Chapter 97 of Volume One: Alas, Because of You

  Thank you for the pink votes from Fengguo Liuxiang01...

  Since her rebirth, the one thing she had been doing was to avoid Long Hanshan, avoid the tragedy of her previous life, and find someone to live a plain and dull life with. However, all her plans were no match for the autocracy of imperial power. This was an era where if the emperor wanted his subject to die, then they would have to die.

  She had always resisted and tried to avoid it, but when everything couldn't be avoided, she suddenly let go. Since she didn't want to love, then marrying whoever wasn't a big deal, what difference did being the first wife or concubine make?

  Even in modern times, even if both husband and wife are married, it cannot be guaranteed that one party will not have an affair or cheat.

  She was married to him as his legitimate wife in ancient times, not only helping him with household chores, but also raising children and sharing a man with many women. Gu Qingjian didn't love the man, but he occupied her husband's position, so she couldn't be generous enough to let him take in one beautiful concubine after another. Not to mention that if she didn't love him, she wouldn't care about it, but her things were hers alone and no one else was allowed to touch them. Even if she had humbled herself to become a concubine in her previous life, she still wanted to monopolize Long Hanshan, only she hadn't succeeded in the end.

  Nowadays, since we are living like this anyway, it's okay to find another man, why can't Long Han Yuan be the one?

  She was so resistant, so afraid, because she feared getting hurt, feared repeating the tragedy of her past life. But this life, she was no longer the Gu Qingjin of her past life, because this life's Gu Qingjin did not love Long Hanshan. What was there to be afraid of? She remembered a phrase that Shui Jingchen had once said to her: "Born from love is worry, born from love is fear. If one departs from love, then there will be no worry or fear."

  She lightly repeated this sentence in her heart, and suddenly it dawned on her. Since it's all like that, what difference does it make whether the person is Long Han Yuan or someone else?

  I ask you how can you be like this. The heart is far away and the land is biased, where my heart is at ease is my hometown.

  Thinking of this, she no longer resisted, no longer hesitated, and burst into a bright smile.

  The afternoon sunlight filtered through the trees and shone on her, enveloping her entire being in a dazzling glow. Her outline was somewhat unrealistically blurred, with a serene smile playing on her lips as she walked along the shaded path of the imperial palace, radiating an aura that made one's eyes ache to look directly at her.

  Long Han saw Gu Qingjin, who was as calm and carefree as a gentle breeze, at the other end of the small path. He had received news that Gu Qingjin had come to the palace to refuse the marriage proposal, so he put down his affairs and rushed over hastily. In fact, when he arrived, he already knew that Gu Qingjin's refusal would not be successful, but seeing her like this, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes in thought.

  Qing Jin noticed it when Long Han Yuan appeared at the other end of the shaded path. She didn't detour far away as she used to, but instead walked along the path to stand in front of Long Han Yuan.

  She raised her head, gazing straight at Long Han Yuan's pitch-black eyes that seemed to carry a chill. She gave him a serene smile and bowed: "Your subject Gu Qing Jin greets the King of Silence. May the King live for thousands and thousands of years!" Her etiquette was impeccable, yet distant, keeping people at arm's length. A faint smile played on her lips, but it seemed as if nothing mattered to her.

  Long Han saw Qing Jin's expression and couldn't help but slightly furrow his brow, calmly saying: "No need for formalities."

  "Thank you, Your Highness!" Qing Jin heard Long Han Yuan's words and stood up to thank him.

  Long Han Yuan furrowed his brow again and gazed deeply at Qing Jin, as if he wanted to say something to her.

  Qing Jin felt Long Han Yuan's unspoken words and took the initiative to ask: "Does Your Highness, Jing Wang, have anything you'd like to say to me?"

  Long Han saw Gu Qingjin taking the initiative to ask questions and finally spoke up: "None."

  "That's all, I won't disturb Your Highness anymore, I..." She bid farewell. Before Qing Jin could finish her last two words, Long Han had already walked past her with his guards by his side.

  Watching Long Han's distant figure leaving with a flick of his sleeve, Qing Jin smiled thoughtfully at his back, turned around and quietly walked out of the palace.

  After Qing Jin returned to the Anji Marquis's residence from the imperial palace, an imperial edict arrived immediately. The content of the edict announced the marriage dates of Qing Yao and Ning Wang, as well as Qing Jin and Jing Wang. Both couples' wedding dates were set for next year, but Qing Yao and Ning Wang's date was slightly earlier because Ning Wang was marrying his main wife, whereas Qing Jin was only becoming Jing Wang's secondary consort.

  After the wedding date was set, the palace assigned a nanny to teach etiquette, who came every day to teach Qingjin and Qingyao some royal etiquette norms. Since Qingyao was the Ning Wangfei, the nanny assigned by the palace spent most of her time on Qingyao. As for Qingjin, this titled concubine, although she was also taught everything, it wasn't as meticulous as with Qingyao.

  As for the thoughts of these maids assigned by the palace, Qing Jin naturally detected them at the first time. However, because she had lived in the back house of the Wang Fu in her previous life, many rules and taboos were already familiar to her. Therefore, regarding the "lazy" behavior of these maids, not only did she not get angry, but she was also happy to cooperate.

  It was Qing Yao who noticed the behavior of these ayis and came to Qing Jin's courtyard one day.

  At this time, Qingjin was under the flowers in the courtyard. Since her marriage had been settled, and with the addition of the palace's nanny favoring Qingyao, Qingjin's days were spent leisurely. Looking at a white dress, she appeared elegant and refined, having gained a few more dignified and stately airs under the guidance of the palace nanny. Qingjin smiled faintly and said: "Fourth sister is getting prettier and prettier! How do you have time to come over today?" When Qingyao heard Qingjin's praise, she smiled warmly, appearing even more beautiful and elegant. She opened her mouth to say to Qingjin: "Second sister is teasing Yao'er, but in Yao'er's opinion, second sister is even more beautiful!" After saying this, she couldn't help but flicker her eyes, actually coming today with a showy attitude, knowing that the nanny valued herself more than second sister, and taught her more sincerely than second sister. She felt a bit guilty on one hand, but also felt it was only natural.

  These days, following the palace's etiquette rules, she felt a sense of rebirth. Yesterday, she just received her mother's praise, so she wanted to see how her second sister was doing. In fact, all these years, she had been somewhat inferior, and she would always remember when she first met her second sister, who was high above her, and those days in school, the teacher would always praise her second sister, while she could only secretly look up to her with admiration.

  Originally a city-toppling beauty, why pair with a twin-peaked flower? A generation's grandeur, why have you, and the grandeur is not unmatched in all eternity...

  Those years, when she hadn't returned to the capital city, in her father's and mother's eyes, among the handkerchiefs around her, she was always the most outstanding, the best. However, after returning to the capital city, she encountered a second sister who was even more beautiful and had something that made her feel inferior. At first, when she saw her second sister, she felt happy and excited, but this happiness and excitement disappeared when she and her second sister appeared together, and everyone's attention was focused on her second sister.

  In the past, she had studied and worked hard in order to one day surpass her second sister. However, when she accidentally overheard a servant in the mansion say that her second sister was the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Anji, while she was nothing, and would never be able to surpass her second sister in the future, she felt extremely distressed.

  Then the second sister had a fiancé, who was the nephew of her father's elder brother's wife and a young general at that time. She felt even more jealous of her second sister in her heart. When she thought she couldn't surpass her second sister in this life, the news of her father's rescue came back, and she was really overjoyed at that time.

  But this joy disappeared completely when she saw her second sister's fiancé, Brother Jun. He was such an outstanding person that she felt sour and wondered how her second sister could be so lucky?

  But thinking of recent events, Jun's brother was actually impersonated, and Second Sister was given to the King of Jing as a concubine, while she was the Queen of Ning. For so many years, I always felt that there was one thing that could surpass Second Sister, and without accident, she would be above Second Sister in the future. Thinking of this, Qingyao couldn't help but laugh...

  "Fourth sister... fourth sister... what are you thinking about?" Just as Qingyao was happily smiling, a voice called her back from this happiness.

  Qing Yao regained her composure and saw Qing Jin in front of her, then somewhat nervously opened her mouth to say: "Second sister, I just thought that being able to go from sisters to sisters-in-law with you would be quite delightful..."

  "Fourth sister is laughing, fourth sister is the formal wife of the sixth prince, I am just the concubine of the third prince, and fourth sister's sister-in-law is also the formal wife of the third prince, what turn is it for me?" Qing Jin heard Qing Yao's words and calmly opened her mouth to say.

  Qing Yao heard Qing Jin's words, and her heart was slightly delighted. She carefully opened her mouth to say: "How could that be? Even if we won't be sisters-in-law in the future, Second Sister will always be a good sister in Yao'er's heart. I hope you won't become distant with Yao'er from now on."

  When Qing Yao brought up this topic, Qing Jin smiled faintly and closed her mouth, instead asking Qing Yao: "I saw that Fourth Sister seemed to have something she wanted to tell me just now when she came in?"

  Qing Yao heard Qing Jin mention this topic and immediately thought of the purpose of coming to Qing Jin's place. With a guilty and apologetic look in her eyes, she spoke to Qing Jin: "Second sister, I'm here to apologize to you."

  "Apologize?" Qing Jin was puzzled by Qing Yao's words.

  "Second sister, it's not good for me, I'm stupid, and I've taken up all the time that Mother should be teaching you. Only yesterday did I hear someone say that Mother spent twice as much time teaching me as she did you..." Qing Yao said to Qing Jin with a sincere and apologetic expression.

  It's simply a blatant show-off, isn't it? Qing Jin suppressed her urge to roll her eyes heavenward.

  However, seeing Qing Yao's behavior of showing off whose toy is prettier like a little girl, Qing Jin rarely wanted to cooperate, just doing one good deed for the day. So she spoke to Qing Yao: "Fourth sister doesn't need to think this way, after all fourth sister will be married as the official wife, I and fourth sister are different, fourth sister learns more things than me, it's also right that nanny spends more time on fourth sister, I think it's good this way."