On the terrace, Commandery Princess Qingjiang looked Lu Kou"er and the other two ladies up and down, who were climbing upstairs. She rolled the gla.s.s cup in her palm and asked the maid next to her, "Is it the hindermost one? She looks quite familiar to me?"

"Your Highness has a good memory!" The first maid, Zhenli flattered her mistress first and then said, "Miss Yuan conducted her to you last year. Back then, she presented you with a pair of sachets and you praised her for her good skills face to face!"

"No wonder." Commandery Princess Qingjiang nodded her head and narrowed her eyes, "Prince of Hengshan is virtuous and kind. Judging from her talent, appearance and temperament, I suppose she is exceptionally better than Kou"er and her sister! Obviously, she has been carefully raised."

Zhenli said smilingly, "If she is not good enough, how dare I mention her to you?"

Speaking of this, Lu Kou"er and the other two girls had arrived. Commandery Princess Qingjiang and her maid stopped chatting.

"It has been a few days since I didn"t meet you. You"ve become increasingly young and your cheeks look as rosy as peach blossoms. How beautiful you are!" After making a curtsey, Lu Kou"er said familiarly, "What good thing have you eaten or used? Tell me about it!"

"I am too old to be compared to a peach blossom." Commandery Princess Qingjiang only invited unmarried girls for the feast but she was old enough to be mother of these girls. She asked them to have a seat while saying laughingly, "I shall be like the earth under the peach blossom!"

Then she said, "It"s you who are as beautiful as blossoms!"

Lu Kou"er claimed that she was being too humble and then dragged Lu Chai"er, "I contend that Sister Roumei looks as young as us but she never acknowledges it! Chai"er, what do you think?"

Of course Lu Chai"er nodded her head heavily. Commandery Princess Qingjiang exchanged pleasantries with them and then looked to Song Yixiao, who stayed silent and smiled only, "As I recall, Miss Yuan introduced you to me last year and you were not as silent as now."

Song Yixiao always knew that she was living under the prince"s roof, so she never stole the thunder of Lu Kou"er and Lu Chai"er. However, out of her expectation, her silence aroused the attention instead?

Feeling the fierce look of Lu Kou"er and Lu Chai"er, she hurried to answer smilingly, "Thank you for asking! I didn"t mean to disappoint you. I am just not good at chatting. Kou"er and Chai"er have spoken my mind, for which I don"t know what else I can say. Hence, I must remain silent."

"Just make yourself at home." Commandery Princess Qingjiang said in such a mild tone that even Lu Kou"er and Lu Chai"er felt surprised, "I remember that you are good at needlework? When I was at your age, I also learnt it for several years too. Although I am only at an average level, I like it very much."

Song Yixiao pulled out a new embroidered handkerchief from her sleeve sensibly and presented it with both hands, "This is a piece of embroidery that I finished two days ago. Please accept it!"

Commandery Princess Qingjiang didn"t reject the offer. Song Yixiao was quite good at embroidery. After all, she was gifted in it. Moreover, while she was trapped in the Song Family in the previous life, she had no entertainment other than embroidery.

Looking at the two swimming fishes vividly presented on the embroidered handkerchief, which looked rather vivid as if they would jump out of the handkerchief anytime, Commandery Princess Qingjiang gasped in admiration and even patted the seat next to her, "Sit here and tell me what embroidery techniques you used on this piece of needlework and how many colors of silk thread you used."

Song Yixiao met with this commandery princess only once and it was a rash encounter. Thus, she had little knowledge of her. Now without the help of Yuan Xue"e, she didn"t know whether Commandery Princess Qingjiang"s special attention to her was a blessing or a curse based on her limited understanding.

After careful consideration, she decided to proceed without planning.

Having said yes obediently, she walked over and sat beside Commandery Princess Qingjiang to introduce the embroidered handkerchief to her in detail.

Song Yixiao intended to end the conversation roughly in case that Lu Kou"er and Lu Chai"er might feel left out. Unfortunately, regardless of the embroidery techniques of the Commandery Princess Qingjiang, as the daughter of a grand princess, she had a good savvy and knowledge because she always used sumptuous silk things. When she tried to get to the root of the matter, Song Yixiao had to explain to her attentively then.

Now Lu Kou"er and Lu Chai"er were completely left out aside!

As blood children of Prince of Hengshan, when were they cold-shouldered like this?

Particularly, the one who lived under the prince"s roof gained great importance while the actual n.o.ble ladies were left out!

They went purple in the face with rage!

Luckily, Zhenli still remembered them. She saw that Commandery Princess Qingjiang was talking about the embroidered handkerchief attentively. Then she advanced quickly to tell them, "Her Highness has been absorbed in needlework recently so she can hardly tear herself away from any needlework she sees... If you two find it not intriguing, how about sauntering nearby with some maids as your company?"

"I happen to feel like wandering in the nearby cherry blossom forest!" Lu Kou"er didn"t want the late-comers to witness her embarra.s.sment, so she wouldn"t reject the good-will offer. Then she stood up with a forced smile, "Thank you!"

Although she and Commandery Princess Qingjiang were both commandery princesses, she was even an official lady of the imperial clan, but she was not granted with a specific t.i.tle. However, Dou Roumei was granted as the t.i.tle of Qingjiang, which perfectly demonstrated that she was the more favored one between the two commandery princesses. Otherwise, why was Lu Kou"er so flattering upon meeting Dou Roumei?

Now, neglected by Commandery Princess Qingjiang, she didn"t dare to show her anger or resentment publicly but to blame Song Yixiao for that!

After leaving the terrace angrily, she made an excuse to send away the conducting maid and then whispered to Lu Chai"er, "What has that despicable girl said to make Sister Roumei neglect us and listen to her talk about the c.r.a.p embroidery skills. If Sister Roumei likes embroidery, what kind of good embroiderer can"t she have? Who needs her?"

"Is it because we didn"t talk properly that we offend Sister Roumei unknowingly?" Lu Chai"er couldn"t believe an outsider could be more favored by Commandery Princess Qingjiang than them. Now she couldn"t help guessing, "Then as Sister Roumei is unhappy, she is expressing her dissatisfaction through her?"

Lu Kou"er couldn"t agree with her more. However, they discussed for a while and even asked their close maids but they still couldn"t find out what they had said to offend Commandery Princess Qingjiang.

"Anyway, it is Song Yixiao"s fault!" Lu Kou"er thought back and forth and patted her hands, saying through her gritted teeth, "We"ve arrived early. When more people come later, they will all go to present their gifts to Sister Roumei. By then, how can she have time to attend to her? Guizhi, make some arrangement and give her a lesson..." Saying that, she made a fierce gesture.

Lu Chai"er was a concubine"s daughter and always acted cautiously. Even though she couldn"t help envying Song Yixiao obviously, she was hesitant at the last moment, "Is this okay? Grandma tells us not to do anything but bring Song Yixiao with us today."

"How could Grandma know that this little s.l.u.t brings such shame on us?" Lu Kou"er said furiously, "Even on the occasion when Princess Changxing and Princess Yushan are, Sister Roumei never treats me like that!"

Princess Changxing and Princess Yushan were the two daughters of the Emperor, who were both arrogant and willful. Of the same clan as they were, Lu Kou"er was rather cautious about being with them.

As such, it was fair enough that she held the grudge about what just happened. "Moreover, we are her blood granddaughters. What is Song Yixiao? Even if we beat or kill her, will Grandma feel sad?"

Lu Chai"er agreed with her on second thought but she still feared Commandery Princess Qingjiang, saying to her, "However, we are at Sister Roumei"s place and Sister Roumei is rather nice to her. If anything happens to her..."

"You are so silly!" Lu Kou"er said disgruntledly, "There are so many people here. If we want to teach her a lesson, why do we have to do it ourselves?"

Seeing that Lu Chai"er was still puzzled, Lu Kou"er poked at her forehead and said in a low voice, "Cui Jianlian is coming today. She was sent back home miserably because of Song Yixiao. By far, she has still found it embarra.s.sing to come to our home. Over the past two years, she has kept asking us about Song Yixiao whenever she meets us. She still hates Song Yixiao so much. Today is such a good opportunity for her. We don"t even need to fan the fire. As long as we find her and tell Cui Jianlian where Song Yixiao is, we will have a good show to watch!"

Then she sneered, "As this lady has the backing of the Crown Prince and n.o.ble Consort Cui, she doesn"t fear Sister Roumei like us!"

Lu Chai"er took a tumble, "You are so smart!"

Nevertheless, they didn"t know their little scheme was disclosed to Commandery Princess Qingjiang in detail!

Now Commandery Princess Qingjiang just finished listening to Song Yixiao talk about the handkerchief and then with a benign countenance asked a maid to show her around, "Since I"ve invited you to the feast, I cannot keep you here only. Now is the blooming season, when the flowers are the most beautiful. Just take a look. When there are more guests to come, you cannot enjoy the quiet moment of appreciating flowers by then."

Song Yixiao felt overwhelmingly flattered and agreed on the advice. After she was led away, Zhenli told Commandery Princess Qingjiang about the scheme of Lu Kou"er and Lu Chai"er, asking smilingly, "Do you need me to stop them?"

"If I didn"t want to see that coming, why would I show favor for Song Yixiao in front of them?" Commandery Princess Qingjiang waved her hand and said aloofly, "This girl is quite good in terms of talent, appearance, temperament, speaking manner and embroidery. Now in light of Kou"er and her sister"s scheme, I can take the opportunity to see how smart she is and whether she is worth my attention!"

Zhenli took her hint and said, "I will give the other servants a hint in case they take it wrong!"

"By the way, go to the Yaofang Building and ask that annoying boy to show himself later! He must present his opinion anyhow!" Commandery Princess Qingjiang suddenly thought of this matter and couldn"t help pinching her eyebrows, saying helplessly, "Otherwise, how can I return to the imperial city to report to my Grandma on my mission?"

"Today all the outstanding ladies in the imperial city are here. Somehow Duke Jian must be able to find someone he likes." Zhenli comforts Commandery Princess Qingjiang, "If he still can"t, we can"t do anything about it then! How will Her Majesty Empress Dowager blame you for that?"

Commandery Princess Qingjiang was not really afraid of the Empress Dowager"s blaming. After all, she was the legitimate granddaughter of the Empress Dowager. Now she kept sighing nonstop. "How come he is so thoughtless? Why does my Royal Grandma insist him on getting married? It"s for his sake!"

"He is 17 years old. Even though he is raised in the imperial palace, it is time for him to leave the palace for avoid suspicion. Even the imperial children must do that and he is merely a maiden grandson of her majesty! In particular, he is working in court so how can he come and go to the imperial palace as before? If he is married, his wife can not only oversee the household affairs but also exchange messages with my Grandma if any."

Given the current situation, her countenance became stern, "As to the Wuhuan issue, although the court meeting has been over and the result has been given, when do the hidden schemes cease? Now that he seems to be favored by imperial members, he is at severe risk in real! He has no backing power among the officials apart from the Crown Prince. Yuan Xuepei is close to him but he is crippled and cannot be enrolled to the government! If he distances himself from the palace, what good does it do to him?"

Zhenli listened to her attentively and said, "I will convey your words to Duke Jian for sure!"

"My grandma must have talked to him about the same thing for ten-plus times!" Commandery Princess Qingjiang said through her gritted teeth, "When you arrive at the Yaofang Building, just ask him whether he wants to go out obediently or he hopes me to drag him out. My grandma doesn"t feel like forcing him but I can!"

"He is good at martial arts but how dare he fight against me!"