The Empress Dowager of Mount Heng was very secretive about her interception, and Wei Mengying and her mother remained completely unaware.

  So after receiving the invitation to the Spring Festival banquet, I still prepared as usual - Wei Mengying was holding her breath and confronting Tai Fei: You said my daughter went to the Boling Hou Mansion for two days and lost face, do you want her not to go out of the main gate or step on the second gate?! I just want to let her out!

  Song Yixiao had no choice but to do so: she could not and would not live in the Wang Mansion for a lifetime, especially after the Empress Dowager issued an edict! So getting married was already imminent, but as the adopted daughter of a humble family, her opportunities to socialize with her mother were extremely rare.

  Attending banquets and gatherings among the ladies of the manor was her only way to remind everyone that there was a marriageable young lady in the King of Mount Heng's household - otherwise, where would the matchmakers come from?

  Especially this year's post is still from the eldest daughter of Jin Guo Chang Gong Zhuang, Qingjiang Jun Zhu Dou Roumei.

  Xian Emperor's ascension to the throne was not easy, and after taking office, he did not treat his half-brothers and sisters kindly, either killing or imprisoning or stripping them of their titles, basically none were spared. However, for the only two surviving full-blooded sisters, he showed great favor and kindness.

  Granting the title of Junzhu to his niece is one of the ways he shows favor.

  Song Yixiao's smile was as bright as Yuan Xue'e's, and last year when she avoided the heat, she had met Du Roumei and presented her with a pair of fragrant sachets, which were praised by the county master for their embroidery skills - so this year there was an invitation.

  Such an opportunity should never be missed under any circumstances.

  She was checking the clothes and jewelry with Zhao's mother and Jin Xun when Lu Ke'er's maid, Gui Zhi, suddenly arrived: "My young lady heard that Miss Bao is worried about the injury of the Marquis of Boling and doesn't plan to attend any banquets this spring. So she sent me to ask Miss Song if you want to go together when you leave?"

  "Thanks to the young lady's kindness, I wouldn't dare be rude." Song Yi smiled awkwardly. For these two years, she had been going out and about, relying on Yuan Xueying, the proper eldest miss of the Hou Manor, to help her out, before gradually being accepted.

  Despite this, many people still looked down on her.

  Yuan Xueyao can help her out when they go out together, but this time she's going alone to the banquet, she'll definitely be found trouble - if she could follow Lu Qinger, she would be able to reduce a lot of trouble.

  Just after Gui Zhi left, Song Yi Xiao's face didn't look too good: "This time the county master's banquet, I'm afraid there will be some trouble."

  "Ah?" Zhao's mother and Jin Xun were examining a piece of brocade together, holding it up to the light to see if there were any snags or stains. Upon hearing this, she was shocked and asked, "Miss, why are you saying that?"

  "You all know that the Fourth Mistress has been lukewarm towards me for these six years." Song Yi smiled and pinched her brow, "Now she suddenly becomes warm and affectionate, is there such a good thing?"

  Zhao's mother knew that when Song Yixiao returned to the Wang Fu, Lu Qinger had taken her to the Shao Yin Ting. She said: "But didn't the young lady invite you to her courtyard last time? Although you refused at first, you also promised to go to the Hou Fu again and bring her with you! Is it possible that she's afraid you'll regret it, so she's using personal feelings to manipulate you?"

  "I must have thought so too before!" Song Yi smiled, took the tea handed over by Jin Xun, blew it and put it down, and said coldly, "But two days ago when I saw the imperial concubine... Jin Xun, do you still remember what the imperial concubine said?"

  Jin Xun was taken aback, and after a moment's thought, she suddenly said: "The Empress Dowager said that the Boling Hou Mansion is now managed by a young man named Marquis Yuan, so they don't allow the Fourth Young Mistress to visit, lest it spread rumors!"

  "The Empress Dowager has spoken, even if the Yuan family invites me to their estate again, I won't be able to bring the Fourth Young Mistress out!" Song Yi smiled and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, narrowing her eyes. "This matter was unknown to us before the Empress Dowager summoned me for questioning. But would the Fourth Young Mistress not know? Since she can't go to the Marquis's estate, what do you think she wants me to do when I receive an invitation?"

  She let out a breath, "Actually, when the Fourth Miss asked me to pass on the message, I already found it strange. Although she and Eldest Sister aren't very close, they are still biological cousins, especially with Eldest Sister's temperament, which is much easier to coax than mine! With her status, sending a servant to the Marquis' residence to find Eldest Sister as a messenger isn't a difficult task at all. Yet, instead of asking her own cousin, she comes to ask me, an outsider living under someone else's roof——no matter how I look at it, it's suspicious!"

  She sneered, "So you're waiting for me here after all!"

  After all, the two had been classmates for six years and lived in the same mansion, but they always kept their distance. Suddenly, Song Yi laughed and invited her, with her cautiousness, she basically wouldn't agree, even if she agreed verbally, she would still be on guard against her.

  But if Lu Ke'er had "asked for help" from Song Yi Xiao before, then such an invitation would make sense - using a small favor to sell personal relationships could also motivate Song Yi Xiao to be more diligent.

  If it weren't for a careless remark made by Empress Dowager when summoning him, Song Yi Xiao would probably still be in the dark!

  "It's indeed that if there is an elder sister, then there must be a younger sister!" Song Yi smiled as she thought of past events and felt a deep-seated resentment. "Back then, Cui Jianliang would say good things about me with one foot and instruct people to release fierce dogs with the other. Now, the Fourth Young Mistress has actually learned this trick from her elder cousin!"

  She turned to her maid, "Jin Xun, when the time comes, be sure to pay attention, we must take care of all our things, and you must also be careful! Don't worry too much about me, after all I am a young lady, in front of so many people, even if it's at the county princess's estate, I'm sure the fourth county princess wouldn't dare do anything to me openly!"

  "Are you still going?!" Zhao's mother exclaimed. "Can't you see that the Fourth Young Mistress's thoughts are not right? Shouldn't we be avoiding her?"

  "Can't you not go?" Song Yi sighed, "Yuan sister has gone home, Yuan Houye's injury is not light, in a short time, she can't come out and move around! Moreover, mom, you think Yuan sister is two years older than me, this is already sixteen, Yuan Houye has also returned, can't you tell her about others? When the time comes for her to get married, she will have even less time to take care of me——she is the eldest miss of the Hou mansion, which identity is placed there, in the lively scene of the imperial capital's young ladies, they won't forget her! But I'm different."

  Without Yuan Xueying taking her out, it also means that in the future, this kind of invitation can only be obtained by herself.

  With her status and weight in this circle, if she doesn't attend a few times, she will be forgotten by everyone!

  By then, was she going to listen to her mother and go after Yuan Xuepei or return to the Song family to consider Liu Zhiyin?

  Madam Zhao also understood this principle and couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.

  Before you know it, it's already the third day of the third month.

  Before dawn, Song Yixiao got up and dressed in the outfit she had thought of two days ago: her raven-black long hair was styled into a lovely and charming cloud-shaped bun, adorned with sea-otter fur flowers, jade pins, and pearl earrings; a string of pearls, a crystal pendant, and an agate ring on her fingers.

  Light makeup and powder, lightly applied rouge.

  A faint flush on her lips, a delicate red like blood, sets off even more the dark hair and temples, the fragrant cheeks and snowy skin.

  The dress is a loose, wide-sleeved, high-collared garment with a narrow hem, the collar and sleeve openings are embroidered with an inch-wide twill pattern of flowers and leaves, revealing the inner layer of pink satin with embroidered peach blossoms; below is a pale blue skirt, a dark purple sash, a pendant made of sheep's fat jade, and at the bottom is a pair of five-colored tassels.

  After dressing up and checking herself in the mirror, Jin Xun added a dark green scarf on her arm before they left: "It's still cold early and late in the day, so as not to catch a chill, miss."

  The Xiangxia Xiao Zhu is located in a remote area, although Song Yixiao got up very early, but when going to take the car, Lu Ke'er and Lu Dian'er sisters still arrived one step earlier.

  "Fourth sister gave you face, but left waiting for you didn't come and right waiting for you didn't arrive." As soon as they met, Sixth Miss Lu Chai'er smiled sarcastically and stabbed with a sentence, "Isn't it that the first time out together, you want to give us a show of power?"

  Lu Ke'er heard it and didn't say anything, waiting for Song Yi to apologize before lazily saying: "Alright, hurry up and get on the car, or we'll be late."

  "Miss, this is too much!" After getting on the carriage, it followed behind the Lu sisters and went out of the gate. Jin Xun said indignantly, "We didn't even agree on a time, we're already early enough..."

  "Whoever eats from whose bowl is controlled by whom." Song Yi smiled and didn't have much feeling about it, "Eating at the Lu's and drinking at the Lu's, listening to a few sour words from the Lu family's daughter is also reasonable."

  Jin Xun was speechless for a long time, and after a while, he sighed: "When will we have our own home?"

  Song Yi Xiao didn't say anything, but bit her lip hard.

  The Qingjiang County Master's banquet was held in a separate garden outside the city - it was said to be a separate garden, but the "Occupying Spring Pavilion" almost surrounded a mountain, and it was said that it spanned two counties, with walls stretching for hundreds of miles, and countless pavilions and buildings, luxurious to the point of being unimaginable.

  "This place has been built for over a decade!" After getting off the carriage, Lu Ke'er led the way, followed by Lu Xiang'er, and Song Yi Xiao brought up the rear. The three of them, accompanied by their attendants, slowly entered the mansion with the steward who had come to greet them.

  Song Yixiao couldn't help but exclaim at the scenery and architecture along the way, while Lu Chai'er couldn't resist showing off her knowledge, "However, the one who spent a lot of money to build it didn't have good fortune. It was just completed, but before they could move in, the previous emperor passed away... It was empty for several years, until Your Majesty gave it to Di's elder sister."

  Before she had even finished speaking, Lu Ke'er turned her head around and glared at her fiercely, saying in a low voice: "What's the point of bringing up those old matters?!". As she spoke, she cast a glance at the steward not far away.

  Who doesn't know that Xian Jia Emperor hated the days before he ascended to the throne, although it's said that he laughed in the end, but still didn't like to mention the past. Over time, this became an open secret among the nobles, and they all avoided talking about such topics.

  Reminded by her elder sister, Lu Jie'er finally came to her senses and realized that she had been so eager to see Song Yi laugh that she had almost committed a taboo! She felt a wave of fear in her heart and shrank back, not daring to make another sound.

  "It seems that the former owner of this Chunyuan Pavilion was a favored prince or princess during the previous emperor's reign." Song Yi smiled and lowered her head, putting on an innocent look, but secretly laughing to herself, "This Sixth Miss really can't hide her thoughts!"

  But the smile quickly turned bitter, "Just as Mother-in-law Bai told Mother Zhao at first, Lu Dian's birth mother was just a concubine and had been out of favor since entering the house, so she usually didn't dare to offend me. Today, however, it's like she's become a different person, first speaking sarcastically before departure, and now openly trying to mock my lack of knowledge... If she wasn't certain that our mother-daughter good days wouldn't last long, where would she get such great audacity?"

  Lu Chai'er's attitude changed, proving that things were more serious than she had thought before, and even Wei Mengying was within the calculations of the person behind the scenes.

  "It's not something that Lu Ke'er and Lu Jie'er sisters can do, it seems to be the handwriting of the imperial concubine." Song Yi smiled and took a deep breath, clenching her fists in her wide sleeves. "It seems I still underestimated the imperial concubine - I thought that after Mother yielded, she could drag things out for a while. Who would have thought she couldn't let go!"

  She gazed at the elegant woman in fine clothes surrounded by a crowd on the high platform not far away, "The identity of Qingjiang County's master is noble and respected, and she should not have to ruin the atmosphere for me on the annual Shangsi Festival. Today's affairs, the Empress Dowager and the Lu sisters are probably trying to kill with a borrowed knife..."

  "Now that I've seen the problem, how can I just wait for death with my head held high?!"

  Song Yi's sparkling eyes darted back and forth between the Lu sisters, her gaze lingering until she reached the foot of the stage. Only then did she curve her lips into a smile, its meaning thinly veiled: "Out of gratitude for six years of support, this time I'll only defend myself and not counterattack. But if there's a next time..."

  "The princess invites three people to come up and chat." The servant who had gone ahead to report came down, interrupting her thoughts, "Please go this way!"