bayedsolid Chapter 71 Adopted Daughter
Chapter 71 Adopted Daughter
At this moment, none of the Xiao family members knew the truth, except for Qiao Qingshu.
In this life, Qiao Qingshu, standing from God's perspective, is curious to see how Consort Xiande will react when she sees her own son.
Consort Xiande sat at the head of the main hall, while the sons and daughters of the four branches of the Xiao family stood below. The Consort summoned them one by one and bestowed upon them gifts.
The first one was Xiao Chengyan. Consort Xiande smiled calmly, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then waved for him to leave.
However, when Xiao Zhijie received his reward, Consort Xiande's eyes faintly held tears and reluctance.
Qiao Qingshu thought she was seeing things, but when she tried to take a closer look, the Imperial Concubine's expression had already returned to normal.
Qiao Qingshu frowned slightly, wondering what was going on.
Before I could think any further, I heard the eunuch outside the door shout loudly,
"Prepare the meal."
The Xiao family almost completely renovated the Xiao residence for the Imperial Concubine's visit home. All the flowers, plants, and rockeries in the garden were transported from Jiangnan, and the pavilions and waterside terraces inside were exquisite and unique.
Today's lunch will be prepared in the garden.
To allow the imperial concubine to appreciate the scenery of the garden more directly, the eldest son of the Xiao family even prepared a flower boat for her to travel by.
Eight palace maids and six eunuchs helped the imperial concubine onto the flower boat, and they slowly rowed away.
The imperial concubine sat gracefully among the crowd, enjoying the scenery as she walked.
The crowd followed along the shore, all praising the eldest son of the Xiao family for his clever idea.
As the imperial concubine admired the scenery, the crowd was also able to catch a glimpse of her unparalleled beauty.
Master Xiao said smugly to the second, third, and fourth masters beside him,
"Look at our imperial concubine, sitting in the flower boat, she looks like a fairy by the water."
The Second Master chuckled faintly, but the others did not speak up in agreement.
Qiao Qingshu walked at the back of the crowd, her eyes nervously fixed on the flower boat. She knew that the imperial concubine's flower boat would be in trouble, but she also knew that someone would come to her rescue.
Despite the commotion, everything turned out alright in the end, so Qiao Qingshu didn't want to get involved in the cause and effect.
But Qiao Qingshu couldn't resist searching the crowd for the Xiao family maid who had rescued the imperial concubine.
The maid of the Xiao family, whose real name was Qiu Rui, became the imperial concubine's goddaughter after rescuing her, and later became Prince Yu's concubine.
Qiao Qingshu later became close friends with Qiu Ruier.
At this moment, she couldn't help but search for Qiu Rui's figure in the crowd.
Then they saw Qiu Rui standing by the lake with her head bowed, serving along with the other maids of the Xiao family.
Liu Wan'er was standing behind Qiu Rui, staring at her with a sinister expression.
Qiao Qingshu was immediately terrified and broke out in a cold sweat, realizing that something terrible was about to happen!
Just as I was about to call out to Qiu Rui, I saw the flower boat on the lake start to rock violently.
The palace maids inside the boat screamed, and several of them lost their balance and fell into the lake.
Seeing that Consort Xiande was swaying and about to fall into the lake, it was clear that Consort Xiande was about to fall into the lake.
Liu Wan'er, who was already standing by the lake, pushed Qiu Rui away and rushed into the lake, using her body to stabilize the flower boat.
The swaying boat finally stabilized, and the Consort's terrified expression gradually softened. In the end, she looked at Liu Wan'er with an expression of great appreciation and approval.
The people on the shore were already terrified, and the back of the old man from the Xiao family was instantly soaked with cold sweat.
If Consort Xiande were to accidentally fall into the lake during her visit home, he would surely lose his head, and the Xiao family would be in grave danger!
Fortunately, it was a false alarm. He lost all interest in showing off and quickly ordered his men to jump into the lake, stabilize the boat, and slowly move it to the shore.
The Imperial Concubine emerged after changing her clothes, her face now composed and calm.
"Bring that woman up here."
Overwhelmed with excitement, Liu Wan'er happily stepped forward and kowtowed in greeting.
When Madam Xing saw that it was Liu Wan'er who had rescued the imperial concubine, she was so startled that her brows furrowed sharply. She pinched Xiao Chengyan beside her and scolded him in a low voice.
"You brat, did you bring her in? Are you out of your mind? On a day like this, you dare to bring this little hussy here!"
Xiao Chengyan frowned and argued,
“Mother, I haven’t seen her for half a month. Why bring her here? Today is my aunt’s visit home, which is a big event. Even if I’m ignorant, I’m not so clueless as to not understand this principle.”
Consort Xiande smiled gracefully.
"You deserve credit for stabilizing the pleasure boat today. Tell me, what reward do you want?"
Liu Wan'er's heart nearly leaped out of her chest with joy. She mimicked Qiu Rui's words from her past life, saying...
"This lowly servant has no other wish than that Your Highness the Imperial Concubine may live on for a thousand years and that your beauty and grace may endure forever."
After hearing Qiu Rui's words, the former imperial concubine was in a great mood and immediately took Qiu Rui as her goddaughter.
Consort Xiande smiled, a look of joy on her face.
"You have a pretty face and a pleasant voice. You even protected me. How about I take you in as my goddaughter?"
Liu Wan'er's eyes lit up instantly! Overwhelmed with emotion, she burst into tears.
She had been waiting for this moment!
He hurriedly bowed and knelt down to express his gratitude, when he heard a familiar voice.
"Your Highness, this is absolutely not allowed."
The voice was clear and bright, echoing throughout the large main hall, causing everyone in the Xiao family to look in the direction of the sound.
Qiao Qingshu slowly emerged from the deepest part of the crowd and bowed respectfully.
The Imperial Concubine frowned, her eyes drawn to the complete set of crimson gold jewelry adorning Qiao Qingshu's hair.
The Imperial Concubine almost blurted out a surprised exclamation.
"Are you Qiao Qingshu, the daughter of the Bai family?"
Qiao Qingshu lowered her head and nodded in agreement.
Before Consort Xiande entered the palace, she and Bai Chanzi of the Bai family were close friends for many years and had a very good relationship. Later, when Bai Chanzi got married, Xiao Zhiwei specially commissioned someone to make this whole set of red gold necklace headdress as a dowry for Bai Chanzi.
However, not long after, Xiao Zhiwei entered the palace as a lady-in-waiting and could no longer leave the palace, so the two gradually lost contact.
When the Imperial Concubine first heard of Bai Chanzi's death, she was secretly saddened for a long time. Now, seeing this set of red-gold necklace and headdress, she was both surprised and delighted to find that it belonged to Bai Chanzi's daughter. She felt an extraordinary sense of closeness to her.
The Imperial Concubine waved her hand affectionately and said,
"Come up to me and let me take a good look at you."
Looking at Qiao Qingshu, who resembled Bai Chanzi so much, especially her phoenix eyes, which were almost identical.
The Imperial Concubine was overwhelmed with memories of the past, her eyes reddened, and she was filled with emotion. She took Qiao Qingshu's hand and asked her in detail about her age and whether she was old enough to study.
Qiao Qingshu brought this set of jewelry today on purpose, hoping that the Imperial Concubine would remember her past relationship with her mother and help her out.
After a long while, the Imperial Concubine finally came to her senses and gently looked at Qiao Qingshu, asking,
"Why did you just say that it's absolutely impossible?"
Qiao Qingshu smiled and pointed to Liu Wan'er kneeling on the ground, explaining...
"Your Highness, you may not know this, but Liu Wan'er is my cousin. She recently made a secret vow to marry the second brother of the Xiao family. If you take her in as your goddaughter, wouldn't that make you siblings?"
The Imperial Concubine frowned, a hint of displeasure on her face.
She knew about Qiao Qingshu and Xiao Chengyan's marriage, which was arranged by the old master many years ago, and everyone in the Xiao family knew about it.
Where did this cousin come from? She actually got engaged to Xiao Chengyan.
The Imperial Concubine couldn't help but glance at Liu Wan'er with a contemptuous expression, clearly displeased.
The Imperial Concubine looked sternly at Madam Xing, whose face was grim, and asked...
"Is it really true?"