Shen Wanyan felt a tingling sensation in her wrist, and couldn't help but snort softly.

"My sister's new Kodan is very beautiful, I accidentally used some force, forgive me." Shen Qingyan's attitude was detached but not cold, although Shen Wanyan was a little strange, she couldn't find any reason, just when she had a little temper due to physical discomfort.

This little episode did not attract the attention of others, Shen Mingwei was still preoccupied, but Meng Ru's face was full of joy that could not be hidden.

"Light face, politely, tomorrow is the birthday of the third prince, and a birthday banquet was held in the palace. I didn't want you to come into contact with the people of the court too soon, but the Holy One has commanded you two to attend the birthday feast, and you should be careful in everything you do, and you must not lose your dignity. Shen Mingwei sighed and casually placed the teacup on the table. He was also a man of insight who was full of ambition to serve the country, but he entered this officialdom, even if he was in a high position and was appreciated, he was also uncomfortable for the darkness of this officialdom, he did not want his children to follow in his footsteps, only to ask them to spend their lives in peace and chic. How can Shen Qingchen be free and easy, but he has outstanding ability, and he is already a servant of the ministry before he is weak, and he has never paid attention to the affairs of men and women. So he focused on finding a good son-in-law for his two daughters, but now that this summons order has been issued in the palace, it is clearly to choose concubines for the princes, which is really heavenly.

"Rest assured by the father, the daughter will be cautious and will not overstep." Shen Qingyan knew his father's thoughts, and he also understood his worries. The emperor is old, and everyone knows that it is time to change the dynasty, but the prince fell into a stupid problem because he suffered from a serious illness when he was a child and was not treated in time, and the queen has already passed away. The battle for the throne is a time of turmoil, and if you marry a certain prince at this time, it is equivalent to standing in which camp.

Shen Mingwei looked at his daughter's smile, and felt sad for a moment, so he could only silently pray that his daughter would not be chosen. Meng Ru looked at the charming Shen Qingyan and the slightly light daughter on the side, her expression was a little unnatural, and she could only suppress the uneasiness in her heart, hoping that her daughter could be selected by the people in her heart. Shen Wanyan looked at Shen Mingwei and Shen Qingyan, who were in deep love between father and daughter, and the inferiority complex in her heart rose again, and she slowly clenched the hard chair handle. Shen Qingchen lowered his eyes lightly as usual, as if he was careless about everything, but he slowly reviewed a few princes in his heart.

Except for the occasional clash of teacups, there was silence in the room, and everyone had their own thoughts, except for the sunset on the horizon, which was rolling, showing a ghostly light, as if to indicate that everything had just begun.

In the early morning of the next day, everyone in the Shen Mansion got into the carriage to the palace. Although the formal birthday banquet is held at night, the real social interaction is during the day.

Shen Qingyan changed into a rose-red gauze dress, still unpowdered, and simply leaned into a bun, and her loose black hair lined her skin whiter than snow. He got into the carriage with Cui Wei, and leaned on the sedan chair to close his eyes and recuperate.

"Miss, are you really not going to make up some fat powder anymore? I see that the second lady is dressed up very grandly today. Cui Wei looked at Shen Qingyan with his eyes in his eyes, and finally couldn't help but speak.

Shen Qingyan remembered that Shen Wanyan, who was wearing a lake blue water skirt and carefully described the fat powder today, couldn't help but bend the corners of her mouth. Slowly opened his eyes and took a sip of the small snacks prepared on the carriage.

"Cuiwi, don't you have confidence in my face?"

"How could it be! Miss is the best-looking person Emerald has ever seen! ”

"Then why should I be defiled by the worldly things?" Shen Qingyan raised his eyebrows and smiled arrogantly.

The carriage gradually slowed down, and the majestic palace wall was already outside the window. Shen Qingyan got off the carriage along the stairs with the support of Cui Wei, and stood in front of the palace gate, with a deep look in his eyes. The last time I saw this red lacquer palace gate was after her father was arrested, she came to beg that person, but she was mercilessly thrown out of the palace gate by the guards, and she didn't even leave a word with her, embarrassed and humiliated.

Officials were not allowed to bring their own maidservants in the palace, so Cui Wei had to go back to the house with the car. Shen Qingyan followed Shen Qingchen, followed by Shen Wanyan, and entered the palace with Shen Mingwei and Meng Ru.

"Mingwei, come so early." Shen Qingyan raised his head when he heard the sound, and saw a face that was not angry and arrogant. The one who came to talk was Prime Minister Zhang Cheng, whose full name is Zhang Zuopeng, who was admitted to the civil and military champion with Shen Mingwei respectively, and supported each other for decades, which can be regarded as close friends. In the last life, the Shen Mansion was down, and Zhang Zuopeng also helped a lot, and Shen Qingyan was grateful to him.

"Zuopeng? Why are you alone? ”

"Lin Yue was a little unwell, so I asked Jinyu to stay at home to take care of her." Lin Yue is Zhang Zuopeng's original wife, the two have a deep love for flounder, and Zhang Zuopeng has never accepted other women in his life, which is enviable. The two have a daughter, named Zhang Jinyu, who is the same age as Shen Qingyan, but compared with Shen Qingyan, who is famous in Mucheng, no one has ever seen Zhang Jinyu's appearance. Today's statement that Zhang Zuopeng's wife is sick is probably just to avoid his daughter being accused of marriage.

"The light face has grown up and become more and more outstanding." Zhang Zuopeng saw Shen Qingyan turn his head, smiled and bent his eyes, and his serious face finally became a little angry. Compared with his appreciation of Shen Qingchen, he has always loved this smart and transparent best friend's daughter as his own daughter.

"Uncle Zhang is becoming more and more powerful, I don't know when I will come back and cook your favorite pastries with a light face." Shen Qingyan blessed Zhang Zuopeng and smiled brightly.

"Okay, Mingwei, I'm going to the house to bother me in the coming day, remember to pair it with good wine!" Zhang Zuopeng has always been informal, and laughed directly, if he hadn't taken care of being in the palace, he would probably have hooked up with Shen Mingwei at this time.

The group walked slowly along the alley, although it was in the middle of summer, because the hour was still early, and the heat was not up, it was also cool.

"Why did you change your sex after a sickness, didn't you like to socialize in the past, but today you are so eager for Uncle Zhang." Shen Qingchen looked at Zhang Zuopeng, who was chatting happily with Shen's father in front of him, and raised his eyebrows at Shen Qingyan on the side.

"You also said that I was ignorant before, and you didn't know how to mention it as a brother." Shen Qingyan didn't explain much, in his previous life, he was pretentious and high, and he had always disdained the matter of socializing with people and developing contacts, but he didn't want to be isolated after Shen's father was beheaded and Shen Qingchen was assassinated, if someone could reach out to help her, she would not end up with a tragic death.

"What my sister taught me is that I will reflect on my brother and remind you in the future." Shen Qingchen made a crooked gesture, and stretched out his hand to tap Shen Qingyan's forehead. He was relieved in his heart, his sister was good everywhere, but one thing was too naïve. Her father and himself protected her too well, so that she didn't know how to fight for it, but now she knows the world but not the world, which makes him feel a lot more relieved.

When they arrived at the main hall of hospitality, Shen Mingwei took Meng Ru and Shen Qingchen into the upper seat, but the positions of Shen Qingyan and Shen Wanyan were separated from them, and the two were welcomed into another wing room by the palace maid, and inside were the ladies of other mansions.

Shen Qingyan found his place and sat down, secretly thinking in his heart, the saint has made up his mind to take concubines for his son, firstly, some princes have indeed reached the marriageable age or the time to accept concubines, and secondly, the fundamental reason is that he hopes to use the power of marriage to balance the power between the princes, or rather, to add wings to the new prince candidate in his mind. Thinking of this, Shen Qingyan suddenly felt a little sad for the current prince, because of the uncontrollable loss of his mind due to illness, he couldn't choose to become someone else's puppet, and now when the oil ran out and the lamp was worthless, could he only become an outcast? Bloodless, interests first, is this the so-called most ruthless imperial family?

Looking at a room of pure or bewitching, quiet or cheerful warblers and swallows, beautiful women like clouds, Shen Qingyan suddenly felt a little breathless.

"Politely, I'll go out and breathe." symbolically informed Shen Wanyan, and went out regardless of the questions behind him.

The palace is magnificent, and every stone, grass, flower and bird in it is exquisite and exquisite. Between the strange and the strange, Shen Qingyan followed a secluded path and walked straight to the lake. The breeze gusted, blowing the surface of the lake to ripple thinly, rolling the water vapor attached to the surrounding flowers and plants, bringing a trace of coolness to this summer day, but it is a unique place to escape the heat.

Shen stared at the lake in a daze, and the depression in his chest could not be relieved. Even if you live a new life, can you really change that tragic fate with your own efforts alone? Shen Qingyan sighed, she was not sure. The grief of the tragic death of her loved ones in the previous life, the despair of being deeply humiliated, and the resentment of the betrayal of her beloved are still vivid, and now this scene of calm and calm on the surface but surging in the dark makes her understand that senseless kindness is just a wedding dress for her, ridiculous and sad.

A pebble breaks the peace of the lake and stirs up a bright splash of water, which shines like stars in the refraction of the sun. Shen Qingyan came back to his senses, and suddenly closed his eyes to remove the emotions in his eyes. Slowly turning around, the shadows flashed blue, and the surroundings fell silent again.

Shen Qingyan tilted his head, didn't pay much attention to this episode, and slowly returned to the wing.

"Sister, why did you come back?" Shen Wanyan came to Shen Qingyan's side affectionately, looking like a sister.

Shen Qingyan sat on the chair, picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, just missing Shen Wanyan's outstretched hand, which naturally made people unable to find fault.

Shen Wanyan's expression stiffened for a moment, but it quickly returned to normal, she didn't care what kind of eldest lady's temper Shen Qingyan was playing since yesterday, she had to show tolerance and generosity in front of everyone, because becoming that person's concubine was the most important thing in front of her, and at that time, the anger she received on Shen Qingyan today would be ten times more rewarding.

"Presumably, my sister is the first beauty in Mucheng, Miss Shen Qingyan." Shen Qingyan raised her head when she heard this, the woman in front of her was dressed in a red gauze dress, which made her skin white and snowy, a pair of willow eyebrows were bent just right, her watery eyes were like talking with light, her lips were red and her teeth were white, and her face was smiling, which was very endearing.

Shen Qingyan looked at this familiar face, and remembered that this was Zhao Mengtong, the daughter of Shangshu Zhao Yan, in the previous life, she was accepted by the third prince as a concubine, and the two fell in love at first sight. After the death of the emperor, the three princes, who had no intention of politics, reported to the government for self-protection, considered themselves to have cut off the royal bloodline, became a commoner, and traveled the world with his wife, living a very happy life.

"My sister is overrated." Shen Qingyan smiled slightly, she admired Zhao Mengtong, a woman with a temperament.

"How can it be an exaggeration, I have visited various countries with my father since I was a child, and I have seen all kinds of beauties, but my sister's appearance and temperament are the most outstanding." Zhao Mengtong didn't care whether he would offend people, so he expressed his praise so aggressively.

Shen Qingyan stroked his forehead helplessly, since entering this room, those eyes of envy or jealousy are not felt by himself, such a straightforward praise is the only one, as soon as the other party's words come out, I am afraid that there are many more people behind his back who are looking forward to falling to pieces, Shen Qingyan doesn't know whether he should cry or laugh.