After saying that, Shao Wanru glanced at Wang Yuxin contemptuously and then walked back to the imperial palace in an extremely arrogant manner.

“Fifth Sister, wait for me!” Shao Yanru said. At this time, she certainly couldn’t stay any longer. Shao Caihuan was poisoned because of Wang Yuxin, so it was obviously inappropriate for her to stay and see Wang Yuxin off reluctantly!

Wang Yuxin’s face turned livid and then red from anger. When Shao Yanru passed by her, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind and she looked at Shao Yanru’s back in horror.

She originally did not think that Shao Yanru had anything to do with it, but Shao Wanru’s words just reminded her that she indeed heard that Shao Wanru spoke ill of her in private from a friend of hers, to whom she had always been close, and she didn’t doubt Shao Yanru at first.

However, Shao Wanru’s words just enlightened her.

She went weak, feeling dizzy and cold with her hands on the palace wall beside her. Shao Wanru and Shao Yanru were the most outstanding candidates in the consort selection with the prettiest appearances and the best family backgrounds. Only they could rival each other.

If Shao Wanru was poisoned, the biggest winner definitely would be Shao Yanru.

Coincidentally, every time her friend mentioned that the Fifth Miss Shao spoke ill of her behind her back, the First Miss Shao was present and kept defending her Fifth Sister. It seemed that they had a close relationship. But just now, she noticed that they were not close to each other at all!

Thinking of some rumors and what she had seen, Wang Yuxin blacked out and finally realized that she seemed to have been used by Shao Yanru.

Every time Shao Yanru defended Shao Wanru, she would get angrier and feel more uncomfortable.

If the First Miss Shao was neither so close to her sister nor so generous, she must have been up to something else.

Could the First Miss Shao be the culprit!

Wang Yuxin reached out and wanted to grab Shao Yanru and ask for an explanation, but she found that she couldn’t say a word because she had no evidence to prove that First Miss Shao had intervened in this matter.

Wang Yuxin was trembling all over with trembling fingers. She was panic-stricken now. If this was really Shao Yanru’s scheme, Shao Yanru must have included her in her scheme when she first met her. She didn’t expect that she had fallen into such a trap at the beginning. At this time, she couldn’t explain it clearly even if she wanted to.

No wonder First Miss Shao invited her to Shao Caihuan’s room instead of her room for a chat. No wonder she and Shao Wanru had held no grudge against each other, but she always heard from her friend that Shao Wanru cursed her in private so that she became displeased with Shao Wanru.

Therefore, she would definitely not let go of such an opportunity to set up Shao Wanru.

“First Miss Shao…” The voice seemed to come out of her throat. Wang Yuxin thought it loud, but it was actually not. Seeing the Shao sisters disappear in front of her, Wang Yuxin collapsed on the ground with her face turning pale. What Shao Wanru had said rang in her ears loudly.

She, who didn’t care about it at all before, now felt her mind was occupied with it.

Shao Wanru meant only thing clearly: it wasn’t over yet. Not only her, but also her father would be implicated because Shao Caihuan was hurt by poison from the Xu State, and ordinary people had no access to tributes.

“Miss Wang, are you unwilling to leave?” One of the eunuchs stepped forward, looked down at her, and mocked her.

He certainly didn’t dare to do so a few days ago. But now Wang Yuxin had lost her value, so he could say whatever he wanted. He thought Wang Yuxin didn’t seem to be smart because she dared to talk to the two Misses from Duke Xing’s Mansion like that regardless of the big possibility of their being selected.

However, if she was smart, she would not do such a thing. He was uncertain what was going to happen after she was sent back home. But one thing was certain: her life had been ruined, and even her father, Vice Minister Wang, could not help her out of this.

People in the imperial palace had always been snobbish, so it was time to hit her when she was down.

Seeing that she collapsed on the ground with her eyes drifting and seemed to be too shocked to return to herself, the other eunuch came over, pulled her up, and said impatiently, “It’s useless to play dumb now. Get up and leave as soon as possible so that we can report on our mission! It’s so unfortunate that we have to walk you out!”

After pulling her up, he pushed her forward hard. This time, Wang Yuxin lost her footing and fell heavily to the ground. Her knees hit the big green stone under her feet, making a crash.

The sharp pain brought her back to earth. She slowly stood up with her hands on the ground and looked at the imperial palace desperately. Then she struggled to turn around, gritted her teeth, and staggered out. She could not just let it go. She decided to return home and tell her father that it was a conflict within Duke Xing’s Mansion and had nothing to do with her, and she was set up…

This matter caused a stir in the imperial palace. More palace maids were sent to the Chuxiu Palace, and they paid more attention to the candidates. The originally relaxed atmosphere immediately became tense because of this matter.

The candidates considered their companions unreliable and had an intuition that their companions might trap them. Everyone in the Chuxiu Palace was plagued by imaginary fears. In order to avoid suspicion, even good friends gave up their acquaintance for the time being. Only sisters from the same manor and best friends occasionally gathered.

The news from outside could not reach the Chuxiu Palace for the time being. Shao Wanru did not know what Wang Yuxin would do after returning home, but as long as Wang Yuxin was not completely stupid, she would understand that she had fallen into someone’s trap and become someone’s sharp weapon. Regarding the person making use of her, it should be someone that would benefit the most from Shao Wanru’s being disfigured.

Although Shao Yanru did not carry out her plot directly, it was certain that she had inflamed Wang Yuxin’s hatred for Shao Wanru. As long as Wang Yuxin could figure out Shao Yanru was behind the scenes, she would be able to find some traces of what Shao Yanru had done and thus to find some evidence in favor of her. Of course, Shao Wanru couldn’t predict whether these pieces of evidence, that were not solid enough, could help her out of this situation.

It depended on how Vice Minister’s Manor was going to deal with it.

Anyway, this matter had nothing to do with her now, and it was Shao Yanru who got involved in it. Shao Yanru seemed to have won this round, because there was no evidence to prove her guilty, but in fact, more people were suspicious of her intention.

Everyone, especially the other candidates in the consort selection, would consider Shao Yanru, a ravishing and scheming candidate from a noble family, a threat, because they didn’t know when they would be set up by her.

No one knew where the rumor came from, because the news was originally suppressed. The candidates only knew that Miss Wang from Vice Minister’s Mansion set up the Third Miss from Duke Xing’s Mansion, but they had no idea of the details. However, some candidates overheard some palace maids talk about the whole story in private.

Many people in the imperial palace were smart, so they realized that the Third Miss Shao fell into the trap by accident and the target was supposed to be the Fifth Miss Shao. Plenty of people guessed it was the First Miss Shao behind the scenes.

It was understandable that the First Miss Shao set up her cousin because she couldn’t bear to see her cousin replace her to be the first beauty, she was way too vicious.

…

There had been some rumors in the capital, some of which were about Duke Xing’s Mansion, some about Madam of Duke Xing, and some about Shao Yanru. Everyone thought them implausible before. After all, the First Miss Shao had always been known as a good-natured Miss, so they didn’t take hearsay seriously, but now everyone thought the rumors were very likely to be true.

What they had heard and seen could easily change their thoughts. This was the case for the candidates at the moment. They stayed away from the First Miss Shao, because they did not want to end up like the Third Miss Shao.

The First Miss Shao was cruel enough to hurt the Third Miss Shao, her cousin who was also from Duke Xing’s Mansion and had gotten along with her all these years, let alone hurt others!

Some of them, who had been on friendly terms with Shao Yanru, now had to weigh up their friendship. Was it comparable to the sisterhood between Shao Yanru and Shao Caihuan? They had heard long before that as the eldest daughter, Shao Yanru took good care of other siblings in the mansion. Was this the way she took care of them?

The candidates were all suspicious and stayed away from the two sisters from Duke Xing’s Mansion. They were not willing to get close to them, one of whom was likely to be trapped and could bring them bad luck, while the other trapped her sister and might make use of any of them!

Shao Yanru discovered a strange phenomenon that there were fewer and fewer people around her. There had been plenty of Misses willing to talk with her, but now there was no one around her. Wherever she went, people looked at her with vigilance. Sometimes the candidates, who had been talking, just dispersed when she walked over.

At first, she thought that it was a coincidence. After this happened several times, Shao Yanru found that they were not coincidences. After sending Shuqi to inquire about it, she was so furious that her fingers trembled.

However, she didn’t know where this rumor came from or who mentioned it. She couldn’t explain it even if she wanted to, so she had to swallow it.

After calming herself down, she thought of Shao Wanru. She and Shao Wanru were born to be enemies, and they couldn’t coexist. It must have something to do with Shao Wanru, and the rumor was probably caused by what she had said to Wang Yuxin at the palace gate that day.

At first, she wanted to explain to Wang Yuxin and comfort her. But after Shao Wanru said that, she had to stop talking with Wang Yuxin and follow Shao Wanru back. Now thinking of it, she realized Shao Wanru must have done that on purpose. Feeling a deep hatred, she put the teacup on the table heavily.

She would never let go of Shao Wanru, this b*tch!

She took a deep breath and tried to suppress her anger. Then, she closed her eyes and took another deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, she calmed down. She could not stay in this isolated and suspected situation without doing anything, lest the masters in the imperial palace suspect her and it affected her consort selection. She must help herself out of this!