After Shen Wan finished washing up, the kitchen staff brought the food into the room, and Shen Wan sat down to eat breakfast.

Before she had finished eating a meat bun, Dong'er came in and reported, "Your Highness, news has come from the palace that a banquet will be held in the palace in four days, and all civil and military officials are invited to attend with their families."

Shen Wan frowned slightly.

With the Xizhou Dam bombed, Xie Jingyan negotiating with the Emperor using blueprints and account books, and Consort Chen's body disappearing, the Emperor was in a terrible mood. Why would he hold a banquet at this time?

Shen Wan found it strange, and Yin Shuang had already asked, "Why are we having a banquet?"

There are many banquets both inside and outside the palace, but each banquet has a name.

Dong'er said, "They said it was a banquet for the heir of the Duke of Du, who had just been recognized as a member of the family..."

Shen Wan immediately understood.

The deceased Du Chengxu, the heir of the former Duke of Du, had been by the side of Princess Huyang since birth. Moreover, he was the son of the Princess Consort, and the Empress Dowager had doted on him for nineteen years. Although his death was not innocent, Princess Huyang had just held a funeral, so it was not appropriate to hold a banquet immediately afterward to introduce her long-lost biological son to the civil and military officials and their families.

However, due to their negligence, their son was stolen at birth and suffered for more than ten years. Princess Huyang was unwilling to wrong her own son, and she was also afraid that the situation would repeat itself, where the heir of the Duke of Maoguo did not recognize Du Cheng'an as Princess Huyang's son and almost beat him to death.

To balance both aspects, the banquet was held in the palace, which also served to show the civil and military officials how much the emperor valued his only direct nephew.

After Dong'er finished her report, she withdrew. Shen Wan continued eating her breakfast. After she finished eating, she put down her chopsticks. A maid from the front courtyard came in with a large red and gold-embroidered invitation card and said, "Your Highness, an invitation card has just been sent from the residence of Princess Huyang..."

How does the Princess Huyang's residence send out invitations?

Shen Wan reached out her hand, and the maid handed her the invitation.

Shen Wan opened the invitation and scanned it from beginning to end. The invitation was sent by Du Cheng'an to express his gratitude to the Prince of Yanping and Tang Zelu Cheng for saving his life, and also to thank Xie Jingyan for his help. He was hosting a banquet for them at Deyuelou on their day off.

Prince Yanping saved Du Cheng'an's life from the arrow of Prince Maoguo. Princess Huyang and her husband were still recovering from Du Chengxu's accident and could not personally visit to express their gratitude. However, they could not leave the life-saving grace unaddressed, so they simply asked Du Cheng'an to express his thanks in person. They were of similar age and had the same hobbies, so they could chat together.

Du Cheng'an is the biological son of Princess Huyang. It would not be a bad thing for Xie Jingyan and the Prince of Yanping if he took the initiative to befriend them.

If we could win over Princess Huyang and her husband through Du Cheng'an, that would be the best thing ever.

The eldest son-in-law made this arrangement in the hope that his son would get closer to Xie Jingyan and the others, so that his son, whom he had finally found, would not be led astray by the son of the Duke of Mao.

Shen Wan handed the invitation to Yin Shuang, "Put it on the Prince's desk."

As Yinshuang withdrew, another maidservant entered and reported, "Your Highness, the Prince of Yanping and Miss Cheng from the Right Prime Minister's residence are engaged."

Shen Wan already knew that the Crown Prince of Yanping and Cheng Yao were supposed to get engaged in the next few days, but when she heard it, she was still happy for them.

After all, the two of them had suffered too much in their previous lives, and in this life they have finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

Shen Wan was happily embroidering, while Haitang flipped through the almanac to see what auspicious day it was. When she looked at the almanac, she saw a circle drawn on today's page. Haitang thought it was drawn by Yinshuang, but it wasn't.

Silver Frost shook her head and said, "I didn't circle them."

Only they and the princess consulted this almanac.

If it's not them, then it must be the princess.

The princess must not have circled this day randomly. The two maids, fearing that Shen Wan had forgotten, asked her, "Why did the princess circle this day?"

Haitang handed the almanac to Shenwan, who didn't remember this at all. It was something she had marked a long time ago because her eldest cousin had saved the eldest daughter of the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites at Huguo Temple on this day, and the two became engaged as a result. Shenwan wanted her eldest cousin to avoid going to Huguo Temple on this day.

But now, my eldest cousin is not only engaged to Princess Qinghe, but he is also busy helping the court and my father build up the Iron Cavalry. He is currently on his way to the Northwest. My eldest cousin and his former sister-in-law have completely severed their ill-fated relationship and there is no need to take it to heart anymore.

Shen Wan shifted her gaze from the almanac to the book in her hand and said, "It was just a quick sketch, nothing special."

The two maids were just worried that Shen Wan would forget and would definitely remind the princess if she found out, since their princess was unusual and knew things that hadn't happened yet. But the princess said it was just a casual drawing, so the two maids were relieved.

Haitang checked the almanac for the past few days and found nothing to avoid, so she put the almanac back in its original place.

Just as she put the almanac down, Chun'er came in and said, "Your Highness, Miss Yao from the household of the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites has had an accident at Huguo Temple."

Shen Wan was turning the pages of a book when she heard this and her hand paused.

Yinshuang asked, "What happened to Miss Yao?"

Chun'er said, "When Miss Yao was going down the steps, she slipped and fell down, but was saved by the eldest son of the Zhou family, a Hanlin scholar..."

Silver Frost and Begonia exchanged a glance.

The two maids hadn't forgotten that when the princess went to Huguo Temple, Miss Yao greeted her as she went up the steps, and the princess reminded her to watch her step when going down the steps.

They even reminded the Yun family not to let their eldest son go to Huguo Temple, and marked this day on the almanac...

In the princess's dream, when Miss Yao got into trouble, it wasn't the eldest son of the Hanlin Academy who saved her, but rather the eldest cousin, right?

The two maids were stunned by their guess and felt that they were right.

Having followed Shen Wan for so long, it's impossible that she hasn't made any progress at all. After all, this matter is too obvious; it's hard not to guess.

Shen Wan stood there stunned. She hadn't expected that in this life, Miss Yao still couldn't escape the fate of falling down the steps. Although Prince Yanping and Cheng Yao hadn't escaped either, that was a big deal. But a sprained ankle was a trivial matter. Yet they couldn't avoid it either, and even the timing was exactly the same. Shen Wan felt that this was not just an accident, but more like something deliberate.

However, this had nothing to do with Shen Wan. Miss Yao looked down on the Yun family and her eldest cousin, thinking that the Yun family was only interested in money. The Hanlin Academy was a place of scholarly elegance and nobility, and the eldest son of the Zhou family was quite talented. She thought that the Zhou family would be very much to her liking.

Although in her past life, Miss Yao caused her eldest cousin to be afraid to go home and even instilled a fear of marriage and children in her second and third cousins, considering that she has no connection with the Yun family in this life, Shen Wan still retains a degree of goodwill towards her as an unrelated person, hoping that she can have a good outcome.

Pulling herself back to reality, Chen Wan continued reading.