Inside the west wing, Liu listened to the chatter of the people outside the wall and angrily smashed her teacup to the ground, sending shards of porcelain splattering on her skirt. Lu'e entered the room trembling with fear, clutching a summons from Shuntian Prefecture: "Madam... the Shuntian Prefecture's officers are waiting at the door, saying they want to summon you for questioning..."
"No!" Liu screamed, grabbing the rouge box on the dressing table and throwing it over, "It must be that little bitch Shen Weiwan who framed me! She must have bribed the thugs!"
"But Madam..." Lu'e said with a sad face, "Liu San and the others confessed everything in Shuntian Prefecture, saying that you personally promised to give them 30% of the family property and even put your fingerprints on it..."
Liu's eyes went dark, and she barely managed to stand by holding onto the dressing table. She looked at her sallow, swollen face in the mirror, and remembered Shen Weiwan's playful smile in front of the second-floor window last night. She suddenly realized that she had completely lost - she had lost even the last bit of her dignity and had been trampled into the cesspool.
Inside Songyun Hall, Chen Weiwan allowed Chuntao to insert her red gold hairpins. In the mirror, the girl's eyebrows curved, and a confident smile rose at the corners of her mouth. She put on the bracelet given by the Seventh Prince, and the jade felt warm to the touch. "Chuntao, it's time for Chen Ruorou's coming-of-age ceremony."
"Don't worry, young lady!" Chun Tao fished out a small porcelain bottle from the bottom of the box. The fluorescent powder inside glowed faintly blue in the sunlight. "I have sewn the fluorescent powder, the fake account book, and the 'special gift' you mentioned into the lining of Shen Ruorou's wedding dress!"
Chen Weiwan's fingertips traced her cheek in the mirror, and she recalled the chaotic beatings on the snowy night of her previous life. A cold glint flashed in her eyes. Liu, Chen Ruorou, I will get back what you owe me, with interest. This coming-of-age ceremony is just the beginning of a play.
Meanwhile, in the Seventh Prince's study, Xiao Yu spread a map of Langya Mountain on a rosewood table, holding down the corners with a jade paperweight. The guard bowed and said, "Your Highness, Miss Shen has sent all the evidence of the Liu family's collusion with the ruffians to Shuntian Prefecture."
"She's quite nimble." Xiao Yu picked up a cinnabar pen and circled the cenotaph on the map. "Notify the secret guards to send more people on the day of the coming-of-age ceremony. Don't let the Second Prince's men disrupt her fun." He paused, remembering the way Shen Weiwan's eyes curved into crescents when she smiled. A gentle smile curled up at the corners of his mouth. "I'm going to see if the 'surprise' she's prepared can make the whole capital laugh."
A late spring breeze rustled the eaves of the General's Mansion, blowing the Xiangfei bamboo curtains across Shen Weiwan's window. Gazing out at the gradually warming courtyard, she recalled the maxim from her father's military manual: "Know thyself and thy enemy, and thou shalt fight a hundred battles without danger." A sly smile curled her lips. This time, she would not only protect the General's Mansion but also make all those who had bullied her feel the pain of falling from the clouds to the mire—like those thugs who fell into the cesspool, utterly dejected and infamous. And the fluorescent powder and fake account books hidden within her wedding dress were merely the first "gift" she had prepared for her coming-of-age ceremony.
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