Ye Jiayao was in a bad mood for the whole day.

If it wasn’t for Deng Haichuan asking, she wouldn’t have even remembered to arrange the private dinner tomorrow. She actually didn’t even remember that there’s an event tomorrow!

As there were many private dinner parties they were hired for, if it was not a very important family, only one between she and Zhong Xiang would go. The business of the restaurant was very good so they needed people there at all times.

For the party tomorrow, she made Zhong Xiang’s group stay at the restaurant and brought Deng Haichuan and Wang Mingde instead.

The next day, when they got to the Wei’s house, she instantly knew that this was Wei Liujiang’s. Just her luck.

If she had known that he owned this, she would’ve assigned Zhong Xiang instead.

However, since she was already there, she’d just have to suck it up.  I hope they get serious diarrhea after the meal.

The people who joined the dinner party tonight were Assistant Minister Mu’s friends and some old friends of the Wei and the Ye.

Wei Liujiang was famous due to the whole Ye Jinxuan conflict so many people came to the party.

Ning and Qie were afraid that some accident would happen. They were very cautious about this and got half of the servants from Mu’s mansion here today. No one could come in without an invitation.

All the people in attendance here were quite powerful. If an incident like the one in the Helian Mansion happened, they would lose so much face.

Su’s elder wife Zhu also got the invitation. Ye Jinrong was very fervent towards her and even personally accompanied her around. The fake second daughter Fang Wanting also made a debut in the party and chatted happily with other young girls.

Everything was in harmony as if the rumors outside don’t affect them.

People outside gradually forgot about the problem. Maybe it was the Jing An Heir-Son Lord that made a mistake.

The twenty-seat banquet feast and the private banquet hosted by Heavenly Residence was of very high quality and everyone ate with relish. The food was just especially and inexplicably delicious and no one knew what recipe they used.

While everyone was enjoying the magnificent meal inside, a well-dressed woman stood in front of Wei Liujiang’s mansion. She was followed by about eight powerful men and a young scholar.

“Lady, please show us your invitation,” the Mu family’s housekeeper requested with a smile.

“I came from Yang Zhou, relatives of the Ye. I just arrived.” The woman proudly held her head up as if she was daring the housekeeper to contest her.

“I will pass on the message.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll go in myself.” The woman made a move to walk inside.

The housekeeper quickly stopped her. “Madam, I am very sorry, but my host gave a special request that guests who have no invitations are not allowed to enter.”

The woman looked at the men behind her.

One of the men came up and pulled the housekeeper to the side, restraining him.

The woman took her people and went straight into the house.

The servants of the Mu family thought that they were let in by the housekeeper so no one stopped them.

The woman walked up to a servant girl and asked, “Where is the feast for the women?”

The servant girl, thinking that the madam was merely late, said enthusiastically, “I will take you there, lady.”

The woman asked the scholar to stay at the door and wait for her orders. She then proceeded to the flower hall and saw Ning and Jinrong sitting at the main table.

Rage simmering inside her, she loudly called, “Ning and Jinrong, why don’t you come and greet me?”

Ning was talking to the Assistant Minister’s wife when she heard someone call for her. She raised her head and felt her blood run cold when she spotted Fang Wen.

All the women who were there put their chopsticks down and watched the woman who had suddenly barged in questioningly.

Who was this impolite woman? Was she trying to ruin the banquet?

Qie asked Jinrong cluelessly, “Who is she?”

Jinrong couldn’t answer her. She never imagined that Fang Wen would come here.

Ning got up and walked to her. She whispered, “Can we speak outside?”

“Why? Are you afraid that I’ll reveal your lies? Ye Ning, I didn’t know that you and your daughter have such evil hearts,” Fang Wen said with a cold smirk.

Ning’s face was pale when she insisted, “There must be some misunderstanding. We can go outside and talk about it.”

“Misunderstanding? Fang Wen sneered and walked a few steps forward to the center of the flower hall. She raised her voice and said, “I am the sister of Ye Binghuai’s ex-wife in Yang Zhou. I am the wife of Ye Jinxuan’s mother’s brother. I came here today to seek justice for my niece, the elder daughter of Ye, whose death was unknown.”

The flower hall suddenly erupted in chatters.

“Servants! Drag this troublesome person out!” Ning spluttered angrily.

Unfortunately, no one came from outside because they were completely stopped by the men that Fang Wen brought.

Fang Wen smiled. “Are you afraid, Ning? You look very agitated. Are you afraid that your karma has come? Ye Ning, I knew that you were tough on Jinxuan. I didn’t expect for you to be good to her, but I really didn’t think that you had it in you to do such evil things to her.

“Everyone, this stepmother and her daughter Ye Jinrong, the one sitting on that main table  pretending  to be the First Lady Ye, paid 3,000 silvers for the bandits of the Black Wind Ridge to kidnap the real Ye Jinxuan and kill her. Ye Jinrong then pretended to be the First Lady Ye so she could marry into the Wei family.

“Why? That’s because she had a relationship with Wei Liujiang. She couldn’t continue their affair if Wei Liujiang marries my niece so she concocted a plan to get rid of her own  sister.  Tell me, how could anyone do such heartless actions?”

The temperature in the flower hall dropped. Everyone looked at Ye Ning and her daughter with suspicion and disdain. They were horrified that they mingled with such evil women.

“Nonsense. I’m the First Lady Ye. Who are you? How dare you spout this horrible lies?” Ye Jinrong demanded.

Fang Wen stared at her angrily and shouted, “Oh dear, you’re still pretending to be Ye Jinxuan?”

Ye Jinrong pulled Fang Wanting up from her side and refuted, “Second Lady Ye is right here. This is my sister. I don’t even know where you came from. How much do you take from other people to slander us? I’m going to sue you for this.”

Everyone got confused. Who was telling the truth?

“Du Heng, come in,” Fang Wen sneered.

A scholar walked in with his head down.

“Du Heng, take a look at the Second Lady Ye.”

When Fang Wanting heard the name Du Heng, her legs became weak. When she saw her intended coming in, her palms turned clammy and she quickly lowered her head.

Du Heng looked in the direction Fang Wen was pointing at and immediately recognized Fang Wanting.

“Wanting, how did you become Second Lady Ye? What are you doing?” Du Heng asked.

Ning was in a panic, beads of cold sweat appearing on her forehead. Fang Wen came here prepared. If Wanting buckles under the pressure, it was all over. Ning cast a warning look at her niece.

“I…I…who is Fang Wanting? I’m Jinrong, the Second Lady Ye,” Fang Wanting denied, afraid of her aunt.

Du Heng said angrily, “Since you are not Fang Wanting, I will go back and tell my parents that we can’t marry anymore.”

Fang Wanting looked at him frantically. She was so fond of Du Heng. He can’t cancel their marriage!

Overwhelmed with the pressure, Wanting broke down in sobs. “You guys stop forcing me into this farce…”

Ye Jinrong let go of her hands and slouched on her chair.

Fang Wen smirked. “Spectators, let me introduce you to Fang Wanting, the fake Second Young Lady Ye. She is the daughter of Ye Ning’s sister and she’s also a part of my family, too. She’s engaged with the Hai Ning prefecture’s Young Master Du. She was forced by Ye Ning and Ye Jinrong to act as Second Lady Ye.

“Let the world take a look at your ugly face, Ning and Jinrong. You bullied my poor niece because her mother died at an early age. She accepted the marriage you set with the Wei to escape your abusiveness, but she didn’t know about the evil scheme that you planned. You would’ve gotten away with it, too, if we hadn’t found out the truth.”

“You’re right,” Ning admitted, knowing that she can’t deny this again. She’d just have to spin the story so that they come out as victims, too. “I asked Jinrong to pretend to be Jinxuan because we can’t disclose that Jinxuan was kidnapped under the jurisdiction of Ji Nan. She was kidnapped by bandits! Even if she’s alive, her chastity would still be a question. In order to preserve the reputation of the two families and hers, we resorted to this. Is it wrong to want to protect your family?

“We were greatly saddened after Jinxuan’s incident. I could understand your feelings, but we cannot agree with your accusations. We were based in Yang Zhou, how could we have known bandits from Black Wind Ridge? Just because I’m not her real mother, that doesn’t mean that I want her harmed. I loved Ye Jinxuan,” Ning said righteously as if she was innocent in all this.

Fang Wen retorted, “Oh, I know how much you want her harmed, Ning. The people in the Ye’s mansion were very clear. Do you want me to bring out a few people to confront you? You might not know any bandits in Yang Zhou, but Black Wind Ridge is in Ji Nan. Prefecture Wei spent a lot of years at the office there dealing with the bandits.

“It is very easy for Wei Liujiang to find a bandit to take care of your dirty work. You had previously said that the day Jinxuan headed to Ji Nan to marry Wei Liujiang, Jinrong fell sick and was sent to her grandparent’s house to rest. Why and how did she end up marrying Young Master Wei so quickly, then, huh? If it wasn’t a scheme, why did she secretly followed Jinxuan’s route to Ji Nan? Ye Ning, you must think that everyone is as stupid as you.”