Qiuyun was washing Hua Qiyue's clothes, and thus notified Hua Qiyue involuntarily when she saw Hua Mengshi walking towards her at the well outside.
Hearing that, Lv Xin snorted and didn't speak.
Ji Jing didn't like Hua Mengshi as well. "I do think that your Second Sister, Hua Mengshi... seemed a little fake."
Ji Feng smiled lightly. "Jing'er, let's not badmouth others, especially someone who is already here."
Indeed, they turned around and saw Hua Mengshi in pink came with her maidservant Surou.
Hua Mengshi wore a pink sari with numerous blooming sakura flowers embroidered on it. Golden threads decorated the sleeves, while the large and long sleeves swayed carelessly in the wind. Below that, she wore a pink folded sari dress. As she walked, her sexy figure was completely shown.
Hua Mengshi bore a beautiful and seductive figure. However, Ji Feng only glanced at her while Caiqing and Caining's eyes lit up in delight as they exclaimed at the beauty of this woman.
She was almost as pretty as Hua Qiyue. Furthermore, the shade of shyness and softness in her eyes was the most enticing.
"Mengshi came as I heard that Mr. Ji and Miss Ji were all here. Sister, am I disturbing you?" Hua Mengshi smiled lightly while Hua Qiyue smiled at her as well.
"Of course not. Lv Xin, hurry and offer her a seat. Second sister, let's eat together."
"No need, I just had it. It's truly the blessing of Hua's Mansion for Brother Ji to come here!" Hua Mengshi flattered him as she blushed, enticing Caiqing and Caining.
Unfortunately, they understood that Hua Mengshi liked Ji Feng.
Ji Feng merely glanced at Hua Mengshi before replying, "You are too polite. Second Miss, we are only here to see Qiyue, with no other intentions in our mind."
The corner of Hua Mengshi's mouth twitched as her hatred for Hua Qiyue grew even more.
"How did this idiot obtain so much better things than me?"
She was extremely beautiful too. But Yun Shimo and Ji Feng were not attracted to him but to the idiot instead!
However, she still smiled gently. "Brother Ji, there are a lot of famous flowers in our back mountain. Why not let's enjoy the scenery together?"
Hua Mengshi would only strike voluntarily if the man was extremely outstanding. And Ji Feng was such a man.
Hua Qiyue smiled lightly as she handed a bowl of minced meat and vegetable porridge to Tianci.
Ji Jing smiled. "The Ji Family Villa was also known for having famous flowers. In fact, we have a much bigger and extravagant collection than yours. Am I right, Brother?"
Ji Feng nodded, refusing to look at Hua Mengshi. However, he turned to Hua Qiyue and gently said, "Jing'er was right. We need to go out later and I thus have to refuse Second Miss."
Ji Feng rejected Hua Mengshi. Her cold attitude threw off Caiqing and Caining as they felt unjustified for Hua Mengshi.
Who would not have heard about the First Daughter of the imperial city, Hua Mengshi?
Thus, Caiqing and Caining heard about her famous name long before they saw her for the first time today.
The distant Hua Qiyue seemed much less gentle than Hua Mengshi. As such, they were biased towards Hua Mengshi.
"In that case, I must visit Ji Family Villa when I have time!" Hua Mengshi smiled craftily.
Ji Feng did not reject that advances as it would be impolite for a man to refuse a woman further. As he was uninterested in her, he would not have any affection towards her even if she did come to Ji Family Villa.
"Welcome, Second Miss. Of course, Qiyue, if you want to go too, I will always be there to welcome you." Ji Feng smiled while Hua Qiyue nodded calmly, turning to look at Hua Mengshi.
"Second Sister, I heard that you have been infected with cold these days. Are you better now?"
Hua Qiyue smiled as she knew that Hua Mengshi was not really sick. She merely felt uncomfortable and preferred to stay at home instead of going out.
The most talented woman and the First Daughter in the imperial city had now lost to Hua Qiyue in all aspects. Knowing that her reputation was dwindling, she could not raise her spirits up and appeared sickly.
"I'm much better. Thank you for your concern, sister." Hua Mengshi replied politely.
"If you are feeling unwell, you can go back and rest." Ji Feng smiled lightly.
Even though they were words of concern, the tone and the expression were all one of indifference.
Thus, it was actually a sentence to chase her away. Hearing this, Caiqing and Caining screamed inside their hearts that Ji Feng should be the one to leave the place, instead of Second Miss.
Hua Mengshi's expression slightly changed but she restored her smiling face almost immediately. "Thank you for your concern, Brother Ji. I'm much better now, and thus I wanted to sit here."
Even though she said so, Hua Mengshi still kept giving Ji Feng hints and kept pampering him. Unfortunately, Ji Feng was really uninterested in her, and thus she rejected Hua Mengshi coldly.
Coming out of Cuihua Court, Hua Mengshi's face was at its gloomiest. After returning to her room, she was filled with a depressing rage. Thus, she waved her sleeves, knocking the vase next to the window on the floor. It broke into many pieces in an instant.
Surou was shocked. She hurriedly whispered, "Please calm down! There is no need to be angry over that idiot!"
The overwhelming hatred in Hua Mengshi's heart was reflected through her eyes. She would love to skin Hua Qiyue alive.
"Looks like... I have to use some tactics! I can't let that bitch stay alive, or maybe I need to... invite someone to kill her!"
Hua Mengshi whispered while Surou shook her head. "No! Miss, if others know, then your reputation would be..."
Not only would her reputation be ruined, but she would also be sent into jail. Now that Old Madame favored Hua Qiyue, it would not be a good time to strike.
"Lady, think about it, Hua Qiyue obtained the magic medicine, which proved that she had a master behind her... thus we cannot strike! Furthermore, she is already a princess, and we can only defeat her using other methods!"
Surou whispered to Hua Mengshi, making her calm. As the top daughter of the imperial city, she was naturally not that stupid and act without thinking.
She thought about it and realized that any action would be unfavorable towards herself.
"Err, that's alright. If we can't have her reputation, we can just ruin it. That'd make things easier."
Ji Feng and the rest would naturally distant Hua Qiyue after she returned to her past luscious and useless nature, one without a single special trait. She would definitely lose to Hua Mengshi, who would stay as the top daughter of the imperial city.
"Only a few days to the finals of the tournament. Hua Qiyue had won luckily for the previous two times. But this time, she wouldn't be that lucky!" Hua Mengshi snorted, as her eyes shone like that of a poisonous snake.
"Shi'er, please do not act on impulse! Hua Qiyue's success today was not merely based on luck!" A cold voice arrived. It was Second Madame.
Hua Mengshi stood up at once as she helped Second Madame to her seat. "Mum, why are you here?"
"Sigh, I know that you are in a bad mood and thus I asked the chef to make some exquisite snacks for you." Second Madame said as Nanny Zhang beside her passed her a basket of snacks. Opening the basket, fragrance filled the air.
Hua Mengshi looked into the basket and saw four kinds of exquisite snacks. They were Almond Sponge Cake, Red Date Walnut Mooncake, Transparent Shallot Pau and Steamed Fish Balls. Even though they were only snacks, Hua Mengshi enjoyed them immensely.
The various colors were pleasant to the eye. Hua Mengshi picked a Steamed Fish Ball and placed it in her mouth before smiling. "Erm, seems like the cook's craft has improved."
"As long as Shi'er likes it. Everything... shall be handled by Mum. Don't be anxious, Shi'er, ok?"
Second Madame whispered and Hua Mengshi nodded naturally. Second Madame had been through much more than her and it would be better to heed her advice and plan.
After three days, the list of competitions in the tournament had been published. Hua Qiyue would be competing against Princess Mingzhu.
Hua Mengshi would be competing against a woman who is not from a royal background.
After being crowned as Princess Jinghua, Hua Qiyue became famous and many wanted to see with their own eyes the woman who obtained the miracle medicine, the woman who won the two competitions using only luck.
The two herbal families Ouyang family and Xia family all were unable to find out the origin of Hua Qiyue's Long Red, as well as the origin of Xuanji.
Everyone was waiting for this competition so as to find out the true skills of Hua Qiyue.
As Hua Qiyue had a mysterious background, even the two herbal sects and the three major families dared not strike.
Even the Queen, who showed deep hatred for Hua Qiyue, was living a calm and peaceful life. Dong Hai Restaurant was bought by a mysterious man who changed the name to Sheng Shi Restaurant. On the day of opening, the restaurant attracted many guests.
That was because Sheng Shi Restaurant invited a storyteller to tell a story a day. The first story was a possible re-enactment of the murder of Rong Qiyue.
The new owner was extremely brave to have done this. Even though Princess Huizhen who killed Rong Qiyue had been demoted as a peasant by the Emperor, the story still offended the royal dignity.
However, it would be too outrageous and arrogant to throw someone in jail or to remove Sheng Shi Restaurant just because of storytelling. The Emperor will not allow such a thing to happen.
Three days after the announcement of the competition, Hua Qiyue hurried and cultivated herself, finally breaking through the top tier of Dragon Diagram Standard one day before the final competition.
When that happened, Tianpi was looking at her advancement in shock. When all else had been completed, he ran over and pulled the plain sleeve of Hua Qiyue, shouting, "Oh my god, such outrageousness! My disciple, agh! You are so outrageous! Such an outrageous genius!"
Hua Qiyue pushed him away but the evil man hugged her joyously. He flew up and spun a few times in mid-air before descending and laughing crazily.
Hua Qiyue was extremely shocked. However, she was unable to get herself out of his hug despite using all her strength.
She felt more shocked!
She was already at the lower tier of Dragon Diagram Standard. Tianpi needed to still be a few standards higher than her to achieve such an effect!
Tianpi was happy for an entire day. When Hua Qiyue brought him wine and meat that night, he hugged Hua Qiyue happily and spun himself a few times again.
Alright, that made Hua Qiyue believe that Tianpi purposefully did that to take advantage of her, even though Tianpi's pure eyes told another story.