Chapter 2: The prime minister’s grown-up poisonous daughter!(1)
“Did you all hear? That courtyard’s poisonous Miss wants to go and attend the eldest Miss’s birthday. Who doesn’t know that the event will be attended by many young masters and misses and other bigwigs? By letting the poisonous Miss go, is that not the same as ruining the face of the prime minister’s family?”
Today, within the prime minister’s mansion, there was a lot of hustle and bustle. It was originally supposed to be a cold December day, but there were several red lanterns that added colour to the festivity. This caused An Yan’s small face to be red with happiness as she bent her red lips in a smile, with her two black eyes shining with excitement. She wore clothes that were rather worn, but at least they were clean with no dirt. These clothes appeared rather blanched as if they had been washed too many times.
Her hands were holding two small wooden boxes. The boxes were rather simple in design. The tops were only decorated with painted flowers and carvings of birds. Yet, it was actually a very fine picture and at the side corner, there was actually a small blood coloured stain. If one didn’t look carefully, they might not see it.
An Yan clutched the boxes tighter. The fourteen-year-old girl stood at a corner of the residence with her head lowered. She was listening to all those favoured servant girls in the mansion as they gathered together to talk about something with great interest. She stood there with an indifferent expression and a sneer on her lips, but when she heard the two words, ‘poisonous daughter’, her fingers trembled faintly.
She coughed slightly and came out from the corner. Those servant girls who had been talking turned their heads towards her, alarmed.
When they saw that it was the third young Miss who stood smiling behind them, the bright smile on her face caused them to be apprehensive.
An Yan straightened her worn out clothes and touched the crudely designed hairpin within her inky-black hair. Her smile made her eyes curved, attracting affection. Yet, when clear words were spoken while she had an indifferent expression on her delicate-looking face, they carried thorns. Her words p.r.i.c.ked those servant girls, forcing them to subconsciously retreat a step.
“I, An Yan, am a poisonous daughter. I am also the most beautiful poisonous daughter. I am also the third Miss of the prime minister’s household. How can you servants carelessly discuss me?!”
An Yan’s voice was clear and resonant, suppressing the people in front of them with their might. Though her words contained some hints of self-mockery, but they also had a certain villainous arrogance which caused these girls to be fearful.
No matter what, they had used the word poisonous to address her — poisonous third Miss — whereas she was a young miss of the prime minister’s household.
Those girls looked at each other but didn’t say anything as they fled from An Yan.
An Yan, who was standing tensed at the same place, relaxed her body and exhaled a sigh. She stroked the boxes while she watched the lively atmosphere within a not-so-distant courtyard through a hole in the wall. She saw many dazzling young mistresses and masters who were laughing and enjoying themselves. As she watched, she felt a rare emotion. She was slightly jealous of them!
But soon after, the envy was replaced with a smile as she held tightly onto the wooden boxes and lean against the wall corner.
She thought that if she were to go out in such a manner and rush to give to Jin jiejie1 and Qing jiejie the boxes which she had personally spent 10 days to make, would that… would that be a little too sudden?
She looked down at herself as she asked: it shouldn’t be, right?
She was wearing her best clothes. They were clean and even had flower-embroidered sleeves. The shoes were something she had personally embroidered. Although they were not made from satin, they could still be considered pleasant, right? Thinking till here, An Yan felt the hairpin in her hair. When she turned to look at all the young ladies’ various hair designs, she pouted.
She forcefully suppressed the grievances that were welling up within her heart. Her fingers, which were clutching the boxes tightly, had become white and the blue veins underneath the skin became visible.