What to do if you receive the wrong package?

After returning to the Prince's mansion, the group intended to head straight to the front hall to exchange the information they had gathered.

He was stopped by Feng Ting after only a few steps.

"Your Highness, Prince Ning has just been summoned to the palace again. He asked me to tell you that we should wait for his return to make a decision."

Duan Chenke nodded, indicating that he understood.

He couldn't help but raise his hand and rub his temples. He seemed to have guessed why his elder brother had been summoned to the palace. He feared that when his brother returned, he would have a stern and gloomy expression.

The group had barely sat down in the front hall and exchanged a few words when Su Xinian woke up from his chair.

"Um... Sister Hong!"

Only after shouting did he realize that he had already returned to the Prince's Mansion, with not only Xuan Yi and Jiang Si by his side, but also his fourth brother Duan Chenke and Jian Yuheng.

Su Xinian shrank back, her eyes darting away.

"Fourth Brother..."

Looking at Su Xinian's pitiful little face, Duan Chenke couldn't get angry directly, so he could only sigh silently and say, "Next time, if you want to go, just tell me directly. Don't act on your own."

"Yes. I understand." Su Xinian rubbed her still sore neck, sat up straight in the chair, and listened carefully to the conversation, afraid of missing a single piece of news about Sister Hong.

Jiang Si noticed Su Xinian's urgency and immediately took out the item Xiao Hong had given him from his pocket and handed it to Duan Chenke.

"This was given to me by Little Red Girl before I left."

When Duan Chenke opened it, he saw that the small square cloth was covered with dense writing. The handwriting at the beginning was relatively elegant and neat, but it became more and more messy towards the end, which showed that Xiao Hong had less and less time to record.

Upon hearing that it belonged to Xiao Hong, Su Xinian couldn't sit still any longer. He stood directly behind Duan Chenke and carefully examined every word on the square cloth.

Duan Chenke couldn't stand Su Xinian's intense gaze, so after reading it, he handed the cloth directly to him.

"You can keep Little Red's things for now, don't lose them."

"Okay! I promise I won't lose it." Su Xinian hugged Fang Bu excitedly, quickly walked back to her seat, and started reading again.

Xuan Yi was surprised that Su Xinian, despite his young age, had such deep feelings for Xiao Hong, and couldn't help but smile at Duan Chenke:

"Oh, I didn't realize your brother was such a romantic."

Duan Chenke was both amused and exasperated by Su Xinian's expression, so he changed the subject and quickly told the others the information on the cloth.

"The cloth document describes how Xiao Hong was captured. It was indeed a group of men in black who took her away. There were seven or eight other girls captured with her. However, she had a problem with her throat, and her voice was particularly hoarse and unpleasant. In addition, she was a good cook and very strong, so she was lucky enough to stay in the kitchen."

"Some people in Mengci Nunnery were in cahoots with the men in black. Those who refused to submit or tried to escape were all killed by the men in black with a single sword strike. The captured girls were disguised as nuns in Mengci Nunnery, and they were all drugged with some kind of drug, so they couldn't speak or express themselves, like wooden figures."

"Finally, Little Red Girl also wrote that apart from herself and an old cook, the other thirteen people in the kitchen of Mengci Nunnery were all thugs. There was also a hidden squad of men in black, and an old woman would come by carriage every few days. Every time the old woman came, the thugs in the kitchen would work extra hard."

After Duan Chenke finished speaking, the hall fell silent.

After a while, Xuan Yi chuckled and said, "I didn't expect that the little Mengci Nunnery would have accomplices of men in black. I'm getting more and more curious about the origins of these men in black."

Jiang Si took out the poisoned dart wrapped in white cloth from his pocket and examined it carefully.

Xuan Yi asked, "What did you see?"

Jiang Si looked up at Xuan Yi, and asked with some doubt, "Did you notice the black cat that appeared last night?"

Xuan Yi paused, then shook his head.

"If that's the case, how could the captain spot the black cat if he could spot us?"

"..." Xuan Yi was stumped by the question.

Xuan Yi glanced at Su Xinian again and continued, "Moreover, at that time, Young Master Su was so scared that his breathing was disordered. If you paid a little attention, you could have found his location. But the captain in black not only didn't let them search, but also... covered for us."

"Conceal? Are you sure?" Duan Chenke was somewhat shocked by Jiang Si's conjecture.

"If it weren't for the cover-up, I wouldn't know what this captain in black was up to."

"This is getting interesting. This is getting more and more fun." Xuan Yi's lips curled up slightly.

Jian Yuheng looked at Xuan Yi, who seemed to enjoy the drama, and suddenly felt a headache coming on. "Palace Master Xuan, have you found any clues about the person who delivered the vegetables to Mengci Nunnery?"

Xuan Yi replied, "Yes, we found him. He's just an ordinary vegetable farmer, nothing unusual about him."

"So what do we do next?" Jian Yuheng asked, glancing at Duan Chenke.

Without hesitation, Duan Chenke said, "Of course, we should take them all down. Regardless of whether those girls have been poisoned or cursed, we must at least rescue them from Mengci Nunnery first."

"Don't rush," Xuan Yi suddenly interjected, "Before I left, I gave Xiao Hong a poison to put in the food in the nunnery. This poison is colorless and odorless. After taking it for a period of time, it can make people weak and powerless."

"How long will it take?" Duan Chenke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It will be effective in three to five days."

"Okay, then let's wait a few more days and use those days to discuss a detailed plan."

After a long night out, Xuan Yi was a little hungry. Looking at the group still discussing, he casually said, "No problem, there's no rush. Why don't we go grab a bite to eat first?"

The group had intended to wait for the young ladies to have dinner together, but upon learning that Gu Yan and the others had not yet gotten up, they had no choice but to go to the small flower hall first.

After listening to these people's stories, Gu Yan and his companions never expected that they could uncover so much information in just one night.

A bit awesome.

Zhou Yuran replied without hesitation, "The matter at Mengci Nunnery is almost resolved. What about Shaolin Temple? What's the situation there?"

Upon hearing Yueya's question, Gu Yan suddenly thought of Qin Miao'er from Shaolin Temple and quickly chimed in, "That's right. If we only target Mengci Nunnery, what if the thieves from Shaolin Temple get wind of it and disappear?"

Jian Yuheng said, "Don't worry, both of you. Prince Ning is guarding Shaolin Temple with the Dali Temple. Any disturbance will be detected immediately."

After listening to Jian Yuheng's explanation, Gu Yan and the others nodded. Since the Prince of Ning and the Dali Temple were in charge of Shaolin Temple, they decided not to meddle.

In the following days, Xuan Yi and the others went out to investigate almost every night. The girls were also busy. During the day, they pretended to be tourists visiting Mengci Nunnery and Shaolin Temple, and then exchanged information they had found during breakfast the next day.

On the morning of the fifth day, Xuan Yi and the others had just finished discussing their plans to sneak into Mengci Nunnery under the guise of delivering vegetables the next day, and were about to go back to their rooms to catch up on sleep, when they saw Prince Ning storm in through the front door.

Gu Yan was so frightened by the anger emanating from Prince Ning that he couldn't help but take a few steps back. "Why does Prince Ning's face look worse every day? Hasn't there been a major breakthrough in the matter of the Marquis of Anping's residence?"

"Is it possible that there's another possibility?" Zhou Yuran murmured as she leaned closer to Gu Yan.

"Hmm? It seems you know something again!" Hua Yin was also drawn to Zhou Yuran's attention.

"Tell me already! Stop keeping me in suspense!" Gu Yan urged.

Zhou Yuran naturally dared not openly discuss his gossip in front of Prince Ning. She could only grab the girls, curtly bow, and take her leave before hurrying back to her room.

"I can speak now."

"I heard it from the news. Her Majesty the Empress is planning to hold a 'Feast of Beauty' these days, which will summon all the unmarried women from various noble families to the palace. She plans to hold a matchmaking event for Prince Ning and Prince Rui. It seems to be at the end of this month, just a few days away."

"What? A matchmaking event? Is the Empress the matchmaker? Why can't she do anything else but play matchmaker?" Hua Yin was speechless, really not understanding why the Empress was so happy to act as a matchmaker.

"Really? Who told you that?" Gu Yan scratched her head. They were all together, so why hadn't she heard anything?

“Of course it’s His Highness the Prince of Chu. Although I’m at the Prince of Chu’s residence, the Fang family received an invitation, so they had no choice but to send it to the Prince of Chu’s residence.” Zhou Yuran said as she took out a small and exquisite invitation from her bosom.

"Good heavens, no wonder it's a royal product. Look at the gold trim on the post; it almost blinded me when the sunlight hit it." Gu Yan carefully picked up a corner of the post, afraid of damaging it; she couldn't afford to pay for it.

"No wonder Prince Ning always had such a dark face. It must be quite frustrating to not be able to make decisions about his own marriage." Hua Yin said, feeling a sense of shared misery.

"Wait a minute," Gu Yan suddenly thought of something, "Sister Lin has always liked Prince Ning! She'll definitely be included in this invitation. What if the Empress gets carried away and betroths Prince Ning to a princess on the spot? Sister Lin would be devastated."

"Do you think Prince Ning will obediently listen and readily accept the Empress's arranged marriage?" Hua Yin asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Not everyone is like that fool Jian Yuheng, who accepted a marriage bestowed by the Empress without hesitation.”

"Haha, Hua Bao, your words carry a bit of personal resentment," Shen Mujin patted her shoulder to comfort her.

"Think about it another way. If you hadn't already been betrothed, you probably would have received an invitation to this banquet as well, and you might have been betrothed to Prince Ning or Prince Rui. It would have been better to betrothed to the heir apparent."

“I agree.” Gu Yan raised his hand in agreement. “We should try to avoid getting involved with the royal family as much as possible. After all, they are at the top of the power structure, and killing us is as easy as killing an ant.”

"Sigh. Stop talking, Ayan." Zhou Yuran slumped onto the stone bench, covering her ears and shaking her head.

"If you keep talking, I feel this isn't the Feast of the Flying Swan, but the Feast at Hongmen."

Gu Yan analyzed, "If you ask me, you should cling to Sister Lin's coattails. After all, she comes from the Marshal's Mansion, and given her relationship with Prince Ning, the Empress should still have some reservations."

Zhou Yuran, her face beaming with delight, pondered, "Great idea! I'll write a visiting card to Miss Lin in a bit! I remember Miss Lin told us before that she wanted to tell us some different gossip. It just so happens that His Highness and the others won't be here tomorrow, so let's go find Miss Lin tomorrow."

Gu Yan: "Sure. The Lin residence is definitely safe. We can take the little ones with us, and we can also have Feng Ting and Yu Bai help A Si and the others."

"Tsk tsk, things are different when you have a man. Before, you only had eyes for us, but now you only have eyes for A-Si~" Zhou Yuran glanced at Gu Yan and said sourly.

"That's right~" Gu Yan said smugly as he reached out and put his arm around Shen Mujin. "You single people don't understand the joy of us aristocrats in love."

"Don't drag me into this mess," Shen Mujin said with a laugh, swatting Gu Yan's hand away.

Gu Yan didn't care at all and continued to say with a smile, "Otherwise, Yueya, if you put in a little effort at the Feast of the Startling Swan, besides Prince Ning, there's also Prince Rui, right? Try to win over Prince Rui."

"Stop!" Zhou Yuran raised her hand to make a stop gesture. "You just said to stay away from the royal family, but you turned around and pushed me into a fire pit. Don't you know that Prince Rui is the Empress's biological son? Marrying Prince Rui is not as good as marrying Prince Chu. Prince Chu is a hundred times better than him."

"It's not impossible, after all, you live here, so you have the advantage of being close to the water!"

The girls chatted and laughed in the courtyard. Zhou Yuran took the opportunity, with everyone's "help," to write a visiting card and then asked her bodyguard, Xiao Yi, to deliver it to the Lin residence.

After receiving the invitation, Xiao Yi skillfully went to the study. He first recounted the conversation between the girls in great detail, and then took out the invitation card and handed it to the King of Chu.

The King of Chu listened quietly to Xiao Yi's description. He did not feel any aversion; on the contrary, a strange emotion welled up within him, and he was even somewhat happy.

He silently suppressed the "abnormality" in his heart, returned the visiting card to Xiao Yi, and indicated that he could go and deliver the letter as usual.

That afternoon, Zhou Yuran received a reply from Lin Bihua, who not only invited them to visit the Lin residence the next day, but also invited Miss Fang to attend the "Amazing Banquet" with her.

Zhou Yueran stated in response that

She must be very protective of Lin Bihua!