"Oh dear, how can I accept such courtesy from the county princess? Please rise quickly." The Duchess of Cheng'en sat there, extending her hand to help her up.

Seeing this, Madam Yang smiled and reached out to stop Madam Song: "Yan Yan calls herself a junior, you are worthy of this courtesy."

Song's smile deepened, and her gaze towards Li Shiyue held a hint of admiration. After all, she had never met this county princess from another family before, though she had heard everyone praise her at the previous banquet, and seeing her today, she was indeed quite charming.

"You're so sensible. You have such good taste. I've met Aqing before. It's been two years since I last saw her. She's grown up and looks exactly like your mother."

Her gaze then fell upon Xu Lingqing, who was sitting beside Zhou Shi. Not forgetting the important matter of the day, she glanced at the woman beside her.

"Eleventh Sister, come and see her."

The young woman, dressed in a pale yellow patterned cloak, stood up unhurriedly after hearing Song's words, and glanced at Li Shiyue as she curtsied.

She lowered her head and said with a smile, "Yang Hui greets the Duchess of Rongguo and the Eleventh Madam."

As soon as she finished speaking, Madam Song's expression turned somewhat displeased, and she said in a low voice, "The county princess is also here. You should pay your respects to the county princess."

Yang Hui shrugged and smiled at Li Shiyue: "But the county princess just referred to herself as a junior to my mother. I think if I were to greet the county princess, wouldn't that contradict her?"

Song's expression did not soften; she frowned, and her displeasure became even more apparent.

Seeing Song Shi's reaction, Yang Hui stuck out her tongue, and as she sat back down, she looked at Li Shiyue with undisguised scrutiny in her eyes.

"I've spoiled this child. She has no sense of propriety when it comes to her words. If she offends me in any way, please don't hold it against her, Your Highness, for the sake of your aunt."

Song turned her head and spoke with a smile, a hint of apology in her eyes.

Yang lowered her eyes and blew on the teacup in her hand. After Song finished speaking, she slowly took a sip, subtly avoiding Song's gaze.

Li Shiyue smiled slightly: "How could that be? Eleventh Miss has a straightforward and lovely personality, which I like very much."

Sure enough, after she finished speaking, the provocation in Yang Hui's eyes disappeared. She curled her lips, snorted coldly, and turned her head away.

Interesting. It's the first time we've met, yet he's so hostile towards her. Could it be another one of someone's unwanted romantic advances?

Whether Yang Hui's name is the same as her wisdom or something else, her little thoughts were written all over her face, especially after Li Shiyue finished speaking, those sitting in the flower hall noticed her little actions.

When Li Shiyue withdrew her gaze, she glanced indifferently at the other members of the Yang family in the flower hall, clearly accustomed to it, which showed that Song's statement that they were "spoiled" was not untrue.

After listening to the pleasantries for a while, Madam Song said, "Speaking of which, Seventh Brother has also visited the Rongguo Duke's Mansion. I suppose he is quite familiar with the County Princess and Eighth Miss."

She turned to Yang Yan and said, "You're older, so be careful when you're in the garden."

Neither Yang nor Zhou stopped them. Li Shiyue and Xu Lingqing got up and followed Yang Yan out.

The garden of the Duke of Chengen's mansion is very close to the flower hall. Today was specifically for Yang Yan and Xu Lingqing to spend time together. The other young ladies of the Yang family were too young, so they went to play in twos and threes at the other end.

Li Shiyue stopped and did not follow Xu Lingqing forward, deliberately slowing down to avoid Xu Lingqing.

She stood by the lake, picked up some fish food that was placed to the side, and threw it into the water. Fish don't know when they're full, and smelling the food, they all crowded over.

"Your Highness has a refined taste."

Yang Hui walked over with her hands in her pockets. When she saw Li Shiyue turn around in response, she raised her eyebrows slightly, looking quite smug.

She was slender with a classic oval face, but her eyes revealed a calculating nature that wasn't exactly shrewd. You could guess what she was thinking just by looking into her eyes.

"Do you know that you stole someone else's marriage?"

Li Shiyue was surprised; she hadn't expected Yang Hui to say such a thing. After thinking for a moment, a faint smile appeared on her lips: "Whose did you steal? I didn't expect Eleventh Miss to know so much about my marriage, even more than I know myself."

Oblivious to the sarcasm in her words, Yang Hui remained smug, raising her chin arrogantly: "Of course, you stole someone else's marriage, you stole someone else's son-in-law."

Not seeing any anger on Li Shiyue's face, she was somewhat surprised: "Why are you acting like this? You stole someone's son-in-law and even took away the county princess's title. Shouldn't you say something?"

Li Shiyue turned to look at her, pretending to think for a moment before smiling slightly: "The title of county princess was bestowed by the emperor, and the marriage was arranged by my cousin who obtained the imperial decree from the emperor. Is there anything I forced?"

"You! You're just making excuses!" Yang Hui didn't expect Li Shiyue to retort. She glared at Li Shiyue angrily, like a little dog with its fur standing on end, and started making wild accusations.

“It was clearly Sister Fu who fell in love with Prince Xu first. She is also the niece of Consort Fu. Both the title of Prince Xu and the title of County Princess should belong to Sister Fu.”

"You've only been in the capital for a short time. You come from a poor, remote place, yet you've committed such licentious acts. Aren't you afraid of divine retribution?"

Sister Fu?

Li Shiyue seemed to know who had said these words to Yang Hui. She tilted her head and looked at Yang Hui: "Who decided that whoever likes someone must marry them? Or is it that Prince Xu doesn't like me but still asked the Emperor for my hand in marriage, and the person he actually likes is your Sister Fu? Doesn't that mean Prince Xu is deceiving the Emperor?"

“Since Prince Xu has betrothed me, it means he likes me. If he liked your Sister Fu, I wouldn’t be the one standing here today, so your statement is invalid.”

"Moreover, 'debauchery' is not used in this way."

"As for the title of county princess, it was only to compensate me by the Emperor. The Emperor is the ruler of the land, and whoever is granted a title is granted a title. If no one is granted a title, it means that the person is not yet worthy of being granted a title by the Emperor."

Are you interfering with the Emperor's orders?

"Me! You!" Yang Hui stammered for a long time, her face turning red, but she couldn't refute Li Shiyue's words.

He simply shook his hand, glared at Li Shiyue, and remained silent. He didn't manage to make Li Shiyue jump up in anger, but instead made himself speechless with rage.

Li Shiyue showed no anger at all. She took two steps closer, looked at Yang Hui's face, and smiled slightly: "Where did you hear all this? Who told you that if you like someone, you have to marry him, and that it's wrong for him not to marry you?"

"Sister Fu, Sister Fu said she must marry the person she loves most, and he must be the most outstanding one." Although Yang Hui was angry, she still understood what Li Shiyue was saying.

"Sister Fu is right. She also said that you are a hypocrite, two-faced, and only pretend to be well-behaved in front of your elders."

"Don't think I don't know why Xu Lingwan left the capital. It's because you couldn't stand her and drove her away. Otherwise, why would the Xu family not care about her?"