The one who welcomed the guests on the female side was the wife of the Yongle Marquis's son. When she saw the Wei family members arrived, and the marquis's wife Liu was among them, her face immediately showed some eagerness, and she welcomed them into the inner courtyard.

Several distinguished guests who had arrived earlier were already seated in the main courtyard. As soon as Liu led the women in her family in, the wife of Yongle Hou stood up from her chair and came to greet them in person: "You are finally here. I was just talking about you."

Although they were of different generations, they were both ladies of the highest rank. They exchanged greetings and took their seats.

The wife of Marquis Yongle turned around and greeted Qian very politely before looking at her future second daughter-in-law. The more she looked, the more satisfied she became. After asking a few questions carefully, she caught sight of the unfamiliar face of Wei Hanzhang.

Her eyes lit up and she smiled, "This must be the ninth young lady of your family. She is really like the goddess of Gushe as the rumors say. She is unforgettable. Even at my age, I feel happy just to see her. I wonder how many young masters she will charm when she goes out for a walk. Are there many families?"

Liu took her granddaughter's hand, patted it gently, and said in a gentle voice: "It hasn't been officially decided yet, but we have chosen a candidate."

"That was a real miss, a miss," said the wife of Yongle Hou with regret, "It's rare to meet such an outstanding girl. I also wanted to find a matchmaker for my nephew from my mother's family."

The wife of Marquis Yongle's maiden family is the Chen Guogong Mansion. The nephew she mentioned should be the Chen Guogong's eldest son, Chen Zishu. At a young age, he has been promoted to the position of Chief Justice of the Dali Temple. He has not married at the age of twenty, and is a rare candidate for a son-in-law among the aristocratic families in the capital.

Upon hearing this, Jiang couldn't help but regret having agreed to the Gu family's marriage proposal so early.

In Jiang's eyes, her delicate little girl was more than suitable for anyone, so why should she choose someone from a noble family in the capital?

I originally thought that it didn't matter that the Gu family was far away in Xuzhou. The most important thing was that my daughter was happy with her marriage. I didn't expect that even this couldn't be fulfilled. How could I not regret it?

Although the matchmaking was not going to happen, the wife of Yongle Hou still took off the jade bracelet on her wrist and gave it to Wei Hanzhang as a gift. She smiled kindly and said, "You look like a blessed child. Don't stay here and go out and play."

She called a maid behind her and ordered, "Take the guest to stroll around the garden and don't neglect her."

The four sisters left the main hall and entered the back garden of the Marquis' Mansion. The spring scenery was beautiful at this time. They walked for a while and were just about to go to Feihua Hall to take a look when they heard Wei Hanyu say, "Sister Shuang, Ranran, Sister Su and I want to go to the Jiuqu Pavilion over there."

Wei Hansu also looked a little shy, with a hint of hope in his eyes as he said, "I've heard that the Nine-Bend Pavilion in Yongle Marquis's Mansion has great scenery. Now that I'm lucky enough to be here today, I want to go take a look."

"Then you can go," Wei Hanshuang smiled faintly, "but this is someone else's mansion, you are not familiar with the road, and you must not leave your maid by your side."

As she spoke, Wei Hanshuang said to the maids beside them: "Take good care of your young lady. If anything goes wrong..."

She didn't finish her words, but the intimidation in them made the two maids, Wei Hansu and Wei Hanyu, shrank their shoulders and responded with a yes.

Even Wei Hanzhang heard the deep meaning in her words. On the way to Feihua Hall, he couldn't help but ask, "Is there anything wrong with them?"

"Who can say for sure? Look at their outfits today. Maybe they want to take advantage of this banquet to find a husband. That's fine. It's human nature. As long as they don't do anything that would bring shame to the Wei Mansion, it's fine."

Wei Hanshuang glanced at her with a smile, and said in a daze, "I was wondering why they left so quickly. I guess they felt that no matter how gorgeous they were dressed, they would not look as good next to our Ran Ran. No wonder they couldn't wait to get away from you."

Wei Hanzhang was already used to her sixth sister's occasional teasing, and couldn't help but smile: "Sixth sister, aren't you afraid of being overshadowed by me?"

"I don't need to find my ideal husband, so what should I be afraid of?" Wei Hanshuang reached out and tapped her forehead, warning her, "Don't smile at people like that, or some man might see you and get mad."

The Da Ling Dynasty had an open-minded society and there was no strict separation between men and women. Although banquets were separated for men and women, they were all held in the garden and they could meet each other at any time.

This is also the reason why Wei Hansu and the others insisted on staying away from Wei Hanzhang.

It was exactly as Wei Hanshuang had guessed.

The two sisters walked and talked when they met several groups of male guests. They did not shy away from them and greeted them naturally. They walked all the way to Feihua Hall. Just as they were about to go in, a woman with disheveled hair and tearful face suddenly rushed out.

The woman ran so fast that she knocked Wei Hanzhang's shoulder, causing him to stagger. She paused for a moment, turned her head, whispered an apology, and ran away without a trace.

Wei Hanshuang supported her sister, looked up at the plaque of Feihua Hall, and asked the maid from Yonglehou Mansion behind her: "Do you know the woman just now?"

The two maids looked at each other and shook their heads: "I don't know him."

“……” Wei Hanzhang pursed his lips and said nothing. He knew this face.

She looked at Wei Hanshuang and asked, "Are we still going in?"

Here maybe...

Wei Hanshuang hesitated for a moment and said, "Forget it, the banquet is about to start, let's not be late."

Her wedding date has been set, in early July, and she will be married in less than three months. It is indeed not appropriate to interfere in the private affairs of Yongle Marquis Mansion at this time.

Wei Hanzhang had no objection to this. She was not curious. It was normal to have some secrets in a large mansion. Not to mention the marquis's family, even the Jiang family, her uncle's backyard was very lively.

Although no one would deliberately tell her about dirty things, she grew up in the Jiang family after all, so she knew something.

The two sisters returned the same way, their trip was in vain, but it did not affect their mood. They chatted and smiled along the way, but they saw Wei Hanyu's personal maid walking towards them with an anxious look on her face.

Seeing the two daughters of the family, the maid breathed a sigh of relief, knelt down and said hurriedly, "Ladies, our eighth daughter was admiring the scenery at the Jiuqu Pavilion, and she missed a step and fell into the lake."

Wei Hanshuang's expression suddenly changed: "Were there any male guests present? Did you rescue them? How could you be so careless!"

"There are many male guests over there. The girl was rescued by the cousin of Yongle Marquis's mansion. She was awake when I left. The seventh girl is there and sent the servants to look for someone from our mansion."

The maidservant kowtowed with tears streaming down her face, saying, "I dare not lie. When our Eighth Miss woke up, she said that someone pushed her from behind and pushed her into the lake."

It’s not an accident?

Wei Hanzhang frowned tightly. Why did Wei Hanyu, the daughter of a bastard from a marquis's mansion who seldom went out to socialize, push her into the water? Was it to protect someone from disaster? Wei Hanshuang obviously thought so too. There must be a motive to harm someone. If he was targeting the loyal and brave marquis, it would not make much difference to attack the daughter of a bastard.

(End of this chapter)