My Princess Has Been Reborn: Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – The criteria for choosing a prince consort

Qi Yang was not joking about taking her as her prince consort. About bringing her back, she was not joking either.

The carriage entered the city and travelled towards the imperial palace —— Lu Qipei had been constrained within Qi Yang’s carriage. Even if she wanted to leave, she could not. Thus, just like this, she was taken to the imperial palace with Qi Yang. Although the number of imperial bodyguards and palace maids who had seen Lu Qipei get pulled onto the carriage was not small, everyone had good sense and knew what to say, as well as what not to.

As the carriage entered the palace walls, Lu Qipei could see the magnificence of the imperial palace from far. She still felt a bit like she was in a trance. She had never thought that she would bump into Qi Yang during her escape and it was even more unexpected that Qi Yang would bring her into the imperial palace. However, a result like this could have its benefits.

At least, before the imperial examination, it would be impossible for the Lu family to find her…

Lu Qipei could only comfort herself like this. Then when she looked at Qi Yang, who had not once stopped beaming, she just wanted to sigh helplessly.

Having entered the palace, the carriage was changed to a sedan. Qi Yang pulled Lu Qipei along to ride the same sedan, then the sedan travelled to Qi Yang’s place of residence, the Jingchen Palace.

At this moment, Lu Qipei herself did not notice that she was still being affected by the previous life. Because she trusted Qi Yang, she could stay on her carriage with her heart at ease and she had not really had the intention to devise a plan to escape. It was also because she felt remorseful towards Qi Yang that she did not even think about how the consequences of such a serious crime like secretly entering the palace would be hers to shoulder.

Regarding what would happen after this day, Lu Qipei had not thought about it yet as Qi Yang’s appearance had messed up all of her plans. She also had a gut feeling that the little princess would affect her plans much more than this.

Of course it would be much more than this, after all, Qi Yang had not yet thought about letting her go!

As the two of them entered Jingchen Palace, in her own palace, Qi Yang was not worried about anything and openly helped Lu Qipei down the sedan. She led her into the main hall, “Stay here first. As long as you don’t go out of Jingchen Palace, you can go anywhere inside here.”

Lu Qipei looked at Qi Yang’s back with a complicated expression. Hearing this, she could not help but blurt out the words that she had kept in her heart for the whole journey, “Your Highness, is it really okay for you to so carelessly bring someone back to the palace?” How did she not notice before that the princess was so headstrong and unguarded?!

Qi Yang had her back facing Lu Qipei as she was leading the way. At Lu Qipei’s words, she could almost imagine the confused and helpless expression on her face. The corner of her lips quirked up as she turned her head to face Lu Qipei. She smilingly told that worried person, “This is not careless, you’re not just anyone.”

Lu Qipei wanted to say that they had just met today and she had been ‘forcefully taken’ from the roadside, how was this not careless?

Sadly, before she could speak, it was as though Qi Yang had seen through her intentions and Qi Yang quickly replied in a serious tone, “I have already said that we suit each other well and you should be my prince consort!”

Hearing this again, Lu Qipei did not know whether to laugh or to cry. However, when the palace staff around them heard this, they were all extremely shocked. Tens of pairs of eyes instantly landed on Lu Qipei —— all frightened, suspecting, critical and dissatisfied. Not one was kind.

Lu Qipei was being stared at so much that she felt a chill run down her spine. Only when Qi Yang turned her head to take a glance at them did they then stop staring. However, there were still a few secret peeks at her and Lu Qipei’s sharp senses could feel them. All this made her head hurt.

Qi Yang was not worried about anything. She could admit that her younger self had been innocent but she was not short of power. At the very least, her Jingchen Palace was completely under her control. Thus, she easily brought Lu Qipei into the main hall but before she could make any arrangements, a palace staff from outside had come to summon her. The emperor had heard that his daughter had returned to the palace in advance and out of worry, he sent a servant to summon her so he could ask her about it.

Left with no choice, Qi Yang could only hastily give some instructions before leaving. She had also left the arrangements for Lu Qipei’s room to Zhi Ting.

Only after Princess Qi Yang had left with the palace staff did Zhi Ting return to her senses and finally size Lu Qipei up. She admitted that the person was good-looking and even the ragged clothes could not cover this person’s elegance. However, her princess would never choose someone based on their looks. Why was this person she met on the roadside an exception?!

Zhi Ting went in front of Lu Qipei and after thinking about it, asked, “Young Master Lu, have you met Her Highness before?”

She always felt that the atmosphere between the two was a bit strange, as though they were somewhat familiar with each other.

Lu Qipei thought: We have met before but that was in the previous life. Thus, she shook her head and said, “Today is the first time I’ve met her.”

When Zhi Ting heard this, she could not help but show a confused expression, “Then why does Her Highness suddenly want this young master to be her prince consort?” Then, afraid that Lu Qipei would misunderstand, she hurriedly added, “Her Highness has always been good and pure, she has never had secretive romantic relations with others!”

At her words, Lu Qipei smiled bitterly and her eyes were full of helplessness, “I do not know.”

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Only in the past few days had Qi Yang been able to leave the palace. With much difficulty, she had managed to convince the emperor to let her go alone to the imperial hot springs in the west mountains. Wanting to soak in the hot springs was a secondary reason, the main reason was that she had been tired of staying inside the palace and wanted to go to the west mountains to relax.

The journey had originally been set to be half a month long but Qi Yang had only been away from the palace for two days. Calculating the time, this meant that she had just reached the place and then immediately left. She obviously had not relaxed or even soaked in the hot springs before rushing back so it was no wonder that the emperor would want to ask about it.

But could Qi Yang tell her father that just this morning, she had been reborn after seven years?

Of course not!

Though as she saw how the emperor, who was much younger now, still doted on her so much, she felt very emotional, at this moment, facing the emperor’s questioning, she could only find an excuse to patronise him, “Last night, this daughter dreamt that Father had fallen sick and felt worried this morning so this daughter returned home in advance.”

Only Qi Yang would dare to say something like this. After all, these words were like cursing the emperor to fall sick. If it was someone else who said it, they would be suspected of having ulterior motives. However, people’s hearts could be biased and coincidentally, the emperor had caught a slight cold the previous night so he had felt a bit ill this morning. At this moment, at Qi Yang’s words, he only felt that their hearts were connected. Moreover, Qi Yang had rushed back from the west mountains for this so he found his daughter to be extremely filial.

Hence, the emperor laughed when he heard what she had said and even comforted her, “My child has worried too much, Father’s body is alright. I caught a bit of a cold last night but after taking some medication, I’m fine now. My child does not need to worry.”

Qi Yang quickly responded with a few words, then reminded the servants by the emperor’s side to take note of the weather and take care of the emperor’s daily needs.

These reminders were actually completely unnecessary as the servants took care of the emperor even more carefully than Qi Yang did. However, such care and concern made the emperor feel even closer to Qi Yang. Although the father and daughter had not exchanged more than a few words, the atmosphere lifted considerably.

Coincidentally, at this moment, the emperor suddenly said, “This daughter is already sixteen, it is about time to look for a prince consort.”

Upon hearing this, Qi Yang froze because in the previous life, at this moment she had still been at the hot springs and only after returning did she learn that the emperor had fallen sick. Even so, not once had she heard the emperor say something like this. Her thoughts were stirred but they soon settled and pretending to be shy, she lowered her head and said, “This daughter is still young, why did Father suddenly bring this up?”

Seeing her like this, the emperor could not help but laugh again. He teased her a bit before saying, “You are old enough now, and as the saying goes, a hundred families beg for one family’s daughter. The number of people in this court thinking about you is not small.” He paused for a moment, then continued, “Coincidentally, the imperial examination will be held this year and the country’s talents will be gathered together. From there, a good husband can be chosen for the princess.”

When the emperor paused, Qi Yang had instantly understood his intentions already. Her father did not want her to marry into a high-ranking noble’s family but rather a young man who could score well in the imperial examination.

If it were someone else who was less tactful, they would most likely think that the emperor was being unpleasant for not letting his daughter marry into the family of a high-ranking noble and insisting that she marry into a poor family instead.

However, the most important point was that the emperor did not want his little daughter to be involved in the whirlpool of politics. The best choice a father could make for his daughter was to let her have a happy and peaceful life. It was a pity that in her past life, Qi Yang had been taken advantage of and in the end, she was not able to die a good death…

In a short moment, Qi Yang had thought a lot and eventually she thought of Lu Qipei who was currently in the palace so she pulled the emperor’s sleeve and requested, “Father can choose but leave the ultimate choice of the prince consort to this daughter.”

The emperor knew she had understood his intentions and was also happy that she was obedient. He smiled and patted her head, saying, “Oh, now you’re not shy about the matter of the prince consort?” After teasing her, he said “However, originally, the prince consort is chosen for the princess and it’s only good if you like him so Father promises you that when the time comes, you can choose him yourself.”

Qi Yang happily responded affirmatively and started telling the emperor about her criteria for her prince consort without an ounce of shame —— anyway it was just completely based on Lu Qipei —— and at the same time, she was still making plans. This time, without using Lu Qicheng’s identity, could Lu Qipei still take part in the imperial examination and show off her extraordinary talent, coming out first again?

The author has something to say:
Emperor (discussing): My child, what do you think about choosing a prince consort from the successful candidates in this imperial examination?
Qi Yang (delighted): Sure enough, my prince consort and I are a match made in heaven! Even if we had not met in advance, this number one scholar would still have been mine!!!
Lu Qipei (weakly reminding): Your Highness, other than the number one scholar, there’s still second and third place…

PS: At any rate, Little Lu still needs a presentable identity, otherwise how could she have the right to be the prince consort? So she pretty much still has to take part in the imperial examination but we’ll talk about how she gets there later