had been tracking the one in front for a long time but couldn't catch up. She got so angry that she shot an arrow at the bushes, which startled the fox hiding in the bushes and made it jump up. She shot it." Lu Baohui smiled gently, "Although my health is not good, my eyesight is still pretty good. The fox that was shot was obviously not the one that aunt had been tracking from the beginning."

Princess Cheng'an looked at her smiling face, and immediately recalled the day when Princess Rong Le took the initiative to invite her and showed some intention of seeking cooperation. Unfortunately, she was already in anxiety at that time, and she looked down on Princess Rong Le, who did not have much say in the royal family and the previous dynasty, so she pretended not to know and politely declined.

From what Lu Baohui said, it turned out that the fox was used as a metaphor for people. Princess Rong Le did not catch up with the one she took the initiative to chase, but the one who seemed unrelated...

Thinking of this, Princess Cheng An's eyes narrowed: "You, or you guys want to do what?"

Lu Baohui slowly pulled out a thin letter from her sleeve and handed it to Princess Cheng'an: "Sister, you might as well take a look at this first."

Princess Cheng'an took the letter with great hesitation, and when she opened it, she was shocked to find that the handwriting on it was actually from her father-in-law, Marquis Donglai. She immediately asked, "How did you convince him?!"

Princess Cheng'an knew very well that although her father-in-law was a marquis, he was not a very smart man. On the contrary, Princess Cheng'an's husband, the Prince of Donglai, was slightly smarter than his biological father, but he was always no match for Princess Cheng'an - after all, this family was selected by Princess Cheng'an according to the ideas left by Concubine Deng. They had titles, connections, and a certain weight in the previous dynasty, and the people in charge were people she could control.

This time Princess Cheng'an accompanied the Emperor and Empress on the tour, and only brought her husband and children. Marquis Donglai stayed in the capital because he was not young anymore. The letter in her hand at this moment was actually written by Marquis Donglai to his husband, instructing him to follow Princess Shou'an's instructions and arrangements!

"What exactly do you want to do?" Princess Cheng'an asked through gritted teeth.

Lu Baohui seemed to have anticipated her reaction. She was not frightened by the anger in her sister's eyes. Instead, she said leisurely, "Since ancient times, money has been the most attractive thing to people. But, big sister, you also know what can shake a person's mind more than money."

Facing her sister's deep gaze, Princess Cheng An couldn't help but remain silent for a moment.

It was this moment of silence that gave Lu Baohui the opportunity to say, "The eldest sister is the legitimate wife, but you are the eldest sister."

"Don't you feel the slightest bit of resentment?"

She raised one hand and gently wiped her lower lip with a handkerchief: "Seeing my elder sister circling around my second brother every day, I really can't bear it."

"So?" Lu Yanzhen connected what happened today, and a question popped up in his mind, "You deliberately arranged for someone to tell me about my mother. That girl has been in my house for quite a few years. How did you..."

She paused, then suddenly realized: "That's right, that's right, Aunt Rong Le has always been kind to poor and weak women, and the maids and nannies in her house come in and out one after another..."

The maids and nannies who had undergone training in Princess Rong Le's mansion could always find a good enough and respectable place to go after leaving the mansion, and rarely would they make their later masters dissatisfied.

As for why she couldn't find any abnormality in the maid's origin... Princess Cheng'an understood after a brief thought. Although Princess Rong Le didn't have much power, those who left her mansion were naturally another network serving her. She had always looked down on Princess Rong Le because of her lack of power, and never thought that she would start plotting against her mansion so early.

Princess Cheng An felt frustrated. "You are trying to sow discord between me and my second brother. I wonder if you can use me for anything?"

Lu Baohui still smiled slightly: "This is not a provocation, but I just can't bear to see my elder sister being kept in the dark."

She looked into Princess Cheng'an's eyes and said sincerely, "According to Aunt Rong Le's intention, she wants you to break up with the Second Brother and stir up trouble to make the situation in the Northern Frontier even more chaotic, so that it will be easier for us to act in the capital."

"But after thinking it over, I still can't bear it. We planned to trap Father and Mother in the Northern Frontier, and take control of the capital while they are busy. Fifth sister has already set up a killing plan. If the plan of the capital and the south succeeds, even if Father and Mother successfully quell the rebellion in the Northern Frontier, they will definitely suffer losses."

"When the time comes, we can just divide the land with them and then slowly plan for the future."

"And if the plan of the capital and the south fails, then... the elder sister who suddenly broke off relations with her brother will be led to become our scapegoat."