The young ladies all looked jubilant and excited. Since it was the host family who had suggested it, naturally there was no reason to refuse. So even though some of the matrons felt it was strange, none of them spoke up to object.

Song Chuyi, however, instinctively felt something was amiss. Smiling, she stood beside First Madam Song and shook her head, “I’m too young. Grandmother says swinging is easy to slip and fall from. I’d better stay with Grandmother and First Aunt.”

Not expecting that this little girl of only seven years would actually be unwilling to go play, First Madam Su’s expression showed a moment of unnaturalness, though this tiny bit of unnaturalness quickly vanished from her face.

“The Old Ancestor truly teaches well.” She exclaimed with wonder, clicking her tongue in amazement, “No wonder Consort Song and Linlang each turned out so graceful and beautiful.”

The Princess Consort of Zhennan was also somewhat surprised. Glancing at Song Chubin and Song Chumi beside her, both sisters clearly showing longing expressions, she couldn’t help but cover her mouth and laugh, “Sixth Miss Song is so young, yet acts with such prudence and maturity—it’s as if she’s the elder sister while Fourth Miss Song and Fifth Miss Song have become the younger ones.”

Their back-and-forth chatter gave everyone a headache. Song Chuyi lowered her head and smiled as if shy, “I’m just afraid of offending Sister Yunxiu again…”

Everyone couldn’t help but pause, then burst into laughter.

“It’s hardly so serious as that.” First Madam Su warmly took her hand and stood up with a smile, “Princess Yunxiu is gentle and lovely, and you’re clever as ice and snow—you should properly play together.”

Meanwhile, she had already called over all the young ladies of the Su Manor.

The names of the Su family’s daughters were all quite interesting—Third Miss was called Su Chenxiang, Fourth Miss was Su Qing’ai, and Fifth Miss was Su Banxia.

Princess Yunxiu found them increasingly familiar. Beside her, Yunyi stared darkly at the several Su family misses for a long moment before muttering, “Why are they all medicinal herbs?”

After First Madam Su had everyone exchange greetings, she gave additional instructions to the Su family misses about being careful and attentive, personally escorted them out of the flower hall, and watched them head toward the garden direction before turning back.

The Su family had been granted their noble title during the reign of the founding emperor. This manor was bestowed along with the title and was said to have been the residence of some minister from the previous dynasty.

Past the moon gate stood a great banyan tree that would require four or five people to encircle. Several squirrels were actually scurrying about in it. Seeing people, they weren’t timid at all, tilting their little heads to look at the visitors with extreme composure.

The young ladies couldn’t help but find it marvelous, and the atmosphere became lively for a time.

Walking further in, they could see a fairly large artificial lake with an octagonal pavilion in the center, curtains hanging all around it.

Presumably the boating First Madam Su had mentioned referred to this place.

The lake was already filled with many unnamed purple floating flowers, large as bowls, scattered here and there across the water surface, adding several touches of color.

Even the well-traveled Princess Yunxiu couldn’t help but exclaim, “How beautiful!”

The several Su family misses had obviously grown accustomed to this sight. Seeing Princess Yunxiu’s delight, they couldn’t help but explain with smiles, “Originally Grandfather said the squirrels in that banyan tree shouldn’t be kept, fearing they might bite people, but Father thought they added some interest, so he kept them. The flowers in this lake also came from seeds Father obtained when he went to Jiangnan. They bloom in spring and summer. When the weather grows warmer, the whole lake will be covered with such flowers. Though they look beautiful, they also attract mosquitoes, so once the weather turns hot, we don’t care to come anymore.”

Princess Yunxiu had no airs about her and nodded with a smile upon hearing this.

Yunyi, however, glanced coldly at Su Banxia and muttered under her breath, “Pretentious elegance!”

First Master Su held the title of Loyal Righteous General without any real power. Usually he just walked birds and fought crickets. He couldn’t be bothered with other refined pursuits and wasn’t skilled at them either. Therefore, whenever people mentioned him, they always commented that he was pretentiously elegant.

The several Su family misses all felt somewhat embarrassed but couldn’t talk back. For a moment the atmosphere grew cold.

Only when the nannies came to invite them to swing did the atmosphere ease somewhat.

“If you say such thoughtless things again next time, don’t come out anymore!” Princess Yunxiu couldn’t hold back and scolded Ye Yunyi in a low voice, “When we return, I’m going to tell Father!”

Ye Yunyi said nothing, her gaze dim as she lowered her head and followed behind.

Song Chuyi didn’t like swinging. Looking at swings gave her a headache and easily brought back unpleasant memories, so she simply sat on a stone bench behind the artificial rock formation, lost in thought.

Before the rock formation, that open area was filled with cheerful voices and laughter, while this side was quiet as could be, as if they were two different places. She had just breathed a sigh of relief when she suddenly heard a vaguely familiar voice coming from a cave in the rock formation not far away, “How did the matter go? There won’t be any mistakes, will there?”

Her intuition told her something was wrong. She quickly gestured to Qing Tao and Huang Yao, who were following her, to stay silent.

Qing Tao was fine, but Huang Yao instinctively wanted to cry out loudly—her thinking was simple: a young lady hiding here eavesdropping, in front of so many daughters of prestigious families, would surely ruin her reputation in the future.

But Song Chuyi seemed to see through her thoughts and almost immediately turned to stare at her, her gaze fierce and resolute. Huang Yao was startled at once, her throat suddenly seeming to go mute, not daring to make the slightest sound.

“No chance of that. They’d never dream we’d make our move on the northwestern military provisions.” The voice that responded was low and hoarse, with an extremely peculiar cadence that sounded like singing mountain songs.

Qing Tao and Huang Yao both looked bewildered, but Song Chuyi’s entire body couldn’t help but break out in goosebumps—in her previous life, she had been the Duchess of Yingguo for over twenty years and frequently dealt with people from the Fujian coastal areas. Naturally, she could tell that what this man was speaking was clearly the Minnan dialect!

Northwestern military provisions… She was so shocked she stood frozen in place for a long while, not daring to move, feeling only cold sweat continuously seeping from her forehead.

“This year we were also lucky. That mess cropped up in the northwest. That fool Zhang Tianhe’s backside hasn’t even warmed his seat yet, and I’m afraid he’ll lose his head first.” After the man speaking with a Minnan accent finished this sentence, he laughed heartily twice.

Song Chuyi was already covered in cold sweat. Knowing she couldn’t continue taking the risk of listening, she gently waved her hand and led the two maids away on tiptoe around the rock formation. Only after confirming that the people inside that small artificial rock formation couldn’t possibly chase them out did she break into a mad dash toward the swing frames.

Qing Tao and Huang Yao could barely keep up with her.

Seeing her running so fast, Song Chumi couldn’t help but find it amusing, “You just said you wouldn’t play, yet here you are running over? Clearly you say one thing but mean another.”

Song Chuyi lowered her head without speaking, her heart still pounding wildly. Only now did she discover that her fingernails had dug several red marks into her palm.

Today the Loyal Righteous General’s Manor was holding a banquet. At the very least, one or two hundred people had come to attend. Yet those who could enter the rear courtyard were probably not many.