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The news that Fairy Xiyue had moved into the princess's mansion quickly spread throughout the capital. For several days in a row, many people lingered outside the high walls of the princess's mansion, trying to listen to the sound of the fairy practicing the piano. Civil and military officials, princes and generals came to visit the Ninth Princess under various pretexts. Empress Feng Nanxuan Xuanyuan Ya bestowed a large number of treasures, ranging from the daily necessities of the fairy's daily life to delicacies from mountains and seas, and even rewarded Fairy Xiyue with a large pot of top-grade elixir.
Except for a very few upright censors who occasionally made some complaints, all the other civil and military officials in the court supported the empress's act of rewarding Xiao Xiyue without any merit.
In the teahouses and restaurants of the capital, people were talking about this with great relish. Everyone in the capital praised the empress's wisdom and said that the beauty and piano skills of Fairy Xiyue were worthy of the reward.
People outside praised her endlessly, but Bihe, the personal maid who stayed in the princess's mansion and served the princess at all times, seemed to disagree.
"Princess, don't you think that Fairy Xiyue..."
Watching Xiao Xiyue's departing back, Bihe couldn't help but speak.
"What do you think?"
Xuanyuan Mingzhu raised an eyebrow.
"I think she's just a country bumpkin!" Bi He covered her mouth and laughed secretly. "Except for being prettier and playing the piano better, I don't think she can compare to you, Princess. She speaks in a stammering way, isn't very efficient in her work, and always makes small talk. It makes me feel awkward just listening to her. I don't know how people outside can praise her so highly!"
Bihe recalled that just now, Xiao Xiyue suddenly came to chat with the princess, but she didn't know what to talk about. Instead, the princess took the initiative to find a topic. Fairy Xiyue hesitated for a long time before saying, "I don't know what's so beautiful about this jewelry." She didn't say a word about what the princess said about the jewelry and rouge in the capital, and she didn't agree with her. Her performance was so funny that it was hard to laugh.
Xuanyuan Mingzhu curled the corners of her mouth. No one doesn't like flattery, especially when she and Xiao Xiyue have a certain competitive relationship.
but.
"Shut up." Xuanyuan Mingzhu flicked the maid's forehead with her finger and said calmly, "Fairy Xiyue is not an ordinary person. How can you look at her with ordinary principles? Don't say such words again, or I will not forgive you!"
"Yes, Princess~!"
Bihe knew that the princess liked to hear her words.
…
"Miss, have you been worried recently?"
Xiaoqing's ability to read people's expressions was not very good, but she could see the contempt in Bihe's eyes at a glance, which made her very angry, but she didn't know how to tell the young lady.
Ever since she moved into the princess's mansion, the young lady has been behaving strangely, as if on purpose, trying hard to integrate into the life of the princess's mansion. She doesn't practice the piano every afternoon, and always goes to find Xiao Yuan or chat with the Ninth Princess.
This is definitely weird!
Given the young lady's personality of not liking to join in the fun, she should have just sat quietly in the yard, waiting for that bastard Xiao Yuan to come visit her with the Ninth Princess!
Could it be because of that abominable Xiao Yuan again? !
Xiao Xiyue was silent for a long time and shook her head gently, indicating that she didn't want to talk about this topic.
She really was worried.
But even she didn't know what this feeling was, so how could she express it?
She went to chat with the Ninth Princess. One purpose was to meet Xiao Yuan, and the other purpose was to make herself more normal.
"That's all..."
Three days later, the death ceremony of Queen Xuanyuan Ya was officially held.
Although it is said to be a return to heaven, it will actually take another ten years for it to actually take place. Now this battle is more of the Queen issuing an imperial decree to Jiuzhou, announcing that the position of Crown Prince will be formally established, and anyone from the Xuanyuan royal family can apply for it.
However, the empress reigned for five hundred years, and the rest of the Xuanyuan royal family had already been suppressed or exiled. The only ones who were qualified to compete for the throne were the four who still remained in the capital.
The eldest prince, the third prince, the seventh prince, and the ninth princess.
Originally, the Fourth Prince was also a strong candidate for the Crown Prince, but because of the previous Linhe County incident, the Empress demoted all of the Fourth Prince's descendants to commoners and stripped them of their Xuanyuan surname.
Moreover, this imperial edict was announced at the death ceremony in front of the four major sects and many princes and dukes of the Xuanyuan royal family. It can be said that the Fourth Prince's lineage is completely wiped out. After the Empress issued the imperial edict, the Royal Guards who had been guarding the Fourth Prince's residence for a long time immediately went in to seal it off and drove the Fourth Prince out of the capital. His father, the Empress's biological son, who was away in another place, also received the same treatment, and his entire lineage was expelled.
The merciless judgment was also a warning to others who were interested in the position of crown prince: you can use all means to fight for the throne, but if you dare to attack your own people, or collude with the demon sect, you will be killed without mercy!
Many people said that if there was no evidence that the Fourth Prince ordered the Linhe County Magistrate to collude with the Demon Sect, the Fourth Prince's lineage would probably have been slaughtered by the angry Queen.
After all, compared to the fourth son who was crowned a prince a hundred years ago and the grandson who is right in front of her, the ninth princess, as a daughter, has a closer relationship with the empress.
…
After the passing away ceremony, Xiao Xiyue returned to the Ninth Princess's Mansion, but Xiao Yuan did not come to chat with her.
In fact, she felt more depressed after moving in. There was always a kind of melancholy in her heart that she had nowhere to express, and it accumulated in her chest and she couldn't tell anyone about it.
To use a word she accidentally heard, she is now: pretentious.
"Although my background isn't particularly good, I was enrolled in the Xianyun Sect since I was young. My master doted on me and even told me the secret that she was once the Saint of the Six Paths Sect."
"I'm talented, whether it's in cultivation or in my piano skills. While ordinary people worry about not being able to break through, it's not a problem for me."
"The people around me treat me very well. My senior brothers and sisters love me and admire me."
"But why am I still troubled?"
"Is it because I like Xiao Yuan, or am I influenced by that servant?"
Xiao Xiyue was wearing a light blue dress. She was tall and slender, with her waist-length hair uncombed and scattered behind her head.
She stood by the lake in the princess's mansion, looking up at the moon above her head.
There is no wind or cloud tonight, and the bright moonlight is so beautiful that the dark clouds from the past have left no trace.
But she is not the moon after all.
"I'm just... the reflection of the moon in the lake."
Xiao Xiyue looked down at the reflection of the moon broken by the goldfish, and made a decision in her heart.
She wanted to find Xiao Yuan and tell him about her recent mood changes. She believed that Brother Yuan would give her some advice.
"Go straight to Brother Yuan? No, that seems too conspicuous. It's better to hide yourself to avoid being noticed and attracting unnecessary attention."
Xiao Xiyue hesitated for a moment, then her figure slowly disappeared and she walked slowly towards where Xiao Yuan lived.
The bright moon sets in the west, as if falling into the mortal world.
Whispers were heard in the princess's mansion.
"Oh, I have to say, Fairy Xiyue's piano playing tonight is really beautiful!"
"Hehe, after all, she is the Xiyue Fairy praised by everyone."
"You girl, you smile so cunningly, is there something you want to say but dare not say it?"
"I didn't say anything, don't slander me, hehe, I just wanted to say... Fairy Xiyue is very powerful, but when it comes to snatching men, she can't compare to the princess at all."
"Shh! Keep your voice down. The princess and Xiao Yuan went to the garden in the back mountain after they came back."
"Hmm, is Xiao Yuan going to become a royal consort soon?"
"Shut up, you gossipy little girl!"
"Aren't you just a gossipy little girl? Humph~"
The sound of the maids whispering to each other reached the ears of the invisible Xiao Xiyue. She paused for a moment and decided to turn to the garden in the back mountain.
The capital city is perched like a giant dragon on a majestic mountain. As the last princess born to the empress, Xuanyuan Mingzhu's princess mansion covers a vast area. There are rockery, ponds and gardens in the mansion. The nine-entry and nine-exit courtyards can accommodate thousands of people living at the same time.
A large area at the back of the mountain is exclusively owned by the princess, and no one is allowed to enter except a small number of trusted personal maids.
This was Xiao Xiyue's first time entering the back mountain garden.
With her strength, as long as she did not have any evil intentions when entering, she would not alert the Dao Yun Realm experts guarding the Princess's Mansion. After entering the garden at the back mountain, even the divine consciousness of the Dao Yun Realm would not cover this place, giving the Ninth Princess and Xiao Yuan a private space to talk about love.
"Princess."
"What are you doing? Why are you sticking to me so disgustingly? Stay away from me and go find your sister Xiyue!"
"I want the bear's paw, and I also want the fish."
"Okay, you stinky guard, you still want to play two women at the same time? You deserve a beating~"
"Hehe~"
The laughter of Brother Yuan and the Ninth Princess coming from afar made Xiao Xiyue, who had entered this place in stealth, pause. She looked up at the bright moonlight, not knowing whether to move forward or backward.
"Xiao Yuan, don't mess around!"
Mess around?
Xiao Xiyue vaguely saw the scene between her and Old Man Li in the Mingyueju Garden. At that time, she also scolded the old servant in the same way, right?
But just as she couldn't stop the old servant's harassment, how could the Ninth Princess stop Brother Yuan?
The two of them have developed to this point.
Xiao Xiyue turned around and wanted to leave. She had no reason to go out, and she didn't have the face to accuse the two of being adulterers. After all, what was the relationship between her, Xiao Yuan, and the old servant?
But the Ninth Princess' words made her stop and leave.
"Let me ask you, do you want me or Xiao Xiyue?"
A picture flashed through Xiao Xiyue's mind. Just now, on Wangtian Peak, the Ninth Princess, who was wearing a luxurious red palace skirt and a golden phoenix hairpin on her head, looked noble and elegant. She grabbed the hand of a handsome young man who was trying to do something naughty, and asked him seriously whether he wanted her or someone else.
There was a long silence.
Neither the two people looking at each other nor Xiao Xiyue standing in the distance knew how to respond.
Xiao Xiyue looked at the garden in front of her covered in silver light, and her trembling heart thought of one thing: under the moonlight, how many young men and women were troubled by worries and sorrows?
The highest state is to forget all emotions. You have not yet entered into it, but you must forget it.
"Princess, I know you might scold me, and I also know that I'm a greedy person, but... I can't give up any of you!"
"Heh." The Ninth Princess sneered, and it was unclear whether she was sneering at his arrogance or mocking his greed.
Two women serving one man?
Xiao Xiyue's heart was as calm as still water.
"Princess, you can hit me, scold me, but I would rather give up one of you..."
"Prefer what?"
"I'd rather never marry!"
"...Hahaha."
The Ninth Princess laughed, "What if she and I both marry someone else? Are you still going to stick to the idea of not giving up on one of you?"
"I don't know." Xiao Yuan smiled bitterly. "In my heart, you and Sister Xiyue are equally important. I admit that Princess, your status was not as high as Xiyue's before, but after going to Qingshan Village with you and experiencing what happened on horseback, Princess, you..."
"Shut up and don't talk about that again!"
The princess' voice became shy, and she pushed him away in embarrassment.
On horseback? What happens on horseback?
Before Xiao Xiyue could figure it out, she soon heard the Ninth Princess's exclamation. Even without using her spiritual sense to sense the front, she knew that it was Xiao Yuan who came forward and hugged the Ninth Princess tightly.
"Princess, I love you."
"I don't love... well, no."