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CHAPTER 21: Are you capable of keeping a secret?

"A fter the New Year celebration is over, I will bring you to meet someone. Perhaps the answer you seek will be answered."

"The answer that I'm looking for?" Hope surged high in her heart. There was only one answer she was seeking that the Third Prince knew of. "I can go back home?"

All the books that the Eighth Prince and Third Prince had found that were related to crossing different worlds, had never mentioned anything about them returning to their world. The only thing recorded was their long list of contributions to society and how they arrived in this world.

'Visit a historical site'.

'Enter a forbidden forest'.

'Chant a spell incorrectly'.

'Teleportation artefact broke down'.

"It's just a small possibility. You should not place too much hope on it." If Xiao Hua clung onto that hope too much, it might crush her spirit if that hope ended up unable to be achieved.

She nodded but her eyes were glazed, already thinking of the possibility of her returning to her original world. Her heart would not be at ease if she did not see how her mother was doing. She would not be so worried about her if there were still maternal relatives in the world of the living to take care of her mother.

"Who is this person?" Xiao Hua asked curiously.

The Third Prince stared at her doubtfully. "Are you capable of keeping a secret?"

"Third Prince, I can keep a secret!" Although she was annoyed that her capabilities were being questioned, she restrained her glare and chose to sulk instead.

"I can't tell you so easily even if you are capable of keeping it a secret. That's why I decided to give you a test to make things fair for both of us. If you pass it, I will let you know who that person is. If you fail, you will do one thing for this prince."

"Wait, why would I need to do one thing for you if I lose?" Xiao Hua asked with incredulity.

"You could choose not to take the test at all," the Third Prince offered kindly.

"Okay, I won't take that test," Xiao Hua immediately gave her answer.

Why would she take a test just to know who that person was? She would know who it was after the New Year celebration anyway.

The Third Prince gently placed Xiao Hua down on a chair. Then he turned his face away and turned into an unmoving mute. He continued being so until Xiao Hua could no longer stand being ignored in such an obvious and childish manner. Xiao Hua tried to coax him to say something and even poured him the ready-made tea in her new bedroom, but he just ignored her, his whole attention on drinking the tea.

"What do you want me to do?" Xiao Hua finally relented. His word of letting her opt-out was a lie after all!

"You agree to take the test?" the Third Prince immediately regained his voice.

Xiao Hua wanted to answer 'depends' but that might just make him mute again.

Honestly, she wondered if the Third Prince gave her random tasks just to make her accept the punishment if she failed.

But she was weak towards this man that had treated her so well when she was just a maid that would not bring benefit to him. "Alright, I..... I will take the test." The Third Prince's sulking immediately disappeared as if it had never existed in the first place, immediately replaced with a happy smile. His phoenix-shaped eyes seemed to send signals that encouraged Xiao Hua to helplessly misinterpret their meaning.

Such alluring bedroom eyes... if only he truly meant it! Say a word and this young lady will gobble you up, beautiful man!

"I will tell you a secret code and you will need to guard it until the test ends. A person will try to get the code from you, and you have to keep it a secret. This test will end tomorrow morning."

Okay, that does not sound so bad. "Who will be taking the code from me?"

"That's a secret."

Well, it does not hurt to try. Xiao Hua exhaled. "What's the secret code?" The Third Prince leaned closer to her, placing his mouth near to her ear. His warm breath and the smell of oranges made Xiao Hua's ears itch and his body heat seemed to have transferred to her despite them not touching each other. Hearing the secret code, Xiao Hua's eyes widened and an uncontrollable blush coloured her fair cheeks.

The Third Prince straightened his back. "The test will start now. Da Bei will be following you, and whatever you say will be known by him."

"T-That code..."

"What's wrong with that code?" His eyes displayed ignorance and she did not know if he purposely chose it to tease her or not.

Is that really the code? "N-Nothing."

"Da Liu," the Third Prince called, already aware of the presence of the other man in the room. The intimidating black-clothed man stepped out from a dark corner and knelt down before the Third Prince, his black hair in a high ponytail swaying slightly from his precise movements.

"Liu Chu Chu had moved into the Second Prince's manor after being blamed for murdering the eldest daughter of Liu with poison found in her bedroom. Sir Liu is very angry and declares that he will no longer admit Liu Chu Chu as his daughter. This servant failed to find out the truth. Please punish this servant."

Eh? The heroine's eldest sister is dead? And got kicked out of her house?!

In contrast to Xiao Hua's shock, the Third Prince was not surprised at the news.

"Long Shan is someone that does not tolerate mistakes. Liu Chu Chu naturally shares the same trait, or else she won't be his lover." The Eldest Miss Liu was the main bully of the previous Fifth Miss Liu, and this bully continued onto the new soul, so naturally, Liu Chu Chu would retaliate.

Does that mean the heroine really did poison her sister?

"Lau Liu, any news from the palace?"

"Pardon my intrusion," Eunuch Lau Liu said before stepping into Xiao Hua's new bedroom. "Eunuch Xiang said that the Emperor did not look happy after hearing the news, but he allowed Fifth Miss Liu to stay at the Second Prince's manor. But the marriage can only be held when Fifth Miss Liu is of age."

"Merchant Liu must be questioning himself now that the Emperor did not force

Long Shan to throw Liu Chu Chu away. Anything else?"

Eunuch Lau Liu's face formed a humourless smile. "The Second Prince requested the Emperor to give justice to Fifth Miss Liu for being framed as a murderer of her own sister. The Emperor has as of yet to provide an answer to the Second Prince." The Third Prince's lips curved mockingly. "Father Emperor will ask the Minister of

Justice to handle it. That's all, dismissed."

Da Liu and Eunuch Lau Liu saluted before leaving the room silently.

So... the heroine really did it or not?

The Third Prince turned to Xiao Hua. "The novel that Heise wrote, did it include this event?"

Xiao Hua shook her head. "Not that I remember, but the heroine- Liu Chu Chu will make her sisters have a miserable life. In the end, the Liu family will eventually die under her manipulation. Liu Chu Chu had collected enough evidence of their illegal doings that will sentence them to death. I forgot what it is, but it involves the Crown Prince as well. Heise will remember it better."

"I will talk to my eighth brother later and check with the eldest brother."

"Third Prince...why did you not call the Second Prince as 'brother'?" Xiao Hua only noticed that the Third Prince will call the Second Prince by his title or name while calling the other princes as his brothers.

Could it be...he knows that the Second Prince is not his brother? Xiao Hua's guess was spot on.

"The novel revealed that the Second Prince does not have the royalty blood in him?" The Third Prince easily guessed after correctly deducing the open book known as Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua nodded weakly. She remembered that before the Third Prince died, the hero and heroine had visited him in the prison. It was more like bragging when the hero told his life story, portraying himself as a victim that everyone had mistreated.

The son of Concubine He and the retired General. The tragic childhood lovers." Xiao Hua gasped. "You knew this much? Then why didn't you tell the Emperor?' If the Emperor knew, he would immediately have the Second Prince dragged out and beaten to death. But no one knows if he has the heart to kill Concubine He. his favourite woman in his harem. However, an Emperor would not tolerate being treated as a fool being tricked for so many years.

"It's not the right time yet." The Third Prince raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, go out and mingle. You don't expect to pass the test that easily, right?"

Xiao Hua reluctantly left the safe haven and felt that the sun was rather bright today.

"Elder Sister Hua!" Si Si just happened to pass by and separated herself from the other female servants, speed walking towards Xiao Hua.

"Oh, it's Si Si."

"Elder Sister Hua, when I saw your belongings missing from your room, I thought you were dismissed! Thankfully you are still here! Did you anger the Third Prince and get demoted?"

Si Si was a better actress compared to the Eighth Prince but Xiao Hua was not too shabby in spotting liars, especially nowadays when she was bored and tended to stare at anything that managed to spark her interest. Si Si's tone, voice, and expression were almost flawless. But the only thing that betrayed her was her eyes. Si Si was used to looking down whenever she conversed with servants that had a higher position than her. Hence she did not work hard in hiding her expression from her eyes.

She had nothing to hide from those servants with the same rank as hers, as they had no benefits for her to exploit so there was nothing scheming revealed in her eyes when she chatted with them.

As for Xiao Hua, Si Si had already regarded her as silly, someone that could not be compared to her, hence the unguarded eyes.

"I don't know." Xiao Hua played her part of being silly. Letting her enemy believe she was stupid instead of smart would be better. But being stupid did not mean she could not show off. "The Third Prince took me to a pretty room. He said it's mine so I will be staying there from now on."

"That's generous of the Third Prince," Si Si gushed but the other party could see her irritation.

Xiao Hua started to think back on those times she had lied. Did she perform as poorly as Si Si and Heise?

It would be really embarrassing if she believed she had successfully fooled the other party but the other party let you continue just for the sake of entertainment.

"Where is your new room? I will need to know so I can serve Elder Sister Hua."

"Eh...I don't know..ah! I remember it's beside the Third Prince's bedroom!"

Xiao Hua could hear the sound of teeth grinding clearly. She was impressed that the textbook closed-lip smile could hide terrifying teeth grinding from view.

CHAPTER 22: Why is there a door between their rooms?

Just when Xiao Hua wanted to see if she could crack Si Si's poker face, someone inter-rupted.

"Elder Sister Hua." An Jing and Tian Zi approached them, carrying a pile of folded clothes that they had just collected from the laundry department. Unlike lowly ranked servants, An Jing and Tian Zi were allowed to have the laundry servants wash their clothing, leaving them more time and effort in serving the Third Prince.

"Sister An Jing, Sister Tian Zi," Xiao Hua greeted cheerfully.

"Is there anything wrong?" An Jing's eyes were approachable when she was looking at Xiao Hua, but as they slowly trailed over to Si Si, her eyes became sharp blades, piercing her very soul.

"I will return to my task. Please excuse me." Si Si bowed and quickly escaped.

"Elder Sister Hua, what do you think about your new room?" Tian Zi asked in excitement once Si Si could no longer be seen. "Elder Sister An Jing is the one that helped master to decorate the room when Master was a little stumped when it came to a young girl's taste!"

"Really? Sister An Jing's choice is to my liking. The room is very beautiful!" Xiao

Hua gazed at An Jing with admiration.

An Jing smiled and secretly wondered if Xiao Hua had thanked the Third Prince this way, but she doubted it. This younger girl turned shy whenever she was around the Third Prince. She certainly hoped that Xiao Hua had at least thanked the Third Prince, for the room was mostly designed by him.

"Elder Sister Hua, please don't misunderstand, for the room was mostly decorated by the Third Prince. An Jing only helped in purchasing the materials." An Jing ex-plained.

Finally, aware that she had not thanked the Third Prince for that lovely room, Xiao Hua looked embarrassed. "I...I will properly thank him later."

"Do you love it?" Tian Zi asked and immediately received a guarded stare from the younger maid. "What is it?"

Xiao Hua was alarmed at the question. That's a trap! Is she the one the Third Prince has sent to trick the secret word out of her?

"I like it." Xiao Hua hoping that she had dodged the trap with such a vague reply.

"Only like?" Tian Zi's voice could not conceal her disappointment and glanced at An Jing from the corner of her eyes with visible worry.

Sister Tian Zi, why are you giving An Jing that look as if my words would break An Jing's heart or something?

It was not that Xiao Hua did not fear she would hurt An Jing's feelings but the look that Tian Zi gave to An Jing made Xiao Hua feel as if she and An Jing were a couple.

"Elder Sister Hua, is there anything in the room that is not to your liking?" An Jing asked as calmly as she could. She was actually concerned because their master had spent days drawing the bedroom plan and even rushed the renovation period so that Xiao Hua could move in sooner.

"How could there be anything not to my liking! I lo- I like it very much! I'm very happy to have such a beautiful room!"

Crap, she nearly uttered the secret code! That's right; the secret code is 'love'!

When the Third Prince whispered that word into her ears, she nearly melted into a pile of goo! The first thought she had from his words was This young lady wants his undying love to be confessed to her by this beautiful man! I'm ready to be confessed!'

"You like it very much? Why don't you love it?" Tian Zi pressed and Xiao Hua's suspicion about her being the tester seemed to be confirmed! Even if Tian Zi was truly concerned about whether or not she loved her new bedroom, surely as servants they should not dislike whatever their master gave them. Their dislike should not be mentioned out loud.

"That.....that.....that! I will only say it to the Third Prince! I will go find him now!" Xiao Hua quickly spat out something ridiculous as long as she could escape from them.

She hurried back to where she came from and managed to find her way back to her new bedroom. The door was closed and she gently pushed the door open, just enough for her to peek in. Just as she hoped, the room was empty of people.

With a relieved sigh, she entered and plopped down on a chair, and supported her head with her palm. Her eyes trailed around the room and found nothing to complain about. She had an ideal dream bedroom for years but it was too modern. But if she had an ideal bedroom set in ancient times, this one managed to be it.

Xiao Hua stood up and walked to her bed that was hidden behind a white transparent curtain. She could not contain her giggles as she touched the feminine decorated bed. The bed was not as hard as her previous one, and the blanket was so much softer and nicer to touch as it was made from high-quality material. The blanket had purple flowers embroidered all over it, with gold linings over the flower's outline.

Satisfied, she turned to examine her cosmetics table. With a happy cry, her eyes darted around the row of long ribbons for her hair, each with different patterns and colours.

"Hmm? What is this?" Xiao Hua picked up one of the round, thin boxes and opened it. Inside contained a fine white powder that smelled like flowers. "Rouge?"

The more she examines her new items, the wider her smile gets. Rubbing her heated cheeks, she feels like squealing like a fool. What was this feeling? She was so happy that she could have jumped onto the Third Prince and gave him lots of kisses!

But that must not happen. Behave properly, Le Xiao Ting!

In all her twenty-seven years of living as Le Xiao Ting, only her mother had provided all her necessities without asking for anything in return. To have a non-blood related person to provide so much for her...she felt as if she was married to a rich CEO!

She looked away from the table filled with feminine products to clear her mind from the happy thoughts and noticed there was another door inside her new bed-room. The door was wide enough for two people to cross over it together.

Stepping close to the door, she slowly pushed the door and it opened obediently without the normal creaking sound. Her mind immediately blanked out when she saw the other side of the door was the sight of an overly familiar room.

That.....that.....that... is the Third Prince's bedroom! Why was there a door between their rooms?! E(0_0)

She quickly stretched out her hands for the double door to close it, before opening it again. It was still the same room as before and her eyes had not tricked her mind as she assumed.

It was still understandable if the door would be linked to the prince's living room, for as his personal maid, she must be available on call for twenty-four hours. But why would it be linked to his bedroom?

Xiao Hua was seriously planning to seal the door to avoid any temptation during the night when a soft, mesmerizing familiar voice called out from the other side of the room.

"What are you thinking about, standing there for a long time?"

"Your Highness!" Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. "This servant is wrong!

This servant will not open the door and will seal it forever!"

She will cover it with a layer of cement if she had to!

The door banged loudly when she hysterically closed with a huge force. It was too late to regret treating the door so harshly and doing it right in front of the Third Prince.

Her back was drenched with cold sweat as she clutched onto the door handle tight-ly. The door suddenly opened from the other side, and Xiao Hua failed to hold onto the door handle. She stepped back hurriedly when the Third Prince opened the door wider.

"My little flower is that reluctant to serve me?"

Xiao Hua's mind turned blank again after hearing 'my little flower'. She was used to him calling her as 'my little maid' and she knew better than to be offended with that nickname. Why would he suddenly call her with such a cheesy title?

Seeing Xiao Hua shocked silly, the Third Prince asked, "Xiao Hua, are you not my personal maid?"

"I- I am!"

"Then is it not your duty to serve this prince?"

"Of course! Yes!"

"Then the door will stay."

"Yes, Your Highness." Whatever reason she had thought up to seal this door had

already long sailed away.

"Hiding inside your room is not allowed until the test is complete." The Third

Prince pointed out.

"This... this servant is actually looking for the Third Prince!" Xiao Hua hastily said a white lie. He did not need to know that she was actually planning to hide inside the room until tomorrow morning as he guessed.

"Me? Is there a problem?"

Feeling shy like a young maiden facing her crush, Xiao Hua found it hard to open her mouth to thank him. She gulped and maintained her gaze at his chest as she could not find the courage to meet his eyes. She absentmindedly noticed that it was a nicely formed chest even if it was hidden under his clothes.

"I... I want to thank you! That room, the ribbons, and rouge... I love them all! Thank

you!" Xiao Hua gave a bow lower than ninety degrees.

There was only silence until the Third Prince suddenly laughed, his whole body

trembled as he tried to restrain himself from laughing too loudly.

Xiao Hua straightened her body, her face filled with confusion. That adorable expression tickled Long Zhu's heart, and his eyes unconsciously grew even warmer.

"Your Highness?" Xiao Hua inquired with a puzzled tone. Could it be that he was

truly delighted that she liked his interior design?

The Third Prince grinned boyishly as if he had just received a pleasant surprise.

"Who would have thought? I have not even made a move yet but you have already thrown yourself at me."

"Eh?"

The Third Prince stepped past the divider and into her room. With a hand reaching out, his fingers brazenly rubbed her soft cheeks in a good mood. Her soft skin was addicting and he found it hard not to touch and rub his hand over it whenever he saw her. It was truly a great contrast compared to her previously coarse and dry skin.

"I'm the one that will pry the word out of you. However, you have told me the word, so you failed the test."

"What...what? How could that be?" Xiao Hua exclaimed after getting over her shock. "That's not fair!"

"How is it not fair?" The Third Prince asked in amusement.

"You can't pick yourself as the tester! That's not how it works!"

"There's no rule that I can't be the one to test you."

....He's right, but it's unfair! What an immoral person! The one that made the test should not be the tester as well!

The Third Prince revealed a devilish grin that increased her heart rate. "As per our agreement, you will need to be punished for losing."

...Can I decide my own punishment?

CHAPTER 23: Dear husband truly adores me

Xiao Hua was currently in a very uncomfortable situation.

Her legs were half numb as she was sitting down with her legs cushioning her butt and she tried to ignore it by fastened her eyes onto her teacup served on the table in front of her, examining it carefully. She was surprised when she first saw the seats to be Japanese style, where the chairs were actually just cushions on floors, and the drinks were the green tea that she had tasted in Japanese restaurants. She even had to remove her shoes and wear an indoor slipper around the house.

For a second, she thought she had travelled to a Japanese house with the small bamboo water fountain and paper sliding doors until Ping Shui talked to her in the Chinese language.

Xiao Hua avoided eye contact with the person in front of her that has a noble rank-ing, following the proper protocol. Her brains felt as if insects were crawling over it, agitating the itchiness as she was afraid of making a mistake.

Seriously, why would her punishment be something this dangerous? One mistake from her would embarrass the Third Prince.

"How is the Third Prince doing?" A strong yet feminine voice inquired.

"His Highness is doing well."

Madam Ping Shui nodded as if it was to be expected that the Third Prince was in good health. She was just asking that question as a form of courtesy. "Please pass on my thanks to the Third Prince for the gifts to grandfather."

"This servant will pass it on. The Third Prince heard that Grand Tutor Ping Pong had fallen ill and sent this servant to deliver some medicine to hasten his recovery," Xiao Hua speaks as smoothly as she could.

"Grandfather is resting and could not personally accept the gifts. Please pardon

Ping Shui for accepting the gifts on behalf of my grandfather."

"Madam Ping Shui, the Third Prince understands Grand Tutor's difficulties. It's already an honour to have Madam Ping Shui to personally accept the gifts and invite this servant for tea."

"My mother had prepared some snacks and accidentally made more than we could eat. If you do not find it unpleasant, please bring some back for the Third Prince to try," Ping Shui offered kindly.

"It's not unpleasant at all. The Third Prince had mentioned that he misses Madam Ping's delicious snacks and even ordered this servant to inquire if Madam Ping would not mind giving a portion of the snacks to His Highness if she had made some today." Madam Ping Shui laughed, using her wide sleeves to cover the lower part of her face. Her laugh was not loud or overly soft, just enough to let a person notice her amusement.

"It is fortunate then, that mother had made some snacks today. I will have my mother prepare more snacks to bring back for the Third Prince." Madam Ping Shui gestured at the plate filled with snacks on the rectangular table with short legs placed between them. "Please, try some too."

"Then, please pardon this servant's rudeness." Xiao Hua lowered her head slightly and did not reject Madam Ping Shui's offer.

Actually, when the plate of snacks first appeared before her eyes, her attention was already on it. It was so cute how the white-coloured snacks were moulded into rabbit shapes. Its body was plump with its body full of fillings.

Using a chopstick to pick one of the rabbit snacks, she unceremoniously took a tiny bite off its head and the sweet red bean filling poured into her mouth. The red bean was not overly sweet, suitable for everyone with a different preference of sweetness to enjoy.

Madam Ping Shui smiled when she saw the Third Prince's personal maid was delighted just for something as simple as snacks. The happiness on her face as she chewed on the snack was not trickery. Ping Shui apprehends that sending this maid to meet her indicated that the Third Prince trusted her.

Realizing that her face was too expressive, Xiao Hua quickly controlled her face back to a polite smile. "To let Madam Ping Shui see such an embarrassing sight, this servant is ashamed."

"I'm happy to see my mother's snacks being enjoyed. Please, have some more."

Oh~ I can eat more-cough- wait she is here on a mission!

"Thank you for your generosity. Madam Ping Shui, please have some too. This servant is embarrassed to eat these delicious snacks alone."

Madam Ping Shui's smile widened and joined in to eat the adorable rabbits.

"It's been a while since this servant saw Madam Ping Shui. It seems married life is good for you. You look even more beautiful than before."

Xiao Hua had not lied or made an empty flattering, for Madam Ping Shui indeed looked more attractive than the time she saw her during the engagement cancellation gathering. Her skin seemed to glow and there was more spirit in her eyes. Her hair was completely piled up and decorated with expensive hairpins, into a hairstyle common for married women.

It had been four months since Ping Shui and General Tang Jiang's wedding but

Xiao Hua was unfortunately unable to attend.

"Ping Shui is very happy with dear husband." There was no anger or annoyance from Madam Ping Shui towards a servant that dared to ask about her marital life.

"Dear husband was originally reluctant to part with the Tang family, but he made a great effort to adapt to his new home."

"That's good news. It was rather wise for General Tang to choose his future instead of being stagnant in the past. This servant is amazed by General Tang and Madam Ping Shui's courage."

Madam Ping Shui lightly laughed. "Dear husband treats me kindly and has never slighted me for my past engagement with the Second Prince. He's a wise man for separating work and family life."

It was rather strange for people in this era to segregate their working life from family life, for most officials usually used their family connections to make their working life smoother.

"Pardon this servant for asking an inappropriate question but...did the Second Prince pressured General Tang about Madam Ping Shui? This servant is not educated and could only learn from rumours. This servant could not help worrying that the Second Prince would try to harm Madam Ping Shui.." Xiao Hua trailed off. She had already said enough for Madam Ping Shui to connect the dots.

Madam Ping Shui gave Xiao Hua a warm smile, unlike the indifferent smile that was usually spotted on her face whenever she conversed with other officials' female relatives. She knew that Xiao Hua was here on behalf of the Third Prince to inquire about her husband.

"I'm content to have Xiao Hua worried about me, but please be reassured that it would be hard for the Second Prince to harm me." Madam Ping Shui smiled like a predator with a dark glint in her eyes. "Dear husband truly adores me." Her tone was filled with confidence and her smile held secrets that only she and her husband knew.

Xiao Hua could not stop her mind from wandering to PG-18 scenes that Madam Ping Shui might have used on General Tang to tame him. Xiao Hua discreetly fanned herself as she felt that the room's temperature became warmer.

"This servant admires Madame Ping Shui greatly."

The door suddenly slid open and a large man with wide shoulders wearing a dark brown plain robe stepped into the room. His large build loomed over them like a scary monster. His originally fierce expression immediately turned to a foolish expression when his eyes landed on Ping Shui.

"Shui' Er, I have looked everywhere for you."

Xiao Hua had to fight off her goosebumps upon hearing the endearment that the battle-hardened General Tang gave to his beloved wife. He had said it in a spoiled manner that a macho voice should never use.

"Husband, we have a guest," Madam Ping Shui reminded sharply with a polite smile on her face.

General Tang spared a glance at Xiao Hua, deeming her unimportant, and turned his attention back to his wife. "Shui' Er, mother said you are free this afternoon. Let's spend time together."

Xiao Hua could not help but shiver, resisting the urge to rub her arms. That spoiled tone from a muscular man was too exciting for her to take in!

"Husband, the guest is the Third Prince's personal maid. Don't be rude," Madam Ping Shui informed gently yet unyielding.

General Tang pouted in response. He had already known his wife was entertaining the Third Prince's personal maid and he purposely came over to interrupt them.

He was a loyal soldier to the Second Prince and would naturally dislike other princes that would hinder the Second Prince's aim for the throne. Even if he looked like a no-brain-and-only-brawn person, for him to hold a general's position meant that he had some skills. He had already known his lovely wife was on the Third Prince's side before their marriage.

However, despite his attempt to brainwash Ping Shui, he ended up falling into a beauty trap instead. Slowly, his heart shifted towards his wife and he willingly surrendered to it, even if he knew it might shake his sense of loyalty towards the Second Prince.

But his surrender to his wife did not mean he supported the Third Prince. He was just merely allowing his wife to do what she wanted as a good husband. But he was irritated that the Third Prince dared to steal his wife's attention from him during their rare free time.

He put his fiercest scowl on his face with the purpose of scaring the tiny maid away, but who would have thought the maid did not even pay attention to him. She was too busy eating the rabbit-shaped snacks, not wanting to torture herself with General Tang's display of love.

Instead, his scowl was seen by his dearest wife and earned a cool gaze in return.

Wife.Shui Er! I'm not glaring at you! Don't be angry, this is all a misunderstanding!

Xiao Hua finally left the Ping household, carrying along more than a handful of snacks for the Third Prince, much to a person's satisfaction.

However, he will need to appease his darling wife. "Shui" Er..."

"Husband," Ping Shui interrupted gently. "This wife has never bothered you whenever you met with the Second Prince."

Ping Shui stared at her husband, with her eyes asking, 'So why are you interrupting my meeting?'

"This wife is glad that Miss Xiao Hua decided to overlook my rudeness as a host," Ping Shui continued lightly. "A host should always treat her guests well."

'If Xiao Hua complained to the Third Prince and got him angry, I would be in trouble:' Ping Shui's eyes continue to tell him the unspoken meaning beneath her words.

"Shui 'Er, listen to me..."

"This wife had not neglected her wifely duties. Perhaps husband found this wife unsatisfying? Please enlighten this wife of my wrongdoings so that I can learn from it." Her eyes turned accusing despite her submissive words. 'You are the one that falls for my seduction and now you are blaming me for your addiction?'

"Of course not!" General Tang exclaimed. "I'm very happy to have Shui 'Er as my wife!"

To prove the truth of his words, he hugged his wife while being careful of his strength to avoid hurting her. He was about to press his mouth to hers when Ping Shui stopped him, her fingers lightly pushing back his pouting lips.

"Shui 'Er," General Tang whined, and had Xiao Hua heard it, she would have broken out massive goosebumps.

Ping Shui smiled seductively and lightly teased her husband, caressing her fingertips over his lips, scratching them lightly. She secretly smiled when she saw her husband's eyes glazed in desire. Then she removed her fingers and pushed her husband's chest to create some distance between them.

"It's still broad daylight, husband. Do not behave improperly," Ping Shui chastised.

Poor General Tang, who had gotten hot and bothered by his wife, was forced to rein in his desires. His eyes displayed his wounded feelings, trying to get his wife to pity him.

Ping Shui was taller than the average females around her age, which gave her an extra boost in height when she went on her tiptoes to give General Tang a light kiss on his tanned cheek that was free from facial hair. He usually did not care about his beard, allowing it to grow freely and only shaving them away once a month, but his wife disliked it, so he made it a habit to shave them.

"Tonight, I will do whatever you want," Ping Shui whispered to his ears.

General Tang groaned at the thought of it. He could feel his body reacting to his alluring wife and cursed that it was still hours away from the nighttime.

It was not wrong to assume that Ping Shui had chosen General Tang as her husband to help the Third Prince to strike the Second Prince's camp. To her, it was a pleasant benefit that this muscular man was just the type of man she was attracted to.

Ping Shui truly enjoyed seducing the playing hard-to-get man and the reward that she had received in return was far sweeter than she had imagined. 

CHAPTER 24: From now on you do not need to serve

Xiao Hua returned to the Third Prince's residence, walking at the speed of a turtle to avoid dropping the meal boxes stacked high in her hands. The carriage rider had dropped her at the gates and the guards stationed did not offer their help.

"Elder Sister Hua!" Si Si coincidentally passed by and nearly did not spot Xiao

Hua's face that was half-hidden behind the boxes. "Let me help you."

Without waiting for a reply, Si Si had already taken three boxes, leaving the remaining two to be carried by Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua smiled with reservation. "Thank you, Si Si."

But Si Si did not notice Xiao Hua's misgivings, too busy staring at the exquisite food containers that were clearly not from any ordinary shop. "What is this, Elder Sister Hua? Did you buy snacks for us all?"

Si Si's tone and sentence were just right, sounding like a child desiring some can-dies. But her eyes were sharp, assessing every detail she could get from Xiao Hua's mouth and body language.

Xiao Hua did not bother to hide the truth, too scared that the other girl would eat the snacks if she explained a moment slower. "These are for the Third Prince. We need to be very careful when carrying them."

"The Third Prince asked Elder Sister Hua to do an errand?" Si Si's mind was quick, already trying to make use of this rare opportunity.

"Yes."

It was not exactly a lie, as the Third Prince did send her to visit Madam Ping Shui to inquire about her and General Tang's relationship using the excuse of sending health products to the truly fallen ill Grand Tutor. The Grand Tutor Ping Pong caught a cold after spending a night with open windows, allowing cold air into his room.

Si Si followed behind Xiao Hua, using the excuse of helping her to carry the heavy meal boxes. Xiao Hua did not stop Si Si, intending to make use of free labour.

Xiao Hua arrived in front of the Third Prince's room and found Da An standing guard. He stopped Si Si from advancing.

"No one other than Elder Sister Hua can enter."

Si Si gave a surprised look before looking at Xiao Hua with the expression of being wronged. "Si Si is only helping Elder Sister Hua to carry the snacks. Elder Sister Hua, how about you place the containers in your hands inside first before coming back to take these from my hands?"

She managed to sound concerned and understanding, but her suggestion benefited herself at the same time. When Xiao Hua had to come out again to take the remaining boxes, Si Si would use that chance to let her existence known to the Third Prince in-side.

But contrary to her plans, Da Bei jumped down from the roof and took the con- tainers from Si Si's hands without a word.

Da An's eyes were full of mockery when he stared at Si Si. "We don't need extra help. Please leave."

Only inner maids and shadow guards like Da An could enter the Third Prince's rooms, after getting permission from their master, of course. With just an identity of a low-ranking servant, this girl dared to dream big and used others in her scheme?

Si Si was rather annoyed at the way she was treated. But she nodded meekly with averted eyes as if Da An had bullied her. The Third Prince's door suddenly opened and An Jing stepped out. Si Si could not stop her automatic reaction and tried to peek into the room but An Jing was rather quick to shut the door behind her.

Xiao Hua, who had wanted to walk into the room when An Jing opened the door, wanted to cry. These food containers might not be overly heavy, but it was a different thing when she had carried these boxes for quite some time. The distance from the front door to the front of the Third Prince's bedroom was not a joke.

"Si Si, from now on you do not need to serve Elder Sister Hua. You may continue your previous duties," An Jing announced.

Gaping in disbelief, Si Si actually dared to ask, "Is Elder Sister Hua dissatisfied with me? Please give me another chance to prove that I will work harder!"

Xiao Hua could not help but frown, an expression that An Jing rarely saw on the other girl. Xiao Hua usually could be spotted with either a blank, blur, timid or nervous expression. An Jing had never seen Xiao Hua angry but even if she was upset, she usually just sulked until something else captured her attention.

"Elder Sister Hua had not said anything," An Jing said coldly. "Even if she did, who are you to question my decision as the head servant?"

Si Si trembled and immediately kneeled down. "Si Si does not mean it that way! I just want to know if I had done something to upset Elder Sister Hua that she does not want me to serve her anymore."

"I did not say anything about you." Xiao Hua stared at Si Si with an angry glint in her eyes. "Anything you have done around me is known to Sister An Jing. I do not need to waste my saliva to repeat your offenses to others that are aware of it."

She had originally wanted to just let it go after the first blame, but who would have thought this girl would blame her for the second time? Did you think this young lady would just let you bully me? Only the Third Prince is allowed to do so!

Wait, did she just admit something irresponsible..?

"Elder Sister Jing, why would I be dismissed? There must be some misunder-standings!" Si Si was very unwilling. Xiao Hua was her ticket to get the Third Prince to notice her!

"It seems I had been rather lenient for you to dare question my decision. Do not forget that I, An Jing, the head of servants, have the right to beat you up before kicking you out from the Third Prince's residence for insubordination!"

Si Si was a cautious person. She knew how to keep her head low and act accord-ingly. It was when she saw the chance to get promoted that she accidentally allowed greed and impatience to control her mind. Once she saw a better path for her in the future, she could no longer reconcile going back to her low position.

"Da An, get her back to her quarters and have her punished according to the rule," An Jing ordered

Si Si did not make things difficult and let Da An escort her back to her quarters without resisting. But no one noticed how cold her eyes were with her head facing downward.

Xiao Hua watched Si Si leave with mixed feelings. The other girl might seem friendly but Xiao Hua was still someone that could see aloofness behind the friendly facade. She thought that if she tried to be nice to Si Si, the other girl would treat her with genuine warmth, but after so many months, Si Si still remained the same, viewing Xiao Hua as her stepping stone. That was why she pretended to be silly and let Si Si become a victim of her own scheme.

Xiao Hua was not at all upset over Si Si's dismissal, but she still felt a bit uneasy because of it. Perhaps she was a bit paranoid but she could not seem to shake this feeling of ... foreboding.

"Elder Sister Hua, the Third Prince agreed with Si Si's dismissal," An Jing explained.

"Don't worry; the Third Prince had made sure to choose a better person to serve you." Once An Jing said there will be a new helper, half of her anxiety disappeared. As long as she has a human alarm clock, she did not care much as she could do those things by herself.

CHAPTER 25: A fake identity of a personal maid

Xiao Hua finally stepped into the Third Prince's room and placed the containers on the table. She spotted an unfamiliar lady standing in the corner of the room. Xiao Hua could not help but notice her legs first before anything else. With a figure-hugging dark purple attire designed alike to a cheongsam, it showed off her bare-skinned long, smooth legs. Unlike the revealing design for the lower part of the body, the upper part was conservative, fully covering her skin except for her hands and neck.

There was an eye-catching beauty mark on the right corner of her eyes. It works well in attracting people's attention on her beautifully shaped eyes framed with thick eyelashes. Her face looked smaller with her 'Hime-cut' hairstyle, leaving her side bangs resting on her cheeks while the rest of her hair was tied up messily with a lavender coloured ribbon.

"How is Grand Tutor Ping Pong?" the Third Prince asked, pulling Xiao Hua's attention from the stranger.

"This servant did not get to meet him because he's still not feeling well. It's Madam Ping Shui that received the gifts on his behalf. Madam Ping Shui had also gifted her mother's delicious snacks to Your Highness."

The Third Prince's smile was a marginally wider as he removed one of the container's covers and found rabbit-shaped snacks filling the entire container to the brim.

Xiao Hua was actually surprised at the sight, for she was under an assumption that it would only have a few snacks inside the container to make it look appealing to the

In her world, during the moon cake festival, the seller would charge a high price for a box with only four pieces of mooncake in it. Not even the artistically beautiful containers could soothe the buyer's pain for their much lighter wallet.

Filling the container to the brim was more of a commoner-ish trait. Le Xiao Ting was a commoner that often brought back foods whenever there were leftovers from the buffet-style lunch for the staff after an important meeting. She only had the guts to do it after her boss gave her the permission, which he always did since the food would be wasted. Those leftovers ended up as her dinner or the next day's breakfast which suited her perfectly.

An Jing returned with empty plates and chopsticks, already knowing that her master would want to eat them immediately. The tea to accompany the snacks was already prepared before Xiao Hua's return.

"Take two of the containers for the rest of you to share," the Third Prince told An Jing.

An Jing smiled and curtsied. "Thank you, Master. They will be happy to partake in Madam Ping's delicious snacks."

"Join this prince, Xiao Hua."

Xiao Hua took a last discreet glance at the woman with a beauty mark before taking a seat. An Jing had already placed a clean plate and a pair of chopsticks in front of her. To Xiao Hua, she was already used to dining with the Third Prince, but that sight earned a curious look from the long-legged lady.

An Jing picked up two containers of snacks before leaving the room and closed the door behind her.

"Did you complete your punishment?" the Third Prince asked as he happily enjoyed a rabbit snack.

With a sigh, Xiao Hua told him everything Madam Ping Shui had said, as much as she had remembered. When she finished, the Third Prince remained silent and his expression did not reveal if he was happy or disappointed with the news.

Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. "Ping Shui has done more than I had expected. There's nothing that I'm not satisfied with."

Xiao Hua nodded in agreement. To expect Ping Shui to fully control General Tang and have him cut off all ties with the Second Prince was rather impossible. Instead, she did her best to her capability and did what she could to capture General Tang's heart and did not interfere with his business with the Second Prince. For her to remain strong in facing the pressure to assist the Second Prince from her husband was already a good result.

The husband and wife both knew they served a different master and each had to be careful not to reveal anything that could harm their own side.

In a marriage where you had to guard your secrets and be careful of what you say, Xiao Hua found it to be tiring and stressful. But she had a strong suspicion that Madam Ping Shui welcomed that challenge. Ping Shui looked like a strong woman that did not mind hard work to obtain what she wanted.

"Why are you not eating? Are they not to your liking?" The Third Prince suddenly asked.

Xiao Hua lightly laughed. "T've already eaten five of them when I visited the Ping household. I will get fat if I eat more."

"Fat?" The Third Prince frowned in disapproval as he eyed his little flower's small and thin body. He placed three white rabbits on her empty plate. "You are already thin but after eating the Nutrient Pill, you have gotten scrawnier."

Le Xiao Ting realized she had forgotten that Xiao Hua did not need to watch her weight. She was used to forcing herself to eat less to maintain her weight to make up for the lack of exercise.

"Your Highness is right!" Well, since she can eat more of these delicious snacks, she would happily dig in!

After watching her eating for a while, the Third Prince easily figured out her intention of taking small bites to prolong finishing the delicious snack, her joy expressed on her tiny face.

A feminine giggle reached Xiao Hua's ears and the blissful expression on her face was quickly hidden away, her face turned red in embarrassment.

The Third Prince unconsciously frowned. Xiao Hua's eyes were full of questions when she eyed the lady and the Third Prince back and forth.

"This is Duan Xi Ying, one of my shadow guards. She will serve you from now on." Duan Xi Ying sashayed towards Xiao Hua with a smile that could only be known as seductive. Xiao Hua's eyes lingered at the older woman's plump red lips and tried not to feel sour.

Le Xiao Ting refuses to drink vinegar [15]!

"Do you mind if Xi Ying calls you Xiao Hua?" Duan Xi Ying spoke in a charming voice.

Xiao Hua shook her head, unsure how to interact with Duan Xi Ying. If Xiao Hua was a guy, she would interact with her happily.

Duan Xi Ying let out hypnotic giggles. "Xiao Hua is so cute. Now Xi Ying understands why Master loves you so much."

Duan Xi Ying's posture, body figure, face, and giggles were something a young girl that desired to grow up to be sexy would envy. The potato Le Xiao Ting could never have this kind of body unless she hit the gym every day for hours.

"Xi Ying is very interested in your original world. Can Xiao Hua tell Xi Ying about it sometime?"

With wide, shocked eyes, Xiao Hua quickly turned her head to look at the Third Prince.

"Duan Xi Ying will be at your side at all times. It would be better for her to be in- formed about it instead of letting her discover it."

If Duan Xi Ying followed Xiao Hua around, she would discover the truth when the Eighth Prince visited Xiao Hua. Unable to resist their desire, they always ended up talking about their original world. That was why the Third Prince only allowed them to talk in the Spring Courtyard without any servants around.

"Duan Xi Ying is good at keeping secrets and able to help you if you end up in trouble."

Xiao Hua nodded hesitantly and then turned her attention to Duan Xi Ying with a wary expression. "Are you alright with it? I know that no one wants to serve another maid."

Especially with her looks and confidence, Xiao Hua would not be surprised if she had high ambitions, such as becoming a high-ranked man's wife. Even becoming the Emperor's concubine could be achieved.

"Xiao Hua is not a maid."

Xiao Hua blinked. "Eh? I'm the Third Prince's personal maid."

Duan Xi Ying giggled and poked a finger at Xiao Hua's tiny nose. "No, no~ Xiao Hua is Master's guest with a fake identity of a personal maid."

Xiao Hua's eyes could not help but follow Duan Xi Ying's finger, making her eyes become crossed.

"Leave us, Duan Xi Ying," the Third Prince ordered and his gentle smile was absent from his face.

In the face of her master's displeased mood, Duan Xi Ying still smiled beautifully before excusing herself, allowing Xiao Hua the opportunity to admire her shapely ass that swayed seductively.

The Third Prince silently and speedily cupped Xiao Hua's chin and turned her head to his direction.

"Why are you staring at her?" The Third Prince asked in an annoyed voice.

"Ah?" Seeing her dazed expression, his annoyance went up a notch.

"This prince had thought Heise fancying a male was a rarity, but who would have thought it's not a rare trait in your world." What rarity?

"Xiao Ting fancies females that look like Duan Xi Ying?" The Third Prince asked darkly.

... Brake! Brake! Brake!

How did the Third Prince come to the conclusion that this young lady is a lesbian?!

In the end, Xiao Hua was forced to admit her jealousy of Duan Xi Ying's body fig-ure. The Third Prince no longer doubted her sexuality, but the look he gave her after inspecting her figure was rather degrading.

CHAPTER 26: My little maid would teach you so many bad things

Today was Princess Long Lian's fifteenth birthday. It was supposed to be a happy day, yet the birthday girl was currently sulking in Xiao Hua's room. Xiao Hua had woken up early thanks to the reliable Duan Xi Ying's wake-up alarm and had done her daily routine of running two laps around the residence - that was the best she could do for now - when Long Lian visited without prior notice.

"Ah Lian, you need to go and get ready for the banquet," Xiao Hua urged helplessly.

"This princess is angry and is in no mood to attend a banquet!"

"You are the main character in today's banquet, how can it start without you? The Empress will also be angry with you if you are not there."

"Then she should allow you to celebrate my birthday with me!"

"You know it would not be good to have a maid celebrate birthdays with a princess."

"If you are not there, I won't be happy!" Long Lian sulked and finally revealed a little of her true feelings. "I hate those two-faced vile girls. They would either gossip bad things about me or get close to me for benefits."

"Just socialize with them for a while before making excuses to leave early," Xiao

Hua suggested. It might not be a good idea, but it might appease the angry princess.

Xiao Hua steadily ignored Tang Mei, Long Lian's new personal maid, who was doing her best to send eye signals to get her to urge the princess to return. The problem with servants in ancient times was that they were too afraid of giving reasonable advice and common sense to their momentarily brain offline masters, for fear of getting scolded or punished for speaking things their masters do not want to hear.

Long Lian was not that kind of mistress, but the careful Tang Mei was still new and was yet close enough to the princess to act as her confidant.

"I want you there!" Long Lian said stubbornly and successfully stirred the annoyance that usually slumbered inside Xiao Hua.

"Unless I am a first or second rank minister's daughter or someone with an honorary title, Xiao Hua could not attend Princess Long Lian's birthday celebration.

Please, Princess, do not make things difficult for this servant."

If Long Lian continued being stubborn and enraged the Emperor and Empress, Xiao Hua might be sent off somewhere far away, where they will no longer be able to meet with each other. If it was before where she had gotten used to living here, she might be happy to be sent off far away from the black star that was known as Long Zhu, the Third Prince of Guilin Kingdom.

As a human that lived a life of comfort before, Le Xiao Ting admitted that her life as the Third Prince's personal maid was not that horrible. She was reluctant to part with this newfound comfort.

Long Lian's lips thinned and paired with rosy cheeks and teary eyes, these were the signs of her going to cry.

"No crying," Xiao Hua said sharply. "If you cry on your birthday, you might cry for the rest of the year." That was what Le Xiao Ting's mother used to say to make her well behaved during birthdays or Chinese New Year celebrations during her child-hood.

Long Lian was frustrated and wanted to vent, but what she might say would hurt Xiao Hua. She tried to have Xiao Hua celebrate her birthday at her birthday feast, but Mother Empress refused and threatened to kill Xiao Hua if she continued pressing the matter.

It was not that she did not trust her third brother's capability in protecting Xiao Hua from harm, but Mother Empress was someone with high authority in this king-dom. It would be very easy for her to slip an assassin into the residence and kill Xiao Hua.

The Empress was born into a commoner family with no prominent background. It was because of her strong drive, coupled with the previous Emperor's protection, that she managed to survive till now and was able to build connections with powerful peo-ple.

Long Lian really liked Xiao Hua, the naive sweet girl that was not exposed to the ugliness of the world. She did not wish for her to die, yet she wanted Xiao Hua to enjoy her life instead of keeping her inside a cage.

"What's going to happen to your birthday? I want to celebrate it with you."

"What about tonight? We will have a nice meal together. We can even open your presents together," Xiao Hua proposed, her annoyance quickly disappeared once Long Lian no longer pushed the issue.

Long Lian pouted. "I can force my way here tonight, but as for my presents, I will have to view them as soon as the guests present them to me."

This was to let the guests have a 'who gave the best present' showdown!

"Where's my third brother? He should have known I'm here by now."

Long Lian was actually here to talk to her brother about putting more guards around Xiao Hua. Aside from her stubbornness to have Xiao Hua celebrate birthdays,

Mother Empress was also angry that her only son treated a maid so well.

"Master says to bring the princess to his study after the princess finishes talking to Xiao Hua," Duan Xi Ying says.

Long Lian frowned as her lips curled in distaste. Being chosen as Xiao Hua's new 'assistant', she did not look reliable.

Look at how she was standing! She was leaning against the wall with her hips sticking out, showing off her white slender leg from the side slit of her dress. Her fingers were idly playing with her side bangs and her seductive eyes were gazing at them lazily.

But Long Lian did not reprimand the vixen servant, for she had known from Xiao Hua that her third brother was the one that personally assigned her to serve Xiao Hua.

This means that this vixen must not be a normal servant.

Long Lian stood up and used her hand to remove the imaginary wrinkles on her dress. "I will go and greet the third brother before returning back to the palace. I will look forward to tonight's party."

Tang Mei's face was not able to hide her relief. She had feared that the princess would be punished by the Empress if she did not show up for the banquet.

"No need to follow me. I know the path." Long Lian waved to stop Xiao Hua and Duan Xi Ying from following her.

"Then, I will see you later! I will ask the kitchen to make all of your favourite foods!"

Long Lian grinned childishly. "I want Xiao Hua to cook for me!"

Xiao Hua's smile froze. "This...I don't know how to cook..."

She could only cook using her reliable oven and high-tech stove. They were extremely reliable when it came to cooking instant noodles and reheating the pre-made frozen food.

Long Lian's face dimmed but her face still had a grin on. "Forget it then. I will wait for your gift!"

Xiao Hua nodded. "I hope you will not dislike it when you see it tonight."

After getting that promise from Xiao Hua, Long Lian left Xiao Hua's room with a lighter mood and headed towards the Third Prince's study.

Eunuch Lau Liu was standing in front of the door, already expecting the Princess' arrival. He gave Princess Long Lian a respectful salute before pushing the door open.

"Princess, the prince is already expecting you. Please head in."

Tang Mei stood outside to wait with Eunuch Lau Liu and closed the door after Long Lian stepped into the room.

Long Lian had been in her third brother's study a few times and there was nothing interesting in it. So she did not spare the room any glance and focused her eyes on her outrageously beautiful-looking third brother.

She remembered when she was just six years old, her eight-year-old third brother suddenly moved out of the palace and stayed at a monastery to pray for the Kingdom and Emperor's well-being.

Secretly eavesdropping on the conversation between Mother Empress and Nanny Lan, her third brother's wet nurse, the six-year-old princess discovered that her third brother was caught by Nanny Lan when he tried to sneak out of the room to assassinate their second brother during one night.

The Empress was terrified that the matter would reach the Emperor's ears and decided to send the Third Prince to a monastery to pray for one year and have him calm down to reflect on his mistakes. A year had turned into three when the Third Prince finally returned with a young maid and accompanied by a few guards with high culti-vation.

Long Lian did not get the chance to visit her third brother before he was sent away.

The first time she finally saw him was after three years, and she was terrified of what she could see from his eyes. She was still too young to recognize the emotions flickering through his eyes, but they were enough to scare her.

Long Zhu held out a peeled mandarin orange to Long Lian, breaking her journey down the memory lane. "It's fortunate that you willingly decide to return to the palace, or else I would have to drag you back regardless of how much fuss you would create." Long Lian let out a huff and accepted the orange.

"Your ears are everywhere. Then you must have known about my conversation with Mother Empress?"

"Mother Empress has her own concerns about the matter. Don't be so hard on your own mother, Long Lian."

Long Lian chewed hard on the orange, her anger returning. "Hard? She's being unreasonable! She wants to kill Xiao Hua just because I treated my friend well!"

"Mother Empress does not know Xiao Hua well and can only see you are unreasonably coddling a servant."

"Third brother! Whose side are you on?" Long Lian snapped.

"I am not siding with anyone," Long Zhu answered calmly and sipped his tea. But after one sip, he placed down his cup and did not touch it again.

"Long Lian, even if you want to treat Xiao Hua well, do it discreetly." Long Lian rolled her eyes. "Third brother, you should take your own advice." Long Zhu raised an eyebrow at his younger sister's insolence. "I never thought my little maid would teach you so many bad things."

Long Lian had learned how to talk back to him and had even learned rude gestures such as that eye roll.

Actually, Xiao Hua felt guilty that she had sabotaged Long Lian's learning to be ma-ture' event. So she tried to help out by telling her things. But most of the 'educational' conversation always ended up down the wrong path.

"But what I've said is right. It's because of how you treat Xiao Hua that Mother Empress dislikes her!"

"Did you not lecture this brother about treating my servants better?" Long Zhu countered.

Long Lian snorted. "You treat Xiao Hua as if she's your princess consort. That's why Mother Empress dislikes Xiao Hua even more!"

Long Zhu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The way I treat her looks that way to others?"

No way!

Her third brother had unconsciously acted like an indulging husband all this time?

How would he act when Xiao Hua officially becomes his princess consort?!

CHAPTER 27: Sold his kidneys to buy it

The palace was full of activities today.

The only princess of the Emperor and Empress' birthday banquet had invited high-ranked ministers and their legitimate wives and children to join the celebration. The guests took this opportunity to dress in their finest attire to attract positive attention.

The venue of the birthday banquet was in Blooming Lotus courtyard, where the previous Empress had planted beautiful and rare flowers. This courtyard was normally sealed, but for the princess' birthday, it was chosen to be the location of the ban-quet.

It showed just how much the Emperor favoured his only daughter.

Today's celebration was once again separating males' and females' guests into two

different areas.

Along the way into the courtyard, there were plenty of household servants helping their masters to carry the gifts they had prepared for Princess Long Lian. They moved cautiously for fear they might accidentally drop or damage them. Their punishment would be severe if they made even a small mistake, for these gifts represented their respect to the royal family.

The palace servants guided the guests to their seats that were assigned to them according to their husband or father's position level. The first ranked madams were arranged to sit closest to the Empress and Princess' seat, and the lowest ranking would sit the furthest away.

The guests mingled as the banquet would only begin once the main character ar-rived. The madams and young ladies looked as if they had gotten well with each other, laughing and talking like old friends, but each had their own ambitions.

Some talked to those they disliked just to inflict new wounds or to smear salt over

the old wounds. They did that just for their own entertainment and to show their superiority over the other party.

Another group would choose to talk to people that they could obtain benefits from once they successfully rode behind their robe, and to achieve that, they worked hard to boost their ego and be modest about their own achievements. Some would even go as far as to let the other to claim their hard work to give a good impression.

This was what these high ranked families truly thought behind their beautifully

dressed attire and friendly faces.

Princess Long Lian allowed the Empress' maidservants to dress her in a beautiful red dress and styled her hair into the latest fashion with jewellery tailor-made for her fifteenth birthday.

The maids carefully painted the princess' face to enhance her maturity and beauty.

Long Lian and the Empress were not the young and innocent-looking type, but more towards mature and seductive. Trying to dress innocently would not look good on them.

"You look even more beautiful today, Princess." A lady dressed in a mixture of blue and green dress stepped into the room and gave a deep curtsy. She had a darker skin tone that most high-ranked daughters would normally not possess due to them often staying indoors and having an easy life.

The maids departed swiftly after finishing their given task, leaving them to talk pri-vately.

Long Lian stood up to greet the lady, her movement did not reflect the heavy weight from her numerous hairpins and thick robes. She tugged the lady's hand with familiarity, urging her to have a seat.

"Fourth sister, Long Lian is just about to look for you. Fourth brother would be angry if he knew that you had walked here without assistance."

The Fourth Prince, Long Yu, had chosen his personal maid, Chen Miao, who was older than him by three years, as his princess consort.

Most had believed that Chen Miao had seduced the Fourth Prince, but if one were to observe them, they would believe the both of them truly loved each other. That true love between them was one of the reasons why the Emperor finally allowed them to marry.

The main reason was actually the Fourth Prince promised not to fight for the throne and would do his utmost to help the next Emperor, whichever sibling it would be.

The Fourth Prince could be considered as someone that possessed a small talent in the Guilin Kingdom. He was not as strong as the Second Prince, yet was not as weak or as 'feeble' as the Third Prince. Only those that were involved with the construction of South Guilin Village knew how fearsome the Third Prince truly was, but they knew better than to tell anyone who was the real owner of the South Guilin Village.

They do not dare to offend the smiling demon, also known as the Third Prince of

Guilin, Long Zhu!

The Second Prince was not involved with the South Guilin Village, not that the Third Prince had even invited him to begin with, and naturally was not aware of the

'vase' Third Prince's true nature. To the public's knowledge, South Guilin Village was under the control of the Emperor, created for the purpose of protecting the border between South Guilin Village and Tang Guan Country, as well as to train elite soldiers.

Everyone believed that this idea was given by the Crown Prince.

Tang Guan Country was outside of the Four Great Kingdom and had a hostile relationship with them. There were also rumours of them working with the Gu Dan country, which was the number one enemy of the Four Kingdoms.

The Fourth Prince had never regretted his choice and lived happily with his wife that he had married a year ago. Long Lian sincerely hoped their love would be able to withstand the obstacles they might face in the future.

"Fourth sister needs to be careful with my little niece." Long Lian rubbed the huge

stomach of the seven months pregnant Chen Miao. "Where's your servant?"

"You don't need to worry, Princess. Your fourth brother had an experienced nanny following me everywhere I went. She and my servant girls are just outside."

"Of course I have to worry about my little niece." Long Lian grinned and rubbed the bulging stomach even more. "We females should stick together."

Chen Miao giggled. "Your fourth brother keeps on insisting our child will be a son."

"It's boring to have a son. A daughter would be nice."

Chen Miao laughed gently. "Chen Miao is here to pass on a gift from your fourth brother."

"From my fourth brother? You could have given me that later during the banquet."

Chen Miao shakes her head. "You will receive another present later."

"Long Lian is just playing around when I say I want more presents," Long Lian said worriedly.

"Actually, your fourth brother wants to give this to you for your coming of age cere-mony, but that's one more year to go and it would not be good as your present then." Chen Miao stuffed her right hand into her left sleeve and carefully pulled out a small, white furry ball with its round back facing outward. It was slightly trembling with its face hidden between its paws and the white round tail was especially eye-catching.

Long Lian gasped happily. "Is this..."

Chen Miao nodded and deposited the fragile bundle of cuteness into Long Lian's eager palms. "Your fourth brother knows you love rabbits, so he purposely seeks one for your birthday."

"This is Saint Rabbit!" Long Lian exclaimed in astonishment. "Fourth brother must have sold his kidneys to buy it!"

Not to mention it was clearly a newborn! It was even rarer than an adult Saint Rabbit!

Saint Rabbit was one of the high-ranked beasts. They were small in number and were considered precious. They were attractive to cultivators that wished for their own contracted beast because they were strong, both in spiritual energy and physical attacks. Saint Rabbits could also teleport to different places as long as they had been there before.

All high-ranked beasts could turn into human form and possessed high intelligence.

It might not be a good trait if cultivators were looking for a loyal contract beast, but Saint Rabbits were different because they were very loyal to their contracted owner despite having intelligence. That was mostly contributed by their love of sleep and lack of high ambition. They loved having an owner that would pamper them, which was easy thanks to their adorableness and to be fed with delicious food.

To them, having a good contracted owner was their greatest dream.

"Sell...sell his kidneys?" Chen Miao stammered in shock. "Princess, please do not say that. The Fourth Prince had traded a few treasures in exchange for this Saint Rab-bit, not his kid...kidneys."

"Of...of course, I know that!" Long Lian hastily said. She had heard Xiao Hua say it before and after hearing the explanation, she found that it was rather interesting.

That statement would shock people, something she wanted to do, but it would be better not to say it to her family members. But Long Lian still did not get why Xiao Hua would believe that people would agree to receive human kidneys as payment.

However, if it was the kidney of a sacred beast, every cultivator would want it as they were a good ingredient for precious medicine.

Could it be that Xiao Hua had encountered barbarians that ate humans' flesh when she was still a commoner? Thank goodness she had saved Xiao Hua from that life!

CHAPTER 28: Trying to match up to this princess

The conversation of those gathered in the Blooming Lotus Courtyard slowly ceased when two unexpected guests arrived together.

Madam Ping Shui and Miss Liu Chu Chu.

The previous fiancée and the new fiancée of the Second Prince, Long Shan.

Madam Ping Shui was spotted with a married hairstyle, her back straight with each step she took filled with comfortable confidence. Today, she was dressed in a white and dark green dress, giving off a mature vibe that most mother-in-laws would favour in their sensible daughter-in-laws.

Miss Liu Chu Chu was wearing a bright red dress with gold embroidered butter-flies. The large white jade with the word 'mountain' that was hanging on her belt was extremely eye-catching, especially when that word was the same as the Second Prince's name.

One gave off the feeling of a proper and virtuous wife while the other made them think of a bright and bold young lady. Both had their own attractive points that did not yield to another.

If Xiao Hua was here, she would immediately clap madly and praise how Madam Ping Shui managed to stand out beside the heroine's golden halo. If possible, she would even force Madam Ping Shui to accept her as an apprentice. Between Duan Xi Ying and Ping Shui, Xiao Hua would not hesitate to choose Ping Shui as her role model.

In her eyes, Ping Shui was the epitome of a strong, mature woman. Her body shape was appropriate everywhere and have the perfect image of a proper wife. Her firm gaze encouraged one to place their trust in her, to be their perfect confidant and friend. It was no wonder that General Tang would grow to love his newlywed wife so much.

In contrast, Duan Xi Ying was a sexy, alluring woman that knew how to use her assets to her fullest, just like a concubine that the main wife would hate very much. The way she mentioned herself as a third person was cute, but it did not sit well with Xiao Hua.

Not to mention Xiao Hua's body...could not be considered as a woman's. It was a little girl's body no matter which angle she looked at. But even if she had a stunning body figure, she would still hesitate to learn the art of seduction from Duan Xi Ying.

Xiao Hua knew very well how the olden times had treated females. The males tend to look down on females and view them as their belongings. That comparison was cruel but she had witnessed General Mong Lu's treatment towards females during her brief period of employment as their servant girl.

It was fortunate that Xiao Hua did not possess a mature body that General Mong Lu preferred, or else she would be forced to be one of his bed warmers. He had three wives and too many concubines to be counted. His wives were all beautiful, but sly as snakes, all working hard to capture their husband's attention.

As a result, General Mong Lu had too many dead concubines but he never punished the person that caused their death. Instead, he seemed to enjoy his harem's vicious fight for his 'love', which disgusted Xiao Hua to no end.

Xiao Hua was a little girl that had zero self-defence skills, and even if she had learned the knife throwing skill, she was still a little lamb compared to other culti-vators. It would be so easy to rape her and no one would bother to help her, as it might just be a normal situation to the passer-by's eyes.

Long Lian was safe from General Mong Lu's lustful hands because he just so happened to be busy with the war with the Guilin Kingdom and was hardly around Mong Lu's manor. The Third Prince had arrived to save Long Lian before General Mong Lu finished dealing with the aftermath of the war.

Madam Ping Shui took a seat among her close acquaintances and Liu Chu Chu sat beside the daughter of the Minister of Revenue, Bin Tang. Both did not even spare any look towards the other, minding their own business.

In Liu Chu Chu's mind, as long as Ping Shui did not cause any trouble to her or Long Shan, she will not bother to make a move towards Ping Shui. Her attitude was simple, as long as no one troubles her, she will not find trouble with them.

The Empress and Princess Long Lian finally graced the guests with their presence.

The colourful crowd of females stood up from their seats and curtsied.

"Greetings to the Empress! Greetings to Princess Long Lian!"

The Empress, in a red dress with a majestic golden phoenix embroidered on it, sat down in her seat and waited until Long Lian had taken hers before allowing the guests to return to their seats.

"Today is Princess Long Lian's fifteenth birthday and we are gathered here to celebrate it. There is no need for much formality, for this Empress wants to hear laughter and view beautiful smiles."

The madams smiled and praised the Empress for being a loving mother. The ladies greeted and praised the Princess, acting as if they were close friends.

Long Lian managed to hold in her disgust, displaying her perfectly polite smile that radiated indifference. It was a good thing that Long Lian was seated above them and did not need to subject herself to be in the centre of the poisonous crowd.

Her phoenix-shaped eyes travelled around the crowd before lingering on Madam Ping Shui. Long Lian gave the older lady a brief but sincere smile as an acknowl-edgment. Ping Shui returned the smile and bowed her head in respect. Both had respect for the other party and acknowledged one another as an ally in the Third Prince's camp.

The birthday performance began and Long Lian faked some interest so as to not disappoint her mother's effort in organizing a birthday celebration for her. The only thing that cheered her up was the food displayed artistically on her table and she dedicated most of her attention to them by sweeping them into her mouth.

After the performance was over, it was time for the present presentation. Long Lian showed genuine interest because these madams had to give her expensive and valuable presents or else they would be disrespecting the Emperor and Empress.

Long Lian had already planned to ransack her new treasures to find some good stuff as Xiao Hua's birthday present. After searching for presents yet unable to decide on any, she gave up. Thus, she set her mind to give the younger girl presents from her own pile of presents. Long Lian decided to compensate for the insincerity of her actions by raiding more from her own piles of presents to give Xiao Hua. She was not ashamed to give Xiao Hua her own birthday gift, for once they were given to her, she could do whatever she wanted with them.

Her smile was partly polite and partly attentive when Tang Mei opened the gifts for her. Inwardly, she took note of every present, making a list of what to give Xiao Hua before deciding the final choice later. But there were three that she had taken an interest in.

The first would be the large milky pearl that would glow when it was surrounded by darkness. That would be suitable for Xiao Hua, for the younger girl was actually afraid of the dark, or else why would she cry during the night?

The second would be the rare glittering dark blue hairpin that resembled the stars in the vast sky visible to humans' eyes under the moonlight. That would match Xiao Hua's blue maid uniforms well.

The third would be the cute baby azure dragon Hanfu waist accessory that was made from a warming jade. Xiao Hua's hands always became cold easily and that dragon would be perfect as her hand warmer and act as an accessory at the same time.

So far, only those three were valuable enough in Long Lian's eyes and considered to be worthy gifts to Xiao Hua. The others were quickly deemed to be unworthy.

It was the madam that was sitting beside Miss Liu's turn to offer a gift.

"Congratulations to Princess Long Lian, reaching the age of fifteen. In one more year, it would be Princess Long Lian's coming age of ceremony and a suitable age for marriage. Bin Tang wishes for Princess Long Lian to marry a good husband, and sincerely recommends a candidate for Princess to consider."

Long Lian's phoenix-shaped eyes were practically frosty, and if her eyes could kill, Madam Bin Tang would have already turned into an ice statue for Long Lian to happily smash that ice statue into pieces.

If only the Empress could forbid Bin Tang from joining her birthday banquet, Long Lian would not be so reluctant to attend her own birthday banquet. It was because of this poisonous woman that Long Lian's happy mood was ruined on her birthday ban-quet.

Bin Tang was the eldest daughter of the Minister of Revenue. Her husband was the successor of the Minister of Revenue, both in the working position and family head. It was during the Minister of Revenue's fifty birthday celebration that Long Lian was caught in a scandal.

Long Lian knew clearly that it was Bin Tang that had arranged for a maid to accidentally spill tea over her dress and led her to an empty room to change into clean clothes. It was actually a plot to have a drunken man coincidentally stumble into the room. Bin Tang was also the one that coincidentally led a group of ladies to sightseeing flowers and accidentally witnessed the secret rendezvous between the drunken man and Princess Long Lian.

Long Lian was not a stupid person, for how can everything be a coincidence! Yet she could not do anything as there was no proof of her suspicions. She could only hide behind her Father Emperor and Mother Empress to save her from being married to the drunken man.

Princess Long Lian's smile was practically dark and vicious as she stared down at Bin Tang, her gaze filled with revulsion as if she was looking at a filthy cockroach. To think this woman would detest her to this extent and once again try to ruin her.

You want to marry this princess off so much? Then let this Princess see which man you are trying to match up to this princess!

CHAPTER 29: Princess Long Lian's smile was truly terrifying

The on-looking crowd felt that Princess Long Lian's smile was truly terrifying, yet Madam Bin Tang continued to smile fearlessly with a hint of arrogance.

The Empress' face was not less terrifying than Princess Long Lian's either, and her six-inch golden nail protector on her right pinky finger appeared like a weapon as she tapped it on her chair in a rhythm only she could hear.

Madam Bin Tang boldly continued on with unhidden contempt shining in her eyes towards the Princess. "Bin Tang had hired a reliable source to compile as much information as there is to know about him."

A maid held out a scroll, carefully unfolded it for Princess Long Lian and Empress to look at. It was a painting of a man dressed in full armor in silver, riding on a dark horse that was wearing a black head armor. The background showed that he was in the midst of a battlefield, his eyes were drawn with sinister light and his smile was rather bloodthirsty.

"This is the King of Munzhu and his given name is Tian Liang. He has yet to have a queen, and his accomplishments at his young age are rather outstanding. He's a brave warrior that protects his beloved country and has shown he's able to govern Munzhu well for these four years under his reign. The King of Munzhu is truly well suited for Princess Long Lian!"

The Empress' expression grew even more terrifying. The King of Munzhu might not have a queen, but who did not know about his favourite consort that was also his childhood sweetheart?

What does she mean by brave warrior? He was bloodthirsty and power-hungry. In the short time since he ascended the throne, he had declared war with nearby countries as well as the Guilin Kingdom. He was also known for killing the previous King in order to overtake the throne. He controlled the country with an iron fist and killed those that continue to support the previous King.

If not because of how powerful the Bin family was, the Empress would have had the guards drag out Madam Bin Tang to receive a thousand lashings. Unfortunately, the Bin family had become too powerful and the Emperor did not dare to touch Minister Bin, or else the Guilin Kingdom could suffer a great loss and the neighbouring countries would use that opportunity to attack them.

But because Minister Bin had openly stood behind the Second Prince, the Emperor left the Bin family alone, for even if Long Qian was the Crown Prince or Long Zhu being his most beautiful son, the most capable son was still Long Shan that was given birth by his favourite Concubine He.

The Emperor did not mind whether the Crown Prince or his Second Prince would be the next Emperor, because both had their own strengths and weaknesses. The Guilin Kingdom would still prosper under either of their hands, except each will take different paths in leading to prosperity. Of course, he wished both of his sons would work together, but seeing how their attitude towards each other was like water meeting fire, his dream was rather hard to accomplish.

Unless Long Qian had done something that would strip the Crown Prince title from him, he would still be the next in line to the throne.

Princess Long Lian laughed sweetly and hid her ugly sneer behind her wide sleeves. "Madam Bin Tang, this princess' marriage will naturally be decided by Mother Empress and Father Emperor. If one does not know better, people will assume Madam Bin Tang is this princess' mother."

"This son is short-sighted, to not know that Father Emperor would be so greatly ad-mired, to even have married ladies with talented husbands to favour Father Em-peror." The familiar voice of the Third Prince cut in gently and could be heard by everyone as they had fallen silent to watch the good play.

Every guest quickly stood up and curtsied. "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

"Greetings, Crown Prince!"

"Greetings to the Royal Princes!"

The Empress regained her noble composure and left her seat. She glided towards the Emperor, the long end of her red dress swept over the floor without concern. "Your Majesty truly adores the Princess to come to celebrate her birthday together," she said teasingly with a beautiful smile.

"We feel it's better to accompany Lian' Er on her birthday."

Behind the Emperor and the princes were the male guests, who had followed the Emperor when he suddenly announced to celebrate his daughter's birthday without having the separation of gender.

The servants were quick to arrange the tables and seats for the newcomers. The foods were quick to be prepared and served to each table. In a short time, every guest was seated according to their rank. The Emperor sat down beside the Empress and the princes' seats were the same height as Long Lian's.

Madam Bin Tang was not happy with how things had turned out. She easily spotted her husband and noticed his eyes were not on her, but on that slut! She controlled her anger and headed back to her previous seat beside Liu Chu Chu, who was pretending not to notice the Second Prince's heated gaze.

As for why Madam Bin Tang was not seated with her husband and why Liu Chu Chu was not with the Second Prince, the first was her husband chose to sit with his father-in-law and the latter did not want to sit with the clingy Second Prince, trying to gain cool points.

If Xiao Hua was here, she would say the heroine was playing hard to get so that the hero will fall for her even more!

The female guests were happy with this unexpected turn of events. The madams wished for their unmarried daughters to capture at least one of the prince's eyes. It did not matter which prince that their daughters managed to capture their attention, because they would not suffer a loss.

Long Qian, the Crown Prince and the next in line to the throne, was a handsome man and a splitting image of the Emperor during his youth. Although he was a womanizer, there was no rumor that he had treated women badly.

Long Shan, the Second Prince, had plenty of military achievements under his belt.

He was like the male version of Concubine He, who was a pure beauty type. That led to his handsome looks with a soft touch of beauty, enough to kick the Crown Prince off the top position of being the most handsome man in the Guilin Kingdom. He was a man of few words with an indifferent gaze, but most ladies adored those types. In most ladies' minds, they were thinking so what if he only had eyes for Liu Chu Chu?

She may be in favour now, but in the future, who could say she would not be dis-carded?

Long Zhu, the Third Prince, was the most beautiful man they had ever seen and their heart could not stop beating frantically as they imagined themselves in his arms, with him smiling sweetly at them and pampering them like a Queen. He might be a leisure prince, but he was also the type of husband they wished for. So what if he was more beautiful than them? They would never get bored looking at him!

Long Yu, the Fourth Prince, was considered as their backup plan if they were unable to land one of the three most desirable princes. They believe it would be easy to discard Chen Miao, who was a maid before she got lucky. So what if she was the Fourth Prince's princess consort? If she died, that position would be empty.

Unfortunately, no one ever remembered or considered the absent Eighth Prince to be a suitable husband. He was still young, but his mental illness was the deciding factor for the ladies to avoid being paired with him. There might be advantages to marrying a silly prince, but they preferred the best instead of the worst prince.

"You are Minister Bin's eldest daughter, are you?" The Emperor suddenly asked.

Madam Bin Tang stood up from her seat and curtsied perfectly. "Replying to Your Majesty, Bin Tang is indeed Minister Bin's eldest daughter."

"We heard you are married?"

The Minister of Revenue laughed as he stroked his grey beard. "Your Majesty, my daughter is married to Xu Ming, my successor."

Xu Ming, a tall man with a slender body, stood up from his seat beside Minister Bin and bowed. "Your Majesty, Bin Tang is this lowly one's wife."

The Empress laughed sweetly. "Sir Xu Ming and Madam Bin Tang have been mar- ried for three years and have a son."

"A wife that meddles in our princess' business and neglects her husband and son is not a good wife," the Emperor said loudly, reaching everyone's ears. The person that was tasked to record the important event dutifully wrote down every word that the Emperor had spoken.

Xu Ming and Bin Tang immediately went down to their knees. "Your Majesty, Bin

Tang only wishes for Princess Long Lian to have a good husband!"

"This matter is not something an outsider should worry about," The Emperor said coldly.

"They are not truly an outsider, Your Majesty," Liu Chu Chu interjected, gracefully stood up and curtsied. "Sir Xu Ming is Princess Long Lian's senior brother and Madam

Bin Tang wishes to help her husband's junior sister to find a good husband."

The Second Prince decided to help out his fiancée. "Father Emperor, Madam Bin Tang's intention is out of goodwill to the younger sister. Long Lian and Sir Xu Ming have a good relationship and naturally, Sir Xu Ming would wish for Long Lian to have a good husband. Madam Bin Tang is a good wife to help lessen Sir Xu Ming's worries." Long Lian's eyes that had softened with warmth when the Second Prince started to talk became cold as ice as he continued on. She had thought her Second brother would help her out but he helped his future princess consort instead. He should have known that she hated Bin Tang the most, yet he helped Bin Tang to harm her just for his Princess Consort!

Long Lian originally had reservations about going against her second brother even if she wanted to help her third brother. She hid her trembling hands under her long sleeves, making sure her feelings were not revealed on her face.

Aren't they siblings?

How could her second brother harm her just for his Princess Consort that he had not even known for a year? Did her second brother view his sister as of lesser importance compared to his beloved Liu Chu Chu?

CHAPTER 30: What's with this wishy-washy guard?

"Oh? Isn't this the King of Munzhu's portrait?" The Third Prince had unknowingly gotten the picture from Bin Tang's maid. The maid gasped when she found her hands to be empty and did not know if she should take the portrait back from the prince.

"Madam Bin Tang wishes to introduce the King of Munzhu to Princess Long Lian?"

"I did not know Madam Bin Tang would know such a great man," the Crown Prince drawled but his eyes were dark, like a storm about to brew with the strength to destroy a town. "This prince heard that the Munzhu's King is unreasonable and violent.

For Madam Bin Tang to be able to get such a violent man to agree to a marriage must be a huge feat!"

The Second Prince stiffened. For the first time since he appeared at the banquet, he was no longer indifferent as his eyes quickly darted to his younger sister. Long Lian did not even grace him a look, coolly destroying the snacks on the table with her chop-stick. He switched his gaze to Liu Chu Chu, who bravely met his gaze without feeling as if she had done something wrong.

The Second Prince did not think much of it, knowing that Chu Chu viewed Bin Tang as a good friend and would help her out without realizing who the King of Munzhu was.

"This prince remembers that Madam Bin Tang has a younger sister that wishes to marry the King of Munzhu. This portrait seems to be drawn by Second Miss Bin." The Fourth Prince provided some help in pouring oil on Bin Tang.

Daring to plot against his sister? She will have to go through him first.

The Third Prince helpfully turned the picture around and showed it to everyone.

One of the madams let out a loud gasp in recognition.

"Indeed, that is the Second Miss Bin's drawing! I remember seeing it when she displayed it around the streets!"

"Isn't that when she ran around looking for the man in the portrait?" Another madam asked.

"I recalled it as well. The Second Miss Bin said that the man in the painting is her future husband."

"Perhaps Madam Bin Tang had mistakenly spoken?" the Second Prince said coldly, not at all speaking it in a questioning manner. "Madam Bin Tang is actually requesting for the Second Miss Bin to be promised to the King of Munzhu, did this prince say it correctly?"

"My wife had indeed misspoken, Your Majesty!" Sir Xu Ming quickly spoke up, now that the Second Prince offered his family a way out. "My wife wishes for Second Miss Bin to obtain her happiness and hopes for the Emperor and Empress to help."

"Your Majesty, please excuse this lowly one's daughter of her mistake," Minister Bin bowed slightly, forced to swallow his dissatisfaction.

Madam Bin Tang's eyes were fierce as if she wanted to strangle her husband. But she knew she could no longer do anything without pulling her father and husband into muddy waters.

Madam Bin Tang expertly squeezed tears out of her eyes and begged for forgiveness. "Empress, please forgive Bin Tang for causing a misunderstanding."

The Empress did not bother pretending to forgive this poisonous woman. Her expression was indifferent as she coolly said, "Since you have apologized, this Empress will not be petty. Your Majesty, Second Miss Bin sincerely admired the talented King.

Why not send Second Miss Bin's portrait to the King of Munzhu and inquire if he took a liking to her?"

"We will do as Empress says. Minister Bin, send a portrait of your second daughter to the palace before tomorrow."

Madam Bin Tang clenched her fist tightly until her inner palm bled. This Empress might have sounded generous to 'help' the second Miss Bin, but she had not said to ask the King of Munzhu to consider the second Miss Bin as a candidate to be his main wife. That was just blatantly asking the King of Munzhu if he wanted to accept her younger sister as his bed warmer or not!

She sent a pleading gaze to her father but Minister Bin could not reject the Em-press' kindness. His eldest daughter was too bold this time and the princess was loved by the royal family members. Seeing how Bin Tang had bullied the Princess publicly, they naturally would not sit still and let it go.

"This lowly one will immediately do it. Your Majesty, please excuse the three of us," Minister Bin pleaded.

"Lau Liu," the Third Prince called his personal eunuch over. "Have the best painter to paint the Second Miss Bin's portrait."

"Third Imperial brother," the Crown Prince cut in. "Why not let Eunuch Lau Liu wait until the painter finishes and help Minister Bin bring the painting into the palace? It will save Minister Bin a trip to the palace."

"You heard him, Lau Liu."

"Yes, my prince. This old man will personally deliver the painting into the palace."

"Third brother, allow me to lend four of my best guards to protect Eunuch Lau Liu and the painting," the Fourth Prince kindly offered.

"That's good. Lau Liu is getting old and feeble. I could not help but worry about his health," the Third Prince sighed worriedly. He did not reject his younger brother's offer when he could send his own guards, just to let everyone know how much they favoured the princess.

Madam Bin Tang really wanted to throw something. What saved her father from traveling, what was protecting this feeble old man? They were all fake!

Eunuch Lau Liu looked to be in his fifties but as a high-ranked cultivator, he could still be considered young. Look how straight his back was. His body was filled with en-ergy. There was nothing weak that could be seen from him at all. They were just trying to make sure the painting of her younger sister was completed and sent to the King of Munzhu as soon as possible!

Liu Chu Chu wanted to help out her friend, but a glance at her fiancé let her know that he would not help Bin Tang.

She had sounded out her future husband about his plans towards the royal family and concluded that he wanted to eradicate the whole royal family. That was why she helped Bin Tang out to mess with the princess. But as soon as Long Shan heard that the man they tried to have the princess marry to was the King of Munzhu, he quickly steered the pot away from his sister.

Liu Chu Chu silently scoffed at her silly fiancé. He loved his sister yet he dared to speak of killing her along with the rest of the family. Honestly, who was he trying to lie to? If he told her the truth, she would not think badly of him.

Eunuch Lau Liu was spotted with a friendly smile as he followed Minister Bin and his family out of the palace. There was already a guard sent out to contact the best painter in the Guilin Kingdom with a fast horse.

Now that the eyesore was gone, the Empress' smile was warmer. "Let's continue the celebration."

The guests forced themselves to laugh and mingle as the celebration continued.

However, Long Lian did not have the mood for celebrations anymore. She could not even muster a fake smile.

Suddenly, there was a loud 'moo' sound, accompanied by shouts from the entrance.

"What is going on?" The Emperor thundered. He was not pleased with what happened earlier, and now someone was causing another disturbance!

The guards that were spread around the place quickly headed to the entrance to check what was going on. One of the guards returned and quickly approached the Em-peror. "Your Majesty, it's...it's the Eighth Prince!"

"The Eighth Prince? Eunuch Heng had sent word that the young prince had gone out to buy a present for his sister," the Empress recalled. "Is he back?"

The Empress was truly worried when she received a short note that the Eighth Prince had sneaked out of the palace just to find a present for his sister. It was too late to bring him back, so she could only send out a few guards to catch up to the young prince and protect him.

"Yes, Your Highness, the Eighth prince has returned. But..."

"Out with it!" The Emperor snapped. What's with this wishy-washy guard?

"The Eighth Prince had brought a beast and wished to enter the Blooming Lotus

Courtyard with it! The Eighth Prince says that the beast is a birthday present."

"It's a present for Princess Long Lian?" The Emperor's grim face eased. "Let the beast in!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The guard hurried back to the entrance.

"The Eighth Prince is truly filial to his elder sister," a minister voiced and soon everyone joined in to sing praises.

Everyone's eyes were glued onto the path where the Eighth Prince would appear, wanting to see which beast was it. They had no high expectations for the Eighth Prince that had no cultivation and had a mental defect; hence they were anticipating the beast would be a low-ranked one.

Before they saw the Eighth Prince's figure, their ears caught the sound of bells ring- ing. Judging from the way it sounded, it was as if someone was wearing a bell.

Long Lian was the one most curious about the gift. She knew that the Saint Rabbit given by her fourth brother would still be the best present she received, but she did not mind receiving another beast.

When the Eighth Prince finally came into view, no one spoke as they were ren- dered into silence.

"... What's that beast?" The Crown Prince was the first one to break the silence.

Everyone wanted to know what that four-legged black and white spotted beast that the Eighth Prince had dragged in using a rope tied around the beast's neck with a large bell secured around its neck. Its size was huge and could easily crush the tiny Eighth Prince, but surprisingly it remained docile, allowing the young prince to pull it around.

They had never seen this type of beast before!

"Eighth son, you wish to give this beast to your sister?" The Emperor asked. His eyes showed that he was pleased with the Eighth Prince's conduct.

The Eighth Prince clumsily paid his respects to the Emperor and Empress, as well as towards his older siblings. Eunuch Heng stepped towards Long Lian with a small box that was handed over to Tang Mei.

"This is the birthday gift for Princess Long Lian that the Eighth Prince had searched hard for." Eunuch Heng did not slack in announcing his master's praise-worthy deed.

"Then, that beast is..." The Empress trailed off in confusion. If that box was the Eighth Prince's gift for Long Lian then what about that beast? But she was pretty sure it was a cow, not some beast.

"This is for Xiao Hua! Eh? Where's Xiao Hua?" The Eighth Prince turned to the Third Prince's direction with an innocent smile, mixed with traces of confusion.

The Emperor frowned. "Who is this Xiao Hua?"

The Third Prince laughed. "Father Emperor, eighth brother is talking about my personal maid, Xiao Hua."

The Emperor and Empress were truly a couple. Their faces turned dark at the same time.