Chapter 619: The Demon Lord Princess's Slacking Daily Life Chapter 712: Dongying Guo's Subsequent Development

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Protagonist:

Yan Qianqian

Liu Jin extended her hands toward the carriage interior, calling out gently, "Xiao Jing'er, come quickly, let Grandmother hold you down from the carriage~" Hearing her grandmother's voice, Xiao Jing'er responded excitedly, "Coming, coming!" And immediately afterward, she eagerly threw herself into Liu Jin's warm embrace.

Meanwhile, Shangguan Peilin followed closely behind Xiao Jing'er, stepping down from the carriage steadily.

At this time, An Wangfei had already been waiting for a long while. She stepped forward quickly, grasped Liu Jin's hand tightly, and greeted her with a face full of enthusiasm: "Princess Consort, you have truly had a hard journey all the way! Please, quickly come inside the residence to rest a moment. Look at this little fellow, he's grown even sturdier! Holding him for a while is tiring too; why not put him down and let him walk on his own?"

Liu Jin waved her hand, indicating it was no trouble, just treating it as exercise.

Having said that, An Wangfei led the way in front, guiding everyone toward the front hall.

Along the way, An Wangfei still did not forget to instruct Chunxi to go visit Qianqian, to see if she had already recovered; if she no longer felt unwell, have her come to the front hall to meet the guests.

After all, with guests visiting, it would be somewhat impolite for Qianqian to stay in her room the whole time without showing her face.

The group soon arrived at the front hall and all took their seats. Afterward, servants swiftly served tea, fruit, and exquisite pastries. For a moment, the entire front hall was filled with laughter and cheerful voices, everyone chatting very happily.

At this time, Chunxi hurriedly arrived at Qianji Yuan. Upon entering the garden, she discovered Qianqian was still immersed in a sweet dreamland.

So, Chunxi turned to Mantou beside her and instructed softly: "Hurry and wake Miss up! There are distinguished guests visiting the household, and we'll be having lunch soon." After giving the instructions, Chunxi turned and left.

Mantou did not dare to be negligent, and hurriedly walked quickly into the bedroom, preparing to wake Qianqian. Although Qianqian was sleeping soundly at this moment, upon hearing someone calling her to get up, she still reluctantly opened her eyes.

Though extremely unwilling in her heart, thinking that today it was indeed not appropriate to continue lazing in bed, she still forced her spirits up and slowly climbed up from the bed.

After tidying up slightly, Qianqian walked toward the door with light steps.

When Qianqian reached the front hall entrance, her graceful figure attracted the attention of every single person present.

She was seen to have a lithe posture and myriad charming manners, like a blooming flower, delicate and dripping with beauty. In an instant, everyone's gazes converged on her without prior agreement, as if time had frozen at this moment.

Qianqian walked with light steps, composed and natural, toward the center of the front hall. With a smile on her face, she greeted every single person present politely, then explained softly: "My apologies, because my body was somewhat unwell, I was unable to personally go welcome everyone; I hope you will all forgive me."

Everyone expressed understanding in turn, and did not take the matter to heart.

However, for those who were familiar with Qianqian, especially Shangguan Peilin and Liu Jin these two, they could not help but feel a surge of emotion in their hearts.

It turned out that Qianqian had once lived in the Dongying Imperial Palace for a period of time, so they were quite familiar with each other.

At this time, Liu Jin couldn't help but say to An Wangfei: "Oh my, time really flies! Qianqian has become more and more beautiful! And her temperament has become much steadier too. Thinking back to those years, Qianqian was such a lively and adorable little girl!"

An Wangfei heard this and a kind, amiable smile appeared on her face, but deep in her heart she secretly grumbled: "Hmph, it's just that today she didn't come bouncing and jumping in like usual."

And at this very moment, Qianqian was worrying in her heart: what to do if she can't be more composed? First time using a menstrual pad, so afraid of side leakage... Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel a wave of nervousness.

An Wangfei naturally understood Qianqian's condition was not good at this time, so she hurriedly signaled for Qianqian to quickly take a seat and rest.

Everyone chatted briefly, talking about everyday family matters. Before long, servants came to report that the delicious dishes had already been prepared properly, and they could start the meal.

Thus, everyone rose together and moved to the spacious, bright dining hall to take their seats; a sumptuous banquet was about to begin.

After everyone had taken their seats, a group of well-trained, light-footed maids entered the room one after another like fish entering water, and swiftly and orderly placed one exquisite, delicious dish after another on the table.

Because there were many guests attending the banquet today, the dishes were naturally dazzling in variety, a full dozen or more! Not only that, the portion of each dish was quite substantial, clearly having undergone careful consideration and preparation;

Even more commendable was that among them were included all kinds of dishes with different flavors, to satisfy the taste requirements of more people — truly showing that An Wangfei had gone to great pains for this banquet!

Seeing all this, a warm current surged in the hearts of Liu Jin and Shangguan Peilin: An Wangfei treated them with such solicitude and thoughtfulness, then her daily love and protection for her daughter Yu'er must be even more indescribable? Thinking of this, the two felt even more deeply reassured.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of dishes, everyone tasted the food while chatting idly. The topic gradually turned to matters in their respective households.

It turned out that ever since Dongying Guo submitted to Dachang Guo, Shangguan Peilin had specifically instructed Li Defu to list clearly one by one those former court ministers of Dongying Guo, recording in detail each person's name, ability, and loyalty, then compile it into a detailed memorial and present it to the Dachang Emperor for review.

And after the Dachang Emperor finished reading this memorial, he knew clearly in his heart which people could be employed and which were not worth employing.

He deeply understood that most of these former Dongying ministers had already taken wives and concubines locally; to make them abandon their wives, children, and families and travel far to the capital to serve would certainly leave them unwilling.

Therefore, the Emperor simply arranged appropriate official posts for them in the areas surrounding Dongying Guo's borders, which could both avoid unnecessary trouble and fully utilize these ministers' talents.

Before this, the various ministers of Dongying Guo had expressed no objections to all the arrangements made by the Dachang Emperor, and believed this Emperor was a person of far-sighted vision and thorough understanding of reason.

And what about Shangguan Peilin's family? Shangguan Peilin originally did not extensively take concubines into his harem — aside from the Main Palace Empress, there were only two Noble Consorts;

Moreover, for a long time, everyone in the palace knew that Shangguan Peilin and his wife Lady Liu treated each other with respect like guests, their conjugal affection deep.

If not for the need to balance the court situation forcing him to confer titles on those two Noble Consorts, women such as Zhaoyi, Liangdi, and Cai'nü had not even shown their faces a few times.

Precisely because of this, when Dongying announced its surrender, these palace women were all dismissed, and each was given some silver to support themselves.

However, toward those two Noble Consorts, Shangguan Peilin displayed sufficient tolerance and respect — both allowing them to choose to follow him and relocate to the Dachang capital to continue living together, and allowing them to return to their natal families to live out their remaining years by signing a separation document.