"good."

The Empress nodded, her voice carrying a hint of authority.

"Madam Sheng is dignified and composed. She was personally bestowed the title of First Rank Lady by the late Emperor. Anyone who dares to doubt you is questioning the imperial family of the Great Yong Dynasty."

These words carried too much weight; Lin Zhiquan's face turned ashen, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Song Ziyu could only shake his head at Gu Yurong, signaling her to stop talking nonsense.

Jiang Wan breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Only then did he look at Gu Yurong.

"Just now, my sister said that she smelled the scent of a secret medicine in the incense. That's quite strange. My sister has lived in the inner quarters for so long, how could she be familiar with secret medicines from the martial arts world?"

Gu Yurong panicked and stammered.

"I...I'm just guessing."

She lowered her head and gritted her teeth.

"Your Majesty is right. Since it is the incense from Old Madam Sheng, there must be no problem. I was just being presumptuous. Please punish me, Old Madam."

Old Madam Sheng glanced at her, clearly disapproving of her behavior.

"I had heard that General Chengping enjoyed the blessings of having a second wife, and he especially doted on his second wife, Lady Gu. I thought you were a gentle and virtuous person like Madam Jiang, but I never expected you to speak so arrogantly and without any sense of propriety!"

"You shall then shut yourself in and copy the 'Women's Virtues' and 'Women's Instructions' a hundred times. You shall not leave the house until you have finished copying them."

Gu Yurong gritted her teeth and took a deep breath: "Yes."

Copying books wasn't a severe punishment, but being confined to her room for dozens of days, neglecting her marital relationship with Song Ziyu, was what she feared most.

Jiang Wan also lowered her eyes.

She understood that Old Madam Sheng punished her in this way to help her win favor with the emperor.

But she only felt hatred for Song Ziyu, and even looking at him made her feel disgusted.

"That's fine then," the Empress said. "Song Shuling shall be given twenty strokes of the cane and escorted back to the capital to await His Majesty's decision."

Seeing Song Shuling, who had been doused with three buckets of water and was only just regaining consciousness before being dragged away to be executed, Song Ziyu felt a pang of pity and still wanted to step forward to plead for her life.

But Lin Zhiquan grabbed him.

"Wait, don't act rashly!"

Lin Zhiquan lowered his voice, speaking meaningfully.

"As long as your second sister can endure these twenty strokes of the cane, she will be able to turn her life around!"

…

After the Empress finished dealing with everything, she smiled and looked at Pei Xuan.

"You've never liked getting involved in these kinds of troubles, so why are you here?"

Pei Xuan said, "My father asked me to summon you. He said that the Imperial Astronomical Observatory has detected a very auspicious celestial phenomenon, which is related to the spring hunt. He wants you to come and listen to it."

Hearing him say that, the Empress also became interested.

"Madam Sheng and Madam Jiang should also go."

After what just happened, the Empress had a good impression of Jiang Wan.

Quiet and composed, calm and collected, and possessing such a beautiful face, it's no wonder that Old Madam Sheng liked her.

If she weren't already married, she would have wanted to arrange a marriage between Jiang Wan and her son.

"Thank you for your kind words, Your Majesty."

Jiang Wan looked respectful and glanced behind her.

"However... this place is a mess, so I'll stay and clean it up."

"Very well." The Empress nodded.

Before leaving, he noticed the white rabbit in the cage in front of the tent.

"Is this your pet?"

Jiang Wan replied, "I found it injured in the forest yesterday, so I brought it back."

The Empress smiled brightly, finding her kind-hearted, and couldn't help but like her even more.

On the way back, she said to Pei Xuan, "I didn't expect that Madam Jiang, who looks aloof, is actually a gentle and kind woman. If you can marry such a Crown Princess in the future, I will be at ease."

Pei Xuan's lips twitched.

You didn't see it, but when she slapped Song Shuling, she showed absolutely no mercy.

This was the first time he had ever met a woman like this.

If we're talking about gentleness...

Suddenly, Pei Xuan saw the image of Jiang Wan's shimmering eyes from last night.

Even after being drugged, Jiang Wan could barely manage to...

Unfortunately, that was just an illusion on her part.

The real Jiang Wan is quite cunning.

“…Ah Ning, Ah Ning?”

The Empress looked at Pei Xuan strangely and raised her voice.

"I asked you what the astronomical monitoring calculated, why were you so distracted?"

Pei Xuan replied solemnly, "I heard it's a celestial phenomenon, indicating that a fox spirit has descended to earth and will soon appear at the hunting grounds. Mother, you'll know once you go and see..."

Half an hour later, news of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's divination spread throughout the hunting grounds.

Emperor Jingyuan was overjoyed, believing it to be a blessing from heaven for the Great Yong Dynasty, and resolved to find the "fire fox" that foretold good fortune.

However, the Imperial Guards dispatched three groups and searched the dense forest for a long time, but they still couldn't find a single fox that met their requirements.

It was already late, and Emperor Jingyuan had no choice but to return home disappointed.

The grand procession of officials followed the imperial carriage, marking the end of the spring hunt.

"I wonder if His Majesty will be able to find the so-called fox spirit?" Biluo asked curiously on the carriage back.

Jiang Wan smiled, a faint smile in her eyes.

"Yes, and it won't take long."

Biluo was puzzled and was about to ask her when she suddenly noticed a jade hairpin in her hair.

"Madam, where did this come from?"

Jiang Wan reached out and took it down: "Isn't this from my makeup box?"

When she woke up this morning, she found the hairpin on the ground not far from her and thought it had fallen out of her makeup box.

She never paid much attention to her appearance, and her jewelry was usually managed by Biluo.

However, Biluo did not recognize this object.

"Should we just throw this cryptic thing away?"

Jiang Wan ran her delicate hand over the hairpin, feeling the warm, smooth texture of the jade. It was indeed a fine piece of warm jade.

The carved crabapple blossoms on it are lifelike, exquisite, and unique.

Although it was the first time she had seen it, she found the hairpin to be very pleasing to her, as if it had been made to her liking in every way.

It's rare for Jiang Wan to like a piece of jewelry.

"Stay."

A hint of a smile played in her eyes as she slipped the jade hairpin back into her hair.