"It's really a bit unethical," Lady Wei sighed inwardly. This was the first time she had done something like this, but she was going all out for her son.

Lady Wei said, "I don't blame you for not knowing anything about Lady Sun. You took a fancy to Miss Shen and came to ask for her hand in marriage. But I was surprised that the Marquis of Pingyang's family agreed to the marriage. I thought that the Marquis of Pingyang's family and the Duke of Wei's family had this tacit understanding, which is why we didn't come to bother you at this time."

Not only did Lady Sun not understand what the Duchess of Wei was saying, but even the people in the Marquis's mansion were confused.

The Duke of Wei's mansion never said they were interested in the fourth young lady, so how did they have such a tacit understanding?

The old lady sensed that something had happened that she didn't know about, and she glanced at the fourth wife, "What do you mean by the words of the Duchess of Wei?"

The fourth wife then said, "Before the peony banquet at the Changshan Prince's Mansion, Wei'er went with the eldest young lady to Baihui Tower to buy flowers. She took a liking to a peony, but it was bought by the heir of the Duke of Wei. Because of Wei'er's injury at the Duke of Wei's Mansion, the heir felt guilty. Knowing that they wanted it, he gave the peony to Wei'er. The eldest young lady felt that she shouldn't accept the flowers from the heir of the Duke of Wei for nothing, so she had Wei'er give him an orchid as an exchange..."

The old lady frowned deeply and scolded the fourth wife, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

The heir of the Duke of Wei, with his status, gave Shen Wei a peony and accepted an orchid in exchange. It was obvious that he accepted it as a token of their love.

Lady Wei took a liking to Shen Wei and sent an invitation to Shen Wei to come to the mansion to admire the flowers. The fact that the Marquis of Pingyang's mansion invited her to come meant that they were willing to form a marriage alliance with the Duke of Wei's mansion. The act of Shen Wei and the Duke of Wei's son exchanging flowers could not be considered a private exchange or a private engagement. They were just waiting to go through the formal process of officially arranging their marriage.

Because the Fourth Madam didn't say anything, when Madam Sun came to propose marriage, the Old Madam readily agreed and even forced the Fourth Madam to agree. Fortunately, the Duchess of Wei arrived in time, otherwise the Marquis of Pingyang's mansion would have been suspected of having a daughter betrothed to two families.

The old lady looked at Madam Sun apologetically. Before she could speak, Madam Sun said, "It seems that Miss Shen and the heir of the Duke of Wei are in love. I didn't understand the situation and almost broke up a perfect couple."

Lady Sun was self-aware; when the Duchess of Wei revealed her intention to compete, she knew she couldn't win.

Even though the Duke of Wei's heir has a legitimate son, he only married a second wife, who is still far superior to her son. She wouldn't dare to really fight the Duke of Wei's family to the end for her son's marriage. She only said a few harsh words in anger. There are so many noble ladies in the capital. It's not worth offending the Duke of Wei's family for the sake of Miss Shen.

If you were to blame the Fourth Madam, she certainly didn't intend to propose marriage directly just now. In fact, to save face, she even admitted to the Duchess of Wei that she had agreed to the marriage.

Madam Sun said, "I have other matters to attend to at the manor, so I will take my leave now."

Fourth Madam got up to see her off, but Madam Sun smiled and said, "Fourth Madam Shen still has to take care of the Duchess of Wei, so a maid can see me off."

The old lady would definitely not have the maid deliver it; she would have the third wife deliver it.

The Third Madam saw Madam Sun off at the mansion. In the flower hall, Shen Wei had been thinking for many days but still couldn't understand why the Duke of Wei's heir accepted the orchid, why her eldest sister smiled without saying a word, and why her mother was also smiling. So that's what it meant!

But she only gave the orchids because she was following her older sister's advice; she and the heir of the Duke of Wei were not in love.

Shen Wei grabbed Shen Wan's arm and shook it violently, saying urgently, "Elder sister, please go and tell Grandmother and the Duchess of Wei that they must have misunderstood the Duke of Wei's intentions."

The South Sea pearl earrings hanging from Shen Wan's ears traced a perfect arc as she was shaken. She laughed and said, "My silly fourth sister, you're too young to understand. But the heir of the Duke of Wei is very clear-headed. If he doesn't agree, the Duchess of Wei won't come to the manor to propose marriage."

Shen Wei stared at Shen Wan in astonishment, her face quickly turning hot. Realizing what had happened, she said, "That day... Eldest sister, you deliberately made me deliver it?!"

Shen Wan did not deny it, but chuckled, "When the Duke of Wei's heir spoke to me that day, his eyes were on you. I felt that he must like you, Fourth Sister, so I asked you to test him. I didn't expect it to be true."

No wonder she was surprised that the eldest sister had asked her to deliver the orchids that day, and that the heir of the Duke of Wei had actually accepted them.

Shen Wei's face turned bright red. "I'm never talking to you again, big sister!"

Shen Wei blushed and was about to leave when a maid came in and said, "Fourth Miss, the Old Madam wants you to go to the main hall."

As soon as those words reached her ears, Shen Wei forgot the harsh words she had just said and subconsciously turned to look at Shen Wan. Shen Wan covered her mouth and laughed, "Didn't you say you wouldn't talk to me anymore?"

Shen Wei was so anxious she was jumping up and down. Shen Wan knew she was shy, so she smiled and said, "I'll go with you."

The two went to the main hall. Shen Wei's blush hadn't faded. However, she was gentle and quiet, and her blushing only added a touch of playfulness. The Duchess of Wei was even more pleased to see her. She didn't know why her son would take a liking to the Fourth Miss Shen. Although she had her eye on her, she herself didn't dare to have any expectations.

Shen Wei stepped forward and bowed to the Duchess of Wei. The Duchess praised Shen Wei several times, then gave her the jade bracelet she was wearing and patted her hand, saying, "I left in a hurry today and didn't bring a token of our betrothal. I'll bring it to you when we're engaged."

The marriage between Shen Wei and the heir of the Duke of Wei was thus arranged.

Lady Wei, the Duchess of Wei, sat for a quarter of an hour before taking her leave, and the Fourth Madam saw her off at the mansion.

After Fourth Madam returned from seeing off the Duchess of Wei, Shen Rong also arrived. She said, "Did the Heir Apparent of the Duke of Wei send peonies to Fourth Sister? I didn't know about this at all, and Baihuifang didn't send any peonies to the manor that day..."

When Shen Rong saw the flowers delivered to the mansion by Baihuifang, she didn't find them particularly special; otherwise, she would have had them sent directly to the old lady.

If the old lady liked it, Shen Wan and Shen Wei could only show their respect to her. She and Shen Ying often did this.

So when she heard about it, she rushed over without even caring that her knees were still aching.

Although Shen Wei is only marrying the heir of the Duke of Wei as a second wife, at least in public, Shen Wei will be the wife of the heir of the Duke of Wei in the future, which sounds good. If a concubine's daughter can marry so well, she must marry a prince or a duke.

The old lady looked at Shen Wei, Shen Wei looked at Shen Wan, and Shen Wan said, "My fourth sister and I wanted that Phoenix Feather Falling into the Golden Pond because we wanted to give it to Princess Danyang. Since we were going to give it to someone else, it was not appropriate to accept the flowers from the Duke of Wei's son, so we exchanged it for orchids. That day, Princess Danyang happened to be at Baihuifang, so we gave her the peony directly and didn't bring it back to the manor."

Shen Rong then said, "So, does that mean Fourth Sister gave the token of love that the Duke of Wei's heir gave her to Princess Danyang?"

"Could you put it any more harshly?" Shen Wan said unhappily. "That was just an excuse from the Duchess of Wei to make Lady Sun back down. Who would give a flower as a token of love? If it's not well cared for, the flower will die before Fourth Sister is even married. How could Third Sister even think of that?"