Wei Rao had originally planned to stay with her grandmother at the villa for a while longer, but unexpectedly, in mid-April, the Empress in the palace was hosting a peony flower gathering. The invitations had been sent out to all the noble ladies at the beginning of the month, and Wei Rao, as the only Princess in the entire capital, naturally received an invitation as well.

“It seems like flower banquets haven’t been held on such a grand scale in previous years,” Wei Rao said, handing the invitation to her grandmother curiously.

Shou’an Jun looked at the invitation and smiled, “When you were too young to remember, the Empress Dowager held several of these, wanting to fill His Majesty’s harem. But His Majesty wouldn’t even show his face, so they stopped holding them. Now that Prince Jing and Prince Fu have reached marriageable age, this flower gathering is probably to select princess consorts and secondary consorts for them.”

Wang Shi was also sitting nearby and felt moved, “Could it be that our Raorao might become a princess consort?”

Shou’an Jun glared at her. Which prince would marry a divorced woman as his principal consort? If she didn’t know Wang Shi was lacking in sense, she would suspect Wang Shi was deliberately trying to cause trouble for her granddaughter.

Wei Rao just smiled. Regardless of whether she had been divorced, her eldest cousin Wei Shu was already Princess Duan, so the other two princess consort positions couldn’t possibly fall to her.

“Go ahead—perhaps you’ll meet some congenial young ladies,” Shou’an Jun said to Wei Rao in a relaxed tone.

Previously, with the Empress Dowager suppressing things, no one dared to openly befriend Wei Rao. Now the situation was different—the Empress Dowager was gone, Wei Rao had been enfeoffed as Princess, and whether they were young ladies who genuinely admired Wei Rao or those who intended to flatter and curry favor with her, they would all gravitate toward Wei Rao.

Wei Rao stayed one more night at the villa, then returned to the capital the next day.

The Princess’s mansion finally welcomed back its master. After Wei Rao had rested and emerged from her inner chambers, Eunuch Wei reported some news he had just learned: “Princess, the palace has issued an edict to the traveling palace. This year, His Majesty will go to the traveling palace for the summer, ordering them to prepare early.”

His Majesty definitely wouldn’t go alone—he would bring a group of consorts and ministers, so the palace servants at the traveling palace had to start cleaning the long-vacant halls and courtyards now.

Wei Rao’s heart raced. The Empress Dowager had been dead for a year and a half now. This time, when Emperor Yuanjia went to the traveling palace, he should finally bring Mother and younger brother back, right?

“Did they say when he’s going?” Wei Rao asked.

Eunuch Wei said, “It seems like after the Dragon Boat Festival. The palace is also hosting dragon boat races this year.”

Dragon boat races?

Wei Rao suddenly remembered the situation from the last dragon boat race, when Lu Zhuo, newly returned to the capital, had shown his prowess and become famous in one competition.

The palace dragon boat races were held every three years, so had three years passed already in the blink of an eye?

This year, Emperor Yuanjia would go to the traveling palace for the summer. Once the edict was issued, all the officials’ families knew about it.

In the Western Mountain traveling palace lived a Consort Li who had once been the most beautiful woman in the capital, as well as a prince.

On the surface, Emperor Yuanjia had neglected Consort Li for four or five years, but with this year’s edict to go to the traveling palace, no one doubted that Consort Li would regain favor.

The officials were already divided into various factions. Emperor Yuanjia had yet to establish a crown prince—some ministers backed Prince Duan, some backed the Empress’s legitimate son, Prince Jing, and some backed Prince Fu. Now that Consort Li’s restoration to favor was imminent, with a five-year-old Fourth Prince at her knee, and Emperor Yuanjia still in his prime, the Fourth Prince wasn’t without hope either.

One edict had quietly disturbed the hearts of many officials and their wives.

Those officials already valued by the three factions of the Empress, Consort De, and Consort Xian naturally wouldn’t hastily switch allegiances, but among the remainder, some wanted to curry favor with Consort Li’s daughter Wei Rao before Consort Li had even returned to the capital. After all, currying favor now still looked respectable—if they started after Consort Li returned, their sincerity would be greatly diminished.

So Wei Rao had just returned to the capital when she received flower gathering invitations from several young ladies’ families.

These families weren’t necessarily entirely motivated by flattery, making connections at least expressed goodwill.

Due to scheduling conflicts, Wei Rao had Eunuch Wei send replies explaining the situation, then hosted her gathering, inviting these young ladies to the Princess’s mansion to admire flowers and enjoy themselves together. Since she was inviting unfamiliar ladies, Wei Rao naturally also sent invitations to her eldest cousin, Princess Duan, Qi Miaomiao from Marquis Pingxi’s mansion (Qi Zhongkai’s niece), her cousin Zhou Huizhen from Marquis Xiting’s mansion, her cousin Zhou Huizhu from the villa, as well as Lu Changning and He Weiyu from Duke Ying’s mansion.

The flower gathering was set for the tenth day of the fourth month. The weather was clear that day, and the Princess’s mansion garden was filled with competing blooms.

The delicate guests arrived one after another. Every young lady entering the Princess’s mansion for the first time was amazed by its grandeur. Thinking it over, wasn’t Emperor Yuanjia giving Wei Rao such a fine mansion out of respect for Consort Li? If he pampered the daughter Consort Li had with her former husband to this extent, how much would he pamper Consort Li and her son when they returned to the palace?

Never mind that Wei Rao was beautiful but not arrogant, approachable, and easy to get along with—even if she had her nose in the air, for the sake of Emperor Yuanjia’s great favor, the young ladies wouldn’t neglect her anymore.

Lu Changning brought news of the Princess’s mansion’s splendor back to Duke Ying’s mansion.

That evening, Duchess Ying summoned Lu Zhuo again: “You lived in Yunwu Town for so long—did you have a proper conversation with Raorao? Now that Consort Li and her son’s restoration to favor is imminent, Raorao’s status is rising. I bet it won’t be long before a group of young masters start courting Raorao.”

Duchess Ying had known all along that her grandson wasn’t Wei Rao’s only choice. With so many sons of noble families and rising talents in the capital, Wei Rao’s beauty already made it easy to attract young men’s hearts, and now she had gained the recognition of elders as well. Wei Rao had too many young masters to choose from.

Duchess Ying truly worried that her grandson would lose. Having offended Wei Rao so severely, his only hope was his handsome face.

Lu Zhuo didn’t know what to tell his grandmother.

He stood there like a block of wood. Duchess Ying sighed and dismissed her grandson to rest.

Soon, it was time for the palace peony flower gathering.

The flower gathering was jointly hosted by the Empress, Consort Xian, and Consort De. When the young ladies arrived, they all had to first go pay their respects to the three imperial consorts before dispersing to admire the flowers.

Wei Rao naturally had to come over as well.

Today she wore a green short jacket and a white skirt embroidered with a lotus emerging from water. Her plain, elegant makeup instead highlighted her gorgeous beauty even more.

Before Wei Rao had even approached the pavilion, the Empress, Consort Xian, and Consort De all noticed her. In a trance, these three seemed to see Xiao Zhou Shi when she had first entered the palace. Back then, Xiao Zhou Shi had carried herself the same way—seemingly too lazy for heavy makeup, yet her eyes were full of confidence, as if no matter what she wore, she would be the most beautiful sight among all the flowers.

Later, when Xiao Zhou Shi deliberately provoked the Empress Dowager and truly dressed up for outings, even the most reluctant Empress had to yield to her brilliance.

Wei Rao was still young after all, still unmarried, so she was somewhat restrained. The Xiao Zhou Shi of those days had been unrestrained, brazenly flaunting her seductive mature woman’s charm. While the Empress felt jealous, she would secretly imitate Xiao Zhou Shi’s expressions in the mirror, but no matter how she tried, she couldn’t learn Xiao Zhou Shi’s techniques.

Such a woman was boneless with allure even in broad daylight—what man could resist her in the bedchamber?

The only thing one could criticize about such a woman’s beauty was that her allure was too intense, unlike a proper woman.

Men might all like Wei Rao, but women, especially elders, would not favor her much.

The Empress glanced beside her and smiled.

While still outside the pavilion, Wei Rao noticed a strikingly beautiful woman sitting beside Empress Xie. The beauty appeared to be about her age, also wearing a white dress, but with a light pink jacket that made her appear more gentle. The clothes were secondary—what drew Wei Rao’s attention was the beauty’s face, with skin like cream and eyes like autumn water, sitting there dignified and graceful like an elegant, magnificent peony.

She had alluring beauty, but also the poise to suppress that allure.

That bearing made her seem even more like an empress than the actual Empress beside her. Even Wei Rao, upon seeing her, felt this was a lovable and respectable beauty who shouldn’t be profaned or offended.

“Wei Rao pays respects to Her Majesty the Empress, Her Ladyship Consort De, and Her Ladyship Consort Xian.”

Entering the pavilion, Wei Rao smiled as she curtsied.

The Empress smiled, “Please rise quickly. Raorao has finally come—everyone has been looking forward to seeing Raorao’s grace.”

Wei Rao humbly replied, “Before Your Majesty’s national beauty, how can Wei Rao speak of grace?”

The Empress had heard such flattery many times and paid no attention. She called Wei Rao forward and pointed to the beauty beside her with a smile: “In the palace, I often hear people praise our capital for having two absolutely beautiful women—one called a peony, one called a peony. Today I’ve finally brought you two together. As you can see, the rumors aren’t false. You two sitting together outshine all the real flowers in the garden.”

The peony beauty?

Only then did Wei Rao realize that the beauty opposite her was Miss Sixth from the Xie family, Xie Hualou.

Counting the days, the Xie family should have finished their mourning period.

“Hualou pays respects to the Princess,” Xie Hualou first curtsied gracefully to Wei Rao. When she spoke, her voice was round and melodious, very pleasant to hear.

Wei Rao smiled and returned the courtesy: “So you’re Sister Hualou. Wei Rao has long admired you—finally meeting you today.”

Xie Hualou said modestly, “Just an empty reputation—the Princess needn’t take it to heart.”

After some pleasantries, the Empress indicated that the two young ladies could go admire flowers in the garden.

Wei Rao and Xie Hualou departed arm in arm.

“Princess, I’m over here!”

A delicate call came. Wei Rao looked up and saw Lu Changning.

Wei Rao then took leave of Xie Hualou and went to find Lu Changning.

Xie Hualou had met Lu Changning before. When the Xie family had hosted flower gatherings, Lu Changning had attended. Back then, Lu Changning had been very fond of her, calling her “Sister Hualou” constantly as if they were close as sisters.

But now, Lu Changning only nodded to her from afar before having eyes only for Wei Rao.

Xie Hualou’s expression didn’t change, but her heart was full of bitterness.

Last month, their family had finished mourning. Elder Uncle had been restored to office as a fifth-rank Justice Ministry secretary.

Father and her brothers had all been restored to their positions. The family’s life seemed unchanged from when Grandfather was alive, except that fewer wives came visiting, and no one was inquiring about her marriage for the time being.

Previously, when Wei Rao and Lu Zhuo divorced, the streets were full of rumors that the Lu family had spurned Wei Rao, so Mother had excitedly told her that perhaps she still had a chance to marry Lu Zhuo.

Not long after, Wei Rao was enfeoffed as Princess.

Mother wasn’t so confident anymore.

This year, Wei Rao moved into the Princess’s mansion, and Lu Zhuo began pursuing Wei Rao ardently, first following Wei Rao’s carriage to escort her home, then moving to Yunwu Town to live there regularly. To please Wei Rao and Shou’an Jun, Lu Zhuo didn’t hesitate to personally plow and plant fields despite his status as heir to Duke Ying.

Lu Zhuo was begging Wei Rao so much, yet Wei Rao still wouldn’t marry him. Yet she and Mother had fantasized that the Lu family would remember her again.

Before seeing Wei Rao, Xie Hualou had long heard of Wei Rao’s reputation. Those young ladies all said Wei Rao was called a peony, not as beautiful as she was, so Xie Hualou believed them. Today, seeing Wei Rao with her own eyes, Xie Hualou suddenly discovered that regardless of peonies or peonies, though she was beautiful, standing beside Wei Rao, no man would notice her.

“Mother, forget about Young Master Lu. He couldn’t possibly think of me again,” Xie Hualou said sadly to her mother upon returning home.

Third Madam Xie, Yang Shi, pressed her daughter about what had happened in the palace.

Xie Hualou smiled bitterly: “You don’t need to ask. Once you see the Princess, you’ll understand.”

She hadn’t lost to Wei Rao’s noble mother or Wei Rao’s Princess title, but to Wei Rao herself.

Yang Shi didn’t believe it. No matter how beautiful Wei Rao was, she had already married Lu Zhuo once. Men craved novelty, and Wei Rao gave Lu Zhuo no face. As long as Lu Zhuo saw her daughter, he would come proposing again. Then outsiders would only mock Wei Rao for being pretentious and losing Lu Zhuo, only praise her daughter Xie Hualou, and Lu Zhuo as a truly heaven-made pair.

Regardless of what Xie Hualou thought, the Xie family’s sixth daughter, silent for three years, appeared before people again, and her reputation for beauty spread quickly. Her past connection with Lu Zhuo was also discussed by the common people again. Some even asserted, like Yang Shi, that if Lu Zhuo saw Xie Hualou—a beauty even more gorgeous than Wei Rao, a beauty who was still a pure maiden—he would abandon Wei Rao and turn to pursue Xie Hualou.

For a time, the common people anticipated Lu Zhuo’s marriage even more than the princes’ marriages.