Chapter 65 – An Unexpected Encounter In The Most Inconspicuous Tent
Wei Yan followed Wei Yuewu down from the sedan chair. She had a surprised expression on her face too. As they were in the palace, none of the guests said anything but only smiled respectfully and waited for the subsequent arrangement.
“Her Majesty the Empress decrees that the ladies will go to the Imperial Garden to enjoy flowers first.” A seemingly high-ranking eunuch came out. He pointed to the door on the right and announced the order smilingly. Wei Yuewu noticed the three slashes on his sleeve. She understood that this eunuch was a general supervisor, a high position among eunuchs.
“Young ladies will go to the left. There are carriages there. Several young ladies can take one carriage to watch the heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State offer captives outside of the city.”
All the young ladies watching the offering of captives?
Wei Yuewu frowned in secret and looked around. There were at least five or six young ladies around her, and of course there were more behind her.
Since it was the Empress’s arrangement, Wei Yan and Wei Yuewu followed other young ladies to the left. Lady Zhang gave them a few words and went to the right. Then, those from the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang separated their ways.
Wei Yuewu followed the young ladies to the left, where many carriages were parked. Spacious gorgeous carriages and ordinary ones stopped at different sides.
The young ladies boarded the spacious carriages and the maids got on the ordinary carriages in the back. Then the carriages slowly set off. Wei Yuewu looked around and saw that there were a total of six young ladies in the carriage facing one another in pairs. She rolled her watery eyes and remained silent.
“Second Miss Wei, is this your sixth younger sister?” A young lady with a round pretty face asked as she looked at Wei Yuewu curiously.
She couldn’t help but be curious. Wei Yuewu’s bad reputation had been spread and it was widely known that the Sixth Miss Wei had neither talent nor good looks. However, within the short period of time after Wei Yuewu came to the capital, the young ladies of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang were involved in troubles one by one. Moreover, it was rumored that the Sixth Miss Wei was actually very beautiful, and when she grew up in the future, she would be an extremely charming beauty.
Such a huge contrast naturally inspired people’s curiosity. Furthermore, the banquet held that day in the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang was actually just a small-scale private meeting of noble young ladies with only a limited number of guests.
That was why the Madam Dowager wanted to hush up the incident involving Wei Yan and Wei Qiuju. Since there were not many witnesses, what was spread outside was nothing but rumors.
“Yes, this is my sixth sister.” When in public, Wei Yan did not look vicious or selfish at all as she did in private. At this time, she nodded with a smile and turned to Wei Yuewu. “Sixth Younger Sister, these are the Eldest Miss Han from Minister Han’s mansion, the Eldest Miss Wang and the Second Miss Wang from General Ming Yuan’s mansion, and the Fourth Miss Zhao from Marquis Huai Qin’s mansion.”
Wei Yuewu took a look at them. The one who talked to her just now was Han Ruohua, the eldest young lady of Minister Han’s mansion. She looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years old and was quite curious about Wei Yuewu.
Because it was not convenient to curtsy in the carriage, Wei Yuewu only smiled and nodded when Wei Yan was introducing the other young ladies to her.
“If Sixth Miss Wei is said to be homely with her appearance, I would be too embarrassed about my own look and would be ashamed to see anyone.” Han Ruohua looked at Wei Yuewu with a somewhat stunned expression and uttered those compliments. The smile on her round face looked exaggerated, but it gave a sense of sincerity.
However, someone couldn’t wait to mock Wei Yuewu when seeing her. “Sixth Miss Wei, did you get abused there? Why are you so thin?”
Wei Yuewu looked at the provocative look of the Fourth Miss Zhao opposite to her and smiled. She did not argue with her but said indifferently, “My eldest aunt is from the Tu family. How could it be possible for her to do such an improper thing?”
From the Tu family, the original family of Empress Tu? Hearing this identity, no one dared to give a rash comment. As a result, the Fourth Miss Zhao couldn’t let out the words that were on the tip of her tongue. Her face blushed instantly and she was unable to speak one word.
Then the carriage became quiet. Although the young ladies looked curiously at Wei Yuewu, they no longer intentionally provoked her but only chatted casually about some usual things. Time passed quickly as they chatted and laughed.
Shortly after, the carriage came to a stop and someone came to draw the curtains for them.
The maids had already been waiting beside the carriage, and one after another, they helped their mistresses out of the carriage.
It was not until Wei Yuewu got off the carriage that she saw where she was. A surprised expression appeared on her face.
She was on a small hillside that faced the sun. With the warm sun of the winter shining and the wind blocked by the surrounding mountains, this was an excellent place.
There were tents made of curtains, and the tops of the tents were not covered so that sunlight could directly shine in. The curtains were only put up on the sides, giving off a very charming feeling as they fluttered.
More than a dozen of such tents were set up there. Tables and chairs were laid inside each tent, and there were also snacks and fruits. When sitting inside, one could not only see the road at the bottom of the hill but also enjoy the sunshine, drink tea, and chat.
With the warm sun shining and the absence of wind on such a winter day, it didn’t feel very cold. Everyone was delighted, especially those young ladies. As there weren’t any elders watching them, they became high-spirited right away and went in groups of three or five to find a place to chat.
Wei Yuewu didn’t know anyone, so she walked towards a small tent nearby. Because the tent was far from the center and was small and the curtains outside were all hanging down, it didn’t look good at all. All other young ladies walked past it towards the central area. No one else would choose to stay in this small place.
Wei Yan had long since ignored Wei Yuewu. Anyway, the phoenix-patterned hairpin with a nine-branched tail was already given to Wei Yuewu. There was no point of being anxious at this time. Thus, she went towards the tents in the middle with a few young ladies she knew well.
However, Wei Yuewu did not expect to see the Crown Prince and the Third Princess here. She stopped short at the door as soon as she entered the small tent.
“Sixth Miss Wei? What a coincidence! I thought no one would notice this small tent! Eldest Brother, you said that no one would come in.” The Third Princess was surprised for a moment when she saw Wei Yuewu coming in. She then chuckled and uttered those words to the Crown Prince Wen Tianyao on her side.
Wen Tianyao also looked at Wei Yuewu in surprise. A smile appeared on his handsome face. He nodded at Wei Yuewu and said, “Now you are here, Sixth Miss Wei, please have a seat.”
Wei Yuewu was right at the entrance of the tent at this moment, now knowing whether to come in or not. Hearing the Crown Prince’s words, she could only walk in and curtsied to the Crown Prince and the Third Princess. The Crown Prince raised his hand and signaled for Wei Yuewu to sit to the side.
“Sixth Miss Wei is really good at picking. Let me guess. The heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State told you about this place?” The Third Princess blinked her eyes and said to Wei Yuewu with a teasing tone.
Wei Yuewu blinked and replied respectfully, “I’ve made myself a laughing joke before you, Your Highness. I just came to the capital and don’t know any young lady, so I randomly picked a tent on the side. I didn’t expect to meet His Royal Highness and Your Highness here.”
Yan Huaijing told her about this place? What a thing to say! If this was the case, what relations between them would it suggest? Although the two families had agreed the marriage between she and Mo Huajing was void pending on the acknowledgement of her father, they hadn’t officially broken off the engagement yet. If this kind of thing was spread out, her reputation would be damaged.
A trace of coldness flashed in Wei Yuewu’s eyes under her long eyelashes. She did not believe that the Third Princess, who had lived in the palace for so many years, would be so naive as to think that those words could be said casually.
“Sixth Miss Wei, can you play the qin?” The Crown Prince looked at Wei Yuewu and suddenly asked.
Wei Yuewu was stunned for a moment, but then she nodded her head gently at once. “I can play a little.”
As the first daughter of a marquis’s family, of course she knew how to play the qin, or play the go game, write calligraphy and draw. Otherwise, she could really be said to be “untalented”. Since Wei Yuewu was unhappy about the rumor, she must answer so.
“Eldest Brother, are you thinking of…” The Third Princess’s eyes lit up. Suddenly she clapped her hands and chuckled. She looked past Wei Yuewu to a qin at a corner. Not until now did Wei Yuewu find that the temperature inside the tent was much higher than outside. It was because a heating stove was beside the qin stand, which was at the right corner.
Wei Yuewu frowned slightly. It was actually not an elegant thing to play the qin, especially to play outside in such a cold winter.
“Sixth Miss Wei, may I ask you to play a piece of qin music?” Seeing the Crown Prince Wen Tianyao nodding with a smile, the Third Princess smiled. Her eyes lit up and she looked at Wei Yuewu tenderly. She put her question in an especially gentle and courteous manner, which was totally unlike the imperiousness of the Fourth Princess.
No wonder this seemingly gentle and elegant Crown Prince liked to stay with the Third Princess instead of his own younger sister. In this aspect, the Fourth Princess was inferior to the Third Princess.
Of course, all of this originally had nothing to do with Wei Yuewu, but if she was asked to play the qin, she would definitely be involved.
As the request was put forward by the Third Princess and the Crown Prince was looking at her smilingly, she had no reason to reject. Nevertheless, the suggestion made her feel uneasy for some reason.
To play the qin in such a situation was definitely not a casual thing to do. Furthermore, this qin had already been placed here.
This meant that the qin player had already been assigned. Now she blundered in here all of a sudden, if she played the qin without knowing the consequences, she might get herself involved in their matter.
However, in the current situation, she simply had no choice but to agree…
The pair of jade bracelets on her wrist clanked as she gently moved her body and shook a little. Wei Yuewu blinked eyes and made up her mind. She nodded gently. She was a subject of the Crown Prince. It didn’t really matter if she only played the qin. She… couldn’t refuse.
Even though she knew that things weren’t that simple, she had no choice but to agree.
“That’ll be great. If Sixth Miss Wei plays the qin, this banquet will be more pleasing to the eye.” The Third Princess looked very delighted. She looked at Wei Yuewu smilingly and said, “Sixth Miss Wei, please!”
Wei Yuewu nodded and grabbed Jin Ling’s hand with one hand.
For the first time, Jin Ling sensed coldness in Wei Yuewu’s palm. She looked at Wei Yuewu’s placid face and only subconsciously clenched her hands tightly. However, her hand was gradually guided by Wei Yuewu’s hand to the jade bracelets. Her eyes suddenly widened. Yet, the moment she glanced at Wei Yuewu’s clear eyes, she calmed down, but her breathing was still a little short…
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