It's all ruined, who cares about the chastity arch

Zheng Chengyan clenched his teeth tightly, not letting the resentment and anger in his heart spill out. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, as if he wanted to lock all the pain and despair deep in his heart.

He knew that he could not, and could not bear to, reveal the secret of Su Wanyu's true identity to the old lady and his father.

Once the truth comes out, all that awaits him is endless blame and sighs.

At this moment, he felt like a wandering soul, drifting aimlessly in the world, exhausted both inside and out, and unable to withstand any more blows from the storms.

The dim light in the room seemed to become even dimmer. It no longer provided warmth. Instead, it was like a letter announcing the end, eroding his will and hope bit by bit.

Three days passed quickly. In the You Garden in the south of the city, flowers were in full bloom, vying for splendor. The ladies, young ladies and gentlemen from various mansions in the capital all dressed in gorgeous clothes and came in an endless stream to participate in this grand event.

The Hundred Flowers Banquet, ostensibly for flower-viewing, actually provides a legitimate excuse for the young ladies who usually stay at home to have close contact with many young men from aristocratic families and explore potential marriage possibilities with each other.

This year's Hundred Flowers Banquet was even grander than ever before due to the careful preparation by Mrs. Tan of the Pingxuan Marquis Mansion.

One is to welcome the newly recognized Princess Pingle to show the royal grace.

The second is to take the opportunity to choose a good son-in-law for her youngest daughter, which is also of vital importance to the Tan family.

Mrs. Tan had four sons and one daughter. The four elder brothers accompanied their father to guard the border all year round, and only the youngest daughter stayed with her mother all the time.

The entire family regards her marriage as a top priority.

Just as Zheng Yinyin said, if the second son of the Zheng family could marry the fifth daughter of the Marquis's Mansion and receive the protection of the Marquis, it would undoubtedly be of great help to the revival of the Zheng family.

But the reality is cruel. How could the noble Fifth Miss favor a man of such humble status as him?

On the other side, the royal family's luxurious sedan slowly drove over, and sitting in it was the newly returned eldest princess, Su Wanyu. She sat side by side with the emperor, and Concubine Xue was also carefully accompanying her beside her.

Concubine Xue was an observant woman and treated the princess with great respect. Her every move reflected her meticulousness and caution, for fear of even the slightest neglect.

The emperor remained silent, and Concubine Xue did not dare to speak easily. The whole team was filled with a solemn and dignified atmosphere.

Although it will take time for the princess to be officially canonized, her identity has been made public to some extent.

However, in the capital, there are still many women in the inner chambers who are isolated from the news and do not know her true origins.

This Hundred Flowers Banquet was not only a stage given by the emperor to adapt to the atmosphere in the court, but it also implied another layer of layout, which was to use this opportunity to lure out Pei Qingzhi, who had never been to such banquets.

As expected, Pei Qingzhi, who had never had much interest in such social banquets, changed her attitude and started urging the women in her family to dress up carefully in the early morning after learning that the emperor would be attending in person.

When the princess and the emperor had not yet arrived, she was already sitting quietly in the quaint and elegant pavilion in You Garden, gazing into the distance from time to time, waiting for their appearance, as if everything was under her control.

Sitting at the same table with Pei Qingzhi was the famous fifth lady of Pingxuanhou Mansion - Tan Xinyue.

The Tan family has been a family of military generals since ancient times. All the men in the family have practiced martial arts since childhood. That heroic spirit, like the hot blood flowing in their veins, makes Tan Xinyue's heart burn with an infinite desire for martial arts.

Unfortunately, her father held traditional ideas and believed that girls should learn needlework. He placed strict restrictions on martial arts and would not allow them to be taught at all.

However, the indomitable spirit and stubbornness deep in Tan Xinyue's bones are like spring grass encountering rain. The more it is suppressed, the more tenaciously it grows.

She secretly followed her brothers and, when the moon was bright and the stars were sparse, she secretly learned the essence of spearmanship and the secrets of military tactics.

In daily life, whenever the Marquis left the mansion, she would wear riding clothes that were convenient for military use, looking heroic and free.

And today, in order to attend this grand flower banquet, her mother changed her into a wide-sleeved white flowered dress that dragged on the ground without any explanation. On the hem of the skirt were embroidered several lifelike camellias. Although beautiful, it was like a shackle that bound her soul and made her feel very uncomfortable.

From time to time, she pulled at the tightly bound cuffs and twisted her neck, trying to break free from this invisible restraint.

Pei Qingzhi saw this, pinched the handkerchief lightly in her hand, covered her mouth with her hands and chuckled, with a hint of mischief in her words: "Fifth Miss, you feel itchy all over your body, why are you so restless?"

After saying this, his eyes moved around, seemingly showing concern, but in fact, he was gloating.

The friendship between Tan Xinyue and Pei Qingzhi was just a casual one. She had never been good at dealing with rich girls like Pei Qingzhi, who looked delicate on the outside but hypocritical on the inside. Not to mention that she had witnessed Pei Qingzhi's hypocritical face with her own eyes, so she naturally had no good impression of her.

She slightly turned her body, gracefully picked up the teacup in front of her, and her cold voice pierced the air: "If I were really a dusty homeless child on the street, I might really be bothered by fleas, but I am not."

Tan Xinyue has a pretty face, she inherited her mother's beauty, with a round face and eyes like stars. If it weren't for the long-term shooting practice under the scorching sun that made her skin a healthy wheat color, she would be radiant in such gorgeous clothes, and would be in no way inferior to those ladies from wealthy families who live in seclusion.

Although she looked weak, she had an amazingly strong character. Her words were full of energy and powerful. Her conversation had inadvertently attracted the attention of many young ladies around her.

Facing Tan Xinyue's counterattack, Pei Qingzhi showed no anger on her face, but instead smiled contemptuously in her heart. She thought that Tan Xinyue's skin color was far inferior to the delicate skin and whiteness of those officials' daughters, which was as white as snow. She was not at all interested in her, let alone spending time to compare with them.

She stretched out her delicate hand, as white as porcelain, and gently picked up a cup of tea. Her tone was filled with a hint of feigned concern: "Fifth Miss, please don't be angry. I just heard that the people in the military camp don't bathe frequently because they are busy with the war, so I thought that Fifth Miss might have this habit as well."

Tan Xinyue didn't care and drank the tea in one breath. Her eyes were firm and her tone was frank: "Even if you can only take a bath once every ten days or half a month, it is to ensure that you can enjoy the flowers in the garden without worries."

"With a beauty as stunning as Miss Pei, if it weren't for the soldiers like us who fought bravely on the battlefield to protect this land, she would have been abducted by the southern barbarians and become what they call..."

Having said this, Tan Xinyue deliberately pronounced the last two words very lightly, but Pei Qingzhi was able to catch them clearly. Those words were like needles, piercing her heart.

"you……"

Pei Qingzhi frowned, the silk handkerchief in her hand was unconsciously crumpled into a ball, and she was about to explode with anger, but when she saw the ladies gradually gathering around her, she immediately adjusted her mood and remembered her aunt's teachings.

When acting, you have to do it to the extreme, even to the point of making yourself believe it. Only in this way can you deceive the eyes of others.