Chapter 141 Becoming Friends
Seeing this, Meng Jinyao realized she had gone too far and had actually angered the girl to the point of losing her bearings. She had only thought that Princess Jingning was a bit silly and cute and wanted to tease her, but she didn't expect her to actually ask someone to pay the bill for her. She quickly followed after her.
After leaving the Golden Jade Pavilion, she said gently, "Princess, please don't be angry. If you get sick from anger, it would truly be my fault."
Princess Jingning paused, glanced at her sideways, snorted coldly, and said in a huff, "Alright, stop referring to yourself as 'this concubine' in front of me. Such humility is not like your true nature. After all, you spent more than a thousand taels of silver from me today. No woman has ever dared to cheat me out of my money."
Upon hearing this, Meng Jinyao immediately changed her self-reference: "Princess, please don't be angry. If you get sick from anger, it would truly be my fault."
Princess Jingning was speechless for a moment: "..."
After a moment, Princess Jingning said irritably, "Your sister said that you bullied her, and that's not entirely a lie. Look how easily you bully me. It seems you honed your skills with your sister."
Meng Jinyao looked completely innocent: "How could I possibly bully her? I'm always the one who suffers."
She wasn't lying. Even if Meng Jinyu's attempt to steal a chicken backfired, as long as Meng Jinyu went to her grandmother to complain, her grandmother would immediately punish her without even asking what happened. Sometimes, her grandmother wouldn't even see her, but would directly send a maid to announce the punishment, leaving Meng Jinyu no way to prove her innocence.
A favored child is always right, no matter how unreasonable they are; an unloved child is always wrong, even if they are right.
Princess Jingning glanced at her: "You always seem to suffer losses; it seems you're not very smart."
Meng Jinyao looked at the disdainful girl in front of her and chuckled: "It's alright, I can make the princess suffer, which means I'm a little bit smarter than the princess."
Princess Jingning was furious: "You..."
Seeing that she was sulking, Meng Jinyao decided to stop while she was ahead and quickly changed the subject: "There's a rouge shop up ahead. When I came last time, the shopkeeper said that new products would be available in ten days or so. They should be available by now. Would you like to go and take a look, Princess?"
The saying goes, "Once bitten by a snake, twice shy." Upon hearing this, Princess Jingning looked at her warily: "Are you trying to swindle me out of my money again? You just swindled me out of 1,100 taels."
Meng Jinyao: "..."
Although the princess is foolish and rich, she's not that heartless. The princess has only recently come of age and is a year younger than her. It wouldn't be right for her to take advantage of a foolish girl younger than herself.
She asked with a smile, "Is that the kind of person you are in the princess's eyes?"
Princess Jingning rolled her eyes at her, her eyes seeming to say: What else?
Meng Jinyao added, "Let's go, I really won't trick the princess."
Princess Jingning was skeptical. After hesitating for a moment, she followed after her, wanting to see what she was up to and what trick she was going to use to trick her. If she tried the same trick again, she would have a way to deal with it.
However, Princess Jingning was really overthinking things this time. Meng Jinyao really didn't trick her. She even gave her rouge and lipstick, which she personally chose for her.
Princess Jingning was initially wary of her trickery, but now she was completely bewildered by her actions.
After leaving the rouge shop, Meng Jinyao handed 1,100 taels of silver to Princess Jingning: "Princess, here you go."
Seeing this, Princess Jingning looked at her blankly: "What do you mean?"
Meng Jinyao smiled and said, "The money for that set of jewelry was just to tease the princess because she was cute. I didn't mean to cheat her out of her money."
She wasn't one to take advantage of others. The princess had treated her to lunch, and she gave the princess rouge in return. As for the headdress, she had originally intended to buy it herself. However, the princess said something to her, and she suddenly felt playful, wanting to see the princess get her comeuppance.
Princess Jingning was taken aback: "Am I cute?"
Meng Jinyao nodded slightly. Princess Jingning was indeed quite cute, with almond-shaped eyes, peach-shaped cheeks, willow-leaf eyebrows, and a bit of baby fat. She was also simple-minded and a little silly.
Princess Jingning glanced at Meng Jinyao with a strange look. Most people said that she was spoiled, willful, and difficult to get along with, but only the Empress Dowager said that she was frank, cute, and likable.
After a moment, Princess Jingning turned her face away from her and said, "I said I would give you that set of jewelry, so there's no reason for me to take it back. I've lost a friend today, and now I want to find someone to fill the void. I think you're quite pleasing to the eye."
Meng Jinyao was stunned for a moment before she came to her senses. The princess wanted to befriend her. She didn't have many friends except for A Ning. She wouldn't mind having another one, since the princess was a good person at heart. So she replied gently, "In my generation of the Meng family, all the girls have the character 'Jin' in their names. My grandfather named me Jinyao, which means 'Jin Jing Ling Long Ying Yao Qiong,' and 'Xuan Cao Yin Yin Rui Cong Long.'"
Of her siblings, only her name was given by her grandfather. Even the two children born to Sun Shi were not named by her grandfather. Meng Chengxing was the eldest grandson, and at that time, her father and Sun Shi wanted her grandfather to name him to show the elders' respect for the child, but her grandfather refused outright.
Yao described Meiyu as someone who was not a jinx in her grandfather's heart; she was his precious and beloved eldest granddaughter.
Princess Jingning replied, "My given name is Yan, the Yan of peach and plum blossoms vying for beauty."
Zhao is the imperial surname, and her given name is Yan, so she is Zhao Yan. Jingning is just a title, not her maiden name.
Meng Jinyao readily called out, "Ayan."
Princess Jingning was taken aback, then awkwardly called out to her, "Ayao." As she spoke, she glanced at the silver notes in her hand and said uncomfortably, "Take the silver notes back. Consider this set of jewelry a gift for a friend."
Meng Jinyao didn't stand on ceremony with Princess Jingning. One thousand one hundred taels was a lot, but the princess had plenty of money. She could just return the gift of similar value later. So she put the silver notes back and said with a smile, "As expected of a princess, Ayan is so generous. I really like that set of jewelry. Thank you, Ayan."
"I'm glad you like it." Princess Jingning said, then suddenly didn't know what to talk about with her. She felt a little embarrassed to befriend someone she had disliked that morning. She then asked, "Are we going to the theater? The sun is so strong right now. I think we should find a place to rest and listen to a play."
Meng Jinyao shook her head slightly and declined, saying, "There's one thing my second sister really didn't lie to you about: I almost always doze off when I listen to opera."
Upon hearing this, Princess Jingning paused, and said in surprise, "Even if you are illiterate, you can still understand the opera, right? You only need to listen with your ears, you don't need to read the words."
Meng Jinyao: "Who told you I'm uneducated?"
Princess Jingning: "...Your sister."
Meng Jinyao's lips twitched slightly: "Can you believe what she says? Don't listen to her nonsense. Although I am not a scholar of great talent, I am by no means ignorant. I did read some books when I was young."
Princess Jingning was slightly taken aback, then nodded: "That's right, otherwise I wouldn't know the poem 'Jin Jing Ling Long Ying Yao Qiong, Xuan Cao Yin Yin Rui Cong Long'."
Meng Jinyao: "..."
Does she look like someone who can't read or write much and is completely ignorant?
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