The crown prince's consort didn't quite believe Huang Shi's report, but Lu Yicheng was highly trusted by the crown prince, and Huang Shi was still her relative. Without solid evidence, she didn't want to humiliate Huang Shi.

  After getting rid of the person, she thought for a while before going to report to the Empress: "Today is not convenient, it just so happens that the Princess Dowager of Mount Hengshan does not see external guests. Madame Huang thinks that if Song Miss is to be married off from the Song family, then the Princess Dowager must make an appearance and express her opinion, only then can everyone be convinced. This matter should be discussed in front of the Princess Dowager!"

  "After all, the Hengshan Wangfu has taken care of Miss Song for a long time. Not to inform the Empress Dowager or the King of Hengshan first, but instead telling the birth mother of Miss Song, Wei Wangfei, is inevitably disrespectful to the royal family. If this causes discord between the royal family and Miss Song's mother and daughter, it would be frustrating, and not in line with Your Majesty's intentions!"

  But never mentioned was the eye ointment of the Huang family - would the wife of General Chu be so naive as to believe everything she heard from people around her and hastily make enemies?

  The Empress Su nodded slightly: "It seems that the palace was not careful enough at the time, and forgot about the relationship between Huang's mother and daughter and Wei Wangfei. It's inevitable to be awkward when they meet. The Queen Mother of Hengshan has always been considerate, and since Huang's mother and daughter did not mention the Queen Mother in their invitation, the Queen Mother would naturally avoid them."

  The crown princess hastily said, "Where did the empress mother say that? It's just that I was careless and thought that since the Wang family had agreed to let Madame Huang bring her daughter over, it would be okay to meet with the grand princess! Just now, Madame Huang came over to report back, and I finally came to my senses!"

  He said and was about to apologize.

  "It's not a big deal, why are you making such a fuss?" Empress Su, who was not the birth mother of the crown prince, had always been lenient towards the crown prince and his wife. Seeing the situation, she hastily ordered her attendants to help the crown princess up, scolding, "The Grand Princess of Hengshan is a reasonable person, if you just explain things to her, she'll definitely agree. Today, Huang's mother and daughter happened to arrive at an inopportune time, couldn't they have come another day?"

  "Next month happens to be the Empress Dowager's birthday, and in previous years, the palace would always send someone to offer congratulations." The Crown Princess had already thought of an excuse, and also thought of a way to make amends, so she said, "It can't be helped, but it will still trouble Your Majesty with this matter!"

  Although it is said that the East Palace will also send people to congratulate the King of Hengshan, with the empress dowager and the empress's people present, the Grand Princess Consort of Hengshan may not have much energy to entertain the people from the East Palace.

  Furthermore, this matter ultimately falls under the scrutiny of the Empress Dowager. Previously, the Empress had an idea and since the Crown Princess was present, and the official of the Eastern Palace, Lu Yicheng, is a relative of Song Yixiao, she handed over the task to her. Now that the Crown Princess has failed in her mission, although the Empress does not mind, it seems that this opportunity to gain praise from the Empress Dowager should still be returned to the Empress's favor.

  After all, it's not worth making a big deal out of such a small matter and getting one's own wife into trouble.

  As expected, Empress Su did not show any hesitation and readily said: "At that time, the palace will let Fang Yu take a walk!"

  Fang Yu is the trusted imperial concubine of the empress dowager.

  It's settled then.

  Poor Song Yixiao, how could she have known about this inside story?

  It's been more than half a month since she returned from the Shangsi banquet, and although Huang Yulou is pregnant, the matchmaker has yet to arrive. No matter how patient she is, she can't help but wonder if something has changed!

  "If Jian Yu Bai changed his mind or his elders didn't approve of this matter, then the jade pendant should be taken back too?" Song Yi smiled as she sewed a birthday gift with flying needles and threads, furrowing her brow in deep thought. "Could it be that their family is so wealthy and influential that they wouldn't care about a mere piece of jade pendant?"

  Even becoming compensation for regretting marriage?

  Song Yi's mouth corners stiffened and twitched, feeling that her life was so miserable.

  That year, reborn and returned, intending to make use of his foresight in the Song family mansion - but ended up being received by the King of Hengshan and became a dependent under his roof!

  Draw lessons from the past, be determined to become stronger and independent, and give a better future to loyal servants around her - in just a few days, Zhiqin was disabled for life and disfigured while trying to save her!

  It's not easy to grow up to the age of getting married, and only then did she think about opening her eyes wide to find a reliable marriage - first, her mother forced her for the sake of her younger brother's future, and later, Jian Yu was reckless and forcibly married her - after all the twists and turns, she mentally prepared herself to take the risk and become Mrs. Jian, but...

  Jian Yu Bai's side actually disappeared again!

  Can this day be survived?

  Song Yi Xiao thought about it more and more depressed, looking at the already seven or eight embroidered pieces, she inserted the needle upwards and covered her face in despair: "What to do from now on?"

  Just as she was getting bored, someone kicked and walked in, laughing and pulling down her sleeves: "Sister! Look at the flowers I just picked, are they beautiful?"

  "Now that the Crabapple Blossom Festival is over, where did you pick this bunch from?" Song Yi smiled and turned her head to look, only to see Wei Qi's cousin, Wei Zhuo, who had been brought back by Qiao Chen from the Wei residence two days ago, standing behind her with a bouquet of crabapple flowers in her arms.

  Wei Chang is the youngest daughter of the Wei family's main house, one year younger than Song Yixiao. Her appearance has some similarities with Wei Mengying, and she can be considered a beautiful young woman - of course, it's not good to compare her with Song Yixiao. Even Wei Mengying, who is over thirty years old, can easily surpass this teenage niece in terms of stunning beauty.

  However, Wei Chang has a lively personality, loves to laugh and have fun, but is extremely well-behaved and won't be as reckless as Jin Xun.

  Song Yixiao quite liked this younger female cousin, although she had been guessing the purpose of her visit. She was also surprised by the flowers that her cousin brought, "They look really good! You didn't get someone to climb a ladder to pick them, did you? I remember when I went out yesterday, I only saw some scattered unopened buds on the high branches outside the door."

  "Move the ladder?" Wei Chang sat down on the embroidered stool beside Song Yi Xiao, carefully making sure not to touch the flowers with her dirty hands, and said calmly, "What a big fuss! Is someone volunteering to climb up the tree for me?"

  Song Yi smiled and narrowed her eyes: "Who?"

  "It seems to be the fifth young master of the Wang Mansion?" Wei Chan tilted her head and explained, "I thought that men and women should be separate, so I only let the maid pass on a few words, and didn't get close myself - don't misunderstand, sister, it was he who insisted on helping me pick them, and I couldn't decline his offer."

  "How could I have misunderstood you?" Song Yi thought to herself that Lu Ziyu was an illegitimate child and had mediocre talent, his status in the Wang Manor had always been low, Wei Mengying had never really looked at him with serious eyes, it shouldn't be possible for her to think of marrying Wei Cui off to him, right?

  Even if Wei Mengying took into account that the Wei family's door was not high, Wei Zhuang could marry into the Wang family, and even as a concubine's wife, it would be considered a good match. But in Lu Ziyu's situation, Wei Mengying wanted to give her niece from her mother's side to him, what else could he say besides thanking her? Was it worth letting Wei Zhuang come to the Wang family for a short stay?

  "Doesn't it have anything to do with Lu Ziyu? Was it an accidental encounter?"

  Considering Lu Ziyu's previous teasing of Jin Xun, Song Yi thought that maybe Lu Ziyu later regretted it and wanted to make amends by helping Wei Zhu pick flowers? But with his track record, wasn't he afraid that she would misunderstand him as having ulterior motives towards Wei Zhu again? Or was he really sincere in his intentions towards Wei Zhu this time?

  Song Yi smiled to herself, thinking quickly, but her face remained calm and expressionless as she said, "However, next time you encounter something like this, just turn around and leave. If he feels offended, I'll take care of it myself!"

  Wei Chang smiled and agreed, then went to find a vase to put the flowers in - Song Yi Xiang observed her movements and expressions, with an air of innocence and carefreeness that didn't seem fake. The doubts in his heart grew deeper: "What is this cousin really here for?"

  Lowering her eyes to look at the embroidery needle in her hand, she smiled bitterly, "Can I really take care of so many things? I can't even take care of my own affairs!"

  Shook his head and continued embroidering.

  However, she didn't expect that the thing she was worried about would take a turn for the better the next day - Yuan Xueying invited her to gather at her residence in two days, using her cousin's birthday as an excuse.

  With Yuan Xuepei and Jian Xu's friendship, it should be possible to get some news from the Hou Mansion.

  Song Yi just smiled and let out a sigh of relief, but before she could laugh, she was shocked to hear that Wei Mengying had rejected him on her behalf!

  "Why doesn't Mother let me go to Yuan sister's place?" She asked with suspicion, "I've been rushing to finish my work these days and have almost finished embroidering. I was just feeling stuffy and wanted to go out for a walk!"

  Although the Empress Dowager had previously forbidden her from going to the Yuan's house again, Wei Mengying didn't think so! Now that the Empress Dowager hasn't spoken yet, why did her own mother start undermining her?

  "I know you're close to Yuan Xue'er, but her brother is still young and unmarried, and there's no one in the household who can take charge of the family estate. You're also at an age where you should be getting married, and yet you keep putting it off - it's inevitable that people will gossip! Wei Mengying and Yan Yuese put down their tea cups. 'Besides, you weren't very willing to go in the first place,' she said. 'Now that I think about it, Yun'er's future is important, but you're also my precious child! It's not good for me to always be putting you at a disadvantage for his sake.'"

  What are you kidding? Laughing and joking is mostly for serving the prince, how can one's reputation be neglected!

  Song Yi Xiao looked at her considerate mother and really didn't know what to say?

  She had previously suspected that her mother already knew about Jian Yu's gift of the jade pendant, but now she denied it - Jian Yu's frequent visits to the Boling Hou Mansion were no secret, and if Wei Mengying wanted to know the truth, she would not have stopped him.

  "But the old lady of the Yuan family is here!" Song Yi smiled silently and spat out a mouthful of blood, arguing, "Besides, this time it's Yuan sister's cousin's birthday, mother also knows that Yuan sister is very unfamiliar with her uncle's house. To say that her cousin's birthday, she can go to make an appearance at most, how can she still bring people? Now inviting me, I'm afraid there's some trouble. In these years, Yuan sister has not taken me out less often, now it's rare for her to speak up, if I don't help, it's really hard to say."

  "This..." Wei Mengying hesitated, and her daughter was right - what's important is that although Yuan Xueyao was naive, her brother was capable and had even befriended a powerful duke. If they didn't go this time, it would be a pity to leave a grudge behind.

  Especially this time there is also a good reason for visiting Miss Yuan's birthday.

  So she thought for a moment and nodded, "But you should go early and come back early, be careful with everything!"

  Song Yi smiled and agreed without hesitation.

  She received the gift and went to Boling Houfu on that day, thinking that Yuan Xueying was in trouble again, so she wrote a letter calling herself to help out - who knew that after entering the house, she was led by Yuan Xueying to the side hall where the banquet was held, and after circling around for a while, she didn't even hear her cousin's name clearly, and then retreated from the scene!

  "My brother said that in a few days, he will send my uncle's family to move out of the Hou Mansion. Originally, before my father passed away, they had already divided the house and moved out. But after my brother had an accident in Wuhuan, they returned under the pretext of comforting our grandmother and have been living here ever since. My cousin has already given enough face by hosting a banquet in the side hall, what more do they want us to congratulate them for?"

  Song Yi Xiao felt relieved after hearing this and also sighed slightly: "Ever since Master Hou came back, Sister Yuan, you've become even more cheerful! Nowadays, your words are also smoother than before."

  She remembered that when she first came to the Boling Hou Mansion, Yuan Xueyao was so gentle and weak in front of her grandmother and aunt - otherwise, she wouldn't have followed Old Lady Tu to the front because she wasn't at ease.

  "What are you envious of?" Yuan Xue'er turned back to her with a smile, revealing a sly expression. "I just have my brother backing me up, but the one protecting you is even more formidable..."

  Song Yi Xiao's expression changed slightly as she heard her words: "Sister, I don't quite understand what you mean..."

  He looked up and saw Jian Xuwu standing under the apricot tree by the road with his hands behind his back, and he couldn't help but stop in his tracks.

  The Hengshan Wangfu's wisteria has already withered, the apricot blossoms in the Boling Houfu are also declining, only a few scattered ones are swaying in the wind, and the branches are mostly already dense green and pale blue leaves.

  He wore a pale green spring robe that was extremely close to the color of leaves, with deep green bamboo branches embroidered on the collar and sleeves, as if he wanted to blend in with the surrounding grass and trees that were gradually sprouting, but the slightly raised chin and the faintly cast glance made people feel that for an instant it was like a vast expanse of apricot blossoms opening up, like clouds, like mist, like mountains, like seas.

  "I heard you've been working day and night recently, to prepare a gift for Princess Wang of Hengshan?" Jian Yu Bai's expression was clear and nonchalant, but his tone was warm and rich like spring wine. "I don't even have a handbag, do I?"