The coming-of-age ceremony for a noblewoman is a major event, usually celebrated with great pomp and circumstance. However, Shen Wan's situation was special. Not only did her insistence on marrying the Prince of Jin distract the Marquis's family from preparing a coming-of-age ceremony for her, but also, because she was to enter the palace on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony and it was unknown when she would return, it was inappropriate to invite relatives and friends to attend the ceremony. Therefore, everything was kept simple.

Even without a coming-of-age banquet, in her previous life, a group of young ladies from prominent families still came with gifts to congratulate her on her coming-of-age and to congratulate her on fulfilling her long-cherished wish of marrying the Prince of Jin.

Shen Wan thought that this life would be like her previous life, with her busy welcoming and seeing off guests all afternoon. But she was obviously overthinking it. The emperor betrothed her to Xie Jingyan, and apart from the sisters from the Marquis's mansion who had to see her off, no one came to give her a coming-of-age gift.

However, no one came, and Shen Wan was enjoying her leisure time. Everyone else had already sent their coming-of-age gifts, except for the fourth daughter of the fourth wife, Shen Wei.

It was already evening when she arrived at Qinglan Courtyard.

Upon seeing Shen Wan, Shen Wei apologized for being late, saying, "I'm late, please forgive me, elder sister."

She gave Shen Wan a double-sided embroidered screen with magpies on brows, which was exquisite and very beautiful.

Shen Wan received many coming-of-age gifts, but only Shen Wei's was hand-embroidered. Moreover, the screen she originally prepared for Shen Wan was larger than this one. In her previous life, it was destroyed by Shen Rong with a cup of tea after she had just finished embroidering it. Shen Wei had no choice but to prepare a new one. Because of the time constraints, the size was reduced considerably, and it was only delivered now.

In her past life, Shen Wan did not like this cousin. She thought she was gentle and quiet, and like Shen Ying and Shen Rong, she disliked her.

Having experienced her past life, Shen Wan knew that only the fourth branch of the family was truly sincere towards them.

Fourth Uncle Shen Zhu followed his father to guard the border for six years. Fourth Brother Shen Dan was always his eldest brother's shadow since childhood, following his eldest brother's lead and even listening to his eldest brother's words more than his fourth uncle.

In his previous life, after his eldest brother and father died, his fourth brother, for some unknown reason, stabbed Shen Dian, the eldest son of the third wife, to death and fled to the border. When his fourth uncle learned that his fourth brother had killed someone, instead of taking him back to the capital to confess, he led three hundred of his confidants to the Northwest overnight and joined Xie Jingyan, who was raising an army to rebel in the Northwest at the time. His fourth uncle became his general and his fourth brother became his vanguard.

Later, Xie Jingyan was lured and killed, his army collapsed like a house of cards, and his fourth uncle and fourth brother were also executed.

Thinking back on these past events, Shen Wan suspected that her fourth brother had committed murder in her previous life, and that her fourth uncle had sided with Xie Jingyan because he knew the truth about her father and eldest brother's deaths and was seeking revenge for them.

And Shen Wei—

In his previous life, the heir of the Duke of Wei remarried. Because the heir's wife had a strong personality, she was disliked by the Duke of Wei's wife. She took a liking to Shen Wei's gentle and easy-going nature and sent an invitation to Shen Wei to come to the mansion to admire the flowers. When Shen Wei went there, she did not catch the eye of the heir of the Duke of Wei. She was even beaten with a bamboo pole by the unruly young heir of the Prince of Shou's mansion. Not only was her face disfigured, but her left eye also became blind.

After Shen Wei injured her eyes, no one came to propose marriage to her anymore. Later, heartbroken, she moved to Jingci Nunnery under the pretext of recuperating from her injuries. Although she did not shave her head, Shen Wei was still at Jingci Nunnery when Shen Wan died in her previous life.

If she remembered correctly, in her previous life, Shen Wei's incident happened just a few days after she came of age...

Shen Wan was wondering which day it was when Shen Wei, seeing that she didn't speak, called out, "Big sister?"

Shen Wan came to her senses and smiled, "Fourth Sister's embroidery skills are exquisite. I really like this screen."

Shen Wei was surprised that Shen Wan would praise her, and blushed slightly. "I can't compare to you, elder sister. I'm making a fool of myself in front of you."

Shen Wei's embroidery skills are good, but not as good as Shen Wan's. A few years ago, Shen Jing was stationed at the border and entrusted Shen Wan to the care of the old lady. The old lady was not so strict with Shen Wan's music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and songs. Shen Ying and Shen Rong helped cover it up, and the old lady turned a blind eye. However, she was very strict with her embroidery skills because Shen Wan's mother, Yun, was an excellent embroiderer. Almost all of Shen Jing's brocade robes were made by Yun herself.

Whenever her father returned, Shen Wan would immediately present him with something she had embroidered herself, either a purse or a belt. Shen Jing was always grateful that the old lady had disciplined Shen Wan very well while he was away.

But she was a well-bred young lady destined to become a prince's consort from the moment she was a month old. What she should have learned was poetry, literature, and etiquette, not embroidery.

Because Shen Wan was good at embroidery, she was often praised by her father, which led her fourth uncle, who was trying to emulate her father, astray. He no longer required Shen Wan to be good at music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and songs, but instead demanded that Shen Wan be good at embroidery...

Yinshuang brought over the tea. Shenwei picked up the teacup, and when her fingers touched it, her brows furrowed slightly, which Shenwan happened to see.

Shen Wan grabbed her hand and saw that her fingertips were red and swollen. She asked, "Did you hurt your hand?"

Shen Wei said with shame, "I was afraid I wouldn't be able to give my eldest sister her coming-of-age gift in time, so I poked her a few times in my haste. It didn't hurt."

She's been pricked with needles before, doesn't she know how much it hurts?

Shen Wan immediately asked Yin Shuang to bring the ointment and carefully applied it to Shen Wei.

Shen Wei just stared at Shen Wan, her eyes gradually reddening.

Upon seeing this, Shen Wan asked, "Why are you crying? Did I hurt you while applying the medicine?"

Shen Wei shook her head, "I didn't expect my older sister to be so kind to me."

...Another one who gets sold out and still pays the price.

Just apply some medicine to her and it will be fine?

Why doesn't she think about the times when she didn't like her?

Shen Wan felt a surge of disappointment in her, so she handed her the ointment and said, "Apply it again before bed tonight, and it will be better by tomorrow."

Shen Wei nodded repeatedly, and after sitting for a quarter of an hour, she went back.

After Shen Wei left, Shen Wan spent almost the entire night thinking about how to stop Shen Wei from going to the Duke of Wei's mansion. Although the Duke of Wei's heir had remarried and had a son, the fourth branch of the family was born out of wedlock. Normally, they would never be able to match the Duke of Wei's heir. If the Duke of Wei's mansion wanted to marry her, her fourth uncle and aunt would not refuse. Could it be that she was going to poison her fourth sister?

She didn't know how long she had been thinking before she drifted off to sleep.

The next day, when Shen Wan got up, Yin Shuang whispered to her, "Miss, Mama Wu has left the mansion."

While getting ready, Shen Wan wanted to wear the jade hairpin that Prince Ling had given her. Yin Shuang searched the entire dressing table, "Miss's jade hairpin was clearly in the box, where is it?"

As Ziyu entered, Yinshuang asked her, "Did you see the jade hairpin that Prince Ling gave to the young lady?"

Ziyu looked completely bewildered.

She didn't even know that Prince Ling had given the girl a jade hairpin, so how would she know where the hairpin was?

Shen Wan said angrily, "How could something like this just disappear? I'm going to pay my respects to my grandmother. Before I get back, you have to turn Qinglan Garden upside down to find the jade hairpin!"