There were a lot of people setting off festive lanterns on the riverside and knowing that Little Qiu'er was shy with strangers, Yu Xiang deliberately picked a secluded corner.
The entire river was full with the lotus-like lanterns floating around. Pink lights were swaying along the undulating surface of the river which was beautiful as an imaginary illusion, as though the galaxy had fallen from heaven. Mosquitoes and moths were seen flitting along the lights, gathered above the lanterns with buzzing sounds incited by their wings which attracted schools of whitebaits trudging along which might leap up to the surface for feeding.
The refined people would simply feel that the lanterns, the river, the people, the stars in the sky and the galaxy on earth were beautiful. However, the unrefined people would feel the sight of trapping the fishes was more beautiful than these lanterns candlelights on the river.
Yu Xiang and Little Qiu'er were precisely the only two unrefined people in Xihe garden.
A big carp leaped out of the water and caught a moth before dropping back into the river creating a glittering splash.
Little Qiu'er clapped her hands as she was unable to contain her joy.
Yu Xiang propped up her cheek with one hand, licked her lip and whispered, "This fish must be at least two catties in weight and the meat must be absolutely tasty as it grew in such a clear river. It will be good if it can be prepared into sweet and sour carp." She rubbed her stomach and heaved a long sigh, "I am actually a little hungry."
A foodie would always sympathized with another foodie when Little Qiu'er also promptly nodded her head and chimed in, "I am hungry too!"
Her master had never played so happily for a long time thus the old Momo smilingly cut in, "Two little masters please wait for a moment, Nubi will go get some food over." As two of Yu Xiang's maidservants were here and they were also in the imperial garden, she was utterly at ease leaving her master here while she left. But who would have thought that the moment she just departed, along came a group of malevolence noble girls.
Their leader was about twelve or thirteen and dressed in extreme luxury. The rest was just following about two steps behind and indistinctly led by her. The beautiful girl whom Yu Xiang saw before was also mingled in this crowd with Yu Si Yu.
"Give me the lantern!" The girl immediately rushed towards Little Qiu'er with her hand stretched out when she got closer and her tone of voice was insufferably arrogant.
Little Qiu'er was intimidated and hastily hid behind Yu Xiang while staunchly shaking her head.
Tao Hong and Liu Lu stepped forward to stop but were dragged away by two old pozi who the girl brought along and covered their mouths with handkerchiefs. The whole action was carried through so smoothly that it was rather done proficiently.
"This priceless sacred Nirvana lantern was a tribute from the Tianzhu (India) country to the Great Han Dynasty and the only one in this world. So, are you deserving of it? Give it to me!" She overbearingly took a few steps forward.
Little Qiu'er hastily avoided her and went to the other side of Yu Xiang.
Seeing that Little Qiu'er simply refused to give her the lantern, she was somewhat filled with anger and made a sudden move to snatch it.
Though Yu Xiang was fond of children, she really disliked those unreasonable brats. Hence with her extremely protective nature, she instantly flared up and pushed the girl away before sneeringly said, "You dare to bully my Qiu'er and also secretly capture my maidservants. Do you believe I would splash the lantern oil onto your face?"
"How dare you! Do you know who I am? I'm Qinghe Junzhu[1] and my father is Prince Yu!" After getting pushed, she staggered and hissingly shouted out loud.
"So what if you are a Junzhu? We have won this lantern fair and square that could be regarded as a bestowment from the Empress. What's the idea of you coming over to snatch without even asking and to capture other people's maidservants without a reason in this imperial garden? Is it possible that as a Junzhu, you can surpass the Empress as well as the laws of the Great Han Dynasty?" Yu Xiang took the lantern from Little Qiu'er and extended her hand over the surface of the river as she smiled contemptuously, "I would rather toss it into the river to feed the fishes than giving it to you for nothing. If you are capable, you can come and snatch it."
The lantern was getting closer to the surface of the river that if she was to step forward to snatch it, she would probably have fallen in and instead become the food for the fishes. Qinghe Junzhu couldn't utter a single word. She was shaking with anger that her quivering finger pointed at Yu Xiang. Her father, Prince Yu was the Emperor's younger paternal uncle who was in control of 800 thousands soldiers. He could be regarded as one of the powerful and influential meritorious nobility in the Great Han Dynasty, thus everyone would flatter her no matter where she went. However, this little cripple dared to rebuke and even suppress her today. This was truly absurd!
"Which family are you..." She gritted her teeth and asked.
"You guess." Yu Xiang muffled her light laugh.
Little Qiu'er poked half her head out as she laughed too. She wasn't the least bit afraid anymore with lotus seed cake here.
Qinghe Junzhu fell backwards as she was so furious with the despicable attitude of these two. Just when she was about to fly into a rage, she saw the second Di daughter of Duke Jingguo manor, Chang Ya Fu coming over through the crowd and spoke with a soft voice, "Junzhu, do calm down. This is Marquis Yongle manor's younger sister Yu Xiang. I would like to request Junzhu not bicker with her for my sake.
Without waiting for Qinghe Junzhu's response, she stepped forward and squatted down in front of Yu Xiang while she patiently guided, "Xiang'er, elder sister has a set of white-jade bell phoenix hairpin embedded with a total of thirty six ornaments that was meticulously pieced and handcrafted by the famous craftsman, Fu Xilin who was praised for his superb workmanship. Can this elder sister use that hairpin to swap with you? This lantern is passable now, but the inner surface will be covered with black oil after it is lighted for a long time and will not be as splendorous as it is now. The hairpin would be more practical." She squeezed Yu Xiang's fingers after she finished her words with an absolutely intimate approach.
[1] Jùn zhǔ (郡主) - County Lord / Princes' daughter, imperial relatives' daughter or meritorious official's daughter
If it was the former 'Yu Xiang', she naturally would be willing to swap the not very useful lantern for a set of exquisite ornaments. However, the current Yu Xiang was nevertheless willful and she would rather throw or break her own stuff than allow others to own it. She merely looked at the young girl with a slight smile, "Who are you? Do I know you?"
The young girl's complexion turned ghastly pale with her mouth opened yet unable to respond.
"Yu Xiang, this is the elder sister, Fu'er, who is engaged to our elder brother. You don't even recognize our future elder sister-in-law?" Yu Si Yu marched forward as she explained.
It would have been better if she didn't explain. The young girl's expression became more awkward once the words were out.
Yu Xiang quickly rummaged through 'Yu Xiang' memories where a moment later, she managed to ferret out some information from a corner of her mind. This elder sister Fu'er was the second Di daughter of Duke Jingguo manor and she indeed had a marriage contract with Yu Pin Yan. She had visited Marquis manor twice or thrice in the past years but when the dispute in seizing the peerage title got intensified later, she didn't come anymore. Yu Xiang had never met her, so she naturally would not recognize her. From her recollection, she knew that her grandmother was furious with this granddaughter-in-law who intended to break off the engagement then, that she had fallen sick for more than a month.
As long as her grandmother was unwilling to agree, the title of future elder sister-in-law wouldn't be hers. She could have stood out to defend this younger sister-in-law, yet she waited till the conflict intensified before she came forward to curry favors from both sides. This person was somewhat a schemer and it was not surprising that very year, she had resorted to the game of waiting for the highest bidder.
The impression Yu Xiang had of this young girl hit rock bottom all at once and she sneeringly remarked, "When my thing is being snatched, elder sister Fu'er didn't get me out of predicament yet you are now the mediator. Wanting me to remember your favor by using a set of ordinary jade hairpin to swap my priceless palace lantern, this plan is truly sound but you are taking me as an idiot to be fooled! You are now helping others to swindle the younger sister-in-law's thing, how would you be if you are to marry into the family in the future! You would surely tortured the younger sister-in-law to death! It's the truth though, you are indeed a heartless and faithless person else when my elder brother was in a sort of difficulty, you didn't even help a little but was even thinking of rescinding the relationship. I don't think I can count on you at this moment."
The way Chang Ya Fu handled this was not unworkable, but it was merely more inclined towards Qinghe Junzhu and she didn't even overlook to curry more favors for herself. If it was others, perhaps they would have reluctantly agreed but as it happened, Yu Xiang could endure anything except suffered personal losses. One would have to be prepared for having one's face scratched bloody if one was thinking of snatching her thing.
With her lips pursed, eyes blinking that a great deal of teardrops spilled out when she choked with emotion, "A group of able-bodied including my future sister-in-law and my blood-related elder sister are ganging up to bully the crippled me, isn't this pushing me to death? Fine. Since there is no meaning to living, it will be better to hurl myself into the river to appease all of you!" After she finished the words, she rolled her wheelchair with great difficulty and slowly rumbled towards the river as her whole-being suffused in unspeakable grief.
Tao Hong and Liu Lu anxiously made whining noises but they were still being pressed on the stone table by the two old pozi, unable to move.
Qinghe Junzhu had truly suffered a fright. She was evidently sharp-tongued and overbearing a second ago yet in the next second, she was grieving and weeping. She became completely disheartened that her rapid changes of expression was even faster than flipping a page of the book. What was she thinking of doing? Drowning herself in the imperial garden's river? Everyone would be dragged into trouble!
Just as she intended to stop her with her outstretched hand, another much quicker rapid change of expression appeared. She merely saw the anxious Little Qiu'er unwaveringly pulling Yu Xiang's sleeve while bawling with her mouth wide open as well as simultaneously crying and mournfully shouted, "Elder brother, come here quickly! Someone is bullying Qiu'er and forcing lotus seed cake to death."
"............"
Who is the lotus seed cake that you mentioned... you can't secretly give others nicknames behind their backs! Yu Xiang was actually only playacting but when she heard the grievous sound of Little Qiu'er, she was somewhat unable to pretend anymore. With both eyes still brimming with tears, she gapingly looked at her.
It looked as if the whole of Xihe Garden would be able to hear this resonant voice! She was only thinking of scaring this group of children to make them retreat yet now, it seemed this matter had thoroughly been blown out of proportion. Well, she had better hastily think of how to discredit the others and exonerated herself in front of the Empress! Fortunately her elder brother had saved the Crown Prince and she was a crippled as well as accountable, so she shouldn't be on any losing ground. She was afraid of offending Prince Yu manor which might cause trouble for her elder brother in the future.
She wiped her face as the woeful expression on her face instantly changed between laughing and tearing.
Seeing how insensible these two people who not only didn't offer the festive lantern to her on their own accord but instead stirring up more trouble, Qinghe Junzhu became agitated and threateningly said, "Today is the Empress' birthday, yet one of you dejectedly wailing and the other wanting to drown herself in the river. You are just intentionally creating bad luck for the Empress! Don't you know the proper etiquettes and where are your family upbringing?"
"Stop stirring up more trouble, are you seeking death!" Everyone voiced out to dissuade.
"Yu Xiang, don't implicate the Marquis manor even if you want to die! Come up!" Yu Si Yu was blowing her top up. This temperament of Yu Xiang was truly getting more and more unscrupulous, she was making trouble without even looking at the occasion!
"Why don't you personally ask my Emperor Father and Queen Mother if Little Qiu'er's family upbringing is good or not?" A deep low voice emitted from the back of the crowd. Qinghe Junzhu hastily turned her head to look and terrifyingly startled.
The Crown Prince just stood there with his hands clasped behind his back. Though the corner of his mouth was hitched with a gentle smile, fury flames were churning inside his icy-cold eyes. Behind him, Marquis Yongle walked out with an extremely gloomy expression.
"Elder brother!" Two little girls pathetically cried out with hands reaching out to their elder brothers.
The Crown Prince and Yu Pin Yan each carried their precious younger sisters and left. As if they had just seen a ghost, the group of noble girls hurriedly stood aside to make way for them and helplessly looked at their figures gradually getting further away.
Tao Hong and Liu Lu broke free from the old pozi, lifted their skirts up and chased after them.
"I've been told that the Empress has the intention to select a study companion for the Ninth Princess. You must carefully perform...." These words that her mother told her suddenly appeared in Qinghe Junzhu's mind before they left home. She had snatched the palace lantern of the Ninth Princess. That was the beloved precious Ninth Princess of the three most powerful people in the Great Han Dynasty - the Emperor, the Empress and the Crown Prince! How would this end?
Qinghe Junzhu could only feel extreme fear when she pondered over it.
When Yu Si Yu and Chang Ya Fu turned their heads, they caught sight of the unfathomable expression Old Madam standing at the river embankment that both of their faces turned deathly pale.
"Old Madam, this, this..." The wife of Duke Jingguo who had just mulled over a stomach full of praises for her daughter couldn't even spit out half a word at this moment. Those criticisms that Yu Xiang had just spoken out were truly devastating! What tortured the younger sister-in-law to death before getting married? What was being heartless and faithless as well as unable to count on? Old Madam raised her eyebrows when she heard those words. She would have rushed over if it wasn't for the narrowness of the river embankment which was the hindrance. As she couldn't rush over, the Crown Prince and Marquis Yongle instead arrived a step ahead. Now the situation was getting more serious.
What evil luck had they barged into! Duke Jingguo's wife was feeling both angry and worried.
"That's all. There's nothing interesting." Old Madam sneered as she turned away.