Chapter 74 – A Painter With A Special Identity
Behind a screen, the girl leaning on the desk kept her eyes quietly closed to get some rest. Her long eyelashes were like brushes and looked so exquisite. Her nose was pretty and straight. Her skin was as fair and delicate as a porcelain doll. Jin Ling couldn’t help silently exclaiming again that her miss was truly endowed with both intelligence and beauty.
That Wei Yan was nothing compared to her miss. She wondered if Marquis Jing Yuan was blind to want to kill her miss for the sake of Wei Yan.
Although Jin Ling walked with soft steps, Wei Yuewu heard them. She asked gently without opening her eyes, “How is it?”
“Miss, she really went to that room.” Jin Ling replied.
“Take out the hairpin. I’ll use it later.” Wei Yuewu nodded her head and opened her eyes after fluttering her long eyelashes twice. Her eyes were as clear as water.
“Yes, I understand.” Being conscious that her miss knew what to do despite her young age, Jin Ling agreed without any hesitation.
The banquet was about to begin. The heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State, the major figure of the banquet, was said to have arrived. Apart from him, the heir-apparents of the Duke of Lu State, the Duke of Chu State and of the Duke of Qi State would also be present, and of course, so would the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince. Many young ladies dressed up again and again.
They were afraid that they would be outshined.
After finishing dressing themselves up, they went in groups of three and four with other young ladies or their own maids to the banquet.
There were many palace maids lined up at the entrance of this courtyard. When a group of or a single young lady came, a palace maid would lead the way in the front to the banquet area.
Wei Yuewu came out very late. She came out after she had had enough rest. Previously, she was injured in the main vein and involved in a succession of incidents after that, so that she hadn’t been able to get any rest.
The medicine used by the imperial doctor was quite good and her wound was bandaged very neatly. If she did not touch the bandage wrapped around the wound, she would not feel much pain.
Since there was no hurry, she didn’t get up until she had enough rest. She asked Jin Ling to help her wash and tidy up her hair. As for the hairpin that was originally on Wei Yan’s head, it was of course worn on Wei Yuewu’s head.
“Miss, do you want more rest?” asked Jin Ling.
“Let’s go!” Wei Yuewu shook her head.
When they walked out of the room, they discovered that others had already left. They followed a palace maid and went forward.
Actually, this place wasn’t far from where the banquet was to be held. Since most guests were young ladies who weren’t good walkers, a near resting courtyard had been chosen.
No one noticed that at the beginning of the path leading to the banquet, there was a three-story pavilion built in an exquisite and magnificent style. On the second floor of this tall building, there was a painter standing at a desk, looking down now and then at the young ladies attending the banquet.
He was drawing with a brush the faces of those girls who he thought were good-looking.
As for who was the person he was drawing, it was not his concern. He was only responsible for drawing pictures of beauties and guaranteeing the resemblance. Other matters were beyond the range of his consideration.
At this time, his eyes fell on a young lady who just entered the area. He was stunned for a moment. Although the face he saw carried a trace of childishness, it had vaguely distinguishable contours that were once familiar to him. The brush in his hand fell down. He had to press his hands on the table to support his slightly trembling body.
The falling brush splashed the ink and turned over the ink stone on the corner of the desk. Coincidentally, wind blew by, and the ink splashes flew to the painting of a young lady and stained it.
The eunuch at the side was shocked and hurriedly jumped away, but still he caught a few drops of ink.
“Your Highness…”
“I’ll take a rest.” The painter’s long narrow eyes carried some tiredness, but he involuntarily looked down at that somewhat familiar face. Then, he turned around and went inside.
“Yes!” The eunuch did not dare to be slow. After making the answer, he immediately squatted down and began to clean up.
At today’s banquet, male and female guests were not arranged to sit at different tables. After all, there were only a few gentlemen, and since all of them were distinguished, they naturally took the most honored seats in the middle of the area.
On the platform of the most honored seats, there were three tables.
The one at the top was of course for the Crown Prince, Wen Tianyao. As the future ruler of the country, he had the table to himself, a sign of his superior status.
The four vassal states, no matter how powerful they were, showed their submission to the royal family at least on the surface.
Beneath him were two tables, one on each side. At the left table sat Yan Huaijing, the heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State, the protagonist of the captive-offering event and Lu Yeli, the heir-apparent of the Duke of Lu State whom Wei Yuewu had met, and two young men whom Wei Yuewu had never met and who must be the heir-apparents of the Duke of Qi State and the Duke of Chu State.
On the right of the Crown Prince sat the Third Princess and the Fourth Princess, as well as another young man wearing the crown of a prince, who should be the Fourth Prince born to Zhaoyi Tu.
Emperor Tai’an had four adult princes. The Second Prince was a sickly person who usually had to fortify himself with medicine, so he would not attend such a banquet. The Third Prince liked to enjoy the nature and didn’t even stay in his mansion in the capital, and no one knew his whereabouts. Therefore, he wouldn’t appear here.
“Let’s go this way.” Wei Yuewu pointed to an inconspicuous position.
She quietly sat down at a table. There were a few other young ladies here and they were now quietly discussing Yan Huaijing, who was sitting high above.
This heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State was so handsome and carried such a graceful demeanor. Wherever he went, he would bewitch young maidens and win their hearts.
With him sitting there, who would notice the comers or goers at their table?
Of course, this mentality was only limited to most young ladies. When Wei Yuewu saw a young lady gracefully coming over, a trace of icy mockery flashed through her eyes.
Sure enough, someone was waiting for her…
The young lady who was walking over was of course known to Wei Yuewu. That was Li Yue’er, Lady Li’s niece from the Li family. She was the one who had repeatedly spoken in favor of Wei Yan at the family banquet that day.
Anyone could see that this eldest Miss Li was full of hostility towards her at that time. She was wholeheartedly on Wei Yan’s side. Only after Wei Yan was completely defeated in the incident did she stop speaking against Wei Yuewu.
“Sixth Miss Wei, how is my cousin now? Did you go to see her?” Li Yue’er stood in front of Wei Yuewu with a faint smile and asked gracefully.
She and Wei Yan were cousins, so it was normal for her to ask about Wei Yan who had undergone such a serious incident.
As the aftermath of Wei Yan’s incident didn’t fade away yet, her question immediately attracted the attention of the young ladies beside her. Before the latter ones could see clearly, Li Yue’er let out a cry of astonishment and pointed at Wei Yuewu, as if she had discovered something extraordinary.
“Sixth Miss Wei… you… how dare you wear a phoenix-patterned hairpin with a nine-branched tail?”
Her words immediately directed the eyes of all the young ladies who heard her to Wei Yuewu’s head.
Nine represented supremacy. Only imperial consorts or the wives of princes or the crown prince were entitled to wear a phoenix-patterned hairpin with a nine-branched tail. Wei Yuewu was only a young lady from the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang. How dared she wear such a hairpin on her head?
“That… is really a phoenix-patterned hairpin with a nine-branched tail!” Someone pointed at the pearl strings hanging from Wei Yuewu’s hair and uttered those words with certainty.
“This… what does she mean by that?” Someone else covered her mouth with her handkerchief and muttered those words while looking at Wei Yuewu.
“Sixth Miss Wei, how dared you commit such an outrageous offence!” Someone even angrily berated Wei Yuewu.
Wei Yuewu swept her eyes over the young ladies beside her. She then rolled her eyes and said in an elegant and composed manner, “Eldest Miss Li, are you talking about the hairpin that Second Elder Sister gave me?”
She stretched out her hand to take off the hairpin from her head and put it on the table. She had already anticipated this would happen. Her hair was braided very tightly, so it kept as neat as it was before the hairpin was pulled out.
“Sixth Miss Wei, this is your own hairpin. How could you say my cousin gave it to you? Are you trying to make my cousin a scapegoat for this great offence of yours?”
Li Yue’er scolded loudly in a righteous manner.
“This isn’t the first time that my cousin has come to the palace. How could she possibly not know the rules here? Sixth Miss Wei, if you did something wrong, it’s fine to admit it. Why must you get my cousin involved and pass the buck to her?”
Many young ladies present had attended palace banquets before, while only Wei Yuewu was a new comer. Who else would wear a wrong hairpin except her?
Looking at Li Yue’er who was so absorbed in her performance, Wei Yuewu sneered in her heart. Such a grave mistake couldn’t be forgiven by simply admitting one was wrong. Being flogged several strokes would be a mild punishment. And Wei Yuewu believed that Wei Yan was far from intending to make her only suffer several strokes.
Moreover, even if she was not injured after being flogged, since this was the first time that she attended a banquet in the palace, if she got into such trouble, she wouldn’t be able to hold her head up in the capital in the future.
Although Wei Yan didn’t plan to go so far as to directly take her life as Mo Huating had done, she meant to deprive her of a foothold and even had further plans against her.
Indeed the two of them were a couple. Their vicious minds were too alike.
“Eldest Miss Li, how do you know that this hairpin belongs to me?” Wei Yuewu smiled coldly and looked into Li Yue’er’s eyes, her beautiful rosy lips curling with faint mockery.
“Sixth Miss Wei, what you said is very strange. You’re wearing that hairpin on your head. Yet when you found you made a mistake, you said it was my cousin’s. Don’t tell me my cousin deliberately put it on for you.” Li Yue’er raised her eyebrows and retorted aggressively.
They all knew that Wei Yan was resting at the Empress’ palace at this time, so it was impossible that she had come to put the hairpin on for Wei Yuewu.
“Eldest Miss Li, didn’t you see Second Eldest Sister’s maid Shuiyue?” Wei Yuewu still had a cold smile on her face, but her expression was calm.
By now, many young ladies had gathered around here, and the commotion had even attracted the attention of the figures at the most honored seats.
Yan Huaijing had already noticed that Wei Yuewu was sitting in that direction. He took a cup of tea elegantly, had a sip, and put it down. Then, he casually stretched out his hand in his wide-cuff sleeve and pointed in that direction. He smiled and asked the two princesses in a clear gentle voice.
“Your Highnesses, should we send someone to see what is going on over there?”
The Third Princess nodded and the Fourth Princess frowned. However, under such circumstances, they had to send someone to take a look. The Empress did not attend today’s banquet and the Crown Prince was the host. Thus, the two princesses were the leading figures on the part of ladies.
When something happened, they had to look into it.
In just a short while, things had developed into quite a scene on Wei Yuewu’s side…
Wei Yuewu sneered in her heart. Sure enough, Wei Yan must be expecting this scene. Well, what a coincidence. She happened to need such a scene.
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