Chapter 444

After dinner, Lin Feilu returned to the Yong An Palace with the novel she hadn't finished reading. Rolling around on the dragon bed or anything similar could wait. After all, she hadn't really prepared herself for activities that would be inevitably intimate.

Originally, Lin Feilu thought that Song Jinglan would not let her go. Ultimately, anything he would touch was already done while they were in the carriage. But upon seeing her sneaky appearance, he just smiled and told her to rest well, not saying anything more.

Lin Feilu slept well on her first night upon arriving at the Song Empire. The environment around her bore detailed similarities to the Mingyue Palace and essentially brought her peace of mind. After getting up the next day, she heard from Shixia that His Majesty came over once in the early hours of dawn to ask if she was sleeping well.

Knowing that she was asleep, he left again.

The Ministry of Rites and the Civil Service Minister have already started preparing for the Empress's Ascension Ceremony and the official wedding ceremony. In just one day, the news that His Majesty would marry Princess Yong An as the Empress spread throughout Lincheng.

The Empress Dowager, who lived in the Chonghua Palace, heard about this and broke her dishes in shock.

After a long while, the Empress Dowager, who still looked enchanting despite being more than middle-aged, ordered the palace servants in a deep voice, "Relay my order and summon Princess Yong An here."

Song Jinglan had been on the road for many days, and the daily morning courts were put on hold for a long time, so he went to court before the crack of dawn today.

Lin Feilu had her breakfast and planned to continue her one-day tour of the Song Empire's imperial palace. As soon as she stepped out of the palace gates, she received a summons to the Empress Dowager's palace.

Both Tingchun and Shixia looked a little nervous. They knew why the Empress Dowager would summon the Princess at this time, and they were worried that it wouldn't turn out well for her. Songyu asked in a low voice, "Princess, should I invite His Majesty?"

Lin Feilu waved her hands casually, "No need. You can help switch a cage for Xiaobai; it seems a bit too small. Tingchun and Shixia can accompany me to visit the Empress Dowager."

The trio received their orders as Lin Feilu went out, accompanied by the two servants of the Song Empire.

The Chonghua Palace was located on the edge of the imperial palace, and it took almost half an hour to get there by foot. Lin Feilu happened to enquire about the Empress Dowager on the way. Even though Tingchun and Shixia entered the palace when they were only in their early 20's, they didn't personally experience the incident that happened before. Therefore, they knew and relayed all the information to her was hearsay.

Shixia said in a low voice, "Because there were many Concubines in the previous Emperor's harem, although the Empress Dowager was one of the four Consorts, she was not very favoured. Later, His Majesty was selected as a hostage and sent to the Great Lin Empire as the Empress Dowager lived even more reclusively in the palace. When we first entered the palace, we almost never saw the Empress Dowager. In fact, she didn't show up until His Majesty returned to the country a few years ago."

Tingchun took over the conversation, "But the relationship between His Majesty and the Empress Dowager is not close. His Majesty seldom goes to the Chonghua Palace and he ignores all the Concubines that the Empress Dowager selected to enter the palace. Once, His Majesty ordered one of them to be killed with a cane. That Concubine was a noble daughter chosen by the Empress Dowager's maternal clan to enter the palace. Technically, she was even His Majesty's cousin."