The empress dowager listened to Ning Xuan's lamentations, and wave after wave of anger attacked her heart.

  Gu Jinzhi's words "not dare" at that time were not exaggerated in the slightest.

  These people in Ning's family, when they were cured, said that Gu Zhenzhi was trying to curry favor with them; and when the medicine took effect a bit slowly, they said that Gu Zhenzhi was playing tricks on them.

  How can this be!

  The empress dowager slammed the Yuyao tea bowl on the case table to the ground and shouted: "Foolish thing, who can drink medicine for a moment or two and get better? At first, Miss Gu's prescription said it would take a few days to be effective?"

  Ning Xuan had never seen the Empress Dowager lose her temper like this before.

  The Empress Dowager was rarely angry and was particularly close to her niece and nephew from her mother's family.

  Ning Xuan only regarded the Empress Dowager as her aunt, but forgot that the Empress Dowager was also Gu Jin's future mother-in-law.

  Gu Zhizhi cured the stubborn illness of Empress Dowager, and also took good care of Luoyang Wang who was intelligent and sensible. The Empress Dowager both loved and was grateful to her.

  And what about Ning's family? Besides being the Empress Dowager's blood brother and loving to cause trouble, what else have they done?

  Originally, both palms were meat, and Empress Dowager let Gu Jin go to save Ning Xue, which was already a dilemma.

  Gu Xun was wronged and didn't know how to speak up, it's really pitiful; Ning's family wasn't grateful, instead they looked down on Gu Xun everywhere.

  Gao Lidi suddenly appeared, and Ning's family was instantly overshadowed by Gu Jinzhi.

  The balance in the empress dowager's heart had completely tipped.

  Ning's family repeatedly picked on Gu Jingzhi's shortcomings, and the Empress Dowager's patience was also exhausted, unable to bear scolding Ning Xuan.

  Ning Xuan's crying suddenly stopped.

  She was startled, her back felt a bit chilly, and she stared blankly, unsure of how to respond.

  "How many days?" The Empress's voice rose again, becoming even more stern.

  Ning Xuan was so frightened that she almost died, and hastily knelt down to kowtow, stuttering: "It... it's a month..."

  "Has the month arrived?" The empress dowager asked sternly.

  Ning Xuan started crying again and didn't dare respond.

  "Has it been a month already?" The empress's voice was even higher now.

  Ning Xuan's gallbladder was scared to pieces. Crying, she said: "Still... still haven't..."

  "There's no evidence, how do you know Fangzi is useless?" The empress dowager shouted angrily, "You said that Miss Gu's family was playing tricks on you, where is the evidence? Without solid proof, you dare to come to the palace and deceive me. You are guilty of deceiving the emperor!"

  Ning Xuan's body suddenly went limp and fell to the ground.

  She kowtowed: "Empress Dowager Auntie, you see that I was ignorant in my youth... and will never dare to do it again."

  Then cried almost fainting.

  The empress dowager hummed heavily and stood up, sweeping her sleeves as she entered the inner palace, ordering Chang Shun to drive Ning Xuan out.

  Scolded Ning Xuan severely, the empress dowager was still furious.

  She finally understood Gu Jin's feelings.

  Such people are unreasonable and only think of themselves. When others treat them well, it's just to fawn on them; when treated poorly, it's jealousy that wants to harm them.

  How can this be!

  The empress dowager was severely angered by Ning Xuan, and it wasn't until Sheng Gu Gu persuaded her repeatedly that her mood gradually calmed down.

  "...children should not be spoiled." The empress said to Sheng's aunt, sighing and saying, "If it weren't for the fact that our family had many sisters when we were young, and only one brother, our parents wouldn't have spoiled him so much. And later, they were afraid he would feel wronged, so they specially chose a gentle and soft wife for him."

  His wife, with a beautiful appearance and a gentle disposition, was also filial. At that time, everyone in the family praised her. It wasn't until more than ten years later that her shortcomings began to appear: he was held high by everyone, and no one dared to look down on him. Whoever showed kindness was just trying to curry favor with him. And his wife was overly virtuous, unable to manage her husband or teach their children, only being weak and timid.

  "In the past, nothing was wrong. I couldn't see Xiang's personality either. Now I know that she and my brother are cut from the same mold. They won't amount to much."

  The imperial concubine smiled and handed a slice of hami melon to the empress dowager with her silver chopsticks, coaxing her to eat some, not daring to interrupt.

  "...the palace has no empress, the eldest and second princesses are all brought up by the imperial concubines, will they also be raised to have a temperament like that of Xiang's sister in the future?" The Empress Dowager thought of the Emperor's two daughters.

  Those two princesses, one was born of Consort Su and the other was born of Consort Zhang.

  "The Empress Dowager asked Sheng Concubine, 'Tomorrow I will tell the Emperor to bring the two princesses to my side to raise and teach them. Will the Emperor agree?'"

  The princesses and princes in the palace all have fixed rules.

  Everyone is born with a palace, and each person has a set of palace attendants serving them.

  The Empress Dowager raised the princesses personally, which has never happened in this dynasty before.

  The Empress Dowager did not dare to raise the eldest prince, fearing that in the future courtiers would say he was raised by a woman.

  It doesn't matter to Princess Gao.

  "How can I disagree?" Empress Dowager Cheng smiled and said, "The eldest princess is only three years old, the second princess is only one and a half years old, you will have to work hard again. The Emperor is very filial, I'm afraid he's worried about you..."

  "The Empress Dowager has already made up her mind. She smiled and said, 'I have decided to bring the two princesses to Kunning Palace to personally teach them, so they will both turn out well in the future.'"

  The elder sister-in-law could only smile and say okay.

  When the Emperor came to pay his respects in the evening, the Empress Dowager told him about this matter: "...... I'm afraid those palace maids will spoil her two sisters. Now one is only three years old and the other is one and a half years old, it's the best time to teach them well. Since there is no Empress in the palace, I couldn't let her two sisters be raised by the hands of palace people."

  The emperor thought that in the Kunning Palace, with hundreds of palace people up and down, it was not necessary for the empress dowager to really serve her sisters at meals and dressing, but just to amuse herself when she had nothing better to do.

  Like Second Princess, she was born when Empress Dowager was ill and had hardly seen her.

  "Very well," said the Emperor. "Tomorrow, let's take a look at the almanac and choose a good day to bring them over and raise them. Mother, do you want to add some more palace maids to serve them?"

  "It's alright, it's alright." The Empress Dowager said happily, finally putting aside the unpleasantness Ning Xuan had brought, "As long as the Emperor has agreed, I will take care of the rest myself. Your Majesty doesn't need to worry at all."

  The emperor said okay.

  ——*——*——*——

  On Gu's side, Gu Jinzhi and Zhu Zhongjun, Huan'ge were all in their mother's main courtyard, coaxing the two younger brothers to play.

  Song Pan'er couldn't bear to part with the child, and as his full moon was approaching, she didn't even mention letting them live in separate courtyards, but instead had everyone stay in her warm pavilion.

  Gu Jinzhi held Little Ten, Song Mama held Little Eleven, and they went into the inner room to show them to Song Pantou.

  Gu Yanzhong is also here.

  He and Song Dang'er discussed the name of their child.

  "... At that time, Brother Chen was born. A Taoist fortune teller said that the five elements lacked wood and also had a solitary grave in the Kun position, which might harm his mother. He needed to use the Zhen position to suppress it. The Zhen position belongs to wood and is just right for protecting the Kun position. At that time, Eldest Sister gave birth to Brother Chen and suffered greatly. Eldest Brother believed the Taoist's words and gave him the name 'Chen', without using the jade radical..."

  The two sons, Qingge and Huange, were born after their mother's death. To ward off the inauspiciousness, they took the character "Qing" to suppress the evil spirit. Now, these two children do not lack the five elements, nor are there other considerations, but rather follow the jade radical. Should we give them another character?" Gu Yanwen asked Song Dang'er.

  Song Pan'er smiled and said: "Since there's no taboo, let's use the jade character."

  Gu Yanzhun hastily brought over the several characters he had previously selected and showed them to Song Pan'er: "Yu, resembling jade, with the ancient phrase 'yu bi ke cheng qi' (jade cup can be made into a vessel); Yu, implying a gentleman's self-strengthening without cease; Xin, meaning beautiful pearl without flaw, perfect in every way..."

  He said in one breath "Ju, Chen, Di, Duo, Jian, Qi, Qi, Li, Lian, Liu, and Mei" more than a dozen words, each with its origin and meaning.

  Song Paner and others listened with a smile as he spoke.

  "More careful than when you're writing an essay." Song Xuer teased him, then also started selecting seriously.

  It's always better than before, after all, I think the first three words are the best.

  "Yu, Xin..." Song Pan'er thought for a moment. "Let's just use these two. I find them the easiest to pronounce."

  Gu Yanwen smiled and said: "I also like these few words, so I put them at the beginning."

  Everyone laughed.

  So Xiaoshi got the name "Gu Yu" and Xiao Shi got the name "Gu Xuan". The whole family happily changed their names.

  When the two children were full moon, Song Pan'er came out of her confinement, and the ban in the city was also lifted.

  Inviting relatives and friends for a three-day banquet, asked Mrs. Zhang and her two sisters-in-law to help with the arrangements.

  On that day, all relatives in Beijing who had a slight connection with him received invitations.

  There were also many distant relatives of the Gu family who rarely came into contact with each other, but they all came to join in the excitement.

  Everyone wants their children to be held and blessed with good luck.

  My second and fourth elder female cousins who are married also came.

  Second sister is much older than Gu Jin.

  When Gu Jin was two years old, her second elder sister had already married out and is now the eldest daughter-in-law of the Chuan Ning Bo household, helping her mother-in-law with the household chores. She gave birth to two sons within three years after entering the door, and everyone flattered the great madam, putting the second elder sister and Song Daner together in praise, saying they were both blessed.

  There are still people who ask with a tone of schadenfreude: "Has your family's second mistress arrived? It's been a long time since we've seen her."

  The second wife will certainly not come.

  She's coming, Gu Jing is going to be furious.

  Sanfang never came when there was something to be done on her side; and when there was something to be done on the other side, Song Wan'er didn't go either. The two sisters-in-law really became enemies.

  On her birthday, the Empress Dowager ordered Eunuch Chang to send over two pure gold longevity locks.

  Song Pan'er went out of the courtyard to receive the imperial edict and led the gifts back, after which the eyes of her relatives almost blazed with envy.

  Song Pan'er was even more pleased with herself.

  Gu Jin still lazy as ever, pretending to be a kid in the back, doesn't care about anything, just sits around eating and drinking.

  Song Pan'er didn't expect much from her either.

  After sitting in the front for a while and listening to half of the play, Gu Jinzhi took a shortcut back to the main courtyard, wanting to go see Yu Ge'er and Xian Ge'er.

  The corridor around is a fake hill.

  It saves a lot of road by flipping over from the fake mountain.

  Gu Jin generally just flips, only for physical exercise.

  She had just climbed up the artificial hill when she heard a low sobbing sound coming from the cave below.

  "Go, tell Eldest Maternal Aunt to come!" Gu Jinzhi heard the voice of Third Sister-in-law Xia Shi. "This is unbearable! The people in our branch are unreliable, and there's still the main house. What kind of humble origins does the Gu family have?"

  "It's a happy day, let's just forget it." Another voice choked and said, "Let's talk about it next time."

  She is my fourth sister who just got married a few months ago.

  ——*——*——

  Third update seeking pink votes!!

  Thank you for the rewards from xiao迷shuo, 老君新华路730, 熱戀^^, sudaez and enya2013.