By her side, Imperial Consort Song immediately consoled. "Elder Sister*, don't be sad, even though Madam Luo has passed away, being able to have Elder Sister remember her in this way can be considered a blessing. Today is indeed a big day, Elder Sister should be a bit happier."

(TN: * The consorts referred to each other as 'sisters' and do not necessarily have blood relations.)

Nodding her head, Empress Wang was just about to say something when she suddenly remembered and looked into the crowd. "En, that day, His Majesty said that he wanted to see General Luo's daughter, Luo Qing Luan. I even personally had somebody send word to the General's Mansion. I wonder if today, that Miss Luo......has she come?"

Everyone knew that the empress actually set up the Flower Bestowment Festival today in order to allow the crown prince to choose a consort. All of the young ladies who admired the crown prince, Nangong Qing, itched to be able to exhibit their talent, so that the empress would fancy them. They were all eager to give it a try.

Who would've thought, Her Highness the Empress actually brought up Luo Qing Luan in public. Even His Majesty the Emperor mentioned her before. How could jealousy not birth in their hearts?

Just like Empress Wang, each and every one of the upper class young ladies looked left and right. They all wanted to know what kind of devastatingly beautiful young lady that Miss Luo was, to be able to enter the empress and emperor's eyes, when all was said and done.

Luo Qing Luan wasn't the least bit mentally prepared. She was right in the middle of eating something. Who would've thought that Empress Wang's one sentence would cause everyone to fire their gazes towards her?

The few women who previously attended the banquet at Fifth Prince's Mansion already recognized Luo Qing Luan, and those who had not met her were guided by those who knew, so they all noticed Luo Qing Luan.

Today's Flower Bestowment Festival was so important, it concerned these young ladies in attendance's future destiny. Who among them wasn't sitting upright and still, displaying their sweet-tempered composure to the greatest extent possible, hoping that the empress will fancy them? When everyone laid eyes on the second Miss Luo, who the empress mentioned and was looking for expectantly, they discovered that she was surprisingly eating something in this public setting filled with numerous people. Not only that, she was using her hand to brush away some crumbs at the corners of her mouth. Immediately, they exposed a disdainful expression.

"This is really Luo Qing Luan? The daughter of the main wife in the General's Mansion?"

"How uneducated she is, surprisingly so embarrassing, eating with crumbs all over her mouth!"

"She looks like she hasn't ever eaten before, surprisingly so improper......simply shameless!"

Countless whispers echoed, passing from one person's ear to another, tongues wagging freely. Furthermore, they didn't try to conceal their disgust spreading across their faces as they sneered and pointed to Luo Qing Luan, their expressions and mannerisms were as if her actions were beneath their dignity. The scene immediately became noisy.

Luo Qing Luan also started to react, so many people were watching her? She was quietly and peacefully eating. What kind of thing was this?

Her hand also stopped subconsciously as Luo Qing Luan perceived everyone's expressions. She then already knew what was going on.

"What are you looking at?"

Turning to look at a young lady dressed in green sitting closest to her, Luo Qing Luan finished eating the piece of osmanthus flaky pastry in her hand, then changed to a piece of thousand layers cake as she spoke indifferently. "Do you also want to eat some? If so, get them yourself, don't look at me, alright?"

Looking down on her, that green dressed young lady covered her mouth with her silk handkerchief and laughed with derision as she replied with disgust. "With so many people looking on, I'm certainly not as vulgar as the second Miss Luo."

"Lacking in upbringing, the splitting image of a starving ghost." She even muttered another string of words before turning around and no longer looked at Luo Qing Luan.

Luo Qing Luan acted as if she did not hear these ridiculing words and said calmly. "Today is the day that Her Highness the Empress holds a feast. She'd prepared so many fine pastries to entertain all of you. Even if you guys don't eat, you unexpectedly say that I'm vulgar and lack an upbringing? Doesn't this mean that you're saying that Her Highness has made arrangements inappropriately and has deliberately prepared so many delicacies so that everyone can be humiliated when eating them?"

With one sentence, all of the upper-class young ladies changed expressions. The label pinned on them was a big one!

If wasn't refined to eat in front of everybody, but not eating anything was to betray the Empress' kind intentions. Actually, all of the banquets in the past were basically this way, and no one cared about it. However, this time, contrary to expectations, Luo Qing Luan put things this way and not a single person was able to find any fault with what she said.

"I, I.....how could I have this intention? Don't you randomly accuse me." The young lady in green who spoke previously panicked, nearly wanting to weep out loud. She merely wanted to lower Luo Qing Luan's dominance. Who could have imagined that one sentence stirred up an incident, putting everyone at fault.

Now that Empress Wang saw Luo Qing Luan, why would she care about these things. She smiled faintly. "Are you Luo Qing Luan, the daughter of General Luo's main wife?"

The empress had spoken. Luo Qing Luan had no choice but to stand up and curtsey in formal greeting. "In reply to You Highness the Empress, this servant is Luo Qing Luan. Your Highness' pastries are truly pretty good. Which chef made them?"

The group of young ladies nearly fainted from hearing this. This Luo Qing Luan was really too brazen. She went as far as to ask the empress a question? Yet unexpectedly, not only did Empress Wang not become angry, she beckoned with her hand instead. "If you like eating them, then come over here. There are even more by my side. You come and try them."

"Yes, thank you Your Highness." Luo Qing Luan also didn't make a show of being overly courteous as she walked to Empress Wang's side. The palace maids immediately produced a brocaded low stool, allowing her to sit on it.

This kind of scene made the rest of the young ladies both annoyed and envious. Luo Qing Luan merely ate a piece of pastry, yet unexpectedly able to sit beside the empress? If they had known earlier, they would have rather eaten everything on their tables.

Eventually, someone was no longer able to bear it. Actually, it was the mother of that young lady who was playing the zither, the daughter-in-law of the Director of the Board of Rites, the assistant Imperial Censor, Wen Kangning's wife.

Madam Wen stood up and paid respects to Empress Wang while saying. "Your Highness, this servant has actually heard mention of Madam Luo's zither skills in the past. Didn't Your Highness say that you regret very much never having heard her zither before?"

As she spoke, she took a look at Luo Qing Luan and continued smilingly. "Since the second Miss Luo is Madam Luo's daughter, perhaps she has inherited some of her mother's talent. How about the second Miss Luo play a tune here and allow Her Highness to hear it, filling her blessed ears, wouldn't that be nice?"