Shen Ruorou suddenly looked up, her hair scattered like wild grass, her eyes bloodshot: "Mother, I clearly sewed grass scraps into the lining of my moon-white skirt, how did it get on my regular clothes..."

"How dare you bring that up!" Liu raised her hand and slapped Shen Ruorou's cheek, causing it to instantly turn red and swell. "If you hadn't been so foolish as to throw your changed skirt around, would that little bitch Chuntao have taken advantage of it? I think you've been kicked in the head by a donkey!" Before she could finish her words, the maid Qinghe stumbled in, the silver ornaments on her hair bun tilted to her ears, and breathlessly reported, "Madam! Second Miss! The Seventh Prince is here! He's drinking tea in the front hall!"

Liu's pupils suddenly contracted, as if she had heard the death knell. She hurriedly tidied her appearance, dragged the still sobbing Shen Ruorou to the front hall, and her embroidered shoes made a rapid sound on the blue bricks.

In the front hall, Xiao Yu leaned against the armchair, the cuffs of his moon-white brocade robe drooping over the carved armrests like flowing moonlight. He tapped the teacup with his folding fan in his hand, his eyes casually sweeping over the calligraphy and paintings on the wall, as if indifferent to everything around him. It wasn't until the Liu mother and daughter walked in in a panic that he slowly turned around. His gaze lingered for a moment on the scar on Shen Ruoruo's neck, and a hint of a smile curved up the corner of his mouth, like a winter plum blossom blooming under the moonlight. "Madam Liu is here." His voice was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable pressure. "I came here today to ask Second Miss Shen—" The folding fan suddenly stopped in mid-air, the fan bone pointing at Shen Ruoruo's pale face, "How did the grass debris from the Spring Banquet get into her clothes?"

Shen Ruorou's knees weakened, and she almost fell to the ground. Her voice trembled like a leaf in the autumn wind: "Your Highness, please understand! It was Shen Weiwan who harmed me! She stuffed grass scraps into my clothes while I wasn't paying attention..."

"Oh?" Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow and turned his gaze to Chun Tao, who was standing beside him. "I heard that Miss Shen wore her own plain clothes from beginning to end that day?"

During Chuntao's blessing ceremony, a piece of dry grass accidentally fell from her sleeve. She hurriedly picked it up, her fingertips trembling slightly. "Your Highness, my lady's plain clothes have been locked in the box and have never been moved. But Miss Shen's casual clothes..." She paused deliberately, glancing at Shen Ruorou's increasingly pale face. "When she was changing clothes in the side hall that day, I seemed to see Sister Qinghe shaking off a lot of grass."

Xiao Yu slammed his teacup down on the table, causing the tea to splash everywhere, splattering the General's Mansion's purchase ledger spread out on the table, smearing the dark ink. The amount of money Liu had embezzled and pocketed was clearly visible, like a ferocious venomous snake leaping between the ink marks. He slowly stood up, the hem of his moon-white brocade robe brushing across Shen Ruorou's head, bringing a gust of icy air. "Second Miss Shen," he said, his voice as cold as ice in December, "next time you want to harm someone, watch your own pockets first, and don't let your evil schemes backfire on you."

The setting sun over Tinglan Courtyard stained Shen Weiwan's plain dress a golden red, as if she were covered in a cloak woven from flames. Her fingers paled as she gripped the account book. The fur numbers Liu had inflated on it curled like venomous snakes, each number stinging her eyes. The old housekeeper entered, carrying an antique wooden box. The copper lock clicked as it opened, like the gears of fate. "My lady, this is the last account book you requested. It's all here, along with the storehouse's jade seal."

A half-full mutton-fat jade seal peeked out from the box. The four characters engraved on it, "General's Mansion Treasury," shone with a warm, cold glow in the twilight. Chen Weiwan's fingertips traced the kirin pattern on the seal's knob. The cool touch reminded her of a past life, kneeling in the snow, her hands trembling as she handed over the treasury key. The snow then fell on her face, even colder than the jade seal now. Chuntao suddenly pointed out the window, her tone tinged with surprise: "Miss, look!"

The Seventh Prince's ebony carriage stopped quietly outside the hanging flower gate. As the window slowly lowered, Xiao Yu raised his wine cup with his slender fingers and saluted from across the courtyard, his eyes gleaming with a meaningful light. Shen Weiwan subconsciously touched the lotus jade hairpin in her hair. It was a gift from him, now glistening like tears in the sunset light, as if carrying a silent promise.

"Chun Tao," she suddenly chuckled. The jade seal felt slightly cool against her palm, yet it made her feel more secure than ever before. "Prepare the car. We're going to the Censorate."

The last wisp of late spring wind swept through Tinglan Courtyard, carrying Shen Weiwan's words to the heavens with a resolute determination: "It's time for certain people to taste the bittersweet sensation of falling from the clouds into the mire, ruined and disgraced." Beyond the carved window lattice, the lights of the Liu family compound flickered, akin to her precarious fate. Meanwhile, in the bookshops on Suzaku Street, the scent of ink from new storybooks drifted in the evening breeze. The gilded title, "Legitimate Daughter's Outsight Battle with White Lotus," shone cunningly under the lanterns, as if foreshadowing the next exciting drama to unfold.

Deep in the courtyard, Chuntao gazed at her young lady's upright figure in the setting sun. Suddenly, she felt the scene before her overlap with yet separate memories of the young girl clubbed to death in the snow. This time, her young lady was no longer a lamb to be slaughtered, but a hunter wielding a blade, about to face her moment of revenge. And the person in the ebony carriage outside the window might become the most unexpected ally in this drama of revenge.