Chapter 11 The Little Thief
Qi Wenyue then recounted in detail the story of the two young ladies from the Xiao family.
Of course, most of the information came from Xiao Yuyao's letters, and a small part stemmed from her malicious speculations about Xiao Yuxuan. With such a mix of truth and falsehood, the Princess's eyebrows furrowed in disbelief.
"How could there be such a wicked family? It's truly despicable. If they were smart, they would have given Xiao Yuyao a sum of money to send her away. Instead, she has to stay in the mansion and make their own daughter unhappy. If it were me, even if I couldn't do anything to my parents and brothers, I would take it out on that adopted daughter. Why did she take my identity and live a life of luxury for fourteen years, only to become my sister in the end!"
Qi Wenyue was stunned. She never imagined that her aunt's thoughts would be so... so strange. She had exaggerated and said so many bad things about Xiao Yuxuan, so why didn't her aunt feel sorry for Yuyao at all?!
"Crown Prince, do you also think that Yuyao deserves to suffer such coldness and torment?"
She tried to find a sense of belonging in Qi Jun, to prove that it wasn't her problem, but her aunt's.
To her surprise, Qi Jun looked at her as if she were a fool and didn't say anything.
Regardless of how much truth or falsehood her cousin spoke, Qi Jun was aware of the rumors surrounding the Xiao family's true and false heiresses. As the acting commander of the Qilin Guard, he had no qualms about any matter concerning the court officials. Lord Xiao, as the Minister of Personnel, was responsible for the promotion and evaluation of all officials and had always been a focus of attention, so he had naturally heard a lot about the Xiao family's affairs.
Even with Qi Wenyue's usual willful and nepotistic nature, he knew she was blinded by her own perspective, only seeing her friend's grievances and ignoring the lives of others.
"It seems the curriculum at the girls' school is too light, allowing you to have such leisure to gossip about others behind their backs."
Upon hearing the word "studies," Qi Wenyue covered her mouth in fright and looked to her aunt for help. How could she forget that just because her aunt didn't know something didn't mean her brother, the Crown Prince, didn't know it.
The eldest princess was still immersed in the story she had just heard. Although she had said a lot, she was still not satisfied. She had no mind to think about adopting a daughter at the moment.
"Alright, there are too many people outside now, and it'll be too late to go back, so I'll be going now. If Wen Yue wants to continue shopping, I'll ask your Crown Prince brother to take you."
Before Qi Wenyue could even look at Qi Jun happily, Qi Jun hurriedly stood up and said, "Aunt, I'll take you back."
Qi Wenyue stomped her foot, "Crown Prince!"
Qi Jun ignored him and helped the princess out of the meditation room.
Outside the prayer hall of Jici Temple, Madam Xiao was still receiving fortune slips. Seeing that Xiao Yuyao was getting bored while waiting, she told Xiao Jue to take his two younger sisters down the mountain for a stroll.
Most girls of this age like to go shopping and look at trinkets, and Xiao Yuyao was no exception. The temple fair at Jici Temple was held once a year, and she hadn't been there in a long time. She happily pulled Xiao Jue to look at this and that, and before long, Xiao Jue and the servants behind him had a lot of things in their hands.
Xiao Yuxuan followed at a leisurely pace, when a string of coral beads on a nearby stall suddenly caught her eye. She remembered that in her previous life, Hongzhu, who had regained her identity as Princess Minying, loved coral the most. Buying it to cheer her up would be a good idea.
She wouldn't show favoritism, so she carefully selected a pair of jade earrings for Bi Sui and a silver bracelet for Pei Xing'er, and paid for them together.
As for the other head maid, Chunwen, she tried to seduce her in her past life but failed and even attempted to poison her. It's not worth wasting your energy on someone like that.
Bi Sui was following behind the girl, intending to carry the things, but after paying, the girl held up a pair of clear jade earrings to her ears.
"girl……"
"It really suits you. Quickly put away these earrings. I bought them for you to wear and play with. You can give one of the other two to Hongzhu and the other to Pei Xing'er later."
Bi Sui accepted it with great care and said in a low voice, "Yes."
Xiao Yuxuan had no idea what Bi Sui was thinking. She turned around to follow the two, but found that the crowd was surging and Xiao Jue and Xiao Yuyao had long since disappeared.
Just like in her previous life, Xiao Jue took her and Xiao Yuyao to the temple fair, but they got separated halfway through. At that time, Chunwen was with her.
In the crowded throng, Chunwen was so frightened that she could barely move. It was only by pulling Chunwen out of the crowd and into a less crowded side street that she was able to get out of the throng and into a side street.
Later, she met her husband from her previous life, Xie Tingzhou, who would become the third-ranked scholar in the imperial examination the following year.
This time, there were more and more people. Bi Sui carefully protected Xiao Yu Xuan behind her, not letting others push her. After walking a hundred meters with great effort, she finally entered the fork in the road.
“Miss, there are too many people here. Let’s get away as soon as possible and find a familiar shop to send a message back to the manor to have someone come and pick us up.”
When a young lady from a prominent family goes out, she is always surrounded by a retinue of servants. But now, the young lady is all alone, and she is too busy to even go and deliver a message.
Xiao Yuxuan nodded, "Let's walk this way."
This time, she chose a different path, one where she would never meet Xie Tingzhou again.
After walking about a hundred meters, we finally reached the main road, and the view opened up.
A figure dressed in a brown short-sleeved shirt quickly passed in front of Xiao Yuxuan. Before Bi Sui could protect her, the person bumped into her lightly.
Xiao Yuxuan's heart stirred slightly, and she subconsciously touched her waist, only to find that the purse she had tied there was indeed gone.
But her nose twitched slightly, as if she had caught a fragrance in the breeze...
The thief was a girl.
"Pickpocket! Catch the thief! That person is a thief!"
Bi Sui also noticed the empty purse tie at the girl's waist and was furious.
How could such an arrogant thief exist right under the emperor's nose! This is practically robbery in broad daylight!
Not far away, the brown figure was still running frantically, but a kind person acted quickly and soon dragged the person over.
"You little thief, there are so many people at the Jici Temple fair today, how dare you steal? Luckily you met me, your kind-hearted grandmother, otherwise I would have beaten you to death on the spot."
The girl who spoke was young, dressed in a flamboyant red dress, with her hair styled in an odd high ponytail. Her small face had a masculine appearance, giving her a rather heroic air.
"Thank you, sir."
Xiao Yuxuan ultimately did not address the other party as "Miss," a form of address that pleased the other party, who smiled with her long eyebrows and bright eyes: "You're too kind, little sister."
The man's wrist had been dislocated. He came over with his head down and didn't say a word, only clutching his purse tightly to his chest, which Bi Sui couldn't pry open no matter how hard she tried.
"You thief, you've been caught and you still won't hand over your things! Do you know whose things you stole? I'm going to hand you over to the authorities today!"
In the blink of an eye, without anyone knowing how the thief moved, he sidestepped Bi Sui, slipped between the legs of the girl in red, and ran away as fast as he could.
"careful!"
Xiao Yuxuan's pupils contracted slightly, and she only had time to utter this one cry.
This was because directly in front of the thief, a low-key yet spacious carriage was approaching at a steady speed, drawn by four tall horses.
Seeing someone bump into him, the coachman hurriedly pulled on the reins, causing the horse to neigh loudly.
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