Chapter 31

Princess Chang’s arrival livened up the scene.

Princess Chang, whose name is Lu Changyang, is the half-sister of the current emperor, although they have different mothers. She is nearly forty years old this year.

She became a widow at a young age and has since then not remarried. She has no children and does not participate in politics. She spends her days in the princess’s residence, reciting sutras, enjoying flowers, and occasionally keeping a few young and vigorous men as companions according to her interests, living a carefree life.

She has a close relationship with Lady Xie, the mother of Xie Yun. They used to go together to the Nianyuan Temple outside the city to worship Buddha, so Xie Yun would come to the flower-viewing banquet every year.

If he didn’t come, Lady Xie and Princess Chang would talk about it from the beginning of the year to the end.

Because the so-called flower-viewing banquet is not so much about enjoying flowers as it is about enjoying people. Lady Xie insisted on him coming, and her intentions were quite obvious.

However, in previous years, Xie Yun would leave after less than two moments, appearing very perfunctory. The flower-viewing banquet has never been of any use to him. This year will be no exception.

At this moment, Xie Yun stood expressionless by Princess Chang’s side, yet easily captured many covert glances, including those of Sang Yao.

She had stared at him for a long time just now, without any restraint. She was bold.

After Princess Chang greeted everyone with a smile, her gaze fell on Sang Yao not far away. She frowned slightly and asked Xie Yun with seriousness, “A Yun, do you know who that girl is? Why does she look somewhat familiar to me?”

Xie Yun followed Princess Chang’s gaze.

The first thing that caught his eye was the girl’s bright smile. When she smiled, her eyes would bend into crescents, and her cheeks would gently puff up, making her slightly plump face look even softer and more tender.

The little apple looked very happy at the moment.

She said something to Yang Wenchuan again, and the two of them laughed together. However, perhaps due to the occasion, they soon restrained their smiles and started talking about something else, appearing very familiar with each other.

Xie Yun withdrew his gaze. “I don’t know her.”

Princess Chang looked puzzled and asked again, “Then why were you staring at her?”

“I thought you knew her, so I asked you.”

“I see.”

Princess Chang then whispered, “I clearly saw you looking at her several times.”

Because there were many people in front, Sang Yao and Yang Wenchuan did not approach directly at the beginning. Instead, they waited until there were fewer people around Princess Chang before going over to pay their respects.

When Sang Yao approached, Princess Chang smiled and did not ask her much. Sang Yao breathed a sigh of relief and stood quietly by the side.

She didn’t really like this kind of occasion.

She and Xie Yun hadn’t seen each other for several days, so it was natural for him to want to see her. She just didn’t expect him to be so ruthless. Even if he sent someone to deliver a message to her, it would be fine.

The more she thought about it, the more dissatisfied she became with Xie Yun.

And at this moment, Yang Wenchuan finished speaking to Princess Chang. He came back and stood naturally by Sang Yao’s side, then leaned over and whispered to her, “Yao Yao, it seems that the princess likes you very much.”

How is that possible? Sang Yao had never seen her before.

Yang Wenchuan smiled. “Really, did you notice that the princess’s gaze at you was much gentler than at others just now?”

Sang Yao frowned and whispered, “You’re talking nonsense…”

Meanwhile, Princess Chang seemed to be in a good mood.

After speaking to everyone, her gaze fell on Sang Yao and Yang Wenchuan. Seeing the two of them standing together, although there was a considerable distance between them, their harmonious posture when they spoke to each other seemed inexplicably harmonious. She couldn’t help but whisper again:

“Oh, they seem to be very familiar with each other.”

Xie Yun thought to himself that they were indeed very familiar.

He said, “What does the princess want me to do?”

Princess Chang looked at him strangely and said, “I was talking to Lu Qing just now. Why are you so sensitive?”

Xie Yun didn’t say anything.

Lu Qing is the maid beside Princess Chang. She nodded and said, “Your Highness, before the banquet started, I saw them standing together.”

“They do look like a talented and beautiful couple.”

Xie Yun couldn’t see any talent or beauty in them. He just felt that the flower-viewing banquet was getting less interesting year by year.

Princess Chang seemed very satisfied with Yang Wenchuan. She said to her maid, “My brother mentioned this top scholar to me before, saying that he is exceptionally talented and has an extraordinary temperament. At that time, I didn’t think much of it, but today, seeing him in person, he is indeed outstanding.”

The maid agreed, “That’s for sure. I heard that this top scholar participated in the imperial examination for the first time, while the top scholars of previous years had taken the examination two or three times.”

Princess Chang nodded and asked, “I wonder how he compares to A Yun back then?”

Xie Yun reminded her expressionlessly, “Your Highness, Lu Qing and I are the same age.”

So there was no ‘back then’.

He became famous at a young age and was appreciated by Chen Ke. When he first entered the officialdom, he joined the Hanlin Academy and became an editor of the Hanlin Academy. After leaving the Hanlin Academy, he was sent out for two years before returning to the capital. He relied on his achievements outside to enter the Ministry of Rites for two years before becoming the Left Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

All the promotions he has achieved over the past five years have been based on solid achievements and perfect performance evaluations.

He cannot be compared to those who rely on the imperial examinations and only talk about theories on paper.

With many people at the table, Sang Yao followed her secret to quietly eating and drinking without making a sound, keeping her head down and pinching the plate of milky white sticky rice cake in front of her.

She always felt that the dishes in the princess’s residence seemed to be even better than those in the imperial palace. She liked light flavors and always loved pastries with a milky taste. The plate of sticky rice cake in front of her was very much to her liking, with a hint of fruit fragrance and not at all greasy.

She finished pinching the small plate like this.

“…” How come there are only five in a small plate, so few.

In the silence, another small plate of milk cake was quietly pushed in front of her.

Yang Wenchuan withdrew his hand, smiled, and said, “This kind of small cake is called Baiguo Naimi in our place. It is a specialty of Yuzhen in Jiangnan. I can make it too.”

Feeling embarrassed for eating too much, Sang Yao blushed and said thank you.

Sang Yao silently thought, it’s really nice to meet someone you know, you can talk when you’re bored. She used to just eat, feeling bored.

Unfortunately, Yang Wenchuan did not stay until the end with her. He seemed to have something to deal with and left midway.

So Sang Yao was left alone again.

But today, somehow, the weather was not good. The sun that was shining brightly before was now covered by dark clouds.

Everyone had to leave the table early, which made Sang Yao very happy.

She suppressed her excitement and, in order to not appear too obvious, deliberately waited until almost everyone had left before standing up slowly, adjusting her clothes.

Just as she was about to leave, a beautiful maid walked up to Sang Yao. She spoke softly, “Are you Miss Sang?”

Sang Yao remembered her; she had been standing beside the princess just now.

She stopped in her tracks, responded slowly, “Yes, it’s me.”

The maid smiled and said, “Miss Sang, Her Highness invites you to the Lianfang Pavilion for a chat. What do you think?”

Being invited by the princess, Sang Yao had no room to refuse.

Her heart was pounding, and she agreed, “Okay.” The maid said, “Please follow me, Miss.”

Sang Yao followed silently behind her.

…Why did she call her over at the end?

Just now, it seemed that the princess didn’t pay much attention to her. Could it be that she wanted to talk about something that couldn’t be said in front of everyone?

She didn’t have much interaction with Princess Chang, and there were so many outstanding ladies that the princess saw every day, she wouldn’t pay attention to her. It was unexpected that she suddenly wanted to see her, it must be because of Xie Yun.

…Disaster.

Sang Yao’s mind flashed with countless guesses, none of which were good.

She thought, it must be because Xie Yun had used some means to make the princess agree to give him a chance, and that’s why the princess noticed her.

For top-notch families like theirs, they must pay great attention to matching backgrounds. The princess must have seen that Xie Yun had a deep affection for her and couldn’t live without her in this life. However, with their mismatched backgrounds, it was destined to be a doomed relationship.

Xie Yun, because of his strong personality, was not easy to deal with, so the princess could only start with her.

The script says so.

Sang Yao felt very uneasy. She thought that if the princess asked her to stay away from Xie Yun later, she would definitely agree and then quickly leave Xie Yun’s sight.

It was already difficult for her family to deal with a family like the Lu family. If the princess was not satisfied with her, wouldn’t it be like crushing an ant?

Lost in her thoughts, the two of them had already arrived at the Lianfang Pavilion.

The maid stood at the door and said, “Your Highness, Miss Sang is here.”

A soft voice came from inside, “Please let her in.”

The maid stood at the door and said, “Miss, please come in.”

Sang Yao stepped into the room, and as soon as she entered, she met Xie Yun, who was coming out from inside.

Their eyes met.

They both saw surprise in each other’s eyes.

Sang Yao was angry and couldn’t help but glare at Xie Yun. Angry, why did he take the liberty?

Xie Yun’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he paused in his steps.

But Sang Yao didn’t want to hear him speak now. She walked past him and into the inner room.

Xie Yun looked at the girl’s back, somewhat incredulous. He asked, “Did she just glare at me?”

Jing Lian lowered her head, otherwise who else would she glare at? It couldn’t be him.

But he couldn’t say such a thing, so he just silently said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t see clearly.”

Xie Yun was almost amused.

He had put in so much effort to invite her to see him, but she ignored him?

Meanwhile, Sang Yao walked into the inner room. Princess Chang, who was originally sitting on the high platform, was now half-lying on the beauty couch, with the window open, letting in a gentle breeze.

Sang Yao inexplicably felt a sense of oppression. She bowed respectfully to Princess Chang.

“Your Highness, may you be blessed with peace and prosperity.”

Princess Chang slightly raised her hand and said, “No need for formalities.”

She sat up straight, calmly scanning Sang Yao, and after a moment, smiled and said softly, “You don’t have to be nervous. To tell you the truth, I heard about you from Miaoyi last time, so I wanted to meet you.”

She paused for a moment, then added, “Miaoyi is Ayun’s mother.”

Sang Yao remembered Madam Xie, and her fear of Princess Chang diminished slightly. She bowed her head and said, “It is an honor for me to meet Your Highness.”

A maid poured tea for Sang Yao and placed it beside her, and a wisp of light smoke rose up.

“Please enjoy.”

Princess Chang said, “The princess’s residence is too big. I often find it boring, so I always want to invite you young people to come and have some fun.”

She sighed and looked at the gentle and lovely girl in front of her, saying, “Girls are still better. Look at Ayun, that child, he wants to leave after just a few words.”

Sang Yao didn’t know how to respond. She silently thought, “Maybe Mr. Xie is busy with official duties…”

Princess Chang seemed to remember something suddenly and said, “Oh right, Ayun mentioned you earlier. It seems like you two are very close.”