How could Princess Fu’an fail to hear the mockery within those words?

Her anger blazing even fiercer, she was about to scold her when she heard clear laughter: “Oh, this must be the young lady from Minister Lin’s family, right? She certainly has a sharp tongue—sister-in-law, people say birds of a feather flock together, and since Miss Lin is close to you, she’s indeed just like you—eloquent and formidable.”

It was Liang Qiong and Luo Jinniang approaching side by side.

Qin Shuying glanced at them indifferently and didn’t respond.

Lin Zilan looked at Liang Qiong and said, “So it’s Second Miss Liang. How could Shuying and I compare to your eloquence and flowery speech?”

Liang Qiong smiled with pursed lips, came up to Qin Shuying, and intimately reached to link arms with her: “Sister-in-law, I’ve been searching for you for half a circuit and finally caught you.”

Qin Shuying calmly withdrew her arm from Liang Qiong’s grasp: “Second Miss Liang, pleased to meet you. I’m not accustomed to such familiarity. Also, please just call me by my name.”

Liang Qiong didn’t mind Qin Shuying’s coldness at all, still smiling brightly. She stepped back two paces and said graciously, “Then I’ll call you Shuying. Speaking of which, I’m a bit older than you, but I can’t very well call you younger sister.”

Qin Shuying neither objected nor agreed.

Princess Fu’an sneered, “Second Miss Liang, it takes two to tango. Save yourself the trouble—you’re just putting gold on your own face.”

Liang Qiong had never gotten along with Princess Fu’an anyway. She curtsied slightly as a gesture of courtesy to Princess Fu’an, completely unbothered by the mockery: “Your Highness jests. This subject needs no gold on her face. Shuying is indeed this subject’s sister-in-law—this was His Majesty’s golden decree, an imperial marriage grant. Your Highness, don’t you agree?”

Princess Fu’an didn’t quibble about her overly casual courtesy. Liang Qiong’s status was already noble, no worse than her own as a princess. Liang Qiong had always been like this, and even if Princess Fu’an wanted to find fault, she couldn’t.

But she still had matters to discuss with Qin Shuying, and Liang Qiong’s interruption had disrupted her plans.

Princess Fu’an looked toward Luo Jinniang: “Luo Jinniang, what are you standing so far away for? Come over!”

After Luo Jinniang curtsied to Princess Fu’an, she deliberately hid behind Liang Qiong. She didn’t want to face Princess Fu’an directly. Previously, she hadn’t much cared about Princess Fu’an and had even followed Liang Qiong’s lead in confronting her.

Now, Luo Jinniang had her concerns.

“Your Highness.”

Luo Jinniang moved forward a few steps.

Liang Qiong smiled and said to Yun Jingshu, “Miss Yun, since Jinniang has gone over, you should also stand over there a bit. Your Highness, don’t you think so?”

Yun Jingshu had remained silent all along, standing behind Princess Fu’an. Hearing Liang Qiong speak, Yun Jingshu reflexively looked toward Princess Fu’an.

Princess Fu’an was particularly disgusted with Yun Jingshu now. She didn’t know how the Yun family had raised their legitimate daughter—stupid, foolish, and insatiably greedy, an embarrassment who couldn’t be brought to the table!

What are you looking at me for?!

Even as the legitimate daughter of a third-rank official’s family, why couldn’t she learn a bit from Qin Shuying and Lin Zilan and retort against Liang Qiong? Couldn’t she show some backbone for me?

Princess Fu’an’s face darkened as she remained silent. She wanted to see whether this fool Yun Jingshu could be clever for once.

Because of the incident between Yun Jingshu and Liu Junqing at Red Mansions, Princess Fu’an was very angry.

Later, when the matter between Luo Jinniang and Liu Junqing came out, Princess Fu’an transferred her anger toward Yun Jingshu. She left Luo Jinniang for Yun Jingshu to deal with while she watched from the sidelines, saving herself some energy.

Seeing Princess Fu’an’s ugly expression, Yun Jingshu trembled with fear.

After successfully scheming against Liu Junqing, she had grown even more afraid of Princess Fu’an. Previously, it was because she had failed to accomplish the tasks Princess Fu’an assigned her, suffering losses at Qin Shuying’s hands several times.

Now that she was going to the Liu family, her fear of Princess Fu’an stemmed from the princess’s consistently poor attitude toward her.

Especially a few days ago, she didn’t know what exactly Qin Shuying had said to Princess Fu’an, but when the princess left the palace, she specifically called her over and severely humiliated her.

Yun Jingshu knew that if she followed Liang Qiong and Qin Shuying’s lead, Princess Fu’an would certainly settle accounts with her later.

With everyone’s eyes on her, Yun Jingshu struggled to summon her emotions and spoke: “Second Miss Liang, I’ve been standing here all along—please look carefully. Speaking of which, Second Miss Liang’s eyesight really isn’t very good. Seventh Miss Qin clearly doesn’t want to be close to you, yet you insist on approaching her. No wonder you didn’t see me standing here.”

Princess Fu’an’s expression improved considerably. Yun Jingshu had finally recovered some of her former cleverness. If she had to personally intervene every time, where would her dignity as a princess be?

She wanted Yun Jingshu, Lu Ruyang, and Liu Sujiang as followers precisely so they could step forward when it was inconvenient for her to act directly.

Liang Qiong laughed melodiously, showing no embarrassment whatsoever: “Miss Yun has such a sharp tongue. If any of Secretary Liu’s concubines misbehave in the future, you can discipline them thoroughly. This would save Your Highness so much worry. In the future, Your Highness can rely entirely on Miss Yun to manage the inner quarters. Your Highness, am I right?”

Princess Fu’an had often engaged in open and covert battles with Liang Qiong, back and forth with verbal sparring.

Princess Fu’an naturally knew Liang Qiong was sowing discord and was about to retort when she suddenly thought of something and smiled: “Second Miss Liang, what Jingshu said is correct, and what you said is also correct. Madam Luo must observe concubine etiquette before Madam Zhao. For so many years, she’s helped Madam Zhao discipline the Marquis of Pingxi’s several concubines. Even in the afterlife, Madam Zhao would thank her.”

Liang Qiong smiled sweetly and was about to speak when Princess Fu’an quickly stood up: “Shuying, we haven’t finished our conversation. Let’s go over there to talk. Standing here with these uninvited people is annoying!”

Having said this, she got up and left.

Qin Shuying and Lin Zilan exchanged glances, both seeing amusement in each other’s eyes.

When Princess Fu’an dealt with Liang Qiong, she actually wasn’t bad at all.

Liang Qiong called out: “Shuying…”

Qin Shuying turned back with a faint smile and followed Princess Fu’an.

Luo Jinniang muttered: “Isn’t she also born of a concubine? Her Majesty the Empress…”

Having said half a sentence, Luo Jinniang felt it inappropriate and immediately shut up. Princess Fu’an was born of a concubine, and so was Princess Fuping, come to think of it. Wasn’t Imperial Consort De just the concubine who had taken over managing the harem after Empress Wen?

Liang Qiong hid the mockery in her eyes. This fool Luo Jinniang used to dare say anything, but now that she was entering the Liu family, she didn’t make a sound when facing Princess Fu’an and had actually grown afraid of her!

She couldn’t accomplish the task of getting close to Qin Shuying either.

Truly useless!

But she maintained a gentle smile on her face: “Jinniang, look how guarded Qin Shuying is against us. What should we do?”

Luo Jinniang understood what Liang Qiong meant but was still somewhat fearful. This was the traveling palace, after all. She hesitated: “Cousin… Qin Shuying is very sensitive. I think we should forget about it…”

Liang Qiong looked in the direction where Princess Fu’an’s group had departed, as if she hadn’t heard Luo Jinniang’s words, and said softly: “I’ve already spoken to Mother. Since the Liu family won’t come to propose marriage, Mother will find an opportunity to bring it up with Madam Liu. Jinniang, cousin truly has your best interests at heart.”

Luo Jinniang was stunned: “Cousin, I understand…”