Li Yanyan lowered her eyes and let out a short, light laugh through her nose: “Since the Princess has already informed me of your intentions to harm Princess Zhaoning, why not frankly tell me how you plan to deal with her? That would set my mind at ease.”

The Yangling Princess hesitated but thought that if she didn’t explain, Li Yanyan definitely wouldn’t stand idly by. In the Duke’s manor, if the couple was on strict guard, she and Munuha absolutely couldn’t succeed. So she revealed the entire plan, concluding: “At that time, Prince Munuha will insist that he and Shen Xihe were in love and that it was a moment of uncontrollable passion that led to their improper conduct in the Duke’s manor.”

After hearing this, Li Yanyan looked the Yangling Princess up and down, unable to resist a sarcastic comment: “You noble ladies of the capital are truly… vicious-hearted.”

The Yangling Princess felt some anger but suppressed it, not showing even a trace of emotion on her face: “When dealing with a vicious person, why show mercy?”

Li Yanyan laughed: “If I haven’t misheard, Princess was the one who first instigated the Fourth Princess against Princess Zhaoning, and was then discovered by Princess Zhaoning, which brought about her retaliation. If not for this, why would Princess Zhaoning act against you?”

She truly didn’t understand how the Yangling Princess could define someone she had persecuted as vicious-hearted.

“I was also forced by circumstances. I never meant to take her life,” the Yangling Princess defended herself, then continued, “Third Sister-in-law, don’t speak for her. Given her nature, since she dared to threaten me with Concubine Liang, she surely wasn’t just making empty threats. Though I have no evidence, I’m certain that since she spoke thus, Concubine Liang’s death must be connected to her!”

Li Yanyan’s mocking expression faded. She also disliked Concubine Liang, but she was her proper mother-in-law and that person’s birth mother. Mother and son had always been close and filial; Concubine Liang’s death was a tremendous blow to him.

During this time, he still hadn’t given up investigating the true culprit, focusing daily on the twelfth prince Xiao Changgeng, the prime suspect.

This must be his emotional knot.

She owed him greatly. Knowing this clue, she couldn’t ignore it, whether it was reliable or not.

“Princess, return to the palace. Let me think about it,” Li Yanyan dismissed the Yangling Princess.

She hadn’t told Xiao Changzhen about this matter. If he knew, he wouldn’t be able to judge rationally. He was still haunted by Concubine Liang’s death, and Shen Xihe was no ordinary person, with an unfathomable Crown Prince behind her…

Li Yanyan didn’t send anyone to investigate. Instead, when Shen Xihe visited the next day, she deliberately found an opportunity to invite her alone to a room and said directly: “Yesterday, the Yangling Princess came to the manor and told me that Princess Zhaoning personally told her that Concubine Liang was killed by you. What does the Princess think of this?”

She hadn’t interacted with Shen Xihe many times, but since Shen Xihe’s arrival in the capital, rumors had never ceased, with each incident more earth-shattering than the last. She could roughly gauge something of Shen Xihe’s character.

If Shen Xihe had truly done it, she definitely wouldn’t directly deny it.

“Duchess, Zhaoning never wrongfully takes anyone’s life,” Shen Xihe responded calmly.

She killed, but she didn’t kill indiscriminately.

At this ambiguous answer, Li Yanyan couldn’t immediately grasp Shen Xihe’s meaning. She knew that even if Shen Xihe had truly killed Concubine Liang, she definitely wouldn’t directly admit it.

Shen Xihe’s words had two meanings: either she hadn’t killed Concubine Liang, or she had killed Concubine Liang because Concubine Liang had first tried to take her life.

If it was the latter, Li Yanyan didn’t care. She never liked Concubine Liang to begin with. If Concubine Liang died unjustly, she would be willing, for the sake of their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship, to seek justice for her and ease some of Xiao Changzhen’s guilt and regret.

But if Concubine Liang had brought about her death by making enemies and being outmatched, she couldn’t claim to have such filial devotion to Concubine Liang.

She remembered clearly how Concubine Liang had tormented her in those years, how she had secretly slandered her all these years and even harbored killing intent toward her. It was just that the Yangling Princess didn’t know these things; otherwise, she wouldn’t have come to her yesterday to discuss this matter.

Although she had no intention of accommodating the Yangling Princess, she also didn’t plan to meddle in others’ grudges. The entanglement between Shen Xihe and the Yangling Princess was not her concern.

She wouldn’t interfere with the Yangling Princess taking action in the Duke’s manor, but she had already warned Shen Xihe. The Yangling Princess meant her harm; if Shen Xihe still fell into the trap, she and the Duke’s manor couldn’t be blamed.

“The weather is cold, and strong wine burns the lungs, unable to warm the body. I know the Princess is physically weak; you must be careful with wine and tea,” Li Yanyan said with a smile.

Shen Xihe nodded: “Thank you for the Duchess’s advice.”

Both being intelligent people, they exchanged a glance, understanding everything without words.

Regarding Li Yanyan, Shen Xihe felt neither like nor dislike. That day when she was hunted, although Li Yanyan was involved in the tomb-raiding case, she had only played a role in numbing and confusing Yu Zao. She thought that when she was being hunted, Li Yanyan probably didn’t even know about it.

This must have been Fourth Prince Xiao Changtai’s doing, but since Xiao Changtai was hiding in the imperial tomb, Shen Xihe couldn’t easily plot against him, much less recklessly send someone to the imperial tomb for assassination.

This debt could only be recorded for now. Someday, she would repay Xiao Changtai in full.

Li Yanyan’s birthday celebration was extremely lively. She didn’t care at all what Emperor Youning thought and invited all the foreign envoys who had come to pay tribute, beautifully terming it as admiring their dynasty’s customs and culture.

She had indeed put in the effort, inviting the two greatest dancing courtesans from Luoyang, Bai Fugong and Qi Xiaoren, both of whom people would spend fortunes just to glimpse.

Bian Xianyi’s dance was graceful and varied, but compared to these two, she was still slightly inferior.

Besides these two, there were also various folk performances. The shows came one after another, making the audience exclaim with satisfaction and occasionally burst into applause.

Shen Xihe sat with Xue Jinqiao, who kept chattering with Shen Xihe, while Shen Xihe smiled and occasionally responded.

Seeing that Shen Xihe hadn’t touched a drop of liquid, the Yangling Princess grew anxious. Her gaze fell on Xue Jinqiao, and she formed a plan.

“I can dance with swords. Sister, another day I’ll…” Xue Jinqiao was eagerly displaying her talents, appearing afraid that Shen Xihe’s attention might be drawn away by other enchanting women when a maid came to refill her wine and accidentally spilled the wine pot all over her.

“This servant deserves death, this servant deserves death.” The maid prostrated herself, repeatedly knocking her head on the ground.

Xue Jinqiao was very angry, but after glancing at Shen Xihe, she forcibly suppressed her temper: “Get up!”

After those three words, Xue Jinqiao didn’t wait for Li Yanyan to come over and angrily went to change clothes. These noble ladies always brought an extra set of clothes when visiting, in case of accidents, to avoid embarrassment or being schemed against.

However, Xue Jinqiao didn’t return, and even her two maids couldn’t be found. Shen Xihe then stood up, taking only Zhenzhu to look for them.

She knew that the Yangling Princess must have bribed the servants to deliberately lead Xue Jinqiao and her three servants down the wrong path.