Su Muge suddenly paused and frowned slightly.
Infanta Ceylon, the daughter of King Dingxi, came to celebrate the birthday of a high-ranking official at court, which seemed quite inappropriate.
Outside An Mansion, Infanta Ceylon jumped off the carriage and walked over with a smile.
Minister An and others all stepped forward to salute.
“Your Grace, pay my respects to you.”
“Today is your birthday, Minister An. No need to be over-courteous.”
Seeing Infanta Ceylon, An Ying’er revealed a joyful look on her face. Madam An also asked An Ying’er and others to welcome Infanta Ceylon into the mansion.
“Long time no see. You’re more and more beautiful, Your Grace.” An Ying’er walked to Infanta Ceylon and complimented her with a sincere look.
She was the second truth-born daughter of Minister An’s son. She had spent some time with Infanta Ceylon in her childhood, so the two had a childhood friendship.
“I like your sweet mouth!” Infanta Ceylon accepted An Ying’er’s praise immodestly.
“Are you returning from Gucang prefecture to the capital? Are there many interesting things in Gurang prefecture that we don’t have in the capital?” Su Jingwen also walked in with Infanta Ceylon. Seeing An Ying’er talking happily with Infanta Ceylon, she thought Infanta Ceylon easy-going and interposed them with a smile.
Interrupted by her, Infanta Ceylon kept silent. Seeing her expression, An Ying’er was frightened and annoyed at Su Jingwen’s silly behavior.
Infanta Ceylon had a hot temper since young. When she was angry, she wouldn’t care anything. She couldn’t irritate Infanta Ceylon due to Su Jingwen’s stupidity.
“Don’t be mad, Your Grace. My cousin was ignorant that she had offended you. Please forgive her.”
Seeing An Ying’er and others putting on a terrified look, Su Jingwen had no idea what mistake she had made.
Seeing Su Jingwen standing still, An Ying’er hurriedly pulled her down to kneel and apologize to Infanta Ceylon.
There were plenty of pedestrians on the street. Seeing a Miss of the host family kneeling on the road, they all looked at them curiously.
Infanta Ceylon snorted. “Well, today is your father’s birthday. I won’t be hard on you.”
“Yes, Your Grace, you are really generous.”
An Ying’er and others stood up. Seeing that Infanta Ceylon had no sign of anger, she finally exhaled a sigh of relief.
“Your Grace, this way, please.”
A group of people surrounded Infanta Ceylon and left, leaving Su Jingwen alone standing in embarrassment.
“Just an Infanta! How can she be so arrogant?!”
An Mansion was quite spacious. The banquet was held in the open-air garden inside the mansion. The banquets for men and women were separated by a row of screens.
After Su Muge and Zhao arrived in the garden, they found a quiet place with few people and sat down.
On one hand, Zhao disliked socializing; on the other hand, they couldn’t be too cautious in An Mansion.
Hardly had Su Muge sat down when An Ying’er and others walked in with Infanta Ceylon.
“Miss, it’s, it’s …” Obviously, Yueru had also recognized her.
“Don’t be afraid. There are so many people at the banquet. She may not notice us. Be careful.”
“Yes.”
As soon as Infanta Ceylon came in, she had been surrounded by plenty of people without any notice of the corner where Su Muge was.
“Miss Su, you are here too.”
As Su Muge was watching the flowers in the garden in a daze, she heard a voice behind her. It sounded a little strange, but she felt as if she had heard it before.
Only when she looked back did she smile, “Madam Lin, long time no see.”
After the hunting party, Su Muge had never seen Madam Lin again.
Madam Lin looked much better than before; she had become lively and energetic.
“It seems that you have been much better lately, Madam.”
Only Madam Lin could understand Su Muge’s words.
“Thanks to Miss Su, last time …”
Su Muge asked her to look after Zhao, but she left halfway. Although she didn’t know what happened later, she always felt guilty for not living up to Su Muge’s trust.
“Just let bygones be bygones. Madam, there’s no need to mention it.”
Madam Lin smiled with clear eyes and changed the topic to chat with Zhao.
While they were talking, all the guests had almost arrived, and the maids were leading the guests to their designated seats.
The arrival of Infanta Ceylon seemed to be unexpected for An Mansion, so the maids were busy relocating the guests.
Infanta Ceylon was a distinguished guest, so her seat was quite far away from Su Muge. As a result, Su Muge secretly exhaled a sigh of relief.
She was not afraid of Infanta Ceylon but was unwilling to get into any unnecessary trouble.
“Second Prince is here…”
Hearing this, all the seated guests stood up and knelt down to salute to him.
Separated by the screens, the female guests couldn’t see him.
In a while, Xia Houkun’s voice came from the other side. “Don’t be over-courteous. Get up.”
“Thank you, Your Royal Highness.”
“Lord An, do you mind my visit without an invitation?” Xia Houkun was wearing a blue-and-white embroidered robe today, with a white jade belt around his waist. His long hair was tied up with a purple gold jade crown, making him stand out in an extraordinary manner.
Minister An smiled happily, with his eyes narrowed into a line. “Of course not, Your Royal Highness. It’s my honor to have your attendance. How will I mind?”
“That’s good.”
As soon as Xia Houkun sat down, he asked his men to bring up his congratulatory gift. It was a decent work of calligraphy and painting, which was expensive but not overly eye-catching.
Following Xia Houkun, others also came to present their gifts.
Most things seemed normal but extraordinary.
After the gifts were presented, the banquet began.
The maids entered with dishes.
Knowing that she couldn’t eat much at such a banquet, Su Muge had had a bowl of noodles before coming. At this time, she had no appetite for the served dishes.
A stage had been set up in the women’s banquet. After the maids brought the dishes up, the performers went on stage and began to sing and dance.
Not interested in these things, Su Muge supported her face with her hands while watching the opera lazily.
Just as she was half asleep and awake in the sound of the opera, she opened her eyes and looked to her right. Suddenly, she met the angry eyes of Infanta Ceylon.
Su Muge was stunned first and immediately reacted. A few words suddenly appeared in her mind: she had been discovered.
Infanta Ceylon was within ten steps, and their distance was shortening.
“Here you are! You’ve made me so hard to find you!” Without saying anything, Infanta Ceylon directly took up a flagon on the table and threw it towards Su Muge.
Su Muge squinted and stood up to dodge away.
The movement of Infanta Ceylon was loud enough that everyone looked towards her curiously.
Although An Ying’er disliked Su Muge, it was her father’s birthday banquet after all. If the scene was too awkward, An Mansion would also lose face.
“Your Grace, what’s wrong with you?” An Shuyue, the sister of An Ying’er, found An Ying’er standing still in a daze, so she could only bite the bullet to ask Infanta Ceylon.
Infanta Ceylon took out her horsewhip and pointed at Su Muge coldly.
“Catch her, and you can continue this banquet; otherwise, don’t blame me!”
What an arrogant tone! Even if Madam An hated Su Muge so much, she felt Infanta Ceylon was humiliating An Mansion.
Fortunately, Zhao left with little Wenmo just now; otherwise, it would be more troublesome.
With so many people watching, Madam An wouldn’t stand by. “Your Grace, I wonder how Miss Su made you unhappy.”
Infanta Ceylon sneered. “She hurt me on the street last time, so she must be punished today!”
“Miss Su must have been unintentional. Your Grace, why not forgive her? Miss Su, what are you waiting for? Hurry to kowtow and confess to Your Grace!”
If she kowtowed and confessed to Infanta Ceylon in front of so many people, even if Infanta Ceylon really let her go, Su Muge would be humiliated!
Su Muge kept her countenance as if it had nothing to do with her. “Although my status is inferior and my words are of little effect, I’m the daughter of an official at court after all. It’s really improper to slander me like this, Your Grace”
“Deny? Well, I’ll hit you until you admit it!” Infanta Ceylon raised her horsewhip and threw it towards Su Muge. She was really self-willed!
The movements had already disturbed the male guests. However, knowing that it was Infanta Ceylon, everyone kept sitting still and watching the show.
Hearing Su Muge’s voice, Xia Houkun raised his eyebrows. He believed she must have known his presence.
If she was clever enough, she would drop her attitude and ask him for help, and he would also help her.
However, after a while, Xia Houkun hadn’t received Su Muge’s asking for help but a series of violent sounds from the women’s area. He couldn’t help but stand up.
At this time, Minister An could no longer pretend to be ignorant.
“Madam, what happened?”
Suddenly, Infanta Ceylon started the attack; the guests who were watching the show were all frightened and running around, making the banquet in a mess.
“Hurry up! Go to stop the Infanta!”
Su Muge was dodging the attack from Infanta Ceylon. Because of so many people, it was also difficult for Infanta Ceylon to exercise her moves.
Fortunately, she hadn’t brought the whip with the barb; otherwise, the ladies would be doomed if scratched by her whip.
Seeing the scene increasingly chaotic, Minister An could only push the screen away and come over.
No sooner had he raised his eyes than he saw Infanta Ceylon waving a whip towards him.
Just as the horsewhip was about to fall on Minister An, it was grabbed by a big hand in midair.
Xia Houkun glared at Infanta Ceylon with a sullen face.
“Ceylon! Enough!”
Seeing Xia Houkun, Infanta Ceylon tightened the whip in her hands, but she had no intention to stop.
“Brother, how can you pity such an inferior and ugly woman? You’d better mind your own business. Let me go!”
