The cousin is beautiful but ruthless.

Li Huaijiang stared at the bowl of soup, twitched her lips, and threw the spoon in with a clatter, a hint of disgust flashing in her eyes.

Sitting next to her, Wang Yan could naturally sense Li Huaijiang's emotions.

She pursed her lips and whispered what she had seen to Li Huaijiang.

Li Huaijiang's eyes were indifferent, and she only uttered an "oh".

Wang Yan asked in confusion, "Cousin, aren't you going to help her?"

Li Huaijiang picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks and said with a smile, "I can't help your cousin with everything, I'm not a good person."

Wang Yan sighed; she was finding it increasingly difficult to understand what Li Huaijiang was saying.

"You don't need to know these things, just do your own thing."

Li Huaijiang gave another instruction.

Wang Yan knew this, but helping Shen Hanyu this time was truly an accident.

Li Huaijiang glanced at Zhou Yurong, and she knew all too well what Zhou Yurong was thinking.

The atmosphere at the banquet gradually became lively, but it wasn't time for them to perform yet.

Shen Hanyu ate a few bites and then stopped touching the dishes on the table. Miao Cui whispered a few words in Shen Hanyu's ear, and Shen Hanyu nodded.

Pei Du had been keeping an eye on Shen Hanyu's situation, and he had just noticed something was wrong. The Crown Prince was indeed still unwilling to give up, but he didn't know how many other people were involved.

The matter concerning Shen Hanyu has not yet been investigated, and since it involves the Crown Prince, he cannot make it too obvious.

Liang Ruochu got up and left. Since it wasn't her turn to perform, it gave her time to do her own thing.

After Liang Ruochu left, a maid followed her.

Xu Ying didn't know what Liang Ruochu was going to do today. She was dealing with the other ladies, who, seeing that Liang Ruoyan and Li Jun had no chance, came over one by one to openly or subtly mock the mother and daughter.

Liang Ruoyan remained silent, her initial enthusiasm for performing waning somewhat.

Shaking off the other ladies, Xu Ying said to Liang Ruoyan, "You still need to perform well, do you hear me?"

"Mother, things are already like this, wouldn't it be ridiculous for me to go again?"

Xu Ying was angry at his lack of ambition; he had only suffered a loss with Li Jun, and now he looked like a wilted eggplant.

"The Crown Prince is here today, so you should listen to me."

Liang Ruoyan was stunned for a moment, then understood what Xu Ying meant.

"But I..."

"Do you still have a choice?" Xu Ying asked, looking at her.

Liang Ruoyan fell silent.

"What about the Founding Duke's Mansion? Didn't Mother say that besides the Third Prince, the Founding Duke's Mansion is the best?"

Xu Ying became somewhat angry when the name of the Founding Duke's Mansion was mentioned.

"The manor is in chaos right now. Pei Du has left, and it's still unknown who will inherit the position. I don't want to gamble on it."

Given the ugly conflict between Pei Du and the Duke's mansion, and Pei Xingzhi's awkward position, Xu Ying is not considering either of them.

Liang Ruoyan felt a little wronged, but she really had no choice. She had to perform well today.

"Good child, don't worry, your mother will definitely deal with those two people for you."

After hearing Xu Ying's words, Liang Ruoyan felt a little better.

She got up to prepare; she wasn't really in the mood to play the piano, so she decided to go dance.

Shen Hanyu was going to play the zither. As the performers on stage left one by one, it was almost time to go to their manor.

"Let's go, let's get ready."

Shen Hanyu stood up, a glint of light flashing in her eyes.

Liang Sihan was a little excited the moment he saw Shen Hanyu leave. He rubbed his stomach and said to Liang Chengli with a pained expression, "Father, my stomach is not feeling well. I'll go out for a bit."

Liang Chengli couldn't stop him, and Liang Sihan disappeared in a flash.

“This child…” Liang Chengli withdrew his hand, looking at Liang Sihan, who didn’t seem to have a stomachache.

As Shen Hanyu walked out, the little maid who had been serving Wei Ming ran over, looking anxious.

"Miss Shen, our young lady has gone missing!"

Wei Ming has disappeared?

Shen Hanyu looked at her and then said, "Miaocui, find someone to take her to General Wei and Madam Yang. We'll go find Wei Ming."

The maid was stunned for a moment, then saw the people behind Shen Hanyu coming over and were forcibly dragged away.

"Miss, is Miss Wei really gone?"

Shen Hanyu chuckled: "How could that be? If Wei Ming really hadn't disappeared, why would that maid be looking for me? She should have been scared to death and gone back to find General Wei and Madam Yang."

Not only did they search for her, but they also sneaked out on her usual route. Their motives were too obvious, and anyone could tell at a glance. This was exactly Liang Sihan and Liang Ruochu's style of doing things, leaving no room for error.

It's disgusting to always use Wei Ming as a scapegoat.

Wei Ming will not be in danger. Her people have already spoken to General Wei and Madam Yang. As for her, she'll just have to see how this charade unfolds.

Shen Hanyu had just finished speaking when several more maids arrived.

"Has Miss Shen seen Miss Wei?"

Shen Hanyu shook her head.

"Miss Shen, could you help us look for it?"

Shen Hanyu looked troubled.

"But it's my turn to perform soon, and it wouldn't be good if I was delayed."

The maid was puzzled. Wasn't it said that Shen Hanyu and Wei Ming had a good relationship? She thought that Shen Hanyu would immediately believe them and go to Wei Ming if she found out, but she never expected it to be like this.

As the atmosphere became tense, someone shouted, "We've found Miss Wei!"

Shen Hanyu looked up but didn't see Wei Mingren. Instead, someone ran up to her.

"Miss Wei was frightened and refused to leave that area, this..."

Their words were a subtle hint for Shen Hanyu to go and take a look. Shen Hanyu stopped teasing them and said she would go and see for herself.

Seeing that Shen Hanyu had left, the group breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief.

Miao Cui kept a close eye on her surroundings. They had made preparations in advance, so they weren't afraid of anything happening.

When they arrived in front of the room, the maids all stopped.

"Miss Wei is inside."

Shen Hanyu had a look on her face that said, "Do you think I'm that easy to fool?" and then pushed open the door and went in.

Shen Hanyu took a damp handkerchief from her sleeve and covered her mouth and nose. The door was slammed shut. The maids outside exchanged glances and hurried over to report the news.

The room was quiet. Shen Hanyu frowned because the damp cloth blocked the smell, so she could only smell a very faint scent of Wushi San.

Liang Sihan's methods are indeed the same as before.

"cousin."

Liang Sihan appeared, her gaze sweeping back and forth over Shen Hanyu.

He was walking unsteadily, clearly affected by the Five-Stone Powder, and it seems the dosage was quite high.

Shen Hanyu sneered, "It's easier to deal with someone who's not fully conscious."

Liang Sihan lunged at Shen Hanyu, but Miaocui kicked him over and then knocked him unconscious with a backhand chop.

Shen Hanyu stomped on Liang Sihan's face twice and chased her away forcefully.

"Cousin, you must keep the surprise I have for you safe."

After saying that, Shen Hanyu led Miaocui out of the window. Miaocui took out some face powder and sprinkled it on their clothes to remove the smell of the Five-Stone Powder.

After doing all this, Shen Hanyu went back to get her zither.

When Liang Ruochu returned to her seat, her heart was pounding. Calculating the time, Liang Sihan should have succeeded by now.

Shen Hanyu, please don't blame me.

Liang Ruochu closed her eyes and prayed.