Chapter 24: The Grand Princess with an Ashen Face
Page (1/3)
Shen Yi rose to her feet, displeased.
“What? Because you saved me, I’m supposed to offer myself to you?”
“Because you saved me, I’m supposed to lower myself before you?”
“Or do you think that because you saved me, I no longer have any rights?”
For a moment, Qin Xuanbai was rendered speechless by Shen Yi’s words.
After a long silence, he finally said, “Then, are you still going to the poetry gathering this time?”
Shen Yi remembered that there had indeed been such an event.
She had not wanted to go at first, but ever since arriving in this world, she had spent every day entangled in schemes and intrigues. It would be nice to meet some of the celebrated scholars—and to help Jiang Nansheng make a name for herself while she was at it.
“I’m going. Why wouldn’t I?”
When Qin Xuanbai heard Shen Yi accept his invitation, he inexplicably felt relieved.
He had been afraid that she would refuse. If Shen Yi did not go, she would not be there to witness his grand display before everyone.
What a pity that would have been!
Qin Xuanbai had come that night solely to speak of this matter.
Before leaving, he reminded her, “It’s settled, then. Since you’re going, you must be there!”
Shen Yi nodded. “Don’t worry. This lady always keeps her word. But please come during the day in the future, and stop climbing through my window. I can’t bear the fright!”
Qin Xuanbai could not help grumbling inwardly. With the way you ignore me, how could you possibly be afraid of me climbing through your window?
Even so, when Qin Xuanbai left, he still went out through the window.
Shen Yi closed it and locked it securely.
She simply could not understand what the guards of the prince’s residence were doing, allowing Qin Xuanbai to break into her bedchamber in the middle of the night.
Wait—could it be that Xiao Huaijin had permitted it?
At that thought, Shen Yi could not help sighing.
Third day of the fourth month—the poetry gathering.
On this day, all the capital’s most gifted young scholars gathered at the Clear Moon Tower.
Quite a few noble young ladies came as well, hoping to cultivate an air of refinement.
Using the poetry gathering as an excuse, they sought to find themselves a satisfactory husband.
Shen Yi had only just stepped down from her carriage when a servant came forward to greet her.
“Are you Miss Shen? The heir is waiting for you in a private room upstairs!”
Shen Yi nodded without refusing and followed the servant to the second floor.
Page (1/3)
Page (2/3)
On the way upstairs, many people recognized Shen Yi.
They had not expected her to attend this poetry gathering.
Could it be that she intended to find herself a satisfactory husband and marry?
Even if Shen Yi might be the War King’s woman, the purpose of her appearance here was obvious enough.
Thus, some people who wished to curry favor with the War King were naturally willing to pursue Shen Yi.
Just as Shen Yi was about to enter the private room, she saw two old acquaintances: Chen Xijun and Zhao Jiayi.
Chen Xijun and Zhao Jiayi naturally saw Shen Yi as well.
The moment they caught sight of her, both wore astonished expressions.
In the past, Shen Yi had been utterly uninterested in gatherings such as these.
When she entered the War King’s residence, she had already been nearly ten years old and had passed the ideal age to begin her education.
Although she had learned to read at the War King’s residence, she possessed little literary talent.
For that reason, poetry gatherings were what Shen Yi disliked most.
Every time Chen Xijun invited her, Shen Yi refused to attend.
Who would have thought that after their relationship had turned completely hostile, Shen Yi would actually come to a poetry gathering?
Anyone unaware of the truth might have thought that Shen Yi had avoided such gatherings before out of consideration for Chen Xijun’s dignity, unwilling to crush her with her superior talent.
Before Chen Xijun could speak, Zhao Jiayi spoke first.
“Oh, if it isn’t Shen Yi! I’m amazed that you would actually come to a poetry gathering!”
Shen Yi heard the hidden barb in her words and smiled faintly.
“If someone under house arrest by her own father can attend a poetry gathering at the Clear Moon Tower, then surely a free person like me can attend as well, can’t she?”
Just as Zhao Jiayi was about to lose her temper, Chen Xijun spoke.
“Sister, County Lady Jiayi is exceptionally learned. She has studied alongside the princes and princesses of the imperial palace since childhood, so naturally she ought to attend a gathering like this. As for you, Sister—you did not even begin your education until after the age of ten. We do not even know whether you can recognize all the characters, yet you have come to a poetry gathering. If you are mocked later, I wonder whether we will have to summon the War King to uphold justice for you.”
Shen Yi looked around, then asked Liu’er curiously, “Liu’er, who is speaking? Why does the air reek so strongly of bootlicking?”
Liu’er burst out laughing.
Chen Xijun was deeply wounded by Shen Yi’s remark.
She had never imagined that Shen Yi could be so utterly shameless.
Shen Yi had actually brought up the time Chen Xijun had acted as her lackey.
Did Shen Yi never stop to think that if not for the War King, why would someone of Chen Xijun’s status have treated a person like Shen Yi with such intimacy?
Chen Xijun gently shook her head, her face revealing how deeply hurt she was.
Page (2/3)
Page (3/3)
“Sister’s tongue is as sharp as ever. But I wonder whether you will manage to find yourself a satisfactory husband by coming here today. After all, you are already nineteen!”
Nineteen—was that really so old?
Had she been the original Shen Yi, those words would certainly have wounded her deeply.
But she was not the original Shen Yi. To her, nineteen was the finest age of youth!
In her own world, she would only have been a sophomore in college.
At that age, a girl could still be called a young maiden.
So the idea that nineteen was old enough to hurt her was utterly ridiculous.
Zhao Jiayi, however, found it extremely amusing.
“Ah, now I remember—you’re already nineteen, Shen Yi. Isn’t it a little too late to start looking for a satisfactory husband at nineteen?”
Shen Yi almost retorted with the old saying: Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—never look down on a girl just because she is poor.
But just as she was about to speak, a voice rang out.
“What is so amusing? Let this princess hear it as well!”
The Grand Princess Pingyang approached slowly, accompanied by two maids.
Shen Yi wanted to complain. Why did everyone else bring only one maid while you brought two? Were you showing off?
Even so, Shen Yi joined the others in bowing to the Grand Princess Pingyang.
There was no helping it. She was the current emperor’s elder sister and the empress dowager’s only daughter.
With such a status, no matter how much Shen Yi disliked her, she still had to observe the proper etiquette.
Otherwise, if she received a slap later, she might not even know what she had done wrong.
Seeing everyone bow to her, the Grand Princess Pingyang said, “There is no need for such formalities. What were you talking about just now? I could hear your laughter from the private room!”
Zhao Jiayi was about to speak, but Shen Yi cut in first.
“Your Highness, County Lady Jiayi and Sister Xijun were saying that I am already nineteen, yet I have only now come to the Clear Moon Tower to seek a satisfactory husband, and that perhaps I am too late. But I think nineteen is the prime of youth. How could it possibly be too late?”
Zhao Jiayi could not help bursting into loud laughter, laughing so hard that she doubled over.
“Shen Yi, nineteen and still not too late? We are all sixteen or seventeen. In the eyes of many people, a nineteen-year-old woman is probably already an old maid!”
Shen Yi said nothing, but Chen Xijun was left with an expression of helpless misery, because the Grand Princess’s face had turned livid.
After all, the Grand Princess was already twenty-one.
Page (3/3)