“Send her back to the Crown Prince. Tell him she’s my gift!” Pei Yuanjun said lazily.

“Yes, my lord!” A guard came over and dragged the woman out.

“Thank you, my lord! Thank you!” The woman was staring at the air blankly before. Hearing Pei Yuanjun’s words, a trace of shock flashed across her eyes, and then she felt overjoyed.

She was not going to be killed!

She not only survived but also was sent back to the Crown Prince. Didn’t it mean that she became Lord Yun’s gift for the Crown Prince?

She used to be a music performer that served in the Crown Prince’s Mansion. When she was there, she heard that the Crown Prince valued Lord Yun’s opinions a lot. Now since she became a gift from the lord, the Crown Prince had to treat her well.

Compared to Lord Yun, she preferred the Crown Prince much more…

The room fell into silence after the woman was dragged out. Pei Yuanjun stood up and walked to the window. Those rare peonies planted outside came into sweet bloom, bringing a sparkle to the warm air. Looking at the beautiful flowers, his long eyes squinted slightly, showing inconspicuous pleasure. It was time for spring to return.

Compared with the flowers in other places, the ones here bloomed more adorably.

“If the Crown Prince accepts my gift, spare her life!” all of a sudden, he said slowly.

A man wearing a dark green guard uniform immediately showed up at the door and nodded at him with respect, “Yes, my lord!”

If the Crown Prince took her in, he would spare her life; if he didn’t, her life became meaningless, and there’s no need to keep her alive.

Suddenly, Pei Yuanjun chuckled as if he thought about something funny. The smile, the long, black hair lying on his chest, and those red lips matched well with his long, downturned eyes. At this moment, he looked so stunning, more beautiful than some pretty women. “I bet the Crown Prince will like the beauty I sent to him. After all, I’m his uncle. The prince’s uncle? Sounds not bad!”

Hearing Lord Yun’s laughter coming from upstairs, all the guards, including the hidden ones, felt a cold shiver down their spines. They wondered who the unlucky guy was this time that made the lord so pleased.

“Lord Yun will attend my grandmother’s birthday banquet, and he wants me to impersonate a lady with eye disease and accompany him?” After Yu Dong told her the news, Qu Moying took a deep breath with shock.

The Qu Family was the host that day, and everyone would be very busy.

“My lady, that’s indeed his order.” Yu Dong also felt sorry for the Fourth Lady, but he had to deliver this message from the lord without any mistake.

“H-How will that be possible? On the Old Lady’s birthday, Fourth Lady has to keep her grandmother company. Even though she can take a break, it’s still too difficult to accompany Lord Yun. Someone will definitely recognize her!” Granny Miao also took a deep breath with shock as her face turned pale.

“Yu Dong, is it possible to negotiate with the lord? The lady will be occupied at that day,” Yu Chun asked worriedly.

“That’s not possible. The lord never broke his words before, and no one dares to disobey him. People who went against his orders before…” Yu Dong paused for a few seconds as he took some quick peeks at Qu Moying’s expression and then continued hesitantly, “…are all dead!”

Yu Dong only had spent a few days with Qu Moying, but she already earned his respect. He whole-heartedly treated her as his master and didn’t want her to irritate the lord because he knew the consequence would be dreadful.

“Yu Dong, tell me about the lady I’m going to act as. Is she the Guardian General’s daughter?” Qu Moying fell into silence for a while, took a deep breath, and asked calmly. She had already prepared herself for it when Pei Yuanjun mentioned her mission before. It sounded a bit difficult in the current situation, but it was still feasible.

Lord Yun had the power to help her and destroy her – this was the warning hidden behind his words last time.

His condition was letting her impersonate that lady, but it was also a test for her.

If she proved to be useless for him, Qu Moying believed that her death had no value to him either. Even if she died in front of him, he would only think her blood would stain his shoes.

In her past life, her father repeatedly warned her that Lord Yun was the most dangerous person in the entire empire. His power forced all the princes to lower their royal heads and bow to him. His existence was the best example of gaining such a high status only second to the emperor!

If the Crown Prince wanted to ascend the throne successfully, he needed either Pei Yuanjun’s support or death. However, both seemed difficult to achieve.

Ji Hanyue’s father told her about it in private, concerned about the Crown Prince’s situation. Now since she’s looking at it from a different perspective, she only felt lucky that a person like Pei Yuanjun existed as the prince’s uncle.

She wanted to choose Pei Yusheng, Lord Jing, as her revenge partner initially, but it was apparent there was no better choice than Pei Yuanjun. Since this was the path she had to walk down and a test for her, she must overcome any hardship.

“My lady, your guess is correct. It’s Lady Liu from the Level-One Guardian General’s Mansion. Since she was born, Lady Liu had been staying at the border with the Guardian General. She was a good warrior and fought beside her father sometimes. But after her eyes were injured once, she never went out to the battlefield again.”

Yu Dong was ordered by Lord Yun that he needed to answer Qu Moying’s every question.

Qu Moying knew about everything Yu Dong told her. When she was still Ji Hanyue in her past life, she was already aware of it. Who could be more suitable for her to impersonate other than this Lady Liu, Liu Lanxin?

They were both the daughter of a level-one general, but Ji Hanyue was born and raised in the capital. Lady Liu was born in the capital and also suffered from the early death of her mother. But then the Guardian General, Liu Xiangshan, took her to the border, and they stayed there for more than ten years. If Qu Moying counted it correctly, this Lady Liu should be seventeen or eighteen years old now. At this age, she couldn’t be considered a young girl anymore.

Among the noble ladies in the capital, there was always a rumor about Lady Liu. Since she was not very young but still hadn’t got married or engaged, people said the one she was waiting for was Lord Yun, Pei Yuanjun. But according to the news from the royal palace, the emperor tried to arrange a marriage for Lord Yun many times and was rejected by him every time.

It made sense that Lady Liu and Lord Yun knew each other since the latter spent most of his time patrolling around the border. Maybe they were even childhood sweethearts.

This was people’s guess, and everyone believed that Lord Yun would marry Lady Liu. However, before they heard anything about their marriage, the lady’s eyes were injured. It was said that she got the injury because she tried to protect him from an assassination attempt.

If it was true, Lord Yun should absolutely take the responsibility to marry her!

“Why did Lady Liu come to the capital with her eyes injured?” asked Qu Moying.

The capital didn’t seem to be a good place for her to stay with those terrible rumors around.

“Asking the emperor to arrange a marriage for her, of course,” Yu Dong answered, grinning.

“Arrange a marriage? For her and Lord Yun?” Qu Moying raised her brow and asked. It was already nighttime, and her veil was taken off. The skin around her eyes looked delicate with a pink-red color, making her appearance softer.

“I’m sorry I don’t know about that, my lady,” Yu Dong shook his head and shrugged.

As a low-level eunuch, this was not the information he could access.

“Have they prepared things for me to disguise myself?” After thinking about it, Qu Moying asked. She supposed that Pei Yuanjun wouldn’t expect her to impersonate Lady Liu with her usual outfits.

Although she had the veil to cover her face, it would be taken off by then.

She and Lady Liu both had an eye problem, but that lady was different than her. Since Qu Moying was a child, she had got eye disease and was accustomed to using the veil in public. But Lady Liu’s injury was recent, and she definitely couldn’t accept people’s curious look at her. For Lady Liu, a simple veil was far from enough.

“Don’t worry, my lady. Everything is ready. You will wear a veiled hat. After Lady Liu got the injury, she rarely goes outside. Whenever she does, she wears a veiled hat to cover her entire face,” Yu Dong explained.

“How’s her injury exactly?” Since everything was pretty much settled, Granny Miao started to care about another thing. She couldn’t help but ask, “Did she see a doctor? How’s it going?”

“I don’t really know about her physical situation. She’s not fully blinded, probably… Perhaps her situation was similar to the lady’s!” Yu Dong stuttered. He didn’t have a clear answer about it either, so he gave them an ambiguous conclusion.

Actually, Yu Dong couldn’t understand the situation between Lady Liu and Lord Yun the whole time. Before, he even tried to ask Ji Hai about it out of curiosity but was told that this was not something he should ask about. Ji Hai said only quiet observation without any questions or unnecessary talks could help him survive longer.

“Since then, I’ll do as Lord Yun wishes!” Qu Moying lowered her eyes and made up her mind. She shouldn’t go any further right now.

“My lady, what about Young Master Xu?” Granny Miao reminded her.

Qu Moying asked her to pay attention to anything related to Young Master Xu before. After listening to the lady’s analysis, Granny Miao agreed that it was very likely to happen. Still, she was concerned since they had no clue about his target yet.

“Granny, don’t worry. Everything stays the same until my grandmother’s birthday. On that day, keep a close eye on the young master Xu. Tell me about it once you see him approach or pay attention to anyone,” Qu Moying answered her after taking a brief consideration. There were too many unknown things, and she was not sure either. At this moment, only one name came across her mind. “You can pay more attention to Duan Yuxiang, Minister of Food and Beverage’s eldest daughter. Her personality is the most similar one as I had before.”

Duan Yuxiang was the most suitable candidate she could think of. Xu Lipeng would likely use her to replace Qu Moying.

Duan Yuxiang was Duan Qiyan, Minister of Food and Beverage’s first daughter. After his ex-wife died, he married his current wife, who gave birth to his second daughter. This wife of his was a tough one, putting his first daughter under her control. With her stepmother’s suppression, First Lady Duan became very timid and weak.

In her past life, Ji Hanyue had met First Lady Duan. She always hid in a corner nervously and never talked to anyone with her head lowered every time they met. However, her young sister was a totally different character than her, spoiled and arrogant.

Ji Hanyue once ran into them while they were arguing in private. Second Lady Duan directly used violence on her older sister at that time. She pushed her to the ground, scolded her, and then left. But First Lady Duan didn’t dare to argue back at all, only sobbing sorrowfully.

This kind of girl should be the most suitable candidate from Xu Lipeng’s perspective since Yu Qingmeng’s matter would come to light soon. If he married an aggressive wife, she would have a really tough time…

Before, Xu Lipeng’s insistence on marrying her was for the same reason. He needed someone to cover up for the dirty affair between him and Yu Qingmeng, and he had to make sure that this person wouldn’t stand in Lady Yu’s way in the future.

“My lady, I can’t believe that Young Master Yongning and Lady Yu are such malicious people!” Granny Miao understood why Qu Moying mentioned First Lady Duan immediately and felt aggrieved.

“My lady, what’s the birthday gift you prepared for the Old Lady?” In the meanwhile, Yu Chun was worried about another thing.

“An embroidery!” Qu Moying said in a flat tone.

“What? An embroidery?” The look on Qu Moying’s face was calm, but people around her were all stunned due to shock.