The next day, the news of the return of the long lost descendant of the King spread throughout the whole country. To be precise, it is the King"s great grandniece, Princess Lin Xulian. The citizens have mixed emotions. Some are excited and wanted to meet the princess. Some are wondering why a princess came instead of a prince that could possibly inherit the throne. Everybody knows that the King is already old, although he remained as the strongest man in the country.
In the first floor of a teahouse, a group of women are enthusiastically gossiping about the newly arrived princess. They were the ones who invited Gu Rin to hang out previously.
Lady 1: "Do you think it was that woman with Clan Master Gu and young master Gu Rin last night?"
Lady 2: "Probably. That"s the only reasonable excuse why young master Gu Rin will refuse beautiful ladies like us."
Lady 1: "But she is too weak. Even if she is a princess by blood, it is still hard to accept her as someone above us."
Lady 3: "That"s because she was born outside the country. You know the energy outside is not as rich. And also most of the women outside are pampered and doesn"t practice martial arts at all. But the princess is able to enter the country. That only means she could at least use her internal energy."
Lady 4: "And she is also pretty. Do you think her brother is also handsome?"
At this point, the women suddenly get excited and giddy.
Lady 2: "He sure is. But young master Gu Rin is still stronger."
Lady 4: "Then you are not allowed to fawn over the prince once he returns. You can go ahead and chase after young master Gu instead and deal with bugs and worms. We wanted to live in the castle."
Lady 1 & 3: "Yes! That"s true! You can"t compete anymore!"
Lady 2: "W-wait! If the prince would fancy me then that would be a different story!"
The women giggled and continued teasing that one Gu Rin fan.
******On a private room on the second floor of the teahouse, Lin Xulian is closing her eyes while savoring the variety of cakes, pastries and candies served in front of her. In front of her is a pretty woman together with a three-year-old little girl who is also enjoying the snacks. The woman is Hu Hai"s wife Mo Yingli and the kid is their youngest and only daughter Hu Miao.
"Princess, looks like there are already a lot of wolves waiting for the prince once he returns." Mo Yingli said while shaking her head disapprovingly at the women"s direction.
"There are two possible scenarios once he arrives. One, they would become obsessed with him but will still fail. Second, they would be disappointed with his lack of romantic bones. My big brother Huang is a big block of ice. His face is totally wasted." Lin Xulian said nonchalantly. "He is lucky that he managed to convince my sister-in-law to marry him.""So he is already married? Then those women had no chance from the start. Our country does not favor multiple marriage after all. And I bet with those women"s pride, they wouldn"t want to be a concubine even for the prince. I just hope none of them will become desperate and do something terrible." Mo Yingli said thoughtfully.Lin Xulian agrees to her point. In this country, everyone takes pride with their strength and skills. Even the King was chosen by strength. Fortunately, the Lin clan remained the strongest until the current King"s reign. If not for her blood relation to the King, she would probably be treated like gra.s.s. Here, strength equates ones worth even for women. And those women in the first floor are proud because their strengths are not something to be looked down on.
"Sister Yingli, can I ask you something? I hope you don"t get offended.""Go ahead, princess.""Umm… How old are you?""I"m two years younger than Hai, so I"m thirty-three."Hearing her reply, Lin Xulian almost choked on her tea. She promised herself not to be fooled with the Qiangdu citizen"s age, but eyeing the woman who looked more than ten years younger than her actual age, she still can"t contain her surprise. She then looked at the little girl by Mo Yingli"s side. "Don"t tell me she is actually not a little kid.""Miao-miao is only three. Miao-miao is still a baby." The little girl replied Lin Xulian while showing her three fingers.
Mo Yingli laughed at Lin Xulian"s suspicious gaze towards her daughter. "The formal internal energy cultivation training of the children starts at ten years old. That"s when the aging slows down. Also because the energy in this country, especially near the sacred stone is rich, our strength grows faster than other countries.""Does that mean Hu Hai never witnessed her growth? It is our fault since he was sent to train and help us. She is your first child after all." Lin Xulian said with guilt.
"As the member of the Hu clan, it is his and our honor to a.s.sist your Lin clan. And she is our fourth child but the only girl. And Hai"s effort in raising the other three should be enough.""Fourth?! That many?" Lin Xulian exclaimed in shock while examining Mo Yingli"s beautiful figure. "But I heard from envoy…I mean Master Hu that he has five grandchildren. That"s before Miao-Miao was born."
At this moment, Mo Yingli"s expression became sad. "Hu Hai has an elder brother two years older than him. But he died during the Liu clan"s rebellion two decades ago. He just got married not long before the tragedy leaving his wife pregnant with twin boys. But she too died of child birth coupled with depression. Hai practically raised them.
When he thought that your highness died, he blamed himself. I saw the same sadness he had when his brother died. That is why I am thankful that you are well and alive." Mo Yingli said while grasping Lin Xulian"s hands.
Hearing this, Lin Xulian felt bad and saddened for Hu Hai. She can"t imagine that the carefree guy she knew have a heavy burden just like this. And her matter added unnecessary weight to his mind. "I apologize for what I did. I never thought my decision caused unnecessary burden to Hu Hai and to great granduncle. But I hope you understand that I had no choice at that moment.""You don"t have to apologize, princess. It was all a misunderstanding. Many unexpected things happen during that time. Not just your Gu poison but also the sudden appearance of the Liu clan in your country. The most important thing is you are alive and we are aware who our enemies are." Mo Yingli a.s.sured her.
"This Liu clan sounds formidable. I wonder what is their connection with all of these. I still have to wait for great granduncle to wake up to clarify things." Saying up to this point, Lin Xulian heaved a heavy sigh. "I even caused burden to great granduncle.""You don"t have to blame yourself, Princess. You are the King"s family. No matter how big or small, he would be worried when it comes to you." A man"s voice suddenly interjected in their conversation.
Lin Xulian looked behind her and saw Gu Rin entering the private room. "Young master Gu." She acknowledged in greeting.
"Handsome uncle!" Hu Miao exclaimed then threw herself in Gu Rin"s arms. Gu Rin caught her and gave her a warm smile.
Seeing his blindingly handsome appearance, Lin Xulian looked at Mo Yingli. Mo Yingli coincidentally looked back at her and they simultaneously looked at the first floor of the teahouse. And as expected, the four women from earlier are looking at their direction while giving Gu Rin a pa.s.sionate gaze. Unfortunately, Gu Rin"s attention is all on the adorable little girl in his arms.
"Thank heavens my husband is not as handsome as Gu Rin." Mo Yingli said in relief.
Lin Xulian can only smile in reply but her eyes couldn"t hide her sadness. This scene brought a memory of a certain someone. Back in the place, she can"t count how many times she saw that kind of gaze towards Feng Jun Yi from other women.