After seeing Deng Zongqi personally, Madam Song called Song Zaishui and Wei Changying the next day and spoke to them frankly, “This marriage must be stopped. Although the reply from Jiangnan has not arrived yet, I expect that they would feel the same about this. According to Honored Consort Deng, on the birthday of Lady Zhong there would be a bad omen in the palace—Since the Honored Consort's Zhaohua Palace is situated in the south of the Imperial Palace, the Empress and Lady Zhong would have their men do some tricks over it when the time comes.”

After a pause, Madam Song continued, “The First Prince was impeached because he was exposed by the abolished Empress Qian for using witchcraft to curse His Majesty! Therefore, if His Majesty were to consider the Honored Consort as a bad omen, even if he wouldn't abrogate her as the Honored Consort, the Deng Family's status would suffer greatly from now on, especially for the life of the only Prince of the Deng Family who could even be considered as a child of the nemesis… Honored Consort Deng was planning to use you as a replacement for her by making you enter the Palace through the South Gate on that day.”

Song Zaishui nodded and said, “I'm not afraid of any of these as long as I don't have to marry the Crown Prince.”

“No.” Madam Song glanced at her and shook her head, “Now you've become so anxious that you weren't even able to find the loophole in this plan?”

Song Zaishui was stunned, and then she heard Madam Song continued, “Not to mention the reason why Honored Consort Deng was already aware of the Empress and Lady Zhong's plan… This time, His Majesty had specifically ordered his Standby Guards to go south to Qingzhou in order to find Lady Zhong's relatives—among those four guards, who works for the Empress Gu? And who works for Lady Zhong? Although Gu Yiran's last name is the same as the Empress, he is from the Gu Family from the capital! And how could the children of the Duanmu Family and the Liu Family be easily controlled by the Empress?”

“If you were Empress Gu, seeing this four Standby Guards, knowing that now you are in Fengzhou, and the Standby Guards have to go through Fengzhou on their way to Qingzhou, wouldn't you be able to antic.i.p.ate that something might go wrong when Deng Zongqi pa.s.ses through Fengzhou?” Madam Song sneered and reminded her, “Don't forget that Empress Gu knew already that you are not willing to marry into the Royalty!”

Song Zaishui was startled: “Then all of this… Has it already been part of the Empress's plan?”

“It's also part of the Honored Consort's plan.” Madam Song said in a concerned tone, “Deng Zongqi is the Honored Consort's lineal nephew, and he has been protected by the Honored Consort since he was young! Now that the Honored Consort's confidant is coming here, do you think the Empress hasn't prepared for this? And how could the Honored Consort not consider this as well?”

“Our family is far away from the capital, and we have not heard much information. There won't be enough time to make a round trip either, so there is no perfect plan for now. But Changying's grandmother was right about this. The Song family is a member of the six n.o.ble gentlefolks, and we definitely can't repent our own engagement!” Seeing that Song Zaishui suddenly turned pale, Madam Song continued, “But if others have a problem with the Crown Princess from the Song Family and manage to hinder you from marrying into the Royalty, that would not be the Song Family to blame!”

Song Zaishui was absorbed in thoughts for a while, and then she said, “So the Honored Consort…?”

“Exactly.” Madam Song nodded and said, “As long as you are willing to cooperate, Honored Consort sure has many ways to stop you from getting married. Deng Zongqi is also sharp and ruthless. He must have been prepared for not being able to return once he arrives at Fengzhou. If he were forced to have no way out, who knows if he wouldn't dare to act against you! The reason that the Honored Consort has chosen you to replace her as the bad omen is to be responsible for the Song Family—that this marriage would be ruined by the Deng Family, and it would not the case where the Song Family is seeking to repent its engagement. Do you understand?”

Wei Changying said smilingly, “The Deng Family has put quite some effort into this, so to speak.” And then she frowned, “But I still think that the Honored Consort was too optimistic about this. How could she be so sure of what would happen in two months? Besides, cousin's trip to the capital can be easily antic.i.p.ated and monitored. If I were the Empress and I already knew that cousin could arrive at the capital on the day of Lady Zhong's birthday, why wouldn't I stagger the date? In fact, if the bad omen would happen on the day of Lady Zhong's birthday… How could Lady Zhong not be affected?”

“Who told you that the bad omen has to be arranged by the Empress and Lady Zhong?” Madam Song lightly reminded her and said in a loving tone, “Besides, although the Deng Family would be useful to us, we don't have to listen to them on everything! By saying this, Honored Consort Deng is stating her position for willing to break Zaishui's engagement with the Eastern Palace, and also bearing the charges in order to save the Song Family's reputation! This idea is nothing more than a promise, after all.”

Wei Changying looked at Song Zaishui, “Then cousin, what are you going to do?”

“It doesn't matter whether it's her not having the right destiny to enter the Royalty, or not being able to walk until she recovers from her knee injury.” Madam Song took a look at her niece and said, “We still have some time anyway. I will ask about the capital's situation carefully when Zaitian arrives, and we shall decide then.”

Hearing the words “knee injury not recovered”, Song Zaishui blushed due to embarra.s.sment, and said, “I lied to auntie earlier, I….”

“I'm afraid it's this little devil who offered you the idea?” Madam Song said, putting up a straight face. Looking at her bright niece now acting in bewilderment after having her little plans all figured out, she felt a bit funny but also a little embarra.s.sed. Thinking that just a day ago she thought she had concealed herself perfectly in front of Old Madam Song, but in fact, after being pointed out by her, she realized the old Madam had everything figured out all along… After all, there were benefits for having lived more years—the wisdom precipitated by time could not be replaced by talent itself.

Although Song Zaishui had good talent and was also taught well, she was a bit too young, after all. Thinking of this, Madam Song felt somewhat comforted for her embarra.s.sment in front of the old Madam. She stopped making fun of her, and said in a serious tone, “I have just received the notice that in three days the Emperor's envoy will arrive. Both of you should start preparing and stop thinking too much… Remember that the seniors are here for you!”

Wei Changying nodded smilingly, and Song Zaishui took a long breath. Despite Madam Song trying to stop her, Song Zaishui insisted on standing up and saluting to her. She said gently, “I trust auntie!”

She looked up and smiled brightly. Song Zaishui's grat.i.tude and dependence became a sharp contrast to that of Wei Changying, who took everything for granted at the same time. Madam Song slipped in a trance for a while, and soon she was even more determined to secretly help her loving niece. By no means did Madam Song consider her own daughter ungrateful, she was only sighing for the early death of Madam Wei. As a result, her loving niece received no love and protection from her birth mother. Even when Song Zaishui was so scared to marry into the Eastern Palace, she had to keep everything to herself and was afraid to mention it to her aunt… What she was afraid of was rejection, after all.

Now her aunt was willing to give her a hand only under a change in the situation, and she was already so grateful. Such a sensible niece made Madam Song even guiltier.

“Let's hope Zaitian would bring some good news, so that both kids can have a good place to go.” Madam Song sent away the two girls and said disconsolately to Granny s.h.i.+.

Soon three days had pa.s.sed.

On this day, Ruiyu Hall had opened its central gate to welcome the imperial edict. Wei Huan led his sons and grandsons in the front, and the womenfolk of the family came after them. Blocked by the men, the women were far away from the envoy announcing the imperial edict. They also had to kneel down during the process, therefore, after receiving the imperial edict for praising Wei Huan and Wei Shengnian, they still couldn't get a good look at the envoy. Even with Wei Changying's eyesight, she only got a glimpse of burgundy while tiptoeing during the short while that the envoy was turning around.

At this time, Wei Huan had led his descendants to surround the envoy to greet him, and the womenfolk of the family had all followed Old Madam Song to the rear courtyard.

Wei Changying had been sitting properly in Xianshuang Court for more than an hour, waiting, wearing the dress and makeup which Old Madam Song and Madam Song had been refining and testing for several days before it was finally set. She almost thought that Shen Zhou was too caught up in the conversation with grandfather that he wasn't planning to see her today. And then Shuangli came over to invite her, “First Miss, the Family Head and the old Madam have asked you to come greet the seniors.”

Although Wei Changying had long been prepared and she knew it wasn't an official meeting with her parents-in-law, she was still quite nervous. She hurried Mrs. He to check her appearance one more time. In fact, Mrs. He was worried for her as well, but she had to stay calm. She said to her smilingly, “First Miss, you are a natural beauty. Today your look was drawn up by both old Madam and Madam, are you still worried that the Shen Family would be picky about it?”

Shuangli also said, “When I first came in, I was almost in a daze seeing First Miss's stunning beauty!”

But in fact, Wei Changying's appearance today wasn't showy, because she was greeting Shen Zhou and not Shen Cangfeng. For seniors, although some liked to see the younger generation dressed up in resplendent outfits, since Wei Changying was seeing Shen Zhou for the first time as the future wife of the Shen Family, nothing mattered more than looking demure and dignified.

Therefore, Old Madam Song had picked an aqua crossed collared inner s.h.i.+rt with dark embroidered flowers and mandala pattern, a red wide sleeve crossed collared upper s.h.i.+rt with embroidered white tea, and an ivory pleated fairy skirt for Wei Changying. On her waist she wore a burgundy gold Ruyi belt with cloud patterns, and on her arms she wore a cyan silk scarf embroidered with blossoming flowers. Now summer was just over, the weather was getting cooler, but autumn had not arrived yet. In the Ruiyu Hall, flowers were still blossoming, and the foliage was lush and dense, making it a great setoff for this fresh outfit. Wei Changying looked particularly elegant and demure dressing up.

But Wei Changying was in her youth. If she dressed too plainly, her n.o.ble status wouldn't be reflected. Therefore, Madam Song suggested to change the jade ornament to a colorful jade b.u.t.terfly, and the silk ribbon that tied the jade ornament was also changed to a bright-colored blood-red pomegranate coral gong tao belt.

As for jewelry, the pair of bloodstone hairpins gifted by Madam Su was sure to be worn—Old Madam Song had chosen a dress with light colors for her granddaughter in order to highlight the pair of hairpins. This was to show their respect for the earrings and hairpins gifted by Madam Su, and also to prove that Wei Changying was worthy to wear the famous pair of hairpins even among the gentlefolks.

Old Madam Song had put deep thoughts into this. For now, this pair of hairpins, symbolic of an unmarried girl, was the only decoration on the hairdo, and there was nothing more.

Her silky black hair and the vivid bloodstone hairpins reflected each other in a seemingly simple fas.h.i.+on. However, because one was bright and the other was pure, the two colors contrasted greatly and together they easily made quite an impression. Wei Changying was a beautiful lady with soft, silky skin to begin with, and with the companion of such jet-black hair and blood-red hairpins, she appeared even more beautiful—her dark eyebrows, red lips, snowy chin and delicate nose made such a strong impression of her imposing beauty.

Surrounded by a group of servants, she arrived at the backyard with quite a formidable array. Shuangli went inside to report in advance, and after a short while, she came out and nodded. Wei Changying took a deep breath, slightly adjusted her skirt and walked in with dignity and grace.

The backyard was decorated with some new flowers and bonsai ornaments, and the rug was replaced by a brand-new woolen carpet. Except for these, nothing was quite different from how it had always been. Old Madam Song gave the left-hand host seat to Wei Huan and seated herself at the right-hand host seat. Behind them served Chen Ruping, and the old Madam's chief maids Shuangzhu and Shuangjiao served by the side of the two lower seats.

Wei Changying knew that between the two seats one had to be seated by Shen Zhou. And with no doubt he would be looking closely at her, so she dared not to get distracted and greeted Wei Huan and Old Madam Song without looking to the side. After saluting to both her grandparents, Old Madam Song then smilingly introduced for her, “Won't you come up quickly and greet your uncle from the Shen Family?”

With the words from grandmother, Wei Changying now turned to the main guest's seat to greet and salute to her uncle. While she was still bowing down, she heard a bold and loud voice, smiling, said, “This is the young lady who is engaged to my nephew Cangfeng? No wonder she has such stunning appearance and polite manner, she is a daughter from the Wei Family, after all… Now get up, we are a family, so there is no need for excessive courtesy. ”

The voice was loud as a bell, stentorian and full of vitality. It was as if the roof had been shaken while he was speaking. This voice alone was completely in line with the common impression of a fierce warrior who had fought wildly in the dangerous battlefield.

Wei Changying couldn't help but think of her future husband. Would he have the same appearance as her uncle? In that case, if she had been replaced by a shy and timid young lady, would she have been ended up like Zhu Lan who was so scared by Jiang Zheng's loud roar last time that she fell to the ground…?

Just as how she expected, she had to be careful and prepared to become the wife of the Shen Family!

While she was absorbed in a flight of thoughts, she had decided to bear the responsibility of becoming the Family Mother of the Shen Family in order to prove that she was indeed a dignified and elegant daughter from an eminent family! But for now, she was still a bit shy as an unmarried young girl, so she had to restrain her urge to look up to get a look of Shen Zhou in order to figure out how Shen Cangfeng could possibly look like. She slightly lowered her head and carefully held a silk Jinxiu handkerchief with her slender, delicate fingers, which were accustomed to holding a machete and a Qingfeng Sword. She stood there, solemn and reverent. Shen Zhou had no idea that her nephew's wife was secretly pondering rebellious thoughts. He saw that she was beautiful and well-behaved, and he was very satisfied. As a result, he praised Wei Changying from the bottom of his heart for being dignified and graceful, so Wei Huan and Old Madam Song had to say a few words of modesty in her place.

Wei Changying was distracted paying attention to the words of her grandparents while responding in a modest, timid manner. After her grandparents finish saying good words about her appearance and bearing, grandmother should have her sent away or called upon by her side. And then it should be close to the end of her greeting the seniors.

However, after this exchange of courtesy, Old Madam Song pointed to the lower seat behind Shen Zhou and said smilingly, “This is your big cousin Song. You have met him when you were still a baby, and then our family returned to Fengzhou. For all these years you haven't seen each other, I a.s.sume you probably don't remember him. ”