In the drawing room, Yuan Xue"e, a ten-year-old girl, was sitting alone with her hand holding a tea bowl, praying in secret, "I wish this Miss Song is an easy-going person!"

She and Song Yixiao entered Prince of Hengshan"s mansion on the same day but they never met with each other.

Today, she was asked to pay her a visit by her brother Yuan Xuepei. "We are relatives of the prince, but our grandma and uncle both have their own lineal descendants. In this case, how much concern do you expect they can show for us? As a result, you shall not treat Auntie Wei impolitely." Said Yuan Xuepei.

That was to say, they would rather turn to the person-in-charge than rely on those of high status.

Yuan Xue"e always listened to her brother so she certainly followed his advice accordingly.

Yet, she was used to being bullied by her step-grandma and uncle when she was in the house of Marquis Boling, so she was inevitably anxious and fearful at the last moment. "Now I am living in the house of the Prince. Seriously, as the legitimate niece, I shall be more justifiable than her. However, I have become distant from my mother"s maiden family since my parents pa.s.sed away. Now my uncle"s current wife is the birth mother of Miss Song. If we don"t get along, how can this auntie not show partiality to her own daughter?"

While she was in a trance, she saw a group of people coming from outside. The leading girl, who had black hair, beautiful eyes and fair skin, looked so pretty and clever. As she caught sight of Yuan Xue"e, she hurried to apologize with a smile, "I"m so sorry! I have kept you waiting for a long time because my mother had something to tell me just now!"

As she was speaking, she advanced to greet Yuan Xue"e.

Yuan Xue"e, feeling relieved with a sigh, hastened to rise and greet in return, "It"s okay. I came here unasked. Please don"t blame me for that!"

"You are being absurd." While Song Yixiao ordered the servant to bring new tea, she said sincerely, "I feel uneasy about being accepted into the Prince"s mansion so I don"t dare to disturb the others. I am so honored to have you here!"

"I am so flattered. You are such a doll! It would be lovely if we can be friends!"

They both wanted to make friends with each other. Therefore, they became rather close after a quick conversation, who appeared like blood sisters.

Having had a confab, Yuan Xue"e started to talk of her intention of visit, "I am living in the Shibi Building outside the cherry-apple trees. Now we are neighbors. How about going to the girl"s school together from now on?"

Although Cui Jianlian had been sent back to her own home, Song Yixiao wouldn"t refuse such a good will, "Since you don"t mind being with me, how can I say no to you?"

After ending the topic, Yuan Xue"e was leaving, "You"ve just come back. I will leave you to rest."

Song Yixiao tried to ask her to stay for longer but as she insisted on leaving, Song Yixiao had to see her off outside the gate. Then they had a small talk hand in hand before Song Yixiao saw her walk away.

Having been back to the inner chamber, Ms. Zhao said in confusion, "Princess Consort said that thanks to Miss Yuan"s brother, you could get away this time. I thought this lady came here to talk about it. How come she didn"t bring it up at all?"

"Why did she bring it up to me?" Song Yixiao couldn"t help laughing, "It is not me who should return the favor!"

She hadn"t acquainted with Yuan Xue"e and her brother. Yuan Xuepei asked Jian Xubai to help Song Yixiao only in order to gain the promise of Wei Mengying. In fact, it was a transaction. Yuan Xue"e came here only to befriend Song Yixiao. It would ruin her purpose if the transaction was involved.

Ms. Zhao said surprisingly, "Then she came here to?"

Didn"t she come here only to have a chat with Song Yixiao?

"Didn"t she talk of it just now?" Song Yixiao said with an ironic smile, "Both of us lived under the roof of Prince of Hengshan. If she doesn"t befriend me, who else can she turn to?"

"A little maid came to report that Zhiqin could get off bed now." Ms. Zhao hastened to change the topic, "Your ladyship, would you like to summon her?"

Song Yixiao heard it and immediately put down the tea bowl, "How can I ask her to work presently? I"ll go to see her myself!"

Zhiqin was recovering well and looked much better now, except that her seriously injured parts still couldn"t be restored. Although she tried to look fine in front of Song Yixiao, such a nine-year-old girl as her was inevitably deeply stricken for suffering the misfortune!

Song Yixiao spent quite a while accompanying her with a forced smile before she left.

After going back to the drawing room, Song Yixiao saw some embroideries on the table, which were given by Yuan Xue"e when she left. With her eyes getting colder, she still ordered, "Put them away. Pick some similar things in my box and send them to the Shibi Building as a return present.

Yuan Xuepei also had something to do with Zhiqin"s disability so Song Yixiao actually didn"t want to make friends with Yuan Xue"e. However, Wei Mengying was right that she couldn"t act willfully at the moment.

After all, Yuan Xue"e was a legitimate child of a marquis. Now she extended an olive branch first. If Song Yixiao didn"t take it, she would be put into a disadvantaged position. A girl who had to live under the roof of Prince of Hengshan with her father dismissed from the official post even belittled a decent relative of the Prince, which would do harm to Song Yixiao"s reputation. Moreover, Wei Mengying wouldn"t allow her daughter to be so silly!

"There are many days yet." She must be patient.

Song Yixiao"s conflicting feelings were unknown to Yuan Xue"e. This young lady even felt happy herself, "Not only the teachers have been much more careful about guiding me in the lessons but also the servants of the Prince of Hengshan have served me evidently more attentively since I started to go to girl"s school with Yixiao."

They didn"t treat her badly on purpose before but even Lingdang knew that she came to live in the prince"s mansion due to Yuan Xuepei"s repeated requesting the Dowager Consort instead of being invited by Prince of Hengshan. In addition, due to the gap between the marquis and the prince, the people in the Prince"s house all showed indifference for her to some degree.

Now Yuan Xue"e and the princess consort"s birth daughter, Song Yixiao always spent time together, just like real sisters. Of course, those people didn"t dare to treat her in a careless way.

Under this circ.u.mstance, Yuan Xue"e liked Song Yixiao more. She was only ten years old herself, but Yuan Xuepei was 14 years old, who was old enough to be engaged. Yet, this matter was postponed because he had to help ease the unrest in Wuhuan for some experience and credits so as to gain an official post.

However, Yuan Xue"e had heard of other people talk about her brother"s marriage for a few times.

Now she couldn"t help wondering whether her brother liked Yixiao. She believed that there wouldn"t be any problem for her to get along with Yixiao if she was married to Yuan Xuepei.

If Song Yixiao found out her thought, she would persuade her into dropping it. For one thing, given Zhiqin"s injuries, she would not marry Yuan Xuepei for sure. For another, considering the current situation in the Marquis Boling"s family, Yuan Xuepei could never marry a girl who lived under the roof of others. For him, he would surely choose those n.o.ble ladies backed by their fathers and brothers so that he could suppress his step-grandma and uncle in light of his wife"s power!

However, Yuan Xue"e was still young and inexperienced. In her eyes, since she and Song Yixiao had an agreeable time together, it would be great that Song Yixiao could become her family. In this case, of course she must seize the right time.

For example, after the date when the troop departed was fixed, she proposed to Wei Mengying, "My brother is a junior. It is inappropriate to let a senior to see him off. Yet, I don"t feel like seeing him off alone. May I ask Yixiao to accompany me?"

Wei Mengying and Song Yixiao didn"t know her intention, who both thought of it as a trivial matter. Hence, they agreed on the suggestion.

On the departure day, Yuan Xue"e decided to talk less with her brother and make him pay attention to Song Yixiao. Unexpectedly, when the troop finally pa.s.sed by them, Yuan Xuepei fixed his eyes only on his sister among the crowds. He didn"t care for anyone else at all.

He kept telling his sister to take care repeatedly and almost cried in public!

Currently, he didn"t even glimpse at Jian Xubai next to him, let alone Song Yixiao, the girl who he thought was under the protection of Jian Xubai.

Jian Xubai had waited for Yuan Xuepei for a long while but the latter one just didn"t want to go. Worse still, he and his sister seemed to embrace each other and sob together. He felt quite speechless when he was surprised to hear a voice expressing thanks to him.

He harnessed the horse and retreated. Then he saw Song Yixiao standing before him and recognized her, saying, "It"s you! You have returned to the prince"s mansion?"

"Thank you for your help." Song Yixiao gave a curtsy and said with a smile.

Although Jian Xubai did her the favor out of Yuan Xuepei"s request, he went to the Song"s house himself and also asked the Empress Dowager for help. It was okay if they didn"t meet. Now that they met coincidentally, Song Yixiao should express her grat.i.tude to him.

Song Yixiao didn"t want to be too close to the duke so she intended to stand behind Yuan Xue"e after saying thank-you.

However, Jian Xubai was still waiting for Yuan Xuepei. He was free at the moment and he had met with Song Yixiao before, so he felt like talking more with her, "Is your sprain recovered?"

"Thank you for asking. My ankle has been recovered by far." Song Yixiao heard him and had to withdraw her leg to step aside.

"Your family..." Realizing that Jian Xubai seemed to bring up the matter of the Song Family, Song Yixiao hurriedly interrupted him, "I only expressed my grat.i.tude to you just now. I shall wish you a victory in the battle and hope you to return home in triumph!

They were currently surrounded by a sea of people. If Jian Xubai talked about the mess of the Song Family, it would be hopeless for Song Yuan to rise and Song Yixiao, daughter of the Song Family would be disgraced as well.

Jian Xubai was also sensible to talk with her about the battle, saying, "Duke of Ji will lead the battle this time. Undoubtedly, it will be quite easy to take down such a small country!"

Duke of Ji? A thought suddenly flashed through Song Yixiao"s mind. She blurted out, "Duke of Ji you just mentioned is Su Nianyi, the elder brother of the Empress?"

Seeing that Jian Xubai nodded his head, Song Yixiao felt that her smile was a bit stiff. Upon the foundation of Great Rui, the neighboring countries were terrified by the attack of Great Rui. It was only more than 40 years since the capital was fixed. The ruins left by the flames of battle in the past had faded away. Currently, it was fair enough to say that now was a flourishing age.

Therefore, since Wuhuan dared to carry out a provocation, the government officials all thought that they shouldn"t let go of the opportunity to gain credit for pacifying the territory!

Otherwise, the chief commander wouldn"t be Duke of Ji, Su Nianyi.

It was not because Wuhuan was hard to tackle but because too many blue-blooded children followed the troop that this experienced and famous general was sent out to war.

The 14-year-old Marquis Boling, Yuan Xuepei and 11-year-old Duke of Yan, Jian Xubai were the typical representatives. Hence, if the Commander-in-Chief was not impressive enough, how could he manage his soldiers and command the operations?

"But even as the brother of the Empress, he cannot stand the hindrance of some stupid dudes!" Song Yixiao heard in her previous life that this battle should have been ended after one year, which could be even shortened if Wuhuan was not that far away. It would take the troop several months to go on a round trip.

Nevertheless, in fact, the troop didn"t return home until six years later!

It turned out that Great Rui took the upper hand after the battle started. A few stupid dudes of high birth, who were eaten up with pride, only led a few cavalrymen to leave the camp and sneak into Wuhuan"s palace for the sake of gaining credit. They wanted to capture the enemies" leader first so as to destroy them all.

However, they failed to kill the king of Wuhuan. Instead, they ended up being captured and kept as hostages, who were tied up to the top of the city wall to threaten Great Rui to withdraw!

In light of these several hostages, Wuhuan prolonged the battle and made it last for more than five years. In the end, the people of Great Rui bribed the Prime Minister of Wuhuan into releasing the hostages in secret so that the battle could proceed. It was said that after Wuhuan"s unrest was ceased, Duke of Ji vomited blood before his subordinates and retired for illness subsequent to returning in triumph.

Rumor had it that the poor old general was so seriously depressed in the battle that he became severely ill. As a result, he must rest in peace for a long time so as to live long.

"Well..." Song Yixiao looked up to Jian Xubai, who was riding on the horse. He was dressed in flaked armor and bright silver helmet. As his rope was blown away by the whistling wind, his eyebrows and eyes seemed to contain the chill of battle, but his childishness was still hard to cover. She thought with worry and fear, "Will he be one of them?"

As the legitimate nephew of the Emperor and the duke raised by the Empress Dowager, he was only 11 years old. Hence, even if he fell into a snare and was used as a shield for the Wuhuan people, Great Rui couldn"t leave him alone...

What should Song Yixiao do? She felt increasingly suspicious as she thought of him. If she didn"t give him any tip, she would feel quite worried. If she did, what should she say?