This was obviously great news!

Wei Changying received the letter and the gifts happily and generously rewarded Man Lou with a pair of silver collars. When Man Lou left, she eagerly opened the letter to read it.

Perhaps due to the war situation in Western Liang, the letter was written in a hurry, and the handwriting appeared to be very sloppy. Overall, in the letter, he reassured her that he was safe, expressed his concerns about her pregnancy and childbirth, and asked whether she and her newborn baby were doing well and how the Shen Xuan couple were doing. Besides, he also sweet-talked a little before moving on to her birthday gift.

As there was nothing too special in Western Liang, Shen Cangfeng who wanted to send something to his wife for her birthday could not come up with anything suitable enough. Rather, he and his superior, the Lieutenant General Shen Youjia, had previously set up a trap to ambush the Chanyu of the western tribes, Muxiuer. Although Muxiuer escaped, they managed to kill the King’s Ten Eagles. The soldiers found a thumb-sized piece of blood jade from one of the Eagles. Judging by the color of the jade, they knew it was worth a lot of money. They didn’t dare to privately take possession of the blood jade and handed it over to the superior to get some rewards.

When Shen Cangfeng saw it at Shen Youjia's place, he exchanged his own dagger for it and gave it to the craftsman to let it be made into a pair of earrings with the shape of Lovebirds, both as a birthday gift for his wife and as a matching set to the pair of blood jade hairpins given by Madam Su earlier.

After reading the letter, Wei Changying happily opened the brocade box that came with the letter and saw that the earrings inside were true of excellent color. It was glistening red as if it had been fresh blood that was about to coagulate. The problem was that the carving on the earrings was definitely not as good as that on the pair of hairpins given by Madam Su, and even the red gold earring rests on the edges showed signs of the craftsman's carelessness in terms of workmanship.

No matter how hard she tried to view it positively, it was a waste of a good piece of blood jade.

Mrs. Huang and the others who gathered around Wei Changying all thought, “The pair of hairpins given by Madam is so beautiful that it doesn't usually go well with the other jewelry. Finally, young master gifted her a pair of earrings that were up to par.” When they saw the earrings, they were equally disappointed. They thought Shen Cangfeng wasted such a good piece of blood jade which was so precious and rarely seen even among the gentlefolks. If he could not find a suitable craftsman in Western Liang, he might as well send the jade in the rough, and they would find Mrs. Ye in the capital to do the job.

However, since it was a gift from Shen Cangfeng, and it was sent from Western Liang with a specific day in mind, Wei Changying, who was initially disappointed, put it on happily. She ordered someone to bring up a bronze mirror and looked at herself in the mirror. Turning left and right, she asked, “Does it look good?”

The crowd didn't want to spoil her fun and said that it looked good.

Because of the letter and the earrings, Wei Changying was in a good mood for the next few days.

But at the end of May, a piece of news suddenly came out of the palace and took her by surprise. Madam Zhenyi was seriously ill to the point that she was on the verge of death.

The Emperor had always treated concubines who he lost favor in as nothing. Even though Madam Zhenyi’s status was quite high, the Emperor did not even bother to visit her.

But the Empress and the Honored Consort who were both renowned for their virtues had to go and show their concerns. Once they were there, Madam Zhenyi who was heavily ill begged them for one thing, which was her daughter to marry before she died.

The Eleventh Prince, Shenbo, was still being raised under the name of Madam Zhenyi and he had been crowned Duke Yi. Generally, it was not right to mention only Anji and not Shenbo. But Madam Zhenyi had her reasons, “I come from a humble background and I am a very ignorant person. How can I raise a Princess properly? I have heard that Anji hasn’t been acting like a proper Princess among the other noble women over the years, and I am really worried about her. Fortunately, Shenbo is a Prince, and he moved to Jiamu Palace after he turned ten, where he has his own mentors and friends to tutor him, so he’s not dragged down by me. Now I’m afraid that because I’ve been so ill and ignorant for so many years, Anji doesn’t have a good reputation out there and no one will want to marry her in the future.”

When she said this, both the Empress and the Honored Consort took turns to comfort her by saying that Princess Anji was actually doing pretty well and asked her to not worry too much and take good care of herself instead.

However, Madam Zhenyi was not convinced and insisted that she was dying soon. She feared that Princess Anji, who was known for being fierce, would not be courted by anyone. She stressed that she must see Princess Anji marry, or at least be betrothed. Then she could die in peace. She begged the Empress and the Honored Consort to help her fulfill her death wish.

Seeing her like this, both the Empress and the Honored Consort guessed that she had someone in mind, so they tried to probe into it.

But how would Madam Zhenyi tell them if they didn’t agree with her? Their conversation lasted till Madam Zhenyi vomited blood. Anji, who was hiding behind the wall all along, panicked and ran out to help her mother while sobbing profusely. She mentioned that she didn’t want to marry and that she was fine with living the rest of her life alone after attending to her mother. On the other hand, Madam Zhenyi who was leaning against the bed was crying profusely and begged them to fulfill her wish.

It was a huge mess in Doujin Palace, and both the Empress and the Honored Consort’s minds were also in a state of mess. Hence, they hastily said goodbye and left. They went back to their respective palaces and summoned their confidants to discuss this matter. “It doesn't look like Zhenyi can last anymore longer, and Anji is really being viewed as a horrible beast out there. I really don't know anyone amongst the gentry families who is willing to court her.”

“Madam Zhenyi has been out of favor for a long time now, and Princess Anji is also not one of His Majesty’s favorites, so the only thing they can both hope for is that someone from the Weiyang Palace and Mingguang Palace can help them out.” Both their confidants said the same thing. “That's why she begged Your Grace to fulfill her wish.”

“But I received word that the person Anji has her eye on is Wei Changfeng.” Honored Consort Deng said so with a frown, “Now that Wei Changfeng has been betrothed to Lingxian’s daughter Su Nianchu, Anji's niece, who does Zhenyi want Princess Anji to marry?”

This was what Empress Gu said, “Previously, Mrs. Duanmu’s youngest lineal daughter Wei Changjuan incited Qingxin. In order to get Wei Changjuan out of this mess, Mrs. Duanmu told me that Anji seemed to have taken a fancy to Wei Changfeng and she had had a long private conversation with Wei Changying. I sent someone to keep an eye on them. At the New Year's Eve banquet, Anji did take advantage of the crowd to get close to Wei Changying, and Wei Changying seemed to treat her well, too. I had someone tell this to Honored Consort Deng. Because the Honored Consort was so eager to take me down, she immediately took advantage of the fact that His Majesty had wanted to eradicate the gentlefolks for long and told him about this. I also used this to make Ruiyu Hall an enemy of Honored Consort Deng. Now that Madam Zhenyi wants Anji to be married that rashly, could it be related to Fengzhou?”

Granny Yun then said, “But didn't the messenger who delivered the decree earlier say that Duke Changshan had already agreed to the marriage?”

“Didn't the Song Family urge Song Zaishui to return to the capital as soon as possible for her marriage? But then Song Zaishui was disfigured on her face, and they were 'embarrassed' to let their daughter marry Xixun. Can you blame them for not keeping their word? Didn’t everyone out there collectively agree that the Song Family was the one at loss?” Empress Gu grunted and said, “Wei Huan is such a sly fox. His promise means nothing! His words can never be trusted even if he crossed his heart! Do you really think he won’t have an excuse to back him up if he broke his promise?”

Granny Yun stayed silent for some time before saying, “It's just that no matter what happens, Su Nianchu is still the daughter of the Su Family, and in fact is the niece of Her Highness Princess Anji, so it's just not right for her as the aunt to fight for the same husband with her niece. If this spreads, it will bring her a bad reputation. Her Highness Princess Anji can provide Wei Changfeng even less help than Su Nianchu could! It’s true that Princess Anji is much fiercer and more aggressive than Su Nianchu, but can aggressiveness really solve what’s happening in the Wei Family?”

“That's true.” Empress Gu squinted and said, “But this time, Wei Changying didn't attend the banquet to celebrate Linchuan’s birthday because she was still mourning her aunt. Anji searched around and didn't see her, so she went to her sister-in-law, Shen Cangning, and muttered to her in private. Anji isn’t too close with Shen Cangning before this, so the fact that she asked her to help her deliver the message shows that she's obviously in a hurry! And she was keeping an eye on Wei Changying.”

“Remember the other day Princess Lingxian sent cherries to the palace and invited everyone in the palace to her mansion to try out the new dishes?” Granny Yun suddenly found the correlation!

Empress Gu frowned and said, “If Lingxian did this just to deliver a message to Wei Changying who was still mourning and could not go to the palace, then it shouldn’t be Wei Changfeng that Madam Zhenyi wants Anji to marry.”

What kind of mother-in-law would help her half-sister steal her son-in-law?

Granny Yun stayed silent for a while before saying, “Madam Zhenyi has been out of favor for many years. Although Her Highness Princess Anji is very aggressive, she never goes overboard. Remember how Her Highness Princess Anji had hurt Her Highness Princess Qingxin before? So even if she asked for your help, Your Imperial Highness, she’ll not expect you to offer her someone good. Maybe Your Imperial Highness should agree to Madan Zhenyi’s request first? After all, Your Imperial Highness have not yet spoken to His Majesty about Duke Yi being unfilial. How about asking His Majesty to be a little more compassionate to Madam Zhenyi this time?”

Empress Gu picked up her hint and smiled, “You have a point. She’s a Princess after all and will have to marry eventually. What's wrong with granting their wish this time? Madam Zhenyi has a daughter, and Shenbo is also under her name. She's so sick now. All she wants to see is for her children to be married before she can die in peace.”

The Empress realized she could take advantage of Madam Zhenyi’s request by agreeing to it to speed up Shenbo’s marriage so that he didn’t use the wedding as an excuse to delay his departure to the fief after his mourning. Honored Consort Deng also thought of this and immediately put aside the matters of Madam Zhenyi. She quickly discussed with Yao Tao, “That b*tch Mrs. Gu will definitely agree. What should I do?”

Yao Tao thought about it and said, “If the Empress is determined to help Madam Zhenyi and Princess Anji this time, it isn’t good for Your Grace to stop her, either. How about this? Your Grace can agree to Madam Zhenyi’s request first and stop her after she’s said who she has her eyes on?”

Honored Consort Deng realized that this was the only way to stop Empress Gu after thinking about it for a long time.

Now that the two of them had considered the pros and cons, they each sent someone to Doujin Palace to tell Madam Zhenyi that they were willing to express her wishes in front of His Majesty on behalf of her. But all they wondered was if Madam Zhenyi had a candidate in mind.

Madam Zhenyi knew that both sides must have their own motives and intentions, but there was no other way for her daughter to marry other than counting on the two of them, so she stayed silent for a moment before saying, “I have heard that Huo Zhaoyu, the first young master of the Huo Family in Yunxia is humble and generous and could tolerate others well. Perhaps he’s the most suitable for Anji?”

The Empress and the Honored Consort were a little surprised to learn of Madam Zhenyi’s choice, “Huo Zhaoyu? He does not seem to be well known among the descendants of the distinguished families. How did Zhenyi and her daughter find out about him?”

One of the palace people reminded them, “Her Highness Princess Anji was close to Wei Changying before this, and Huo Zhaoyu's brother, Huo Chenyuan, is a disciple of vice-premier Wei Yu, who is Wei Changying's family uncle. Perhaps Wei Changying recommended him to Her Highness.”

“In that case, it’s someone from Ruiyu Hall?” Empress Gu thought for a moment and decided to pretend she didn't know, “Someone prepares the carriage. I’m going to Xuanming Palace!”

Honored Consort Deng smiled faintly, “Ruiyu Hall. Anji actually had the audacity to collude with Ruiyu Hall? Let's see if this b*tch Mrs. Gu can convince His Majesty to go along with Ruiyu Hall's wishes?”

However, when the two Consorts came to the Emperor to debate, Empress Gu was obviously the better one between the two. So when Honored Consort Deng mentioned that it was possible that Ruiyu Hall was behind the matter, the Empress immediately reminded the Emperor along the lines, “Of course, I do pity Madam Zhenyi and Anji, but Huo Zhaoyu is the son of the Huo Family in Yunxia, and we do not know whether the Huo Family is willing to marry a Princess.”

This statement of hers immediately reminded the Emperor of the strange obedience of Ruiyu Hall. Wei Huan was extremely tactful, and Wei Changfeng was the only grandson whom he personally brought up. On top of that, his wife, Old Madam Song risked her life to bring him up. How could he have agreed to the royal family’s offer of marriage that easily?

Empress Gu was actually suggesting that the Emperor could use this opportunity to ask for the Huo Family’s opinions and to test whether the Wei Family was really up to something.