“I was wrong. There are many places for admiring the flowers today. However, the best one is the Osmanthus Garden. It is now the time to admire the osmanthus flowers. Young Madam asked us to lead the noble guests there and set up a banquet there.” The old maidservant was stunned, but then she put on a natural smile and explained to Mo Xuetong while pointing at the pavilion.
“Then let’s go and take a look.” Princess Caifeng was intrigued and walked in that direction before Mo Xuetong could reply.
Mo Xuetong followed her slowly! As she walked while seeing the scenery, she lagged behind. Fortunately, she could still see Princess Caifeng occasionally appeared among the flowers and trees from a distance.
The Osmanthus Garden was also connected to this garden. After a few turns, Princess Caifeng saw a garden emitting a delicate fragrance. When they went through the door, they saw the words “Osmanthus Garden” high above the moon gate. The handwriting was elegant, with powerful strokes. At a glance, one could see the power of the strokes and the character style were extraordinary.
There were two beautiful maidservants guarding at the door. When they saw the old maidservant coming with Princess Caifeng, they hurried to greet the latter.
“Greetings, Your Highness. Would you like to rest here and admire the flowers first or go to our Young Madam first? Our Young Madam is in the garden ahead. You will arrive in a few steps.” The slender maidservant stepped forward, bowed to Princess Caifeng, and pointed to the right with a smile.
There was another courtyard over there, and it seemed to be much larger than the Osmanthus Garden.
According to what Princess Caifeng had thought when she came here, she would certainly stay here to see the flowers. She turned up her nose at the humble Marquess Mingguo’s wife. However, after arriving in the Qin Kingdom, she had been suppressed in all aspects and so many things had happened. Recently, Crown Prince Xieyue had warned her and she realized that Marquess Mingguo’s wife should not be taken lightly. Although she was a little reluctant in her heart, she still wore a smile on her face.
“Of course I’d love to see your Young Madam first. Lead the way!”
“Your Highness, Consort Xuan is behind us…” A maidservant beside her nudged her and motioned toward the back, hinting that Consort Xuan was behind them.
Since the two of them had entered the manor together, they should go to see the mistress together. So Princess Caifeng slowed down.
“Your Highness is of noble status, so you should go first. I will stay here, and when Consort Xuan comes later, I will lead her to chase after you.” The maidservant had a good tongue and smiled.
Princess Caifeng nodded in satisfaction when she heard the maidservant’s compliment. She no longer hesitated and turned to the side. One of the maidservants led the way while the other stayed where she was.
After a while, Mo Xuetong also appeared at the entrance of the Osmanthus Garden with her maidservants. When she saw the elegant large words above the door, she narrowed her eyes slightly and stopped at the door.
The maidservant walked up to welcome her with a smile. “Consort Xuan, please come in. The scenery here is great and it is a good place to enjoy the scenery. Our Young Madam has made some places for respected guests to have fun.”
Mo Xuetong pointed at the courtyard inside and asked meaningfully, “Has Princess Caifeng already entered?”
“Her Highness bumped into our Young Madam just now. After hearing that our Young Madam was going to invite the two princesses, she went there with interest. She asked me to tell My Lady that she will come back soon and asked My Lady to wait inside first,” the maidservant explained cleverly, and her words were flawless, as if that was true.
Mo Xuetong did not ask any more questions. She gave a faint smile and was about to walk in.
“My Lady… ” Mo Yu cried out in a low voice worriedly. When she saw Mo Xuetong had stopped, there was a flash of uneasiness in the eyes of Mingguo Manor’s maidservant. She smiled and walked to Mo Xuetong. Then she pointed at the osmanthus trees inside the entrance and said warmly, “My Lady, please go in and sit for a while. I will ask Princess Caifeng to come right now.”
There was a huge osmanthus tree in the yard, which covered half of the whole yard. The sun fell, forming an elegant sea of flowers. It was very beautiful. Following the direction that the maidservant pointed, they saw some pots of chrysanthemums under the osmanthus tree. It was the time for the chrysanthemum to bloom. The pink and light yellow chrysanthemums were placed there. It was obvious that they were treasures that were carefully arranged.
Mingguo Manor had really put in a lot of effort in the flower appreciation banquet.
“Alright, I’ll go in and take a look first.” Mo Xuetong smiled slightly and walked in unconcernedly. The maidservant at the door heaved a sigh of relief. When she saw Mo Xuetong and her maidservants had already entered the garden, she looked around. Then she hurriedly turned around, left the Osmanthus Garden with a pleased expression on her face and returned to report.
“My Lady, I don’t think it’s normal here…” Mo Yu, who was behind Mo Xuetong, looked around and said in a muffled voice.
Although she couldn’t see anything wrong, she always felt that something was wrong. However, she couldn’t tell what was wrong in detail.
Ever since Mo Lan and Mo Ye entered the door, they did not say anything. Mo Lan frowned slightly and looked at the surroundings carefully. Mo Ye hurried forward and walked in front of Mo Xuetong. The two of them looked as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
Seeing that the three maidservants were all nervous, Mo Xuetong burst into laughter. She smiled leisurely and said, “Don’t worry. Ling Mingyan won’t hurt me at this time. I didn’t have difficulty with her.”
Ling Mingyan did not dare to hurt her now. She should have known what had happened in the Empress Dowager’s palace that day. Feng Yuran dared to say something like that to Princess Caifeng just because she had almost harmed her. He disguised his attitude. Of course, Feng Yuran did it deliberately.
Feng Yuran dared to say it. Moreover, he was fine after he said those words, which showed the Emperor’s attitude!
There was no doubt that Emperor Zongwen doted on his youngest son the most. Even though Feng Yuran threatened the princess who was going to marry into the Qin Kingdom, Emperor Zongwen did not blame him. This was a type of indulgence from the Emperor. He doted on his youngest son for no reason. Under these circumstances, no one dared to harm Mo Xuetong for they were afraid that they would annoy that bully.
Feng Yuran was really a lawless man! If one really annoyed him, he might do something outrageous!
Even Ling Mingyan was brainless, You Yuecheng could not be so stupid!
“My Lady, where are we going now?” Mo Lan did not think Mo Xuetong was in any danger. And that was why she did not say anything to stop her just now. After hearing Mo Xuetong’s words, she stopped being worried and relief broke across her face.
“Let’s go over there and take a look. Since they are all prepared, we have to go and take a look,” Mo Xuetong replied with a gentle smile, as she pointed to a pavilion under the tree. There were two maidservants there. They hurried over to welcome Mo Xuetong when they saw her. They stood by the side respectfully and curtsied to Mo Xuetong.
Mo Xuetong waved her hand and began to walk in.
“Off you go. Her Lady has us to take care of her. You can do your own things.” Mo Lan was the last in the line. She stopped the two maidservants who were about to follow them in. She reached out her hand and said politely.
“We will stay here to serve Her Lady.” The two maidservants looked at each other and said timidly.
“Her Lady doesn’t need others to serve her. What’s more, there are only you two maidservants in the garden. What if other noble guests come later? You’d better leave!” Even though Mo Lan was smiling, her tone was not polite. The smile on her lips made one feel as if she was implying something.
“Yes!” The two maidservants did not dare to follow them again after being forced by Mo Lan. They backed away and did not stop until they reached a corner. When they looked up, their eyes met Mo Lan’s cold gaze. The two maidservants were so frightened that they took a few more steps back to avoid her gazes.
They finally stopped at a corner that Mo Lan could not see.
“What should we do?” the short maidservant asked the tall one.
“What can we do? Now that Consort Xuan doesn’t want us to serve her, do you want to rush to her? The maidservant beside her doesn’t seem easy to deal with. She looked as if she is afraid that we will steal her master. Forget it, we’d better not rush up. If we fail, we will offend Consort Xuan, instead of getting credit.”
The tall maidservant frowned and answered after thinking for a while. They were the maidservants who served here today. Their superior told them that no matter who entered the garden, they must go up to serve them respectfully and let the noble guests feel the sincerity of Mingguo Manor. However, Consort Xuan was obviously unwilling to let them approach her.
“Then we…” It was obvious that the short maidservant was lack of her own will. She put on a bitter look on her face for a while. They had failed to finish what the superior had told them to do, so it would not be easy to deal with the superior later.
The tall maidservant thought for a while and answered, “Let’s stay here first. Anyway, others don’t know if we are serving Consort Xuan nearby. If someone asks later, we will say that we are close to serve her. Anyway, it is impossible for anyone to ask Consort Xuan about these trivial things.”
“Then we just stay here?” The short maidservant looked around. They were in a good position. It was just in the corner, so the people around Consort Xuan couldn’t see them, and there was no one at the door. Even if there was someone coming over, they could clearly see them from where they were standing, but the people outside couldn’t see them clearly. It could be regarded as a perfect place to hide.
“If we don’t stay here, where else can we be?” The tall maidservant sat on the flower rack and said helplessly. They didn’t want to stay here, but the noble guest didn’t want them to serve her and they didn’t dare to come forward. However, they were afraid that their master would punish them, so they could only hide here and go out to clean the things in the garden after the noble guest left!
The two maidservants sighed and did not notice that someone else had entered the garden.
The Sixth Princess and the Seventh Princess walked over slowly. When they saw the Osmanthus Garden, they stopped together. The Mingguo Manor’s old maidservant who led the way came forward with a smile and said, “Your Highness, this is where our Young Madam rest, but she is not here now. She has been waiting for you for a long time. Please move on!”
“It’s an excellent place. Your Young Madam really knows how to enjoy it,” the Sixth Princess commented with a gentle smile and stopped.
“It is indeed a good place. If it weren’t for His Excellency’s wife waiting ahead, I would like to stay and enjoy the scenery.” The Seventh Princess followed the old maidservant to move on and then turned around with a smile. Since the hostess was waiting ahead, they couldn’t stay any longer.
“Seventh Sister, why don’t you go to see His Excellency’s wife first? I want to stay here to enjoy the scenery. It’s rare to see such beautiful osmanthus flowers. It’s a pity if I don’t see them.” The Sixth Princess looked at the osmanthus flowers in the garden in a gentle manner and showed a reluctant look on her face.
Wherever the wind passed, the burst of fragrance of the osmanthus flowers was extremely alluring.
