Chapter 27 Secret

  After seeing Chen Songzhuo off, I turned around and walked back. Who would have known that as I reached the corner, I heard a faint whispering voice. Wondering who it was and where they were, my curiosity drove me to take step by step towards the truth.

  I pressed my body tightly against the wall, hiding in the corner and peeking out to take a look. It seemed like a man and a woman, with the man facing me, but I didn't recognize who he was. The woman had her back to me, and for the time being, I couldn't think of who it might be.

  Take a closer look at that man, or rather boy, who should be about the same age as Umanya herself. He wore a light blue changshan with a water-like pattern, and although his appearance was not outstanding, he had added a few points of elegance to himself.

  The two of them stood some distance apart, and didn't seem like close acquaintances.

  His face was extremely cold, and his expression when speaking was either scolding or impatiently rolling his eyes. He also struggled to break free from the woman's hands that were grasping his clothes several times.

  Who is he, the man in the palace? Besides the emperor, only princes, guards and imperial physicians are left. I have seen the attire of guards and imperial physicians before, it's definitely not him, and his body is thin, besides, there is no sword on his waist, it should not be a guard.

  Could he be the imperial prince? Ah yes, wasn't there a sixth imperial prince mentioned before? And wasn't Wang's aunt originally his wet nurse...

  As I was guessing repeatedly, the man shook off the woman's hand and turned to leave, without even looking back. It was the woman who stood there in a daze, watching the man's receding figure, her shoulders shaking, apparently crying.

  The woman stood there for a while, then suddenly turned around and walked towards me. Not good, about to expose my target, I ran back to the Lingbo Temple at the fastest speed. This road, I ran too fast, and couldn't catch my breath. However, thinking that this was okay, running back meant not being afraid of being discovered, I could relax, I lowered my head and squatted down, panting heavily.

  "Manya girl, what are you doing?" I looked up and saw that it was Wang auntie who spoke.

  Oh no, she silently cried out in her heart. Her clothes were exactly the same as that woman's from just now. Although all palace maidens' clothes are the same, their quality and color differ. Moreover, who else besides Chen Songzhuo would dare to come to Lingbo Hall nowadays? My intuition tells me, no need to guess, it's this person in front of me.

  "It's too hot in the house, I'm cooling off here!"

  Lying has never been my strong suit. This autumn, the house is as cold inside as it is outside. What a relief! I really admire my own quick wit, it's absolutely brilliant!

  Yu Xiang's aunt was such a clever person, how couldn't she see through my mistake-ridden lies? I looked at myself and repeated "taking advantage of the coolness?"

  My lies have been exposed, and I'm left speechless, with a blank mind, muttering incoherently, not knowing what to say.

  "This... uh? Take a break? Uh..."

  Forget it, I give up continuing this evil act of lying. I was born unsuitable for lying, so I'd better be honest and speak the truth.

  "Aunt Wang, I saw it all just now!" As soon as the words left my mouth, I saw Aunt Wang's eyes with tears that had not yet dried, and my heart tightened.

  "Oh, you saw it!" Wang's aunt secretly wiped away her tears, but her face was expressionless.

  "I didn't mean to sneak a peek, I was just curious..." Seeing her like that made me feel very uncomfortable, so I quickly explained.

  Everyone has their own secrets, shouldn't I be snooping, shouldn't I be disturbing his world, maybe I was wrong.

  Yu Xiang's aunt suddenly hid her tears and replaced them with a rare smile, saying in a low voice, "That is my son, Lian Zhong."

  I didn't want to interrupt Yuanxiang's monologue, but the word "son" was too surprising for me, and I couldn't help asking, "Son? How old is he now? My goodness, isn't that against the law?"

  Yes, this Mr. Xiang is only about thirty years old, and his son has grown up to be so big, this...this...this isn't...

  Come to think of it, that's right! She was the wet nurse of the Sixth Prince, and now the Sixth Prince has also passed his coming-of-age ceremony, so her son must not be very old either. Women in ancient times were really strong, getting married and giving birth at the age of ten or more, thinking of myself being over twenty years old and still single, it's really embarrassing.

  Yu Xiang's aunt didn't mind me interrupting at all, still with a happy smile on her face, muttering to herself.

  "You haven't seen him in a long time, have you? I also haven't seen him for a long time. He's grown so much since the last time we saw him." She said while gesturing with her hands.

  "Manya, did you see that? He's grown up!" Aunt Wang occasionally stopped to interact with me, I met her gaze and responded with a very awkward "uh-huh".

  "Is he here to see you?" I asked a very silly question. Thinking about the cold attitude just now, I also knew it wasn't.

  Yu Xiang's expression changed slightly, but she didn't look displeased. In an instant, her smile returned, and she said calmly, "He is the study companion of the Sixth Prince. He grew up with the Sixth Prince since childhood. It's good that he has the Sixth Prince to rely on; in this palace, he won't have to suffer."

  I don't believe he can take care of himself, let alone others. The Sixth Prince himself has no power to speak of, having lost his mother at a young age and with a father who doesn't care about him. As an orphaned child without any backing, it's already not easy for him to protect himself in the palace where there are many people who bully the kind and fear the evil. What ability does he have to protect those around him?

  The companion reader is what, it's just that when the prince makes a mistake and can't be beaten, they can only beat the companion reader to show punishment, poor scapegoat.

  I naturally couldn't speak out loud, nor did I want to deceive Wang's aunt, so I had no choice but to nod my head repeatedly.

  "Lian Zhong, this kid, still has that temper, doesn't let you touch or hold him, you just saw it yourself, he's actually quite good to me."

  The words behind became softer and softer, I could hardly hear them. Perhaps they were not meant for me to hear, perhaps she was only talking to herself.

  Looking at Yuanshang's aunt's face, the smile on her face had less happiness and more guilt. But who should be feeling guilty? Shouldn't it be that kid Lianzhong instead?

  Maybe there's an unknown inside story, maybe it's not enough to be told to outsiders, or maybe that was just a misinterpreted expression.

  I stopped talking because I didn't know what to say, and Wang Auntie also fell silent, her expression somewhat dull, twisting her clothes with her hands, the atmosphere turned cold.

  After a while, a fit of coughing broke the awkward silence.

  "Miss Manya, Master has something to ask of you." The sound of Yue's voice was incredibly warm and familiar at this moment, like heavenly music that brought me out of that death-like stillness.

  "Oh, well..." I turned around and looked at Yu Xiang's aunt, not knowing what to say.

  "Hurry up, Master has been waiting for a long time!" The calmness on Wang's face indicated that she had returned to her normal self.

  "Uh-huh!" I nodded towards her and followed Moon's footsteps into the house.

  Mu Yan was sitting upright on the chair, holding a piece of white cloth tightly wrapped around her hand with a needle and thread in the other hand, carefully embroidering something.

  This scene I'm seeing for the first time, before this I really didn't know she had this skill.

  "How elegant and delightful! What is she embroidering? Let me take a look."

  I went straight to Mu Yan without any hesitation, sat down beside her with a plop, and snatched the silk from her hand to take a closer look.

  "Hmm, why isn't it a romantic scene of mandarin ducks playing in the water, but instead this majestic and towering landscape of mountains and rivers."

  Strange, didn't ancient people like embroidery or mandarin ducks? Why does this look different from the ones in historical dramas.

  "Don't grab it, I've been embroidering for several days." As she spoke, Mu Yan took the silk back with one hand.

  Her action is quite annoying me, it's just a piece of cloth, do you have to be so tense? "Hmph, so petty, who cares!"

  Longing for smoke, not responding to words, ignoring my little emotions, still embroidering.

  "Master, why did you call me here?" I saw that she didn't respond to me, and suddenly felt a sense of disappointment, so I found an excuse to divert the unpleasantness from just now.

  "How dare you be so presumptuous! I, your master, can't afford to indulge you!" Mu Yan's face was smiling, but his words were still unyielding.

  I got up from the chair, turned around and bowed deeply, thinking that Master Smoke had made a heavy bow, and asked, "Is it, master? Are you satisfied this time?"

  "Get up, I'm not a petty person. I heard you've been getting close to that Wang woman lately? Have you forgotten the pain of your past wounds?" Mu Yan didn't put down her embroidery and continued stitching, only looking up at me with a questioning gaze.

  It turned out that Mu Yan was concerned about this matter. I thought our friendship had cooled down, but unexpectedly she still cared about me.

  With that thought, a bright smile spread across her face as she replied, "Master is indeed perceptive, nothing can escape your notice. There was some interaction, but it's just trivial matters. Yuanxiang Auntie only looked a bit cold in the face, and she's not a bad person at all. Moreover, I just discovered..."

  Before I could finish sharing the gossip, Mu Yan interrupted and said, "She has a son, right? This isn't a secret. Whether or not she's a good person, I don't know, but she's definitely not an ordinary servant. You'd better keep your distance from her in the future!"

  It's strange, what's going on today? Everyone likes to say that others are bad people and tells me to stay away from those bad people. How did so many bad people suddenly appear in the world?

  I still wanted to defend Yuan Xiang, but Mu Yan's expression had already lost interest in listening. Her eyes were tightly fixed on the white silk in her hand, as if she could see something from it, I don't know if she looked at it for too long and her eyes hurt, I actually saw a flash of tears.

  Maybe everyone has secrets they don't want to share, and the tears at the corner of their eyes are the only trace that those secrets ever existed.