Wei Changying finally chased Shen Cangning away after giving her many excuses, yet she couldn’t help but ponder over Princess Anji’s beaded flower. Shen Cangning badgered Princess Anji and swapped her own golden hairpin for this beaded flower. Despite being well known for her fierceness, Princess Anji was actually in a very difficult position in the royal palace, and getting married was her only chance.

Princess Anji was very careful and cautious in this matter. The Princess herself had said that she was not in a hurry as she had only reached her marriageable age this year! But now she suddenly asked Shen Cangning to reach out to Wei Changying. Although Wei Changying did not tell Shen Cangning what was going on, it was undeniable that Princess Anji was in a hurry.

These days, Wei Changying, who was in labor and confinement after giving birth, neglected a lot of things. She wouldn’t be able to garner enough focus to ponder why Princess Anji was panicking. All Wei Changying knew was that her husband's family was planning to abolish the Crown Prince while Duke Yi was thinking of replacing him. Her uncle was Duke Ji. Duke Ji’s mother, Dowager Duchess Ji, had been dead. Her death was so coincidental that she felt something was rather fishy.

Princess Anji was the only daughter of Madam Zhenyi, and both of them had fallen out of favor. On top of that, Madam Zhenyi did not have a strong family background to support her. Hence, they shouldn’t have anything to do with such an important event as the abolition of the Crown Prince. But what would happen was unpredictable. For example, Consort Huo used to be one of the four concubines of the first official rank, and even had a higher rank than Madam Zhenyi, not to mention that she was from the Huo Family in Yunxia!

Consort Huo only had Princess Lingxian with her, and the two of them had not provoked anyone. But somehow, they were said to be involved in the death of the Sixth Prince. He was never the Crown Prince and was just a Prince favored by the Emperor.

With this as a real-life example, Princess Anji must’ve sensed something wrong. Hence, she wanted to get herself out of this as soon as possible to avoid complications.

Wei Changying was pretty fond of Princess Anji, plus at this point, it wouldn’t be right for her to not give her a hand. The problem was Wei Changying was still mourning her aunt at the moment and could not enter the royal palace as she liked. As an unmarried daughter, Princess Anji had to mourn her concubine mother for nine months, so it was not the right time for her to mention her marriage. Mrs. Duanmu died just two days after the death of Dowager Duchess Ji, and there were still nearly four months to go before she was completely done with her mourning! Who knew what would happen in those four months?

Wei Changying thought long and hard about it and came up with someone who might be able to do something. The timing was perfect, too. Without further ado, she called Mrs. Huang and instructed her gently.

Two days later, Princess Lingxian sent cherries to different places in the royal palace and said that her cook had come up with a new dish with cherries as the main ingredient and that the dish was cooked with various ingredients. The dish was quite delicious. However, it cannot be kept for long and had to be eaten on the spot. Hence, she would like to invite the people in the royal palace to visit her mansion for a taste test. If it was good, she would then offer it to the royal palace.

Granny Yun politely and indifferently dismissed the person who sent the cherries and walked back while telling Empress Gu, “What's all this talk about offering it to the palace? Isn't it just an attempt to please His Majesty?”

“Let her be!” Empress Gu had to keep an eye on both Duke Ji and Duke Yi, so she didn't have the time to care about Princess Lingxian anymore. “No matter if she’s favored or not, she’s just a Princess who is married and has children. Even if His Majesty favors her again all of a sudden, he’d only reward her with some money, which isn’t a big deal at all.”

Granny Yun knew that the Empress was bothered by Duke Ji and Duke Yi's covetousness for the throne of the Crown Prince, so she was sensible enough to end the talk about Princess Lingxian there and then.

At Mingguang Palace, Yao Tao told Honored Consort Deng, “Although these are available everywhere, and even Doujin Palace has them, I've noticed that the one given to His Majesty looks the best. The top part of our basket looks the same as everyone else’s, but the bottom half of the basket is comparable to those at His Majesty's. Obviously, Princess Lingxian has you in mind.”

Honored Consort Deng was satisfied and said, “Good thing she has me in mind. Seems like my efforts of promoting her daughter is worth it.”

Yao Tao tried to suck up to Honored Consort Deng again, “I'm afraid the dish Princess mentioned was also meant for you, Your Grace!”

“I don't have the time to go to her mansion.” Honored Consort Deng snickered, “His Majesty won’t pay too much attention to her. The most she can expect is Qingxin who’s still young and naive to pay her a visit. It's not necessarily a good thing for Qingxin to go over there though. I hope Qingxin doesn’t get involved this time because of her daughter.”

Just as Honored Consort Deng expected, the Emperor merely complimented Princess Lingxian for the cherry dish. As for Princess Lingxian's invitation, the Emperor brushed it off as he had so many children to the point where he could not even remember their names. Princess Lingxian was one of the least favored amongst them all. Hence, the Emperor did not bother to show up. It was just a new dish. It was not like the Emperor was a greedy man who was hungry for food, either. The royal palace was filled with good food, and this was not enough to attract the Emperor.

Since the Emperor did not accept the invitation, the concubines and the Dukes also excused themselves. However, the Princesses were very interested in the new dish that Princess Lingxian was talking about, especially Princess Qingxin. She immediately asked for Empress Gu’s permission to go as soon as she knew about it.

Empress Gu said yes as it was such a trivial matter. What she didn't expect was that Princess Anji would also be going along.

Princess Qingxin pouted immediately upon hearing that Princess Anji was going along. The last time they met was when the three of them went to King Run's mansion to celebrate the marriage of their cousin, Infanta Chengxian. However, when they just entered the mansion, Princess Qingxin and Princess Anji got into a tussle over Wei Changying. Right after that, Princess Qingxin was beaten up by Princess Anji and bruised her knees. After returning to the royal palace, Princess Anji readily admitted she was at fault and got her punishment. But when she was punished, Princess Qingxin who went to mock her was almost beaten up by her again.

This eleven-year-old Princess had always been treated like a jewel and was never scolded before. She didn't expect to have such a fierce royal sister. Princess Qingxin was still a kid, so after seeing Princess Anji acting so recklessly despite being beaten up so many times, she couldn’t help but feel a little scared of her. Now that she was told that Princess Linchuan wasn’t going along and it was just her and her royal sister Princess Anji who were going, she immediately said to Empress Gu reluctantly, “I don’t want to go with Anji. Empress Mother, let her stay in Doujin Palace to take care of Zhenyi!”

Empress Gu naturally said yes to her daughter. When Princess Anji came over to say that she also wanted to go to Princess Lingxian's mansion, Empress Gu said nonchalantly, “I heard that your mother is not feeling well these days. You have always been a filial child. Why are you not spending time with her instead?”

“Mother is always pretty weak, and her appetite hasn’t been the best. The food cooked by the kitchen is not tasty at all.” Princess Anji said calmly, “Hence I was thinking that since royal sister Lingxian came up with some new dishes, if they do taste good, I can try asking for one from her so that I could give it to Mother to boost her appetite.”

Empress Gu then said, “In that case, you don't have to make this trip yourself. I’ll send someone to ask Lingxian to write you a copy of her recipes.”

“Thank you, Empress Mother!” Princess Anji respectfully thanked the Empress for her kindness before switching the topic abruptly, “The kitchen only has some low-quality rice, noodles, and vegetables. Other than that, there is nothing else that’s decent. I've heard that the ingredients for this dish are complicated, and I'm afraid that the kitchen can't even come up with half of them. If I get the recipe but I don’t have the ingredients, the people in the kitchen can only stare at the recipe and not be able to finish the dish.”

Empress Gu was embarrassed for a while before saying awkwardly, “Why is there such a shortage of food? The Food Bureau is really making a mess!”

Granny Yun immediately saved the Empress from this awkward situation, “Your Imperial Highness have a headache these days, so she was pretty lenient when it came to issues in the royal palace. Who’d know these people would be so negligent?”

“Oh, I see! Empress Mother, are you feeling better now?” Princess Anji asked immediately out of concern.

Empress Gu sighed, “I'm feeling much better now. I was always tried before, so I didn't pay much attention to things. Sorry that you and your mother had to go through this!”

Princess Anji thought to herself, “Doujin Palace has been mistreated for so long now. Does Empress Mother have a headache every day?” However, she knew very well that she wasn’t in the position to argue with the Empress. Hence, she acted as if she had believed her words. After acting thoughtful to the Empress, she said, “Empress Mother, you don’t need to punish the palace people. I think they are so busy that they neglect it.”

With Princess Anji’s indirect reminder, Empress Gu had no choice but to punish them, “No matter how busy they were, how could they neglect Doujin Palace?”

The Empress sent for the Food Bureau at once and reprimanded them severely. She then ordered them to replenish the food stock for Doujin Palace immediately and comforted Princess Anji by gifting her some of her dress materials and food. When Princess Anji left, the Empress sighed to Granny Yun, “I know she is always with her mother in the palace. Why on earth did she want to visit Lingxian all of a sudden? Seems like she snatched the opportunity to blackmail us.”

Granny Yun reminded the Empress, “Duke Yi was saying something about how some parents pass away before their children have a chance to repay their efforts in bringing them up and wanted to treat Madam Zhenyi well the other day! Turns out he wasn’t even aware of the food shortage at Madam Zhenyi's place. Look! Even Princess Anji had to come over to complain to us indirectly.”

The Empress immediately picked up the hint and clapped her hands, “Exactly! He was always talking about being filial to the point where His Majesty praised him, but he neglected Zhenyi and her daughter just like that! How could we not inform His Majesty of how unfaithful and unfilial he is?”

While they were discussing how to give Duke Yi and even Honored Consort Deng a hard time in Weiyang Palace, Princess Anji who got many benefits returned to Doujin Palace, sulking.

Madam Zhenyi immediately sensed something was wrong with her daughter and dismissed her maidservants before asking her.

The two of them had lived together for many years. Madam Zhenyi was counting on Princess Anji to bring her to the Princess's mansion after her marriage so that they could live in peace. Hence, there was nothing to hide from each other.

Princess Anji then proceeded to tell the whole story, “Wei Changying is still mourning over her aunt's passing. Hence, she can’t enter the royal palace as much as she wants, and I have no valid reason to go to her, either. Not to mention that I’m also mourning Dowager Duchess Ji! The only thing I can do is to ask her sister-in-law, Shen Cangning, to help me convey the message. This morning, when royal sister Lingxian sent us cherries and invited us to her mansion, I thought it might be related to Wei Changying as her brother just got engaged to royal sister Linxian's daughter. I wanted to go and see if that was the case, but I was stopped by Empress Mother. Eleventh royal brother is getting closer and closer to Honored Consort as time goes by, and I’m starting to worry due to some rumors I heard in the palace. I think it's better for me to marry as soon as possible, so I do not repeat the same mistake as… So I can avoid being involved. But I’m not too familiar with the people outside, either, so I’m pretty worried.”

Madam Zhenyi couldn't help but sigh sadly, “It's all because of me. I’m such a disappointment and dragged you into this!”