Translator: Flying Lines

Someone knocked at the door and there came Yanzi’s voice, “Your Highness, are you up? I bring you dinner.”

Just as her words faded away, she opened the door and walked in, holding a tray. On it were some dishes. And the smell of food floated in.

Mu Xiyue wheeled Long Yinfeng to the table. She looked down at the cuisines on the table and then up at Yanzi. She couldn’t help praising her, “Yanzi, you cook greatly! Everything you made is awesome!”

Yanzi courtesies and replied, “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Mu Xiyue waved her hand and frowned. She explained, “Don’t always courtesy to me. I don’t care for too many rules. We’re equal and we should respect each other.”

Yanzi looked at Long Yinfeng and the latter replied nothing. He was enjoying the dishes. Well, she guessed that was a tacit permission. She then replied happily, “I see, Your Highness.”

She felt a crude ecstasy. She liked Mu Xiyue. And she found Mu Xiyue quite different from what she was in the rumors.

Mu Xiyue took up her chopsticks and enjoyed her dinner in a terrible hurry. Long Yinfeng put down his bowl and filled her cup with some hot tea. He said, “Slow down. Don’t get yourself choked.”

Yanzi looked at them. She thought, “With Miss Mu here, Prince Yinfeng will no longer be lonely. And our palace will be lively, too.”

After they both finished the dinner, Yanzi cleared up the table. Before she left, she said to Mu Xiyue, “Your Highness, I’m afraid you have to get up early tomorrow morning. We have to pay greetings to the empress.”

“The empress?” asked Mu Xiyue.

Oh, she remembered. The empress was a middle-aged woman in her thirties. She always forced a serious look to make herself aloof. What was worse, she disliked Mu Xiyue most as if she owed her millions.

If Mu Xiyue met such a woman on the street, she would totally ignore her and leave right way. But tomorrow, she had to go and meet her! Seriously?

She looked at Long Yinfeng and asked, “Can I not go?”

When she was still Princess De, she also went to the imperial palace and met the empress. However, every time the empress scolded her as if she were an enemy.

Honestly, she wasn’t scared of the empress. She just hated the court intrigue and didn’t want to join that.

Long Yinfeng held her hand and replied gently, “If you don’t like to go, just stay.”

Before Mu Xiyue celebrated it, Yanzi said, “But Senior Maid Xu, who worked for the empress, came here three times today. If we don’t go tomorrow, I’m afraid there’ll be trouble.”

Mu Xiyue heaved an exaggerated sigh and sat by the bed, “Well, I can get away from it.”

Long Yinfeng glanced at Yanzi while the latter left and closed the door.

He then comforted Mu Xiyue, “I’ll go with you tomorrow. So, you don’t need to worry if she’ll embarrass you.”

“All right, then.” Mu Xiyue nodded and then she found Yanzi gone. She stood up and yelled, “Oh, no. I forgot to ask Yanzi clear up a room for me. I’m going to find her.”

Unexpectedly, before she walked out of the sleeping chamber, there came Long Yinfeng’s voice from behind, “You can’t find her.”

“But why?” Mu Xiyue turned around and asked.

Long Yinfeng replied, keeping a straight face, “She has left the palace and she won’t come back until tomorrow morning.”

“Left the palace?” asked Mu Xiyue in great surprise, “But she just left a few seconds ago. I don’t think she has gone out so fast.”

Then, she opened the door and ran out. Long Yinfeng, left alone, sat quietly in his wheelchair and gave a deep look.

A few moments later, Mu Xiyue returned, her head lowering. Well, she sought the whole palace for Yanzi, but still failed.

“Come on. How fast she is!” thought she.

She looked at Long Yinfeng. He had lain in bed. Mu Xiyue hesitated and thought, “Am I going to sleep with him again?”

Long Yinfeng had his eyes closed. Looked like he was sleeping. Well, it was getting late. Mu Xiyue blew out the candles and went to bed in the darkness.

She didn’t take off her dress. She pulled the quilt carefully and covered herself. Maybe because she had too much sleep in the day made her sleepless again. Or it was because she wasn’t used to having a man beside her.

It was still dark when she heard the knock at the door. She woke up immediately and sat up.

It was Yanzi, who walked in with a basin of water. “Your Highness, I come to dress you up.”

Mu Xiyue got off the bed and pulled her crumpled dress. Then she washed her face and sat in front of the bronze mirror.

Just then, Long Yinfeng woke up, too. After he put on a dark robe, Mo Heng came in and carried him into the wheelchair.

After the sleepless night, Mu Xiyue felt quite sleepy. She gazed at the bronze mirror with empty eyes and dozed off.

“Your Highness, did you have a bad sleep last night?” asked Yanzi when she noticed that.

Long Yinfeng looked at Mu Xiyue and his eyes narrowed.

Mu Xiyue yawned and replied perfunctorily, “Not really.”

She thought to herself, “Not bad sleep, all right? I didn’t sleep at all!”

Quickly, Yanzi made a towering bun on Mu Xiyue’s head with a gilding flower hairpin, which made her a fairy.

Mu Xiyue looked at herself in the mirror. She looked young, but was married already.

And in the mirror, she saw Long Yinfeng, too. To tell the truth, Long Yinfeng and his father were very like. They looked manly, strong and steadfast. What was more, he had a perfect figure. What a pity that he couldn’t stand up or walk!

At the crack of dawn, the couple left Chaoyang Place, followed by Yanzi and Mo Heng. Mu Xiyue wheeled her new husband, heading for Fengqi Palace where the empress lived.

Imperials and eunuchs seized them up with curious eyes. There was also some little buzz of conversation going on.

When they passed the Imperial Garden, some maids were talking about them. Mu Xiyue stopped behind a rockery and listened carefully.

“The eldest princes used to be a brave general. I’m surprised that he married an abandoned woman! What a pity!”

“Not really! He’s a cripple and has no future. It doesn’t matter who he marries.”

“How lucky the woman is! She married Prince De and then the eldest prince. I heard she hung out with guys when she was little. Prince De was so angry that he divorced her.”

“I heard she stayed out the whole night before Prince De asked for the divorce. And she was improperly dressed when she was taken to the palace. Prince De must have caught her cheating on him.”

Clearly, Mu Xiyue knew they were talking about her!

One imperial maid sneered, “He’s a cripple and she’s an abandoned woman. What a perfect match they make!”

Another maid made a gesture, asking them to be quiet. She looked carefully around and said in a lower voice, “Stop gossiping. If masters hear us, we’ll be severely punished.”