The sun shone brightly, filling the garden with the vibrant colors of spring.

Within a single day, the entire Capital City knew that General Xiang’s daughter had become the future Crown Princess Consort. For a while, the manor’s gates were nearly knocked off their hinges by the constant stream of visitors.

Xiang Minghou disliked such formalities and simply shut his doors, refusing all visitors. The rejected dignitaries left, but they didn’t take their gifts with them. By morning, a large pile of congratulatory presents had accumulated at the entrance.

Commoners passing the General’s manor would stop to stare for a while, though of course, no one had the guts to take anything.

The butler looked at the pile of valuables, troubled. Xiang Minghou told him to have them thrown away.

Those people wouldn’t take their gifts back even if they were discarded. Ye Qianning thought that rather than throwing them away, it would be better to do a good deed and donate them to the flood relief efforts in the south.

The Zhan, Qian, and Gu families had stayed for the night. After an early breakfast, they all returned to their own homes. As Old Man Gu put it, they were going home to prepare a room, waiting for the little lass to come and visit.

Around noon, just as Ye Qianning was getting out of bed, the imperial edict announcing the betrothal arrived at the General’s manor.

The entire household knelt to receive the edict. Xiang Minghou, however, found an excuse and kept Ye Qianning from coming out. Although the eunuch delivering the decree hesitated, he didn’t dare to say anything.

It was unprecedented for the main recipient of an edict not to come out and kneel to receive it.

After the eunuch finished reading the decree, Xiang Minghou stood, snatched the scroll, and had the butler show the guest out.

The concubines watched, not daring to breathe. They all knew the General was deeply displeased.

"How could our Pangtuan be so unlucky? She attends one banquet and ends up betrothed."

"She’s only six years old. What could the Emperor possibly be thinking?"

"The Crown Prince’s mother is Consort Yuan, and she’s not someone to be trifled with."

"She’ll have to be very careful from now on."

The concubines’ faces were etched with worry. An emperor’s thoughts ran deep, as did his schemes, but to plot against a child of only six was simply too ruthless.

"All of you, return to your courtyards," Xiang Minghou said, clutching the imperial edict with a hint of irritation.

"The messenger eunuch said that Pangtuan is to enter the palace tomorrow to be presented to the Empress and the other concubines. She can’t possibly go alone," Sansan said with concern.

"The inner palace is a place where people get eaten alive." Huaihua pondered for a moment, then her face suddenly lit up. "General, Mrs. Zhan’s daughter is a Noble Princess Consort. I think you should ask Mrs. Zhan to accompany Pangtuan to the palace."

"Oh! That’s right! Why didn’t I think of that? General, Mrs. Zhan seems very fond of our Pangtuan. If you ask her, I’m sure she’ll agree," Sansan said with delight.

The other concubines nodded in agreement. The Zhan and Gu families were both very fond of Pangtuan. During her stay at the General’s manor, Mrs. Zhan had gotten along harmoniously with them; she was a sensible and well-educated woman. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Xiang Minghou nodded, his expression stiff.

He was most at ease with the idea of Mrs. Zhan taking Pangtuan into the palace; after all, Noble Princess Consort Zhan was inside to offer some support.

「Yuehua Small Building.」

Ye Qianning had already heard what happened in the front courtyard. At the banquet, when Consort Yuan learned of the betrothal, the look she had given her was extremely hostile. ’I’ll have to be careful, being targeted by someone like that.’

Consort Yuan’s birth name was Yuan Lianyi, and she came from the Medicine King Sect of Wushan Mountain. The Emperor’s life-extending pills were a gift to the Beili Emperor from the sect’s leader, the Medicine King.

Some time ago, while refining her own medicinal pills, she had studied the ingredients of the life-extending pills. The components were exceptionally expensive; even in the modern era, they would have been nearly impossible to procure.

For her, however, the ingredients, though valuable, were hardly unique. The herbs documented in the booklet inside her space could easily substitute for them. In fact, a pill refined from those would be twice as effective as the life-extending pills.

The refining technique for the life-extending pills passed down through the Medicine King Sect was good, but it couldn’t be considered first-rate. Even using the same raw materials, if one mastered the control of heat and timing, the resulting pill’s quality would be much better than the current version.

The Beili Emperor treated them like priceless treasures, but frankly, she was not impressed.