Sheng Minmin knew about Sheng Mingli being schemed against. She hadn’t intervened at the time because her subordinates told her the commandery princess had gotten involved.
Before things had even settled down for a few days, Sheng Minmin received another piece of major news.
Sheng Mingjian still hadn’t given up—he was actually trying to scheme against Sheng Mingshu again.
Sheng Minmin secretly informed Sheng Mingshu. After hearing the news, Sheng Mingshu’s eyes swirled with murderous intent.
Soon, the time for the royal hunt arrived.
Every autumn, the emperor would take the crown prince and a group of favored ministers out of the palace to the imperial villa for a hunt.
In previous years, the Sheng family hadn’t been qualified to attend, but this year, they could go.
Sheng Yong was overjoyed. He told Sheng Minmin to prepare and repeatedly warned the family not to cause any trouble…
The imperial villa was very large.
It was surrounded by a dense forest.
The leaves on the trees had already taken on autumn colors—red, yellow, orange, brown—a riot of color, like a gorgeous painted scroll.
The autumn wind blew through, rustling the leaves as if performing a natural concert.
The animals in the forest could also feel the breath of autumn.
When the Sheng family arrived, Huang Yaning and Huang Xianjing were invited over by Commandery Princess Duanmu Rui.
It was rare for the young ladies to get out, so naturally they had to get together properly.
Behind the imperial villa, there was a spacious flat area used as a riding ground.
The flat ground was covered in green grass, dotted with wildflowers of every color, giving off waves of fragrance.
Duanmu Rui loved it here and brought Huang Yaning and the other girl out to play.
By this time, many official young ladies were already here enjoying the scenery, and some were riding horses.
It was quite lively.
But Huang Yaning kept feeling a sense of unease in her heart, though she didn’t know why.
Especially when Murong Yan brought a few people over to pay respects to Duanmu Rui—Huang Yaning kept feeling that there was a very, very deep malice in Murong Yan’s eyes…
The girls didn’t play for long before they each went back.
The next day, the emperor was in high spirits and personally led a group into the mountains to hunt, with quite a bountiful harvest.
That evening, everyone received roast meat made from the fresh game…
On the third day, the emperor brought out various treasures as prizes, and everyone’s spirits grew even higher, receiving many gifts.
That night, another banquet was held to celebrate grandly.
Huang Yaning ate a piece of roast meat and felt a bit unwell, so she left the banquet early.
Huang Xianjing accompanied her out.
Not long after, a maid secretly whispered something to Yuanyuan, who was by Duanmu Rui’s side, and Yuanyuan relayed it to Duanmu Rui.
Duanmu Rui took Yuanyuan and left the banquet, following the little maid.
“Commandery Princess, it’s right inside…”
The little maid led them to a pavilion that wasn’t in a particularly remote location, but was very quiet.
“Is Seventh Miss Sheng really in there?”
“This servant wouldn’t dare deceive the Commandery Princess!” The little maid knelt respectfully on the ground.
Duanmu Rui gave her a deep look and went inside with Yuanyuan.
“Xiao Qi, is that you?”
A lamp was lit in the room, but the light wasn’t bright. Duanmu Rui tried calling out tentatively.
“Commandery Princess, it’s me—”
A voice came from behind the screen, and it was a man’s voice.
Duanmu Rui and Yuanyuan were both dumbfounded. “Fourth… Fourth Young Master Sheng?”
“It’s me.”
“Why did Fourth Young Master Sheng call me here under Xiao Qi’s name? Why not come out and speak?”
As she spoke, Duanmu Rui walked toward the screen, as if wanting to see who was behind it.
The person behind the screen immediately spoke again, sounding a bit anxious.
“Commandery Princess, please stop…
“I asked to meet with you today only because I have a few things to say. I wanted to speak to you through the screen—”
Duanmu Rui looked like she didn’t understand but respected it, standing still without moving.
“Go ahead…”
“Commandery Princess… after last time, I often dream of you…
“I know I shouldn’t be like this, but I truly can’t control it…
“I know even better that my status is lowly and I’m unworthy of the Commandery Princess. So… I can only silently watch over you from afar…”
Duanmu Rui listened quietly, her face expressionless, with a trace of disgust in her eyes.
“I rashly asked the Commandery Princess to come today, and in my foolishness said these things… I hope the Commandery Princess won’t blame me…”
The person behind the screen’s voice was trembling slightly, as if very emotional.
The person said a few more things, then through the screen saw Duanmu Rui and her maid collapse softly to the ground. Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief and walk out from behind the screen.
How was this Sheng Mingshu?
It was clearly a woman in her forties.
The woman sneered, hoisted the commandery princess off the ground and carried her behind the screen.
She placed the commandery princess on the bed, then opened the window to let the air circulate in the room.
Then she hoisted Yuanyuan off the ground and carried her out.
Soon, a man groped his way into the room in the dark and closed the door.
Murong Yan, hiding in the shadows, watched with her own eyes as the woman carried someone away, then saw the man enter the pavilion. A ferocious smile appeared on her face.
Several years ago, she had suffered a loss because of carelessness.
So this time, Murong Yan had to personally watch Sheng Mingjian enter the room.
Ever since she learned that Duanmu Rui liked a concubine-born son of the Sheng family, Murong Yan had been planning today’s events.
Originally, she wanted to “matchmake” Duanmu Rui with the Sheng family’s concubine-born son—a commandery princess marrying down to a minor official’s concubine-born son would be a disgrace that would spread beyond the capital.
But later she discovered that the concubine-born son had scholarly talent and had even passed the provincial examination as the top scorer, so she changed her mind.
Secretly colluding with Sheng Mingjian, she wanted Duanmu Rui to be discovered in front of everyone having an illicit affair with Sheng Mingjian!
To force Duanmu Rui to have no choice but to marry Sheng Mingjian!
To thoroughly cast Duanmu Rui into hell and trample her underfoot.
Murong Yan could almost see Duanmu Rui’s devastated appearance.
She prepared to return to the banquet and bring a few people over. She hadn’t expected that just as she turned around, something floated past her eyes.
She only felt a pain at the back of her neck, and then she lost consciousness.
Before fainting, there were only two words in Murong Yan’s mind.
“Oh no!”
After a while, the crown princess at the banquet felt a bit of indigestion and wanted to go out for a walk.
Several noble ladies brought their young misses along to accompany her. These people somehow ended up walking to the pavilion that Duanmu Rui had visited earlier.
Everyone’s faces instantly turned ugly, because from inside came the sounds of a man and woman… The sounds were quite loud, coming through the open window.
The crown princess hadn’t wanted to intervene, but now she had no choice.
She told her personal mama to go in and see who was fooling around in there—
But the mama went in, and the sounds inside still didn’t stop…
Everyone caught the scent of “big gossip,” necks slightly craned, eyes sparkling.
