The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus

26

The person laughed, and immediately countless waves of laughter appeared. Some of these voices were pure and simple, some were old and aged, and some were tender and young. It seemed like there were more than a hundred of them.

She took a step back and turned her head around to take a look. Shockingly, there were countless people kneeling on the ground. Their attitude was reverent as they knelt on the floor. Pretending as if she was actually a deity: "The Goddess has arrived, the ceremony shall begin!"

And then afterwards...

Duanyang suddenly shut her eyes. She no longer wished to recall that scene. Her voice was full of resentment: "Ever since this princess went to the Xingshan Temple with my Consort Mother, I've been having nightmares upon return. I don't want to go to such an accursed place again."

Peiyun put away her smile: "Princess, you must be careful with your words! Buddha wishes for us to all be benevolent. A trip to the temple can help remove the dust of your body; It can only help soothe and calm one's heart and mind. How could it possibly cause one to have nightmares?"

In the current age, Buddhism was trending in the palace. No matter the background, status or ranking of the imperial concubines, they all abstained from meat and prayed to Buddha. Every year, they'd spend a big fat sum of money in the temple. Nobody could possibly compare to her piousness. As for this trending practice, it was all her mother Consort Zhao's work.

Everyone else could say whatever they wanted, but as a daughter, she couldn't be as careless.

Duanyang fidgeted as she kneaded the space between her eyebrows: "I understand, I'll get dressed."

"Princess Duanyang, real name is Li Songmin. The daughter of the previous emperor's most favored Imperial Consort Zhao. As a precious daughter, she's extremely spoiled and pampered..." As Miaomiao was in the midst of racking her brain for information on the original plot's storyline, Mu Sheng interrupted her. He mocked her saying: "All the things you're saying are matters any random person would know is it not?"

Miaomiao angrily retorted: "If you're that great, why don't you find something new to say?"

"I sent you out to gather information yet all you brought back was this garbage..." He sized up Miaomiao for a moment, "Are you of any use at all?"

"Enough, Ah Sheng." Mu Yao lightly put down her tea cup as she shot a look of rebuke at her brother, "Miss Ling doesn't have a hidden agenda, stop pushing her around."

Even Mu Yao could see that lately there's been something unusual between these two.

Before, at the very least, they kept up the veneer of appearances but the last few days they have been acting volcanoes on the verge of eruption: Mocking and sneering at each other without any given reason. It was still the more eloquent Ling Miaomiao who took the majority of these small victories. As for Mu Sheng, she had never seen him act like this before... clearly bullying a girl.

He stubbornly brought Miaomiao, who didn't recognize the streets, to the bustling street market, walked around in circles and then threw her by herself into the crowd of people while escaping out of there. Only after a few hours did he return to the street and bring the headless and hapless little one there back.

He had let Ling Miaomiao, the young lady who'd grown up in her bedroom, out to gather information and make enquiries. She was harshly mocked by the buxom and fat madams all afternoon. When she returned, she was even covered in dirt and grime.

Even though she didn't like Ling Miaomiao, she also wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her. Mu Sheng was completely unrepentant as if he had regressed to ten years of age in an instant. He seemed like he couldn't pass through this stumbling block, making her feel a headache.