The empress rushed over with her servants because she knew it would be a long time before she could see her dowry maid and even though this breached etiquette, she wanted to say goodbye one last time. When she walked into the room, all the servants stopped what they were doing and saluted her.
Bai Lianhua also stood up and wanted to salute the empress but the empress touched her shoulder and said: "You are exempt from the salute for today. Benhou heard that you wanted to say something important to me?"
Bai Lianhua's eyes reddened - this wasn't her reaction but the original owner's. "Niangniang, this slave will miss you very much. Be careful, Long Aotian is not a good thing - he is planning to rebel!" Then she suddenly dropped to her knees and kowtowed many times: "Niangniang, please take care of my parents. This slave doesn't know whether she can survive but this slave will do her utmost to protect you and Da Zhou!"
"Good!" The empress signalled to some servants behind her and they brought over some precious jewellery and stones. "You can add this to your dowry - you won't be bullied at all in his house with this amount of money."
Bai Lianhua was grateful for this - at least she had some capital to start with. The empress also personally inserted one ruby hairpin into her hair and then took a step back to see how she looked. Bai Lianhua looked very beautiful and youthful - her skin was glowing, her lips plump, her pink robes accentuated her good figure and her headdress added more refinement to her image. Her charm points also made her look even better.
The maids around her flattered her and Bai Lianhua enjoyed the good treatment because she wasn't sure when the hardship would start.
The sedan was carried into the courtyard and she entered it as gracefully as she could. Since she was a concubine, Long Aotian couldn't actually accompany her to his home. She had to go by herself and enter through the side door. Bai Lianhua didn't actually see Long Aotian until she was sitting on the bed waiting for him to take off her veil.
'To be honest, this is the first I'm getting married and it's to a scumbag! There is no medicine for regret.'
When Long Aotian finally took off her veil, he was surprised at her beauty. When he first saw her, she did look pleasing to the eye but she wasn't beautiful - at most she was pretty. But now that he saw her like this, he was faintly aroused. 'Maybe her looks got better because she fell in love? Either way, I'm not complaining.' His system reminded him that her luck has greatly increased. Initially, she only had about 10 points of luck but now, she has 90 points. Also, the system showed her favour level and it had gone into the negatives.
His eyes widened and he glanced at Bai Lianhua again. 'Why does she look like she is in love with me? Does she actually hate me? How could this be? I literally saw her a week ago and she had already reached the point of obsessive love. This has never happened before! Yo, system, did you make a mistake?'
Long Aotian knew that the system was correct - he just wanted to clarify.
"Msang-gong, let's drink the wine." Bai Lianhua put her beginner acting skills to use and looked like a blushing bride. She led Long Aotian to the small table near the bed and poured the wine into small cups. She then crossed her arm around his arm and they both drank the wine at the same time. Normally, wedding wine would have aphrodisiac in it but Long Aotian didn't intend to sleep with Bai Lianhua in the first place.
Long Aotian undressed Bai Lianhua until she remained in her inner garments and they both went to sleep. Bai Lianhua was slightly apprehensive because she thought Long Aotian would want to do something. But when he went to sleep, she started doubting her charms.
In the morning, Long Aotian spent some coins in the system space and bought some blood which he put on the bed. If he didn't do this, it would cause others to doubt whether Bai Lianhua was a virgin or not. If she wasn't, she would bring great shame on her family, Long Aotian's family and the empress. Besides, at this time, Long Aotian had just started planning for his rebellion. He couldn't target the queen just yet.
Bai Lianhua also woke up and the maids dressed her in light blue undergarments, a. dark blue inner layer and a purple outer layer. Then a silver shawl was put in her arms and some silver hairpins were inserted in her hair. She specifically asked for a small lotus to be painted on her forehead. She looked very good - like an immortal fairy.
Long Aotian appreciated her looks and then brought her to the main hall to serve tea to his elders and wife.
Bai Lianhua met all the other concubines for the first time and sure enough, they were all good looking. As part of the appearance association, Bai Lianhua was envious that Long Aotian was surrounded by beauties all the time. She knelt down and saluted Long Ting: "Wishing Madam health, wealth and happiness!" Long Ting smiled gently, removed a jade bangle from her arms and stuffed it into Bai Lianhua's hands. Bai Lianhua did the same for Li Zhenzhen and she was given two jade earrings and a necklace.
After that, she retreated and stood at the end behind all the other concubines. Only the main wife and Long Aotian's mother had enough status to sit down. So, even though she was still tired and sleepy, she had to keep standing and listening intently to people's conversations.
Because she was new, she hadn't made friends with any of the concubines. Still, she'd taken care of Feng Minyan when she was younger so she was automatically in her camp. Bai Lianhua made eye contact with Feng Minyan and Feng Minyan waved at her secretly. This was a breach of etiquette but Bai Lianhua smiled.
Long Ting asked about Long Aotian's progress in court and Bai Lianhua strained to hear everything he was saying.
"Actually, there were floods in Luoyang this time and the emperor sent some officials to go and control the situation. However, those officials ended up embezzling the money and neglected the people. Many people have died and the imperial censor has impeached all those officials. The emperor was furious and has now tasked me to go and solve the problem." Long Aotian was actually cursing the emperor in his heart. 'Why didn't he send me there in the first place? Why is he sending me now? The situation is so dire.'
Bai Lianhua looked at Fang Lianhua's memories again and then remembered that this incident led to the crown prince being deposed. Long Aotian took this chance to frame the crown prince for colluding with officials for personal gain and the crown prince was made a commoner by the emperor.
'System? Can the surveillance panel be used in an ancient plane?'
"Use your common sense. Of course, it cannot be used in an ancient world. If you use technology in an ancient world, your rating will decrease so be careful about that." The system cautioned Bai Lianhua and went back to watching Korean dramas.
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Benhou - basically means I - only people of high status like empresses or princes can use ben as a way to talk about themselves
Msang-gong - means husband - a more intimate way of addressing a husband