“Crown Prince, we greet you.” No one had expected him as they all bowed, but he did not come alone to the palace. The crown prince allowed them all to rise, seeing how they were all there with Lin Ning.

“My princess consort, you invited Miss Lin and did not tell me. Aren’t you being a little sneaky?” The second prince looked to his princess consort who had hidden this invitation from him.

“I dare not! I have been noticing that you have been busy so I assumed that it would be best to not bother you.” Qian Qiang felt anger in her heart, seeing that Yi Qiao had actually come to the palace.

“Why did you bring her here?! You even invited this cripple!” Yi Jiao angrily pointed to a woman who was standing beside the crown prince who was her oldest brother. Not only that, but she had pointed to the man that everyone was still afraid to talk bad about, Cao Peizhi.

“…” Cao Peizhi only held a look at the fifth princess who was clearly talking bad about him and in front of his face as well. “Crown Prince, I did not think that the rumors about your younger sister had been nothing but false words” He said, making the crown prince look at Yi Jiao as if telling her to shut up. Yi Jiao knew the look and immediately stopped talking and looked away angrily.

“Miss Lin, I have been wanting to see you for a long time. I’m Xu Meili.” A hand had gone forth, holding onto Lin Ning’s hand as she could not believe that she was meeting the female lead.

‘It is the female lead!!! My favorite female lead of all time is holding my hand!!!!’ Lin Ning did not think that she would be able to ever talk to her favorite female lead of all time. “Nice to meet you. I’m amazed that you know about me.” Lin Ning did not think that the female lead would even bat an eye for her. ‘Who would care about a woman like myself?’

“Who does not know you? You played a beautiful song at the Empress Dowager’s birthday.” Hearing Xu Meili say that, it made Lin Ning wish that she could just see again.

‘Her voice sounds so beautiful!!! If only I could see then I will be able to see how beautiful you are!!!’ Lin Ning had to calm herself down, she knew that she needed to be sure to not blow her image. “Thank you, Miss Xu. I am pleased to hear that you enjoyed my song.”

“We have not fully been introduced yet, but I am Yi Qiao, the second prince. My older brother, Yi Changpu. Then, this is Duke Cao’s second son, Cao Peizhi.” The Second prince had introduced them all to Lin Ning who had heard Cao Peizhi’s true voice.

‘Second Prince, we met a few days ago. At least I will know that both Brother Wei and Cao Peizhi are the same people.’ She smiled inside, knowing that she had a secret just for herself. “Nice to meet you all, I hope that we can get along from here.” Lin Ning bowed to them all, thinking about earlier. “Ah, Lian help me to my zither. I still haven’t played a song that the second princess consort wishes to listen to.”

“En.” Hun Lian knew that her young miss would love to play a song for them all to hear.

“Come, the zither is out in the courtyard.” Qian Qiang had them all go out to the courtyard, Lin Ning being set down in front of her zither. She could feel that the strings of the zither had been cut.

‘This second princess consort is giving me a warning so far to not mess with her husband.’ Lin Ning did not even want to be involved with the second prince. It was far too troublesome to be involved with the imperial family. Once everyone had sat down, they all had snacks that were being placed in front of them which they did not seem interested in.

Cao Peizhi watched Lin Ning sit down and be the center of attention once again, looking over to see that the Crown Prince was far too focused on Xu Meili to even care about Lin Ning which he was glad. The second prince on the other hand had loving eyes towards Lin Ning which made him angered to see that he would still be acting like that in front of his princess consort. He was not going to let the second prince take Lin Ning as his consort, he was going to make sure that Lin Ning was able to follow her decisions. Thinking back about how she did not want to marry a man who had multiple wives, he wanted her to continue to be happy. ‘I will make sure that they do not ruin your happiness, Ning.’ Looking back at Lin Ning, he kept his serious and cold face on.

‘Tsh, he is handsome, but if he were not crippled then I would have not mind marrying him with this child in my belly.’ Yi Jiao thought, seeing how it was unfortunate for Cao Peizhi to be crippled. Lin Ning thought about which song to play, so she started to play the same song that she had played at Empress Dowager’s birthday, but it had different notes included. Making it go from harsh and then to pleasant as she kept the pace going with everyone around hearing how it was differently played unlike the last time.

‘It’s like the same song, but… it’s different.’ Qiang Qiang thought, remembering that the song that Lin Ning played was the same as last time, but it was different.

‘Did she change the song?’ The second prince did not know if the song was the same or not, but he only smiled to be able to see Lin Ning in front of him. The crown prince continued to look at Xu Meili throughout the entire time. Xu Meili knew the meaning of the song too well, her father and brothers had been in the war too much for her to know the meaning too well. Cao Peizhi smiled, seeing how the song that he and Lin Ning made together was being played at that moment as if she wanted him to hear it.

Just when Lin Ning was about to play the finishing part, a loud sound of a thin metallic string could be heard breaking which shocked everyone.