Jiang Zhiyuan’s face gradually turned red as tears welled up in her eyes, and her nose turned sour. She bit her lips and tried hard to calm herself down, but her voice still had an obvious crying tone to it. “…It turns out that His Highness hates me so much…”
She originally came over happily and just kept thinking about what would happen after they met. These few years, she rarely came over; she hadn’t met Rong Xiu in two years. She had imagined countless scenarios, but none of them was as embarrassing as the one before her.
Her face seemed to be on fire as it hurt with the burn. The surrounding people’s gazes were like needles that pricked her body, and she wanted to disappear from this place immediately!
She never thought that he wouldn’t leave her any leeway.
Compared to Jiang Zhiyuan’s shock and pain, Rong Xiu didn’t even take this matter to heart.
The clan leader was in charge in the past and indulged her, and Rong Xiu was too lazy to bother with it back then. But now, it was already different.
Jiang Zhiyuan’s status wasn’t low, but this was the Sky-Cloud Empire. She couldn’t be unruly here.
“Yu Mo, stay here and watch them complete their punishment.”
“Yes!” Yu Mo wiped away his sweat and couldn’t help but glance at Jiang Zhiyuan. He was slightly upset. Does this Big Missy think that the current Sky-Cloud Empire is still like the Sky-Cloud Empire a few years ago? She is too courageous; she actually dared to barge in directly! She really doesn’t think of herself as an outsider!
Then, Rong Xiu stepped out and wanted to leave.
Seeing that he was about to leave, Jiang Zhiyuan couldn’t help but call out. “Wait! Your Highness, do you not want to see me so much? We haven’t seen each other in a few years…”
Rong Xiu originally wanted to nod directly, but considering the Jiang clan, he still chose to be kinder with his words. “I have something to do.”
“At this time, what’s so important that you need to go personally, Your Highness?” Jiang Zhiyuan was slightly dazed. The banquet is going to begin soon. What does he plan on doing?
A thin layer of frost covered Rong Xiu’s eyes. “Big Missy Jiang, are you questioning me?”
Jiang Zhiyuan’s heart tightened. “No, I-I was just casually asking. It’s fine if Your Highness doesn’t want to say it…”
When she saw that Rong Xiu was really about to leave heartlessly, she clenched her teeth, took a step forward, and said, “Your Highness, I came here because I have something to discuss with you!”
Rong Xiu seemed like he was going to ignore her as he turned around nonchalantly.
“It’s regarding the academy!” yelled Jiang Zhiyuan.
Rong Xiu stopped in his tracks and turned around to glance at her, his deep eyes seemingly able to see through everything. “Say it.”
…
Chu Liuyue and the rest followed the silver bridge and proceeded on. After about 15 minutes, they arrived at the main island.
When they were nearer, they could see everything on the main island clearer.
This main island was huge—mountains and forests stood high and low.
On these mountains, palaces and halls were everywhere like stars in the sky.
On the highest mountain, an extravagant hall stood still atop it.
The place where Chu Liuyue and the rest arrived was a lower-corner region of the main island, so they had to look up to see those palaces. This was why they couldn’t see them very clearly.
With the white mist surrounding those buildings, they could only see a rough outline. But even if they were this distance away, they could still clearly feel a tremendous suppression! It was an aura and force that almost made one bow down from their souls.
“Master Lin.” The soldier in charge of welcoming them stepped forward. Judging from his attire and aura, he seemed to be of a higher level than the first soldier that sent them over. “I am Hu Yang. In the coming days, I’ll be in charge of your everything.”
“Thank you, Officer Hu,” Lin Tianfeng smiled and said.
“Master Lin, you’re too kind,” said Hu Yang as he put away his white plaque. “Everyone, please follow me.”
…
“Master Lin, you’re the last to arrive. All the other divisions have already settled down in their respective halls, waiting for His Grace’s birthday banquet to start at night,” said Hu Yang as he led the few of them forward. “If you were any later, it might be too late for the ladies.”
Lin Tianfeng smiled and said, “We were delayed because of some issues. I hope you won’t blame me.”
“Master Lin, you don’t have to worry about this. His Highness won’t mind such a small matter.” Hu Yang shook his head.
Then, Lin Tianfeng and Hu Yang exchanged pleasantries for a while longer before they quickly reached the venue—this was a smaller mountain, and there was a palace on it.
It was said to be a palace, but it couldn’t be compared to those above.
“This is Feng He Hall, which is also your residence for the coming days.” Hu Yang brought the people over.
Suddenly, silver bell-like laughter sounded from the side.
However, it seemed like there were a few women at the corner of the palace excitedly discussing something.
“The Sky-Cloud Empire is indeed different—everywhere is very extravagant! I heard that even the cup of tea we had just now is worth 100,000 white crystals!”
“Really? Wow… If only we could stay here for the rest of our lives!”
“What’s the point of staying here? The buildings above are the truly good places! Did you see the one at the top? Rumors have it that it’s His Grace’s residence!”
“Ah, not anyone can casually go into that place, right…”
“Isn’t that simple to solve? Now that His Grace is choosing his Princess Consort, as long as we’re chosen—”
“Shh! Keep it down! Are you really not afraid of others hearing you?! Even though all the divisions have sent quite a few outstanding women, who doesn’t know that the position of Princess Consort has long been set?”
Hearing this, Chu Liuyue raised her brows slightly.
“Are you talking about… the one from Fairy Water Mound?”
“Who else can it be other than her? Rumors have it that she’s an absolute beauty. When she was born, she was the same as His Grace—they both have the rare Tianjing Yuan meridian!”
“That’s not all. You need to know that Fairy Water Mound’s Jiang clan is the strongest out of all the divisions! Besides, the Sky-Cloud Empire’s old clan leader and the Jiang clan have deep relations; he always doted on that Big Missy Jiang. When she was young, I think she even spent most of her time in the Sky-Cloud Empire! It’s only these few years that the old clan leader is in seclusion while she’s hard-working in her cultivation that she came here less often.”
“With these conditions, do you think the position of Princess Consort can go to someone else?”
“Since this is so, why must His Grace hold such a huge contest openly? Can’t he directly get engaged with that Big Missy Jiang?”
“Who knows? Anyway, we’re here just to be her accompaniment. Besides, even if we can’t be Princess Consort, isn’t there also the position of second consort? If not, we can still be his mistress! Anyway, we don’t have to worry for the rest of our lives as long as we’re chosen!”
“I heard that His Grace is extremely handsome and that he looks like a fairy. I wonder what he looks like in person…”
Chu Liuyue stroked her chin. Hmm… Princess Consort. Second consort. Mistress? It seems like His Grace is having the time of his life..
