After the marriage, my husband's family listened to my voice and turned the tide

As soon as these words came out, the whole place was in an uproar.

What does this mean?

Zhou Jingyu was not flustered at all. She blinked her eyes in satisfaction and said, "You are joking, Princess. I did not paint on the stage with you. Even after I got off the stage, I did not sit at the same table with you. How could I know?"

As soon as she opened her mouth to rebut, those who did not know the truth were misled by her.

Yes, Miss Zhou San is right. How can she find out whether the Crown Princess of Prince Ren has painted?

Shang Tingli nodded, and suddenly smiled: "That makes sense."

Seeing her smile, Zhou Jingyu suddenly smiled too. She said, "Princess, it doesn't matter if you can't paint. It's a virtue to have the courage to admit it. Everyone here, who dares to laugh at you?"

"According to what Miss Zhou San said, you are sure that I can't paint, and that I haven't painted at all?" The smile on Shang Tingli's lips deepened.

Zhou Jingyu had an innocent smile on her face: "It's not me who made that assumption, it's you, the Crown Princess, who really took out a blank painting."

Shang Tingli smiled meaningfully.

Ke Yichang couldn't bear to watch it anymore, and said hastily, "I'll testify for my sister-in-law. My sister-in-law did draw the picture. She drew a ten-foot-long curtain!"

Zhou Jingyu said maliciously: "Princess, you also said that she is your sister-in-law. I am afraid your testimony is inappropriate, right?"

Ke Yichang became angry: "You..."

"What about me? I will testify on behalf of the Crown Prince's Consort." Xu Jinshu stared at Zhou Jingyu.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Jingyu still said lightly: "But everyone knows that you, Miss Xu, are good friends with Princess Lingyun? I'm afraid your opinion cannot be used as testimony."

Xu Jinshu smiled coldly.

It's not that her opinion cannot be used as testimony, it's obvious that this person has made up his mind to label Tingli as someone who "can't paint"!

He Zhixing said, "What about me? I can testify, right?"

Zhou Jingyu shook her head regretfully: "It's impossible to be afraid."

He Zhixiang's eyes and eyebrows were very cold.

"After all..." Zhou Jingyu chuckled, "Miss He is the future sister-in-law of Princess Lingyun. How can you prove this relationship?"

"You talk too much nonsense. What about me? I won't be blind too, will I?" Yi Shuya said impatiently.

Zhou Jingyu looked over.

Yi Shuya glared at her.

"It's hard to say. Miss Yi has always been good friends with Miss Jing, and Miss Jing is Princess Baozhen's future sister-in-law. Princess Baozhen and Princess Lingyun are like real sisters..." Zhou Jingyu shook her head, "How can I say that?"

Well, after these words were spoken, Jing Yuyuan didn't even have the chance to speak.

Yi Shuya angrily said: "Bullshit!" She even used vulgar language.

Mrs. Zhou, who was sitting below, changed her expression and looked gloomy. She was extremely unhappy. The daughter of this military general was just vulgar.

Yi Shuya didn't care what others thought. She looked sharply at Pan Qinghuan and Ruan Liuzheng beside her and asked directly, "What do you two think?"

The two looked at each other.

Pan Qinghuan hesitated and said, "This..."

Shang Tingli didn't give her a chance to struggle with his words and spoke first, "Miss Zhou San has determined that I don't know how to create a blank painting, right?"

Zhou Jingyu pretended to be deaf and dumb: "I don't understand what the Crown Princess is talking about. If you don't draw on the paper, it's just blank, right? It doesn't matter if you can't draw, and it's not a big problem if you can't draw well." She glanced at Yi Shuya, "Look, Miss Yi draws so well... She also came up and showed it openly."

Yi Shuya's paintings were just bad, she was not incompetent, so she immediately said angrily: "Are you implying that my paintings are ugly?"

Zhou Jingyu smiled but said nothing.

Ugly or not, does this person really have no idea? Those who understand will understand.

Yi Shuya said: "If you ask me, your painting is not that good! Your painting is ugly too!"

Zhou Jingyu: “…”

"Mrs. Zhou, can I borrow something?" Shang Tingli looked at Mrs. Zhou at the table and asked.

Madam Zhou smiled and said, "Please speak, Princess."

Shang Tingli said, "Please lend me the fire starter."

The smile on Mrs. Zhou's face froze.

[It seems that Miss Zhou San is not the only one putting on this good show. ]

Shang Tingli couldn't help but laugh and said, "It's just a fire starter. Is there any difficulty for Madam Zhou?"

Madam Zhou put on a smile again, but the smile did not reach her eyes: "As the Crown Prince's wife said, it's just a fire starter, how can it be difficult?"

She turned her head and told the maid beside her, "Go get the fire starter."

"Yes."

The seats of Prince Ren's Mansion were right in front, close to the platform, so Wenhui also heard Shang Tingli's thoughts. She glanced at Madam Zhou towards the main seat. Did she think that there was no one left in Prince Ren's Mansion, or that she was dead?

Yu Lanxi talked to Pan Yaying: "Mom, what is she going to do?"

Pan Yaying's eyelids twitched, but she shook her head in confusion: "I don't know."

As Yu Lingling watched the play, she somehow recalled some past events.

In the old days, the sisters in the family also gathered together to compete in painting. She and Shang Tingli were sitting at the back. When she saw her cousin's painting, she was very surprised. She was afraid that she would not be able to compete with her cousin and would not win. So she did such a thing - when Shang Tingli was not paying attention, she secretly replaced her painting with a blank piece of paper. When she found that her painting was missing, the time had come and the matter was settled. She could only show a blank painting.

The things that happened in her childhood were so similar to what was happening now, but they were also different. Because in public, Shang Tingli was the only one who had touched her paintings, and no one else had touched them, so there was no chance for others to touch them without being discovered.

But her intuition told her that Shang Tingli would never go on stage with a blank sheet of paper.

Yu Lingling pursed her lips, fearing that Zhou Jingyu had made a move in advance.

"I wonder how I have offended Miss Zhou San? Please tell me clearly, Miss Zhou San."

Shang Tingli's expression was calm.

Zhou Jingyu was stunned: "What does the Crown Prince's Consort mean?"

Shang Tingli chuckled: "Shouldn't I be the one asking you this?"

"Could it be that I asked the Crown Prince's Consort to draw a blank picture? You are really embarrassing me. I don't have the face to do that." Zhou Jingyu pursed her lips.

The smile on Shang Tingli's face was a little too bright: "Of course."

Zhou Jingyu's eyes widened, then she smiled bitterly and said, "You are the Crown Prince's Consort, so if you say so, then it's fine."

"Miss Zhou San has put a lot of effort into this," Shang Tingli said calmly. "She prepared the special pigments and cinnabar in advance. I guess Miss Zhou San must have put a lot of effort into this, right?"

Zhou Jingyu panicked, but she still looked very stubborn: "Does the Crown Princess think that Danqing has a problem? But everyone is using the same thing."

Shang Tingli said calmly: "Really?"

She suddenly smiled and said, "But only my painting disappeared."

Zhou Jingyu's smile froze, but she continued, "Could it be that the Crown Princess remembered it wrongly, and you didn't paint at all?"

Shang Tingli said, "Maybe."

During the banquet.

Princess Rong said to Wenhui: "This girl is no worse than her mother."

Wen Hui was relieved when she saw this, and smiled at Princess Rong: "As the saying goes, a disciple is better than his master. Ah Li is indeed no worse than Miss Yu."

Princess Rong was thoughtful: "Then Pan did a good thing invisibly."

"What does this have to do with Pan?" Wenhui frowned. "It's been many years since the incident. Besides, not everyone is the same. The absurd incident back then will never happen again."

Princess Rong nodded and stopped talking.

Soon, Mrs. Zhou's maid brought the fire starter.

Madam Zhou calmly asked the maid to hand the fire starter to Shang Tingli and said, "The fire starter that the Crown Princess requested has been delivered. Do you have any other instructions?"

Shang Tingli raised his eyelids, glanced at her, and said nothing for a while.

Mrs. Zhou gave Zhou Jingyu a look, and Zhou Jingyu felt relieved.

She thought secretly, it’s just a fire starter, what use can it be?

You know, a big fire is what's really useful. A small fire like a tinderbox is probably useless.

Shang Tingli was on the high platform, watching the little movements of the mother and daughter, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly: "Please help me again, Madam Zhou."

Mrs. Zhou looked up suddenly.

I saw the hibiscus-colored figure standing on the high platform, smiling, as if she was confident and fearless.

She had guessed something.

The next moment, Shang Tingli said, "Please ask Madam Zhou to send someone to bring a brazier..." She spoke each word with a smile as beautiful as a flower, "It would be best if the flames are as strong as possible."

[The fire stick has made you all feel relieved, right? Next... I want to see who is still stubborn.]

Ke Yishang, who was standing next to her, had not really calmed down until this moment, which showed that her sister-in-law really had an idea.

He Zhiqiang smiled secretly, thinking that he was a smart man.

Mrs. Zhou's face turned ugly, but she had to do as she was told. As soon as the maid left, the handkerchief in her hand was almost twisted into a ball, and her eyes were slightly cold.

She actually underestimated this orphan girl from the Marquis Yi Zhong's Mansion.

The situation has developed to this point and it is too late to reverse it.

Madam Zhou turned aside and whispered a few words to the nanny beside her, who then bowed and left. She then readjusted her mindset and looked at the person holding the blank painting on the platform with a scrutinizing gaze.

She is worthy of being that man's daughter.

However, Zhou Jingyu had been uneasy since she heard Shang Tingli asked for a brazier. She felt panicky and felt that things were out of her control.

Soon, the maid brought up the brazier, and the flames were burning brightly.

Shang Tingli came down from the high platform holding a piece of white paper and stood in front of the brazier. The corners of her mouth slowly curled up, and her smile was bright and dazzling. She said to Zhou Jingyu: "Miss Zhou San, you have to look carefully."

After she finished speaking, she placed the white paper in her hand over the flame a foot away.

Seeing this, Zhou Jingyu's face began to lose color.

A miracle happened.

The blank painting in Shang Tingli's hand gradually began to show color under the fire, until a complete "Chrysanthemum Picture" appeared on the white paper. It was a "Ten-foot Curtain", with flowers blooming like a waterfall, pink and white with a slight yellow-green color, and extremely long outer petals, drooping or floating, beautiful and fragrant. Although the painting was not detailed enough, the beauty of the ten-foot curtain was vividly displayed on the paper.

“So it’s not a blank painting!”

“It’s amazing!”

People who didn't know the truth cried out in surprise, asking what was going on. There were also people who knew the truth and watched the drama quietly.

While admiring the nail polish she had applied today, Wu Fang smiled coquettishly and said, "It's really interesting. When he was young, he couldn't beat his mother, and now he's old, he can't beat his daughter. The same method was used on a mother and daughter. Qiu Li really failed. How shameful—"

Qiu Li was Mrs. Zhou's maiden name.

The nanny behind her said: "The princess is right."

Wu Fang shook her head and said, "It's so boring. I shouldn't have come if I had known."

The nanny dared not speak.

On the stage.

Shang Tingli took the painting and went back up to the podium, holding it up with a bright smile: "Miss Zhou San, did I paint or not?"

"..."

Zhou Jingyu stared at her.

Madam Zhou hurried to save her daughter: "I'm afraid the Crown Princess has some misunderstanding. We are all painting on the stage together, and the ink we use is the same..."

"Mrs. Zhou."

Shang Tingli interrupted her and said slowly, "I know what you want to say. It's just that how did Miss Zhou San know that I would sit in the first seat? Even if she wanted to harm me, she couldn't be so precise."

Mrs. Zhou opened her mouth but was speechless.

"But Madam Zhou, please don't forget what Miss Zhou San said. Oh, according to the status, please invite the Crown Princess of Prince Ren to go on stage first—" Shang Tingli said, "Miss Zhou San really has a lot of intentions to make me look embarrassed."

"Just because other people haven't heard of this doesn't mean I haven't heard of it either. The pigments mixed with cinnabar using a special method are applied to the painting. In less than half an hour, the colors on the paper disappear. However, they can be recolored when exposed to fire."

Shang Tingli still smiled harmlessly: "Miss Zhou San, you made a mistake."

Zhou Jingyu stood there in a daze.

Shang Tingli had already placed the painting on the table on the platform, then turned and walked down from the platform, saying as he walked, "It seems that Miss Zhou San's prize has nothing to do with me anymore. I'm afraid I won't be able to enjoy the luncheon at the Zhou Mansion."

Mrs. Zhou was caught off guard by her series of tricks, and she was unable to bring up the scapegoat she had asked the nanny to prepare. She watched Shang Tingli walk down from the platform and back to his seat, not knowing what he said to Wenhui.

Then Wen Hui said, "What a great Minister of Rites! I am really enlightened today."

As soon as she finished speaking, she stood up and left.

Shang Tingli followed her, and the ladies from Prince Ren's residence followed closely behind. Ke Yishang also came down from the high platform and chased after her.

Before Madam Zhou could react, only the backs of the women in Prince Ren's mansion were left. She knew that she could not stop Prince Ren's wife, and she was extremely anxious for a moment.

After they left, Princess Rong gave an order to the maid beside her, then stood up and pretended to leave.

Madam Zhou's heart trembled, and she hurriedly shouted: "Princess Rong——"

Princess Rong nodded slightly at her, then turned and left.

Her maid walked up to the platform and handed the hairpin she had given as a gift to He Zhiying on the platform, and then said, "Miss He, our princess feels that your painting is the most outstanding in this painting competition, so she gives this hairpin to you."

The head maid bowed to He Zhiying, then hurriedly stepped down from the platform and caught up with Prince Rong's wife.

During the banquet, the two princesses had already left, and Wu Fang, the princess of the county, was impatient to stay any longer, so she stood up and left.

After the princesses left, the other ladies could no longer sit still and left one after another. Only a few ladies who had been on good terms with Madam Zhou were left. The garden, which was originally crowded, suddenly became deserted.

Mrs. Zhou felt a splitting headache when she saw the scene.

It’s over.

Her chrysanthemum viewing party was a complete disaster.