Chapter 13
Xiao Hua and the Second Prince unconsciously gotten into a battle of staring and it took a moment before Xiao Hua realized she was staring at a prince!
She quickly lowered her head, breaking off the eye contact, which at the same time getting the Second Prince's mind back from whatever he was thinking about.
"Earlier, you say she is your friend. Now you say she is your sister. Long Lian, it's not good to lie."
"I'm not lying. She is my friend and I treat her just like my own sister."
The Second Prince stared at Long Lian as if he was assessing something. "Long Lian had yet to introduce her to me."
"She's my personal maid," an enthralling voice broke into the conversation. The Third Prince walked towards them leisurely and the light from the sunset highlighting his back shadowed him in an angelic manner.
Behind him was the forever loyal Da Liu with his menacing aura fully switched on, which brought Xiao Hua's injured legs to trembling state. So impressive, to able to cause fear with just his aura! Even passerby Xiao Hua got affected!
"Your personal maid? I remember her name is An Jing?"
"Pardon me, Second Prince, but this servant is An Jing," An Jing spoke up and curtsied.
"Then this prince remembers wrongly. An Wan, is it?" The Second Prince always kept track on his royal siblings' inner maids to ensure there would be no surprises in the future.
The Third prince laughed. "No need to keep guessing, Second Imperial Brother. You have not met my new personal servant before."
"New?" The Second Prince's gaze revealed a hint of surprise. "This brother had not expected that you would choose a new maid as your personal maid."
That was a rather bold and dangerous move that no one dared to take. It was common sense to pick a servant that had been by your side for years and proved their trustworthiness before allowing them to be promoted to be high ranked servants. It was no wonder that the indifferent prince would be shocked at what his Third Brother had done.
Long Lian, the ever curious one, decided not to speak up and let her Third brother providing the explanation, plainly because she wanted to hear the explanation too! She was a little irked that her third brother had taken Xiao Hua away from her.
"This younger brother trusts his younger sister's choice."
"It's Long Lian that recommends her?"
Long Lian: Third Brother, since when did I recommend Xiao Hua to you? It was you that steal Xiao Hua away from me! (╬ Ò﹏Ó)
However, her third brother has a closer relationship with Long Lian compared to her second brother who had a different mother, so Long Lian did not reveal what had actually happened.
With a smile, Long Lian explained. "Long Lian treats Xiao Hua as if she's my real sister, so of course Long Lian wants Xiao Hua to be treated well."
The Xiao Hua that the princess wanted to be treated well wanted to tell the princess not waste her effort. Because now Xiao Hua was heading straight to the path of destruction the moment she was forced to stay at the third prince's side.
"To be praised by the younger sister, this maid must be very capable. The Second Brother hopes that Long Lian could introduce a good maid for me as well."
Capable? When had Long Lian said that I was capable? Xiao Hua started to worry more about her future duties as the third prince's personal maid.
"But Second Brother, had you not found a good maid?" Long Lian eyes flashed with evil intent.
"I had?" The second prince, the poor fool, looked at Long Lian with indifference while inwardly tried to remember when had he found a good maid.
"I'm speaking of that red clothed lady that's traveling with you. What a pretty and talented maid you have, to able to cook the meat to your taste. The second brother has such good luck, to find a great treasure in the midst of dirt."
This time, the second prince no longer portrays the indifference expression when someone dared to blatantly insult his beloved!
"She is not my maid, but your sister-in-law!" The Second Prince lashed out and Xiao Hua trembled as the cold wind appeared out of nowhere. Long Lian shivered from the cold, knowing that she had truly angered her second brother this time but she decided to carry on since she was in trouble already anyway!
Long Lian was not clear why she would resent that girl, but there was something about her just makes her feel dangerous. It would not be good to have such a person beside her second brother!
"What sister-in-law? You will never be able to marry a commoner girl like her! Did you forget you are already engaged to the granddaughter of the Grand tutor?"
"Miss Ping Shui? I had never planned to marry her!" The Second prince said coldly.
"Be careful Second Imperial Brother," The third prince decided to add few cents in. "This engagement was decided by Father Emperor and Mother Empress."
In other words, 'are you planning to defy the emperor's decision?' Doing so could be viewed as a rebellion.
"This prince do not mind letting Miss Ping Shui as a concubine, for the marriage was set to appease the Grand Tutor. But my Princess Consort must be Chu Chu and no other."
Long Lian looked as if she wanted to argue, but the third prince stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder.
"If Second Imperial Brother is this determined, then there is nothing to talk about. The day is getting late, its' best if we retire early for us to start our journey tomorrow earlier."
The second prince did not say a word and walked away, and the surrounding was no longer cold as the wind died out.
"Third brother-"
"Long Lian, you should not be disrespectful to your Second Imperial Brother. He is your elder after all."
"...Yes, Long Lian is wrong."
"As for Second Imperial Brother's decision in marrying his savior, he will have to personally convince Father Emperor."
"Hmph! Father Emperor would not let him marry that commoner!" Long Lian exclaimed confidently.
"Long Lian, commoners are the one that brings wealth and resources to our country. Without them, there is no country." After saying those words with the absence of his laid back smile, the third prince walked away with Da Liu. Long Lian was left behind with a face that was about to cry as she bites down her lower lip that slowly turning a deeper shade of red.
This Long Lian in front of Xiao Hua was different than the Long Lian that Le XiaoTing had read from the novel. This Long Lian was still naive and ignorant of many things.
Remembering the novel Long Lian that was forced to grow up in Munzhu Country, Xiao Hua silently vowed to protect the current Long Lian from that perverted Munzhu King! It was truly good that they had left Munzhu before anything bad happened to Long Lian!
The novel Long Lian had a terrible experience under the hands of the sick in the head perverted king!
Hopefully, nothing will happen this time around. (〃＞＿＜;〃)
Staring at the upset princess, Xiao Hua knows she needs to comfort her, but she was not good at comforting people!
"Ah Lian..." 'Are you alright' sounds stupid. "Let's go to sleep?"
Long Lian turned her head, planning to scold Xiao Hua for not giving her space, but the smaller sized girl was smiling kindly, with no scorn or criticism could be seen on her face.
The irritation bleeds away. "...Hmm."
An Jing leads them towards their tent, passing by busy soldiers that were arranging their patrolling schedule. The tent they were going to stay for a night was totally different from the tent Le XiaoTing had stayed in the past. It was like comparing A grade with a C grade!
The floor was covered with large-sized furry animal skin to prevent people from tripping when stepping on the uneven ground. There were two tiny beds with comfortable covers behind the large screen divider with pretty butterfly drawings painted on them. There was even a wooden roundtable with three stools near the tent entrance!
How on earth had the two carriages able to carry this much stuff?! (⊙_⊙)
"Master has spatial dimensional storage to store them," An Jing explained after seeing Xiao Hua's bewildered face.
Oh yes! Xiao Hua nearly forgot this novel have these things too! The author had categorized the novel under the wuxia genre. The hero and heroine were superhumans with fighting abilities using Chinese martial arts and cultivation method but there was no existence of immortals, just cultivators with extended lifespans.
"Xiao Hua, I'm going to bath first!" Long Lian quickly darted behind another screen at the small corner of the tent.
"Elder Sister Hua, do you wish for a bath before heading to sleep?" An Jing asked.
"No need." Xiao Hua shakes her head in refusal. She had just bathed not long before and she did not even sweat much during the easy journey. There was no need for the hassle when other people had to haul buckets of water to fill in the tub.
But there was something strange in this situation! "Sister An Jing, do I not need to serve the Third prince?"
"Master said your duty will begin after we arrive back to the palace. Tian Zi and Tian Chi will serve master until then."
Just thinking of serving the Third prince brings her headache to life. Will she need to help him dress and bath just like in those Chinese dramas?
But...Why did she secretly anticipate that? Imagining a beautiful man like the third prince striping and bathing... No Xiao Hua! Stop imagining or there will be nosebleed! (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄)