If the Song family were the type to be threatened by others, they would never have kept their distance from Prince Duan in the first place—his heart was not righteous, and even if they helped him ascend to the throne in the future, they would only face the fate of being cast aside once their usefulness ended, like cunning hares being killed after the hunting dogs had served their purpose.

Xiang had always thought the Crown Prince was benevolent, but now it seemed that was not the case at all.

Old Master Song had another layer of worry in his heart. He glanced at Song Chuyi: “Back then, His Majesty doted on the Crown Prince so much precisely because of the Crown Prince’s illness and benevolence. Now, with His Majesty still in his prime, the Crown Prince wants to run before he can even walk steadily. I fear his path forward will not be smooth.”

Moreover, of all the people the Crown Prince could have targeted, he chose Prince Gong—after all, Prince Gong was his own younger brother from the same mother. And such a pitiful child, sent off to his fief as soon as he turned fifteen. Though Emperor Jianzhang and the Empress didn’t speak of it openly, they ultimately cherished this son deeply in their hearts, often sending people to inquire after him and bestowing gifts. The year before last, when Prince Gong’s legitimate son was finally born, His Majesty and the Empress specially rewarded several cartloads of items to be sent to him. The Crown Prince deliberately targeted Prince Gong’s people—in the eyes of the Empress and the Emperor, this was a lack of brotherly affection.

The Crown Prince had always been in poor health, while the princes below him were all young and robust. It was inevitable they would have other ambitions. Now, though his health seemed to have improved somewhat, the mess of affairs behind him was still tangled and unresolved. Yet he was already anxiously trying to establish his authority. Was Prince Duan someone easy to deal with? Even Prince Gong had never submitted to him.

The more Old Madam Song heard about these matters, the more annoyed she felt. When she brought up the matter of entering the palace, her expression was quite unpleasant: “The Empress said she wants to hold a spring banquet, having each family bring their daughters into the palace to spend a day together. I’m afraid this is about finalizing the companion reader matter. This time entering the palace, who knows what troubles we’ll face.”

Old Master Song had just mentioned earlier that the matter of appointing a companion reader couldn’t be delayed past the spring hunt, but now it seemed the palace’s intention was clearly to settle this matter before the spring hunt.

Feigning illness to avoid selection was no longer feasible. If they used that excuse, the palace might claim Song Chuyi had health problems that affected her prospects, which wouldn’t be worth it. After thinking for a moment, Old Master Song said: “I’m afraid we’ll have to seek help from Princess Rongcheng for this matter.”

The affairs of the inner palace were countless times more complex than those of the inner household. Now it was obvious that the Ninth Princess and Eleventh Princess had completely fallen out. Since Consort Xian showed no intention of punishing her daughter, she naturally believed the fault lay with Consort Song and the Song family. With this relationship in place, the more Consort Song insisted on designating Song Chuyi as the Eleventh Princess’s companion reader, the more fiercely the Ninth Princess would bite and refuse to relent.

On the other hand, Princess Rongcheng was His Majesty’s first daughter, always enjoying extraordinary favor, and could speak before both His Majesty and the Empress. Having her intercede with the Empress to simply have Song Chuyi attend neither side—this companion reader title sounded good, but if one encountered a difficult-to-serve imperial princess, it could grind away half one’s life. Rather than spending this effort to gild oneself, it would be better to cultivate one’s character at home.

This thought aligned with Old Madam Song’s, and she smiled: “Speaking of this, I was just thinking of discussing it with you. Why don’t we have the eldest daughter-in-law take Xiaoyi to the Zhennan Prince’s mansion for a visit.”

In these two years following Guo Huaiying, whether or not Ye Jingchuan had made progress was still uncertain, but he had truly risen all the way to the rank of centurion. Guo Huaiying had now become the new Governor of Fujian, and Ye Jingchuan lived and ate at his house, treated like half a nephew, which would greatly facilitate his future career advancement.

The Princess Consort of Zhennan had always remembered this favor. There was no reason not to do such an easy favor, especially considering Princess Duanhui’s face. How could she possibly refuse?

Old Master Song nodded and made the decision: “If that’s the case, go pay them a visit tomorrow. Prepare all the proper gifts, and don’t let others gossip behind our backs.”

Old Madam Song then brought up Xiang Yunzhang: “He’s already been sentenced to exile. The male family members who are minors will all be sold off, and the female family members as well. Fortunately, we had already handled Mingzi’s removal from the Xiang family registry one step ahead, otherwise wouldn’t we still have to bear the burden of those people’s misfortune?”

This was the first time the couple had mentioned the Xiang family and Song Linlang’s matters in Song Chuyi’s presence. The room fell silent for a moment, so quiet that even the crackling sounds of the lamp flames could be heard.

Wisps of smoke floated from the treasure elephant incense burner, obscuring Old Master Song’s expression.

But both Old Madam Song and Song Chuyi knew he must be feeling terrible inside. In this world, some people regarded daughters as money-losing burdens, while others treasured their daughters like pearls in their palms.

Old Master Song had held one such pearl in his palm for over a decade, but when she returned, she had already turned to dust. He hadn’t even seen her one last time. How could his heart feel well? The first time he came back and saw Xiang Mingzi, his face showed nothing, but that night when no one was around, he cried bitterly to Old Madam Song, saying his granddaughter looked exactly like his daughter.

After half a moment of silence, Old Master Song said: “Since she’s already been removed from the registry, she’s no longer a member of the Xiang family. Choose another day to invite a teacher to change her surname as well. From now on, she’ll be a daughter of our family.”

This was also to let people in the capital know that Song Linlang and Xiang Yunzhang were divorced, the daughter belonged to her maternal family, and Xiang Mingzi had no more connection to the criminal official Xiang Yunzhang.

The next day, the First Madam indeed led Song Chuyi to the Zhennan Prince’s mansion. When she returned, she smiled and reassured Old Madam Song: “We invited the princess along, and the Princess Consort agreed as soon as she heard.”

Even if she didn’t consider the Song family’s face, she had to consider Princess Duanhui’s face.

Though Old Madam Song had already been confident in her heart, hearing the definite answer now still made her smile: “Since that’s what she said, just sit and wait for news these next few days.”

First Madam also understood Old Madam Song’s concerns and smiled in agreement: “With the princess personally going to speak, Her Majesty will surely give her this face.”

If Song Chuyi were truly taken by someone like the Ninth Princess to be a companion reader, who knew what troubles would arise.

But instead of waiting for word from Princess Rongcheng, they received an imperial messenger from the palace, saying that the Empress had summoned several young ladies from the Song family.

It wasn’t yet time for the spring banquet, and there had been no word about canceling the spring banquet. Yet now they were being summoned to the palace. The entire Song household bustled about, sorting through clothes and examining jewelry to bring to the palace the next day for the young ladies.

Song Chubin was already betrothed and about to be married, so presumably there would be no issues with her. Old Madam Song held Song Chuyi’s hand with one of hers and Xiang Mingzi’s with the other, gently comforting them: “Though this is rather sudden, you are both good children. As long as you conduct yourselves properly and observe all the rules, nothing will go wrong. Tomorrow I’ll have the kitchen stew blood bird’s nest for you to drink when you return in the evening.”