On the second floor of a popular restaurant in WenFeng, a young man looked at Yao Ling who was excitedly looking around just like a little child. The man had a handsome face with a pointed nose and a prominent jaw. His phoenix eyes were clear, but there was a glint of ruthlessness in it. When it was combined with his current sly smile, everyone could see that he was a dangerous person. He fanned himself and covered his conniving smile, then asked softly to the person beside him, "Do you know that woman?"
The man pointed at Yao Ling who was oblivious to the attention that she got because of her beautiful face. He was interested in the way she behaved so freely and happily without any restraint. She bought a few types of local foods and didn"t hesitantly eat them, unlike n.o.ble ladies who ate with caution --- she was refres.h.i.+ng to his eyes.
"What a glutton," he thought to himself.
The person beside him was the prefect of Wen Feng. The man was a sly old fox which had a clever mouth and loved fawning to his superior --- including the young man beside him. The prefect was around the fifties, probably due to living a good life, he was to the heavy side with a big potbelly. He looked at the woman that the young man interested in and he shook his head. "This subordinate never sees that Young Lady before. She"s probably from another city," The prefect explained.
"Hmmm..." The young man didn"t say much, but he made a gesture to the man behind him, his most trusted servant. The servant had been following his master for a long time, he naturally knew what his master wanted him to do --- investigate the woman"s background.
He sighed, knowing that his master"s sickness once again flared up --- he always loves beautiful girls judging from how many concubines that he had, and yet... he never felt satisfied and kept adding them to his numerous collections. The servant felt a little bit pity to his master"s new target. He wondered which household this Young Miss belonged to. Without the need to be told once again, the servant quickly went out and investigated Yao Ling"s background.
Yao Ling kept walking around excitedly until she felt her sore legs and decided to rest. She looked around and chose a random teahouse to sit down and drink tea. Her feet were killing her!
"Miss, what do you want to order?" Xiao Yu asked.
"Tea and pastries. You can choose them for me," Yao Ling said. Xiao Yu nodded, knowing that Young Mistress wasn"t picky about foods, so she left her on the table alone. Xiu didn"t eat with them, because it wasn"t appropriate. Yao Ling already called him and not to treat them too formally, but the stubborn Xiu kept rejecting her good intention, so she could only give up. He waited outside but didn"t relax his guard. Once in a while, he would look into the restaurant to check on them.
Yao Ling felt a bit sleepy, but then she heard the women behind her talking about the Han Princess and it made her ear perk up, trying to listen to their whole conversation.
"Have you heard about the recent news about Han Princess that"s going to marry into the Qin Kingdom?" A woman talked to her friends in a quite loud voice, judging from her shrieking voice and the way she smugly said her sentence... it seemed like her hobby was gossiping other people.
"Interesting," Yao Ling thought to herself. She wondered what kind of news this woman had.
"Yes... yes... why? Do you have any news about that?"
"I heard the princess a real beauty," she said confidently.
"How do you know? No one ever sees her!" The others looked at her with a look of disbelief.
"My auntie used to work in the palace before she retired and moved here to follow me," the woman explained. She seemed proud that she had a juicy gossip and able to attract her friends" attention. Yao Ling rolled her eyes because she hated this type of people the most and she saw a lot of them back at their village.
"Too bad... the Han Emperor doesn"t love her, so her position in the palace is quite awkward," The woman said in a dramatic tone.
"Really?" The other gasped at what she had revealed. "Why?"
"Yeah... It"s probably because of her mother. She was kidnapped and sent to the Han Emperor as a concubine, after giving birth, the woman ran away!" The woman dramatically said.
"What? Why? Isn"t it a glorious thing?"
"Is that woman crazy?"
"Who would let go such a luxurious life?"
"She"s so cruel for leaving her baby there all alone!"
The other women kept throwing their own opinions which made the main source of the gossip felt proud of herself. She felt lucky that her auntie brought such a piece of great news to be shared and she could become the source of attention in her friend circle, not realizing that she was actually gossipping about the royal family. If someone from the Han Kingdom accidentally heard her, it would end up badly for her. Luckily, they were quite far from the Han Kingdom.
Yao Ling felt like flipping her table. After all, they were talking about Lin Jian"s mother in such an indecent way. She"s another man"s wife and she was kidnapped, so of course, she wouldn"t want to stay there! But she was also confused, why did she leave the baby there and not bringing her along? Something must have happened around that time...
The woman started to talk once again, "Hmm... I"m not too sure about the reason too because no one is allowed to talk about that matter. It"s a taboo thing to say in the palace, so the truth must have been distorted. My auntie didn"t dare to say anything about that matter." She was a bit disappointed in this part. If her aunt was willing to talk, it meant she would have shared bigger news to them.
"After that?" One of the women asked because of her curiosity.
"When the Emperor knew that the concubine ran away, he almost killed the princess on the spot," The woman said.
The other women gasped in surprise. "That bad?" One of them asked.
"Yes. Luckily, someone saved the princess... although her reasoning isn"t really for the princess" wellbeing..." She paused for dramatic effect once again.
"What"s the reason?"
"Keep her alive and let her become their sacrifice for a marriage alliance," The woman said.
Yao Ling could only shake her head. The royal family was indeed ruthless. They had planned Han Xiang"s life from the start and she was condemned to have a lonely life. She really pitied this princess.
"I heard someone said that she has a natural fragrant scent, is it the truth?" One of the women asked once again. When hearing this, Yao Ling"s ears perk up. Ah? The natural scent? Finally, someone talked about this.
"That fragrance is the thing that saved her life!" The woman exclaimed. "Without that amazing scent, what kind of advantage that she has? The Emperor already has a lot of princesses and if she doesn"t have any unique trait, then she isn"t really useful for the Emperor. But it"s really the truth... she has a natural fragrant scent."
Yao Ling became more interested. The truth, huh? She really wanted to sniff Han Xiang and see the magic of her b.u.t.terfly dance to herself. Yao Ling looked around and it seemed like no one paid attention to what the women was gossiping about --- only her. She felt lucky that she was able to hear these information by chance. If she didn"t choose her spot here, she wouldn"t be able to hear clearly. However, she wasn"t really sure whether the woman was only spouting nonsense or it was the truth. She noted these conversations in mind and would share it with Yao Ying and Lin Jian later.
"Hah! I don"t believe you!" One of the women said.
"True... true... What"s the proof?"
The woman was flabbergasted. "Proof? How can I prove it? I never meet the princess before. I"m sure of it because my aunt won"t lie to me!" The woman insisted. How did they want her to prove it?