Everyone was startled and immediately looked intently, only to see a young man appear at the doorway.

His eyes emitted a brilliance as pure and tranquil as moonlight’s clear radiance. A coldness emanating from deep within his bones isolated him from the mortal world, bright and sparkling until people could hardly keep their eyes open. On the hem of his plain white robe were embroidered silver flowing patterns—exquisitely crafted and incomparably beautiful.

So simple, so plain, yet so soul-stirring.

The Seventh Imperial Prince Tuoba Yu. Li Weiyang frowned—even he had come…

As soon as Tuoba Yu entered, he saw Li Weiyang. Perhaps because at their first meeting, she had used schemes to trap that family with her excellent acting performance that made him unable to suppress his laughter, this time he also easily recognized her from among the group of gorgeously dressed young ladies.

Though she had changed into beautiful clothes, her face was clean, and she wore a false social smile, he recognized her at a glance—she was that little girl who had deliberately let the pig escape, then cried and made a fuss by the well water, and deliberately avoided his gaze in the tea pavilion.

However, seeing her today, she was much more attractive than before.

Indeed, fine feathers make fine birds. Tuoba Yu slightly curved his lips, and the assembled young ladies of noble families could hardly keep their eyes open. This Seventh Imperial Prince was famously the most handsome man in the imperial family. Of course, his aloof nature was also famously known.

The Third Imperial Prince Tuoba Zhen smiled: “Seventh Brother.”

The smile on Tuoba Yu’s face was very faint: “Third Brother.”

Two handsome imperial princes of the royal family standing together always made for a pleasing sight. Li Weiyang smiled slightly. Who could imagine that these two would be lifelong mortal enemies? Imperial brothers would ultimately be unable to avoid turning their weapons against each other. Speaking of which, back then she had wholeheartedly considered Tuoba Zhen’s interests and truly regarded Tuoba Yu as her enemy. Now, however, this feeling had changed.

Rather than let Tuoba Zhen ascend to the throne again, Li Weiyang would prefer that the person who ultimately won the crown be Tuoba Yu.

The Fifth Imperial Prince Tuoba Rui was clearly very surprised: “How is it that even Seventh Brother has come today?”

Tuoba Yu’s gaze swept past Li Weiyang as if by chance: “The Prime Minister is holding a banquet for his beloved daughter. Naturally I should come to offer congratulations.”

In reality, he had originally been in his birth mother’s palace when he heard her casually mention that His Majesty had newly enfeoffed a County Princess, and this woman was precisely Li Xiaoran’s concubine-born daughter Li Weiyang. The palace maids also mysteriously spoke of street rumors, saying this Third Young Miss had grown up in a small mountain village not far from Pingcheng.

When he heard that place name, the image of those distinct black and white eyes inexplicably appeared in Tuoba Yu’s mind. Somehow, by the time he became aware of it, he had already ordered his carriage to the Prime Minister’s residence gate.

He had simply intuited that the girl he met in the tea pavilion must be Li Weiyang. Therefore, he wanted to confirm whether his guess was correct.

Li Xiaoran’s face glowed with pleasure. Originally he had merely sent invitations, but unexpectedly three distinguished guests had arrived all at once—this sufficiently demonstrated his pivotal position in the court… With a smile on his face, he raised his wine cup: “Many thanks for the presence of the three Imperial Princes. I drink first as a sign of respect.”

Because of the Seventh Imperial Prince’s sudden arrival, and the host’s high spirits, the guests also became cheerful and raised their wine cups one after another.

Tuoba Zhen stood up and said: “Prime Minister, the Crown Prince has matters that prevent him from coming personally, so he entrusted me to deliver a congratulatory gift.”

Li Xiaoran smiled: “The Crown Prince is truly so thoughtful.”

Tuoba Zhen ordered someone to open the brocade box, revealing what was inside. Everyone immediately exclaimed in admiration. Inside the box was a beautiful golden peacock. The crest feathers were all crafted from gold thread as fine as hair, trembling in the wind. The peacock’s eyes were green gemstones the size of rice grains, emitting a dim glow in the candlelight. The peacock’s tail was inlaid with gemstones of five colors, cleverly pieced together, clustered to emit rainbow-like radiance—it looked exquisitely crafted.

Such a gift was quite valuable, sufficiently demonstrating the Crown Prince’s regard for this County Princess—no, or rather, his attention to Li Weiyang’s enfeoffment.

Li Weiyang wore a proper smile as she accepted the brocade box.

Tuoba Zhen stared at her face and vaguely saw a trace of mockery at the corners of her lips, but the mockery appeared and disappeared, quickly becoming invisible.

At this moment, Li Min’de entered breathlessly, his beautiful eyes searching all around. Only when he saw Li Weiyang did he finally relax his breathing and quickly walk toward her. When he saw Tuoba Zhen standing not far from Weiyang, Li Min’de’s eyes turned slightly cold, then he glanced at Tuoba Zhen.

Tuoba Zhen felt a strange gaze staring at him and involuntarily looked in that direction, only to see an absurdly handsome young boy standing there.

He was—that young master adopted by the third household. Tuoba Zhen originally hadn’t planned to take a child seriously, but unconsciously he looked at this child again. Beyond his exceptionally outstanding appearance, this child’s innocent eyes seemed to carry a hidden hostility.

Hostility? Toward him? He didn’t seem to have offended him.

He thought he could ignore a youth’s gaze, but Li Min’de’s eyes were truly too strange, making him unconsciously feel uncomfortable all over. Subconsciously avoiding the child’s gaze, he turned and returned to his seat. After a long while, he finally felt that uncomfortable gaze disappear.

Li Weiyang saw the faint beads of sweat on Li Min’de’s forehead and couldn’t help but ask strangely: “What happened to you? You’re covered in sweat?”

A trace of something unusual flashed quickly through Li Min’de’s eyes: “Nothing. I just went to the garden to look for you but couldn’t find you.”

Li Weiyang’s gaze fell on the hem of Min’de’s gold-threaded robe, where there was actually an additional tear mark, and she couldn’t help but worry slightly: “Did you fall?”

Li Min’de’s smile was very innocent: “No.” At the same time, there was a momentary darkness in his eyes, extremely inconsistent with his age.

Li Weiyang felt even more strange. She had never seen this child show such an expression. Could he have heard something just now? But even so, where did this tear mark come from?

“Min’de,” she said softly.

Li Min’de’s lip line was quite beautiful, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned. When not smiling, there was faintly a trace of unruly fierceness: “Third Sister, just now I encountered a very strange person—”

A very strange person? Li Weiyang found it odd he would use such wording. Just as she was about to inquire in detail, Li Min’de had already changed the topic, his eyes bright as he offered a bowl of pear blossom sweet soup: “Let’s not talk about this. Try this—it’s very delicious.”

Li Weiyang, thinking she still had important matters to attend to shortly, held her tongue.

At this moment, the Third Madam cast a glance at Li Weiyang at just the right time. The two exchanged smiles, very much in tacit understanding.

Just as they were exchanging toasts, suddenly a sharp scream startled everyone.

Li Xiaoran’s expression darkened. Just as he was about to order someone to see what had happened, he saw Miss Wang, the eldest daughter of the Censor-in-Chief Wang family, enter from outside with a deathly pale, frightened face, her entire person leaning on her maid as if about to faint at any moment.

The First Madam looked and immediately frowned: “Miss Wang, what has happened?”

Miss Wang cried out, her whole body trembling, then her complexion turned white and she couldn’t speak through her trembling.

Madam Wang stood up. She was originally a second wife and was even more angry that this daughter had disrupted the banquet. She said sternly: “As a young lady of a noble family, you have no sense of propriety. Quickly help her down!”

Just at this moment, Miss Wang suddenly cried out loudly: “Mother, it’s not my fault! Just now when I went out to take the air, I saw… saw a dead person hanging from the plum tree over there!”