The next day, a victory celebration banquet was held.
Early in the morning, Shen Danru was pulled out of bed by her maids to wash and dress her.
Although the Duke's mansion had many carriages, Shen Danru, Shen Yulan, and Qingtan still rode in the same carriage.
Zhou and Shen Xiaohua rode in another carriage.
Each official's wife and daughter could bring a maid.
Shen Xiaohua asked Zhou Shi for permission to visit the palace, and Zhou Shi, feeling sorry for her, agreed.
Just before getting into the carriage, Shen Danru glanced at Shen Xiaohua and secretly warned her not to try anything funny.
That one glance terrified Shen Xiaohua. She couldn't understand what she had done wrong, or why Shen Danru was always targeting her.
Mrs. Zhou gently patted her hand and comforted her, "Good child, don't be afraid, I'll take care of everything."
Shen Xiaohua nodded, tears welling in her eyes.
This made Zhou feel even more distressed.
She decided to have a good talk with Ru'er another day. Although Xiaohua and Ru'er were not related by blood, Xiaohua had grown up by her side since childhood and called her "Second Aunt". How could she not feel sorry for her?
Upon arriving at the palace gates, the maids helped Shen Danru and Shen Yulan down from the carriage, while Qingtan gracefully leaped down.
Upon seeing Shen Danru, many wives and young ladies of officials gathered around her to greet her.
"Greetings to Princess Chaoyun."
No one expected that a year ago, Shen Danru became the laughing stock of Shengjing because of the Crown Prince's rejection of her engagement, but in less than a year, she actually became Princess Chaoyun.
Shen Danru bowed slightly in return, saying, "Please, everyone, there's no need to be so polite."
“Princess Chaoyun, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. You’ve become even more beautiful now.”
"Oh, this must be Miss Shen. She's such a beautiful and graceful woman."
"Of course, look who her granddaughter is. She's General Shen's eldest granddaughter, she's definitely no ordinary person."
...
When they realized that Shen Yulan was already married and her husband's family was just an ordinary farming family, everyone clicked their tongues in dismay and felt sorry for her.
Such a good girl, if she had recognized her relatives a few years earlier, she wouldn't have ended up marrying a farmer.
However, General Shen had guarded the border for decades and made countless outstanding military achievements. He was also the commander of the Zhenbei Army, and the Shen family's position in the court was unshakeable.
The Emperor held a banquet to celebrate the Duke of Shen's achievements, and the Shen family was naturally the focus of attention that day.
Therefore, it is not surprising that ladies and young women from prominent families came to exchange pleasantries, their words filled with flattery and ingratiation.
Despite this, everyone looked at Zhou with disdain.
She was just a peasant woman, yet she was fortunate enough to marry General Shen's only son and become the mistress of the Shen State Duke's mansion.
They really hit the jackpot.
Song Yuqing stood to the side, gritting her teeth in anger, her eyes filled with resentment.
She gripped Madam Song's hand tightly and pleaded, "Mother, you must help me, you must help me."
Looking at her daughter's pleading eyes, Madam Song felt a pang of heartache.
"Don't worry, Yue'er, your mother will help you. Your aunt has already arranged everything."
Hearing her mother's affirmative answer, Song Yuqing finally felt a little relieved.
She heard that Crown Prince Qi Jingcheng wanted to ask the Emperor to grant him and Shen Danru a marriage at the victory celebration banquet in order to gain the support of General Shen.
This news was a huge blow to her.
She fell in love with Qi Jingcheng the moment she met him.
She had never seen such a handsome and noble young man.
Shen Danru not only stole her identity, but also her marriage.
How could she not hate that?
If Shen Danru becomes the Crown Princess, will she still have a good life?
The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, and finally couldn't help but run to the Duke of Shen's mansion to claim her relatives.
If she successfully recognizes her family and General Shen acknowledges her, Qi Jingcheng will not marry Shen Danru again.
However, to her surprise, Shen Shi was completely unmoved and showed no regard for the kindness of Shen Cheng and his wife in raising her.
Upon returning to the Marquis of Xuanping's residence, she tearfully poured out her grievances to Madam Song.
Lady Song entered the palace that very day to see her sister, Consort Li.
Consort Li comforted her sister, telling her to relax and that she would make sure Shen Danru couldn't marry the Crown Prince.
...
Shen Danru introduced her older sister and Qingtan to everyone.
Of course, Qingtan was introduced to everyone as the cousin of the Duke's family.
The ladies and young women smiled and praised the two of them.
Hearing their hypocritical words, Shen Danru simply smiled.
Zhou was surrounded by many ladies from prominent families, and she answered them awkwardly.
Although they looked down on Zhou's peasant background, the Shen family was now at the height of its power, and everyone wanted to associate with them.
The woman's second son, Shen Yutang, became a young general, which made the ladies of these aristocratic families extremely envious.
Fortunately, almost all of them had daughters. If they could marry Shen Yutang, wouldn't that be a perfect match?
So they put aside their contempt for Zhou and all smiled and wanted to befriend her.
"Sister Ru".
As soon as Jiang Jingxian got off the carriage, she heard Shen Danru's voice and couldn't help but call out.
Shen Danru waved to her from the crowd: "Jingxian, I'm here."
Jiang Jingxian then noticed Shen Danru and quickly ran forward, grabbing her hand and shaking it: "Sister Ru, I've missed you so much! My mother said you just returned to the Duke's Mansion and must have a lot of things to take care of, so she told me not to bother you."
Shen Danru said with a smile, "No way, you silly girl, didn't we just see each other a few days ago?"
Shen Danru stayed at the border for several days, and Jiang Jingxian almost couldn't resist running to the border to find her.
Finally, the day came when she returned to Shengjing. Before she could say more than a few words, her elder brother pulled her out so that the family could be reunited.
"That day doesn't count; I didn't even get to say more than a few words to you. I'm going to stay with Sister Ru for a while in a few days."
"Okay, welcome, sister."
Shen Danru looked at her with a doting smile.
After exchanging pleasantries with everyone for a while, Shen Danru, worried that Shen Yulan might get tired, helped her into the sedan chair.
Considering the delicate nature of the officials' wives, the Empress arranged for many palace servants to wait at the palace gate so that the wives and daughters of the officials could get off their carriages and directly board sedan chairs to enter the palace.
The victory celebration banquet was held at the Zhaixing Tower in the palace.
After Shen Danru sat down, she felt a pair of eyes filled with hatred staring at her.
She looked around, and that gaze seemed to have vanished again.
Shen Danru didn't care. There were many people who hated her, mainly those who were interested in Qi Jingcheng and wanted to become the Crown Princess.
But they seemed to have hated the wrong person; she had no interest whatsoever in the position of Crown Princess.
At this moment, Shen Yuzi withdrew the fierce look she had been giving Shen Danru and touched the skin on her face.
Shen Danru, you just wait!
If it weren't for her, her brother Shen Yushu wouldn't have died, and her mother wouldn't have pretended to be crazy to look for her.
All of this can be attributed to Shen Danru.
"Zhi'er, Zhi'er..."
Madam Lu called Lu Zhizhi's name for a long time, but she didn't respond. Thinking that she was unwell, she hurriedly went to pull her up.
Chen Yuzi finally came to her senses.
"Zhi'er, what's wrong?"
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