“We just get along well,” Ye Zhen said without going into specifics.

  Lu Wushuang pretended to be indifferent and asked casually, “Last time in Baihua Garden, did you meet Xianfei Xu?”


  “Yes.” Ye Zhen replied in good faith. She had long discerned Lu Wushuang’s focus in meeting her today had to be related to Xu Huiru.

  “The emperor went there later?” Lu Wushuang’s expression tightened. What she feared most was that Xu Huiru would really win Mo Rongzhan’s heart.

  Ye Zhen nodded. “She seemed to have gone. Xianfei Xu went to see His Imperial Majesty. However, he did not stay long and left soon.”


  No one knew about the incident involving Mo Rongzhan and her in the dry well, and she didn’t plan for anyone to know either. It was best to be forgotten forever.

  Lu Wushuang coldly snorted. “That Xu Huiru is despicable and hypocritical. If she tries to talk to you, please ignore her.”


  Whether Xu Huiru was despicable and hypocritical was difficult to say for the time being. However, on the surface, she had done much better than Lu Wushuang; otherwise, she wouldn’t have made Empress Dowager like her so much.

  “Xianfei Xu knows that I am your cousin. How can she come to talk with me?” Ye Zhen smiled lightly as she remained non-committal.

  “Yaoyao, really, I also want to show my filial piety to Her Imperial Highness. But, for some reason, she seems to have some misunderstanding with me. She treats you well and trusts you. You have to put in some good words for me,” Lu Wushuang said with a smile.

  Ye Zhen almost laughed out loud. When Lu Wushuang was treasured by the emperor before, what kind of attitude had she displayed before Empress Dowager? She hadn’t put her in her eyes. Now that Mo Rongzhan was ignoring her, she now wanted to please her? From Lu Wushuang’s point of view, was the world supposed to revolve only around her?

  “Wang Fei, don’t worry. I will definitely say something nice about you before Empress Dowager.” Ye Zhen looked at the charming face before her, and concluded Mo Rongzhan must have been blind in her last life. How could he have thought that this woman was the girl who saved him as a child?

  Having achieved her end goal, Lu Wushuang was satisfied now. “My good sister, I will definitely treat you well.”


  Ye Zhen stayed patiently to entertain Lu Wushuang for most of the day. When it was almost dark, she was finally able to leave. After having dinner with Empress Dowager, she returned home.

  Originally, the empress dowager had wanted to give her a palace of her own, but Ye Zhen had declined. Thus, now she lived in a side palace of Cining’s. Besides, she didn’t enter the palace often, so it didn’t matter where she lived.

  The next day, she took her list to Mo Rongyi, and one by one, gave a brief of each of the individuals. “Marquis Xinyang does not only have one son. Although his elder son gets along with Prince Shun, it is not the elder son that is truly promising. In fact it’s the second young master. There’s also Marquis Pingyang…… I have made a note of all the young masters of other families as well as their personalities and hobbies. Please take a good look.”


  “Yaoyao, how do you know so much about them, even what hobbies they have?” Mo Rongyi looked at Ye Zhen in surprise, his eyes full of worship.

  “If you want to know someone, you naturally need to know more about their family,” Ye Zhen said. Before, when looking for a suitable hand in mariage for the Ye family girls, First Uncle would ask someone to scope out all of the young talents in the capital. It was only after that he would let them choose carefully from amongst them. Although she felt this method was very domineering, she had still benefited from it. At least she knew a lot about the situation of each family.

  Mo Rongyi took up the list and said, “I will go back and take a look, and then write invitations one by one.”


  Ye Zhen smiled. “Take a good look. Some you can develop deep friendships with, some you can only become acquaintances, and some others…… you can only deal with. I’ve written it down very clearly.”


  “Yaoyao, you are amazing.” Mo Rongyi was suffused with admiration. “You wrote all this in a single night?”


  Only

  “I have a good memory,” Ye Zhen said with a smile. “My father used to call me a genius.”


  “Third Master Lu is right, you are a genius.” Mo Rongyi nodded in agreement.

  The father that had praised her for being clever and a genius was not Lu Shiming, but Ye Yiqing, but Ye Zhen couldn’t explain, so she just smiled and stayed mum.

  While Mo Rongyi returned to his palace with the list, Ye Zhen went to bid the empress dowager farewell. She then left the palace to deliver Old Madam Lu news about Lu Lingzhi.

  Now, knowing that Tian Jiu was safe and sound, she had nothing else to inquire about. However, after she came out of the palace, she first went to the Qianjin to tell Hong Ling that their man had escaped. She also wanted her former maid to secretly pass on the news to Man Qin, and tell him to, in any case, stay out of the public eye for the time being. Also, it was best to have Tian Jiu try to avoid public attention too.