Aunt Xue looked at Su Qingyu with gritted teeth, unable to utter a word of rebuttal.

She is like a fish on a chopping board and others are the butchers. It is useless to say anything at this time.

"If we find the child, can the eldest lady let the three of us, mother and son, go?" Aunt Xue continued to ask without giving up.

Su Qingyu sneered and said, "Then it depends on your performance. If you continue to be the same as before, I guarantee that you will never see your son in your life."

Aunt Xue could only nod and say, "I'll remember that. Please don't break your promise, Miss."

Su Qingyu raised her eyebrows, ignored her, and turned away.

That evening, someone arrived from the palace with an imperial decree. Marquis Pingning Su Chengye, along with the Su family's old lady and eldest daughter, were to attend the Emperor's birthday banquet in three days.

In previous years, Su Chengye usually attended such banquets alone. This year, perhaps because of Su Qingyu and Shen Zhixiu's marriage, the palace issued an imperial decree for Su Qingyu to attend. Perhaps they felt it was inappropriate to invite only one young lady, so they brought the old lady along.

The old lady was flattered and prepared clothes and jewelry overnight.

On the day of the Wanshou Festival, Su Qingyu came early to put on makeup and comb her hair.

She chose a twelve-panel moon-shaped dress embroidered with magnolia flowers, and wore the set of oriental pearl headpieces given by Old Madam Shen. She also wore a gray squirrel cloak made of green lotus velvet, and she looked dignified, noble, and elegant.

After getting dressed up, Su Qingyu got up and went to the old lady's Songhe Hall.

When the old lady saw her come in, her eyes first fell on the Dongzhu headdress on her head.

He asked in surprise, "Is this... the headdress that the late Empress Dowager gave to Old Madam Shen? Why is it here with you?"

It’s not that she has a good memory, but there is only one set of Dongzhu headwear of this quality in the entire Zhou Dynasty.

Su Qingyu smiled and replied, "Old Madam Shen gave it to me when I went to the Shen family last time."

The old lady looked at the headdress again and suddenly said, "Have you mentioned your second uncle's matter to the Shen family?"

"This time, Zhixiu was directly promoted to the position of Deputy Minister of the Cabinet. Personnel transfers are now easier than before."

As soon as the old lady finished speaking, Nanny Yuan came in and reported, "Old lady, the third young lady has come to say farewell to you. Today is the day she will go to Jinghui Nunnery."

The old lady said casually, "Let her come in first."

After saying that, he looked at Su Qingyu again, obviously waiting for Su Qingyu's answer.

Su Qingyu was taking the milk tea brought by the servant at this time, and her green fingers ran across the lines on the edge of the white porcelain bowl.

He pondered and said, "I know that grandma wants Second Uncle to return to Beijing, but Third Master Shen should still be busy with the Xu family's affairs at this time. Is it not a good idea for us to bring up this matter now?"

"I thought, why not wait until I get married and then talk about it, it will be more legitimate."

The old lady looked at Su Qingyu suspiciously, with a questioning look in her eyes.

She has mentioned this matter to Su Qingyu two or three times, but each time it was left unresolved. Could this girl be just trying to fool her?

But after thinking about her words carefully, I felt that there was some truth to them. After the marriage, she just whispered in my ear and the matter was settled.

Su Yihui, who was sitting on the side, looked at Su Qingyu's luxurious clothes and jewelry, and was almost going crazy with jealousy. Especially the headgear, she could tell at a glance that it was not an ordinary item.

Why? Why could Su Qingyu marry the powerful Mr. Shen Sanye and wear such luxurious jewelry?

Why does she have to go up the mountain to practice?

After the old lady finished talking about the second master of the Su family, she remembered that Su Yihui was still waiting.

He said calmly, "Go ahead. Cultivate your body and mind well when you go up the mountain."

Su Yihui stood up, kowtowed to the old lady, said goodbye to her grandmother and sister, and then left with resentment.

Soon, the housekeeper Su Zhong came in and said that the carriage was ready. Su Qingyu stood up and helped the old lady out.

The grandmother and granddaughter rode out together in a carriage, heading towards the palace. As for Su Chengye, he rode into the palace alone, not with them.

The carriage entered Zhuque Street and began to move slowly.

Su Qingyu gently lifted a corner of the sedan chair curtain and found that the entire Zhuque Street was almost packed with people.

There's nothing we can do about it. Every family goes out at about the same time, so we have no choice but to line up like this.

When the Su family's carriage entered the palace gate, the grandfather and grandson got off the carriage and got on the sedan chair in the inner palace.

Today's palace banquet was held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and was single-handedly organized by the Crown Prince's biological mother, Consort Xian. Although Consort Xian didn't have the title of Empress, she already held great power in the imperial harem.

The sedan stopped outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Su Qingyu got off the sedan and went to the front sedan to support the old lady.

She was followed by Jade and Agate, and the old lady was followed by Zhichun and Panxia.

Su Qingyu supported the old lady and looked toward the main hall of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Its high corners and double eaves were magnificent and opulent. Outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, groups of people gathered, waiting for the palace banquet to begin.

More and more sedan chairs landed behind them, and Su Qingyu supported the old lady as they walked inside.

A young eunuch led the two to their seats in the hall. "Madam Su, Miss Su, the palace banquet hasn't started yet. You two can go wander around, but just remember to come back around noon."

Su Qingyu thanked her, and Feicui cleverly gave her a tip.

In her previous life, after Su Qingyu and Shen Zhao got married, they never attended a palace banquet. Initially, this was because Shen Zhao had to observe mourning. Later, after the mourning period was over, the Shen family also moved away from the power center of the capital.

The last time she entered the palace was when her grandfather was still alive, when she was still young.

So Su Qingyu had been extremely vigilant since she entered the palace. She wouldn't harm anyone, but she couldn't let anyone harm her either. Especially since Shen Zhixiu was now in such a high position and had so much power, there was no guarantee someone would want to deal with him, starting with her.

Just as he was watching carefully, the Shen family came in. The female members who came were Old Lady Shen, the first wife Chen, the second daughter Shen Ying, the third daughter Shen Yue, and the fourth daughter Shen Fu from the second house.

Su Qingyu stepped forward and greeted her. After exchanging greetings, Shen Yue walked over to her and took her arm.

"Sister Su, you look really beautiful today. This dress and this headgear match well."

Shen Yue is about the same height as Su Qingyu, but her appearance is not as cold and beautiful as Su Qingyu. Instead, she has the gentleness of a beautiful girl from a small family.

Because he spends most of his time with the old lady, he has a straightforward personality and does not become humble or overthinking just because he is not the lady's biological son.

Su Qingyu looked at Chen Yue, and she wore a rose-red jacket with a gold-woven twined-branch pattern over a skirt with a gold-embroidered dark pattern.

She chuckled softly and said, "This color suits you very well."

Shen Yue was very happy to hear this. This was the dress she picked out from more than a dozen sets of clothes.

It was still early for the palace banquet to begin, so Shen Yue said goodbye to the two old ladies and took Su Qingyu to visit the garden.

It was early spring, and the scenery around the Hall of Supreme Harmony wasn't particularly picturesque. The two of them wandered around, chatting about some private matters.

When Su Qingyu reached the rockery in the garden behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony, she suddenly stopped.

Then I heard a woman's scolding voice coming from the other side of the rockery.

"I asked you to go back to the mansion to get a cloak, but you are so slow. What's the point of the Li family raising you?"

Then came the man's cold tone without any emotion.

"If you think I'm slow, don't look for me next time."

The woman was obviously angry and said in a cold voice.

"How dare you talk to me like that? Believe it or not, I'll tell my mother..."