Chapter 6. We must plan ahead.
When Shen Yunzhi left the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion and returned to the Prince of Chu's mansion, she received a return gift from Liang Zhengting.
These are two cans of jasmine tea that Liang Zhengting personally brewed.
Cui Huai seemed to have other matters to attend to and did not return with her.
Shen Yunzhi was more than happy to agree to not ride in the same carriage with Cui Huai and paid no attention to his opinion.
But she didn't know much about tea.
It was through Cui Lizhu's words that I learned how rare the jasmine tea made by Liang Zhengting, the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, was.
"If Cui Xuan knew that Liang Zhengting gave you two cans of this flower tea, she would first be so angry that she would vomit blood, then snatch the tea from your hands, and finally throw you into the lotus pond in the palace to feed the fish." Cui Lizhu gloated. She and the Seventh Princess Cui Xuan did not get along, so she was happy to see Cui Xuan unhappy. "After all, it takes her a lot of effort to get a can of this flower tea from Liang Zhengting every time."
Knowing about the discord between Cui Lizhu and Cui Xuan, Shen Yunzhi believed that Cui Lizhu's words were inevitably exaggerated.
But then she suddenly remembered that, according to her memories from her previous life, there was going to be a flower-viewing banquet in the palace, inviting young ladies and gentlemen from all over the capital to attend.
She couldn't miss this flower-viewing banquet.
Once you attend the banquet, it will be difficult to avoid running into the Seventh Princess, Cui Xuan.
She had to make plans early.
“I only realized how rare it is after the princess told me. I don’t know much about tea, and I shouldn’t waste such a fine thing. Why don’t you take a jar back and taste it, so as not to disgrace them?” Shen Yunzhi lowered her posture and spoke softly.
Cui Lizhu scoffed, "What are you afraid of? I have plenty of ways to get back at Cui Xuan, I don't necessarily have to use you, and I wouldn't stoop to that. Besides, do you think Cui Xuan won't find out as long as I don't tell anyone? She probably already knows and is already thinking of ways to get revenge and torment you."
Seeing Shen Yunzhi lower her eyes and lower her gaze, Cui Lizhu did not restrain her demeanor and continued with a half-smile: "Liang Zhengting is indeed quite generous to you, but Chengni inkstones are precious, so giving flower tea as a return gift must be because of your mother."
"If you become complacent and arrogant because of this, you will be as stupid as a pig."
"But what's so great about Liang Zhengting? Only someone like Cui Xuan would be completely infatuated with him."
Shen Yunzhi listened quietly to Cui Lizhu's seemingly endless mockery of Cui Xuan. After she finished speaking, she half-jokingly probed, "My status is lowly, and I'm afraid the Seventh Princess won't take me seriously."
"If I say you're stupid, then you really are incredibly stupid."
Choi Yeo-joo mocked her, "It's precisely because you're of low status and have no one to back you up that you're more easily bullied."
Shen Yunzhi was silent for a moment, then said softly, "The princess is absolutely right."
"If the Seventh Princess wants to bully me, I have no power to fight back and can only leave it to fate."
Choi Yeo-joo was speechless at Shen Yunzhi's self-destructive attitude.
Then he suspected that although she said that, she was secretly planning to take this opportunity to cry to her brother, and he gritted his teeth in resentment.
"What are you afraid of?" Cui Lizhu said reluctantly. "Everyone outside knows you are a cousin of the Chu Prince's family. Do you think I would let you be bullied? If you are bullied, I will also lose face and be annoyed."
Shen Yunzhi seemed both surprised and delighted, her eyes shining, and she readily replied, "Thank you, Princess!"
Choi Yeo-joo's cheeks burned from the sincerity in her eyes.
"Who cares if you thank me!"
"You should stop embarrassing me in public."
Shen Yunzhi watched Cui Lizhu's angry departure, a slight smile playing on her lips, before returning to her room.
Qiuyue asked cautiously, "Miss's rescue by Prince Liang was accidental. Is it really necessary for the Seventh Princess to deliberately target Miss based on this alone?"
"They're all people we can't afford to offend."
Shen Yunzhi said, "Worrying and being afraid won't change anything, let's just wait and see."
Three more days passed.
Just as Shen Yunzhi remembered from her previous life, an invitation from the palace was sent to the Chu Prince's residence, inviting them to a banquet.
On the day of the flower-viewing banquet at the palace, young men of some status in the capital would all be attending. Shen Yunzhi had dressed herself up carefully. When Cui Lizhu saw her in a silver-red spring dress, with light makeup, she looked even more beautiful and fair-skinned. She couldn't help but mock her, saying, "If I didn't know better, I would have thought you were going to meet your lover today."
Shen Yunzhi smiled good-naturedly: "I'm just afraid of embarrassing the princess."
Choi Yeo-joo couldn't refute the fact that she had said something to save her face not long ago, but she wasn't going to back down: "You're smart to know what's good for you."
"Don't wander off when we enter the palace later, stay close to me."
"If you run around and Cui Xuan catches you alone, then you can cry by yourself."
Shen Yunzhi feigned innocence, saying, "Alright, I will stay by the Princess's side today and not go anywhere." Cui Lizhu was somewhat satisfied with her attitude and boarded the carriage first. After Shen Yunzhi boarded the carriage, they went to the palace.
Cui Huai and Cui Hong will both be attending the flower-viewing banquet at the palace today.
However, they had all gone out to run errands early in the morning, so they did not go with them.
The flower-viewing banquet was held in the imperial garden of the palace.
Shen Yunzhi was not visiting for the first time, but she was not familiar with the palace and was not unhappy about being by Cui Lizhu's side, who frequently entered and exited the palace.
On her way to pay her respects to the Empress, Cui Lizhu stopped when she saw several crabapple trees in full bloom. She immediately instructed Shen Yunzhi, "My aunt loves crabapple blossoms the most. Go and pick a few for me so I can present them to her later."
Cui Lizhu was bossy and domineering, but Shen Yunzhi had no complaints and obediently approached the crabapple trees.
She patiently helped Choi Yeo-joo fold flowers under her guidance.
Beneath the flowering tree, a young woman in a silver-red spring dress tiptoed, her beautiful face captivating against the backdrop of blooming crabapple blossoms. Just then, a breeze blew by, and pink and white petals fell from the branches onto the young woman's black hair and shoulders, causing her dress to cling to her body and inadvertently revealing her graceful figure hidden beneath.
The Fifth Prince, Cui Xu, happened to be passing by the Imperial Garden.
He watched this scene unfold, paused to admire it for a moment, recognized Choi Yeo-joo, but did not approach her.
"Who is this person with Danyang?" Cui Xu asked the attendant behind him.
The servant looked up and glanced at her twice, then looked away and respectfully said, "Your Highness, it must be Miss Shen from the Chu Prince's residence."
Cui Xu raised an eyebrow, a hint of a determined smile flashing in his eyes.
He smirked and said, "Let's go." Without saying goodbye to Choi Yeo-joo, he left on his own.
Neither Shen Yunzhi nor Cui Lizhu knew that Cui Xu had passed by from a short distance away.
They broke off a few branches of crabapple blossoms and went to pay their respects to Empress Chen.
The Prince of Chu and His Majesty the Emperor are brothers born of the same mother, and they have a good relationship. Empress Chen has always been kind to the Prince of Chu's children. Upon seeing Cui Lizhu, Empress Chen greeted her warmly, accepted a branch of crabapple blossoms from her, praised her for her thoughtfulness, and chatted with her for a while before letting her and Shen Yunzhi go to admire the flowers with the other ladies.
This is one of the reasons why Choi Yeo-joo and Choi Seon have been able to compete with each other.
Empress Chen would not take sides, and Cui Xuan dared not go too far; the arguments were mostly verbal and skirmishes, and things didn't escalate too badly.
Shen Yunzhi and Cui Lizhu arrived at a moderate time.
There were some young ladies in the Imperial Garden, and on such occasions, Princess Cui Lizhu of Danyang was always surrounded by many people.
Although Shen Yunzhi had said she would stay by Cui Lizhu's side at all times, she couldn't always follow her around like a maid. Shen Yunzhi watched Cui Lizhu chat and laugh with other young ladies from a distance, not minding that she was being ignored.
A quarter of an hour later, Choi Yeo-joo was once again surrounded by people to admire the flowers.
She looked around and found Shen Yunzhi in her line of sight, so she continued to enjoy the adoration of the young ladies.
Until Cui Xuan's voice came.
Cui Lizhu paused, searching for Shen Yunzhi's figure once more. Seeing that she was still following at a distance, she beckoned her to come forward.
"Let's see who dares to rescue you!"
"Huo Yuan, who do you think you are to dare compete with me?!"
Every word clearly reached Shen Yunzhi and Cui Lizhu's ears, serving as proof that the Seventh Princess, Cui Xuan, was nearby.
Cui Lizhu sneered, "Even the Empress's flower-viewing banquet is being handled so recklessly!"
She pulled Shen Yunzhi away from the other young ladies and walked a short distance to a secluded spot, saying, "Huo Yuan is the third young lady of the Dingyuan Marquis's mansion. She also has feelings for Liang Zhengting, and Cui Xuan found out about it and has been making things difficult for her every now and then."
Shen Yunzhi asked in confusion, "So the Huo family has been swallowing their anger all this time?"
Cui Lizhu said, "His Majesty said it was just young ladies playing around, a sign of intimacy. What can the Huo family do about it?"
Shen Yunzhi remained silent.
She didn't know much about what was happening in the court and couldn't make a judgment, but she knew Huo Yuan.
In her previous life, after escaping Cui Huai's side with Cui Hong's help, she fled to another place. During her time hiding from Cui Huai, she received help from Huo Yuan. At that time, Huo Yuan had offended Cui Xuan and could no longer stay in the capital, so she had already married out of the capital. One of the most important things that made it impossible for her to gain a foothold in the capital was that her reputation was damaged at this flower-viewing banquet.
Huo Yuan, who married out of the country, did not have a good life.
She dared not say that she had the ability to change Huo Yuan's fate, but she could not remain indifferent to Huo Yuan's situation.
Just then, two young women walked towards us.
They looked alarmed and were talking worriedly about what was happening not far away.
"Could this lead to someone getting killed?"
"The Seventh Princess shouldn't be in that situation... however..."
Upon hearing this, Choi Yeo-joo immediately asked, "What happened over there?"
Upon seeing that she was Princess Danyang, the two young ladies did not hide anything and told her everything they had seen.
It was the Seventh Princess, Cui Xuan, who pushed Huo Yuan into the lotus pond.
And no one is allowed to go into the water to rescue them.
Cui Lizhu turned to look at Shen Yunzhi and saw that her face was pale. She thought that her previous words had frightened her and said, "Even if she is brave, she wouldn't dare to kill someone. You don't need to be so scared."
In her past life, Shen Yunzhi was busy caring about Cui Huai at the flower-viewing banquet. What she knew about Huo Yuan was that she had offended the Seventh Princess Cui Xuan, fell into the water and no one came to her rescue. In the end, many young men saw her soaking wet, which ruined her reputation and forced her to marry someone else.
It turns out that everything was done by Cui Xuan on purpose.
Shen Yunzhi shook her head: "I can swim and I'm not afraid of falling into the water, but if others see me soaking wet, I'm afraid I'd rather be dead."
There are many young men at today's flower viewing banquet.
Cui Lizhu laughed, "I didn't expect you to care so much about your reputation. Judging from what you've done, I thought you didn't care at all." Then she realized what she meant and glanced at Shen Yunzhi, "You can swim? Would you dare to go into the water to save someone?"
Shen Yunzhi was waiting for Cui Lizhu to say those words.
Given the opportunity to cause trouble for Cui Xuan, how could Cui Lizhu possibly miss it?
"Going into the water to save people..."
Shen Yunzhi hesitated, "We saved them, and then what?"
Cui Lizhu pursed her lips, pulled Shen Yunzhi closer to the lotus pond, and hid in a place where Cui Xuan wouldn't notice.
Shen Yunzhi looked around the lotus pond and asked softly, "There's a rockery over there. After I rescue Miss Huo from the water, can we hide in the rockery first? Then the princess can have someone send the cloak over there, is that alright?"
“What’s so difficult about that?” Cui Lizhu readily agreed.
Shen Yunzhi then asked, "Since the Seventh Princess cares so much about Prince Liang, if Prince Liang were here, would the Seventh Princess still be so reckless?"
"Ha, she always likes to put on a proper lady-like act in front of Liang Zhengting."
"Anyone who doesn't know what she looks like..."
Cui Lizhu paused for a moment, then her eyes lit up with a smile: "That's right! We should call Liang Zhengting over and embarrass Cui Xuan in front of him, then see how arrogant Cui Xuan will be in front of me afterward!" Without hesitation, she turned and ordered someone to invite Liang Zhengting. By this time, the young men and women attending the banquet should all have arrived, and since they were all in the Imperial Garden, it wouldn't take them long to get here.
Shen Yunzhi smiled and sincerely praised, "It has to be the princess."
A note from the author:
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Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! There will be another chapter around midnight [kissing emoji]
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