Chapter 7
She quickly pushed up the window sill and looked toward a small building in the center of the lake. Sure enough, there were two people standing on the shore hidden among the green trees. One of them was wearing a purple and gold robe. He must be the prince!
What you fear will come true! She subconsciously looked towards Que Ming, but he was hiding in the corner, his expression was unclear, and he didn't move at all.
If they met today, if he was taken away by the prince, wouldn't he be walking the same path as in his previous life?
Even if he wasn't interested at the moment, if something unexpected happened, she wouldn't be able to stop it with her current strength. The prince already loved him very much, and if she asked him to go now, everything in her previous life would probably happen half a year earlier.
No! Que Ming can't meet him! Even if there is only a slight possibility of this happening, Yue Qingning will never let it happen again in this life.
Her mind was racing at this moment, thinking about how to prevent them from seeing each other.
Sister Teng looked at it for a while and recognized it.
"That seems to be the Crown Prince. Since he has summoned me, how dare I object? Come ashore!"
The pleasure boat approached the small building in the lake, and Yue Qingning felt a chill in his heart.
How come I happened to meet the prince today and board this ship!
The pleasure boat slowly approached the shore. The Cui brothers got off the boat first to pay a visit to the prince. Only a few female relatives were left in the cabin. Yue Qingning struggled left and right and refused to get up, which made Teng Xieji feel a little strange.
"Qingning, get up quickly, what are you thinking about?"
She thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a good solution, so she stood up at Sister Teng's urging.
The courtesans had already left the boat before them, and the prince could be heard praising the beauty of their music. Sister Teng left the cabin before her and headed for the shore.
Logically, everyone should get off the boat to pay homage to the prince, but now only Yue Qingning and his master and servant are left in the cabin.
Zhu'er was a little surprised and anxious, and asked her hurriedly.
"What's wrong with you, girl? The prince is downstairs, we need to get down quickly!"
How could she not know? But she was in a real dilemma at this moment.
The servants also asked twice, and Qingzhu hurried out to report to them. Seeing that Que Ming looked strange, he immediately understood that she did not want to get off the boat to see the prince this time, so he walked around her and tried to make up a lie for her.
When Yue Qingning saw that he was about to leave, she subconsciously grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her. The two of them bumped into each other awkwardly, and their veils also touched each other.
He didn't know why and was anxious to see her condition, so he raised his head suddenly and pushed the curtain directly off her head in a panic.
The hat slipped down and fell into the lake through the window.
She had no mind to think about the veil. Her slender fingers pulled at his collar to prevent him from leaving. Que Ming half-hugged her, with a gray veil hanging on her face, revealing a seductive shape.
His brain was almost boiling dry. Looking at her at that moment, he couldn't let go of his hands. He just held her in his arms until Yue Qingning screamed several times and then he suddenly woke up.
The two men stood up straight, fortunately the gray gauze covered their faces. Que Ming only felt that his face was burning and steam was rising.
Looking at the young lady, the close contact just now did not show anything on her face.
At this moment, she was thinking about how to prevent them from meeting. After thinking about it for a long time, she suddenly glanced and saw her veil dangling in the water.
A plan unravels with the ripples of water.
I'm afraid she will have to be the villain this time.
She calmed herself down, forced herself to speak sharply, pointed at the veil in the water and looked at him intently.
"Queming, I want you to fish it out for me!"
He turned to look at her when he heard that, the veil hiding the expression on his face. Yue Qingning was very nervous, afraid that he would refuse.
But Que Ming quickly replied "yes" without even a moment's hesitation, and just jumped out of the window.
Yue Qingning was shocked and leaned against the window to watch him. He saw the clear shadow in the water flapping back and forth twice, and suddenly grabbed the curtain fence floating on the water, and jumped to the other side farther away from the shore. He flapped a few times and stopped by the side of the boat.
Yue Qingning quickly ran out of the cabin and called for help. There were quite a few people under him, and several servants quickly rushed up to untie the rope on the boat and threw it down. Que Ming held the rope and held on to his veil with one hand. Fortunately, they were now close to the shore and the water was not deep, so he was pulled up in two seconds.
Que Ming, who was soaking wet and in a miserable state, was dragged up and coughed with his face red at the side of the boat. Yue Qingning approached him, but he reached out and handed her the tent.
She reached out to catch the wet hat, feeling as if her heart was burning with pain.
But she also knew that if she let the prince see him, she would not be able to keep Que Ming no matter what. She had to make sure there was no possibility between them.
Now that he was in such a wet and miserable state, he naturally wanted to avoid the nobleman. Yue Qingning breathed a sigh of relief and squatted down to speak in his ear.
"Queming, you don't have to get off the boat. Just stay on it."
"yes!"
Just like before, he had no objection at all and was as obedient as a dog.
Yue Qingning couldn't bear to watch it any longer. When he turned around, he couldn't help frowning and had to get off the boat with his face covered.
The splash into the water just now caught everyone by surprise, especially Crown Prince Xiao Yan who was standing in the middle of the crowd. He had seen all kinds of bizarre plots, but what was going on today?
The person who came down from the boat was pretty, delicate and slender, and even covered her face with her hands, looking sick.
Xiao Yan stood there leisurely, waiting to see what she was going to do.
Finally approaching, Yue Qingning put down her hands and bowed slowly to the prince. The face she revealed surprised everyone. They thought she was a sickly beauty, but when she put down her hands, her face was as beautiful as a peony.
When I raised my eyes, I saw a pair of clear and beautiful eyes looking at me, which was really enchanting.
Xiao Yan didn't expect such a face, but his suspicion of her did not disappear, so he pretended to be worried and asked.
"Is the girl okay? I just heard someone fall into the water. What happened?"
Yue Qingning hated him very much, but she had to answer at this moment. She tried her best to lower her head and not look at him.
"Reporting to Your Highness, a gust of wind just now blew through the hall, and I lost my grip on my veil and it fell into the water. My servants were worried and jumped in to retrieve it. I'm sorry for disturbing Your Highness! Please forgive me!"
After hearing this, Xiao Yan frowned and seemed not to care much.
"It's okay! As long as the girl is okay!"
Rolling up his sleeves, he turned and walked towards the building, and several people had to follow him.
Yue Qingning fell behind at the end and turned back towards the pleasure boat. There were only a few servants there collecting the ropes. Que Ming must have gone back into the cabin. He wondered how he was doing now?
Seeing that she didn't catch up, Sister Teng turned back and walked beside her and asked.
"Qingning, are you okay?"
She smiled and shook her head, but her expression was not good. "I'm fine."
"Why did my veil fall off just now? Is it because my hat doesn't fit me properly?"
"How could it be inappropriate? I just didn't stand steadily for a moment and tilted my head, causing the hat to fall off."
Teng Xieji finally understood. No wonder she didn't get up just now. It turned out that she started to feel dizzy again, and she had to be dragged out before she recovered. That's why so many things happened.
Thinking of this, Teng Xieji blamed himself a little. He shouldn't have asked her to go boating on the lake when he knew she was not feeling well.
The two of them were concerned about each other, but someone stopped in front and was waiting for them.
Yue Qingning subconsciously raised her head and saw the third young master of the Cui family standing on a few steps higher and looking back at her.
The look was too direct. Although she still had the memory of being eighteen years old, she didn't know how to face such a gaze. Sister Teng couldn't bear it anymore and stepped forward to block his gaze.
"Young Master, my sister is fine, you don't have to worry."
"I'm glad you're alright!"
He faced Teng Xieji, but still tilted his head slightly to look at Qingning behind her.
She was even more beautiful under the veil than imagined. Her eyes were full of affection under her crescent-shaped eyebrows. It was no wonder that she wore a veil with such beauty. If she didn't, even passers-by would look at her sideways.
Feeling the gaze wandering across his face, Yue Qingning lowered his head to avoid his sight.
The favors the Cui family had shown her in her previous life must naturally be remembered, but Yue Qingning could not agree with what the young master of the Cui family wanted. She had never married anyone in her previous life, and it was even more impossible for her to think about such things in this life before the suffering was over. So she avoided his gaze and went behind Sister Teng.
When Cui Hu saw that she was hiding, he realized that his behavior had scared her too much, so he turned around and climbed the stairs into the small building first.
Only then did she finally breathe a sigh of relief. She was the last one to go up the stairs with Sister Teng. In front of them was a cherry tree. It was the fruit-bearing season, and the trees were full of cherries. The small red fruits hung on the branches, barely visible under the green leaves.
Behind the tree is a small building, only two stories high, with the words "White Bird Pavilion" hanging on the door.
Yue Qingning thought about it for a moment and realized that the word "white bird" was taken from the poem "Red lotuses lean against each other as if drunk, while the white bird is speechless and must be sad." Since this place is not far from the lotus pond, using the word "white bird" is very appropriate to the theme.
When the two of them walked into the building, the prince and his entourage had already gone up to the second floor.
There is a huge lotus platform in the hall on the first floor. It seems to be made of pottery and painted with red paint on the outside. From a distance, it does look very similar to the red lotus blooming here. However, the lotus only blooms at night, so those who are interested can only watch it at night.
This red lotus never withers, and lotus lovers can see it at any time of the year. The person who made this clay red lotus was a thoughtful person who put a lot of effort into the design and was very attentive.
After a quick look, not daring to keep the prince waiting any longer, Yue Qingning followed Sister Teng up the stairs, holding up her skirt.
There were two low couches on both sides of the window upstairs. The prince was sitting on the east side, and everyone else was standing on one side. Two courtesans were sitting on the stools and gently playing the guqin, and the sound of the guqin once again resounded throughout the pavilion.
Seeing them coming up, the prince casually pointed and told them to sit on the low couch on the west side opposite.
Before she even sat down, Yue Qingning felt more than one pair of gazes on her face, making her feel uncomfortable.
There are only a few people in this room. Why are you looking at her instead of the musician?
She coughed twice and covered her face, and the gaze that had been following her like a shadow finally shifted, making her feel more at ease. Yue Qingning looked up, but unexpectedly, she saw Crown Prince Xiao Yan staring at her from the opposite side, with an expression of contempt that was very uncomfortable.
"Is the girl not feeling well?"
"Yes, I haven't been feeling well lately."
Yue Qingning suppressed her disgusted expression. If it was true, the prince was the real murderer of her death. If it weren't for the infighting within his own party, Que Ming wouldn't have helped him to this extent.
The bad roots of the Shuhu clan were not diminished at all when they came into his body, but were hidden even deeper. Allowing such a cruel person to be in power is the beginning of the destruction of a country and a race.
Seeing him pretending to be gentle and polite made Yue Qingning feel sick, not to mention that he was a scum who liked to play with men!
The old scores accumulated from her previous life made Yue Qingning almost unable to suppress a frown, but she couldn't show it in front of him.
Xiao Yan looked at the woman in front of him and coughed twice while covering her face, which completely killed his interest. He always hated people who were in poor health and brought a lot of trouble, especially women!
"Girl, you should take care of yourself and be careful."
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