Bai Yao stayed home for some days and her health turned much better. Thus the parents took this issue easily. In the days that Bai Yao took her rest, Bai Yu went to her room every day to chat with her. But beyond this, Bai Yao was so bored.
The day their father came back from his work at the court, he hurried to call his wife to meet him before he took off his formal clothes. The mother, with the last name Lin, asked him why.
The father paced the hall quickly, sighing. He said, “The Prince asked me to talk to him after the morning reception. He said he wants to see Bai Yao. But Yao has lost her memories. What if she offends him?”
The mother was shocked and she asked, “My lord, did you refuse him?”
The father shook his head. “I am so worried because I can’t do that.”
The prime minister thought of the dialogue with the Prince; he was still in a panic about it.
Before stepping out of the palace after the reception, he heard the Prince calling.
“Prime minister, please give me some time.” The Prince’s voice was soft but stately.
When the father saw it was him, he was surprised and chilled. But he soon turned to smile to welcome him. “My Prince, anything I can do to serve you?”
“Yes, I do need your help. I heard that your daughter came back after studying. And the people living in our capital city said she is very pretty. I just want to meet her.” Mo Xi was so direct that the prime minister grew fearful.
He thought a while and replied carefully, “My Prince, I am sorry, but this daughter had an illness, so it is not a good time to meet you, my majesty.”
“Oh, really?” Mo Xi raised his voice with disbelief. “So, I should come greet her and take the royal doctor to check her illness. Which bad doctor is seeing her that she is still feeling discomfort?’’
Mo Xi’s words didn’t give the old prime minister any excuse, thus the old man had to agree. “But my daughter is a little naughty and unthinking, and if she happens to offend My Prince, please forgive her.”
“Sure, no problem. I won’t take a young lady’s words serious. Take it easy, prime minister. After two days, I will wait for her in the gaily-painted pleasure-boat on the Bibo Lake. I hope your lady will come to meet me there.” Though Mo Xi appeared humble, his voice was irresistible.
“I understand, your majesty. Let me send you away.” The prime minister sighed as he saw his shadow go away. He thought that he was old enough to see a new generation with power.
After a careful discussion, they decided to allow Bai Yao to meet the Prince, so Lin went to persuade Bai Yao.
“Yao, although you lost your memories, you have told us that you like the Prince, and you won’t marry anyone else except him. Now the Prince invites you to meet him. How about this?” The mother was trying to gauge her att.i.tude.
“Mom, since he is the one I like, let me go meet him,” Bai Yao answered with some expectation. The one I like? What does he look like?
Lin saw her was peaceful and joyful without the previous expression of ignorance, she took a deep breath. But soon she thought of something and then warned her, “Yao, the appointment is after two days, in the gaily-painted pleasure-boat on the Bibo Lake. You’d better make yourself presentable and being cautious not to make any mistake.”
“Mom, I get it. No worry.” Seeing her mother with such caution, Bai Yao was curious. Is the Prince so horrible?
In another area, Bai Yu, in the Linglong, also heard this invitation. Her pretty face twisted. Her bun was a little loose. She held a whip and stared at the maids bowing on the ground.
“You tell me, how does Bai Yao get get his heart? Why not me?” Bai Yu was clenching her teeth with jealousy.
All the maids were so frightened, thus n.o.body dare say a word.
But Bai Yu became enraged with this reaction, so she raised the whip to strike them.
“Pardon me, my lady . . . forgive me. . .” The begging voices soon filled the room.
Bai Yu became even more agitated when she heard this kind of pleading, so she beat them harder. “Are you all dead? Why don’t you answer me? Do you also think that she is better than me?”
“No, no, no . . . my lady. . . You are much more beautiful than her. Bai Yao is not your equal.” Ningxiang was the first to flatter her. Then the other maids began to praise her, too. Soon Bai Yu was calmed down with all this placating and she stopped beating them with the whip. But she didn’t allow them to stand up. Instead, she looked down at them as if she was a princess. “Don’t you forget who is your lord. Otherwise, you don’t want to survive in this family.”
All the maids nodded quickly as if a late response might take away their life.
The next day, Bai Yu went to Bai Yao’s Bamboo Garden again, with a soup of ginseng.
She asked, “My dear sister, how do you feel today?”
“See? Much better!” Bai Yao smiled as she replied. She thought of the Prince and asked, “Sister, I will go to meet the Prince tomorrow. Do you know about him?” Bai Yao had lost all her memories, so she wanted some information from others.
“I don’t know him well.” Bai Yu covered the truth and asked, “Sister, you really plan to meet him? I heard that he already has many concubines. Aren’t you afraid of them?” Bai Yu hoped to make her give up the idea of going to meet Mo Xi.
But Bai Yao was not moved. “Never mind. I will just meet him once. No need to think too much.”
Bai Yu’s face was the same, but her heart was so envious, and she claimed in her thoughts, Bai Yao, don’t blame me if I do anything!
She took up the soup to her and said with concern, “Sister, this is a soup of ginseng; I asked the cook to make this specially for your recovery. You’d better drink it while it is still warm.”
Bai Yao just had lunch and was full so she rejected this offer with a tender voice. “Thank you, my dear. But I just had lunch, so you can save this soup for yourself.”
Before Bai Yu had time to reply, Bai Yao’s maid Lian Yi came in and said, “Lady, Madam has sent someone to bring the dress for you, asking for you to try it.”
“I get it. Good!” Bai Yao nodded and explained to Bai Yu, “It must be the clothing I should wear tomorrow. Let me go try it first.”
Bai Yao still had some unspoken aversion toward this sister, so she went to have a look at the dress quickly.
Bai Yu was still holding the soup. When Bai Yao left, she was so angry that she threw the soup on the ground. She had added some sleeping drugs to it and thought that after drinking the soup, Bai Yao would miss the appointment with Mo Xi. But she had failed.
Bai Yu left with an ugly look.