Baishao also ran her fingers on the embroidered patterns on the fabric. A while ago, the dresses for the feast had been sent over from the palace since a while ago.
After touching the embroidery work, she began to complain the work was not as exquisite as her own.
In a fit of excitement, Lin Mengya casually asked Baiji and made another embroidered dress for her.
She totally did not expect this maid to really rush to make a new one for her.
"It"s not entirely because I have the best embroidery skills, it is mostly because you, my mistress, are appreciative of me."
Baiji replied as her pretty little face blushed.
Lin Mengya looked at Baiji with a smile, as she noticed that her maidservant"s eyes were blood red from any days of working on the embroidery.
"There"s no need to be so modest. Ever since you came to me, all my clothes had been through your skillful hands and they were much more fitting nowadays."
These three maidservants had become her confidante.
Baiji was had delicate hands which worked through all of her jewelry, clothes, and shoes.
Baishao was bold and gradually she was put in charge of Lin Mengya"s personal financial accounts. She was the person dealing with the servants from the other courtyards within the mansion.
Baizhi, although greedy for food, was a faithful servant. She was the one who watched over the preparation of Lin Mengya"s diet.
With these three maidservants, she need not worry about people who were up to no good, coming into Liuxin Courtyard to do anything funny.
"Isn"t that so true? Big sister Baiji is the best. She was the one who made Baishao and me our shoes!"
Baizhi brought a bowl of eight-treasure porridge and set it on the table.
"So what if I"m good at needlework? You are so good with making the almond cookies. Miss, Baizhi is really too greedy. A few days ago, I had just custom made a winter coat for her, but it looked like now she can"t even b.u.t.ton it up."
Baiji patted Baizhi"s head and they all burst out laughing.
Lin Zhongyu, who was standing by the table, practicing calligraphy, was laughing so hard that the ink dripped all over the table.
"How dare all of you laughed at me? I"m going to stop preparing nice food for you!"
Baizhi pouted, pretending to look angry.
Actually, she started off being wary of the two older maidservants.
However, she grew to put her trust in them over time.
"Alright, we won"t laugh at you. Tonight Baishao will be accompanying me to the palace. Do you want to tag along, Xiaoyu?"
To him, it was not a fun thing to go into the palace. Not only did he have to meet the queen, but he would also be meeting up with the Crown Prince.
However, it was necessary for Xiaoyu to be familiar with the social circle of the aristocrats in the capital city. This was going to be an eye-opener for him.
"Of course I"m going along. Those people will be there and I"m afraid they would bully you, my big sister."
Only a few months had pa.s.sed and Xiaoyu"s character seemed to have matured.
The Xiaoyu of the past was likened to a lone wolf. He would snarl at everyone and everything.
However, Lin Mengya realized that recently, this lone wolf had evolved into a valiant tiger which knew when to hide its claws.
He treated everyone courteously and always talked sweetly to her. However, if someone tried to find trouble with him or Lin Mengya, he would strike back.
Just within this past month, Jiang Ruqin had to yield to him a number of times. Lin Zhongyu, on the other hand, was completely unscathed. This lad had indeed grown and improved a great deal.
"Alright, let"s go to the palace together tonight."
Once the evening lights came on, Lin Mengya sat on the horse carriage, together with her maidservants and Xiaoyu, entered the palace.
Because this was going to be a state banquet, both Long Tianhao and Concubine De had entered the palace early.
Behind them were the horse carriages belonging to Marquis Zhennan, in which Lin Mengwu and Shangguan Qin were seated at the moment.
"Master, why do Madam Lin and Second Miss need to attend this event?"
Shangguan Qing had mellowed down quite a lot recently, although Concubine De had chased her out in rage.
She did not really throw her out. The strange thing was that this mother-daughter pair had since holed up at the side courtyard, seemingly plotting something.
"She is the wife of Marquis Zhennan. She has to come since my father is not around."
She snorted. Lin Mengya could sense that this mother-daughter pair had to be up to something no good, wherever they were.
"There"s one thing which I don"t understand. Since the Duke is a top-ranking official, his wife, your mother, should have exclusivity to her status as the mistress. Why... ?"
Lin Mengya smiled and answered, saying,
"Back then, my father received an order to take my mother as his wife. When he was gifted with this marriage arrangement, he had vowed that she was the only wife he would take. For this reason, Shangguan Qing could never take over the status of the mistress to overturn the patent."
In fact, this had been a great humiliation to Shangguan Qing.
This woman did not care but insisted on marrying Lin Mengya"s father.
Her actions were puzzling.
"No wonder the servants in her house always addressed her Madam Lin, instead of the Duke"s wife,"
Lin Mengya nodded. Back then, her father had been so in love with her birth mother.
Shangguan Qing had nothing to boast about.
At this moment, Lin Mengwu, who was seated in Marquis Zhennan"s horse carriage, was staring at her brilliant costume with frustration.
"Mother, what is in the Queen"s mind? I"ve been begging her to give me this white b.u.t.terfly dress for half a year, but she refused to give it to me. Now that we"ll be meeting the Crown Prince, is she that desperate to match-make me?"
Shangguan Qing"s face fell. She did not expect her sister to pretend to compromise on the surface, but make other arrangements behind her back.
After she failed attempt to frame Lin Mengya, had she shift her target and start eyeing on Wu"er?
However, since this was out of her control, she could only go along.
"Rest a.s.sured, Wu"er. Being your mother, I would not allow the comprised marriage arrangement to go through. It"s harmless to wear this dress for now."
Shangguan Qing looked at her beautiful daughter and suddenly there was an urge in her to bring her daughter home at that moment.
Her Wu"er was as beautiful as a flower and how could they simply send her to the barren western foreign land to suffer?
After entering Xuanwu gates, all the guest had to get down from their horse carriages to walk into the palace.
However, as the prestigious princess, Lin Mengya had the special treatment of having a small sedan waiting to take her into the palace.
"This way Princess Yu..."
The eunuchs cried out as Lin Mengya bent down to enter the sedan, which carried by two eunuchs all the way into the palace.
Although the Emperor had not recovered from his illness, there were lanterns and ribbons hanging all over the palace.
The wives of n.o.bleman and government officials were brought to the side halls to wait there. Lin Mengya did not attract much attention when she just entered.
Her name as Princess Yu was linked to that silly Miss Lin after all.
No one would imagine that this elegant, stunning lady was that legendary Princess Yu.
"Have you heard that Prince Yu was going to bring that silly woman here?"
Lin Mengya, together with Baishao found a corner and sat down.
In fact, she had sat down at a rather prominent place. There were a few of the Emperor"s concubines, all made up, sitting nearby.
She did not like to attract any attention. However, just when she sat down, she heard people talking about the rumors concerning her.
"What a pity that the gentlemanly Prince Yu was made to marry an idiot."
A random wife or daughter of some official started a quiet conversation to talk about Prince Yu.
Lin Mengya listened to their chatting quietly and smiled.
It was not time now. When she formally introduced herself later, she was sure these people would be very surprised.
At that moment, these people would be so shocked that they probably would not be able to close their mouth.
"I heard that Marquis Zhennan had exchanged his military success for her daughter becoming Prince"s Yu"s wife. It"s so good to have a father who achieved military success. If I"m the Marquis Zhennan"s daughter, I"m sure I"ll be the wife of the crown prince now!"
The ladies really enjoyed much gossiping.
Lin Mengya stopped Baishao, who wanted to go over to teach those ladies a lesson. She simply smiled mysteriously and lowered her head to take a sip of tea.
She was enjoying the gossips of the ladies when she saw Lin Mengwu appeared before her eyes.
She believed Shangguan Qing must have been summoned by the queen, which was why Lin Mengwu was left to come to the side hall alone to take a rest.
When she entered the hall, she realized that it was crowded with people. However, she quickly spotted a row of clean seats and without any hesitation, she sat down on one of the seats, which was rightfully Lin Mengya"s.
In an instant, all the ladies in the room cast her a strange look.
"I"m sorry, miss, but this is Princess Yu"s seat. Your seat is over there..."
The eunuch in charge walked up to her immediately and politely directed her to her seat.
Lin Mengwu was already in a foul mood. She stared at the eunuch and refuse to be reasonable.
"I just want to sit on this Princess Yu"s seat. She doesn"t even dare to say anything to me, why should you?"
These words of rebuke caused the eunuch to change his expression.
He thought to himself that these ladies were all the wives and daughters of high-ranking officials. Perhaps one of them would be the wife of his master. He thought better not to stir up trouble.
However, just as he tried to excuse himself, the sounding maidservants gave him a severe look.
"Who does she think she is, that she"s fit to sit with us?"
These few ladies were born into aristocratic families.
Despite the fact that some among them were concubines, they were still of certain high status.
Although Lin Mengwu was dressed exceptionally elegantly, she was not the Prince"s wife. She had sat on that seat out of her own willfulness.
"What did you say? I dare you to say that again!"
Lin Mengwu actually did not have a powerful enough backing for her to do as she pleased. She had refused to give up the seat just because she was too angry and it was only Lin Mengya"s seat anyway.
In her house, she was so used to being arrogant and willful. However, who would give her that level of respect when everyone else here was of much higher n.o.ble status?
"We are indeed talking about you. Just look at you, aren"t you also in love with Prince Yu? Sadly Prince Yu only had eyes on his idiotic wife. You, ... can"t even be compared to an idiot."
A lady in a red court dress, among the rest of the women, commented offensively.
Instantly, a flame of burning jealousy in Lin Mengya"s heart was kindled.
"I"ll teach you a lesson today to let you know what you should say and what you should not!"
Lin Mengwu was burning with rage as she lunged toward that lady with clawed hands.
However, this lady was not as easy and harmless as she thought. With a bit of strength, she pushed and shoved Ling Mengwu and she landed on the floor with an embarra.s.sing posture.
Now, her dress was torn and her hair was completely messed up, even the jewelry she wearing was scattered on the floor.
Lin Mengya, who was hiding in the crown could not smother the big smile on her face.
This was much more fun than she had imagined!