The Fourth Lady novel Chapter 140

When Qingyan followed this voice and gazed over, she just happened to see a familiar figure. This young girl was precisely the Empress's paternal family, the Xu Family's, eldest legitimate daughter. She also just happens to be the Empress's blood related niece. Her name seems to be--Xu Yarui.

When the Empress saw someone from her paternal family stand out, naturally there was a smile on her face. Although the Empress liked this niece very much, Hongjia Emperor seemingly afraid that the Empress's family would gain too much power, thus didn't agree to the Crown Prince marrying Xu Yarui.

"So it's the Empress's niece." Hongjia Emperor looked to Xu Yarui standing below and clearly spoke, "What are you going to perform? If it's not good, this Emperor will be punishing you."

Xu Yarui looked to Hongjia Emperor grinning, "This subject-daughter is skilled in dancing. Today, I will be performing a 'Fan Dance' for everyone."

Hongjia Emperor knew that this 'Fan Dance' was the Xu family's specialty. That year, when he took a fancy to the Empress, it was precisely because of her temperament. But once he met Qilian Yuran, he found that all the beauties of the world couldn't possibly compare to Qilian Yuran's appearance.

"Alright." Hongjia Emperor looked to the Xu Yarui and replied with a powerful and resounding voice.

Xu Yarui can be considered one of the top beauties in Bogu Hall. But because of Su Qingyuan and Su Qingwen's existence, her beauty was instead suppressed. However, even if she's the Empress's blood related niece, this young girl at most can be considered a bold but not very astute person.

Xu Yarui finished changing her clothes and came out holding a fan. Her dance was very rhythmic, and in addition, attracted the eyes of the majority of the young men present.

And when she casted her sight towards Xuanyuan Yuzhe, she found Xuanyuan Yuzhe staring at her to the point where he didn't even notice his saliva leaking out from the corner of his mouth. Although Su Qingyan was already aware of the fact that Xuanyuan Yuzhe frequented brothels, she didn't know it was already to such an disgusting degree.

After Xu Yarui's performance ended, she received continuous praises, even Hongjia Emperor gave out a satisfied expression. After seeing Xu Yarui's brilliant performance, the other young ladies all eagerly wanted to try one after another.

They all thought in their hearts that even if they only received a verbal praise from the Emperor, it was also considered good. And Hongjia Emperor watched these performances all with a warm admiration.

Su Qingwen played a piece of [High Mountain Running Water]; Cui Hanxue similarly performed a dance. And the other ladies more or less performed various similar talents. It was just, who performed well, who performed poorly, and who received Hongjia Emperor's reward*.

(*T/N: The sentence awkwardly ends here in the original text and I'm unsure where the author was going with it...)

Just then, a lofty voice sounded, "Your Majesty, this subject-daughter has heard that the General's daughter, Su Qingyan, is a multitalented person. Why hasn't she come up and performed today?"

This voice successfully directed everyone's line of sight towards Su Qingyan. Su Qingyan followed this voice and gazed over. She found that it was precisely Ning Siyao's blood related niece----Ning Yuelan.

Hearing Ning Yuelan's words, everyone below also all chimed in. Qingyan knew that this was everyone all waiting to see her make a fool of herself. After all, that Dragon Gate Banquet three years ago, made her successfully become the whole capital's laughing stock.

And everyone's behavior now was nothing more than assuming that she will repeat the past and become a laughing stock again. Or even become the Diqiu commoner's leisure time gossip material.

"Your Majesty, this subject-wife has also heard Yufan mention that this General Su's daughter is a person of many talents." Yi Consort saw the crowd's display and delightfully hooked the corner of her lips. Afterwards, she casted her sight onto Su Qingyan, but who knew that Su Qingyan was actually so disdainful.