Madam Fang was startled with alarm, pursing her lips as she looked at Song Chuyi, unable to utter a single word for a moment. She had anticipated that coming to pledge allegiance to the Earl of Changning’s residence wouldn’t be something that could be dismissed with a few sentences, but she never imagined that within just a few exchanges, the Song family would begin ordering her to handle matters.

Yet she didn’t dare show any unwillingness, didn’t even dare display the slightest reluctance on her face—if you wanted to pledge allegiance to someone, you had to offer some sincerity. Now that the Song family was willing to extend an olive branch to you, you yourself had to first be able to grasp it firmly.

She looked at Song Chuyi. The young girl was young in years, yet her complexion was exceptionally fine. One could already imagine her absolutely excellent appearance after her coming-of-age ceremony. But it was precisely this seemingly gentle, weak, and harmless little girl whose every word carried deep meaning, causing people to fall into traps if they weren’t careful.

If she wanted to attach herself to the Song family, she absolutely had to draw a clear line with the Chen family. Right now, the Earl of Changning’s residence was giving her this task first—they were making her choose whether to stand completely on the Earl of Changning residence’s side, or to sit on the fence grabbing grass from both sides.

The room was so quiet it was awkward. First Madam Song rested her cheek on one hand, yet seemed completely oblivious as she closed her eyes and dozed off. Song Chuyi smiled as she arranged the colorful tasseled ornament at her waist, straightening the flowing tassels one by one.

Madam Fang had unknowingly already broken out in a full head of sweat. After quite a while, she barely managed to find her voice again, quietly responding: “We are truly sincere in wanting to make amends for past mistakes. Since Sixth Miss has said so… I will certainly spare no effort.”

The smile on Song Chuyi’s face became even more gentle—the kind of gentleness unique to those in superior positions, that perfectly measured gentleness toward chess pieces already controlled in hand. Madam Fang was alarmed by this little girl’s scheming and depth, and also broke out in a cold sweat for herself and Fang Xiaoru. No wonder a trap laid for three years, a net painstakingly planned for three and a half years that should have been seamless, was destroyed in one fell swoop. Even a young lady in the inner quarters of the Earl of Changning’s residence was so clever as to approach demonic intelligence—what more of Elder Song and the others who had aged into craftiness?

Even Heaven didn’t stand on Elder Chen’s side. She thought of Chen Mingyu, who was two years older than Song Chuyi and should be holding her coming-of-age ceremony by the end of this year. Suddenly she felt that Old Madam Chen’s plans were probably going to come to nothing.

This Sixth Miss of the Song family was naturally the material born to ascend to that position. Chen Mingyu’s little schemes and methods, before Sixth Miss Song, were clearly somewhat insufficient.

Having made up her mind, she no longer hesitated. Instead, she proactively asked Song Chuyi: “I only need to entice her to start lending money at interest?”

The Great Zhou Dynasty strictly forbade private money-lending among the common people. Though the prohibition was repeatedly violated, once discovered, it was a serious crime. Madam Fang felt the Song family wanted to use this to severely dampen the Chen family’s momentum—after all, even if it was only Third Madam Chen secretly lending money at interest without the family’s knowledge, Elder Chen would still inevitably bear the charge of lax household management and poor family supervision.

Song Chuyi good-naturedly interrupted her: “For now, this is enough. Once she tastes the sweetness, I’ll tell Aunt about the next step.”

It was actually a chain of stratagems! Madam Fang stared in surprise, astonished as she looked at First Madam Song, only to see that although First Madam Song had already awakened from her doze, she was now reading the Lotus Sutra on the table with eyes observing nose, nose observing heart.

This young girl truly had absolute freedom. She reflected that even now when she was in charge of household affairs, she couldn’t obtain such wholehearted trust before Fang Xiaoru. Before making a decision, she still had to repeatedly discuss with Fang Xiaoru. But this young girl—the words she spoke were like golden rules and jade principles.

Regardless, since Song Chuyi had said so, and First Madam Song showed no objection, Madam Fang, in order to attach herself to the great tree that was the Earl of Changning’s residence, hurriedly nodded.

Nearly a quarter-hour after Madam Fang left, Madam Cui and Yu Shi returned together. Upon sitting down, they first drank a sip of tea, then knitted their brows and sighed.

First Madam Song was somewhat bewildered. When Huangjue Temple’s Bodhisattva manifested, counting the imperial family ladies who came, only the Princess Consort of Zhennan and Princess Duanhui had comparable status. The Princess Consort of Zhennan and Princess Duanhui had always had a harmonious relationship. How could Princess Duanhui seem to have suffered some grievance?

Madam Cui didn’t wait for others to ask before she spat first: “Though one shouldn’t speak disrespectfully before Buddha, but this bunch…”

Yu Shi also couldn’t help shaking her head: “At first, they only mentioned the marriage matters of the various imperial grandsons. His Highness the Imperial Grand Heir has indeed reached the age for marriage. Although the Celestial Master said he wasn’t suitable for early betrothal, looking now, it’s not too late. But later, they had to drag in matters of heavenly mandate, which became annoying…”

First Madam Song couldn’t help but furrow her brows upon hearing this. She glanced toward Song Chuyi and asked in surprise: “What heavenly mandate?”

Just before coming, Old Madam Song had said not to bring Song Chuyi before Master Yuanhui to avoid Master Yuanhui saying something unpleasant. But now they hadn’t even brought her to show her face—could it be Master Yuanhui still wouldn’t let it go?

Who else here had been judged to have the fate of the Calamity Star? Madam Cui glanced at Song Chuyi, as if utterly helpless, complaining: “It’s none other than that old bald donkey Yuanhui, saying that the destiny star above Little Yi’s fate has become increasingly dazzling, and that the disaster of blood and gore is already imminent. It requires an extremely noble fate to suppress it. He also said something about how if one could find an extremely noble fate to match, perhaps it could suppress it for a lifetime, preventing the destiny star from stirring again.”

No matter how slow First Madam Song was, she detected the deep malice in these words. What did it mean by an extremely noble fate? How many people in this world had such a fate?

To require an extremely noble fate to suppress it—who would suppress it? The Emperor, the Crown Prince, or the Imperial Grand Heir?

Song Chuyi wasn’t worthy of borrowing the fate of any of these people. Saying this was tantamount to saying Song Chuyi’s fate was the natural enemy of these extremely noble people!

Moreover, they had mentioned the marriage matters of the various imperial grandsons beforehand, then talked about matching or not matching… This was roasting Song Chuyi over a fire! Which dragon’s son wasn’t supremely precious? To have these people condescend and divide out their own fate to help Song Chuyi avoid this so-called disaster of blood and gore?! These people would probably tear the Earl of Changning’s residence and Song Chuyi to pieces one by one!

Even more seriously, those who didn’t know might think the Earl of Changning’s residence had wild ambitions, actually bribing and instigating the master to say such things, wanting to use this opportunity to both shed the fate of the Calamity Star and attach themselves to the Imperial Grand Heir…

First Madam Song drew in a sharp breath, unable to help exclaiming: “This is truly… how utterly vicious the intention!”