While the Dowager Consort and the Second Young Mistress were paving the way for their preferred candidate for the next prince, Wei Mengying couldn't have time to fight for her son. The current mother-in-law and wife of her ex-husband came for her now. To be honest, such an embarra.s.sing thing was rarely seen.

However, the Lu Family was somewhat closely related to the Crown Prince. Due to his long-lasting illness, Emperor Xianjia loved the Crown Prince very much. The last thing he wanted to see was that the officials thought little of the Crown Prince. Even Wei Mengying was a princess consort, she must hold back the disgruntlement and braced up to receive these two honorable guests.

"The Dowager Consort always dislikes me. Now Madam Huang has come here for me with Madam Lu. Regardless, they should go to meet the Dowager Consort first and probably speak ill of me by then." Wei Mengying sent her servants to ask about but nothing was harvested. Even though she was smart enough, she couldn't help feeling agitated, "What do you think they are up to? Do they intend to take Yixiao back again?"

While she said that, her eyes became grim. How dare they desire to reap where they didn't sow?

Were the Lu Family insane?

Not only she thought so but also Ms. Bo believed that they couldn't do that, "Her Ladys.h.i.+p has been raised by you for so many years and you are her birth mother. Even though they are Her Ladys.h.i.+p's seniors legally, they haven't done anything good for Her Ladys.h.i.+p. On what grounds can they ask for that?"

"That they two come here doesn't mean that they are the ringleaders!" Wei Mengying put on a resentful look, "Madam Pang is such an evil! I'm afraid that she will pretend to be ill again! She just loves playing this kind of trick... I wish that she could just rot in h.e.l.l!

"Her Majesty the Empress Dowager gave Madam Pang a warning back that year. How dare the Song Family disobey Her Majesty's order? Even if Madam Pang is really ill and wants to see Her Ladys.h.i.+p, the Song Family won't dare to make the request! Moreover, I haven't heard of anything about the Song Family." Ms. Bo shook her head and seemed hesitant, "I just feel..."

"Hum?"

"The Lu Family is close to the Crown Prince. Now that Madam Huang pays us a visit with her daughter regardless of people's words, is it also because of the Crown Prince?"

Wei Mengying was astonished, "How is it possible? The Crown Prince... He is such a highly respected man! Yixiao is exceptional indeed, but how can she have met the Crown Prince?"

"The feast of Shangsi Festival this year!" Ms. Bo reminded her, "The feast that Her Ladys.h.i.+p attended was the one held in the Zhanchun Venue of Commandery Princess Qingjiang. That place has been well-known since the previous dynasty! Although it has been given to Commandery Princess Qingjiang by His Majesty, the members of the imperial clan and Her Highness also sojourn there sometimes. When the Crown Prince was staying there, maybe... The venue is so big that Her Ladys.h.i.+p doesn't even know about it!"

Her guess seemed to be whimsical, but it kind of made sense. Madam Huang and Madam Lu were not very high-cla.s.s, but with the backing of the Crown Prince, even the empress also showed respect for them. What could force them to do so?

Anyhow, it was most likely that this matter was related to the patron of the Lu Family, the Crown Prince!

Wei Mengying couldn't help feeling excited, "If Yixiao can really marry the Crown Prince..."

"But since His Highness the Crown Prince orders the Lu Family to do this, obviously he must think highly of them." Ms. Bo said, "They can deal with such private affairs for His Highness the Crown Prince, which shows how the Lu Family is regarded by His Highness..."

If this was true, they must be careful with receiving the Lu Family.

Otherwise, Song Yixiao would make enemies of her before she was married to the Crown Prince!

"By right Madam Lu is also Yixiao's mother. I am more than happy to have one more person to love my daughter. Why would I conflict with her?" The reason why Wei Mengying felt flurried was that she was not sure of what Madam Huang and Madam Lu were up to. Now that she had a clue, she calmed herself down quickly and then whisked the front of her clothes, saying with a smile, "I am not that kind of unreasonable person."

After all, if her daughter was married to the Crown Prince and wanted to stabilize her position, she would need the Lu Family to do the favor!

Wei Mengying didn't worry at all whether Song Yixiao would be coaxed by the Lu Family into siding with them. She believed that she had treated her daughter well over the past six years but Song Yixiao still only cared about herself regardless of her brother's prospect. As her mother, Wei Mengying didn't know how to deal with such an ungrateful daughter, let alone Madam Lu, who was not Song Yixiao's birth mother and didn't spend a day with her at all!

"When I confirm this later, I must teach Yixiao how to win the Lu Family over by any means. She can't let go of this great helper! Moreover, now that the Crown Prince has got the Crown Princess, it is not easy for her to be a concubine!" Wei Mengying narrowed her eyes, "Of course, most importantly, she must win the favor from the Crown Prince. If she cannot even serve her husband well, what else can she do?"

Before teaching her daughter, Wei Mengying must make peace with her first. She thought to herself, "My dear daughter, if I knew that you might be able to be an imperial concubine, I would definitely not set you up with those insignificant people."

While Wei Mengying was looking forward to the future, Madam Huang and Madam Lu finally arrived.

To her relief, the Dowager Consort refused to meet the two guests on the ground of not feeling well. She only asked her maid Lanhui to tell Wei Mengying to receive the guests.

"This old woman is not that nice to let go of me!" Upon hearing the message, Wei Mengying was pondering while treating Madam Huang and Madam Lu to tea, "She may really not feel well... If only she could be really seriously ill and never recovered! Without her backing, Lu Guanlun can never compete with my son!"

She cursed the Dowager Consort in her heart. Wei Mengying was anxious to testify Ms. Bo's guess so when Madam Huang and Madam Lu took a sip of the tea and put down the tea bowl, she asked with pretended confusion, "Please allow me to come straight to the point. We barely know each other. Now that you've come here on your own, may I know why?"

"It is rude of us to come here today indeed! Please forgive us!" Madam Huang apologized, "When my daughter got married, we heard that Song Yuan had a daughter who was elegant and graceful. However, we haven't got to meet her since my daughter was married to the Song Family. Afterwards, we learn that Her Ladys.h.i.+p has been raised in the prince's mansion. Given that you are the birth mother as well as the princess consort, my daughter can never do better than you in raising Her Ladys.h.i.+p. Hence, we didn't dare to disturb you before!"

Her words were well organized. Firstly, she pointed out that when Song Yixiao left the Song Family, Madam Lu was not married to Song Yuan yet. Therefore, they held no grudge against Wei Mengying. Secondly, she a.s.serted that Wei Mengying was a princess consort as well as the birth mother of Song Yixiao. Therefore, Wei Mengying must be more reliable than Song Yixiao's stepmother, which kind of explained why Madam Lu didn't show any concern for Song Yixiao.

Wei Mengying heard her out with a smile, "You haven't talked of why you are here yet."

"We come here not for any special purpose. Now I have a daughter too. When I think of Yixiao, who has been away from home for many years, I feel really guilty for not taking care of her at all!" A step-wife was always inferior to the first legitimate wife. Even though Wei Mengying was remarried, Madam Lu, who was about to make a request, still had to say with her head bowed, "So we come here today to bring some gifts for Yixiao and also want to take the chance to see her!"

"You are Yixiao's mother too. As a saying goes, one shall not refuse what his senior grants. As to the gifts you bring to her, I will have them sent to the Hanxia Villa later." Wei Mengying blew the tea and said delightedly, "And as to meeting Yixiao, I'm afraid you can't! Next month will be the birthday of the Dowager Consort. Out of grat.i.tude for her care over the past years, Yixiao decided to embroider a painting to offer birthday congratulations! By coincidence, she has been held up by a lot of messy things! In order to make it to the birthday, she has stayed in her room to focus on completing the work. I cannot disturb her regardless!"

Speaking of this, she sighed on purpose, "After all, it is time that she should get engaged. Regardless of her grat.i.tude for the Dowager Consort, she cannot serve her for long!"

By saying so, she wished that Madam Huang and Madam Lu would mention Song Yixiao's marriage. However, they had heard about the story that Jian Xubai sent Song Yixiao his jade pendant before coming here today, so in their eyes, Song Yixiao must have known Jian Xubai's intention given that he had shown it so clearly.

Since Song Yixiao knew about his intention, how could she not tell her birth mother?

Therefore, Madam Huang and Madam Lu mistakenly thought that Wei Mengying just refused them in the guise of the dowager consort deliberately.

"It cannot be accomplished at one stroke. It's the first time that we've tried to get along with them, so we had better not be too pushy! Or we may irritate them!" Madam Huang and Madam Lu looked each other in the eye with one thought only, "Today we don't get to see Song Yixiao, but we at least give her the gifts and they are well received."

Since Wei Mengying accepted the gifts on behalf of her daughter, it was evident that the grudge between them were not unsolvable, which made them heave a sigh with a relief!

"You are right!" Before coming here, Madam Lu had got ready to be expelled by Wei Mengying anyway. Now no matter how Wei Mengying put them off with fair words, the att.i.tude was much nicer than her imagination.

Therefore, disappointed as she was, she didn't feel much emotionally affected. She said respectfully, "Regardless, I am Yixiao's mother too but I am abashed at not looking after her over the past years! As luck would have it, Yixiao is occupied right now. And we shall not hinder Yixiao anyhow!"

Wei Mengying was about to say something when Madam Huang said, "We are honored that Your Highness is lenient enough to spare a little time to meet us, since Yixiao is busy right now, we cannot continue disturbing you anymore."

While saying that, she dragged her daughter up and said goodbye.

Why did they hurry to leave before they even took a sip of tea?

The point was that they didn't tell Wei Mengying why they suddenly pay attention to her daughter!

Madam Huang and Madam Lu thought that it was clever and sensible of them to leave in time but Wei Mengying was taken by surprise!

However, if she stopped Madam Huang and Madam Lu from leaving and asked them, she would be disgraced and fall at a disadvantage inevitably. Yet, as she was good at rising to the emergency, she narrowed her eyes and sighed, "Do you know why Yixiao is so grateful to the Dowager Consort? After all, if it were not for that the Dowager Consort agreed to accept her and shelter her out of mercy, the poor kid might not be able to survive then!"

While Wei Mengying was talking about the past to stall time and trying to sound out Madam Huang and Madam Lu by devious questioning, Song Yixiao was focusing on embroidering in the Hanxia Villa.

Although it was an excuse consented by her and her mother to embroider a piece of needlework for the Dowager Consort, in order to let others have something on them, she must offer a piece of embroidery at the Dowager Consort's birthday party.

"Your Ladys.h.i.+p, please take a rest. Qiaoqin has brought some cherries for you!" Jinxun walked to her and wiped the sweat off her forehead with a napkin, saying, "These have just been bought from the market and they taste really sweet!"

These two days Wei Mengying kept sending things to her. Song Yixiao felt that her mother's enthusiasm was a bit queer. Probably her mother had learnt that Jian Xubai sent her the jade pendant. Now as she heard that her mother sent her gifts again, she was distracted and almost stabbed her fingers. In a hurry she stopped embroidering and stood up, "Let me take a look!"

When she arrived at the outer room, she saw a hamper of lovely crimson cherries surrounded by a few dewy leaves on the table, which were rather appetizing.

"Her Highness asked us to buy cherries this morning and bring some for you specially, saying that you love eating cherries since you were a child." Qiaoqin stood there with her hands placed before her chests, trying to gain credit for Wei Mengying smilingly, "The others are not so favored. Even Fourth Commandery Princess has a smaller hamper only!"

Song Yixiao walked to the table and grabbed a handful to her, "I know my mother loves me most. How about tasting the cherries too?" Then she turned around to order Jinxun, "Bring some for Zhiqin!"

Qiaoqin was on good terms with the people in the Hanxia Villa. When she brought food here, she usually wouldn't refuse to accept Song Yixiao's goodwill of sharing the food with her. However, today she hesitated and said with regret, "I'm afraid I cannot accept your kindness today. I must go to the Wei Family's mansion later."

Song Yixiao asked in confusion, "Is anything wrong?"

"Her Highness feels that you may feel lonely about living here alone." Qiaoqin smiled, "So she wants to bring the Seventh Young Lady here and let her stay for a few days so as to keep you company!"

This gave Song Yixiao a great surprise. Over the past years, Wei Mengying often sent gifts to her maiden family and also paid a visit to them with her children during festivals. Nonetheless, she had never asked any nieces or nephews to live in the prince's mansion before.

After all, now that Song Yixiao was living in the prince's mansion for long, it would be annoying to the others in the mansion to accommodate other people. Wei Mengying was the household hostess of the prince's mansion, who had so many things in her hands. She might not able to look after her birth children well. How could she have time to show concern for her nieces or nephews?

"What is Mother up to?" Song Yixiao was eating cherries without knowing the taste at all, surprised and confused.