At the beginning of last year, Qiu Yelan had been invited by Jiang Qizheng to the Jinxiu Slope for an outing. At that time, she knew from Gu E’nuo, the Princess Shou’an, that her Persian cat Whitey was a problem because of its origin. It was grabbed by Ling Zui, who always courted his best friend’s pretty sister, from the Tao Family…

Coincidentally, it was Princess Changping’s cat in the first place.

Over the past year, Qiu Yelan had met Princess Changping several times. But the places they met were usually at a banquet or in the palace with the Empress. They even had not had a chance to talk more, let alone about the cat. Since then, Qiu Yelan gradually forgot the cat’s origin. Unluckily, Princess Changping finally came to her house for it. However, she was not afraid of it as the Empress was standing behind her back. Thinking of this, she managed to force a smile and said, “A friend sent it to me as a gift. I did not know where it came from.”

Before Princess Changping asked her questions, she promptly changed the topic, asking Xin Fubing curiously, “Fubing, how did the cats get here?” They did not take Nianxue and Whitey with them when they came to the Summer Palace. How could they appear over here?

Xin Fubing neither knew the story behind Whitey’s origin, nor did she understand the annoyance behind Princess Changping’s question. She said honestly, “Yashuang just asked a servant to send them here. He said that as you were not in the side yard and he couldn’t come here every day, he is afraid that the maids may neglect them, leading to something terrible happens to them. So, he decided to send them here.”

Her words reminded Qiu Yelan that Jiang Yashuang must have some messages for her under the guise of the cats. She did not want to delay her business. She began to figure how to send Princess Changping home as early as possible so that she could ask the servant who sent the cats if Jiang Yashuang left any messages for her.

While she was thinking about how to say, Princess Changping looked at the excellent-looking Persian cats. She said implicitly, “They are excellent cats. You must take good care of them. It is unlikely to get another one if something terrible happens to them.”

Her words, in Qiu Yelan’s opinion, were a warning or curse. She just wanted to get Princess Changping out of her house, hoping she would leave because of anger. Qiu Yelan smiled and said to her with a little bit rude, “Your Highness, thanks for your kindness. But I think, in the Summer Palace, with the protection of the Emperor and the Empress, I think nothing would happen to them.”

If you, Princess Changping, wanted to turn your anger on the cats with tricks, you must think twice whether you could bear what your official mother would do to you!

“As the Empress Dowager is omniscient, I am sure everything will be all right in the Summer Palace,” said Princess Changping, realizing Qiu Yelan wanted to use the Empress to scare her. She continued with a frown, saying, “Commandery Princess Qiu, do you agree?” I had the Empress Dowager standing behind my back!

It was a tricky question. If Qiu Yelan denied, it meant that she disrespected the Empress Dowager. Even she had Empress Jiang to defend her, a dispute would be unavoidable. In particular, the Empress herself was facing difficulties. It was lucky she was composed in handling troubles. She definitely was not in the mood to help her daughter-in-law out of trouble.

On the other side, if she agreed with what Princess Changping said, it meant that she admitted the Empress Dowager was the person who protected the Summer Palace. It definitely weakened the Empress. If the Empress knew about it, she would be furious.

The third option is not to answer her question. It meant Qiu Yelan was defeated.

Qiu Yelan thought about how to answer quickly. She replied dismissively, “The Emperor’s place is much superior to the ordinary ones. So, you are raised smart, pretty and noble in the Palace, right?”

Princess Changping believed that her answer was an irrelevant answer. It was an answer leading to no disputes. But on the other hand, it showed Qiu Yelan’s weakness. Princess Changping was about to look her down while Qiu Yelan continued, “I am sure, Her Majesty guides and manages us well. As a saying goes, an inch of grass can’t repay the sunshine of a thousand sunsets… Your Highness, do you agree?”

“…” Princess Changping was trying to hold back her anger. The people in the capital knew that she was raised by her grandmother. How dare you, Qiu Yelan, credited it to Empress Jiang?!

Just like Qiu Yelan could not say that Empress Dowager Gu was the protector of the Summer Palace, Princess Changfu did not dare say that her beauty and talent had nothing to do with Empress Jiang…

It was a fact that the Empress was her official mother!

Even her official mother never ever cared about her, to Princess Changping, she had to admit that her excellence had something to do with her official mother. As usual, in a common family, if a son of a concubine had a promising future and was rewarded with the title of nobility, the title would be given to the official mother first and then the biological mother. Even the official mother never ever raised him, but she was eligible for the title. The biological mother’s status was inferior to the official mother! This was a rule observed by the people including all princesses. In particular, Princess Changping had been dreading Empress Jiang much!

“I felt so sad about my brothers and sisters and me!” At this moment, the mock and injustice from Empress Jiang since her childhood flashed in Princess Changping’s mind. She felt depressed and overwhelmed. “It’s no big deal to be born into an imperial family, but it is a tragedy to have such a domineering and cruel mother! I don’t see daughters of a concubine in common families dread their official mother so much. God bless Prince of Yan. I hope he can defeat Prince of Qi. If Prince of Qi inherits the throne, the Empress will treat us more harshly than usual, we, excluding Yongfu and Prince of Qi, would have no choice but to die.”

Princess Changfu thought hatefully, but managed to force a smile, “My mother is the model of the people. It is my honor to be raised by her!”

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Speaking of this, she suddenly said “Oops” and clapped hands. And then she said to Xin Fubing, seeming regretful, “I almost forgot when I came over. These two cats are so adorable, which made me forget what I should do. I came here to give you invitations.”

Although unknowing that there was a grudge between Qiu Yelan and Princess Changfu because of Whitey, Xin Fubing understood they did not like each other after hearing their talk. Xin Fubing was the Empress’s niece. She was born to be on the side of the Empress and be against Princess Changping. She asked alertly, “What invitations? To be honest, Your Highness. We are here because our parents allowed us to be filial to Her Majesty. It is not appropriate to wander around in the Summer Palace.”

“Several days later, it will be Princess Shou’an’s birthday. She planned to hold a party with sisters and sisters-in-law in her house.” Princess Changping smiled, adding, “But, by coincidence, my grandmother misses her very much. She also asked Princess Shou’an and cousin Tang to the Summer Palace. As we are in the Summer Palace, Princess Shou’an can’t invite those who are not invited to be here because of her birthday. You know, if there were only Princess Shou’an, cousin Tang and I to celebrate her birthday, the party would be lousy. As she heard you are here too, she hoped that all of you could go to her birthday party. Coincidently, I have nothing to do. So, I did her a favor, coming to send you invitations.”

“Invitations? It is a declaration of war!” Thought Xin Fubing after hearing her explanation. She understood now that rather than Gu E’nuo wanted to invite them to a party, it was a battle between the two prospective Crown Princesses before the result of the battle for the status of the crown prince.

Although she was not very energetic about anything at the moment, she did know that as she agreed to marry the Seventh Prince, she could not flinch from facing up to difficulties. So, she nodded, “As you said so, I will be there on time. About Yelan…”

Qiu Yelan gave a slow smile, “If I have nothing else to do at that time, I will go with Fubing.”

Princess Changping took out two invitations from her sleeve. And then she left after a small talk.

After Princess Changfu left, Xin Fubing stooped down to put Whitey down, leaving the cat to play with Nianxue. She rubbed her numb arm and asked in confusion, “What does Whitey have to do with her?

“Something unhappy,” said Qiu Yelan. It was not a secret that should be kept in the heart. Therefore, she told Xin Fubing the story in detail. After hearing the story, Xin Fubing understood and said, “You guess why I hold Whitey in my arms for so long? I planned to play with them in the first place, not wanted to hold one. But after Princess Changping was here, she held Whitey in her arm while she was talking with me. It did not take long that she pinched Whitey ‘by accident’, and then scratched Whitey heavily… She put Whitey down before Whitey attacked her each time. And then, she played with Whitey with a smile… I thought there must be something wrong with her but I could say nothing. So, I took a chance to hold Whitey in my arms after she put it down. Since then, I have talked with her with Whitey in my arms.

Princess Changfu’s behaviors pissed Qiu Yelan off, who shouted, “She, as a princess, did such disgusting acts! To bully a cat!” Although she did not care Whitey much as her treasure, she couldn’t stand others to bully it. Back then, Fang Zijun was a spoiled child. When he tried to kill Whitey, she did not save face for him！

At the time, Princess Changping was an adult. She must be sensible but she bullied a cat. Qiu Yelan gripped her teeth and thought, “Okay. It’s going to be Gu E’nuo birthday party. As you dare invite me, I will go and teach you a lesson!”

… The conflict that happened between them, in a short time, was spread to every corner without missing a word.

After Empress Jiang knew that her girls did not lose out in the conflict, she relieved, “Good job, girls. You did not let the wench taught by that old woman had the upper hand!”

And then she went on doing her business.

Compared to the Empress’s calmness owing to the secret support she had from Xue Chang, Empress Dowager Gu felt distracted, “How could you leave like that? You are a princess. A daughter of the Emperor. But you went there, sending invitations to them in person? If there were no conflict, that’s fine. But there was one, you lost it in a short time… You forgot all tactics I taught you before, right?”

At the bottom of the red steps, Princess Changping was too timid to answer.

Changping Princess, who was in the Summer Palace visiting Empress Dowager Gu, interceded for Princess Changping, “Empress Jiang is a domineering and cruel woman. Changping is afraid that Qiu Yelan couldn’t afford to lose. She might cry to Empress Jiang. Empress Jiang is a protective woman. She must come here, requesting a punishment, which would be a trouble for you.”

“I prefer to help her deal with it!” Empress Dowager Gu did not want to admit that Princess Changping dreaded the Empress. She dreaded the Empress because she had something on the Empress, the marriage. As long as this matter was not resolved, Princess Changping would not dare offend the Empress even if she had the Empress Dowager standing behind her.

After all, Princess Changping knew well that even if Empress Jiang had to accept the boy selected by the Empress Dowager for her, she had the power to delay the marriage. Princess Yongfu and the Seventh Prince did not marry yet. Those were the reasons on the table for the Empress to delay her marriage as they were older than her but unmarried. With her knowledge of her official mother, she knew the Empress would do it! The Empress, as one of the Jiang Family, would only seriously consider her fame when she had nothing to do just like the rest of the Jiang Family. Usually, this family just took advantage of it at their discretion!

If the assumption had come true, not only her youth would be delayed, but Kuang Qingwu would not wait for her as he was not a person to mess with. What was more, the current situation in the court determined that Empress Dowager Gu was also fearful to offend her nominal grandson, Kuang Qingwu. On Kuang Qingwu’s side, he definitely would not wait for marrying Princess Changping. On Princess Changping’s side, she also did not want to be a step-mother when she got married. Considering the above reasons, she had to succumb to the Empress.

The Empress Dowager condemned Princess Changping, expressing her disappointment to her until Changping Princess persuaded her. She beckoned Changping to leave. After Changping left, Changping Princess continued to say, “Changping and Kuang Qingwu’s marriage should not be delayed any longer. You have taught her much. I believe that she could defeat Qiu Yelan with what you taught her. She must be afraid that the Empress makes trouble for her in her marriage. I think after she gets married, the Empress won’t be able to do anything about her!”

“The Empress will make trouble for her marriage. I am sure about it,” said Empress Dowager Gu, looking at her. “So, let’s put it aside. We need to hurry Weizhou’s marriage!”

Changping Princess immediately said after hearing her decision, “How about letting Xinqiong get married first? I knew that you have allowed Xinqiong to have children first. We need Xinqiong to get married as early as possible to combat Shou’an, just in case…”