Chapter 99 My Face Is Hot

"What am I afraid of?" Ye Mingzhu smoothed her damp black hair and said calmly, "I told Lianyu to be extremely careful. With her methods, no one will find out. And even if they do, given the usual practices of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, no one will suspect anything."

Sheng Yunche: "..."

Ye Mingzhu sighed again, "I don't know where Lianyu got this Jinyiwei costume from, it's just like the real thing! At least Sheng Huai'an can't possibly find out it's fake and then suspect anything, so there's no need to worry."

Sheng Yunche: "..."

Was he worried?

For a moment, he didn't know how to respond.

After thinking for a moment, he asked in a deep voice, "What if Wei Jizhen finds out about you? How will you deal with it?"

Ye Mingzhu stopped drying her long hair, her bright, alluring almond-shaped eyes smiling expectantly as she looked at him, her voice sweet as she called out, "Lord Duke..."

Sheng Yunche: "...Hmm."

He understood.

But fearing he wouldn't understand, Ye Mingzhu made her point even clearer: "What if he comes knocking on our door? You still have the Duke, right? You certainly aren't afraid of him, are you?"

Sheng Yunche: "...Yes."

Ye Mingzhu continued, "Then..."

Sheng Yunche: "Go to sleep!"

Ye Mingzhu felt a chill run down her spine and even had a headache.

She knew that if she wanted this person to do something, she would definitely have to pay some "price".

Ever since she changed his dressing that day, he's become increasingly outrageous.

Before, he was always the one pestering her to kiss him and making a fuss, but now he likes to tease her and insists that she do the same to him...

Looking back now, she would rather not have changed his dressing that day; let the wound reopen if it did!

"You should go take a shower first!" Ye Mingzhu tossed the towel she was using to dry her hair at Sheng Yunche. She felt she was getting bolder and bolder, but she had no intention of changing. "If you don't wash yourself clean, don't even think about me later..."

At this point, she stopped abruptly, blushing, and stared at him with her beautiful, alluring almond-shaped eyes.

Sheng Yunche laughed heartily, stood up, pinched her earlobe, and asked, "Why don't you think about me?"

Ye Mingzhu, of course, refused to answer and pushed him toward the bathroom: "You should leave now!"

If she didn't leave soon, she was going to throw away the jade flower!

Suddenly she remembered something else and said to Sheng Yunche, "The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and the Wang family is organizing a chrysanthemum appreciation gathering. I'd like to take Wan'er with me. What do you think?"

"You want to take her out to a banquet and find her a husband?" Sheng Yunche asked, turning around.

Ye Mingzhu nodded and said, "The Princess is widowed and it is inconvenient for her to go out. She mentioned to me before that she wanted me to take her out to banquets more often. Now that she is about to come of age, as the eldest sister-in-law, I can't not think more about her."

“Eldest sister-in-law…” Sheng Yunche repeated, looking down at her, and chuckled softly, “Since you want to, you can. If you find it troublesome, you can call an official matchmaker.”

Ye Mingzhu felt her face flush under his gaze and said uncomfortably, "What's the trouble? Wan'er is so kind and respectful to me. I'm happy to think of things for her."

After pushing Sheng Yunche into the bathhouse, Ye Mingzhu sat on the soft couch, lost in thought.

It wasn't just for Sheng Wan'er; Xiang Hongying would also be attending the chrysanthemum appreciation gathering in a couple of days, and she wanted to find an opportunity to talk to Xiang Hongying.

After returning from Jingyuan, she thought about it for a long time and realized that if she ignored the fact that Xiang Hongying had been abducted by the poor general in the middle of the night, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

Even if the feelings of the poor general for Xiang Hongying were genuine, he could have treated her well in a different way, couldn't he?

Why should Xiang Hongying bear the infamy of eloping with him, break ties with her family, be despised by the world, and have no choice but to rely on him and be with him?

Is it wrong to respect her opinion and treat her well like a gentleman?

Or perhaps he himself knew that there was a huge gap in social status between him and Xiang Hongying, and that he was not the person Xiang Hongying liked, so he had to pull her down from her high position in order to make her willingly follow him for the rest of her life?

The storybooks wouldn't reveal the true thoughts of a general from a humble background, but she couldn't help but overthink it.

In addition, Sheng Huai'an was also a factor.

She suddenly remembered that because Xiang Hongying was abducted, imprisoned, and forced by a poor general, she increasingly missed her white moonlight in the later parts of the story and secretly gave that white moonlight a lot of help...

In the storybook, the "white moonlight prince" is a tool, an important reason for advancing the relationship between Xiang Hongying and the poor general.

But if Sheng Huai'an is her ideal man, she doesn't want him to get any help from Xiang Hongying.

She wanted to ensure that Sheng Huai'an received no assistance whatsoever!

He must suffer a crushing defeat, leaving him no chance to make a comeback!

...

The Wang family's chrysanthemum appreciation gathering took place in an extremely elegant villa.

Ye Mingzhu picked up Ye Baozhu a day early and took her and Sheng Wan'er to the Wang family's villa early in the morning.

Sheng Wan'er is about to turn 18 and is anxious about marriage. Ye Baozhu will also turn 18 in a year or two. Although she is not in a hurry to find a husband, it would be good for her to go out and socialize more.

Unexpectedly, to avoid any misunderstandings from Consort Shu in the palace, Madam Qin and the Duchess of Rongguo also brought their younger family members.

Ye Mingzhu greeted them and then naturally sat down with them to enjoy tea and chat.

After chatting for a while, Madam Qin nudged her and said, "You're so young, why are you always hanging out with us? Take your two younger sisters and go play. If you don't go, they'll feel embarrassed to go."

Ye Mingzhu didn't react for a moment, her eyes full of questions.

Madam Qin pointed at her, both amused and exasperated, and said to the Duchess of Rongguo beside her, "Look, this woman has only been married for less than half a year and she's already become so old-fashioned, she doesn't think of herself as a young girl anymore. In our eyes, she's still like a flower bud."

Lady Rongguo laughed, "That's right, even our second son is older than her."

Ye Mingzhu smiled sheepishly.

Having lived as a wandering ghost for so many years, she certainly didn't have as much youthful energy as her peers.

Looking at the girls playing pitch-pot in the courtyard, and then at Ye Baozhu and Sheng Wan'er sitting beside her, she smiled and stood up: "Then I'll go play today."

In today's society, literature is highly valued, and various gatherings still prefer composing poems, playing musical instruments, playing chess, calligraphy, and painting.

Of course, there are also events such as pitch-pot and archery, which give the sons of noble families and the younger generation of military families a chance to show off their skills.

Ye Mingzhu played with Sheng Wan'er and Ye Baozhu for a while, then sat down to rest in the vine-covered corridor, letting the two of them play by themselves.

When she had a moment to herself, she noticed a tall, handsome young man in black robes frequently glancing at Sheng Wan'er. She couldn't help but smile, her almond-shaped eyes crinkling with laughter.

Just as she was about to remind Sheng Wan'er, a girl in red sat down next to her and gave her a big smile: "Greetings, Lady of the Duke of Wei."

It turned out to be Xiang Hongying.

Ye Mingzhu smiled gently and, mimicking her manner, greeted her warmly: "Greetings, Fifth Miss Xiang."

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Xiang Hongying said carelessly, "I thought you would be a difficult person to deal with after you started making a fuss about separating the family after marrying into the Duke of Wei's mansion. I didn't expect you to have such a beautiful smile and be so easy to get along with."

"..." Ye Mingzhu spoke up, "When I went to Jingyuan Polo Field earlier, I saw you talking to Sheng Huai'an together?"

"Yes," Xiang Hongying readily admitted, "It was a match arranged by my family, and I managed to get it after a lot of effort."

Just as I expected.

Ye Mingzhu pursed her lips, pondering how to respond.

Xiang Hongying suddenly said, "Madam of the Duke of Wei, actually, I came to you specifically to ask you a question. Is that alright?"