"Really?" Song Yi couldn't help but laugh in surprise, "Did you set this up, cousin?"

  She didn't quite believe it, Wei Cui looked lively and cheerful without any city manners, but her actions were very measured - two days ago she brought flowers to show her, when sitting next to her, carefully not letting the flower branches touch the embroidery on her face, she could see it clearly!

  To say that the house where the embroidery frame is located, only Zhao's mother has the key. How could Zhao's mother possibly disobey her own master's orders just because of a visiting younger cousin?

  "It wasn't me who did it, but this thing was brought about by my carelessness!" Wei Zhuang sobbed as she recounted the whole story. "Just an hour ago, Sixth Miss suddenly came over! Hearing that you had gone out and hadn't returned yet, Sixth Miss originally wanted to leave, but when she got up, she saw the embroidery on my collar and praised it a couple of times. I...I said it was you who embroidered it for me!"

  It wasn't until then that Lu Jie'er suddenly remembered the birthday gift Song Yixiao had prepared for the imperial consort, and asked about it.

  "Madam Zhao had no choice but to open the lock, letting Sixth Miss take a look first! Who knew that Sixth Miss brought people in, and after just a few glances, someone accidentally knocked over the embroidery frame... By the time Madam Zhao called for help to pick up the frame, it was already like this!"

  Wei Chang said with a sigh, "I've seen it before, this stain is actually mulberry juice. It's okay to get it somewhere else, but it just had to be on the White Crane's body, and that's definitely not going to come clean!"

  Song Yixiao's anger dissipated a bit upon hearing the words, and she thought to herself: "Lu Chaoer just helped Jin Xun last time, why is he targeting me again now?"

  Especially since it's so obvious!

  "Even if she didn't know that Mother was pregnant again when she came over, but even if Mother wasn't pregnant, as the legitimate mother, she would still have the power to control her——she's so blatant in ruining the birthday gift I prepared for the Empress Dowager, it's as if she did it on purpose!"

  The problem is, how to look at this matter that has no good consequences for Lu Xiang'er: offending Song Yixiao and offending the legitimate mother are not mentioned, because everyone outside knows that Song Yixiao embroidered this embroidery piece in order to present it to the imperial concubine. Now being deliberately tainted by the imperial concubine's own granddaughter is equivalent to slapping the imperial concubine in the face.

  Once it gets out, she will certainly be considered to have a bad character.

  Being a concubine's daughter, after this commotion, can future marriage proposals not be affected?

  "This is simply not taking her own future seriously, how can she be driven to this point by someone? It's not many people who can do that!" Song Yi Xiang almost instantly thought of the Empress Dowager, his face sinking, "Could it be that the Empress Dowager's plan at the Shangsi Banquet didn't work, and now she's come up with another scheme?"

  She thought for a long time before saying, "The princess is pregnant now, and the king personally ordered that she should not be overworked. Let's put this matter aside for now and not make it public, let's see if the birthday gift can make up for it first."

  They heard that she didn't mean to punish them, so everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief and began to gather around the embroidery frame to discuss and plan.

  Finally, Wei Zhuang came up with a plan, which was to embroider a piece of mountain rock in front of the white crane using blue silk thread, covering up the dirty spot on the white crane's body.

  Song Yixiao drew the layout according to what she said, and Zhao's mother and others thought it was feasible. They were selecting silk threads for coloring when a young maid from outside led in an unfamiliar maid: "The servant girl greets Miss Song! I wonder if Miss Song is free at this time? The young mistress wants to invite Miss Song over for a visit!"

  "What instructions does the second young mistress have?" Song Yi smiled slightly in surprise. The second young mistress, Kong Shi, had a grudge against Erniang Jin Shi, and no matter whether it was her husband's noble birth or her own family background, she couldn't compare to Erniang, so she had long since relied on Wei Mengying.

  So Big Auntie Dà Shǎo was not too bad to Song Yíxiào - but the two were not actually sister-in-laws, and usually didn't have much interaction, so they couldn't be considered close either.

  This would make Grandma send someone to invite him, and Song Yi laughed unexpectedly.

  The maid was very perceptive and explained: "His Highness is concerned about the hardship of Her Highness's pregnancy, so he ordered the two young ladies and the four county masters to help Her Highness with her duties. The two young ladies and the four county masters just received their orders when they heard from the servants that Miss Six had come to cause trouble here - considering that Her Highness needs quiet rest now, I was sent to invite Miss Song to speak in the main house!"

  You're lucky again, "Lian Yue, the slave servant, is the dowry of the young lady. She rarely comes to Miss Song's side, and if she's slow, please forgive her!"

  "How could it be Eldest Young Mistress who took over?" Song Yi's smile grew even more astonished, thinking to herself, "Sixth Miss has always looked up to Fourth Miss as her leader, if she deliberately ruined the birthday gift, then logically speaking, the person following closely behind should be Fourth Miss! Even if it wasn't Fourth Miss, it should have been Second Young Mistress who has never gotten along with me, why is it now Eldest Young Mistress on Mother's side?"

  Thinking of this, she asked Lian Yue: "Is it only the eldest lady who asks me to speak? Are the second lady and the fourth young master also in the main house?"

  Lotus Moon respectfully said: "As for Miss Song's words, Second Young Madam and Fourth Princess each have different errands, but neither of them is in the main house."

  Is this to say that this matter was taken care of by Big Young Madam alone?

  Song Yixiao was bewildered in her heart, but she couldn't delay any longer either. She signaled to Zhao's mother to bring a silver ingot-filled handbag and rewarded Lianyue with it, smiling: "Please wait for a moment, I'll go upstairs to change my clothes, and then follow you to see the young mistress!"

  Lotus Moon thanked and said: "Please, miss!"

  A moment later, Song Yixiao changed into a dress and went downstairs with Jin Xun. They arrived at the main house and met Kong Shi, the wife of the eldest son. Song Yixiao slightly bent her knees, but was immediately pulled up by Kong Shi, who said with a smile: "Song sister, why be polite to me here?"

  She sat down on the couch, and the young lady sat down opposite her, but didn't immediately speak, instead making a gesture for everyone to leave - seeing this, Song Yi Xiao also nodded at Jin Xun.

  There were only two people left in the hall, and Da Shao's wife looked at Song Yixiao with a thoughtful gaze, saying softly: "It seems that Sister Song also knows that Sixth Sister came to your place today to stir up trouble with ulterior motives?"

  Song Yi smiled and pursed her lips: "It's just that I think Sixth Miss isn't such an unreasonable person."

  "I knew you were a sensible person!" The young mistress smiled wryly, "Sixth sister... if she weren't desperate, why would she dare offend you?"

  Song Yi laughed in surprise: "Young Madam, where did you get this from?"

  "Don't be impatient, I invited you here specifically to clarify everything with you!" The young mistress smoothed her hair and a cold glint flashed in the bottom of her eyes, but her tone remained warm and gentle. "I know you're clever, so I won't bother with those grandiose words. Let's just say... at the Shangsi banquet, did you feel like Duan Taijie was being unusually attentive towards you?"

  Song Yi's expression changed slightly as she let out a cold laugh, "Sister is indeed blessed with good fortune!"

  "What did you say?" Song Yi Xiao had sensed the Empress's plan at the Shang Si banquet, but due to Jian Yu Bai's sudden interruption, she didn't have time to guess what Jian Yu Bai was thinking, let alone think about the Empress's scheme.

  This made Dashi hear that Mrs. Dashan wanted to tell herself, and she immediately became solemn, "Please instruct me!"

  "Miss Song is young, so she must not know that Aunt Du is also a pitiful person!" The young mistress fiddled with the bangles on her wrist, speaking slowly and deliberately about Zhuo Ping'an's affairs. She looked at Song Yilai's pale face and sneered, "Although it's not right for a granddaughter-in-law to speak ill of her grandmother behind her back, but if such a talented person like you were to really marry into this family, it would be a complete waste of your talent!"

  "So I just said, you are really blessed! If it weren't for Jian's younger brother..."

  The old lady appreciated the fierce anger in Song Yi's eyes, smiled and paused for a moment before continuing, "To say that Jian Shu's heart is pleased with you, Duan sister will absolutely not compete with him - this matter has nothing to do with you. But Duan sister won't blame you or Jian Shu for this, how can she not blame her grandmother?"

  Song Yi Xiao fell silent for a moment, then looked at her: "The Empress Dowager is trying to appease the anger of Qing Jiang County's mistress by marrying Sixth Miss to Zhuo Ping An? Sixth Miss thinks it's my fault and that's why she went to ruin the birthday gift?"

  "Sister Song is even more clever than I thought!" The young mistress's eyes flashed with surprise, but she shook her head. "Although Grandmother was willing to recommend Sister as a daughter-in-law to Aunt Du, after all, Sister is not a member of the Wang family! But she still dotes on her own granddaughter. It was Madam Jin who strongly promoted this matter!"

  When it came to Ersha, Da Sha's tone turned cold, "The reason she did this was because Liu Xiaojie had helped her sister's maid before, indirectly ruining her plans!"

  "Then Miss Six went to my place?" Song Yi's face turned iron-gray, but there was still some doubt in her expression.

  "This idea was mine to her - Duan's sister has such a son, and his body is very strong. Duan's sister is worried that after she passes away, Zhuo Ping'an will still be alive and suffer! So she is very close to her younger brothers and sisters, hoping that they will remember the sibling relationship in the future and take care of Zhuo Ping'an!"

  Old Mrs. Dai pursed her lips, "This is also why Duan's sister immediately stopped mentioning letting you be her daughter-in-law as soon as she saw Jian's brother give the jade pendant to his sister!"

  "So once Sixth Miss offends me, will the young mistress of Qingjiang also not want her as a daughter-in-law?"

  "But I know you're not only magnanimous, but also grateful. The young mistress revealed a hint of helplessness, "So unless you've agreed to it beforehand, otherwise, in front of others, you won't say anything against Sixth Sister, who is the princess of the Wang Manor! Later, when Eldest Sister-in-law thinks that as long as Sixth Sister apologizes by pouring tea for you, this matter will be over, then..."

  That Lu Zhan'er still can't escape her fate as a Zhuo Lu clan member!

  "But if your sister helps the sixth sister, she will inevitably get a reputation for being unreasonable! Even people will say that you don't remember the kindness of the Wang family all these years!" The young lady spat out her breath, "So, I let the sixth sister go to Huanxia Xiao Zhu, but also reminded her to be lenient and at least give your sister a chance to make amends!"

  "This is a good opportunity to invite my sister over for a chat, and also to ask for her opinion before deciding on the next step. If my sister is unwilling to help, then this matter will end here. With Her Majesty's pregnancy and our grandmother's birthday approaching, the palace is filled with double happiness, it's not allowed for people to gossip recklessly, which is reasonable!"

  "Sister-in-law, if it's the pitiful Liu Mei... To avoid being detected by Jin Shi, Liu Mei is not here right now. As her sister-in-law, I'll thank you on her behalf for your great kindness!"

  The old lady looked at her and said, "I wonder what Miss Song is thinking?"

  Song Yi Xiao also looked at her: "Before I make my choice, can the young mistress tell me who told you about the jade pendant that Lord Jian gave me? It doesn't sound like Mother, but it's unlikely to be the Empress or Second Mistress either?"