"...sorry?"
"As I said, are you mocking me? You are clearly composed and has an elegant bearing that even the princess would envy you and you are saying that you are nervous like me. Lies. You are clearly mocking me who is not as half as compose"
Ming Shu blankly stared at the girl for some time and broke in a laugh after. Just like her the others who were paying attention to their conversation couldn't help but snicker a bit. What a cute child! Does she knows that nobles should never be so direct as it would be taken as an offense to the other party? But this straightforwardness was rather liked by Ming Shu. It's so much easier to talk with people like this.
"Why are you laughing at?! I knew you were mocking me!"
"Sorry. You are wrong, is honestly my first time entering this place in this life. I may not appear nervous but here. Can you feel my nervousness?"
Ming Shu held Mo Meihui hands. She wanted to show Meihui the sweat that was coming from her hands. True she looked composed on the outside, but there was no way that she would be ok entering the place that locked her and made her loose the little that she still had.
"I guess what you said is true. Don't worry I'll protect you"
Forgetting that she was the first saying that she was nervous, Mo Meihui decided that she would protect the young girl in front of her. She quite liked what she knew about Ming Shu, talent and humble, but must important Ming Shu hadn't disdain her straightforwardness like the other noble girls, so she decided from now on that they would be friends.
Taking her hand, Mo Meihui tried to guide her new found friend to their seats but was stopped by Ming Shu. Is not that Ming Shu didn't want to sit down with Meihui, but the gazes from her siblings were almost making a hole in the hand that was holding hers.
"Mo Meihui, let me introduce you my siblings: this one is my Elder Brother Ming Peng, he is only a year older than you. This is my Younger Sister Ming Yunning and this my Younger Brother Ming Zigui. Could they also seat with us?"
"Oh. To think that you are friends with the concubine born, as I though, you are really different. She can sit with us, but it seems that your cousins are itching to call your brothers over there"
All the four sibling looked at the five boys who looked like puppies waiting for their owners to play with them.
"... you should go before they do something that we would all regret"
"Awe you not going Big Sis?" (Are you not going Big Sis)
"You know how they get once I'm together, for the sake of their reputation as well as mine, is better if I stay here"
"We are going, but don't room around the Palace"
"Yes, yes. The same to you Big Brother. Now go, I can see Li Muqing starting to plan something stupid"
Alarmed with her words, the brothers quickly left to the Li little monsters.
"...and that was that. Yunning right? As you know my name is Mo Meihui, you can also call me big sister if want too. Let's be friend from now on"
"Don't you think that the difference of treatment is too high?"
"You aren't cute, different from your younger sister who is like a lil' doll"
Ming Shu rolled her eyes.
"Oh the raven chides blackness"
Both Ming Shu and Mo Meihui didn't have the childness that make one looks adorable. They had more mature features than most children and were taller than the other girls. The word beauty fit both of them better than cute even at their young age.
"Who is the raven?!"
"The one who says is the one who is"
"YOU-!"
"Okay, Jiejie is just kidding, let's sit down everyone is lookin at us"
As they finally sat down, the eunuch on the door announced what everyone was waiting for:
"The Emperor and the Empress have arrived"
"The Second Prince, The Third Prince, The Fifth Prince, The Sixth Prince and the Princess Jinghua arrived"
All the people present bowed to the man wearing the Golden Dragon embroidered robe.
"May my Emperor live and reign for ten thousand of ten thousand of years"
"May the Empress live for thousand years"
Sitting at his throne the Emperor looked at his subjects with kind eyes.
"Rise"