A few days ago, when Prince Yan was here, the princess did not ask Shen Wei to come and pay her respects every day.

The Prince of Yan is now inspecting the river water affairs and cannot protect Chen Wei, so the princess asked Madam Liu to come to Liuli Pavilion. The princess wanted to let Shen Wei know that even though she was now a concubine, in this huge Prince Yan's Mansion, the princess was the only mistress.

Chen Wei said, "I will naturally accept the ancestral rules. But Aunt Liu, there is more than one concubine in the Prince of Yan's Mansion. Do the other three concubines also have to pay their respects to the princess tomorrow?"

Madam Liu calmly replied, "Master Shen, don't worry about that. When the other three concubines first entered the palace, they also paid respects every morning and evening. After a while, the princess saw that the three concubines were quite sensible, so she exempted them from paying respects every day."

Shen Wei lowered her eyes: "I know."

Nanny Liu conveyed the princess' words, snorted lightly, looked Shen Wei up and down, and then turned away arrogantly.

Cai Lian and Cai Ping followed Chen Wei back to the Liuli Pavilion courtyard. Chen Wei sat next to the baby cradle. Two-month-old Leyou had woken up. His chubby little hands tried hard to grab the rattle in the nurse's hands, and he made babbling sounds.

Cai Ping brought tea to Chen Wei, muttering, "Master, the princess must have bad intentions. Let's endure it for a few days, and wait for the prince to come back and ask the prince to make the decision for you."

After following Chen Wei for a long time, Cai Lian and Cai Ping gradually learned many good ways to deal with people.

Cai Ping's solution was to ask King Yan to protect Chen Wei.

Shen Wei took a sip of tea, a faint smile spread across the corners of her lips: "The river is long and the inspection is hard. It will take at least five days, at most half a month, for the prince to return."

During the days when Prince Yan was not back, Shen Wei had to get up early every day to pay her respects to the princess, and she endured the humiliation for too long.

She doesn't want to suffer unnecessary pain.

And every time she encountered difficulties, she would go to King Yan for help, which was really frustrating. She is now a concubine and her position is relatively stable. She can completely break the situation with her own means.

Chen Wei thought for a moment and said to Cai Lian, "Tomorrow is the fifteenth, which is the day when the palace distributes monthly wages. The rich steward has been overworked recently. Cai Lian, please give him some medicine to calm his nerves and replenish his energy, and ask him to rest for a few days."

Cai Lian nodded happily: "I will do it right away."

Cailian went to the storehouse to get medicine. Caiping tilted her head in confusion: "Master, don't you plan to ask the prince for help?"

Given how favored Shen Wei is now, as long as Prince Yan steps in, the princess will never dare to put pressure on Shen Wei again.

Shen Wei picked up the rattle, tickled the child in the cradle, and replied, "Wangfu, the King of Yan is the sky. I can rely on him, but I can't rely on him every time."

The Prince of Yan is a virtuous, wise prince who cares about the people. His world is not limited to the small palace, and it is impossible for him to focus all his attention on the disputes among his wives and concubines in the harem.

Shen Wei's next goal is to take away the princess's housekeeper power and undermine the princess. Therefore, she also has to rely on her own abilities to solve problems and show her independent and intelligent side.

Caiping nodded, not quite understanding.

"Cai Ping, come here, I have something for you to do." Shen Wei stretched out her hand towards Cai Ping.

Cai Ping bowed her head respectfully and listened to Shen Wei's instructions.

...

The next morning, the sky was still dark. Chen Wei got up yawning, had a simple breakfast, dressed up, and walked towards Kunyuyuan in the morning mist.

The temperature was low in the early morning, and the cold air mixed with the heavy aroma of incense in Kunyu Temple made people dizzy.

Crash——

Madam Liu lifted the door curtain, stood under the eaves, and said condescendingly: "Master Shen, the princess has not woken up yet, please wait in the yard first."

Shen Wei didn't answer, and Cai Lian beside her said, "Madam Liu, it's cold outside, can my master come in and wait?"

Aunt Liu smiled: "The princess is the mistress, and Master Shen is the concubine. How can a concubine sit and wait in the main room when the mistress hasn't woken up yet?"

Cai Lian gritted her teeth secretly.

Shen Wei was not in a hurry, so she waited quietly in the yard, thinking about the plan for the expansion of Yanjing Shop in her mind.

The sky was turning pale, the candlelight went out, and the maids from Kunyu Courtyard walked into the princess' bedroom with their heads down, carrying water for washing faces and mouthwash.

Shen Wei waited for more than half an hour before the princess slowly got up and spent a long time washing and dressing.

By the time the princess, holding Nanny Liu's hand, walked to the main house, it was already bright. Nanny Liu then came over and asked Shen Wei to go into the room to pay her respects to the princess.

The main house is solemn and dignified, with a huge painting of "Crane Holding a Peach" hanging on the wall. The princess was wearing a dark-colored robe embroidered with gold. Her black hair was piled up high and the ends of her hair were inlaid with many gold and jade jewels. In her left hand, she held a string of deep green, round Buddhist beads, and she looked very majestic.

White smoke from the incense is curling up in the gilded incense burner.

The princess held the Buddhist beads in her hand and looked at Shen Wei who walked in. In a trance, it seemed as if she remembered the first time Shen Wei came to Kunyuyuan a year ago. At that time, Shen Wei was charming and beautiful, young and tender, with undisguised ambition in her eyes.

At that time, the princess thought that Shen Wei would fall out of favor in just one month. But who would have thought that Shen Wei, who was of humble origin and unversed in literature and etiquette, would be favored by King Yan.

The princess pinched her Buddhist beads, her heart in turmoil. She had personally raised an ambitious tiger.

"I pay my respects to the princess." Shen Wei knelt down, and there was not a single mistake in her etiquette.

The princess said calmly: "This princess is thirsty."

Nanny Liu immediately brought a tea tray with a cup of steaming tea in it. The meaning was obvious, asking Shen Wei to serve tea to the princess.

The tea was scalding hot, and so was the cup.

The princess deliberately asked Shen Wei to serve tea with both hands to scald her ambition.

The main room was quiet and all eyes were on Shen Wei. Cai Lian silently took out a pair of thick sheepskin gloves from her sleeve and handed them to Shen Wei. In front of everyone, Shen Wei calmly put on gloves, picked up the cup of hot tea, and brought it to the princess.

The princess's face turned pale.

Madam Liu said angrily, "Master Shen, you even wore gloves when serving tea, which shows that you don't respect the princess in your heart! If a concubine talks back to the mistress, she will be punished by the family law!"

Shen Wei raised her eyebrows and asked calmly, "Does the family rule stipulate that you cannot wear gloves when serving tea to the mistress?"

Aunt Liu choked: "You——"

There was a stalemate for a moment.

The princess slowly stood up and did not take the hot tea handed to her by Shen Wei. The princess said, "You are late today. Come earlier tomorrow to pay your respects."

The princess didn't mind a cup of hot tea. There are many good ways to curb Shen Wei's ambition. For example, asking Shen Wei to get up earlier tomorrow and stand in Kunyu Courtyard for a whole morning would be more effective than verbal arguments.

Or let Shen Wei copy a few volumes of Buddhist scriptures to temper her will.

When the prince is away, the princess is the boss of the harem. No matter how much Shen Wei struggled, she was ultimately just an inferior concubine.

"Go to the study." The princess stood up and left. She spent a lot of money to buy several ancient books and gave them to her two sons to study.

When it was daybreak, Shen Wei left Kunyu Courtyard.

The sleeves of the dress that Shen Wei wore today were wide, so she deliberately hid her hands in her sleeves. She did not return to the Glazed Pavilion immediately, but walked around the front and back yards of the palace.

The servants in the palace who got up early and were busy all saw Shen Wei hiding her hands in her sleeves and looking worried.