"Is she the fourth aunt's lineal granddaughter? What a lovely child, beautiful as a flower! I haven't yet seen such outstanding girls of her like and age in the capital. Come over and let me see you." On New Year's Eve, the main door of Mingpei Hall was wide open to welcome guests from every place. It was ablaze with light inside and outside, filled with happy laughter and cheerful voices.

The front courtyard was filled with activity. Music was being played. Dancers were dancing on the stage, and people were making toasts to each other. In contrast, there were elegant women in beautiful clothes in the rear courtyard, who were more graceful and more restrained.

The beautiful Wei Changying, who looked even more stunning in her fine clothes, smilingly called Shen Xun and Shen Die'er, Mrs. Huo's granddaughter, before her. She took her hand, looked at her gently, and kept praising her.

Being praised in front of a big crowd, the girl, who was only thirteen or fourteen years old, was shy. Blushing and looking down, she answered the questions like "How old are you?", "Your hands are so beautiful. Have you learned any musical instruments?", "Is Die'er your nickname? It's really cute." in a soft voice.

Standing beside her, Mrs. Huo smiled and was being modest for her granddaughter. Having been polite with each other, Wei Changying took off a bracelet from her wrist and tried to put it on Shen Die'er, saying with a smile, "This bracelet is emerald green, so it is more suitable for a girl of Die'er's age. It doesn't suit me. Please don't mind that I have been wearing it since I got up this morning. I thought I might be able to find a suitable owner for it today. I wore it on my wrist to remind myself not to leave it forgotten in my place!"

Shen Die'er quickly tried to refuse it. Although she was young, she had heard that her family sister-in-law from Ruiyu Hall had been treated and loved by her family as a princess when she had been in her parents' family. It was heard that every item in her dowry had been carefully selected by the Old Madam of Ruiyu Hall. When Shen Die'er had just come to her to curtsey, she had noticed that everything on Wei Changying was special and refined. The bracelet she was going to put on her wrist shone with a green glow even under the light. It was obviously very valuable.

A sensible girl who knew how precious things were would not dare to accept them easily.

Having tried to politely refuse the bracelet, Mrs. Huo finally gave in to Wei Changying's insistence. She told her granddaughter to take it, "Since your sister-in-law loves you, you should take it."

On hearing her grandmother's words, Shen Die'er allowed Wei Changying to put it on for her. The emerald bracelet and fair-skinned wrist looked very beautiful together. People nearby complimented how beautiful it was. Wei Changying smiled, saying, "I have said that girls of her age should wear bright bracelets like this to show how wonderful they are. It would be a waste if it were on my wrist."

"Things on you would become a waste? Then no one in this world could make things look good." Mrs. Huo smiled, saying, "I think Die'er is too young. It looks a bit too expensive on her. People of your age are in the prime of their youth. Most importantly, you have the right temperament. It would show more of its value on you!"

"In terms of the generous temperament and high status, you have both." Smiling, Wei Changying chatted with her. Wei Changying politely chatted with almost every Old Madam from each family in this way. It was so natural and easy for her to repeat these words.

While cheerfully talking with Mrs. Huo and her granddaughter, a servant reported that another Old Madam would come with her daughters-in-law and daughters. Having heard that, Mrs. Huo quickly said, "I wanted to talk to your fifth aunt a couple of days ago." She then spoke about her granddaughter, "She gets along well with your fifth aunt's lineal granddaughter, Miaomiao. We could go to your fifth aunt. You get on with your things!"

Since Mrs. Huo had taken the initiative to leave, Wei Changying politely said a few more words with a smile. She told someone to show them the way and to take them to her fifth aunt. When Mrs. Huo and her granddaughter had left, she quickly asked her servants to tidy her dress and then went out to greet the others again.

As the hometown of the Shen Family was in Western Liang, there were so many people to invite. Wei Changying had been incredibly busy at this New Year's Eve banquet. Gu Ruozhang, Deng Wanwan, and Duanmu Xinmiao were guests, so they just sat back and enjoyed themselves.

They were so relaxed that they drank a bit too much. The three of them were usually troublesome, so they had each respectively caused some disturbance at the banquet.

Gu Ruozhang got so excited talking to the several young ladies of her age in the Shen Family that she got someone to brave the cold wind and heavy snow to fetch a sword for her. She took off her fox fur coat and demonstrated swordsmanship in the courtyard in the wind and snow, drawing applause from the audience. She was usually the one who worried Wei Changying the most, but this time she was the one who didn't cause any trouble. Instead, she added entertainment to the banquet.

However, things with Deng Wanwan were a little out of control. This young lady from an aristocratic family, who usually looked quiet and gentle, had changed completely after several cups of wine! She wasn't being loud, noisy, or falling asleep. However, she kept going to the young ladies around to ask how old they were, whether they had been promised to anyone, and what they thought of her brother, Deng Zongqi. She made many young ladies in the Shen Family so embarrassed that they left their seats and went to hide behind their elders. But it made some of them pay some attention to Deng Zongqi, privately asking about his situation and considering whether it was worth marrying him.

The most outrageous one was not Deng Wanwan. It was Duanmu Xinmiao. In fact, strictly speaking, Duanmu Xinmiao hadn't intentionally caused the trouble. It was because Ji Qubing was so well-known. Even the far-flung people of the Shen Family in Western Liang had heard of this miracle doctor long ago.

Western Liang was poor and rough. Although the Old Madams mostly lived comfortably, they inevitably got some small problems as they were getting older. People who had more serious problems had developed some chronic diseases over the years. There were doctors in Western Liang, but which doctor in this country would dare to say they had better medical knowledge than Ji Qubing?

After Duanmu Xinmiao had come to Western Liang, people had been too shy to visit her for her medical advice because she had had to treat Shen Cangfeng first. What was more, after Duanmu Xinmiao had arrived, Wei Changying had caused some big disturbance while taking over Mingpei Hall. Then it had been improper for them to visit Duanmu Xinmiao. But this time, at the banquet, a filial junior went over to Duanmu Xinmiao and carefully asked whether Duanmu Xinmiao could check on her elders.

Surprisingly, Duanmu Xinmiao immediately agreed and went to an Old Madam to check on her. After she had been given acupuncture treatment, although her descendant had only just been given the prescription, the Old Madam excitedly held Duanmu Xinmiao’s hand and kept saying Duanmu Xinmiao was worth the name of the only disciple of the most reputable doctor in this country. It seemed that the simple treatment had brought her life back!

The Old Madam's chronic illness had begun many years before. She had visited a lot of doctors in Western Liang, but they couldn't do anything for it. When she had become older, her junior had invited doctors from far away and had even got an imperial doctor to come one year ago. None of them could do anything about her illness. Her junior was very filial, so this time she had been the first to go to Duanmu Xinmiao and made the request.

People in the Shen Family knew of the Old Madam's condition. She was one of the people who had the most serious problems at the banquet. With her as an example, many other Old Madams were still restrained, gesturing to their people around, but their younger generations and close servants gathered around Duanmu Xinmiao at once.

While Wei Changying was talking to several of the Old Madams like Mrs. Huo who were close to her, she suddenly noticed that there were fewer and fewer people in the hall. She was surprised. But having looked around, she realized that there weren't fewer people. It was that people had all gathered around Duanmu Xinmiao. At the New Year's Eve banquet, the guests in the hall had lined up in a big queue, waiting to be checked by Duanmu Xinmiao. Some more filial people had even sent someone over to the front courtyard to inform their grandfathers, fathers, and brothers.

Thus, the New Year's Eve banquet turned into a farce. Many guests abandoned all the delicious food and ignored the hostess, Wei Changying. They kept on elbowing their way through to tell Duanmu Xinmiao about their elders' illness or their own problems and asking if there was a cure.

Wei Changying kept secretly sighing and told Mrs. Huang and the others to persuade them to return to their seats. Although they respected the host family and returned to their tables, they were all unsettled, seemingly ready to gather around Duanmu Xinmiao again. Wei Changying got up and made apologies to everyone, saying something like, "If I had known you would like to consult Xinmiao about your elders or your health, I should have told Xinmiao earlier to avoid the hectic situation today. I am too young to have thought of this eventuality. Please forgive me." On hearing her apology, everyone was calmer. Duanmu Xinmiao wouldn't go back to the capital right after the New Year's Eve banquet, so what was the rush for at this moment?

Recalling Wei Changying's tough attitude these days, people realized that this New Year's Eve banquet was the first time this third young madam had invited guests since she arrived in Western Liang. However, her husband was still "on the bed because of his wounds", so her brother-in-law, Shen Canghui, was entertaining the guests in the front courtyard.

No one wanted this third young madam to think that they wanted to embarrass her because of that and therefore, they deliberately paid more attention to Duanmu Xinmiao. Having calmed down, everybody felt a bit awkward.

Wei Changying didn't intend to make things difficult for them or offend them over this matter. Anyway, she also planned to keep Duanmu Xinmiao around until after the Lantern Festival and then let her go. Shen Cangfeng had secretly left a few days ago for East River Town to watch over the situation personally. Now the army of the Great Vi had probably been sent on its way towards the western tribes.

Shen Cangfeng couldn't use Duanmu Xinmiao at the moment. Since Duanmu Xinmiao was willing to treat everyone, Wei Changying didn't have to be the villain. After she finished her words, she turned around and saw that Duanmu Xinmiao had drunk some more and seemed to have fallen asleep on the table. She then discussed with everyone that after Duanmu Xinmiao woke up, each family should make an appointment with her to take it in turns to receive consultations and treatments, so as not to crowd together like today, further delaying things. Now they were still at the New Year's Eve banquet. It was only once a year, so it would be nice if everyone could enjoy the banquet.

When the atmosphere had livened up again, Wei Changying secretly sighed with relief and drank two cups of rose wine. As she was about to carry on chatting, she saw in the corner of her eye that Mrs. He was gesturing to her with her eyes by the side door.

She apologized to Mrs. Huo and the others for needing to change her clothes and asked Mrs. Huo to keep an eye on the hall for her. When she got out of the door and stepped into the corridor, Mrs. He pulled her aside to avoid the eyes of the servants waiting there. She lowered her voice to report, "The fourth young master is a bit overwhelmed."

"What's happening?" Wei Changying asked, frowning.

She didn't know that Shen Canghui had been persuaded by the sixth uncle to speak ill of her to Shen Cangfeng. She had a good impression of this brother-in-law whom she didn't usually have much interaction with. However, because of Pei Meiniang's issue back then, Wei Changying always thought that this brother-in-law was naive when dealing with things. Madam Su had brought him up as her own and really loved him. Because Madam Su was not his mother but only his eldest aunt, she was far less strict with him than with Shen Cangfeng and his brothers. With such favorable conditions, Shen Canghui had still failed to please his eldest aunt! And he had even offended the eldest aunt a lot! He was truly stupid. Well, if she had been in front of Shen Canghui, Wei Changying would have been willing to change the word "stupid" to "honest".

But regardless of calling him stupid or honest, no matter how the wording should be changed, he was naive.

Today, the women were welcomed and entertained by Wei Changying in the rear courtyard. In the front courtyard, there was only one host, Shen Canghui, from the host family who could talk to the men who were more astute than the women. Wei Changying was really worried about Shen Canghui. Therefore, before the banquet, Wei Changying had especially found an opportunity to order Mrs. He to have someone look after things in the front courtyard, in case Shen Canghui couldn't cope so that she could report to her in time to try to help Shen Canghui.

Unfortunately, what she had thought of had come true.