That night, Bai Qingyan had a dream. She dreamed that during the morning court session, while she was discussing state affairs with the ministers, Prince Han Cheng returned. Prince Han Cheng stood at the entrance of the great hall without entering, only smiling honestly as he looked at her. He wore battle armor, lifted the hem of his robe, knelt, and kowtowed to her.

She asked Prince Han Cheng to come in, but he smiled and disappeared in the brilliant golden light of early dawn.

After Bai Qingyan woke up, she glanced at the children still sleeping soundly beside her, quietly and gently tucked in the blankets for both children, got up to arrange the bed curtains properly, and instructed Chun Tao to send people in to help her wash and dress.

After rinsing her mouth, she used the handkerchief Chun Tao handed her to dab her lips and asked Wei Zhong: “From the coastal area, has any memorial from Prince Han Cheng been delivered?”

“It was delivered during the night. This old servant did not disturb Your Majesty!” Wei Zhong stood respectfully to the side and spoke to Bai Qingyan.

“Bring it for me to see.” She sat on the soft couch by the window, picked up the hot tea and took a sip, preparing to read the memorial before attending the morning court.

Wei Zhong delivered the memorial to Bai Qingyan’s side.

Bai Qingyan read the memorial. Prince Han Cheng’s memorial roughly stated… that during this period, he had dispatched warships to escort fishermen out to sea for fishing, and Dongyi had been peaceful for some days.

The secret letter Liu Rushi sent back from Dongyi said that they had already begun making contact with Dongyi’s Empress. According to what Lu Fenglang said after returning from the palace, the Empress also intended to push the Seventh Prince to the throne, and he was asking for Bai Qingyan’s instructions on whether to assist.

Bai Qingyan glanced at the time when Liu Rushi wrote this secret letter and calculated the timing… When Liu Rushi sent out this secret letter, her letter telling Liu Rushi not to involve other princes in the situation had probably not yet been received by Liu Rushi, which was why Liu Rushi was asking her whether to assist the Seventh Prince in ascending to the throne.

By now, Liu Rushi should have already received her letter and understood that she didn’t want to drag other princes into the situation to complicate matters, so he would certainly not get involved with Dongyi’s Empress.

For some unknown reason, Bai Qingyan felt very uneasy, especially near daybreak when she dreamed of Prince Han Cheng kneeling outside the great hall, performing the kneeling farewell ceremony to her, which inevitably made her worry about the coastal situation.

Seeing that the time was about right, Bai Qingyan finally put down the memorial in her hand and got up to prepare for court, not forgetting to instruct Nanny Tong: “Tomorrow is the family banquet, and Mother will certainly be especially busy today. After the morning court session, Nanny, please bring the two children to my place. Today, don’t let the two children bother Mother.”

“Yes! Miss, please rest assured!” Nanny Tong smiled and responded, escorting Bai Qingyan out of the sleeping quarters before returning to care for the two children.

On the way to the front hall, Bai Qingyan thought of Prince Han Cheng’s wife. Tomorrow was the fifteenth day of the eighth month for family reunions, and Princess Han Cheng had no children under her care, so she would inevitably feel lonely.

Now that Prince Han Cheng was working hard for Great Zhou at the coast, it wouldn’t be good to make him worry too much about the rear.

She said to Wei Zhong, “For tomorrow’s family banquet, send someone to invite Princess Han Cheng into the palace.”

“Yes!” Wei Zhong smiled and responded.

The next day, during the Mid-Autumn family banquet, Princess Han Cheng did not arrive.

Princess Han Cheng appreciated Bai Qingyan’s kind intention, but she also knew… this was the Bai family’s family banquet, and as an outsider, it wouldn’t be appropriate for her to join in the fun when a family was having their reunion.

She also knew that Bai Qingyan’s invitation to the family banquet was to show those in Great Zhou who looked down on their couple that His Majesty valued Prince Han Cheng, and she was very grateful for this.

All the Bai clan members were invited into the palace, and each one was extremely excited. Even some of the Bai family’s married daughters brought their entire families back to their maternal home, hoping to benefit from this opportunity to enter the palace together. They thought that if the Empress Dowager or other Bai family ladies took a liking to their daughters, several of the Bai family princes were still unmarried!

Moreover, with the position of Imperial Consort still vacant, the children of marriageable age born to these married daughters also had the opportunity to show themselves before Bai Qingyan. If they were chosen, it would mean the entire family’s rise to prosperity.

As the clan leader, Bai Qihe’s family naturally had to attend. However, Bai Qihe had been poisoned once, and his heart had been broken by his daughter, making him appear much older and in poor spirits.

Regarding the previous matter of Bai Qihe’s daughter’s poisoning, whether Pu Liu was involved, Bai Qingping had also investigated at lightning speed and found that Pu Liu had indeed not participated. Pu Liu was a smart and measured person who knew her humble status and had never dared to aspire to the position of main wife. She only wholeheartedly hoped that Bai Qihe could marry a kind-hearted lady who would treat her and her son well.

Moreover, after Bai Qihe’s previous experience with Lady Fang, this time he only wanted to marry a wife who was dutiful and kind-hearted. To ensure Pu Liu wouldn’t be wronged, he promised her that after his wife entered the household, he would elevate Pu Liu to the position of noble concubine after three years.

For Pu Liu, this was as high as she could go – noble concubine was the highest position someone of her servant background could climb to.

Originally, Bai Qingping wanted to go find her birth mother Lady Fang, but Bai Qihe suppressed this matter. First… he cared about his daughter’s reputation, and second… he didn’t want outsiders to know that Bai Qingping had such a birth mother.

Now, Bai Qingping’s younger sister was confined to her home, forbidden to leave her small courtyard except when it came time to discuss marriage, and she was also not allowed to see the younger sister in the family, lest she corrupt the younger girl.

Bai Qihe also sent a loyal servant to see Lady Fang and deliver a letter to her…

The letter told Lady Fang that this time, when she had instigated their daughter to poison him, their former marital affection was completely and utterly severed. From that day forward, he would no longer secretly protect Lady Fang.

After Lady Fang received this letter, her sister-in-law, who had originally been somewhat wary of Lady Fang, directly sent Lady Fang to the family temple and no longer cared whether she lived or died.

Although today’s palace banquet was a family feast, it was still a royal banquet after all, so the standards were different from those at the Bai mansion.

However, Bai Qingyan had just recently said that expenses should be reduced to support the naval soldiers guarding the coast, so for this palace banquet, Dong Shi didn’t prepare it too lavishly. She just put great effort into selecting the dishes, which were quite innovative.

A clan elder started it by saying that his granddaughter’s musical skills were extraordinary and wanted to play a piece for Bai Qingyan.

Once this began, each family competed to have their granddaughters or grandsons display their talents before the throne.

After a lively lunch banquet ended and the Bai family relatives left, the aunts took their children to Dong Shi’s place, while Bai Qingyan and her siblings sat together with Qin Lang to drink tea.

“Finally, some peace!” Bai Jinzhi looked completely helpless. “What was that sword dancing about? A grown man… winking at Elder Sister and me, it was simply…”

“Tonight, with just our family members, we can finally have a proper meal!” Bai Jinxiu looked at Bai Jinzhi and laughed. “Now that the Bai clan is all in the capital, it wouldn’t be appropriate not to invite them for Mid-Autumn.”