Chapter 100: Bickering

“Wait until the banquet is over, do you need me to explain it for you?” Shen Anan whispered to him as they walked on the bluestone path of the Yongning Marquis’s mansion.

Xiao Yuan glanced at her and sneered, "You still blame Zhou Quan. Even with so many people watching, they can't shut you up."

…Chen Anan glared at him and retorted, "Of course I can stop you, but I'm just afraid that the Fourth Prince will give you a cold shoulder. If the beauty is unhappy, don't take it out on me."

"I don't know who is taking it out on whom."

His voice was not loud, almost a whisper. Shen Anan tilted his head to look at him, "What did the Fourth Prince say just now?"

"They say you are gentle, kind, beautiful and lovely."

"It's definitely not this sentence. If you don't scold me, I'll have to thank your ancestors for three generations."

Satirical! But why did she feel so awkward when those words came out of his mouth?

Maybe it’s because sarcastic words are never pleasant to the ear.

Xiao Yuan's steps slowed down. "Can you just greet my three generations of ancestors casually?"

“…” Forgot, he is a member of the royal family! ! ! !

Li Huaiyan said that if he treated her as his aunt, he would lose his head, let alone cursing three generations.

"Oh, I said it wrong, please forgive me, Fourth Prince."

Although she apologized, it was perfunctory and lacked sincerity. Xiao Yuan would not argue with her over a single word.

It was very rare for him to be able to get along like this today. Although they were bickering all the time, at least there was no sarcasm or coldness, let alone the cold shoulder.

Maybe that's progress.

"Today is Princess Hua Sheng's birthday party. There will be many people present. Stay beside me and don't run around."

"Okay." Shen Anan did not refute him this time, and nodded obediently, because several people in front walked towards them.

It was just a formality, for everyone to see. She just had to stand behind Xiao Yuan obediently and play this role.

"The Fourth Prince." Several young masters, led by Ling Chenyi and Li Huaiyan, came over and saluted.

"Yes." Xiao Yuan nodded, stepped aside, and introduced calmly, "This is Miss Shen."

They were all members of the aristocratic circle in Beijing, so how could they not know the Shen family which was currently in the limelight? It was just that those young masters deliberately ignored them and did not say hello.

"Miss Shen is finally here. I thought you wouldn't come today. It turns out that the Fourth Prince went to pick you up in person." Ling Chenyi spoke first, full of joking.

"Yeah, if you didn't come, there would be no one to argue with me. I would be so bored." Li Huaiyan also responded and moved forward.

"Get lost." Xiao Yuan saluted and glanced at him coldly. Li Huaiyan touched his nose, turned around and immediately returned to his original camp.

When the other young masters saw this, they immediately bowed and saluted, "Hello, Miss Shen."

"Hello, gentlemen." Shen Anan returned the greeting, and then heard the person next to him say in a neither positive nor negative tone.

"You're pretending well. You've never been so docile to me."

“…”? ? ? ?

She just pretended not to hear when I found fault with her.

At this time, a little maid came over and bowed, "Fourth Prince, Miss Shen, how are you, gentlemen? My princess has been waiting for a long time and asked me to invite Miss Shen over."

Xiao Yuan frowned, looked down at Shen Anan, and refused, "Miss Shen, please stay with me. If you have anything to say, wait until the banquet is over and chat with the princess."

The little maid was stunned, as if she didn’t expect the Fourth Prince to refuse on Miss Shen’s behalf.

Shen Anan didn't expect that when Xiao Yuan asked her to follow him, could it be that he would never leave his side?

"You want to go?" Xiao Yuan glanced at her, "Today is Hua Sheng's birthday, there must be many ladies at her place."

What I meant was that they would definitely bully you, so it would be safer for you to follow me.

"Xiao Yuan." Ling Chenyi spoke in time, "Since the last banquet, Hua Sheng has been full of praise for Miss Shen and is very happy. You can rest assured in my territory. Besides, we have to go to the front yard later, and it is not convenient for Miss Shen to follow us all the time."

Shen Anan nodded in agreement. She was just here to go through the motions. As long as she achieved her goal, it would be fine. She had no intention of following him closely. She could handle those ladies on her own.

He lowered his eyes and watched her nod like a chicken pecking at rice, his expression not looking very good.

Shen Anan immediately and keenly noticed the cold gaze from above her head, raised her eyes to look at him, sideways at him, and then retracted her eyes.

There were other people around, so she couldn't tease him or talk to him, she had to endure it.

"Then go ahead. If you need anything, ask someone to find me."

"Okay." Shen Anan immediately followed the little maid and left without staying any longer or looking back.

She always felt that the way she got along with Xiao Yuan was a little strange, but she couldn't tell what was wrong.

He stared at her back, his dark eyes seemed to be filled with resentment. She was really heartless. She came to him when she needed him, and then threw him away when she was done.

"The person has gone far away, don't look at him anymore." Li Huaiyan joked with a smile.

Xiao Yuan retracted his gaze and said to Ling Chenyi, "Send someone to keep an eye on them."

"Don't worry, I guarantee everyone will be safe on my territory."

Shen Anan followed the little maid to Princess Huasheng's boudoir. When she arrived, there were already many ladies in the yard, standing in groups of three or four and chatting.

The maid led her in, and the ladies all looked over. The yard was silent for a brief moment, and then they immediately looked away and continued with their previous conversation, as if they had not seen her.

If it were in the past, not to mention a large number of girls rushing up to her, there would definitely be many girls coming up to chat with her. Shen Anan didn't think it was a big deal. She glanced around the crowd and didn't see Miss Lin, so she followed the maid into the house.

Before she even stepped through the door, the whispering behind her had already begun.

The maid in front frowned, came out, bowed and said, "Girls, my princess is still dressing up, please speak in a low voice and don't disturb her."

After these words were spoken, the girls from all the families of course understood what they meant, and they all shut up and no one said anything.

“Miss Shen, please.”

"Thank you," she followed the maid into the inner room.

Hua Sheng was indeed dressing herself up. She was wearing a light blue long dress with wide sleeves and a white rabbit fur jacket. Her skin looked like jade and the hairpin on her head was swaying, making her look lively and elegant.

"Princess." Shen Anan bowed and saluted.

"Sister Shen is here, come, come and sit down." She stretched out her hand for Shen Anan to sit next to her, while urging the nanny to comb her hair faster.

"It's just a birthday, but my mother insisted on making it so grand. My waist is sore from sitting so long."

Shen Anan curled her lips and smiled, "The princess is very beautiful in this outfit, her birthday should be so dazzling."

"But that person can't see, so what's the point of being beautiful?" She said in a low voice, almost a whisper.

Shen Anan's eyelids twitched, and he looked away, pretending not to hear anything.

"By the way." Hua Sheng calmed down and said with a smile, "I heard that you came here with your fourth cousin today?"

"Yeah." Facing Princess Hua Sheng's teasing, Shen Anan just smiled and didn't explain anything.

"Princess, it's done." The nanny put away the makeup box and said in a low voice.

“My neck is so sore, come on, Sister Shen, let’s go for a walk.”

Everyone who comes is a guest, and she also has to entertain the girls outside.

The two of them walked out, and the girls from various families greeted them one after another. Seeing that Chen An'an was following behind Hua Sheng and they seemed to be very close friends, they all behaved themselves and stopped bullying others with their eyes.

"Thank you all for taking the time to attend my birthday party. If the hospitality is not good enough, please don't blame me, ladies."

Hua Sheng said a few polite words and then led everyone to the banquet hall that had been prepared long ago. The ladies were all with the eldest princess, and this flower hall was specially prepared for the girls.

After chatting with the girls for a while, Hua Sheng felt a little tired and complained to Chen Anan in a low voice.

"Originally, we just wanted to invite a few familiar families to have a gathering. I don't know what Fourth Cousin said to Mom to make it so grand. It will be exhausting to handle it."

"Did the Fourth Prince order this banquet?" Shen Anan asked with a frown.

"To be precise, it was he who instigated my mother." Hua Sheng sighed.

"Hey, Princess, the weather is nice today. Let's go for a walk in the garden and see if there's anything fun to do so that we can kill some time." A girl said to Hua Sheng.

"Okay, young lady, what you said makes sense." Hua Sheng tilted her head and smiled helplessly at Shen Anan, then called on all the ladies to go back to the garden.

The garden of the Yongning Marquis's Mansion was not big. It was built according to the regulations of the title, so it took only a short while to walk around it. The girls from each family felt bored again and stood in groups of three or four to chat.

Someone suddenly suggested that the birthday gift for Princess Hua Sheng be taken out and shown to everyone.

The father of the girl who was speaking was an official in the Ministry of Revenue and had a profound family background. The other girls were a little disappointed and did not respond.

"Birthday gifts are just tokens of appreciation. They have all been registered by the maids and placed in my courtyard. When I have free time, I will take them out and appreciate the kindness of each of the girls one by one."

Hua Sheng evaded the question with just a few words. The girl curled her lips almost imperceptibly and stopped talking.

"How about we compete in painting? Miss Shen is here, so let me see the masterpiece of the best painter in the capital."

The voice sounded a little abrupt. Shen Anan looked in the direction of the voice and saw a girl next to Duan Mengmeng, who was looking at her with a half-smile.

The other girls also became interested. None of them were fools. Today, Miss Shen was picked up by the Fourth Prince himself, and they were all very clear about the celebration between Shen Anan and Duan Mengmeng.

"Since you call me the best in Beijing, why do you want to humiliate yourself? Did you forget to bring your brain when you went out today?" Shen Anan's words were neither light nor heavy, but they made many people change their faces.

"Miss Shen is really not modest. Sister Duan was not good at the topic of the banquet that day, so you got lucky enough to win first place. Do you really think you are so talented that you can be the number one talent?"

If it were in the past, she would never humiliate An An so openly, but things have changed over time, and today is no longer the same as before.

"Didn't the young lady give me the title of No. 1 just now? What's the matter? Could it be that the young lady was speaking sarcastically and was actually being sarcastic? Then your family's learning is really profound, and I didn't even hear it."