“Sixth Brother, you also know why I’m here. I’m afraid that my attack on Qing Que might have led to suspicion, so I have to trouble you to help me.”
“Father Emperor loves you very much and I also treat you as my own sister. If I don’t help you, who else should I help? Let’s also hold a banquet tomorrow. It is summer and the weather is hot. It is time to have some entertainment.”
When Bu Tinghe heard this, she suddenly smiled. Her gorgeous smile made her beautiful face even more moving. “Thank you, Sixth Brother.”
Bu Jinglan slowly waved the folding fan in his hand, and the smile on his lips became even stronger.
After Shen Ninghua received the invitation, she glanced at it and casually put it aside.
Hong Ling said, “Miss, this Sixth Prince and Princess Wenhe invited you to the banquet with ill intentions. You must not go there.”
Shen Ninghua smiled and casually played with an exquisite small rattle-drum in her hand. “Must not go there? Why not? Not only will I go, but I will go with great fanfare. I’m not afraid that she will make a move, but that she will hide in the dark.” Only if the enemies made a move would she find an opportunity to defeat them one by one!
Bai Ruo stepped forward and gently massaged Shen Ninghua’s legs. Seeing that Shen Ninghua looked much more relaxed, she said softly, “Miss, I know that you hate Princess Wenhe for hurting Qing Que, but you are in a delicate condition now. After the little master is born, you can do whatever you want. It is better to be careful at this time.”
Shen Ninghua smiled. “What you said makes sense. However, there are many things that are hard to guard against, and we cannot always be on guard. I am in a delicate condition and Bu Tinghe knows this. As long as the baby is not born, it is one of my weaknesses. Bu Tinghe can’t wait that long, and I can’t wait that long either!”
“Miss, you are right. But the Empress won’t stop causing trouble for you either. Her methods are unpredictable and we don’t know who are working for her. I am really worried if you go there.”
Shen Ninghua turned to look out of the window. “Look outside, there are so many servants coming into and going out of the large mansion. Is there anyone working for the Empress?”
The worry in Bai Ruo’s heart almost overflowed. “Miss, what should we do? Let Hong Ling check them again?”
Shen Ninghua smiled. “Hong Ling has checked these people twice, and Chu Junyi has also checked them twice. Neither of them found anything unusual. Now tell me, are some of them working for the Empress?”
Bai Ruo was terrified. “Although we have investigated their backgrounds so many times, it is hard to say for sure.”
“Then what measures do you think we should take? These people are servants working for the princess mansion. Unless they make a mistake, I cannot kick them out at will. However, if I do not chase them out, I won’t know who are the bad guys and I will have to be worried all the time.”
A layer of cold sweat broke out on Bai Ruo’s head. She had wanted to let Shen Ninghua be cautious, but now she made Shen Ninghua constantly worried. If she thought too much, it was extremely harmful to the baby.
“Miss…”
Shen Ninghua chuckled. “Alright, I’m just teasing you. The Empress’ power is indeed unfathomable. Even if I go out on normal days, I don’t know if there are her people hiding in the surrounding crowd. Therefore, it is impossible to guard against her all day long. Life has to go on. Since Bu Tinghe has invited me, not only will I go, but I will also go there dressed up in splendid attire.”
Bai Ruo bit her lower lip. “What about the Empress…”
“Look, you are usually very smart. But why are you so confused now?” Shen Ninghua poked her head. “The Empress hid her power so secretly because she did not want to expose it. This time, she mobilized Biyun Pavilion’s people because the matter of Jiangnan salt administration has touched her bottom line and she wanted to teach me a lesson. However, no matter how much she hates me, I am nothing compared with the scheme in her heart. She is worried that her power will be exposed too early.”
Bai Ruo still could not understand. “Miss, I still don’t understand. The Empress is afraid of exposing her power, but she still attacked you many times. Will she stop this time?”
Shen Ninghua smiled. “I can’t wait for her to stop by herself. When that happens, I will have died countless times. This time, I will force her to stop!” Wasn’t it stupid to have expectations for the enemy?
The next day, Shen Ninghua brought Hong Ling and Bai Ruo to the embassy where Bu Tinghe held the banquet. As soon as she reached the gate, she saw Baili Anning getting out of the carriage. “Ninghua.”
Seeing Baili Anning, Shen Ninghua smiled. “Princess Anning.”
“I heard that something happened to your maid. Is she alright?”
“Just some minor wounds. She’s fine now.”
“Well, that’s good.” Baili Anning looked at Shen Ninghua’s protruding belly with envy in her eyes. “Don’t worry. Don’t let yourself be affected.”
Shen Ninghua smiled and held her hand. “I know.”
Chu Junyi got off the horse and nodded at Baili Anning with a smile. “Princess Anning, please help me take care of Ninghua.”
“Of course I will. Don’t worry, Master Chu.”
Shen Ninghua looked at Chu Junyi. The two of them looked at each other and revealed a tacit smile.
Bu Tinghe was still dressed in white today, but the dress was embroidered with exquisite patterns along her sleeves and hem. She had a white jade hairpin on her head and round and flawless white pearl earrings. She looked immortally beautiful and charming.
“Princess Zhaohua, Princess Anning, I didn’t expect you to come here together. Come and sit down quickly.”
Shen Ninghua was led in by the maid. She looked at the surrounding scenery with admiration in her eyes. “The scenery of this embassy is quite unique.”
Bu Tinghe smiled with a hint of self-satisfaction flashing through his eyes. “When we came here, we brought our own craftsmen. These scenes were all newly set up a few days ago. Since you like them, I should reward these craftsmen.”
Although the embassy wasn’t quite spacious, it was still twice the size of the princess mansion. Bu Tinghe and Bu Jinglan had only been here for a few days, but they had already changed the scenes. Was this a way to show off their power?
Shen Ninghua smiled and did not speak. Baili Anning, who was at the side, continued the topic. “The scenes here look extremely different from the style of our capital. It should be the Great Yue Kingdom’s unique style, right?”
Bu Tinghe lowered her head and smiled. She seemed a little embarrassed, but there was much pride in her eyes. “Well, I miss my home, so I specially asked the craftsmen to remodel the embassy.”
Baili Anning looked at a pavilion beside. “Eh? This is a bit strange. A few days ago, my Second Elder Brother came back from the northwest border and brought back some small things for me. He said that they were stone sculptures produced in the northwest town of our Da’an. The style of pavilions at the border is very similar to the pavilion here.”
A while ago, Great Yue armies were defeated by the soldiers of Da’an and were beaten back for thirty miles. What were you showing off?
Shen Ninghua could not help but laugh in her heart. A while ago, the northwest was in turmoil. It was said that there were bandits, but in fact, the imperial families of Da’an and the Great Yue Kingdom both knew what was going on. However, both countries were willing to maintain peace on the surface, so they treated this border turmoil as a bandit riot. Now, Baili Anning was implicitly mocking Bu Tinghe. She knew that Bu Tinghe did not dare to refute and could only listen.
Sure enough, the smile on Bu Tinghe’s face instantly stiffened a lot. However, she was a princess and had her own bearing. She smiled and changed the topic. “The northwest is close to the Great Yue Kingdom. It is possible that the scenes of the two places are similar. The banquet will begin in a while. I will go and meet the other young ladies. You two make yourselves at home.”
Baili Anning smiled. “Princess Wenhe, you can go mind your own business. After all, this is our capital and our own territory. We are very familiar. There’s no need to take special care of us.”
This was our own territory, and you were just a princess of another country. Don’t try to be the landlord here!
Shen Ninghua took a grape and handed it to Baili Anning. “Don’t you like grapes the best? The grapes here are good. You can try it.”
“Ninghua knows me the best. I like to eat grapes the most.” Facing Shen Ninghua, Baili Anning’s smile immediately became real. She took the grape, peeled off its skin, and put it into her mouth.
Bu Tinghe bowed slightly, turned around and left.
Shen Ninghua glanced at her back. “Why do you have to mock her directly?”
“I just can’t stand her lofty air. You don’t know what my Third and Fourth Elder Brothers are like now. For the sake of this snow lotus, they almost openly become enemies.”
Shen Ninghua was surprised. “Hasn’t the Third Prince always been on good terms with the Fourth Prince?”
“That depends. At the banquet that day, the Third Prince had a crush on this lotus flower at first sight. After the banquet, he paid a visit to her the next day. Unfortunately, Bu Tinghe went to your mansion and they didn’t meet. On the third day, he visited her again but she went to worship Old Lady Xiao, so he failed again. For the next several days, he went to see her every day but was blocked each time. But the more he was rejected, the more he was bewitched. He simply treated her as a fairy.”
Shen Ninghua could not help but sneer. “The Third Prince enjoys a noble status and has high self-esteem. He has always been surrounded by beautiful women. When did he ever meet someone who treated him as cold as ice? The more he cannot get it, the more precious it is.”
Baili Anning burst out laughing. Wasn’t Ninghua mocking the Third Prince for being cheap? But he was really cheap. Bu Tinghe refused to see him, but he kept going every day. Who knew how many people in the capital were laughing at him?
“Speaking of the devil, look over there. Isn’t he here?”
Shen Ninghua looked up and saw the Third Prince looking in Bu Tinghe’s direction with a look of infatuation.
When the banquet began, a group of dancers walked up and danced to the music.
The Great Yue Kingdom’s dance was more wanton. The music was more intense, and the movements were also dynamic with twisting, spinning, bending, turning back and so on…The group of beautiful dancers whose shoulders were slightly exposed caught everyone’s attention, and from time to time, praises could be heard.
However, there was an exception. The Third Prince held his wine cup and looked in Bu Tinghe’s direction with infatuation. He shook his head from time to time.
Bu Jinglan said, “Third Prince, I saw you shaking our head from time to time. Are you not satisfied with these dancers?”
As soon as he said this, everyone’s eyes focused on the Third Prince.
The Third Prince shook his head. “I still remember Princess Wenhe’s beautiful dance at the banquet in the Palace. These people are way too plain and ordinary.”
The smile in Bu Jinglan’s eyes deepened. “It is Tinghe’s honor that you like her dance, but I’m afraid that she cannot dance at today’s banquet.”
Bu Tinghe frowned. Was the Third Prince comparing her with the dancers?