Duke Yingguo’s residence had probably gathered every chrysanthemum they could possibly collect. Calling it a chrysanthemum viewing banquet, it truly was an undiluted ocean of chrysanthemums. Besides the famous varieties bestowed by the Imperial Concubine Dowager from the palace, there were also rare treasures like “Colorful Clouds Adorned with Feathers” and “Thousand-Armed Guanyin,” as well as common chrysanthemums like “Sky Full of Stars.” The tables were set with chrysanthemum wine, the pastries served were chrysanthemum cakes and “Moon Reflected in Water” bean cakes garnished with chrysanthemums. What they drank was chrysanthemum bird’s nest porridge and chrysanthemum wine—literally every single thing corresponded perfectly to these three words “chrysanthemum viewing banquet.”

Even Han Yueheng, who served as an imperial study companion in the palace and was accustomed to seeing fine things, was dazzled. She secretly pulled Chen Mingyu’s hand and said: “So extravagant! Just that one pot of ‘Colorful Clouds Adorned with Feathers’ alone is worth a considerable sum, not to mention all the various chrysanthemums filling this entire garden.”

Duke Yingguo’s residence had lost tremendous face a few days ago, with sordid rumors about Shen Qingrang and Miss Tong spreading like wildfire. This chrysanthemum viewing banquet—essentially an occasion to show off the new daughter-in-law—naturally had to be held on a grand scale to recover some of the lost dignity. There was nothing strange about this.

Chen Mingyu’s mind wasn’t on this. She responded absentmindedly, hands propping up her chin as she sat in the second-floor pavilion. The wind blew the tassels on the pearl-spitting phoenix hairpin in her hair, making them tremble. Against her jade-white complexion, she was the very picture of a beauty in melancholy.

This recent case of Zhang Tianhe’s embezzlement of military provisions in Xibei had caused an even bigger stir than the previous Yangzhou affair. Occasionally in the study’s secret chamber, she could hear Elder Chen almost roaring as he called his subordinate disciples and hangers-on useless. Every official in the capital with even the slightest connection to Xibei was living in fear. She heard that this year the Personnel Ministry was specifically conducting the capital evaluation… Having recently accompanied her grandfather in and out of the study and listened to those subordinate disciples and hangers-on debate in the secret chamber, she understood more or less how severe this capital evaluation was. This was clearly Song Chengru and the Cui family wanting to use the capital evaluation as an opportunity to purge those who had colluded with Xibei this time.

She was even more perplexed than her grandfather, and a hundred times more angry. She truly couldn’t understand why things had suddenly reached this point. Just half a month ago she had still thought Cui Shaoting would surely die and the Cui clan’s days were numbered, but in just half a month’s time, the Cui clan and Cui Shaoting along with the Song family had somehow turned things around again. They were always like those annoying ants—dig out one nest and there’s still another, as if there were never an end to them…

She was lost in thought when suddenly she heard a roar from below. Startled, she widened her eyes to look at Han Yueheng beside her, but Han Yueheng had already grabbed the railing to watch the excitement. After quite a while, she came over excitedly to pull her, covering her mouth with schadenfreude as she laughed: “Quick, quick! A commotion has broken out below. Let’s also go watch this show.”

Chen Mingyu was tugged into a stumble. She sighed somewhat helplessly: “We’ve all grown up together—who doesn’t know whose temperament? I’d find it strange if she didn’t cause a scene today. If she likes making scenes and feels that gives her face, just let her be. What are you doing joining in the excitement?”

“If it were someone else, that would be one thing, but do you know who she’s making a scene with?” The smile on Han Yueheng’s face couldn’t be suppressed. Full of mystery, she paused before laughing: “It’s Song Six! These two troublemakers facing off—now there’s a show to watch. If you’re not going, I’m going by myself!”

Chen Mingyu suspected she had misheard. She considered herself fairly knowledgeable about Song Chuyi—how would she come to such an occasion? Even if the Shen family brought an eight-bearer sedan chair, the Song family probably wouldn’t deign to come! Never mind the Song family—even her own grandmother, if not for wanting to desperately distance herself from the Xibei connections, wouldn’t want to visit the Shen family either. At this time, Song Chuyi wasn’t unaware of Tong Shao’s temperament—what was she coming here for?

But though she thought this, her feet unconsciously moved, descending the stairs extremely quickly. Sure enough, she saw Tong Shao imperiously ordering Song Chuyi about.

Because the weather had changed, Song Chuyi wore a goose-yellow crossed-collar jacket on top with a white silk skirt below. Such fresh and tender colors made her look like the most eye-catching “Phoenix Spreading Feathers” flower on a branch, impossible to look away from. The lapis lazuli-inlaid green palace sash at her waist made her waist appear so slender one could grasp it in one hand. Without even looking at her face, she had already far surpassed the elaborately dressed Tong Shao.

Meeting Song Chuyi’s eyes, Tong Shao unconsciously felt shorter by a head. Remembering how Shen Qingrang had been saying with a nose that wasn’t a nose and eyes that weren’t eyes that she wasn’t as good as Song Six ever since his maids were sent away, and that his father had originally arranged for him someone like Song Six—evil fire surged up sizzling within her. With a few parts arrogance and a few parts condescension, she pointed at her: “I didn’t invite you, yet you came uninvited. I hadn’t realized the Earl of Changning’s residence was so impoverished—attending banquets they weren’t even invited to.”

Disappointment flashed in Chen Mingyu’s eyes. This Tong Shao had a violent temper, but unfortunately her brain wasn’t good—she was no match for Song Chuyi at all.

Song Chuyi didn’t even bother speaking with Tong Shao. Having dealt with Tong Shao in her previous life, she knew full well that speaking properly with her was impossible. With slight helplessness, she glanced around, putting on a helpless and awkward expression: “If that’s the case, the person who delivered the invitation must have made a mistake…”

Before she could finish speaking, Eldest Young Madam Yang and the eldest daughter Shen Huixin who had returned home to help quickly grabbed Song Chuyi’s hands from left and right: “No, no, no! How could there be a mistake…”

If Duke Yingguo’s residence could even send wrong invitations for a young ladies’ banquet, what could they accomplish in the future? The two exchanged glances, both seeing disgust with Tong Shao’s unreasonable behavior in each other’s eyes.

Just as Song Chuyi was being pulled by them and about to brush past Tong Shao, Tong Shao suddenly leaned forward and grabbed her wrist.

Tong Shao had grown up following Marquis Wuning and had more strength than ordinary girls. This grab was intended to make Song Chuyi fall flat on her face, but somehow Song Chuyi’s hand was as slippery as a fish. Before she could react, she herself—due to her leg injury that hadn’t completely healed—stumbled backward several steps with the momentum and sat down hard on the ground. The fall was quite severe. It took her a long while to register the burning pain in her buttocks. Both ashamed and furious, she swept a glance around and ground out Song Chuyi’s name through gritted teeth.

Young Madam Yang and Shen Huixin were both startled. After recovering, they only felt ashamed and mortified, so anxious they nearly burst into flames.

It was already because of this jinx that the family had lost all face. With great difficulty they had planned to hold this chrysanthemum viewing banquet today to save appearances, to cover everything over with a brocade quilt in the future. But Tong Shao, this fool, as if afraid Duke Yingguo’s residence hadn’t lost enough face, insisted on making something out of nothing to give people something to laugh about.