"Let's see who dares to spread this."
Cui Shuying glared fiercely at the maids beside her, who immediately lowered their heads and fell silent.
Despite saying this, Cui Shuying knew she couldn't ruin her reputation, so she stormed back to her room.
After dismissing the maids behind her, Cui Shuying spoke to the nanny.
"Granny, that Cui Yiran is so ungrateful, he won't see me. What should I do?"
Cui Shuying's original plan was to build a good relationship with Cui Yiran, so that she would have a good reason to meet the Crown Prince when she went to the capital. She was confident that with her beauty and talent, she would definitely win the Crown Prince's favor, become the Crown Princess, and eventually become the Empress.
“Miss, don’t worry. There’s a family banquet in a few days. The master and mistress also want to have some kinship with this future Crown Prince’s concubine, so they will definitely invite her to attend. For the sake of her own reputation, Cui Yiran will not refuse.”
Granny Chen offered Cui Shuying some advice.
"Hmph, she's just a concubine. Do you think Father and Mother are going to fawn over her? Once I become the principal wife, I'll teach her a lesson."
Cui Yiran said sourly, after being rejected several times, Cui Shuying knew that she could not really have a good relationship with Cui Yiran, but she did not need to be really close to Cui Yiran, she just needed to make people think that they were close.
Besides, Cui Shuying never intended to give Cui Yiran her heart. Who could truly be sincere towards someone who would compete with her for her husband? Cui Yiran was destined to be her stepping stone, making her the most prestigious woman in the world.
Granny Chen sighed softly. Given the Cui family's status, a mere concubine of the Crown Prince was not worth their elaborate efforts to curry favor with, but a concubine favored by the Crown Prince would require careful consideration.
Although the Cui family was a family of upright officials, they still had many channels for information. After the imperial decree was issued, the Cui family found out that the emperor originally intended to bestow a marriage upon the crown prince, but the crown prince took the initiative to propose not to marry any other principal or concubine, and only to marry Cui Yiran. If Cui Yiran was really the person in the crown prince's heart, then it would probably be difficult for the young lady's plan to be realized.
Han Lingxi had just dismissed Cui Shuying with her servants when a maid from the Cui family's madam's side came to invite her to a family banquet two days later.
Han Lingxi readily agreed. She couldn't avoid such a family banquet. If she was branded as disrespectful to her elders for not attending, the Emperor, who already had reservations about her background, might take the opportunity to reprimand her, causing her to lose her status as a concubine and become a wife or even a mistress. That would be a huge loss.
Han Lingxi recalled the family banquet from her previous life, then scoffed, knowing she wouldn't be fooled by Cui Shuying this time.
In her previous life, during a family banquet, a bowl of soup was about to be placed in front of her when the maidservant mishandled it and spilled it on her. Since she couldn't reveal that she knew martial arts, she could only subtly dodge to avoid getting her face burned.
Unexpectedly, Cui Shuying, on the other side, threw herself on top of her, shielding her from the spilled soup.
Everyone present was stunned, and then they remembered to look for a doctor, and panic ensued.
The original owner caught some of the soup on Cui Shuying's body with his hands and found that it was only warm and not hot enough to cause burns. However, a family like the Cui family would not drink soup that was already a little cold, so it could only be that someone had deliberately arranged it this way.
This book was first published on Canghai Literature Network. Please do not reproduce it!
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