"If you were truly concerned, you wouldn’t have ignored her all day. Hmph, isn’t it just because you fancy that little wench Lin Yuan and forgot all about her?"
Although Su Qiuyu inwardly scorned Princess Anle’s words, she maintained her composure and, with a smile, she shook her head, "Thank you, Madam, for your concern. Qiu Yu is feeling much better now."
After saying this, she turned to Lin Yuan and smiled gently, "I also owe my thanks to Miss Lin for finding such a good physician for Qiu Yu. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have recovered so quickly."
Huh? Is the white lotus actually thanking her? There must be a catch.
Lin Yuan’s mental alarm bells rang, and she quickly stood up, took hold of Su Qiuyu’s slightly cold hand, and asked with concern, "Miss Su is too kind. It was but a small effort on my part. Oh my, Miss Su’s hand is still so cold, are you still not feeling well? You really must take good care of yourself, having traveled all the way from the capital city to Zhuma Town; it must have been both tiring and uncomfortable, how heart-wrenching."
At the corners of Su Qiuyu’s mouth twitched. Could this village girl not bring up her journey from the capital city to Zhuma Town? Wasn’t this deliberately poking at her sore spot in front of Princess Anle?
Sure enough, once Princess Anle heard this, her impression of Su Qiuyu soured. A young lady from the Prime Minister Mansion secretly travels alone from the capital city to Zhuma Town. It’s lucky she didn’t encounter any trouble on the road; otherwise, what would have become of her reputation?
But even if she hadn’t encountered any trouble, if word of Su Qiuyu’s solitary trip reached the ears of the ladies in the capital city, she would have been criticized. Moreover, her son was still in Zhuma Town. Wasn’t this blatantly making her son take the blame?
As soon as Su Qiuyu heard Lin Yuan’s words, she almost instantly understood Princess Anle’s thoughts. Seeing the princess’s changing glances, she became even more certain of her own conjecture.
Well, well, village girl, I hadn’t realized that in addition to your adept tongue, you also excel at talking in circles.
Su Qiuyu glared at Lin Yuan quietly and didn’t refute a word. Instead, she hung her head, looking quite aggrieved.
Yaner, who was standing by, quickly chimed in, "Miss Lin is right. Our young lady has always been frail, and this time, in order to pray for blessings for our elderly woman, she insisted on going to the neighboring town’s Changshou Mountain. Look, she fell ill before even reaching the mountain."
Su Qiuyu’s gaze flickered, secretly relieved that she and Yaner had come up with a pretext earlier. Otherwise, she really would have given Princess Anle a bad impression today.
Lin Yuan internally praised Su Qiuyu’s ability to turn the pursuit of a husband into a quest for blessings, especially framing it as praying for her grandmother, which was bound to move anyone who heard it.
Indeed, upon hearing this, Princess Anle nodded in approval, "A filial and good child. However, in the future, don’t go out alone. It’s really not safe for a young lady. Next time, take your second brother along. That rascal is either wandering the streets or catching crickets in the capital city, he would do well to accompany you."
Su Qiuyu smiled and nodded in agreement.
Princess Anle and Lao Fan were the elders and took the seats of honor. Lin Yuan sat below Princess Anle, followed by Xiao Linshuang. Owing to his mother’s presence, Xia Zheng sat politely below Lao Fan, leaving the seat next to him conveniently vacant.
Princess Anle looked at the empty seats and felt uneasy. Logically, Su Qiuyu’s status was higher, and she should be seated next to her, but since this was a family banquet and Lin Yuan was her favored future daughter-in-law, she didn’t want to have her son’s bride yield her seat to an outsider. The most appropriate place at the moment was next to Xia Zheng, but she was worried Lin Yuan might mind.