Though the two of them were the only people in the room, Shen Cangfeng still lowered his voice, almost touched his wife's ear and said, "The Honored Consort and the Empress don't get along at all. Xiangzhi is favored by the Honored Consort and he can't get out of it now. If we let our cousin marry Xiangzhi and the Honored Consort’s plan failed, she would probably be punished as well. Why does she have to suffer that?"

Wei Changying was surprised when she heard this, asking, "Why do you think the Honored Consort will lose?" She wasn't just worrying about Deng Zongqi. She knew that Song Zaishui had united with the Deng Family to break off the engagement and the Wei Family had helped as well. Although it didn't mean that the Song Family and the Wei Family were on Honored Consort Deng's side, they would support the Honored Consort more.

Especially, when Song Zaishui's seemingly reasonable withdrawal the marriage, she had more or less offended the Empress and the Crown Prince! In this circumstance, Wei Changying was naturally hoping that Empress Gu would lose her power and the present Crown Prince would be dismissed, and then she could cease worrying.

But now knowing what Shen Cangfeng meant, she thought, "He doesn't believe Honored Consort Deng will win?" Shen Cangfeng had been serving the Emperor for several years and was appreciated by the Emperor, so his opinion inevitably meant a lot. Wei Changying dared not to ignore this, and she pushed his arm, "Why do you think that?"

Shen Cangfeng smiled, touched her cheek, and said, "Calm down. If it were ten years ago, I wouldn't say Xiangzhi's future looked grim, but now it's different." He pondered for a while before saying, "His Majesty is over sixty years old. Though he has always been healthy, he is getting old."

"Although His Majesty rarely visits the court or talks about politics, this world still belongs to him after all." Shen Cangfeng was speaking very slowly as he sought the right wording, "Several months ago, I heard His Majesty asking 'How many kings from the past managed to die at an old age?' His Majesty thinks he is deeply blessed amongst all the emperors since antiquity."

Wei Changying understood, "Does His Majesty now prefer to live quietly?"

"That's right." Shen Cangfeng said slowly, "That's why it's better for our cousin not to marry Xiangzhi."

His Majesty was no longer young, and it was not peaceful in the court and the imperial harem of this dynasty. Although the Emperor's first wife, Mrs. Liu, had not been dismissed, the two elections of successor empresses had dismissed two crown princes, and each time it had become a major event that affected the world.

When the two crown princes were abandoned, His Majesty was still in his prime and could easily suppress the disturbance caused by their dethronement. But now that His Majesty was older. Perhaps His Majesty was still capable of abandoning another crown prince, but His Majesty was already tired. His Majesty himself thought he was more blessed than all the other emperors since ancient times, so apparently, he was ready to die.

In this situation, His Majesty wouldn't seek to make trouble for himself. Though the Crown Prince was dissolute, Empress Gu was very calculating. It wouldn't be easy to destabilize the positions of the Empress and the Crown Prince. Not unless they committed a major crime like a conspiracy against the country and there was hard evidence of it. But Empress Gu was not stupid. His Majesty was so old, but her son was the justifiable future emperor and he was still young. She was younger than Honored Consort Deng, so why should she be in a hurry? Honored Consort Deng should be the one who felt anxious.

In that case, Honored Consort Deng's future didn't look promising.

Wei Changying just sighed and said, "Last year, on the Little Bamboo Hill, I was helped by Mr. Deng. I have been very grateful to him. But now he is in such a dangerous situation. What a pity."

Shen Cangfeng smiled, "I'm also grateful to him." He consoled her, "Xiangzhi looks very alike to the Sixth Prince, and Honored Consort Deng has always loved him. If she sees no hope of becoming the Empress, she will definitely plan a way out for him. After all, the Deng Family is also an aristocratic family so the Empress probably won't do anything to him."

Though it sounded that way, Deng Zongqi's parents were deceased. As his father had a grudge against his family, especially his uncle who was head of the Deng Family, the only hope he had was Honored Consort Deng. Once Honored Consort Deng fell, Deng Zongqi would definitely be punished! Ultimately, his family wouldn't protect him either, and most likely they would hand him over in exchange for peace and prosperity for the family.

Nothing had happened yet, and although Wei Changying was grateful for the help received from Deng Zongqi on that day, she didn't worry about him day and night. She sighed again and changed the topic to that of finding husbands for the sisters, Song Xiyue and Song Ruxuan, "From what you said, Mr. Deng isn't the right person. My eldest aunt has no son. It is said that she has earned some money, so other family members are pressurizing her. I think it would be better for my cousins to choose someone from generous noble families. It would also stop them from being bullied by their brothers."

Because the discord between members was just the business of the Song Family, Shen Cangfeng could not say anything, so he only said, "Why don't you tell Mother about this? Mother is familiar with all the children of the families in the capital, and almost every imperial madam in the capital knows Mother."

"Today we talked about the Ice Soul Incense so I forgot to mention it." Wei Changying bit her lip and said, "And the fourth sister isn't married yet." Madam Su had her biological daughter to look after, so if there was a good man she would introduce him to her daughter first. Her daughter-in-law’s cousins were a distanced relationship. Even if Mother agreed to help, how much would she really care about it?

"How many husbands can Cangning marry?" Shen Cangfeng smiled, "Besides, you also know Cangning's personality. To ensure that she and her husband could live happily in the future, even if there are many good candidates, Mother won't just let her marry anyone of them."

Before going to Princess Linchuan's birthday banquet, Wei Changying had felt that her sister-in-law, Shen Cangning’s personality, was too direct, weird and not easy-going. However, Shen Cangning had always been protective of her in the palace. When she and her two cousins, Su Yufei and Su Yuyin, met the Eleventh Prince in the imperial garden, and the brutal Eleventh Prince asked about Su Yufei’s origin, Shen Cangning answered calmly, lying to him that Su Yufei was Wei Lingyue. Fortunately, Shen Cangning didn't do it just out of her own bravery without any strategy. Instead, she had thought of all the consequences and simply resolved this crisis of her cousin Su Yufei being wooed by the Eleventh Prince.

Since then, Wei Changying had thought that Shen Cangning just behaved capriciously, but in fact, she knew well what was happening. Wei Changying thought she must not underestimate her sister-in-law. At this moment, she defended for Shen Cangning, "I think the fourth sister is very nice."

Shen Cangfeng smiled, "She doesn't make mistakes on important things, but she is capricious about trivial things. Everyone in the family pampers her, but when she gets married, her husband might not be so tolerant. So, Mother thought it would be better to choose a kind and tolerant family for her." Then he said, "You aren't the only one who thinks Deng Xiangzhi is nice. If he wasn't so close to Honored Consort Deng, I would marry Cangning to him."

"Ah!" Wei Changying sighed. The couple talked a little more and they heard the sound of the night watchman's gong from far away outside. It signaled it was eleven o'clock. Wei Changying didn't want to talk more with her husband, in case he might be tired when he was on duty tomorrow, so she said, "It's late. Let's go to sleep."

The next day, Wei Changying got up. When she was paying respects to Madam Su, she mentioned the marriages of her two cousins, saying, "My eldest aunt grew up in the capital, but she lived with my eldest uncle in the place where he worked for over ten years. My two cousins just came to the capital recently. They don't know anyone here, so my eldest aunt asked me to help with their marriages. I didn't want my eldest aunt to worry so I agreed to help, but I just got married. I won't be any help though. Mother, please show your kindness and help your daughter-in-law with this! Otherwise, I wouldn't know how to explain to my eldest aunt!"

Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Duanmu couldn't embarrass their young sister-in-law only one night after they had received the incense from Wei Changying, so they helped her together and said with a smile, "We got something good from our sister-in-law, so we would help our third sister-in-law to beg mother for her help."

"Three of you are talking to me about the same thing so I guess I can't say no?" Madam Su laughed, seeing them being like this, and said, "Was yesterday's box of Ice Soul Incense an early thank you gift from your eldest aunt?"

Wei Changying saw that her mother-in-law was in a good mood and joked, “Mother, it really isn't! My eldest aunt thought I was interested in Ice Soul Incense, so she said since I have elders, I mustn't use a different incense to the one my elders are using, so she split it between two boxes. Mother, I can assure you that my eldest aunt has only my two cousins, so two daughters. Mother, if you could help my eldest aunt this time, my eldest aunt would definitely come to thank you personally."

"Your eldest aunt is very refined!" Madam Su smiled, "If she put it in one box, she would expect you to share it with us. Otherwise, she would have to teach you a lesson. Your grandmother was famous for ruling her family rigorously when she was in the capital. Seeing your young aunts' manners, all the families used them as examples to educate their own children. So I can see why your eldest aunt said that."

Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Duanmu both laughed, saying, "Just listening to how our third sister-in-law described her eldest aunt, we can tell how strict Old Madam Song was when she trained them. No wonder that our third sister-in-law is so popular. Being taught by the strict Old Madam, you are different from ordinary young ladies after all."

Wei Changying deeply believed that her grandmother ruled the family rigorously. Even nowadays, Old Madam Song could still be in partial charge of Ruiyu Hall. She just didn't know her grandmother was so strict that she had made her aunts into examples for the young ladies in the capital. She could see why after all these years, the finest example in her aunt's heart was still her lineal mother. She even made her two daughters see their maternal grandmother as a perfect model.

She thought the next time she wrote a letter home, she must write this into the letter to amuse her grandmother. But now she talked to her two sisters-in-law humbly, "My sisters-in-law, I'm so flattered. My grandmother is extremely strict, but she pampered me a lot. In terms of manners, I'm still far away from you."

"Our third sister-in-law is humble." Mrs. Liu smiled, "Being this humble is not something all young ladies can do. Would you still say you don't have a polite manner?"

Mrs. Duanmu said, "No need to be so humble. The rules are clear, and we can all clearly see how you behave!"

Wei Changying said, "Speaking of this polite manner, I ought to learn from you, my sisters-in-law. You are daughters of decent families. If a lady from an aristocratic family was complimenting me, I could still listen to it with a bashful face, but if you, mother and my two sisters-in-law, did so, I wouldn't dare to admit it. With mother and the two sisters-in-law being here, I only serve as a foil."

The three sisters-in-law all laughed, saying to each other that they were humble.

In the midst of their conversation, Madam Su turned to Granny Tao and said something. When she turned back, she smiled and said, "Since I have received the precious incense, how could I refuse to help her? I know about the children of all the families in the capital. However, your first sister-in-law and second sister-in-law have been married for some years, and as for Cangning, I'm not brave enough to take her to meet other men before she becomes gentler, so I haven't been trying to know the children of all the families in the capital these two years. How old are your two cousins? How do they look and what are they like? And what kinds of families does your eldest aunt want them to marry into?"

Wei Changying smiled, complimenting Madam Su and saying a few nice things about Shen Cangning. Then she said, "My first cousin's name is Xiyue, now sixteen. My second cousin's name is Ruxuan, not yet fifteen, but she is the same age as the fourth sister. They both look graceful. Mother, actually, my first cousin resembles me but more elegant. My second cousin is also a beauty. The two cousins are both gentle and quiet. As for what kind of families are good for them, my eldest aunt said that as long as the boys are from families with similar statues, that their elders are tolerant, and the boys are of good character, they will be good candidates. If they have some talents, it will be even better."

Madame Su was surprised, saying, "If her appearance resembles you, she must be a beauty!"

Mrs. Liu smiled, "Mother is right. My third sister-in-law, you just need to say one thing about your first cousin that she looks like you. We will realize how beautiful she is."

"We also don't need you to describe how your second cousin looks. Just judging from you, as long as she doesn't look too different, she must also be a rare beauty." Mrs. Duanmu smiled and said.

Wei Changying became shy, blushing, "My two sisters-in-law are the real beauties, yet you make fun of me."

When Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Duanmu were about to say more, Madam Su smiled and said, "Alright. I'll help. You give me some time to think carefully. I will give you a list tomorrow, and then talk to you in detail."

"Mother, I thank you on behalf of my eldest aunt!" Wei Changying quickly curtsied and said with a smile.