Prince Ning led the crowd to escort the distinguished guest to the gate. Qingtou placed a riding stool on the side of the carriage. Xuyu lifted her skirt and stepped on it. Pei Xiaoyuan supported her arm and wanted to send her to the carriage, but she suddenly stopped on the stool, as if she smelled something, turned around and looked at him. Her eyes swept across his injured shoulder, and she immediately explained in a low voice: "I didn't drink a single sip of wine. Just now, someone nearby accidentally spilled some on my sleeve. It wasn't very conspicuous, so I didn't change it." After saying this, she lightly lifted her sleeve to prove her words.
He was assassinated and injured, and he couldn't hide it after all. Since yesterday, somehow, the news spread in a small circle in the Southern Court of the Imperial Palace, and by this morning, more people knew about it. Various suspicions surfaced. But everyone was very secretive about it and didn't dare to discuss it in public. No one mentioned it at the banquet just now. When drinking, Pei Xiaoyuan said that due to health reasons, he replaced wine with tea, so no one forced him, so he really didn't drink a drop.
Qingtou was still waiting with his hands down to take back the stool. The young man explained this in a very low voice, so the other people who were seeing him off could not hear it, but it did not escape his ears. He stood still, but could not help but glanced sideways, and saw the princess glance at the slightly wet sleeve of the prince consort, then she calmly closed her eyes and got on the carriage and sat down. The young man seemed to be slightly relieved.
Qingtou took this scene in, and became more resolute in his decision to serve the princess well in the future. Just as he was thinking about it, Cha Langjun was about to come, so he turned around quickly and ordered the driver to start the carriage with a long voice.
The group left with respectful farewells and then headed to Cui's house as planned.
Like the Ning Wang Mansion, the Cui family had also made preparations. Wang was even more attentive. After some greetings and courtesies, the male and female guests were seated separately. She led many female relatives of the Cui family to surround Xu Yu and flatter her in every way, even short of personally pouring wine for the princess and taking off her shoes.
Xu Yu knew that Pei Xiaoyuan was neglected by the Cui Mansion when he was young and then left the capital to seek refuge with Pei Ji. Especially this aunt Wang was extremely snobbish, so she naturally disliked her and didn't want to have any close relationship with her. She came to the door today just because many of the man's family matters involved in this wedding were handled by the Cui Mansion. They contributed a lot, and the Cui family was the uncle of the prince consort, so she came here to go through the formalities and complete the etiquette.
There was no expression on her face, and she continued to socialize with Wang and the others with a smile on her face. After a while, she got up on the grounds that she was too drunk. She wanted to have some quiet time, and then she could say goodbye and go back after Pei Xiaoyuan finished his business.
Wang personally took her to an exquisite courtyard house that had been prepared in advance, brought her various snacks, and asked her to rest assured. Then she came out and gave detailed instructions to the maids in the mansion to serve her carefully outside and not to disturb the princess, and then she left.
On the other side, Pei Xiaoyuan finished his socializing and had a private conversation with his uncle Cui Daosi. Knowing his aunt's character, he was always worried about Xuyu and worried that she would be impatient. After finishing his business, he hurried over to pick her up in person. When he was almost there, he saw a housekeeper from Wang's side of Cui's mansion coming up and saying that his aunt wanted him to come over and have a chat. Pei Xiaoyuan asked what it was about, and the housekeeper said she didn't know, only that someone was waiting.
Pei Xiaoyuan had no choice but to change the route with the lady. After passing through a deep corridor, they arrived at a courtyard that looked quite secluded. The lady smiled and said that there was someone inside and led him in.
Pei Xiaoyuan walked a few steps inside and found that the huge courtyard was surprisingly quiet. There was not even a servant girl to be seen near the porch.