Ji Yuqing smiled and turned around on the spot. The hem of her red skirt drew a circle, as dazzling as a blooming peony in the winter.
Ji Yuqing said: "This is the new dress I just made yesterday. Do you think I look good in red?"
Yesterday was Ji Lingxue's unlucky day. She smashed the shop of her uncle and was punished by the emperor by kneeling at the Meridian Gate. Even the prince could not protect her from standing at the Meridian Gate to supervise Ji Lingxue's punishment.
Ji Lingxue smiled and said, "Sister, have you forgotten that you are only a concubine? Bright red is not suitable for you to wear. It's okay for you to wear it in the palace, but if someone sees you, they will think you have wanted to be the main concubine for a long time."
Ji Yuqing's face darkened. Ji Lingxue's words clearly had a hidden meaning. "Sister, how can you say that to me? I married the prince because I truly love him and am willing to stay by his side. I don't care about status or not."
Ji Yuqing spoke sincerely, blinking her eyes with tears in them, her face showing great grievance.
Ji Lingxue smiled, "Sister, what's wrong? Is your eye not good? I'll ask the doctor to check you out later. Your eyes tear up when the cold wind blows. That's a disease!"
Ji Lingxue: You are really good at pretending. The prince is not here today, who are you putting on this show for
Ji Yuqing raised her hand to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes and smiled, "Thank you for your concern, sister. I'm fine."
Ji Lingxue turned around and was about to leave, but Ji Yuqing stopped her and said, "Sister, don't you want to know about your life experience?" He had been thinking about it for so long and didn't come to see her. Was it because he had too many things to do and forgot
Ji Lingxue paused, and suddenly remembered Ji Yuqing's threat to her that day. Although she didn't know whether what Ji Yuqing had in her hand was true or false, she might not buy into the idea of using this to create a rift between her and Xiao Yichen or to make Xiao Yichen hate her.
"Sister, you know my background. I am the niece of the empress dowager, the eldest daughter of the Ji family, and your elder sister." After saying that, Ji Lingxue turned and left, no longer paying attention to Ji Yuqing.
Ji Yuqing stamped her feet and muttered to Ji Lingxue's back, "Since you don't care about these things, then just wait to be disliked by the prince!"
In this era, what matters is matching the family background. The reason why Xiao Yichen married Ji Lingxue was simply because of the influence of her family. If this woman was an illegitimate daughter with an unknown father, a shame to the Ji family, would Xiao Yichen still want her
Ji Lingxue brought Mo Xiang to the house of the cook Liu. Looking at the broken mud and thatched houses and the children playing in the yard, Ji Lingxue couldn't help but sigh. She was really worried that if the wind was strong, the grass on the roof would be blown away.
"Two beautiful sisters, who are you looking for?" A boy about seven or eight years old, wearing tattered clothes, came forward and asked. Perhaps because Ji Lingxue and Mo Xiang's bright and beautiful clothes did not fit in here, the boy asked cautiously.
Ji Lingxue smiled and said, "We are here to look for your mother. Is she here?"
The boy nodded, turned around and told his younger brothers and sisters behind him to stop making noise, and like a little adult, he invited Ji Lingxue and Mo Xiang into the house.
Ji Lingxue turned to Mo Xiang and said, "Mo Xiang, take the children to the carriage to get cakes."
Mo Xiang nodded and immediately asked the children to leave. Only the eight-year-old boy was left, looking at Ji Lingxue strangely. Their family was too poor, so poor that they didn't even have any relatives, and there were seldom guests at home. The sister in front of him looked very kind, so who was she
"Da Hu, who's outside?" The cook's voice came from the room, followed by a cough.
"Mom, there are guests at home." Dahu quickly walked into the house and helped the cook Liu out. When the cook saw Ji Lingxue coming to visit her, her eyes were full of emotion.
Cook Liu: "Girl, you are here. Look at me... Come in and sit down..."
Ji Lingxue waved her hand, "It's okay, where's your husband?"
Cook Liu said, "I'm going to buy some vegetables!"
The four children holding the cakes ran back and handed the gift boxes to Mrs. Liu, the chef, as if offering a treasure. "Look, mother, this beautiful sister gave it to us."
Cook Liu bowed to Ji Lingxue and said, "Thank you, young lady."
Ji Lingxue hurriedly supported her. At this moment, there was a shout at the gate of the yard, and a lame man carrying a basket of vegetables walked in. It was Liu the cook's husband. When he saw Ji Lingxue, his expression was a little stunned, "Miss, who are you..."
Cook Liu said hurriedly, "This is the owner of the restaurant where I worked before. He is very nice. He often asked me to bring back extra food from the restaurant. He even brought gifts to see us today."
Liu Quezi hurriedly invited Ji Lingxue to come in and sit down. He wiped the broken table and four broken stools again and again with his sleeves.
Mo Xiang came in holding a wooden box, handed it to Cook Liu and said, "This is a little gift from my master."
Cook Liu's hands were bandaged and it was inconvenient for her to accept it, but she refused to accept it.
Ji Lingxue said: "Your hand was injured because of me. This is just a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it."
Cook Liu wiped her tears as she thanked him and sighed at her hands.
Ji Lingxue said: "Just take good care of yourself and don't think too much. When the restaurant reopens, you will have to help in the kitchen."
Upon hearing this, Chef Liu's eyes lit up. She knew that she couldn't find a good job because of her injured hand, and being a kitchen helper was not bad either, so she readily agreed.
After Ji Lingxue left, Liu Quezi opened the wooden box and saw a long-bearded ginseng on it, and five ingots of one hundred taels of silver neatly placed underneath the box.
This was a huge fortune for the impoverished Liu family. After closing the box, Liu Guizi asked Liu the Cook, "Who is this girl? She looks either rich or noble."
Cook Liu shook her head. Xiao Si and the others didn't know Ji Lingxue's identity either. They only said that the girl was very rich and must be a daughter of a wealthy family.
Ji Lingxue's carriage drove onto the street. Mo Xiang lifted the curtain and looked out. She suddenly exclaimed, "Princess, why did Chi Feng go into the teahouse? Could it be that the prince is investigating a case in the teahouse?"
Ji Lingxue looked in the direction where Mo Xiang had lifted the curtain. Chi Feng walked into the teahouse with a man in a green robe in a graceful manner. She had seen this man in the palace before. Thinking of this, Ji Lingxue said, "Let's go to the teahouse and have a seat."
In a private room on the second floor of the teahouse, the faint scent of tea filled the room. Xiao Yichen, dressed in a purple robe, sat leaning against the window, glancing at the crowd passing by on the street.
Chi Feng opened the door and came in, taking a deep breath and saying, "This tea is really fragrant. When did this teahouse have such high-quality tea?"
Xiao Yichen turned around and said, "This is the imperial tribute white tea that I brought from the palace. The tea outside is much worse."
Chi Feng rubbed his hands and sat down opposite Xiao Yichen. Just as he was about to pour tea, he found his hands were empty and the teacup was already in Xiao Yichen's hand.
Xiao Yichen smiled and said, "Don't rush to drink tea, go out and ask my princess to come up first."
Chi Feng asked: "Prince, the princess went out early in the morning. How did you know she would come back?" This is not the way to communicate with each other.
Xiao Yichen raised his hand and pointed at the window and said, "I just saw her getting off the carriage. I think she saw you."
Chi Feng gave a thumbs up, and could only admire Xiao Yichen's sharp reasoning.
Chi Feng went downstairs and saw Ji Lingxue and Mo Xiang who had just entered the teahouse. As there were many people in the teahouse, Ji Lingxue did not see Chi Feng. Her eyes fell on the man in green robe on the podium in the middle of the teahouse. The man looked a little uneasy, and from time to time he looked towards a private room on the second floor.
The storyteller coughed, and was about to start his story under the urging of the tea drinkers. He glanced at Ji Lingxue who had just walked in. He was stunned for a moment, then regained his composure and said, "Dear fellow villagers, today we will tell the story that we didn't finish yesterday..."
The tea drinker started to make a noise, "Hurry up and tell me, I've been waiting for a whole day and I'm dying of curiosity. Who is the biological father of Princess Chen? He can't be a spy from the enemy country or a gangster, hahahaha..."
"Yesterday I saw Deqing Building smashed to pieces on the street. I wondered who was so barbaric and violent. It turned out to be the Princess of Chen. Haha, the Princess of Chen is just an illegitimate daughter with an unknown father, but she is loved so much by the Prince of Chen."
Mo Xiang's face turned dark as she listened to the chattering. In her heart, Ji Lingxue was the best master. She was kind-hearted but was poisoned by others. Now she was ridiculed and talked about by a group of people. Mo Xiang, who was determined to protect her master, was about to say something but was stopped by Ji Lingxue.
Ji Lingxue shook her head and pulled her to the private room on the second floor. At this moment, someone exclaimed, "Hey, isn't that the protagonist of the story, Princess Chen?"
One word stirred up a thousand waves. The tea drinkers turned their heads to look in the direction of Ji Lingxue. Some were excited to see a good show, some were watching coldly, and some were silent.
Mo Xiang stepped forward and protected Ji Lingxue behind him, like an old hen protecting her chicks. Her sharp eyes seemed to say, "If you have anything to say, come at me. Don't even think about hurting my princess.
The tea drinkers who were watching the fun started to make a fuss and asked Ji Lingxue directly who her biological father was. How could a bastard with an unknown father be worthy of becoming the princess of Prince Chen and confusing the noble royal bloodline? Prince Chen should divorce her and marry a woman of real status that matched her.
"Shut up, you are disrespecting the royal family!" Mo Xiang said angrily, but her voice was too small and was quickly drowned out by waves of questioning.
An egg flew out from somewhere and hit Ji Lingxue on the forehead.
"Master, be careful!" Mo Xiang opened his arms, trying to make way for Ji Lingxue so that she could leave quickly.
Ji Lingxue dodged an egg by turning her body to the side, but the next egg exploded on her cheek, and the egg white and yolk slid down her cheek. She didn't know who was laughing, and the laughter became louder and louder.
Ji Lingxue pursed her lips, looked around with cold eyes, and raised her hand to remove the broken egg shells stuck to her scalp.
She remembered today's shame!
Chi Feng was stunned when he was halfway there. He slapped his head in annoyance and quickened his pace to rush to the rescue. The princess had suffered such a great injustice, and the prince must be heartbroken and anxious to see it.
Suddenly, a figure flashed in the air, and An Ge appeared in front of Ji Lingxue and glanced coldly at the people who were making a fuss. Perhaps it was because his aura was too cold, the teahouse suddenly became quiet.
An Ge said, "What are you doing? Throwing eggs at Princess Chen and laughing at her? What did she do to deserve you to treat her like this? You only know that Princess Chen smashed Deqing Tower, but do you know the reason behind it? You only listened to the storyteller's words and concluded that Princess Chen didn't know that she was Ji Baichuan's daughter. Where is the evidence?"
(End of this chapter)