Lin Hao received the eye roll and silently returned one in kind.

Understood—this was hatred extending from house to crow.

Kou Wan’s eyes showed shock, clearly not expecting someone who had just stood in the center of undercurrents without any reaction to strike back.

She quickly grasped the key point: those who had just targeted Lin Hao were her elder sister and Princess Consort Ronghua. So Lin Hao was picking the soft persimmon to squeeze!

Elder sister was right—Second Miss Lin truly was someone with many schemes.

She glared over again, only to discover Lin Hao had already shifted her gaze to Princess Yuliu, as if their earlier eye contact had been mere illusion, and the other people present had also failed to notice the undercurrents between them.

Though all the noble ladies who came to Fuxiang Garden had extraordinary status, at this moment only two commanded attention: one was Great Zhou’s Princess Yi’an, the other was Yuliu’s Princess Lingque.

As the host, Princess Yi’an warmly and affectionately invited Princess Lingque to take her seat.

The banquet was arranged in a long corridor within the garden.

The corridor had no barriers on any of its four sides, so sitting anywhere allowed one to appreciate the garden’s beautiful scenery and watch flocks of cranes elegantly pacing across vast stretches of grass.

Yuliu had no cranes, so Princess Lingque inevitably took a few extra looks.

Princess Yi’an smiled: “If elder sister likes them, I’ll send you a pair when you return to your country.”

Princess Lingque first showed surprise, then smiled faintly: “No need, I’m just looking at something novel. My palace raises many peacocks—when they spread their tails, they can make all flowers lose their color. If a pair of cranes were mixed in, it would be rather strange instead.”

At these words, the relaxed and pleasant atmosphere stiffened.

What did Princess Lingque mean?

Was she naive and artless, or did she hold everything in contempt?

The ladies stared at Princess Lingque’s absolutely beautiful face and tacitly reached a consensus: definitely the latter!

Standing on Great Zhou’s territory yet looking down on what Great Zhou people treasured—this was clearly deliberate humiliation.

The ladies silently looked toward Princess Yi’an.

In this situation, they couldn’t say much—it would depend on Princess Yi’an.

Princess Yi’an secretly frowned.

This Princess Lingque was too lacking in propriety. She was essentially the host of this banquet, so if she confronted a foreign guest, His Majesty would certainly think her senseless. But precisely because Princess Lingque was a foreigner, if she showed no reaction, how would these noble ladies view her?

Princess Lingque’s beautiful eyes shifted to glance at Princess Yi’an as she raised her wine cup and took a sip.

The white jade wine cup held amber-colored fruit wine, the finest grade of plum wine.

Yet Princess Lingque wore a strange expression, clearly forcing herself to swallow it.

This reaction further kindled the ladies’ rising fury, and once again they looked toward Princess Yi’an in unison.

You were so capable at subtly picking on Second Miss Lin just now—why have you become speechless when facing Princess Lingque?

Princess Yi’an knew she couldn’t remain silent any longer. Her delicate jade-like fingers gripped the wine cup as she said with a half-smile: “Elder sister is unaccustomed to drinking wine?”

Princess Lingque smiled charmingly: “Not at all. I’m just more accustomed to drinking the grape wine produced in Yuliu—I’m not used to this plum wine.”

She was already born beautiful, and this smile was like spring flowers blooming, captivating hearts and souls.

Princess Yi’an suddenly felt even more irritated. Her slender fingers gripped the wine cup forcefully as she said coolly: “We happen to have grape wine presented as tribute from your honored country. Someone—”

As her voice rose slightly, palace maids soon brought grape wine and set it before Princess Lingque.

Princess Lingque lowered her eyes, concealing the coldness in their depths.

She had been worried that Great Zhou’s princess was a coward, but fortunately she still had some temper.

The crystal-clear glass cup held ruby-red wine liquid. Compared to the amber-colored plum wine, it was another kind of alluring.

Princess Yi’an raised her white jade cup: “Elder sister, you are our guest, I toast to you.”

Princess Lingque gripped the glass cup without moving, her voice soft and delicate: “This way of drinking won’t do. I’m the only guest, yet there are so many hosts. If each of you toasts me one by one, I couldn’t handle it.”

“Then how does elder sister think we should drink?”

Princess Lingque’s gaze swept lightly over the ladies, the corners of her mouth lifting with a trace of willfulness: “Drinking together, of course.”

“Drinking together means—” Princess Yi’an frowned slightly.

Princess Lingque held her wine cup, smiling radiantly: “The hosts drink one cup, the guest drinks one cup—this way we can drink until both host and guest are satisfied. Don’t you agree, younger sister?”

Hearing this, the ladies couldn’t help exchanging glances.

Princess Lingque drinks one cup, and all of them have to drink one cup?

What utter nonsense was this wretch spouting!

Princess Yi’an silently cursed “shameless,” maintaining a forced smile on her face: “Actually, for this flower-viewing banquet, I’m the only host. Everyone else is accompanying guests.”

Her alcohol tolerance was passable, but among the noble ladies present there were inevitably some with poor tolerance. In this kind of situation, if someone got drunk and made a fool of themselves, it would both embarrass her as the person in charge and lose face for Great Zhou.

This Princess Lingque looked delicate and fragile, but was actually digging pits everywhere with ill intentions.

Princess Lingque covered her mouth and laughed.

Her bell-like laughter drifted into the ladies’ ears, inexplicably grating.

When she finished laughing, she raised her cup toward Princess Yi’an: “But I’m from Yuliu. To me, all you Great Zhou noble ladies are hosts.”

Having said this, Princess Lingque drained her cup in one gulp. Her eyes swept from Princess Yi’an’s face and slowly passed over the ladies, stopping noticeably longer when falling on Lin Hao’s face.

The absolutely gorgeous woman instinctively felt vigilant: she hadn’t noticed earlier that among the Great Zhou noble ladies there was such a beauty.

“I drink first as a toast.” Princess Lingque raised her emptied wine cup toward Princess Yi’an.

Princess Yi’an’s expression changed as she pursed her lips and raised her wine cup.

Seeing Princess Yi’an drink, Princess Lingque looked toward the ladies who held their wine cups in difficulty.

With words spoken to this point, it seemed they had no choice but to drink.

Most people hesitated, waiting for others’ reactions. Finally someone couldn’t stand Princess Lingque’s mocking gaze and tilted her head back to drink the wine.

It was just one cup of fruit wine—they couldn’t let Princess Yuliu look down on Great Zhou’s noble ladies.

The crisp sound of wine cups landing on tables seemed to break some balance. First one person, then immediately another, and soon even noble ladies who had barely touched alcohol were gritting their teeth and drinking.

The fruit wine was sweet and tart, very easy to drink. Having drunk this first cup, it seemed like nothing much.

Pots of fine wine were brought up continuously, and the ladies’ faces gradually became more flushed than that cluster of wild roses blooming outside the corridor.

Suddenly there was a sound—one noble lady, dizzy and disoriented, failed to hold her wine cup steady, and it rolled to the ground.

Princess Yi’an bit the tip of her tongue to clear her head somewhat.

They couldn’t continue drinking!

“Just drinking without anything else is so boring. Fuxiang Garden is most famous for its beautiful scenery—I’ll accompany elder sister on a tour around.”

Princess Lingque’s peripheral vision swept over several faces hazy with intoxication as she smiled and set down her wine cup: “Wonderful, then I’ll trouble younger sister.”

It would be boring if they got completely drunk.

With her alcohol tolerance, even counting men, few could compare. Because of this, she had seen all kinds of unexpected disgraceful behavior from drunk people.

When fruit wine was consumed in large quantities, its aftereffects were no less than strong liquor.

She wondered what kind of surprises these usually dignified and gentle Great Zhou noble ladies would give her?

Though the garden was more open than the corridor, the rich floral fragrance carried on the wind made people’s heads increasingly heavy.

Qi Qiong walked somewhat unsteadily, gripping Lin Hao’s hand tightly.