Rebirth and Marriage: I am the Mistress of the Palace

After entering the palace, Shen Wantang followed Princess Ning to the Queen's bedroom.

The atmosphere in Kunning Palace was cold and solemn. The palace maids and nannies dared not breathe, for fear of angering the queen and being punished and expelled from the palace.

The eunuch's shrill voice suddenly rang out from outside: "Your Majesty, the Ning Wangfei and Ning Wang's Crown Prince's Consort have arrived."

As soon as he finished speaking, Princess Ning brought Shen Wantang into the palace.

Princess Ning bowed and said, "I have met Her Majesty the Queen. May Her Majesty be blessed with good health and long life."

Shen Wantang also bowed and greeted.

However, the queen sitting at the top seemed to have heard nothing. After the two of them greeted each other, the hall fell into deathly silence.

After a long while, Shen Wantang finally heard the queen speak coldly: "It turns out that Princess Ning is here. I was distracted for a moment and didn't see you."

Princess Ning knew that she was deliberately trying to intimidate her, but she had no choice. Outside, she was the Princess Ning who was envied and respected by everyone, but once she entered the palace, she was naturally shorter than the Queen.

What's more, this time it was indeed the son who beat up the nephew and ruined his reputation, causing Gu Qianhan to kneel in the palace for a night.

This was a huge slap in the face to the Queen. It would be strange if she would let it go.

Therefore, she scolded her son first without waiting for the queen to start a fight: "Please forgive me, Queen, that unfilial boy in my family has his head muddled and bewildered, so he did some foolish things. I will make him go to the Duke's Mansion to apologize and admit his mistakes later!"

"He and Second Master Gu grew up together and have a special bond. How could they start a fight over a woman? He was wrong. I have already scolded him severely and told him to reflect on his mistakes at home."

"Your Majesty, please ask that bastard to come and explain. It was all the children's mischief. I have watched Second Young Master Gu grow up. There is absolutely no problem with his character. He would never do something to bully a weak woman. This matter is a big misunderstanding. Second Young Master Gu has been wronged."

The Queen originally wanted to get angry, but Princess Ning admitted her mistake and apologized so straightforwardly that she was choked. She didn't dare to scold Xiao Qingyuan anymore, otherwise it would seem that she was too petty.

She couldn't scold Princess Ning, so she waved at Shen Wantang and said, "Is this the new Crown Prince's Consort who just entered the palace? Come here and let me take a look."

Shen Wantang stepped forward politely, bowed his head slightly and saluted again: "Greetings to the Queen."

The queen looked at her and said with a hint of sarcasm: "She is a beautiful lady. It's a pity that your mother took great pains to choose a daughter-in-law with such outstanding appearance. I'm afraid that someone won't appreciate it. She's idle all day long and only knows how to hang around a fool. She's lost her mind."

Princess Ning was not a fool. She knew that the Queen was scolding her son. She felt very uncomfortable, but she could not refute it. She could only say, "The Queen is right."

This was not the first time she had been scolded in the palace. Ever since her son fell in love with Chu Yanluo, Empress Dowager Guang had called her into the palace to scold her three times. Even Prince Ning was called in to be scolded several times. After the Empress Dowager scolded her, the Emperor scolded her, and after the Emperor scolded her, the Empress Dowager scolded her. Now, it was the Empress Dowager's turn to be scolded.

Shen Wantang was quite impressed by Princess Ning's flexibility. An ordinary person would be embarrassed if ridiculed by the Queen, let alone the Princess who had always been high and mighty.

But she didn't seem to have any discomfort. She stood there calmly, with all her sharpness concealed.

"Princess Ning, do you know that the Gu family was originally discussing a marriage with the Liu family?"

"This... I have heard of it."

"But after what happened yesterday, the Liu family felt that Qianhan's character needed to be verified, so they went to the Gu family overnight to return the token. This marriage cannot be completed."

The Gu and Liu families were a perfect match, and Gu Qianhan and Liu Nanshi were the golden boy and jade girl that the entire capital talked about with great relish, and everyone said that they were a perfect match.

Having lost such a good marriage, the Queen was so angry that she could hardly suppress it: "Can Prince Ning's Mansion afford such a loss? Or can Xiao Qingyuan afford it?"

Princess Ning didn't expect the Liu family to be so straightforward. As soon as Gu Qianhan's reputation became bad, they simply stopped discussing marriage. She hated Chu Yanluo so much in her heart that her teeth itched, but she could only say with guilt on her face: "If the queen doesn't mind, my family has several nieces who are both talented and beautiful and are waiting to be married."

The queen did not say anything because she looked down upon the nieces of Princess Ning's family. It was not that her nieces were bad, but the queen felt that her nephew was too good. Only Liu Nanshi was barely worthy of him, and the other women were not worthy of him.

The hall fell into dead silence again. The queen neither spoke nor let them go. She just let the two of them stand there.

Shen Wantang's legs were sore from standing, and her neck was aching from lowering her head. She had no idea what Princess Ning was thinking at the moment, but she was already holding a grudge against Chu Yanluo. If she hadn't falsely accused Gu Qianhan of bullying her, she and the princess wouldn't have to suffer this!

It was unknown how long it had been before a young eunuch hurried in from outside: "Your Majesty, the second young master Gu's kneeling punishment is over. The emperor has called him."

The Queen stood up suddenly and asked: "Does the Emperor have any other punishment for him?"

"No, the Second Young Master is coming to Kunning Palace, but...his legs are numb from kneeling, so he's walking a little slowly now."

The queen did not hide her distress: "His legs are not numb from kneeling, he is kneeling until they are broken. Go call the imperial physician and have him take a good look at him later!"

"My Lady, the Second Young Master anticipated that you would call the Imperial Physician, so he asked me to tell you that his leg is fine, so please do not call the Imperial Physician."

The queen had no idea what her nephew was up to, as he didn't even let her call the imperial physician. But she always trusted her nephew, so when he told her not to, she really didn't call again.

After waiting for a while, Gu Qianhan indeed limped to Kunning Palace.

The queen went to the door to greet people in person: "Qianhan, how is your leg? Come in quickly!"

Gu Qianhan's legs felt like they were no longer his own due to the pain, but he still saluted: "Qianhan greets the Queen and Princess Ning."

As he spoke, he bowed to Shen Wantang as a greeting to her.

Princess Ning looked at other people's children being so measured in their actions, and thought of her own man who was willing to risk his life for a woman, and she felt very uncomfortable.

The Queen didn't care that there were outsiders present, or maybe she did it on purpose for Princess Ning to see. She pushed Gu Qianhan onto the armchair and lifted up his long gown and rolled up his silk trousers.

The Queen exclaimed, Princess Ning also exclaimed, and the palace maids and nannies in Kunning Palace also exclaimed in unison.

Shen Wantang originally turned her head away when she saw the Queen lifting Gu Qianhan's gown, but when she heard them exclaiming, she couldn't help but take a look.

Gu Qianhan's knees were swollen beyond recognition, and his fair skin had turned a horrible purple-blue color, spreading from his knees to his calves. If you didn't know better, you would think he had been poisoned and was dying.