Chapter 68 Sincerity

It had been more than ten days since I last saw her at the poetry gathering. The girl seemed to have grown taller, with a fair and delicate face, bright eyes, and a graceful figure.

"Good child, get up quickly and come to me."

Xiao Yuxuan looked up and saw the tall and elegant Crown Prince Qi Jun standing not far away. He was twirling a few grains of millet between his slender fingers, intently teasing the birds, as if he didn't care about what was happening in the room.

Sitting to the side was a handsome young boy dressed in fine clothes, about ten years old, staring blankly ahead, slowly chewing the cake in his hand. This should be the seventh prince born to the empress—Min-young's twin brother.

So this is the Emperor, Empress, and their three children—a family of five. She really came at the worst possible time, meeting five of the most distinguished members of the royal family all at once.

She glanced at the Empress again, albeit discreetly.

The Empress had a noble and graceful face, and in a daze, it seemed as if she saw a fusion of Min-young, the Seventh Prince, and the Crown Prince.

A beautiful mother is more likely to have a child who surpasses her in beauty.

The emperor lifted his eyelids and glanced at Xiao Yuxuan indifferently.

Xiao Su was his right-hand man. Some time ago, he found his daughter and rewarded him with many things. The emperor still remembered this.

The Empress held Xiao Yuxuan's hand affectionately, looked her up and down, and her face was full of joy.

Min-young stood to the side, smiling as she watched her.

"Truly a beauty made of jade, she looks wonderful to me. How old are you this year?"

The Empress pulled her aside and asked her a few common questions, which Xiao Yuxuan answered one by one, before getting to the main topic.

“We’ve been looking for Min-young for so many years, and we thought we’d never find her again… We never imagined that she was so close, even though she’s so far away. It’s all thanks to your kind heart that you’ve treated Min-young so well and made sure she didn’t suffer.”

Halfway through her sentence, the Empress choked up a little. Qi Minying grabbed her other hand and smiled comfortingly before the Empress could finish speaking.

"These are a small token of our appreciation from His Majesty and me. Please accept them. Minying has been away from home for five years and has no playmates in the capital. She is only quite familiar with you. If there is an opportunity in the future, we would like to ask you to come to the palace more often to keep her company."

A young palace maid brought in a box and handed it to Xiao Yuxuan.

Such a small box could contain either silver notes or land deeds. She respectfully expressed her gratitude and then told Qin Yuan to put it away.

The Emperor and Empress had no intention of meeting her. As a young lady from a secluded family, she had not contributed to the country and was certainly not qualified to meet the Emperor alone. Even though she had indeed taken in Minying, the matter was too insignificant and could only be attributed to luck.

However, the youngest daughter was thinking about her "benefactors" and insisted on meeting them to make this Miss Xiao proud.

The Empress, feeling sorry for her youngest daughter, couldn't help but find it strange:

"What kind of spell did that girl cast on you? You like her that much? She's just the daughter of a second-rank official, with no good reputation in the capital, and can't help you much."

Qi Minying sat up straight from her lap and said seriously:

"Mother, must only those who can help me be worth befriending? Relationships formed for the sake of interests will eventually fall apart because of those interests. I don't want to be surrounded by scheming people, with no one I can entrust my heart to."

The Empress choked on her words; how could she not know this principle?

However, considering that the Xiao family girl was only recently found, what if she had been raised badly outside? Minying hadn't known her for long and was deceived by appearances.

"You've only known her for less than a month, yet you're so certain she's a friend you can truly trust? In my opinion, you should just treat her as an ordinary friend. Why do we have to step in and promote her?"

The mother and daughter had been separated for too long, and the Queen was afraid of damaging Min-young's dignity and confidence, as well as causing a rift in their already fragile mother-daughter relationship. So she could only offer a cautious suggestion.

If you were to ask the little princess who had been raised in the deep palace for ten years to answer this question, she would naturally be unable to give a definite answer.

However, the once delicate and adorable little princess has now grown into a strong and upright sapling.

Qi Minying had been wandering for five years and was no longer the naive little girl who only knew the hardship of practicing calligraphy and the deliciousness of snacks.

In fact, she didn't tell about many painful experiences, for fear that her father and mother would be saddened if they heard them.

She was kidnapped by human traffickers at the age of five, fell and hit her head, losing her memory. She was sold to a farming family to be a child bride. She tried to escape but was beaten so badly that she couldn't get out of bed for half a month.

When she had nothing to eat, she would gnaw on straw bed boards, and she even ate mice.

Having finally escaped the den of iniquity, she wanted to find a job, only to discover with dismay that she had no registered residence and could only work as a maid...

Qi Minying took a deep breath and nodded heavily:

"Mother, in one's life, one should try to exchange true feelings at least once."

"If Sister Xiao is truly two-faced and hypocritical, as a princess, it would be easy for me to suppress her. Moreover, I will have personally experienced the bitterness of hitting a wall, which is far more profound than the Empress Dowager's earnest teachings now."

The empress seemed to be seeing her youngest daughter all over again, her eyes slowly widening.

After a long while, she blinked her dry eyelids, turned her head and wiped away the tears that had fallen with a handkerchief.

Her Min-young, her Min-young.

She dared not think about what she had been through in the past, nor dared to ask. Her youngest daughter, who had been sheltered from the storms of life since childhood, had unexpectedly suffered the hardships of being an orphan...

As we emerged from the Queen's Palace, the once clear sky suddenly became overcast.

The rain was coming at any moment, and the women resting in the side hall kept looking up at the sky.

"Yu Xuan, how is it? Is everything going smoothly?"

The eldest princess personally pulled her to sit beside her and asked softly.

"Your Majesty and the Empress are both very kind. I am truly humbled by this reward. I feel that I was just lucky to have saved Princess Minying."

Her humble attitude softened the princess's heart a little more.

Good luck? But without this kindness, no matter how lucky you are, like Xiao Yuyao, wouldn't it all be a wasted effort, and you wouldn't get anything?

"Young lady, you have many good qualities, why belittle yourself like this!"

The noblewoman standing nearby had been wanting to ask whose daughter this was for a long time, and now she finally found an opportunity to chime in.

The eldest princess looked over and saw that it was Lady Guo, the wife of the heir apparent of the Prince of Runing. Lady Guo had a lucky, round face and always smiled at everyone she met. She was a well-known lady of perfect fortune in the capital.

Hearing Guo say this, she immediately felt a surge of goodwill.

"Thank you for your kind words, madam."

Xiao Yuxuan had never met this lady before, but seeing that she looked kind, she returned a sweet smile.

"Oh my, whose little girl is this? She's so pitiful and adorable. No wonder the Princess dotes on you so much. If you didn't know better, you'd think she was the Princess's adopted daughter!"

These words were obviously flattering, but the speaker meant no harm, while the listener took them to heart. The princess quickly considered the possibility of recognizing Yu Xuan as her goddaughter.

Just then, Madam Xiao was greeted by Xiao Yuyao, who walked in with a forced smile.

They went straight to the high-ranking princess to pay their respects, and immediately saw Xiao Yuxuan sitting on the princess's lap with a sweet smile on her face.

Madam Xiao felt a lump in her throat.