Chapter 536: No time, no going!
Lan Xiyue listened to her heartfelt gratitude. She blinked deliberately, a mischievous smile appeared on the corner of her lips, and she pinched Qian Duoduo's face: "Yes! I wholeheartedly treat you as my best sister and treat you with all my heart, but the result is..."
She drawled out her words, her eyes full of mockery, "You girl, you actually 'repay evil with kindness', deliberately plotting to become my sister-in-law! Tsk tsk tsk, you're really calculating!"
"Oh! Yueyue!" Qian Duoduo's secret was instantly revealed, and her pretty face turned red like a cooked shrimp.
She was so ashamed that she raised her little fist and hit Lan Xiyue's shoulder relentlessly and coquettishly. Her voice was shy and annoyed, and she called Lan Xiyue's name in a drawn-out tone. She looked like a newlywed who was teased and at a loss.
Lan Xiyue and Qian Duoduo laughed and played for a while, and the depression in her heart was relieved a lot, and a smile finally appeared between her brows.
After Qian Duoduo left, Lan Xiyue started to tinker with medicinal herbs again.
Chu Xia followed beside her, watching her princess roll up her sleeves and skillfully select herbs. She couldn't help but whisper, "Princess, the refugees outside are getting better after using the palace's medicine. Why are you still so busy refining medicine?"
Lan Xiyue raised the corners of her lips slightly, her hands kept moving, and she did not answer.
She had her own plans in mind: she had to prepare more finished medicines in the space so that it would be convenient for her to go out in the future. She originally thought of acting alone, but then she changed her mind and felt that it was not appropriate. Chuchun and Chuxia, her two personal maids, had been serving her loyally since she came to this strange world, and they had already developed a certain friendship.
Women of this era were confined to their homes their entire lives, and their exposure to the outside world was extremely limited. It would be nice to take them out to see the world, but I couldn't say it openly just yet, lest these two little girls lose their composure and reveal their true feelings. It would be embarrassing if it were revealed too early.
Seeing that the princess was immersed in her own thoughts and ignored her questions, Chu Xia tactfully stopped disturbing her and quietly retreated.
Chuchun came in with a cup of warm tea and gently placed it on the corner of the medicine table. His eyes lingered on Lan Xiyue's focused profile for a moment, and then he also retreated silently.
Outside the door, on the porch, Chuxia grabbed Chuchun's arm and dragged her to a corner shaded by flowers. She lowered her voice with a hint of worry, "Chuchun, have you noticed? Ever since that person from the backyard came, the princess seems fine on the outside, but inside... it's like she's always been weighed down by something."
Chuchun glanced back at the tightly closed door of the medicine house, nodded slightly, and lowered her voice to a very low level: "Well, the princess has a strong personality. Even if she doesn't say it, how can she really not care? After all, that person was forced in by the Queen Mother..."
Chu Xia's face fell when she heard this. She couldn't help but snort, her tone full of contempt: "What kind of noble lady is this? Our prince doesn't even look at her, but insists on sticking to her. He's really shameless!"
Chuchun quickly covered Chuxia's mouth with her hand, looked around warily, and then released her hand, frowning and scolding: "It's fine to say this in private in the main courtyard, but don't say a word about it outside this courtyard! What if it gets to that person's ears, and she runs to the Queen Mother to cry and complain, wouldn't that bring more trouble to the princess? The Queen Mother is..."
Chu Xia stuck out her tongue, a little scared and unwilling: "I know, I know, I'm not stupid, I'll keep my mouth shut when we're out there."
At this time, inside Jingfeng Pavilion.
Anya was sitting at the bottom, her face was haggard, with a faint dark circle under her eyes.
The Queen Mother saw this and felt very distressed. She soothed him gently, "Ya'er, men are not impatient. You need to be more patient and take your time."
Anya raised her tearful eyes, her voice filled with grievance: "Mother, Ya'er can't even see the prince... He, he always avoids me."
The Queen Mother's face darkened slightly. She turned her head and asked the maid standing beside her, "Has Yuan'er really not been in the mansion these days?"
The nanny bowed and replied, "Your Highness, I've had my servants investigate carefully. The prince has been leaving the palace before dawn and returning at night these past few days. And whenever he returns... he goes straight to the princess's residence in the main courtyard, never stopping anywhere else."
Upon hearing this, the Queen Mother's well-maintained face flashed with anger, and she snorted coldly, "Hmph! He's just mad at me! He's not happy that I took Ya'er as his concubine, and he even gave up my Jingfeng Pavilion!" She paused, looking at Anya's distraught expression below her, and felt even more displeased. She said to the nanny in a deep voice, "Go! Call Lan Xiyue to me!"
The nanny replied respectfully, "Yes, I will go right away."
Main courtyard entrance
An Yi, dressed in black, stood at the gate of the courtyard like a stone sculpture, with an expressionless face and eyes as sharp as an eagle, staring coldly at the nanny who came from Jingfeng Pavilion.
The nanny acted like someone close to the Empress Dowager, her tone unquestionable, "Go and inform the Princess that the Empress Dowager has ordered her to come to Jingfeng Pavilion for an audience immediately."
Chu Xia, who had just walked to the corridor, happened to hear these words. Her heart tightened and her eyebrows immediately frowned. She did not dare to delay and did not care about etiquette. She picked up the hem of her skirt and trotted back to the room.
An Yi caught a glimpse of Chu Xia's movements and knew that she had heard it, so he continued to stand guard without moving.
Chu Xia ran into the medicine room breathlessly and said urgently, "Princess! The old nanny next to the Queen Mother is here again! She said that the Queen Mother wants you to go to Jingfeng Pavilion immediately!"
The room was filled with the faint fragrance of herbs. Lan Xiyue was concentrating on placing a red phoenix tail grass into the stone mortar. Hearing this, without even raising her head, she slowly lowered the jade pestle in her hand, making a dull and regular "thump thump" sound.
Her voice was flat, but with an unquestionable alienation: "I'm busy, I'm not going!" The old queen mother of Jingfeng Pavilion was just looking for trouble again, and she didn't have the leisure to deal with it.
"Ah?" Chu Xia was stunned. Seeing that her princess looked focused and spoke in a firm tone, it was obvious that she was not joking. She said no more and had to trot out again and return to the gate of the courtyard.
Chu Xia took a deep breath and forced a faint smile towards the nanny, whose face had already turned somewhat grim. She bowed slightly and said, "Forgive me, nanny. The princess is currently concentrating on refining life-saving medicine for the refugees in the capital and is unable to spare time. Please inform the Empress Dowager that once the princess is done with this period of work, she will personally go to Jingfeng Pavilion to apologize to the Empress Dowager."
The nanny's brows furrowed, her tone suddenly rising as she questioned, "Is the princess preparing life-saving medicine for the refugees? The refugees in the capital have long been under control, and I think the princess was just delaying the situation. Now the princess is really spoiled, even daring to refuse the Queen Mother's summons?!"
Chu Xia's smile remained unchanged, but her voice became clearer: "Mammy, you may not know that the princess is worried about the refugees in the capital catching cold and getting sick, so she has been working day and night to develop a prescription."
The nanny's face turned ashen, she snorted heavily, flicked her sleeves, turned around and strode away.
Chu Xia watched the angry figure disappear outside the moon cave door before she heaved a long sigh of relief. She curled her lips in that direction and muttered to herself, "Humph, you want our princess to go over there and be harassed again? You wish!"
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