Duke Jing's younger sister

As the dusk deepened, two dim lanterns were hung high in front of Duke Jingguo's door.

Yang personally sent out a maid dressed in crimson purple palace attire.

While she was flattering him, she stuffed a bulging purse into the hand of Madam Cai, the queen's attendant, and whispered,

"Madam Cai, do you know why the Queen specially invited my third daughter to the palace for this palace banquet?"

As the mother of the country, the empress, in order to show her generosity and friendliness, would hold a flower-viewing banquet every mid-April when the peonies in the palace were in full bloom, and would specially invite the wives of officials to attend.

The Queen would specially arrange a banquet in the Imperial Garden, where men and women of marriageable age would gather together to look at each other. It was euphemistically called flower viewing, but in fact it was a large-scale blind date feast.

By then, all the ladies would bring their legitimate sons and daughters into the palace. Concubines' daughters would not be eligible to participate at all, and the same applies to Shen Li, the adopted daughter.

In previous years, Yang always brought Shen Zhiyan with her, but this year, for some reason, the Queen personally sent Nanny Cai to deliver a letter, asking Yang to bring her adopted daughter Shen Li to the palace.

Of course, Madam Cai knew why the Queen wanted Shen Li to enter the palace, but she would naturally not tell Yang the truth.

She has been in the palace for many years, and has been able to serve the Queen steadily because of her loyalty and her ability to keep her mouth shut.

Madam Cai smiled, took the purse calmly and put it into her sleeve.

"Mrs. Shen, please don't overthink it. The Empress loves music. When she heard that Third Miss Shen played the piece 'Pingsha Luoyan' at the birthday banquet of Old Lady Luo, which attracted applause from the whole room and made a beautiful sound, she couldn't help but feel curious about Third Miss Shen and wanted to take a look."

One can only trust 50% of what people in the palace say. Yang pretended to be relieved and said, "Thank you for your comfort, Madam."

After seeing off Madam Cai and returning to Qiwu Pavilion, Yang was worried, and Madam Qin also realized that something unusual had happened.

"Could it be that the Queen learned that the Crown Prince was interested in the Third Miss and wanted to meet her?"

Yang was not sure, but felt inexplicably relieved. Fortunately, she had told everyone at Prince Rui's Mansion yesterday that Shen Li had already been engaged.

Even if the Queen really wanted to take Shen Li into the Eastern Palace, she only needed to ask around to find out that she was about to submit her betrothal gift, so she would have to give up.

Thinking of Shen Li, Yang remembered Shen Beiqi, "By the way, you saw Qi'er yesterday, was there anything unusual about him?"

Nanny Qin nodded and said, "When the Duke returned home yesterday, I met him at the second gate. There was nothing unusual about his expression."

Nanny Qin watched Shen Beiqi grow up. When he was young, he was flamboyant and unrestrained, like a wild horse that had broken free from its reins.

After all, she is young and never hides her temper. Whether she is happy or angry, you can see some traces on her face.

As he grew older, the Duke became more and more calm, and there was always no expression on his handsome face, making it difficult to figure out what he was thinking.

"Oh, by the way, he asked me if there was anything going on in the mansion recently. I replied as you said that we were preparing the betrothal gifts for the second young lady. The Duke nodded and returned to Cuibai Hall. It seemed that he believed it."

"This matter can't be concealed for a few days."

Yang sighed, thinking of Zhiyan's questioning of her yesterday after she returned home, she felt quite a headache, pinched her eyebrows and said, "We can only take it one step at a time."

……

In Qinghui Courtyard.

Shen Li was only wearing a snow-white middle-length dress, with her hair loose and her black hair falling behind her like a waterfall.

She was sitting on the edge of the couch, holding an embroidery frame in her hands, embroidering a green purse.

Ziyuan moved the candle closer to her and gently moved the wick to make the candlelight brighter.

"Miss, isn't the Duke's birthday in June? There's no need to rush this purse. Leave it for tomorrow to embroider during the day."

Shen Li did not stop working, "It's okay, there's nothing to do sitting there, it's still early, so embroider as many stitches as you can."

In June, I'm afraid that before my brother's birthday, she had already married into the Gu family in Sizhou.

Sizhou and Jiangdu City are hundreds of miles apart. After marrying there, it would be extremely difficult to see my brother and Zhiyan again.

Fortunately, Sizhou and Changzhou are very close. After her father and brother are rehabilitated, she can return to Changzhou from Liangzhou and visit them occasionally. Thinking of this, she feels a little relieved.

Thinking of her father and brother, she couldn't help but sigh slightly. She didn't know what her father and brother looked like now. Would she still recognize them when she saw them, A'li?

Xingping came in from the courtyard and bowed to Shen Li, "Miss, the Duke is here. He is waiting in the courtyard and wants to see you."

"Please let him in." Shen Li put the embroidery frame into the bamboo basket and stood up to greet him.

"Um..." Xingping pointed outside the house, "The Duke said he won't come in, so he asked you to leave."

Shen Li frowned slightly, but still put on a gauze robe and left the house.

It is now mid-April. It is slightly hot during the day, but the wind is still cool at night.

The full moon hangs high in the sky, and the stars shine brightly.

The young man sat at the stone table in the yard. His dark blue clothes were bathed in the moonlight, and his handsome face made him look like an ink painting.

The night wind blew gently, rolling up the white petals of the white flowers, rustling like snow.

The young man raised his hand, gently brushed away the petals that fell on his shoulders, and turned to look at her.

"What are you doing standing there?"

Shen Beiqi said softly, his tone gentle, just like the gentle breeze at night, "Come and sit down."

Shen Li pursed her lips, walked slowly closer, and sat opposite him.

His fingertips tapped lightly on the table, and his meaningful gaze was always on her.

Shen Li felt a little uncomfortable with such a long gaze, so she could only ask first, "Brother, are you here to see me? Is there something wrong?"

"Ah."

He responded and slowly retracted his gaze, "The matter of Ziyuan has been settled. Her brother was indeed framed. Now the case has been cleared and he has been released back home."

Shen Li felt happy for Zi Yuan.

She knew very well why Zi Yuan would rather betray her to protect her brother.

Ziyuan often praised her brother for his excellent grades in the academy and hoped that he would be admitted to a prestigious university in a few years.

That was not only her family's hope, but also her hope. She hoped that her brother could get a job and redeem her so that she would no longer be a slave for the rest of her life.

Life is hard for women in this world, and it is even harder for women born in poor families. She is willing to give Ziyuan a chance and ask her brother for help, just because she is also a woman.

A woman who has no control over everything.

Moreover, Shen Li vaguely felt that this matter was related to Ren Jiaorui. Maybe it was she who planned it and wanted to control Ziyuan for her own use.

Thinking of this, Shen Li asked, "Brother, do you know who set up the trap to frame him?"

"Ren Jiaorui."

Sure enough it was her!

Shen Li was so angry that she slapped the table with her palm. Shen Beiqi subconsciously stretched out his hand, but reacted in an instant, and stopped moving suddenly, and his fingers hanging on the table slightly closed.

"To drag innocent people into this just to deal with me is simply too much!"

Shen Beiqi said seriously, "You don't have to worry about her affairs from now on. I will take care of everything."

What does this mean?

Could it be that he wanted to send Ren Jiaorui back to her hometown in Runzhou?

Shen Li looked at him in confusion, but Shen Beiqi was in no hurry to explain. His peach blossom eyes reflected the bright white moonlight, hiding complex emotions that Shen Li could not understand.

"You can ask me for help for other people, but you won't say a word for yourself? Are you willing to marry into the Gu family like this?"