The sun set early in winter. Now, the sun already hung low in the sky, and the red clouds spread the glowing hue over the sky.
Against the red clouds, her plain clothes seemed to be shrouded in pink color. Between her transcription, a perfect smile appeared on her delicate face. She fluttered her slightly curled eyelashes, and slightly opened her cherry red mouth. Her skin was as tender and bright as snow. In the glowing lights, she looked even more beautiful.
This was what Feng Yuran saw when he stepped in!
Slowly turning the pages, the girl fixed her crystal clear eyes on them from time to time. She looked so absorbed and mild, the pink color on her clothes was so ethereal.
“Third Miss Mo, what brought you here?” Feng Yuran was a little dazed and walked over to ask.
Mo Xuetong also looked startled, because she didn’t expect to see him here.
“Greetings, Your Highness!” She rose to bow low to Feng Yuran. It didn’t matter if she was surprised or not, she had to act ritually.
Feng Yuran glanced at the book which Mo Xuetong was transcribing. He frowned and asked in doubt. “Please rise, Third Miss Mo. Copying pages? Why? Just buy it!”
Mo Xuetong explained with a smile. “This book is already taken. Someone bought it and hasn’t picked it up yet.”
Feng Yuran didn’t think it would make much of a difference. It was just a medicine book. Mo Xuetong seemed a little tired, she must have been copying it for too long. Thus, his eyes turned cold and face fell. “Who bought it? Just buy it at a higher price.”
By Feng Yuran’s side, the shopkeeper had been standing with an apologetic smile. Hearing Feng Yuran’s words, he hurried to answer, “Your Highness, you bought the book and left it here…”
Feng Yuran was in a daze. “I bought it? Oh, that book.” Then, he remembered. He had a light smile on his lips. He reached out to close the book and pushed it before Mo Xuetong. “Last time I found you liked medicine books so I booked one here. I was just going to gift it to you some time, didn’t expect you found it in advance.”
Did he intend to give this book to her? Biting her lips, she somewhat blushed at the sight of his languid and wicked grin.
She coughed lightly. Initially, she wanted to turn down his offer, but she was really content with the book. Just now, when she was copying down the words, she found most of the herbs recorded relevant to her daily life. If she had one, she would greatly benefit from it. Anyway, she had owed a lot to him. Therefore, after consideration, she decided to stand on no ceremony and curtsied. “Thank Your Highness.”
Seeing that Mo Xuetong agreed, Mo Yu and Mo Ye timely collected the papers and ink on the desk. They folded her unfinished transcription papers and booklets and gathered them.
Mo Xuetong had been copying in a small single room. Sometimes, customers would read here, thus it was very quiet. The royal guards withdrew outside the room and were blocking the only exit. Mo Yu and Mo Ye hesitated a little and walked there as well. Therefore, in a small place like a booth, only two remained.
Mo Xuetong was feeling a little uncomfortable and was going to leave.
However, Feng Yuran spoke, slightly irritated. “Why did you attend that Qin gathering? Why did you come to that place? Did someone bully you?”
He must be talking about the matter concerning Fifth Princess. Mo Xuetong didn’t find it surprising at all that Feng Yuran knew about the thing that had just happened. The more she got to know him, the more profound she deemed him to be. If he wanted to, he would naturally know this kind of stuff.
Mo Xuetong smiled as if she didn’t care about it. At that time, indeed, she felt wronged and sad. Later, when she thought about it, she realized it really wasn’t a big deal to bow and kneel before the princess. Only, it happened at the wrong place.
That place was so cold and the floor was damp. The moment she knelt down, her hand and feet turned cold!
Feng Yuran’s narrow phoenix eyes flashed with complex emotion. He sounded unpleasant but involuntarily curled his lips. “You should kneel before the princess, but why haven’t you kneel for me? Am I, a prince, inferior to a princess?”
He eagerly looked at her with expectation in his eyes, like a kid asking for candies. Mo Xuetong involuntarily glared at him, saying, “Does Your Highness want me to kneel before you now?”
She was now pouting her red lips, glancing at Feng Yuran with a pair of watery eyes. Her expression seemed to say that if Feng Yuran dared to bring it up, she would readily do it regardless of everything. “The royal kids are really demanding. All of them enjoy bullying people. One made me kneel on the granite pavement despite the chilling winter weather; while the other required me to kneel just because I haven’t done it in front of him before.”
“She’s an honest kid and down-to-earth, and now, she looks so angry, wronged, and upset.” Seeing Mo Xuetong’s complicated expression, Feng Yuran couldn’t help feeling light-hearted so he chuckled. “There’s no need. It’ll be too much for me. Don’t go to that Qin party next time, and then you won’t have to run into Fifth Princess. She’s been rude since a child. She lacks proper manners.”
“More importantly, she won’t bump into Bai Yihao either. I’m sure Mo Xuetong won’t take a fancy to anybody else except Bai Yihao. I really can’t say for sure about Bai Yihao. He’s real trouble. Though I don’t fear him, we’ll both suffer if we confront each other. In that way, I’m afraid someone else will take advantage of us.
“I’ll never do something like that. And I’m also sure that Bai Yihao won’t let anybody else to be the oriole behind our back. I think that’s why we two have been on friendly terms all this time.
“We both know we’re equally capable, so why do we have to fight to let others pick up the treasure?”
Mo Xuetong smiled. “Does Her Highness fancy Sir Bai?” Mo Xuetong didn’t expect to hear Feng Yuran call people rude. Few would believe Mo Xuetong even if she spread the word out. However, in terms of being arrogant, if Feng Yuran was ranked second in the list, no one dared to claim themselves the top one across the entire kingdom of Great Qin.
Feng Yuran rolled his eyes and languidly opened his mouth, he deliberately answered ambiguously, “Well, I can’t say for sure about her and Bai Yihao’s relationship. Anyway, Father is always fixing those two up. But we haven’t heard anything from the Yan Kingdom yet. They might want to wait until the Fifth Sister grows up and can handle things.”
In fact, Bai Yihao didn’t agree at all. The Yan Kingdom Empress didn’t push things either, as if she wasn’t so keen about having a niece as her daughter-in-law. Hence, this marriage had been pending. It was the internal affairs of the Yan Kingdom royalty, thus Emperor Zongwen couldn’t have pressed them. He could only hope the two could grow to admire each other in time and then restored the good relationship between the two countries through a marriage. Therefore, though he knew Fifth Princess had been throwing herself at Bai Yihao, he just let her.
In time, should Bai Yihao finally fall for Fifth Princess, he would naturally figure out a way to marry her; if not, Emperor Zongwen didn’t think there was anything he could do to help at all.
Well, of course, Feng Yuran wouldn’t explain things clearly in that way to Mo Xuetong.
However, Mo Xuetong swiftly detected the ambiguity in Feng Yuran’s words, which made her surer of her speculation. She had guessed the relationship between Fifth Princess and Bai Yihao right. That was why Fifth Princess had been so hostile to every girl who approached Bai Yihao. Luckily, she didn’t tell the princess that Bai Yihao insisted on taking her as his disciple back then. Otherwise, on that day, she would have suffered more than kneeling.
Her bright eyes fell on Feng Yuran. She decided to leave. “Your Highness, it’s not early. I’ll go back.”
Looking around, Mo Xuetong suddenly became uneasy. Though few people lingered at the shop, the guards were guarding the door as if they wanted to hide what was happening in the booth. She couldn’t quite understand how the cautious Feng Yuran would have done such a thing.
Seeing her blush and fidgeting in the room, Feng Yuran had a light smile on his delicate lips, so he gently reminded her. “Alright, go back then. You don’t have to go to that Qin party since I’m also good with Qin.”
However, whoever heard these words would have interpreted it in some other way.
He was good at bragging. While mocking the man in the heart, she put on a smile on her face. “I’m sure Your Highness can play the Qin well.”
By now, Feng Yuran finally dropped the idea of bothering her. He waved, signaling the guards to clear the way. Mo Xuetong led Mo Yu and Mo Ye out of the bookstore. After the three getting in, the carriage slowly rode on.
Thinking it would lift the miss’s spirits, Mo Yu whispered the news she just had heard to Mo Xuetong. “Miss, just now, King Xuan’s guards told that in this afternoon, Her Highness fell from riding the horse and even hit her head. The palace has sent for royal doctors. They said Her Highness even had people butcher her favorite maroon pony in the heat of the moment.”
Fifth Princess fell from the horse? Mo Xuetong was stunned. Somehow, Feng Yuran’s charming and languid smile crossed her mind. It had nothing to do with him, right?
However, on second thought, she deemed it impossible. Fifth Princess was Empress’s daughter, thus Feng Yuran didn’t have any reason to mess with the Empress so as to cause trouble. In the end, she stopped thinking since she really couldn’t figure it out. Moreover, she was a little tired from the transcription work, so she simply closed her eyes to rest.
At that time, the carriage halted.
Mo Ye asked, “What’s the matter?”
The driver quickly answered, “A beggar seemed to have passed out in our way.”
Mo Yu lifted the curtain and looked on the floor. Indeed, a beggar passed on on the ground. They looked so dirty all over the body that Mo Yu couldn’t tell how they were now.
“Miss, I’ll throw him away.” The driver jumped off and walked over, about to pick them up and throw them away,
Mo Xuetong darted a look when Mo Yu lifted the curtain. Then, Mo Xuetong said mildly, took out a pouch beside her, and handed to Mo Yu. “Wait, give this to them.”
Mo Yu took it and knew there were some silver pieces inside. “Yes, miss!” Then, she walked to the beggar. Covering her nose, she slightly pushed them. The beggar moved a little and revealed half of their face covered by the hair.
At that time, Mo Yu’s face changed. She was a little startled and hurried back before the carriage. She climbed into it, gasping and blurting the words, with her eyes wide open. “Miss, it’s He Xia!”
He Xia? Mother’s main maid who had gone missing long ago? Mo Xuetong sat bolt upright and urged. “Have you seen her clearly?”
Mo Yu looked a little pale. He Xia, why was it He Xia? Or, how did He Xia end up like this? She used to be one of the four main maids who were favored by Her Ladyship. Why would she go missing after the lady passed away? “I’ve seen her clearly. She’s really He Xia. Back then, Her Ladyship really likes her, so I’ve seen her a million times.”
Mo Xuetong quickly ordered. “Go get a carriage and send her into the manor through the back door. If someone asks, tell them I’ve bought some extra cloth and it’s not convenient to go through the front gate.”
Before, when Auntie Fang was in charge, they would send the cloth through the back door; later, when Auntie Mo took charge, they also stuck to the practice. Now, she ran the affairs and was a legal daughter in the manor. No one could suspect her doing so. However, somehow, Mo Xuetong thought she needed to keep this in a small circle.
Mo Yu also realized how serious it was and immediately got off. “Yes, miss.”
