When they got home and stepped into the inner courtyard, they felt that the atmosphere was somewhat strange. The place was quiet, people cautious. Not a peep sounded from the main hall even, the old matriarch who loved to chat over a cup of tea or two seemed to have shut her doors for some reason.

  Ye Zhen and Lu Xiangzhi exchanged puzzled glances as they tried to grasp the situation ……

  In the end, unable to make head nor tail, they simply shrugged and turned towards the main hall anyway. What was the point in standing here and guessing, when they could walk in and find out? However, before they went in to pay respect to the old madam, they were summoned by Pei Shi.

  “Your grandmother is in a bad mood. I heard your second aunt say that Old Madam got angry because of the wang fei,” Pei Shi said in a low voice, afraid that her children would go to the elder’s room making her even more unhappy.

  Ye Zhen sat down beside Pei Shi, frowned. “Mother, how did Wang Fei make her angry?” she asked. It was just a visit, how did things turn out so? Angered over the most doted upon granddaughter at that!

  Pei Shi sighed. “We can only talk about this matter among ourselves. We cannot mention this outside. Although the wang fei was confined for three months, she seems to have not learned her lesson at all. Knowing that His Imperial Majesty has selected concubines, she almost made a big scene. Something that your second aunt said seemingly triggered her and the old madam and she had a massive showdown. Ever since they have returned, your grandmother has locked herself in her rooms, and refuses to see anyone.”


  “What did Second Aunt say?” Ye Zhen asked.

  Seeing her daughter’s innocent gaze, Pei Shi had to fight back her anger. “She inadvertently said that you entered the palace a few days ago. The wang fei asked the old madam not to allow you to enter the palace in the future, and immediately set your marriage.”


  “The old madam, because of me …… against the wang fei?” Ye Zhen asked in astonishment.

  “I don’t know the specifics. The old madam is lying in anger while Wang Shi is hiding in her courtyard. I’m really worried~” Pei Shi felt her heart ache as she looked at Ye Zhen. Before, she was worried about her daughter who looked like a wild girl. Now that the one young girl she raised had undergone the eighteen changes, she couldn’t feel relieved if she looked this good. Now, she was even worried to death!

  With that, the mother-daughter pair fell into their own pool of thoughts.

  This was all because of Lu Wushuang! She had never seen such an envious and vicious woman in all her life. She couldn’t even tolerate her own cousin! Every time Lu Yaoyao entered the palace it was because she had been summoned by the empress dowager, not that she could do anything about it. What was this wang fei so vexed about?!

  Pei Shi surmised.

  Ye Zhen, on the other hand, stared blankly into the distance. She was brooding over Lu Wushuang’s recklessness and foolhardiness. She was indeed an ant on a hot pan, acting without any forethought whatsoever. She was on the brink of desperation it seems, helpless now at losing the emperor’s affection. She was also shortsighted: worrying that her cousin would threaten her status when there was already a bevy of belles in the inner palace, who was on par with her vying for the emperor’s favor.

  “What is Elder Sister thinking? Why does she not like Yaoyao so much?” Lu Xiangzhi asked angrily. “Aunt has been like that last time, and now Elder Sister is~” he didn’t understand why those two people in the eldest household were vehemently after his sister’s life.

  “Now that she is the wang fei, what she says and what she does – can we say that it’s wrong?” Pei Shi lectured him. No matter how upset they were, they couldn’t speak brashly, they had to follow the decorum lest someone hears and they are punished for lèse-majesté.

  Only

  “Mother, do not worry too much about this…… After two days, the wang fei will not be this concerned about me.” Ye Zhen placated Pei Shi in a low voice. “I shall go and speak with the old madam. Wang Fei was only worried about the last incident. When she realizes that I was not a threat, she would naturally not mind me much by then.”


  “Speak with Old Madam then.” Pei Shi agreed to her suggestion.

  While it looked like the two women had had a disagreement over her, perhaps things were not really so. Ye Zhen conjectured that Old Madam Lu was angry, but not necessarily because Lu Wushuang wanted her to get engaged. Compared with being angry, she would be more worried about it.

  Having this reckless Lu Wushuang in the palace was like having the entire Lu Family on the tip of a knife. The only person who could persuade her is Lu Lingzhi. Unfortunately, he was now in the west and couldn’t manage his impulsive sister.

  For now, Ye Zhen just hoped Lu Wushuang could be a little stupider.