The woman who helped Song Shuyu trace the patterns appeared in Secondary Consort Wei's room.
"How did it go? Is it done?" Secondary Consort Wei half-reclined on a soft couch, eating fruit fed to her by other maids.
The maid curtsied. "Master, your servant has done all she can."
Secondary Consort Wei pondered for a moment and gently waved her hand.
The maid hesitated. "Secondary Consort, your servant has one more thing to report to you."
"Speak."
"Commandery Princess Funing has two dragon patterns, and she specifically instructed your servant to help trace a pattern with one less claw."
"Your servant remembered your orders to just listen to whatever the Commandery Princess says and do exactly as she asks."
"Therefore, your servant did not remind the Commandery Princess."
Hearing this, Secondary Consort Wei stopped eating her fruit and sat up abruptly.
"Is this true?"
The maid nodded affirmatively. "After your servant finished tracing, Commandery Princess Funing even specifically checked it before letting your servant leave."
Secondary Consort Wei stood up, her face full of excitement.
Her personal maid standing nearby was full of confusion.
"Secondary Consort, His Majesty uses the five-clawed golden dragon, while our Prince only uses the four-clawed golden dragon."
"If Commandery Princess Funing, in order to be lazy and embroider less, presents an embroidery piece with a four-clawed dragon to His Majesty, our Prince will definitely suffer."
Secondary Consort Wei nodded excitedly.
"The Princess Consort surely didn't remember that Commandery Princess Funing doesn't know this rule."
"Or, perhaps she did it on purpose?"
Secondary Consort Wei fell into deep thought.
If Princess Consort Ling did this intentionally...
If she were Princess Consort Ling, she would definitely wait until Commandery Princess Funing finished the item and was about to present it to His Majesty before intercepting it.
That way, she could hold it over the Commandery Princess and take revenge for her own children.
If Princess Consort Ling has just been too busy lately and doesn't know...
Secondary Consort Wei pondered.
"Zhenzhu, send someone to secretly keep an eye on the Princess Consort's courtyard. If she sends someone to Commandery Princess Funing's courtyard, find a way to stall her."
"Also, send another person to watch Commandery Princess Funing."
"As soon as her pouch is embroidered, notify me immediately."
"Right, go back and embroider an identical pouch," Secondary Consort Wei instructed the maid who had just returned.
"Yes."
The maids retreated to go about their respective tasks.
Secondary Consort Wei lay back down on the soft couch and began to scheme.
In this game, she wanted to use Commandery Princess Funing to pull Princess Consort Ling down.
If Prince Ling succeeds this time, he will become the Crown Prince.
And only by pulling Princess Consort Ling down would she, a secondary consort, have a chance to be elevated to the primary position.
And only then would her son have a chance to become the legitimate heir.
Secondary Consort Wei silently calculated in her heart. This scheme must be cleverly laid out to bring down the Princess Consort in one fell swoop.
If she failed to bring her down, she and her son would fall into grave danger.
She couldn't rush; there was still time, and she could lay her plans slowly.
Song Shuyu slept all the way until the afternoon, waking up only because she was hungry.
Because Song Shuyu had a bad temper, no maid dared to wake her up during lunchtime.
This wasn't Feng City, and Song Shuyu's courtyard didn't have a small kitchen.
Chunxiao gave a little money to have the main kitchen keep Song Shuyu's food warm on a small stove.
Now seeing that Song Shuyu was awake, she hurriedly sent a young maid to fetch it back.
"Commandery Princess, there's no small kitchen here. Your servant had the main kitchen warm up the food and even gave them silver."
Chunxiao felt a pang of heartache thinking about the copper coins she had spent.
"It's just a few copper coins, spend what needs to be spent."
"Besides, that's all my money, what are you feeling sorry for?" Song Shuyu was very displeased seeing Chunxiao's pained expression.
Chunxiao hurriedly forced a smile.
"Commandery Princess, you misunderstand."
"This is the capital, not Feng City. It's a place where you need silver for everything."
"Even in the main kitchen, just to help warm up the food, your servant gave them double the copper coins, and the other party was still unhappy!"
"What? They weren't bullying you on purpose, were they?" Upon hearing this, Song Shuyu immediately became alert.
Bullying her maid was the same as bullying her, the master.
Chunxiao shook her head.
"Your servant initially thought the same as the Commandery Princess, but later, your servant secretly went to ask around."
"The cost of living in the capital is high!"
"The monthly allowance for maids in the estate is a full double that of Feng City."
"Just ordering a dish from the main kitchen costs at least one tael of silver." Chunxiao clicked her tongue.
Song Shuyu's eyes widened. "That expensive?"
Chunxiao nodded. "Commandery Princess, your private savings are already not much."
"From now on, Commandery Princess, you should wake up on time for meals."
"When your servant's mother was alive, she used to say that money should be spent where it's needed most."
"What if you need silver later, what will you do?"
"If just ordering a dish costs one tael of silver, wouldn't doing something major cost even more?"
Chunxiao didn't know that the cook in the main kitchen was Princess Consort Ling's person.
No, more accurately, everyone in the entire prince's estate, aside from the Prince himself, was the Princess Consort's person.
Of course, there were also a few people belonging to other masters.
Old Madam Song felt that Song Shuyu was still young and hadn't taught her too many things about the inner courtyard.
Therefore, Song Shuyu was stunned by what Chunxiao said.
Her monthly pocket money was only five taels of silver.
Calculated like this, she could only order five dishes.
But she ordered far more than five dishes a month!
For the first time, Song Shuyu began to feel anxious about lacking silver.
Previously, she spent all her pocket money every month.
Anyway, every month, the maids from Princess Consort Ling's room would bring it to her on time.
Chunxiao had also advised her to save some.
After Chunxiao talked about it a lot, Song Shuyu barely managed to save a few copper coins each month.
After saving for a few months, it was only a string of coins.
Just with this one string of coins, Song Shuyu was very proud.
She was also someone with savings!
Compared to those poor people, she didn't know how many times richer she was!
Now, hearing Chunxiao bring this up, Song Shuyu's worldview suddenly collapsed.
She was actually poorer than a cook?
No way!
She had to figure out a way to make money!
After finishing her meal, Song Shuyu suddenly became motivated.
She put down her bowl and chopsticks and continued working on the pouch.
She wanted to finish the pouch early and give it to her imperial grandfather.
Yes, and then say a few auspicious words. If her imperial grandfather was happy...
Song Shuyu seemed to see countless gold, silver, and jewels floating toward her.
As she embroidered, Song Shuyu giggled aloud.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Duoduo drew from morning till night, only taking a bite or two for lunch before continuing to draw.
Su Xian watched, her heart aching terribly.
She urged Duoduo not to rush, but Duoduo didn't even lift her head, continuing to draw.
Su Xian had no choice but to help out on the side.
It wasn't until the evening lights were lit that Duoduo finally finished drawing the one hundred pictures.
These promotional pictures weren't large, about the size of a book.
Otherwise, even if Duoduo stayed up for a few more days, she wouldn't have been able to finish.
Moreover, the content of the drawings wasn't complex, just grilled fish, meat skewers, and similar foods.
After drawing so many, Duoduo's movements became faster and faster.
In the outer study, Yun Xiao walked in quickly.
"Prince, there's new news from Prince Rui's side."
