Chapter 43: A Trifle Matter

  Looking at a full table of dishes, but only I am eating alone. Xuan Yuan Qi is just drinking wine to accompany me, and Xuan Yuan Mu doesn't eat at all. With great difficulty, I finish one bowl of food, but in the next moment, it's full again.

  "I can't eat anymore!" I put down my chopsticks and looked at Xuan Yuan Mu.

  Xuanyuan smiled and said "Are you full? After eating, I'll take you for a stroll around the capital."

  "Third Brother, I'll go too..." Xuan Yuan Qi hastily finished his last cup of wine.

  "None of your business! My husband and I are going for a stroll. Off with you!" Xuan Yuan Mu directly refused.

  I looked at Xuan Yuan Qi pouting, deliberately looking annoyed, and waved my hand at him.

  This is our first time strolling around like this, calm and peaceful, without any purpose, purely for fun. Xuan Yuan's temples have a few strands of scattered hair, adding to his handsome appearance.

  The girls by the roadside saw him and couldn't help but take a few more glances, each with a face as red as a sunset cloud and eyes shining like peach blossoms.

  If he hadn't been harmed, he would have had a family and career by now. He would be the future emperor, and there would be many women around him at that time.

  "What's on your mind?" Xuan Yuan Mu stroked my hair.

  "Sister said, you two almost got engaged that year. Is it?" I still can't call her sister face to face, but behind her back, I've practiced many times, now I can shout out those two words.

  "Don't listen to her nonsense, it's not true!" Xuan Yuan Mu's smile disappeared from his face as he reached out and pulled me closer to his side.

  "Hmm!" I suddenly didn't know what to say, sometimes I wonder, if it weren't for all these mysterious events that bind us together, would we still be able to love each other?

  For quite some time, the two of us just walked on the road, but were speechless towards each other.

  He probably felt the atmosphere was a bit awkward, so he ran to the side of the road and bought a string of sugar gourds and stuffed them into my hands: "I've never been on a date with a girl before, so you shouldn't think I'm boring."

  My mood suddenly improved, I took a bite of the sugar gourd and said "It won't be boring!"

  Xuanyuan's smile grew wider as he reached out to ruffle my hair: "Have you ever gone on a date with someone? Gone out alone with a guy to have some fun or do something?"

  I thought about it, when I was a kid, I went out with Yang Chen, does that count? And also going to the street alone with Tofu Master Li Yue to buy soybeans, does that count?

  Xuanyuan's eyes fell on me, and his voice suddenly turned cold: "Have you ever dated anyone else?"

  "I... I'm not good at lying, but is this really a date?"

  "Didn't you have someone you liked before being sent to the Ghost King's harem selection?" Xuan Yuan Mu's eyebrows furrowed, staring at me tightly.

  "I... didn't..." I lowered my head and even lost interest in eating the sugar gourd.

  "Mei Lingxue, I'm asking you a question, and you must answer!" Xuan Yuan Mu suddenly used his identity to pressure me.

  I feel depressed in my heart and don't know how to answer?

  "I said no!" My tone also turned nasty.

  "Return to the palace!" Xuan Yuan's face darkened as he strode towards the palace in large steps.

  Returning to the East Palace, he dispersed all the palace maids in the hall, leaving only me alone, closing the door tightly and staring at me asking: "Is there or not?"

  I raised my head to look at him, and his eyes had turned yellow.

  "What exactly do you want to hear?" I also got anxious and asked him back.

  "Truthfully, you've never lied to me before." Xuan Yuan Mu looked at me coldly.

  "I don't know if that counts, when I was a kid, Yang Chen took me out, he secretly escaped from the Zuo Xiang Fu with me, heading to Anlan Mountain outside the city. He said there's a sea of flowers on the other side of the mountain and wanted to take me to see it, but we were caught by people from the Zuo Xiang Fu halfway... I was beaten up by the steward..." I replied somewhat indignantly.

  "And then there was another time..." I thought of Li Yue.

  "Anything else?" Xuan Yuan's eyes turned even more golden as he looked at me in a daze and shouted loudly: "Speak..."

  I'm so angry I could bite my tongue off, it's better if I hadn't said anything, why am I so stupid.

  "Speak!"

  I closed my eyes and opened them again: "Li Yue..."

  "Who is Li Yue?" Xuan Yuan Mu's temper seemed about to erupt as he shouted loudly.

  I saw him get angry and didn't know what to do. I wanted to apologize but didn't know where I was wrong.

  "It was Li Yue who made tofu, and you hit him..."

  "It's him, it's actually him... You've even dated him..." Xuan Yuan Mu clenched his fists tightly and bellowed.

  I won't say anything else. I really don't want to see him get angry, nor do I want to get angry myself. I sat down and didn't look at him, nor did I want to say anything more.

  "Mei Lingxue, you'd better say something! Say something!" Xuan Yuan Mu was really anxious, he threw all the things on the table to the ground.

  I'm a stubborn person, and sometimes the more you force me, the less willing I am to speak. Xuan Yuan went crazy, his head actually floated over here, while his body was still at the edge of the table.

  "Tell me," he said, "you have to tell me, what happened to you?" His face was deathly pale, his eyes golden, his voice icy, and his mouth was bleeding, staring at me fixedly.

  I watched him like this, and my heart ached: "Actually, there's nothing much. Once I accompanied my mother to his place to buy tofu, but the soybeans were gone. My mother asked me to follow him to buy soybeans, saying that the Left Prime Minister's mansion was busy using tofu and had to hurry up. It was just buying soybeans, nothing else."

  Xuanyuan Mu regained his composure and looked at me coldly: "The person you like is not Li Yue, but Yang Chen, right? He even took you to see the sea of flowers!"

  "Nothing..." I replied with my head down.

  "Then why don't you dare look into my eyes!" Xuan Yuan Mu grasped this question tightly.

  I lifted my head and looked at him, telling him very firmly: "No, I didn't!"

  Xuanyuan stopped questioning me and looked at me inquiringly for a long time. Then he turned around and left the room.

  I sighed, looking at the ceramic shards on the ground, feeling particularly wronged. Whether I spoke or not, it was all wrong. Then I bent down to pick up the pieces, and I bitterly smiled at myself, truly pitiful. At any time, in any place, I was always being forced to do things, forced to make mistakes, and then forced to be punished.

  For the next two days, I didn't see Xuan Yuan Mu. I heard other palace maids say that the Crown Prince had gone to Mei Ling Hua's room for the past two days. Since Xuan Yuan Mu wasn't in his palace, I didn't need to stay here anymore. I moved back to the palace maid's quarters. Everyone looked at me with a mixture of gloating and sympathy, their expressions a mix of pity and contempt.

  "Mei Lingxue!" An old man appeared at the door of the palace maid's room, shouting loudly.

  It's the East Palace's steward, I bowed and said "Your Highness!"

  "You said you were a personal maid, and now that you're better, why don't you go serve your master? Didn't Zhang Mama teach you well before entering the palace? Let me tell you, if I hear anyone else say you're lazy and slacking off again, don't blame me for being impolite!"