Xu Yixing remembered that Siqin said there were other princes in the prince's mansion that day. It seemed that they also knew about the message early on. When they saw Ying Wu today, they must have ridiculed him.
Alas! Poor Yingwu!
Xu Yixing looked at Ying Wu through the gap. He shook his head slightly to indicate that everything was fine. Xu Yixing didn't say anything more.
Several princes looked at Xu Yixing, with different expressions and thoughts on their faces, but everyone just maintained respect and face.
Xu Yixing came out from behind Lu Anyuan and bowed to everyone: "Your Highnesses, it's our first meeting. I wish you all a happy Dragon Boat Festival and all the best." After that, he went back to the bridge without admitting his mistake at all.
The Fourth Prince watched her leave and said, "Seventh brother, this is my future sister-in-law. She's quite tough."
Lu Anyuan was unhappy: "Is 'fierce' a word used to describe women? Fourth brother, don't tease her."
The Fourth Prince raised an eyebrow and shut up, but his eyes still showed his resentment. "I was clearly standing up for you, so why are you talking about me instead? Humph! Marrying such a troublesome prince consort, your future life will be difficult, Seventh Brother."
The sound of stringed instruments began to play again on the shore, and several other princes came up to help, and went to play the activities they were good at together.
When Xu Yixing returned to the pavilion in the middle of the lake, the attitudes of the people around her seemed to have changed. From being silent when she first came, they now came over one after another to greet her. She didn't know why these people changed so much.
In reality, it was because the ladies of the various noble families, seeing the Seventh Prince defending Second Miss Xu so much, naturally wanted to curry favor with the future Seventh Prince's consort. As a result, the two blushes on her face didn't seem so annoying in their eyes.
The Dragon Boat Festival banquet at Prince Cheng's Mansion was a bit boring. Although there were various small games for everyone to choose from, the female guests were just making some small gadgets to see whose child was more dexterous.
Xu Yixing was clumsy with his hands and was not good at manual work, so he could only sit in his seat and lower his head to taste the pastries in the snack box, which were tasteless.
There were more male activities on the shore, but since they were in the palace, competitive games were out of the question. They would occasionally copy some sour poems and send them to the pavilion in the middle of the lake, either to curry favor with the noble ladies there or to satisfy their vanity by hoping for admiration and praise.
Xu Yixing hadn't seen Lu Anyuan's poem, wondering if he was deliberately hiding his talent or if he simply wasn't knowledgeable in poetry. The Sixth Prince hadn't written a poem today, perhaps because he'd long been known for his talent and didn't want to steal the spotlight.
Xu Yixing looked at the shore from time to time, and suddenly saw a familiar figure. He silently retracted his head and turned his back to the shore.
"Why is Sun Ziyou here today?" She asked Siqin in a low voice.
"Prince Cheng's Mansion is hosting a banquet, so it's not surprising that someone from the Duke's Mansion is coming."
"Well, I just think my sister has been sick all the time, and he comes here to act so cool, he has no conscience at all."
"Then we can't let the Sun Mansion cut off contact with the outside world just because of the eldest lady, right?"
Xu Yixing rolled her eyes. Even if Siqin was right, she still disliked her grandson You. The murderer could still live freely every day, while she, the victim, had to live cautiously. Damn it!
"Wow, look!"
Someone shouted, and everyone turned to look at the lake. Suddenly, a small boat appeared on the lake. It was decorated and it looked like it was going to perform for everyone.
Xu Yixing finally became interested. Although it was not as ethereal as what Lu Anyuan said about watching the immortals under the moon, it was still interesting.
The music now matched the boat's sound, changing from pure string and bamboo sounds to some crisp zither sounds.
The boat slowly approached and finally stopped between the pavilion in the middle of the lake and the shore, forming a triangle to ensure that both male and female guests could see it.
At the bow stood a figure, half-masked. As the boat came to a stop, they gently swung their limbs, following the rhythm of the dance. In the background, a female chorus sang a song so softly that the lyrics were barely discernible, like a whisper in a dream.
Xu Yixing was not good at dancing, but he could tell that the woman's body was really flexible. She danced all the way from the bow to the center of the boat as if she had no bones and just floated across.
"This dancer is really amazing. To have such a good figure, she must have practiced a lot." Xu Yixing sighed from afar, knowing in his heart that this dancer was probably a gift from someone to a nobleman, specially to show her face.
Siqin was also watching, even more fascinated than Xu Yixing: "Such a beautiful dancer, but I don't know whose family she is?"
Xu Yixing turned his head to look at Princess Cheng, who was also watching attentively at the main seat. This dancer should not be from the Cheng Palace. The two masters of the Cheng Palace both liked musical instruments but were not interested in dancing.
I'm afraid someone wants to present it to Prince Cheng, but that's not entirely certain. All the princes are here today, and there are many people hoping to curry favor with him.
"That, that seems to be Sister Xueyan, right?" This was said by a little girl in the pavilion, and she was immediately stopped by her parents.
"Nonsense! This is a dancer, how could it be Miss Wu San? Don't make a mistake!"
Wu Xueyan? She looks familiar, but I can't place her.
However, at this time, the people in the pavilion also started talking about it. Several ladies who were familiar with Miss Wu nodded secretly, saying that they did look very similar.
"Who is Wu Xueyan? She looks very familiar to me." Xu Yixing pulled Siqin closer and asked in a low voice.
"She's the third daughter of the Wu family of the City Defense Department. She was rumored in the capital for quite some time three years ago."
"Oh! Now I remember. Wu Xueyan was the girl who competed with my sister in a volley shooting competition three years ago and was thrown off the horse and injured her legs and feet, right?"
"That's right, but you never go to the stables, so you haven't seen her."
Until this moment, when the dance was over, the woman's veil fell off at the right time. I don't know whether it was designed or a coincidence.
"Oh, it's really Miss Wu!"
This time everyone saw her face clearly, and it was indeed the Third Miss. Everyone present was quite disdainful. This Miss Wu had been famous for a long time, but had disappeared for a while. Unexpectedly, she appeared in front of everyone again today.
But no matter what, it is not a glorious thing for a daughter of an official to appear in public and act like a dancer for everyone's entertainment.
I really don't know whether Old Wu knew about it. If he knew but didn't stop it, that would be too despicable. If he didn't know, who arranged Miss Wu's dance today and what was going on?
After Miss Wu San finished her dance, the boat slowly rowed away, but it did not leave or go to the pavilion in the middle of the lake. Instead, it went straight to the shore. Under the puzzled gazes of everyone, she helped her maid get off the boat.
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