The Heaven-worshipping ceremony was under way. This time, those princes were headed by the Crown Prince.
As a princess, Lin Mengya did not have to do anything, except mingle with the relatives of the royal family, and watch the princes go through the prayer rituals for Dajin.
In the hall, five adult princes standing in a row, in accordance to their status, were completing the Heaven-worshipping ceremony.
Lin Mengya’s eyes unconsciously followed Long Tianyu’s movements.
Totally different from the extravagantly-dressed Crown Prince, Long Tianyu wore a black suit embroidered with a pattern that had a green dragon with four claws.
He was standing straight, in the light. Every one of his moves looked like that of a typical prince, with a natural nobility.
He was praying for Dajin, in all sincerity, as well as showing his respect for his ancestors.
By comparison, Long Tianyu’s actions seemed much more genuine than the Crown Prince’s, who was half-hearted and only showing off his high status. Without his ancestors’ possessions, he would never have been the Crown Prince. However, he put his heart and soul into scrambling for power and wealth.
Such a comparison made it quite ironic.
The ceremony went on till the last procedure. All princes had to shoot an arrow. It was firstly, meant as a prayer for Dajin, that it will last for a long time.
Secondly, it was to test the skills of the adult princes. Frankly, it was meant to let them show off their physical prowess.
After all, it was not possible to rely only on a wise, great emperor for Dajin to have a long period of political stability.
A frightening force was the true necessary element to overwhelm Dajin’s neighbors.
Five adult princes standing in a row. Five targets with red dots in the center, had already been placed outside the hall.
Lin Mengya did not know how skillful the others’ kung fu skills were, but she knew that Long Tianyu’s level was still a mystery, even though Qinghu thought highly of him.
Drawing a bow and shooting an arrow, would reveal their confidence. Lin Mengya, as well as those relatives, were paying compliments to them.
“A promising future, a longer life for our country. Please, Your Highness, shoot golden arrows to show your blessing for our late emperors!”
A protocol officer announced this. At the same time, the five were drawing their bows, and aiming at their targets.
With a whoosh, five arrows flew toward their targets, and subtle piercing sounds could be heard.
Normally, they should shoot nine arrows in succession. To everyone’s surprise, the Fifth Prince, after the last arrow left his hand, suddenly turned around and aimed an arrow at the spectators.
“Oh! God!”
Instantly, everyone screamed in panic. The relatives of the royal family were nearly frightened to death.
Unexpectedly, the arrow was flying straight toward one of the relatives.
Only Lin Mengya just stood there, and did not move to avoid it.
Hum! The arrow flew by her face, and then plunged into the red column that had a dragon pattern on it, behind her.
The tail of the arrow was still quivering, while everyone held their breath.
“Your Highness, good job. But there must be something wrong with your eyes. This is not your target.”
A pair of jade white hands pulled out the arrow on the column.
It was so unexpected. Lin Mengya, who was supposed to be the most frightened, was calmer than all of them.
Lin Mengya coolly walked towards the Fifth Prince, one step at a time, and presented the arrow to him, as she approached.
“You’re praying for our country, so regret is the last thing we need. Please, Your Highness, let the arrow go where it should.”
That incident dampened the whole festive atmosphere.
Most of the people were surprised that Lin Mengya was so generous to return the arrow to the Fifth Prince, personally.
Long Yingchu, the Fifth Prince, suddenly cracked an evil smile, took the arrow and casually shot it, and then, the arrow appeared at the center of the target.
While shooting the arrow, he was still looking at Lin Mengya, who had returned to her place.
“Third brother, Princess Yu is really impressive. But, you liked Su Linlang, that invalid, don’t you? Why have you changed your taste now?”
When Long Yingchu shot the arrow, Long Tianyu’s face froze.
Long Yingchu thought himself above all of them, except the Crown Prince, because of his noble birth.
What was even worse was that the Emperor never punished him, whenever he caused any problems. Today, he publicly aimed an arrow at Lin Mengya in the Heaven-worshipping ceremony.
Long Tianyu held the bow so tightly that his hands turned white. After an icy look at Long Yingchu, he warned him in a somber voice.
“If she is hurt, I will kill you.”
His voice was cold enough to freeze the world, and even Long Qinghan threw a cold glance at Long Yingchu.
“Hem, father won’t say anything, so what can you guys do? But Princess Yu is very courageous. Interesting.”
The Crown Prince overhead their short conversation.
But he did not seem to have any intention to teach his younger brothers a lesson. He just looked on coldly, as a bystander.
Lin Mengya was a beauty, more amazing than his concubines, but she did not care to join him.
If Lin Mengya remained alive, it would be disastrous for him.
But the Crown Prince also felt surprised that the Fifth Prince dared to take action today. He sneered silently. “Idiot! Do you really believe that father prefers you?”
“Father prefers you only because your mother’s family is still powerful.”
“You committed a crime of disrespecting our ancestors just now. Did you not see those relatives frowning?”
“Even though your mother’s family wants to protect you by letting you run away, they had to give up lots of things. And your mother, Concubine Chen already died three years ago.”
“Everything is changing. Such an idiot. How stupid you are to take this road to ruin.”
Lin Mengya, maintaining her smile and trying to control her trembling legs, struggled to return to the position where she was at before.
She was the only one who knew that she was bathed in cold sweat, when the incident happened.
Who would not be afraid when an arrow was flying towards her?
She just looked calm. But in fact, she was too surprised and frightened to move.
She really wanted to let out a string of expletives. Just now, at that moment, the arrow was only less than one centimeter away from her!
She was lucky, otherwise, she could have been disfigured or killed.
There was mounting anger in her heart. She would keep his face in her mind forever.
“Fine! You got the balls!”
“I swear, I’ll make you feel sorry one day! No one would come to your rescue!”
The protocol officer was stunned and instantly ended the ceremony. “My my, if I let it carry on like this, once there’s any bloodshed in the Heaven-worshipping ceremony, my head would be cut off to be used as a kick ball, no matter how many heads I have.”
The Heaven-worshipping ceremony, filled with plots and threats, came to an end.
The four maids waiting at the side chamber, were all burning with anxiety.
Baiji, who knew about the clothes, was extremely agitated.
Lin Mengya still remembered her maids, even though she had been badly frightened.
She called them back to her carriage. They did not know about the hair raising experience Lin Mengya had gone through, until they heard the others talking about it.
On the way back, she looked the same as when she had arrived. But in fact, Lin Mengya had a close shave and had just returned from hell.
The blessing banquet would last for three days.
But it was reduced to only one day, due to the Emperor’s illness.
What Lin Mengya had prepared had been brought to the Palace earlier. Upon arriving at their house, Lin Mengya collapsed on the bed. Her small face went deathly pale.
“It was so frightening!”
“Master, take a shower. You’ll catch a cold with wet clothes on.”
Baiji was alert. She immediately sensed that her inner clothes were soaked, when she touched her back.
“Right! Right!”
She really needed a shower to calm herself down.
When the dress was taken off, her wet, white inner clothes were clinging to her slender body.
Once in the hot water, she felt comfortable enough to tell her maids about what had happened before.
“Oh, Master, you told us before, your dress had a seven-colored phoenix.. But how was it changed into a six-colored phoenix?”
Baizhi cocked her head and asked this question.
Lin Mengya smiled slightly, and cast an admiring glance at Baiji.
“Thanks to Baiji. She reminded me that Aunt Bai was the successor of Stitch Master, who even the royal female embroiderers respected. It’s no wonder that I found those clothes you made for me, much more delicate than those from the Palace. Stitch Master, she deserves it.”
Sensing her admiring look, Baiji felt proud of her mother, yet a little embarrassed.
The other day, Lin Mengya asked Baiji to prepare some dyes to dye the silk threads.
Then, Baiji’s mother gave her an ancestral special dye, once she found out what she needed.
The dye was colorless and odorless, but it had a magic touch.
Pour two kinds of dyes into the water in order of priority, and the dyed threads would change their colors in accordance with the external temperature.
Baiji tore the phoenix’s eyes out and sewed it back, after cautiously bleaching and dying them.
So the phoenix’s eyes appeared black in normal temperatures.
Later, it turned purple, after it came into contact with the smoke from the aromatherapy stove.
That was why the Minister of Ceremony and Minister of Dressing could not find anything wrong.
After Lin Mengya uttered the last sentence, the mouths of the three maids naturally became an ‘O’ shape.
They finally understood why Baiji had disappeared the other day.
Baizhi was too curious to stop asking questions. She held Lin Mengya’s dress, and to her surprise, she saw the peony changing into a herbaceous peony.
