Chapter 271 : Frightening (1)

After Jiang Qi and Yurong left, Zhou Shiya couldn’t wait to ask, “Yuxi, what were they talking about?”

Yuxi also told me what happened that day without hiding it: “I wonder why she was so sure that Chen Ran told me this?”

Zhou Shiya thought about it for a while and made a guess, “Maybe she had someone keep an eye on you and Chen Ran, so she could get information if you two have any interactions. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be so sure of herself.”

Yuxi thought for a moment and smiled. “That’s possible.” This statement showed that Jiang Qi also liked Chen Ran to her bones. If not, she wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble. But what if she did? Chen Ran still wouldn’t marry her, and Yuxi felt a pang of pleasure at this thought. For Jiang Qi, she could only suffer from loving him but could not obtain him for the rest of her life! That was better than any revenge.

After that, Zhou Shiya talked about what happened last time: “Yuxi, I’m sorry for what happened last time.” She should have gone to the Han residence the other day to apologise to Yuxi, but she couldn’t tell her the truth, and it wasn’t good if she had to make up a lie either, so the matter dragged on until now.

Yuxi glanced at Zhou Shiya and asked, “Is it something personal?” If it was a private matter, she didn’t want to hear about it. It was not a good thing to know the privacy of other people’s homes.

Zhou Shiya didn’t respond to her inquiry.

Yuxi then knew this matter involved family secrets. “Well, there is no need to talk about it then. It’s just a small matter. No need to take it to heart.”

The two of them began to mutter intimately again about the little things they had met. Although Momo Quan had reminded her that Zhou Shiya was not a person worthy of her friendship, the two had gotten along well over the years, and she did not want to break off their contact just because of that incident. In the future, she would stop speaking about some private matters with Zhou Shiya. Of course, Yuxi never told anyone about her most confidential information. All these years, not to mention Zhou Shiya, even the maids around her did not know her untold secrets.

Soon, the banquet started at the wangfu. On the way, Zhou Shiya said to Yuxi, “I heard that they ordered the banquet menu from the Moon House. It is said that it will serve several of its signature dishes here, which are very delicious.” Moon House was the largest and best restaurant in the capital, and the people who spent money in it were only the rich and the noble. So no ordinary people could enter it freely. However, the dishes inside tasted heavenly. It was said that the chef in charge was a retired Imperial Chef.

When it was time for them to eat, the two of them had to separate. Yuxi went straight to Ye Shi’s side and shared the same table with her. Yurong still knew her place and also came over for the meal without Jiang Qi following her.

The first thing served was a dessert, bird’s nest soup with shredded chicken meat. After everyone had finished with it, they were provided with the main course.

The main dishes consist of suckling pigeon cooked in pork belly, braised pork trotters with sea cucumbers, shark’s fin with crab meat soup, rare delicacies of braised crucian carp meat cut into the shape of tongues……everything that flew in the sky, swam in the water, ran on the ground, everything was available in all of these cuisines. They also smelled, looked and tasted great.

It was impossible for people without a certain status to come to His Highness Jing Wang’s birthday banquet. What kind of delicacies from the mountains and seas have these people never seen? But at this point, everyone was eating with gusto.

In the past, when Yuxi had gone to other people’s homes to attend banquets, it would not be bad if people ate nearly half of the food. But this time, when the feast started, the attendees had consumed most of the dishes. She had to say, the chef at the Moonlight House was truly good with his craft!

After Yurong finished eating, she whispered, “It’s the first time I’ve eaten something so delicious since I was a child.” Not only were they delicious, but they were also sumptuous.

Even though Yurong’s voice was relatively low, unfortunately, Ye Shi could still hear her. Ye Shi frowned. However, she could not say anything to reprimand Yurong while they were in public. Thus, she thought of telling the Old Lady not to let Yurong be so short-sighted in the future so as not to disgrace the Han family reputation for no reason.

After everyone had eaten and drank to their heart’s content, it was time for them to return home. Zhou Shiya came over to say a few words to Yuxi and then went back home following her mother.

On the way back, Second Lady Zhou asked Zhou Shiya, “Did Yuxi ask you about what happened last time?” She was worried that her daughter might have said something about it.

Zhou Shiya shook her head and said, “No! Yuxi asked me if it involved the residence secrets. When I didn’t say anything, she also didn’t ask any more questions and even took the initiative to change the subject.”

Second Lady Zhou stroked Zhou Shiya’s head and said nothing. Perhaps it was true that children without mothers grew up early! Both of the girls were sixteen years old. While Shiya understood nothing, Yuxi knew everything. The two didn’t look like people of the same age at all.

Yuchen did not show up since she had to raise her fetus, and everyone understood her situation. Hence Ye Shi didn’t intend to disturb Yuchen, as she took Yuxi and Yurong back home with her.

Yuxi, who was following behind Ye Shi, breathed a sigh of relief. She felt that she might have been overly nervous today. Wasn’t it good that nothing had happened to her? She had been worrying the whole day for nothing.

The group left the second gate and were about to board the State Residence’s carriage when they saw Momo Tian hurriedly approaching and spoke to Ye Shi. “My Lady, Wangfei Niangniang has just woken up and remembered that she has something to give to the Fourth Miss. I would like to ask the Fourth Miss to come along with me.” After saying that, she added with a smile, “Just now, Wangfei Niangniang also said that her memory has not been good after being pregnant and that she should have given it when she met with Fourth Miss just now.”

Ye Shi responded with a smile, “Yuxi, you should go along with Momo! I’ll wait here with Yurong.” Ye Shi guessed it should be something to add up to Yuxi’s dowry. Since Yuchen wouldn’t even entertain the guests this time around, she definitely couldn’t go back to the Han residence to add to Yuxi’s dowry. So it would be the same to give them to Yuxi at this time.

Yuxi’s thoughts were the same as Ye Shi, so she nodded her head and replied, “Okay.”

When Ye Shi saw that both Zisu and Zijin were going to follow Yuxi, she said, “Yuxi, let Zisu follow you, and Zijin stays behind!” There was no need for both maids to accompany Yuxi. One was already enough.

Zijin was a little more talkative when she was with Yuxi, but less so when she was away from home. Hearing Ye Shi’s words, she spoke to Zisu, “Zisu Jiejie, I’ll go with Miss!” Miss had just reminded her not to leave her every step of the way. She would not leave her Miss even for half a step until she returned safely to the State Residence.

Zisu nodded and said, “Alright.” Zisu had brought up Zijin, so it could be said that in Zisu’s heart, Zijin was almost like her birth sister. Furthermore, because they had different responsibilities, there had been no dispute between them.

Ye Shi would speak like this because she felt that Zijin had not been in residence for so many years and was inferior to Zisu in terms of rules and manners. She did not mean anything else. When she heard Zijin’s words, she cautioned, “Take good care of your Miss.” Would she know how to serve her Miss well when she only had her strength with her strapping physique?

Zijin nodded as she assured her, “I will.” When it came to worldly wisdom, Zijin was much worse than Zisu. But her primary duty was to protect Yuxi. So it didn’t matter if she didn’t understand the ways of the people.

Yuxi smiled towards Momo Tian and said, “Please lead the way, Momo.” Even Yuchen had to be courteous to this momo, so Yuxi also felt that she shouldn’t slight her either.

Momo Tian was also high ranking. Since she was a person given by Song Guifei, even Momo Gui didn’t dare to contradict her in residence, so how could she possibly sell some of her faces for Yuxi. She stiffly said, “Miss, please!”

Yurong looked at Yuxi’s back with some envy and whispered to the maid beside in a mosquito-like voice, “I wonder what goodies San Jie will give to Si Jie.” All the things that Yuchen usually gave away were worth thousand of silver.

The maid, who did not know what was in Yurong’s mind, said, “Miss, Wangfei Niangniang is your blood sister.” Since Yuxi had been adopted, their relationship was also separated by a layer.

Yurong said listlessly, “I can’t get past her.” Even though she had a big idea, she had to admit that her relationship with Yuchen could not be compared to Yuchen and Yuxi’s bond over the years.

On the other side, Yuxi and Zijin followed Momo Tian to the Main Courtyard. But as they walked, they felt that something was wrong and could not help but ask, “Momo, this isn’t the path that we took this morning.”

Momo Tian said with a stubborn expression and a bad-sounding tone, “Do you think that you know the wangfu better than I do?”

Hearing this, Yuxi did not say anything more. She could only follow Momo Tian. Mainly because Momo Tian’s expression was looking normal and because she had just seen her serving beside Yuchen this morning, Yuxi didn’t think much of it. But after another short walk, Yuxi’s mind became unease. Even if there were many roads leading to the Main Courtyard, the further she walked, the more remote it became. Yuxi stood still and coldly asked Momo Tian, “Where exactly is Momo taking me?”

Momo Tian said impatiently, “Just go wherever you are told to go. What with all this nonsense.”

Yuxi grabbed Zijin’s arm and said, “I won’t go with you unless you tell me openly.”

Momo Tian did not expect Yuxi to be so vigilant, so she replied gently, “We are trying to take you on a shortcut? From here to the main courtyard, we can save a lot of time using this bypass road.”

Yuxi let out an ‘oh’ and chuckled. “Momo, do you think I am a three-year-old child? Who would take their guest using the fast way.” Only a sneaky person would go to a remote place to do something terrible. When Yuxi thought of this, Yuxi’s heart started to get afraid. She had been careless. She only thought that since Momo Tian was someone close to Yuchen, there was no reason for Momo Tian to harm her. It was just that Yuxi had doubts in her heart. Even if Song Ce Fei wanted to deal with Yuchen, what was the point of calculating her?

A sinister smile appeared on Momo Tian’s face as she said, “Since Miss is not going to leave with me, then don’t blame me for being rude.” As soon as she uttered those words, the two maids following behind her closed in towards Yuxi.

Yuxi held onto Zijin and told her not to move. Her mind was whirling. Who was trying to harm her? Initially, she thought it was Song Ce Fei, but hurting her would not do Song Ce Fei any good. Yuxi tried to calm herself down. “Momo, why would you want to harm me?”

Momo Tian didn’t put Yuxi in her eyes at all. When she heard this, she knew that Yuxi would not listen to her any longer, and she could only move forward with her plan. At once, she ordered the two maids behind her, “Tie her up.”

It was not until one of the maids clasped her wrists that Yuxi realised that this person knew martial arts. Feeling incredulous, Yuxi asked, “You want me to die?” Originally she had thought that Momo Tian only wanted to ruin her reputation, but now she worked with two maids who had martial arts skills. Things could not be as simple as that.

Momo Tian said expressionlessly, “Open your eyes wider in your next life and don’t get in other people’s way.”

Yuxi’s pupils shrank. For this person to even bother Momo Tian just because Yuxi was blocking someone’s path, coupled with that look in the 9th Prince Consort’s glance, the truth finally came out.