Lin Xulian shake her head to dismiss the thought of Feng Jun Yi. "This is not the time to reminisce and think about pointless things. His admirers have nothing to do with me anymore. And definitely never again. I have other important things to take care of." She thought.
"What brought you here young master Gu?" Lin Xulian asked Gu Rin. Knowing him in a short period of time, he wouldn"t seek her without any purpose.
Gu Rin placed Hu Miao back to her seat and respectfully relayed a message to Lin Xulian. "The King is awake. He asked me to fetch your highness for a meeting with the clan heads."
Hearing this, Lin Xulian stood and smooth her red female robes with silver silk thread embroidery of flying cranes. She then straightened her red muslin coat and prepared to leave the teahouse. Mo Yingli on the other hand wiped her daughter"s face and neaten her overall appearance.
Lin Xulian exited their private room first while Gu Rin and Mo Yingli, while holding her daughter"s hand, followed behind at her either side. This sight caught the attention of everyone in the teahouse. Especially because Gu Rin and Mo Yingli are both famous in the capital and even in the country. One is the young master and future head of the Gu clan, while the other is the wife of the young master of the Hu clan. But now they look like a lackey following behind their master.
Maybe out of habit from being an empress, Lin Xulian walked with both elegance and valiance. Perfectly showing an example of a member of a royal family. Added with her beautiful and angelic face, her presence caused the people to feel reverence to her. But not everyone felt the same way. Especially the four women who are approaching Lin Xulian"s group.
Lady 1: "Young master Gu, fancy meeting you here. Can we finally have the honor to hang out with you? You don"t look busy anyway." She said coquettishly.
Lady 2: "That"s right young master Gu. Every time we invite you, you would always say next time. But that next time never came. Now, we will not let you leave until you could at least stay for an hour" Gu Rin"s fan whined and demanded.
The other two ladies collectively agreed and demanded Gu Rin"s time using their most coquettish and sweet voice.
Lin Xulian felt gooseb.u.mps hearing their sweet whining voice. But at least they are direct unlike the white lotus and green tea b.i.t.c.hes" n.o.ble young ladies who acted pure and innocent in front of the person they like. But although she preferred these kinds of villainess, it doesn"t mean she would not retaliate. They obviously know her ident.i.ty since they were talking about her earlier but they choose to neglect her now.Seeing her unnatural expression, Gu Rin and Mo Yingli thought Lin Xulian got offended and sad for being neglected. "I am sorry ladies but the King tasked me to fetch and bring the princess back to the castle." Gu Rin then introduced Lin Xulian. "This is the princess, Lin Xulian. You met her last night."
The women, with obvious unwillingness, collectively looked at Lin Xulian and forced out a smile. "Oh, we"re sorry Princess. Your presence and energy is so weak that we didn"t notice you were there. Please don"t blame us." Gu Rin"s fan started."That"s true princess. Once you got so strong, you won"t be able to notice the weak ones. They are almost invisible. Please forgive us." The other lady added.
The ladies" aim is to offend Lin Xulian. In everyone"s experience outside the country, Lin Xulian"s appearance and bearing usually belongs to a n.o.ble young lady. And those kind of women hates to be neglected and insulted. They wanted to see her spoiled brat att.i.tude. But contrary to their expectation, Lin Xulian didn"t get angry. Instead, she showed a face of sadness and harmless envy."I understand. And I admit everyone here, even some children are stronger than me. So it is normal for people with greater strength not to notice me. I really envy you all. You were born and raised in this amazing and magical country where you could become strong by merely breathing the rich energy around you. Me on the other hand, if not for my blood relation with the King, maybe I would never get a chance to step into this place.
But do not worry. Even if I am the King"s relative and practically the princess, I promise I won"t be petty and give you a hard time for not noticing me. I would never oblige you to kneel and kowtow to me." Saying the word never, Lin Xulian shake her head from side to side to emphasize her sincerity. On the side, Gu Rin"s eyebrows raised then he bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing.
The people inside the teahouse looked at Lin Xulian in more admiration. Even though she is beautiful and looked like a pampered young miss, she is sensible and not petty. Her heart is also pure since she didn"t get offended despite the fact that those women obviously neglected her deliberately.
But the women on the other hand didn"t like her att.i.tude. For them, Lin Xulian looked like a genuine royalty bestowing grace and forgiveness. It made them feel like they are beneath her and she is looking down on them. And having too much pride, they don"t like that feeling. Unable to contain their anger, they wanted to scold her.
They intended to step closer to Lin Xulian and intimidate her, but their legs suddenly felt numb and lost its strength. They fell with a thump into a kneeling position. Due to the sudden fall, they subconsciously supported their falling bodies with their hands.
n.o.body was aware what really happened to the women. They themselves was stupefied. To any outsider, it only looked like they admitted their wrong and kneeled, or more like kowtowed, to ask forgiveness from Lin Xulian.
"W-what are you doing? I said you don"t have to do that. I didn"t ask you to kneel. Please stand up or the people might misunderstand." Lin Xulian acted panicked and attempted to help the women up. Her eyes even reddened and would look around the people"s reaction with worried and apologetic expressions.
Then Lin Xulian looked at Gu Rin with her "at loss" face. "Young master Gu, is this a normal thing to do or greeting in the Qiangdu country?"
Suddenly dragged into the act, Gu Rin maintained his respectful look and replied. "If it is the King then it is a completely normal respectful greeting, princess. And since you are the princess, maybe they are paying equal respect."
Hearing his reply, Lin Xulian wanted to clap for his convincing act. "As expected he noticed. Nice a.s.sist!" She thought. "O-oh is that so? But this is too extreme for me. I can"t get used to this." Lin Xulian said awkwardly while blus.h.i.+ng.
"No! Why would we kneel and pay respect?! She is just a weak princess in name only." Gu Rin"s fan said while standing up. The other women also followed with dark faces.
"Not even ten seconds. So the strength of internal energy can affect the poison"s effects." Lin Xulian concluded in her mind.
"You! What did you do?!" Gu Rin"s fan said while pointing a finger at Lin Xulian.
Lin Xulian stepped back in "fear". "I-I didn"t do anything. What can a weak girl like me could do?" Lin Xulian said with a shaking voice then she let a tear slide down. "I know you don"t like a weak girl like me to be a princess. But it"s not like I stole this position. You don" have to frame me. I didn"t force you to kneel and I have no capability to do so. I"m weak remember."
Mo Yingli who is oblivious that everything is just an act stepped in front of Lin Xulian to block her from the women"s reach. "You! You all are from the Pan clan right? The King saved your clan from slavery yet you dare disrespect the princess?! What impudence!"
Hearing Mo Yingli"s retaliation, both Gu Rin and Lin Xulian felt guilty and thought. "Sister, that"s a fatal below the belt blow!"