Rebirth of Poisoned Empress, by 颜若优雅

Chapter 61

In his previous life, the banquet only propagated the ruin of Shen Liang's reputation. He was shamed the moment he arrived at the Imperial City. His reputation had been discredited and he himself had been written off as a shameless person after the banquet. It was different this time. The Elder Princess's banquet served to only make Shen Liang's name more resounding in the Imperial City. He was the object of proposal by the Duke of Qingping in public. His entanglement with the Imperial Princes could also be argued. The Elder Princess Yuehua had also expressed her admiration of him. Since then, Shen Liang could be said as the number one highly sought out Ger of the Qin Empire. Even the emperor had to remember him after the repeated mentions of him in the reports made by the officials. 

As for the rest of the members of the Marquis Dongling Manor, besides Shen Jing, who had won some applause for her calligraphy skills during the competitions, the others had all brought shame to the manor name, especially Shen Qiao. It was highly likely that in the recent and coming weeks, she would be scared to even step a foot out of her courtyard.

"He wants to marry into the Duke of Qingping's Manor and be his princess? In his dreams!" In the Lotus Fragrance Courtyard, Zhao Lan, Lu Yang and the others who had returned from the banquet described to the old madame the events that conspired with great embellishment. The old madame was both distressed and heartbroken for Shen Qiao. Her hatred for Shen Liang sunk into her bones.

"Mother, you didn't see anything. For him, the Duke of Qingping dared to even go against the Imperial Princes," Zhao Lan was concerned for her daughter and didn't have the heart to flame the fire, but Lu Yang continued to add fuel to the flames with underlying meaning in her words. 

"Hmph! Big matters such as marriage has always been under the jurisdiction of parents and the matchmakers. So what if the Duke of Qingping extended a marriage proposal to him? As long as the eldest and his wife doesn't agree, even if the Imperial Princes want to wed him, it'll be fruitless," taking full advantage of Shen Ruiting's filial piety towards her, the old madame never took the matter seriously.

Shen Jing, who had been sitting beside Lu Yang pondered for a moment before raising her head and inquiring, "Grandmother, the other party is the Duke of Qingping. What does he not dare to do? The other Imperial Princes are strange as well. It's as though they share the same intentions. If they were capable of asking the emperor to pass a decree granting their marriage, then no matter how we object, it'll all be in vain."

When she first saw how Shen Qian and Shen Qiao dealt with Shen Liang, she laughed at them behind their backs for being so naive and simple. So what if he was the heir. He wasn't favored. But as she saw for herself how the fourth prince, whom she had been longing for, deliberately take the initiative to approach him, she suddenly realized that the unfavored Shen Liang seemed to have become the greatest obstacle in her path to marry into the Imperial Family.

"En, Xiao Jing's words are with reason. Grandmother, we must derive a flawless plan as to completely cut off the Duke of Qingping and the Imperial Princes' designs completely and at the root," Shen Yang, who had a former confrontation with Shen Liang echoed his approval. For some inexplicable reason, he felt that Shen Liang would become a great threat to him. If Shen Liang can't be controlled, he couldn't rest easy.

"What you all are saying is..." the old madame's usual turpid eyes suddenly showed a sharp gaze. Everyone in the room nodded heavily. Dealing with Shen Liang had to become their top priority.

"Old madame, the fifth Young Master has returned. The Duke of Qingping personally sent him back."

Slap!

The maid's announcement was synonymous to throwing a barrel of oil to the already raging fire. The old madame threw the Buddhist beads in her hand in anger as she gritted her teeth and snarled viciously, "To put an end to the Imperial Princes' and the Duke of Qingping's thoughts, put frankly, isn't that difficult. As long as Shen Liang loses his virginity, we can..."