The Vicious Woman and the White Moonlight are both me - Chapter 16

Seeing that one lady speak, another lady immediately said, “This humble woman is foolish and learns things slowly, only begging Your Majesty to guide my daughter today.”

The flattering words had reached this point, and then, naturally, the main topic was about to begin.

It might involve those noble family young ladies displaying their own embroidery and receiving the Empress’s evaluation or impromptu poems and dances using Qixi as a theme, which shows their own talent.

And these obvious purposes are princes looking at noble family girls; the real purpose, however, was for all the princes to unite and plot against Pei Chengyun and a certain noble lady.

The ladies showered the Empress with praise, making her feel incredibly flattered.

This kind of being highly lifted feeling was simply exhilarating!

Evan Song Zhaoyan, only an emperor’s foster daughter, is also enjoying this feeling immensely!

Evan Song Zhaoyan, only an emperor fostered daughter, she also enjoying this feeling immensely!

Empress heart just thought of Song Zhaoyan, next moment, just heard door at eunuch loudly call: “Princess Zhaohua has arrived!”

Hearing these words, Empress’s slightly raised mouth corner immediately froze, her pupils even sharply contracted.

“Truly very lively! But such an interesting banquet, why not wait for me to come and then start?”

The person has not yet arrived; Song Zhaoyan’s arrogant voice had already sounded, spreading from far to near into everyone’s ears in the hall.

Just now still focused on Empress’s gaze, next moment, all converged at the door, on that Princess Zhaohua who received myriad favors!

Seeing Song Zhaoyan appear at that moment, Empress’s expression immediately darkened, even her eyebrows and eyes became sharp.

Empress naturally felt dissatisfied in her heart, but if she spoke out, it would appear too lacking in magnanimity.

But words of blame also could not come from some minister’s wife, after all, even if Song Zhaoyan was impolite, she was still the emperor’s beloved princess; she is the ruler, they are subjects.

Thus, such a difficult issue fell upon one of the consorts in the Empress’s camp.

“Princess Zhaohua truly has a grand manner, but it wasn’t intentional that I didn’t wait for you; the time had come, so the banquet started. However you are late… Could it be that your palace attendants were lazy in their duties, which caused you to misjudge the hour and arrive tardily? If so, Princess Zhaohua must be properly reprimanded upon returning!”

These words were said skillfully, on one hand speaking for the Empress, blaming Song Zhaoyan, but without directly pushing responsibility onto Song Zhaoyan, instead saying her palace attendants were negligent.

Song Zhaoyan raised her eyes to look at the speaking palace consort. That consort looked young, no older than the Empress’s second princess, likely recently entered the palace, unable to form a faction in the harem, only able to become a pawn forced to take sides.

Song Zhaoyan glanced at her, then in a calm tone said, “It is not that the palace attendants were negligent; rather, a few days ago I accidentally fell into water, my body is unwell, father specially instructed me to rest well. Today, I wished to come earlier but did not expect to feel unwell from waking early. Remembering father said health is important, so I delayed a bit. I suppose Your Majesty the Empress—would not blame me, right?”

The matter of Song Zhaoyan falling into the water-many court ladies had already heard of it, after all, there is no wall in this world that does not leak, and on top of that, those who disliked Song Zhaoyan secretly took pleasure in her misfortune, so many people knew about this incident.

They also heard that Song Zhaoyan had found the culprit yet were puzzled that she did not take the person’s life.

Such an embarrassing matter, they thought Song Zhaoyan would be very cautious about it, yet unexpectedly she spoke of it herself.

Speaking, Song Zhaoyan shifted her slightly provocative gaze from that consort to the Empress at the center of the hall.

And facing the completely unceremonious and unruly Princess Zhaohua, the other court ladies shook their heads and sighed in their hearts.

However, since Song Zhaoyan had spoken like this, who would dare ignorantly continue staring at her tardiness? They could only give up.

“Enough! Since you have arrived, then sit!”

The Empress finally spoke, pushing forward today’s topic with a commanding posture.

Song Zhaoyan then leisurely walked to her seat and sat down, and as she moved, everyone finally noticed that behind her, besides the palace attendants, there was another person following.

Who is this person? Everyone was very curious, all showing curiosity as they looked at the figure, and finally a palace maid beside the Empress spoke: “Ninth Prince, your seat is here!”

At this address, everyone was once again astonished.

Ninth Prince? That prince with an extremely low presence? His biological mother of low status, even harboring ill intentions and bearing a dragon heir, is now the son of Zhang Caiyu sent to guard the imperial mausoleum?

The most crucial thing is, it is said that the last time Princess Zhaohua fell into the water, the one who pushed her was him!

Truly strange, Song Zhaoyan did not let His Majesty punish the Ninth Prince, and today she actually brought the Ninth Prince to attend the banquet. What exactly does Princess Zhaohua want to do?

Questions aside, what made them feel even more off was the Ninth Prince’s appearance.

The ladies, young ladies, and young masters were not attending a palace banquet for the first time; they had also seen the Ninth Prince before; in their memories, he was clearly a skinny, small, poorly dressed boy.

But today, at first glance, the Ninth Prince had grown taller, and now this attire made him appear extremely noble, in no way inferior to the other princes.

However, the confusion did not last long; soon someone guessed that this entire outfit of the Ninth Prince was all done by Princess Zhaohua.

But why was Princess Zhaohua treating the Ninth Prince so well? Could it be just because of the rumor that Zhang Caiyu resembled her own mother, so she felt affection toward the Ninth Prince?

But thinking of Princess Zhaohua’s reputation in the past, this guess did not hold up.

Perhaps Princess Zhaohua herself knew her reputation was not good, and all this kindness toward the Ninth Prince was deliberately done to show outsiders. Who knew how much grievance the Ninth Prince suffered in private?

After all, when humiliating other princes and princesses, they had their mothers or consorts to rely on, who could whisper in His Majesty’s ear; no matter how much the emperor favored them, it might still have some influence.

But humiliating the Ninth Prince, who had no one to rely on, there was no one to stand up for him.

However, these deep palace secrets were not matters that ministers could interfere in, let alone outsiders to investigate.

Song Zhaoyan, with a calm demeanor, lightly waved a round fan with her delicate jade hand and said, “No need for Aunt Qiu Sui to worry, Ninth Brother seldom attends such banquets and is very shy; it is enough for him to sit beside me.”

It seemed like a deep sibling bond, yet many who knew the inside story were filled with disdain; outwardly she was being good to her brother, but in reality she was even more unscrupulous in humiliating him. They could not help but silently judge Song Zhaoyan as hypocritical.

The Empress also did not bother to waste more time on Song Zhaoyan, tacitly allowing her words, so Pei Shen sat diagonally behind Song Zhaoyan.

Suddenly becoming the focus naturally made Pei Shen feel uneasy, but he could not control it and could only silently endure.

Soon, the banquet resumed its main theme, with young ladies of noble families showcasing their talents.

Although before transmigrating, Song Zhaoyan had also watched many marvelous dances on television and could listen to world-famous works at any time. Actually, watching in person was still an entirely different experience.

After several young ladies had performed, Song Zhaoyan cleared her throat and took the initiative to speak.

“Your Majesty the Empress, for this banquet, I also specially made some little trinkets. Today I wish to ask Your Majesty to take a look and kindly give some guidance.”

Truly, the sun has risen from the west—Song Zhaoyan actually spoke to the Empress so politely and pleasantly.

Not only were Song Zhaoyan’s words surprising, but the Empress was even more astonished that Song Zhaoyan could actually do any handiwork. It was almost unbelievable. Perhaps she had taken the palace maids’ work and pretended it was her own?

However, she did not ruin Song Zhaoyan’s face and smiled, asking her to present them.

Soon, Xuezhi brought forward a tray on which several small pouches were arranged.

The items were placed before the Empress. She picked one up and examined it. If she were to be completely honest, the stitching was not exquisite at all—at best, it could be considered average. But of course, the Empress would not say this directly.

“These are not bad; it shows Zhaohua’s effort.”

Seeing the Empress say this, Song Zhaoyan’s heart was naturally filled with joy. She immediately added, with a hint of shyness, “After Your Majesty has looked, perhaps you could also show a few of my elder brothers and sisters. If they like any, they may choose one to keep as a small token of my affection for this festival.”

Faced with Song Zhaoyan’s unusually gentle demeanor, especially upon hearing this sentence, everyone finally understood.

She was not intending to give gifts to the others—this was all a performance for Pei Chengyun.

And the so-called “token of affection” was merely an excuse to give something to Pei Chengyun.

Whether the others took Song Zhaoyan’s gifts or not was naturally of no concern, but if everyone else took one and Pei Chengyun did not, such obvious disdain would be a direct insult to Song Zhaoyan in front of everyone.

Moreover, today, with so many outsiders present, even though everyone knew Princess Zhaohua’s usual temperament, they still had to give her face.

So, Sixth Princess Pei Yarong spoke first, choosing a pink pouch.

Once the first was taken, naturally there would be a second and a third. Song Zhaoyan had prepared them for the other princes and princesses but had not prepared one for Pei Shen behind her.

Others could not help but wonder whether he had already received one beforehand or if she had not planned to give him one at all.

Pei Shen, however, did not care in the slightest, while Song Zhaoyan, full of joy, turned her gaze toward Pei Chengyun, watching him choose a pouch and hold it in his hand. Only then did she shyly use her round fan to quickly cover her face.

With this little interlude over, several young ladies performed their displays.

The talents were impressive, and Song Zhaoyan did not forget the main purpose. She had already locked her attention on a certain person in the crowd—that was the heroine of this world—Zhan Xinyue!

Since she was the heroine, naturally at such a banquet she had to be a dazzling presence.

But Song Zhaoyan quietly watched for a long time and still did not see Zhan Xinyue’s performance; the other girl even twisted and fidgeted uncomfortably, her face full of unease.

Song Zhaoyan could not help but sigh. She had a system, yet it was worse than having none. Not only could she not know all the plots in advance, she also could not unlock them on time!