The streets of Beijing in early summer resembled a baked honey cake, the chirping of cicadas clung to the bluestone slabs, and even the wind carried the aroma of fried dough sticks from the oil mill. Shen Weiwan pulled the veil of her hat down again, and as she squatted in front of the Wang Ji Roast Duck stall, the glass beads hanging from her wooden hairpin rubbed against the greasy chopping board.

"Chun Tao," she covered her mouth with a handkerchief and poked the maid's waist with her fingertips, "Look at that blue cloth carriage. Is that the gilded bell from the Li Mansion tied to the shaft?"

Chuntao stood on tiptoe, her pomegranate-red skirt sweeping the moss along the wall. She suddenly covered her mouth, and the silver bell on her sleeve jingled. "Miss! It's really Li Xiu! Yesterday at the silk shop, I heard the servant say that his cook had left her job and taken away half a bag of glutinous rice, and even called her a 'broken-sleeved cripple'!"

In the carriage, Li Zhengzheng shielded his face with a folding fan, the ivory ribs clenched until they turned white. The chatter of "broken sleeves" and "lame legs" outside the window was like hot oil splashed in his face. And it happened that the ribs of the fan were engraved with the twin lotuses that Shen Ruoruo had given him—it was this very fan that had caused him to be teased about "fanning his lover" at the polo match three days ago. He subconsciously touched his sleeve, where the handkerchief embroidered with the twin lotuses had long been wiped clean by Shen Weiwan. Now, the whole city was rumored that he was using his cousin as a cover to secretly drink with the martial artist from the opera troupe in Yanzhi Lane.

"Tsk," Shen Weiwan bit off a piece of greasy duck skin, and the fat dripped down through her fingers, "I should have stuffed chili powder into his boots earlier. Now he gets it right by letting the kids throw stones at him." She shook the oil paper bag in her hand, and the duck bones rattled inside.

When Chun Tao took the oil-paper package, she caught a glimpse of the corners of Shen Weiwan's mouth raised beneath her veil. "Miss, yesterday the nanny from the clan residence found three boxes of jadeite in Liu's house. The account book also records that she pawned the white-browed tiger mattress from the general's mansion for twenty taels of silver—that was the tiger the old general hunted during his expedition to the west!"

"Pawned it?" Shen Weiwan raised an eyebrow, shaking the pearl tassels on her veil. "Let's go back to the mansion and take a look. Maybe we can find Shen Ruoruo's 'dowry' in Xiefangyuan - for example, her dressing box engraved with 'legitimate daughter'?"

As the master and servant slipped through the corner gate of the General's Mansion, the crisp sound of tumbling teacups drifted from Xiefang Courtyard. Shen Ruorou sat on the ground, her hair disheveled, her dark green, gold-embroidered skirt stained with tea stains. The letter she clutched in her hand had been torn by her nails. "Mother! I won't go to the ancestral temple with Master Jinghui! I have to attend the poetry gathering tomorrow!"

Liu was held in the corridor by two burly maids, her hair full of pearls tilted to one side: "Aren't you going to wait for Chen Weiwan to sell you to the red-light district? The nun said that if you copy the Heart Sutra a hundred times in Guanyin Temple, you can..."

"Can I just watch her marry the Seventh Prince in such a grand ceremony?" Shen Ruorou suddenly grabbed the bronze mirror on the table and smashed it against the door, shattering the mirror into spider webs. "I hate her! I hate that she took everything from me!"

Shen Weiwan, who was behind the rockery, laughed so hard that she poked Chuntao with her elbow: "Did you hear that? Copying scriptures to atone for sins? I think she should copy "The Story of a Jealous Woman" to learn how to stop her eyes from popping out." She took out a piece of perilla preserves given by the seventh prince and stuffed it into her mouth. The sweet and sour taste mixed with the aroma of roast duck made her squint her eyes in satisfaction.

Chun Tao suppressed her laughter and straightened Shen Weiwan's veil that was messed up by the wind: "Miss, the Seventh Prince sent someone to deliver some freshly made preserves yesterday, and he specifically asked that the pits be removed."

"I know, I know," Shen Weiwan shook the duck bones in her hand, "I'll go back to the room and eat the duck bones with his candied fruit later. Oh, and find my mother's red gold hairpin. Wear it to the poetry gathering tomorrow and make them dizzy."

Before he finished speaking, the old housekeeper came hurriedly with a cane, the red sandalwood cane knocking on the blue bricks with a "knock knock" sound: "Miss, the people from the clan office just left, saying that there is solid evidence that Liu smuggled money and property from the mansion. The emperor, for the sake of the old general, only confined her to the side courtyard. But Miss Shen..."

"Sent her to the family temple, right?" Shen Weiwan kicked a stone at her feet and watched it roll into the moss. "That's good, so she won't be an eyesore in the mansion."

The old butler sighed, beads of sweat still stained his goatee. "Miss, Li Xiu has become a laughing stock, and the Liu family has lost their power. You..."

"Are you saying I should stop?" Shen Weiwan tilted her head and smiled. The sunlight filtered through the wisteria trellis, casting dappled shadows on her face. "Grandpa Butler, even when a jackal doesn't bite, you still have to be careful of its bloody claws. Look—" She pointed outside the wall, where a snow-white carrier pigeon fluttered down onto the rockery. "The messenger bird from the Seventh Prince's Mansion has come to deliver another 'declaration of war'."

A small gold-thread tube was tied to the pigeon's foot. Chuntao quickly untied it, revealing a meticulously crafted painting. In it, a young girl crouched before a roast duck stall, her head tilted to one side, clutching half a greasy duck leg. Next to it, a note in flying white script read: "Tomorrow's poetry gathering. I've prepared a Nanlu Osmanthus Duck in the Waterside Pavilion, along with three plates of lotus leaf pancakes."

"Tsk," Shen Weiwan stuffed the painting into her sleeve pocket, but her fingertips gently stroked the corners of the girl's upturned mouth in the painting, "You only know how to coax people with food." Although she said this, her earlobe turned red, fortunately covered by the veil.

The old butler looked at her and suddenly smiled, stroking his beard. "My dear Miss, I have seen that His Highness the Seventh Prince treats you..."

"Stop!" Shen Weiwan suddenly covered her ears, the glass beads in her hair rustling. "I'm just thinking about what trap to dig in the next volume - tell me, if I 'accidentally' drop the Seventh Prince's Jade Dragon Pendant into the lotus pond at the poetry gathering, will he jump in to grab it?"

Chun Tao was so frightened that her face turned pale. She hurriedly held Shen Weiwan's hand and said, "Miss! That is the jade dragon pendant given by the emperor himself! I heard that it is engraved with 'Eternal Kingdom'!"

"What are you afraid of?" Chen Weiwan blinked, a cunning light flashing in her eyes. "He said yesterday that I was 'very much to my taste'. Maybe when he jumps down, he can 'accidentally' hug me - just consider it as compensation for the jade pendant."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!