XH 31
When the dishes were served to each table, everyone waited until the Empress takes a bite of her food before everyone started to eat theirs.
Long Lian gave no mind to etiquette, and have the new maid that was assigned to her to put her table to attach with the Third prince's. Long Lian happily have her chair placed right beside Xiao Hua's.
An Wan wanted to stop the princess but she knows it was already too late to cover up. Her master did not hide that Xiao Hua was more than a favorite maid, and the princess had even spoken about giving Xiao Hua a pill earlier. Pretending otherwise after the shocking display was meaningless.
"Sister An Wan, come and eat too." Xiao Hua wondered how to get another chair for An Wan when the elder maid declined.
"The prince's order is for Elder Sister Hua to eat the meal. Elder Sister Hua does not need to worry. An Wan had already eaten earlier."
An Wan do not dare to eat those dishes that were prepared for royalty! Not to mention eating with Princess Long Lian was a breach of etiquette! Although An Wan and Xiao Hua both were servants, the latter's position was different from a normal servant.
"Fifth Sister is dining with a servant?" An unexpected voice asked.
An Wan's body turned stiff, instantly preparing herself for any attacks. Long Lian's beautiful face was already frowning at the newcomer. With her enhanced eyesight, Xiao Hua was admiring Long Lian's beauty when it was interrupted by the princess' frown.
"Eldest Imperial Brother," Long Lian greeted, did not bother to erase the frown on her face. "There's no wine and dancing girls here."
In other words, go and leave them alone! ( 'ε' )
Xiao Hua did not know if it was a good thing for Long Lian to talk this way to her elder brother. It was not much frowned upon in her original world, but for this time period, they emphasized a lot on seniority and respect.
What if the crown prince decides to retaliate? Σ(°△°|||)︴
"It's not the time for it when Mother Empress and Eighth brother are still here," the Crown Prince answered honestly before looking wounded. "Elder brother miss his younger sister so this brother comes to have a little chat. But it seems that little sister no longer like elder brother?"
W-O-W! Xiao Hua stared at the crown prince in amazement. Who would have thought the crown prince would be this way to his half-blooded sister?
Actually, in the novel, there was not even a scene between Long Lian and the Crown Prince. They did not even get to meet with each other! The Crown Prince would only appear to antagonize the Second Prince as well as doing the job that a 'Leader of Cannon fodder' needed to do. Every encounter the crown prince had with the hero and heroine always ended up with the crown prince suffering embarrassment and loss.
Despite that, he still persistently throws himself onto the Second prince to suffer more!
Thanks to the restored eyesight, Xiao Hua no longer felt as if she was stuck in between reality and imagination. The clear vision had smacked her out of the daydream land, telling her this was the reality and stop getting pushed around by the flow. Her hope of going home one day will not happen if she did not make any move to seek a way.
"Younger sister misses the eldest brother, but I'm sure Concubine Ling will miss the eldest brother more," Long Lian said as her eyes fall on the pregnant concubine.
The Crown Prince followed Long Lian's line of sight. Seeing his birth mother happily eating a chicken drumstick, he let out a helpless sigh and his eyes could not hide his fondness for his birth mother. "Mother Concubine Ling is busy eating. She will be angry if this brother diverts her attention from her food."
Concubine Ling was actually a simple-minded beauty, chosen to be one of the Emperor's concubines. For her to survive and bear a prince for the Emperor could be said she has the luck, as well as a survival instinct to avoid being killed by other ambitious concubines.
The Crown Prince removed his gaze and locked on his intended target. "This prince can see the third brother favor his new maid very much." His eyes lingered at the chopstick in Xiao Hua's hand before trailed over the dishes on the table meaningfully.
Long Lian stared at her eldest brother in disbelieve. "Eldest brother, the food that was served on your table is much better than ours yet you still come over to ask for our food?"
The Crown Prince was caught unprepared for his Imperial younger sister to kick his bait off to the other side of the river just to protect this little fish. He was even confident that this maid was not an ordinary person or else his younger sister that was usually loveable and obedient would not talk to him this way!
The elder brother that had always thought his younger sister as cute and obedient, wish you luck~ (¬‿¬ )
"Eldest brother is just concerned about the third brother. Younger sister might not hear it but recently one of the ministers got into a fight with his wife because of a maid. The wife is angry because her husband treats the maid better than her."
"Third brother does not have a wife yet, the eldest brother. So how does that relate to the third brother?" Long Lian asked as her phoenix shaped eyes blinked innocently.
The poor elder brother that did not realize his adorable little sister was pretending to be gullible, decided to enlighten her. "Let the eldest brother be blunt. Sooner or later the third brother will marry. Your future third sister-in-law will not like it if the third brother favors his maid more than her, do you understand?"
Long Lian tilted her head to a side, her hairpin swayed slightly, increasing her charm. "But eldest brother, this problem won't happen if my third sister-in-law and his favorite maid is the same person, right?"
The Crown prince gaped and it took him a while to finally able to talk. "W-What-"
"Crown Prince," The Empress called out with a strong, clear voice, successfully capturing everyone's attention. "It would be better not to have an empty stomach when you indulge in wine later."
The Empress' expression showed nothing but concern, but her stern eyes were demanding for the crown prince to stop causing trouble and eat his dinner! The crown prince was actually a very arrogant child when he was younger. His birth mother was not one that knows how to raise a child, much less in disciplining. His behavior becomes worse when the Emperor did not reprimand his firstborn, letting him do as he pleased.
But one day, the Crown Prince had nearly killed another country's prince and angered the other country's Emperor. The Empress decided enough was enough, and personally disciplined him. In just a few months, everyone could see the great changes in the crown prince!
Everyone's thought was, 'no wonder she's the Empress!'
The previous Emperor was a wise man and made a great choice to choose the current Empress as his son's main wife. The current Emperor at that time had just forcefully taken Concubine He as his concubine and was coldly ignored, so he shifted his attention to the new beauty and allowed her to be his Empress.
"Thank Mother Empress for the reminder." The Crown Prince, like a puppy that was scolded by its mother, let Xiao Hua form an image in her mind of a puppy with drooping ears and tail hiding between its legs as he walked back to his table.
Is this the same Crown Prince that the author had described as 'a greedy prince with a short temper and tiny brains with the hobby of bullying the weak'?
Xiao Hua thinks that this crown prince was rather cute. A body of an adult but was a child inside.
The Empress gave her daughter a reprimanding look that successfully makes Long Lian feel guilty for speaking of things that would bring trouble to her Third brother. Xiao Hua being her sister-in-law was something Long Lian wanted, but she was not sure if her Third brother even felt that way towards Xiao Hua. Just because the Third brother treats Xiao Hua well does not mean he was romantically interested in her.
"This Empress will retire with the concubines. Eunuch Heng, after Eighth Prince finishes eating, bring him to walk around for digestion."
Eunuch Heng, who was the Eighth Prince's personal eunuch, immediately saluted and humbly replied, "Yes, Empress. This servant obeys."
The Eighth prince, with a blur expression on his face, hurriedly stood up when the others stood up to bid the Empress farewell. His cheek has some rice on it and Eunuch Heng gently wipes it away with a napkin. Xiao Hua could see Eunuch Heng, whose appearance was in late teens, truly cared for the Eighth Prince.
"Eighth brother is pitiful," Long Lian said when she saw Xiao Hua looking at the Eighth Prince. She continued with a soft voice. "He had lost his mind after seeing his mother's dead body. I heard he was the first to found her body." Long Lian stopped and looked around. "Concubine Heng was killed by an assassin. Father Emperor says that the assassins were sent by Munzhu Country, but the Third brother told me it wasn't. Xiao Hua, who do you think is right?"
Xiao Hua smiled bitterly. Princess, why are you asking me this? Does it really matter which one was the truth?