Several days after the wedding, Jian Hantian returned to his duties. His urgent and important task at this time was overseeing the production of weapons from the hard-won Duanshen ore.
Long Yu Island had sent several experts in weapon production using Duanshen ore to supervise, so Jian Kingdom wouldn’t have to waste precious ore or their limited time on trial and error until they found the best formula. This lightened Jian Kingdom’s burden quite significantly.
While Qin Wang immersed himself in the weapons factory and military preparations, his Wangfei, Yang Xiuying, discovered there wasn’t much for her to do here—aside from managing accounts and trivial manor matters, along with receiving invitations to banquets hosted by high-ranking women in the capital.
“Hmm… should I attend these banquets?” Mo Fang watched her mistress casually flip through invitation after invitation, clearly not caring much about them.
“But just staying in the manor would be boring to death. In that case, I’ll go.” It seemed her mistress had chosen an invitation.
“This one says ‘Flower Viewing Banquet’? Looks like it’ll be a big event. I’ll take this one then.”
The flower viewing banquet that the new Qin Wangfei decided to attend was indeed a major event as she’d expected, because the hostess was the Empress. It was an event organized hoping to give young men and women of marriageable age a chance to meet or get to know each other—those young people being the unmarried sons and daughters of high-ranking nobility.
One could say it gathered all the important young masters and young ladies in the capital, and since it wasn’t an official court function, it was quite relaxed without strict ceremonies.
The event was held at the imperial garden on the city’s outskirts. The area was vast, fresh and cool, filled with trees and flowers of countless varieties. The atmosphere was perfectly suited for young people to admire each other amid beautiful nature.
Yang Xiuying attended this banquet alone, because her husband was only interested in military affairs and weapons day in and day out. Where would he have spare time to sit and view flowers? Or to speak frankly, those “flowers” were actually the beautiful young ladies blooming like blossoms.
When the unfamiliar woman in elegant light purple robes stepped down from Qin Wang Manor’s carriage, the eunuch serving as greeter at the garden entrance announced her name.
“Qin Wangfei has arriiiiived!”
Naturally, that announcement received overwhelming attention from the capital’s upper class. Everyone wanted to see her appearance with their own eyes, after only hearing rumors from citizens several days ago.
When Yang Xiuying walked into the main banquet area—where the Empress sat as hostess, along with the various wangs’ consorts, high-ranking officials’ wives, and some of their daughters—every gaze fixed on her.
Those who’d seen her before might not be too surprised, but those seeing her for the first time had to admit that Qin Wangfei’s face was truly beautiful beyond compare.
Even the beautiful Miss Ma was inferior in many ways, especially the atmosphere around her—it gave a feeling different from ordinary sheltered young ladies in a way that was hard to describe.
“This subject pays respects to the Empress.”
“Qin Wangfei, at ease. Come, sit here.” Ji Peishan, the current Empress, welcomed her with a friendly smile. She naturally knew about the conditions for purchasing Duanshen ore no less than her husband. Not only for this reason, but also because Yang Xiuying was the primary consort of Jian Hantian, who commanded hundreds of thousands of troops. Her son would need to rely on him for a secure position if he were to ascend the throne in the future.
Therefore, they absolutely had to befriend this Island Lord’s daughter. They couldn’t humiliate her, dishonor her, or hurt her feelings without good reason.
“The Empress is too kind.”
Qin Wangfei’s seat was closest to the Empress. Next came some of the wangs’ consorts attending the event, along with first and second-rank officials’ wives and their daughters.
Yang Xiuying swept her gaze around until it stopped on Chu Huiru, who was already glaring this way with eyes like burning flames. So she curved her lips in a mocking smile.
That expression made Chu Huiru want to lunge over and yank that wretched woman’s hair to teach her a lesson. But given the situation, she had to maintain her composure to avoid being humiliated as she had been several days ago.
‘Just wait. You won’t be acting so high and mighty for much longer.’
The Empress kindly made conversation with her new sister-in-law attentively, until seeing it was an appropriate time, she said.
“You must be bored having to sit and listen to old women like us complain. Today’s flower viewing has many activities for young people to join. This garden has many flower gardens and pavilions to rest, plus several lotus ponds. If you’d like to stroll and view the flowers, go ahead.”
Yang Xiuying’s ears perked up hearing that. She admitted that having to sit listening to these wives chat about this and that while laughing affectedly to flatter those in power was truly boring. So she didn’t refuse and excused herself from the main banquet hall.
But she hadn’t walked far when a sweet, clear voice rang out from behind.
“Greetings, Qin Wangfei.”
Yang Xiuying turned back to see a young lady about her age. That face was sweet and beautiful—hard to look away from.
“This subject is called Ma Xinyi. I’ve heard of Qin Wangfei’s renowned reputation for so long. It’s this subject’s good fortune to meet you today.”
This woman’s manner was delicate and lovely in every way, the picture of a sheltered young lady. But Yang Xiuying felt doubtful hearing this. She’d only just arrived in the capital less than a month ago. When had the woman before her heard any renowned reputation about her?
“Pleased to meet Miss Ma.”
“If Qin Wangfei doesn’t mind, may this subject follow along to view the flowers?”
That friendly manner left Yang Xiuying with no reason to refuse. So Qin Wangfei and Miss Ma—who was once acclaimed as the capital’s number one beauty—headed together toward another flower garden with their entourage.
Yang Xiuying listened with interest to the chattering woman beside her pointing out and introducing what this spot was and what that spot was, until nearing a certain fork in the path. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a maid carrying a beverage tray rushing straight toward them at high speed. Mo Fang saw it too and thought to block her, but was held back by her mistress grabbing her arm first.
That maid lunged into Qin Wangfei’s entourage, causing a large teapot to spill and splash onto both women leading the group.
“How insolent! How could you walk and bump into others like this? Do you know who you’ve hit?!”
That was the voice of the maid accompanying Ma Xinyi, making the offending maid quickly kneel with head bowed, trembling as she apologized.
Yang Xiuying looked at the scene before her and sighed in boredom.
“Never mind. It’s just a small accident. No need to make a fuss over it.”
When the highest-ranking person didn’t intend to pursue the matter, the maid bowed her head in thanks repeatedly, then stood up and volunteered to lead Qin Wangfei and Miss Ma—both half-soaked—to the guest residence to change clothes.
Yang Xiuying couldn’t help breaking into a fierce grin.
‘Thinking of pulling this trick on me? In that case, I’ll play along for a bit.’
***
And so, the group that had originally intended to tour the gardens changed direction toward the guest residence. When they reached another fork, the maid leading them split the two women to go different directions, claiming the guest residences were in different areas.
Naturally, Yang Xiuying played along, walking separately with the maid who’d gotten her wet. Now on this path, only she, Mo Fang, and the guiding maid remained.
When they reached the guest residence, the maid opened the door and invited Qin Wangfei to enter and change clothes inside. The moment the door closed, Mo Fang was struck on the back of the neck by a mysterious hand and collapsed, while Yang Xiuying had a white cloth pressed over her nose and mouth, knocking her unconscious as well.
Once both women were unconscious, a man in black appeared carrying Mo Fang’s unconscious form out through the back window. As for the guiding maid, she was about to open the door to leave the room as well.
Before her hand could reach the door latch, her neck was seized by strong, claw-like fingers and yanked around so suddenly she nearly fainted from shock.
“Now then, tell me properly—who ordered you to do this?”
What the maid saw was a woman with an exquisitely beautiful face like a celestial maiden, but her wicked grin made her feel as if she were staring at a demon.
“This… this servant knows nothing!”
“Know nothing?” Yang Xiuying didn’t waste words, pulling out a pill from her waist sash and immediately stuffing it into that maid’s mouth. She even squeezed her throat and shook her to make the pill go down quickly.
“Koff koff koff”
“What you just swallowed is Festering Rot poison. If you don’t get the antidote within one shichen[1], red boils will erupt all over every cun[2] of your body—on your skin and inside your organs. Then they’ll burst into pus until you’re unrecognizable. Even if someone finds your corpse, they won’t be able to identify you.”
Yang Xiuying’s eyes swept downward.
“Look… it’ll start from your arms, then spread to your neck, face, and all over your body.”
That maid quickly raised her arms to look, and indeed found several large red boils erupting on both arms. What kind of poison was this, taking effect so quickly?!
“This servant will tell! Miss Ma… and Li Wangfei ordered this servant to bring you here!”
[1] Shichen (時辰) – A traditional Chinese time unit equal to two hours. One day consists of twelve shichen.
[2] Cun (寸) – A traditional Chinese unit of measurement, approximately 3.33 centimeters or 1.3 inches. Used to measure small lengths.
Author’s Note:
A royal banquet without a villainous scheme is just a boring dinner. Luckily, Qin Wangfei is here and she’s practically begging for someone to start something. Her hands are itching for a fight.
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