I'm a humble concubine. My acting skills are off the charts. You can check my performance.

Meng Yunxiang’s coming-of-age banquet was held on the seventeenth day after the Dragon Boat Festival.

The girls of the Zhao family were all dressed brightly. Even if they were just wearing casual clothes, they still looked wealthy because of their family's wealth.

Zhao Fangjin and Zhao Fangyu wore clothes of the same style and both had their hair in small buns.

The long jacket with cloud-blue lace that Zhao Fangjin wore made her skin look fair and dignified, and her eyes were like cold jade, bright and shining.

She was not in a good mood, and her face was indifferent. Her light-colored clothes made her look even more cold and elegant, like a goddess of snow lotus, noble and imposing yet making people afraid to approach.

Zhao Fangyu rarely wore brightly colored clothes. It was a long jacket with delicate pink lace and a knot of silver-red and pearly-white grass in the middle, which looked fresh and fresh.

It was a little difficult for her to wear a long jacket at her age, but since all four sisters made long jackets, there was nothing wrong with them. Fang Yun also learned to tie a straw knot like her, but hers was not as graceful as hers, but she looked more cute and naive.

The delicate light pink makes Zhao Fangyu look even more beautiful. She has red lips and white teeth without any makeup. There is a small pearl flower on her forehead, and her beauty is revealed in her fresh and brilliant beauty.

Her facial features are so delicate that one doesn't know where to look first. Her peach blossom eyes are misty, with a layer of light pink around her eyes, as if she was born with a face that comes with makeup.

Zhao Fangyu didn't use much force. She only put some lip balm on her red lips and it didn't look obvious, as if she hadn't put it on. However, because of the layer upon layer of lip balm that gradually spread out, it was as if flowers bloomed on her lips. Her face looked so beautiful that people couldn't take their eyes off it.

When Zhao Fangjin first met her, he thought she had no makeup on and didn't have many jewelry on her. She only had a pair of small white jade bracelets, a pearl necklace, and gold and jade earrings with pendant beads. But she looked more beautiful than usual, so beautiful that he forgot himself.

The eldest lady was also slightly surprised to see Zhao Fangyu, who was slightly dressed up, but she had seen Aunt Qian when she was young, so she reacted very quickly. Then she saw that Zhao Fangyu had a small gold hairpin made by Zhao Fangjin in his hair, and she knew that the two must have discussed something in private.

"Let's go and talk to your cousin Yan Zhen more."

The eldest lady looked at the two little girls who were whispering to each other with their heads together, and suddenly recalled the scene when she was still waiting to be married.

Her heart couldn't help but soften, thinking that she and her sister Li Shumin were just like Zhao Fangjin and Zhao Fangyu now.

Unfortunately……

The carriage soon arrived at the Duke of Li's Mansion. The eldest lady had a smile on her face and walked towards the door to greet the Duke of Li's wife, Li Shumin, in a friendly manner.

The moment Li Shumin saw the eldest lady, he had a strange expression on his face, as if he was happy but also sad, with mixed feelings. The eldest lady could tell something was wrong just by looking at his eyes.

My heart skipped a beat and I had a bad feeling.

She immediately stepped forward and held Li Shumin's hands tightly with both hands: "Sister, how are you today? Take me to see the second girl."

Turning back, he said to the younger ones, "Stop making trouble, your second cousin. Just take a look and go play in the garden."

Just take a look and go play... If I didn't know, I would have thought Meng Yunxiang was some kind of monkey performer, not as proper as Meng Yanzhen when she first came of age.

Fortunately, Li Shumin was not really concerned about Meng Yunxiang, and went to his own courtyard side by side with the first lady.

As soon as they arrived at their own territory, the eldest lady waved her hand and the surrounding area was cleared.

Li Shumin held the eldest lady's hand with her backhand, and there was even a hint of tears in her eyes: "When did your family get to know the eldest prince?"

The lady was shocked!

"Sister, what are you talking about?! When has our family ever been related to the eldest prince?!"

Li Shumin saw that the eldest lady's reaction did not seem fake, and tears fell like rain. She fell into the eldest lady's arms and cried, "I found a way in the palace. I thought Zhenzhen was about the same age as the eldest prince. If my family must send their daughter to the palace, the eldest prince would be the best..."

"Who would have thought... the eldest prince rejected my Zhenzhen... saying that he liked Fangjin more!"

The eldest lady was stunned. She had never thought that the eldest prince would like Fang Jin.

This shouldn't be the case... The Zhao family is a family of favored ministers, and it is most wrong for them to side with the prince. Zhao Minshan is well versed in the ways of being an official, and it is impossible for him to privately let the eldest prince see Fang Jin and cause him to fall in love at first sight...

The second prince and the eldest prince are almost the same age, and the emperor is in his prime. Given Zhao Minshan's shrewdness, it is impossible for him to side with the eldest prince so early.

It must be that the eldest prince has seen Fang Jin somewhere!

The eldest lady patted her sister's back gently, raised her handkerchief to wipe her sister's back, her eyes were firm, and her voice was as soft as spring water: "Don't worry, sister, even if I, Li Shuqing, divorce Zhao Minshan, I will not let Fang Jin enter the palace. I have been looking for a man for her a few days ago, and I have already set my eyes on the son of the Minister of Personnel."

"Fang Jin rarely goes out. When she goes out, she usually buys jewelry or attends some girls' banquets. There is absolutely no possibility that she will meet the eldest prince in private."

Li Shumin nodded, knowing that her sister would not lie to her. But she still felt sorry for her daughter, with tears in her eyes: "Qingqing, I feel so sad!"

"I chose him because I thought he was easy to control, but I didn't expect him to be so useless. In the end, I had to send my daughter to seek a better future..."

"Zhenzhen is only fifteen..."

The eldest lady was also heartbroken. She and her sister were married to a distant city in the capital. After their marriage, they were the only two people left in the capital to depend on each other.

It was clearly the same dowry, but once my sister’s dowry came in, it filled the accumulated deficit of the Duke of Li’s Mansion, and was wasted by my family. Now even Zhenzhen has to be sacrificed...

"Things have come to this point, there is no going back. When Zhenzhen enters the palace, sister, take good care of the family and don't let others bring shame to Zhenzhen's reputation."

"Men with talent should be sent to academies to study hard. If they can't find a good teacher, they should be sent to the Zhao family. If they can't study well, they should practice martial arts. Didn't your Erlang go to the border? Let's go together! Brothers are good at fighting tigers, so let's go together to gain experience. There's no need to drink and seek prostitutes in the capital, and waste your dowry!"

"The most important thing is that we must not let these useless idiots implicate Yan Zhen!"

Thinking of the good things her mother-in-law had done, Li Shumin's eyes were filled with hatred: "That old woman is bullying me! She bullies me because I can't refute her and disregards filial piety!"

"My dowry! My daughter! They have all been abused by the Duke of Li's Mansion... They can forget about stepping on us and sucking our marrow out of our bones!"

The eldest lady helped her sister fetch water to wash her face, and also told her the truth, leaning in and whispering, "Minshan told me that if that really happens, the Zhao family will send Fangyu to the palace."

Li Shumin couldn't hold back her tears again, and was persuaded by the eldest lady to wash up again, and then went to the gate of the mansion to welcome the guests.

On the other side, after Zhao Fangjin and Zhao Fangyu showed up in Meng Yunxiang's yard, they took people to look for Meng Yanzhen.

It was as if Meng Yan had foreseen that Zhao Fangjin would come, and he warmed the wine and ordered tea in advance.

The dining table was filled with food. Meng Yanzhen was wearing a brightly colored dress and few hairpin ornaments.

She had no mood to dress up and was feeling sad, but she was always mindful of the rules of not being rude to others, so she tied her hair loosely into a bun.

As soon as Zhao Fangjin saw Meng Yanzhen, he was about to cry. He sat down next to Meng Yanzhen, hugged one of Meng Yanzhen's arms and shed tears.

Seeing this, Zhao Fangyu hesitated whether to retreat to give the two sisters space to express their feelings.

Meng Yanzhen gently invited her to sit down.

The scent of gardenia burning in the air was sent by Zhao Fangyu, and the warm wine was lychee wine, which was Zhao Fangjin's favorite.

Meng Yanzhen looked at Zhao Fangjin who was crying without knowing anything in front of him with complicated feelings, and his eyes gradually became misty: "From now on, when my sister is not around, you can't cry casually."