No matter how many twists and turns there had been, Princess Linchuan's birthday feast was over.

People didn't know whether Honored Consort Deng was annoyed or prepared to snitch to His Majesty when she left first on the excuse of going to the imperial study to see His Majesty before the end of the feast. Everyone watched Honored Consort leave. Deng Wanwan and Wei Changying did not need to accompany Honored Consort, so they also went back to the seats under the vermilion steps. When they left, Wei Changying took a chance to look at Miss Deng, who had a pair of eyebrows like crescent moons, as her name described. Her eyes were big and bright. Probably because she was young, her cheeks were plump, and there was a natural reddish hue, which made her look slightly shy.

Because Honored Consort Deng and Deng Zongqi were born beautiful, Wei Changying was not surprised that Deng Wanwan was a little beauty. After she had arrived at the capital, the young girls she had seen, such as Shen Cangning, Su Yufei, Su Yuyin, although beautiful, all loved exotic makeups and dressed up in a messy way.

Seeing Deng Wanwan's unadorned face at first glance, she felt that it was very pleasing. All of a sudden, it reminded her of Wei Chang'e, a cousin far away in Fengzhou. The two girls did not resemble each other, but their beauty was the same, not gorgeous or noble, but comforting.

Wei Changying laughed secretly, "Could it be that Song Zaishui saw Deng Wanwan, a daughter of an eminent family, who was young and elegant in a minimalistic manner when Song Zaishui arrived at the capital, so she liked Deng Wanwan?"

Thinking of Madam Su's annoyed expression caused by Shen Cangning, Wei Changying squeezed her lips hard and stopped laughing. At this time, she had returned to Madam Su. Because the feast was about to end, she didn't ask the palace people to add another seat for her. On the right, Mrs. Duanmu called her family sister Duanmu Wuse to speak with her. So Mrs. Liu asked Wei Changying to sit with her.

If she had laughed and been seen by Mrs. Liu, she would have had to explain.

However, although Mrs. Liu did not see the sudden smile on her lips, Mrs. Liu turned around and whispered to her when she was seated, "Third sister-in-law, did you go to Qianqiu Pavilion?"

When Mrs. Liu asked this question, Wei Changying knew who she was going to ask and said, "First sister-in-law, are you asking about Sister Ruoyu? I saw her when I entered the Qianqiu Pavilion. Then the first young madam of Zhiben Hall asked me to go out to talk, and when I came back, she had already gone. Didn’t Sister Ruoyu return?"

"No!" Mrs. Liu's expression changed slightly, and she said, "How can this happen? Whether she had an accident?" she added, "Who was she with at that time? Was it Ruoye?"

Wei Changying comforted her, "This is the Weiyang Palace, where the Empress's dorm is located. How could an accident happen? Even if it happened, she could find palace people’s assistance." Although she didn't mention Liu Ruoye, her meaning was obvious. Although Liu Ruoye had no good intention to Liu Ruoyu, the Liu Family expected Liu Ruoyu, the lineal daughter of the first wife, who had neither the protection of her mother nor the love of her father, to marry the dissolute Crown Prince. If Liu Ruoye had hurt Liu Ruoyu, other lineal daughters of the Liu Family would not be willing to marry the Crown Prince. At that time, would Liu Ruoye marry the Crown Prince to obey Royalty's order?

Liu Ruoye was not a fool, so how could she do such a thing? If someone had planned to hurt Liu Ruoyu, she would have protected her instead.

Mrs. Liu knew her meaning and sighed, "Ruoyu has never been such a rude person who walks at will and doesn't return!"

Wei Changying thought that although the first sister-in-law had some schemes, she remembered the graciousness of her fifth aunt deeply. According to her words, she had regarded Liu Ruoyu as her blood daughter. After thinking for a moment, Wei Changying said, "Probably because the pomegranate flowers are beautiful today, and Sister Ruoyu forgot the time when she watched."

"Maybe." Mrs. Liu's expression dimmed. After the blooming season of pomegranate flowers, Liu Ruoyu's identity of the Crown Princess would be almost settled. There were full of pomegranate flower trees in the Weiyang Palace, which looked in a festival mood, but in Liu Ruoyu's eyes, it was similar to a death warrant, and how could she be happy.

According to this cousin’s temperament, it would not be strange for her to hide and cry in a corner. Mrs. Liu was sad and worried, "The feast is coming to the end, but Ruoyu hasn’t returned yet, which would delay the leave and make the Empress angry. Even if the Empress won't notice, both Ruoye and Madame Zhang are in the palace now, so how could they forget to remind the Empress?"

When she was worried, Wei Changying suddenly patted the back of her hand, motioning for her to look at the corner on the side.

Mrs. Liu turned her head and looked with joy. Liu Ruoyu only brought a maidservant, who held two or three branches of pomegranate flowers, and Liu Ruoyu also carried a branch. They walked slowly back to the seats. Liu Ruoyu didn't look to Mrs. Liu, and she just took the pomegranate branch and inserted it into Liu Ruoye's hair, saying something to her with a smile.

In public, Liu Ruoye was very friendly to her sister. She reached out and touched the flowers, and talked to Liu Ruoyu with a smile on her face. Seeing the harmony of their sisters, Mrs. Liu froze for a moment before saying to herself, "She is..." The unfinished words illustrated that Mrs. Liu also had no idea of what to say.

Wei Changying was also a little surprised, "It seems that Liu Ruoyu has changed much. Of course, whoever is forced to a dead end will always change."

It was good for the sisters to compete. If Liu Ruoyu won, it would be easy. If not, Wei Changying could do it on her own. She withdrew her eyes and asked Mrs. Liu while turning her head sideways, "First sister-in-law, isn’t the fourth sister in the room?"

Mrs. Liu was very alert. When she heard that, she immediately said, "You don’t know, third sister-in-law. Just now, the fourth sister sent someone to tell me that she was playing hide-and-seek with Princess Qingxin!"

She added meaningfully, "If the fourth sister hadn't told me, how could I not ask her first? However, third sister-in-law, you have reminded me that it's time to tell the fourth sister to return, in case they would forget the time."

Wei Changying was stunned for a while and then felt it was a bit ridiculous. In fact, she just asked thoughtlessly because she didn't see Shen Cangning. But Mrs. Liu thought that she asked so to make Madam Su hear, who was seated beside them, showing that Mrs. Liu valued her family sister and did not care about the lineal sister-in-law. So Mrs. Liu explained to her.

Knowing that even if she had explained, Mrs. Liu wouldn’t have believed it and it would make her seem to have ulterior motives instead, she was lazy to explain and said, “But where is the fourth sister playing? If the path is not complicated, I will ask Qin'ge to find her because she is fast."

Qin'ge had practiced martial arts, and she was faster than ordinary people.

Mrs. Liu did not grab the errand but turned her head to ask Madam Su, who was seated on the left. After a while, she conveyed Madam Su's words, "There is a large group of young Misses outside, on the left of the hall, so it will be easy to find her."

Since it was easy to find, Qin'ge, who entered the palace for the first time, was not afraid to look for her. Wei Changying let her go. But they hadn't expected that when Qin'ge came back, the Empress began saying the polite cliché before the end of the feast. Seeing there was nobody behind Qin'ge, Madam Su, Mrs. Liu, and Mrs. Duanmu were all stunned and asked, "What's wrong?"

Qin'ge said embarrassingly, "I checked everywhere in the east, but there was not any Miss except two palace people who were weeding."

Madam Su asked in surprise, "Did you ask the palace people whether they had seen Cangning?" Because Shen Cangning had always been a capricious girl, Madam Su believed that Qin'ge had looked for her hard and determined that Shen Cangning had deceived her. Her expression looked terrible.

"I asked. The palace people said that the Fourth Miss had played with two Misses of the Su Family and Princess Qingxin, but later, Princess Qingxin wanted to watch the lotus in the imperial garden and took all Misses over."

Madam Su's face turned gloomy. Wei Changying and Qin'ge didn't know, but she did. The imperial garden was not close to Weiyang Palace. Even if she sent someone to the imperial garden to find Shen Cangning now, it would be too late to bring her back before the end of the feast. Was this little daughter her enemy in the former life? Why couldn't she rest without making some trouble every day, and even entering the palace was no exception.

She was very annoyed now. Empress Gu, who was seated on the left, also found that her younger daughter had been gone, but she had a unique identity. After searching a few times in the hall and having no result, she announced the end of the feast and went to look for her daughter.

Seeing that the Empress and Princess Linchuan did not mean to blame the people who were absent at the moment, Madam Su secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She whispered to the daughters-in-law, "Go and ask the palace people at the door to take the little evil back!"

Not only Madam Su was anxious now, and she was not the most urgent because she knew where her daughter was. But Madam Zhang, the second madam of the Su Family, was so worried that she almost tore the handkerchief in her hand, telling her servants in a shaking voice, "Go and find where the two are."

The mother here was anxious and annoyed, asking around and trying to inform the daughters to come back. Fortunately, Princess Qingxin knew the time. After the imperial madams withdrew successively, the party came back with the princess surrounded in the middle triumphantly. They encountered just in front of Weiyang Palace.

Madam Su was so angry when she saw Shen Cangning! If it weren’t for Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Duanmu to pull her on both sides, she would go up and beat her daughter. Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Duanmu persuaded again and again, “Mother, please don't be angry. Here is the Weiyang Palace! It’s a good day for Princess Linchuan, and it is acceptable for the fourth sister to relax occasionally. Besides, our fourth sister is not the only one who has been with Princess Qingxin until now, isn’t it?"

Shen Cangning came near. When she saw that the sisters-in-law were holding her mother tightly and didn’t dare to let her go, she knew that her mother was enraged. Even if she didn't beat her here, she wouldn’t escape the punishment when she returned home. She had always made trouble, so she was familiar with avoiding the punishment. She rolled her eyes and then saluted Madam Su, whispering, "Mother, something seems not to be good."

Madam Su's face darkened. She lowered her voice and said, "Save it. After returning to the mansion, nobody will be able to help you, including your father, your maternal grandmother, your brothers and sisters-in-law!"

Shen Cangning was anxious. She whispered to Madam Su beside her ears. When Wei Changying was thinking of what to say, she saw that Madam Su's expression change quickly! She ran her eyes over the crowd and immediately found Madam Zhang, her second sister-in-law of the maternal family. She glanced at the two nieces who were reprimanded by Madam Zhang. Her hands shivered a bit. She didn't scold Shen Cangning but commanded in a low voice, "Let's go back first, go!"

What on earth did the little sister-in-law say? How could it be so effective?

Wei Changying glanced at Shen Cangning in surprise, only to see that Shen Cangning chuckled and followed her mother, jumping up and down, looking careless...