I got off the sedan chair in front of the Weiyang Palace.

Just as I did, I saw my second sister leaving the palace and getting into the sedan chair.

She lifted the sedan curtain and provocatively glanced at me before walking away.

Inside the Weiyang Palace, a group of palace maids were busy.

They said it was a family reunion banquet, but it was really just my older brother, his wife, and me.

Ever since my older brother ascended the throne this year, the palace has been stained with the blood of siblings.

It's ironic to call it a family reunion.

So my older brother issued an edict that this year's Mid-Autumn Festival would be celebrated separately in each palace and mansion.

However, I am puzzled by my second sister's visit to the Weiyang Palace this time.

After all, when our father was alive, he sympathized with Xu Xiang's old age and feared that he would miss his deceased beloved daughter, Empress Xu.

My father would always issue an edict for my second sister to leave the palace and accompany the old man in the Xu Mansion during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

My father is no longer here this year, but my second sister has always been close to her maternal family.

Today should be the day to celebrate in the Xu Mansion.

I asked my sister-in-law about this doubt.

She said, "This year, the timing of the festival coincides with the new emperor's recent ascension to the throne. The vassal state has presented some tribute, and the emperor asked the second princess to send some to Xu Xiang."

It's "sending" instead of "rewarding."

It shows how low my older brother, this new emperor, is willing to stoop in order to win over Xu Xiang.

But I forgot that my older brother is always good at getting close to people.

Three years ago, when I first returned to the Imperial Capital.

At that time, our grandmother was still alive.

She was afraid that I wouldn't be used to living in the palace, so she specially built a princess residence for me.

According to the royal regulations, a princess can only establish her own mansion after getting married, but our grandmother made an exception for me.

On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, I followed the rules and went to the palace for the banquet.

My older brother had just finished dealing with the disaster in Biancheng and returned to the city. He personally came to the mansion to pick me up.

He had a package of lotus seed mooncakes in his hand, saying they were given by the common people when he left Biancheng.

Knowing that I liked mooncakes with lotus seed filling, he brought them back for me to taste.

While he was talking, he stuffed a mooncake into my mouth.

That down-to-earth appearance showed no trace of a royal heir.

It was also at that time that I became close to my biological brother.