I just want to live a good life

Chapter 104 Not the Right Person

After Su Nuan complained in her heart for a while, she said seriously: "The Queen Mother is right. Your Highness is the crown prince and will have three palaces and six courtyards in the future. After Xia Qingyan returns, she will definitely do her best to find concubines for Your Highness."

Hearing this, the Queen Mother's expression softened a little, and she said lightly, "Get up."

Only then did Su Nuan get up from the ground.

"If you don't have any candidates yet, why don't you tell me a few and let His Highness choose when you go back." Then, the empress dowager said a string of names. Most of these people were daughters of powerful families in the imperial city, and Dong Jingshu was among them.

Su Nuan spat silently at the Queen Mother in her heart, feeling resentful that this old witch just wanted to take a concubine for the prince, yet she forced her to kneel for so long.

Although she was angry, Su Nuan didn't dare to show it, and replied respectfully: "I will remember this."

"Okay, I've been talking to you for a while, and I'm tired too. Go back now, and don't forget what I asked you to do."

After the Queen Mother finished speaking, she waved her hand and chased Su Nuan out like a fly.

When she was invited here, someone led the way, but when she was driven away, she was not treated so well. When Su Nuan first came here, she was nervous and didn't pay attention to the road. Now she was standing alone in front of the gate of Yongshou Palace, not knowing which direction to go.

At this moment, a woman in a blue dress came towards her. Judging from her dress, she did not look like an ordinary maid. She looked like Baojuan, and should be the personal maid of some nobleman.

The woman walked up to Su Nuan, bowed, and said, "I am Hong Xiao, your servant, and I pay my respects to Concubine Xia! Concubine Xia, the Queen wishes to see you."

Su Nuan was puzzled and asked, "Ms. Hong Xiao, can you first tell me why the Queen invited me?"

Hong Xiao smiled and replied, "You'll know when Concubine Xia goes there."

Asking was the same as not asking. Su Nuan was a little unhappy. She had just knelt for a long time in front of the Queen Mother, and now she had to kneel again when she went to see the Queen. The thought of it made her depressed.

But this is the imperial palace, and the Queen wants to see her, so she has to go.

Following Hong Xiao in the palace, Su Nuan always felt that the person in front of her looked familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen her.

The two of them crossed a garden and walked for about an incense stick's time before arriving at the Queen's bedroom, "Fengyi Palace."

Su Nuan thought that the Queen and the Queen Mother lived quite far away from each other, and she wondered if there would be any conflicts between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the ancient palace.

While she was daydreaming, Hong Xiao had already led her into Fengyi Palace.

The queen was fiddling with a pot of chrysanthemums. When she saw Su Nuan come in, she smiled and asked her to sit down.

Su Nuan was somewhat flattered by this completely different treatment from before, and she quickly knelt down to pay homage: "Your servant Xia Qingyan pays homage to Her Majesty the Queen."

"Get up! You're making things awkward between us, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law."

The queen spoke with a smile and a gentle tone. She didn't have the airs of a queen at all. She was just like an ordinary mother-in-law meeting her daughter-in-law. Su Nuan immediately had a good impression of her. However, she still remembered the scolding she had just received from the queen mother. So she replied, "I am of low status and dare not act rashly in front of the queen."

"Last time we met, you called me 'Mother', but you don't dare to do that this time? Did the Queen Mother say something to you?"

"..."

Su Nuan's failure to answer was considered as her consent.

The queen smiled slightly, "The queen mother just attaches too much importance to status."

"I called you here for no reason. I just heard that the Queen Mother summoned you to the palace, and I wanted to see if she would make things difficult for you."

"..."

The Queen continued, "Yesterday I saw the wife of the Marquis of Zhongyuan, Ning, come to the palace to ask to see the Queen Mother. I heard that she said some bad things about you in front of the Queen Mother. Today the Queen Mother summoned you to the palace. She must have believed what Ning said and wanted to teach you a lesson."

"..."

"You don't have to worry about it. The Queen Mother has always treated her relatives from her mother's side better than us. Especially the daughter of the wife of the Marquis of Zhongyuan, the Queen Mother loves her very much."

"..."

Su Nuan couldn't figure out the purpose of the Queen telling her this, and didn't know what to say.

"I've heard about everything between you and Yi'er. I should thank you for what you did!"

"I don't deserve it!"

"Yier has almost emptied my Fengyi Palace in the past two years. If he continues to do business with those shady people, I, the queen, will become the poorest queen since the founding of the Southern Ming Kingdom."

The Queen's tone was very helpless, and then she changed the subject and said, "But since Yi'er started doing business with you, he has never come to me to ask for money. Not only that, the day before yesterday he took several hundred taels of silver and said he wanted to honor me. Do you think I should thank you?"

"Don't say that, mother. It is my job to share the worries of you and the Crown Prince." Su Nuan said with difficulty, "But some people can't stand me doing this. Maybe they are afraid that I will take away the credit and affect her future marriage into the Crown Prince's Mansion!"

After saying this, Su Nuan sighed, as if she had suffered a lot of grievances.

The Queen chuckled when she heard this, "You are talking about Dong Jingshu, the daughter of Marquis Zhongyuan, right? That child is really lovable. I originally planned to marry her to Yi'er, but unfortunately she fell in love with the prince."

Su Nuan was waiting to hear the Queen's attitude towards the matter, but she didn't know if it was intentional, the Queen stopped talking here and looked at her with a smile.

Su Nuan thought that the queen was waiting for her to express her opinion.

Even though the queen spoke in a friendly manner, the brief pause showed that she had no good intentions.

After thinking for a while, Su Nuan said, "Miss Dong is indeed a good girl. The Queen Mother just wanted to marry her to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

At this point, Su Nuan glanced at the Queen, and seeing no reaction from her, she continued, "Originally, I fully agree with this. Just like the Queen Mother said, when the Crown Prince inherits the throne, he will always have three palaces and six courtyards. It doesn't matter to me who he marries. If he marries Miss Dong, I'll be very happy. But..."

"Just what?" asked the Queen.

"I wonder if my mother knows how the Second Prince feels about Miss Dong?"

"No one knows a son better than his mother. I naturally know what Yi'er is thinking. Does this have anything to do with the Dong family girl marrying the prince?"

"I don't think it's appropriate. If Miss Dong marries His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, she will be the Second Prince's sister-in-law. Logically, he shouldn't have any feelings for Miss Dong anymore. But how many people can really control love affairs? If the Second Prince does something beyond the limit, it will cause people to complain! Even if the Second Prince doesn't do anything, if someone deliberately instigates it, it will cause a lot of trouble."

"From what you said, the girl from the Dong family really shouldn't marry the prince."

"I just don't think she's the best person for this."

"Well, there are many girls of marriageable age in the imperial city. I think Cheng Ansu is a good girl, and Miss Ling'er from Master Qiao's family also gets along with me. You can let the prince interact with these two more often."

Su Nuan was dissatisfied. After all, the Queen and the Queen Mother had the same goal. They just wanted to marry the person they chose to the Prince.

There was just one thing Su Nuan didn’t understand. Why did they ask her to be a lobbyist? Could it be that she and Mu Yunting had gone too far in pretending to be in love?