CH 45

Sheng Ling had been waiting in the back garden for a long time now, like a moon amongst the stars, she was sitting in the middle of the room with all the other ladies from noble families, who were clear of the circumstances and thus were extremely polite towards the future crown princess. They all had smiling faces while saying beautiful words of compliment.

“The dress junzhu is wearing today is so beautiful, the style of the embroidery on your skirt is one I have never seen before.”

“Your earrings also look good, they’re making junzhu‘s skin appear even whiter.”

“Yes ah, yes ah, I wonder if junzhu has any secret recipes for skin care, could junzhu share with us one or two tips ?”

There was even a person who covered her mouth and laughed, eager to show her good will, “The crown prince and junzhu are really a heavenly match, they were born to be together.”

This comment was very well received by Sheng Ling who couldn’t help but laugh a little.

A little palace maid, with her back bent, walked up to the junzhu and whispered in her ear, “Junzhu, Miss Ming Zhu has arrived.”

Chapter 45

(16.3)

The smile at the corner of Sheng Ling’s mouth went cold and her eyes concealed a sharp light as she said, “Invite her over.”

When the palace maid led Ming Zhu to the back garden, the young girls who were all engaged in their flattering, quieted down all of a sudden, and all eyes looked in her direction.

Some of them used a demeaning and malicious gaze to size her up, others were covering their mouth with a handkerchief, waiting to see a good show.

This was the crown prince’s hidden little mistress? There was really going to be a good show to watch today.

Ming Zhu was born with a face that would make most women jealous, her features were bright and beautiful, her eyes innocent and pure. The clothes and jewelry she wore were all exquisite and precious, and didn’t look like materials that ordinary people could use.

She had gold hairpins inlaid with jades, earrings made of precious red jewels and her skirt was embroidered with gold threads, how was that the crown prince keeping a mistress ? That was clearly holding a golden canary in the palm of his hands.

It was no wonder Xiangyang junzhu called her into the palace today, it was probably because she wanted to give her a warning before marrying into the crown prince residence.

All the noble young ladies in attendance were all the precious legitimate daughters of their families, they had studied and read a lot of books about etiquette, righteousness and integrity, and thus they really couldn’t look favorably at Ming Zhu, this corrupt concubine-born daughter who had climbed into her position with her body.

Indifferent, Ming Zhu ignored all the eyes which were scanning her, she silently took a deep breath and raised her head to meet the eyes of the junzhu.

The junzhu looked down at her from above, her eyes were cold and sharp.

Ming Zhu bent her knees and saluted, “Greetings to the junzhu.”

As her words fell, the garden was silent.

Sheng Ling just quietly looked at her without speak, she didn’t have any intention of letting her get up.

Ming Zhu had been standing with her bent knees for a while, her legs and feet felt sore and numb, the sun over her head was burning hot on her face, the more her face was exposed to the sun, the more pale she became. Her forehead was covered in cold sweat and she wasn’t going to be able to hold on much longer.

Sheng Ling took a grape, slowly peeled the skin and put it into her mouth, as if she couldn’t see that Ming Zhu, who was standing below, was shaking and about to fall.

Sheng Ling snickered, in her mind, she was thinking : did Ming Zhu use this look of the “weak willow under the wind” to seduce her taizi gege ? What a cheap slave.

In her residence in Xiangyang City, if there was a slave girl who seduced her master using those kind of means, she would have already whipped her to death a long time ago.

Sheng Ling showed her mercy before she fell down, “Miss Ming Zhu doesn’t need to be too polite.”

Ming Zhu lowered her eyes and eyelashes, there was no trace of shame on her face after she had been embarrassed on purpose. Looked composed, she endured the affront and calmly went to take her seat.

Ming Ru coldly smiled, that was only an appetizer, the good show was still to come. She did not believe that the junzhu could let go of Ming Zhu so easily

Moreover, she was not the only one waiting to see Ming Zhu be humiliated here, there were others who were eager to throw stones at someone on the ground.

The crown prince had good looks and an excellent character and he was also the future emperor. He had already captured the hearts of many girls from noble families even before he was an adult and women’s jealous hearts were able to hold a grudge against a person for a long time.

Sheng Ling indifferently sipped a mouthful of tea as her eyelids slightly lifted. Her gaze settled right on Ming Zhu’s face. This beautiful and attractive face really could make one’s teeth itch with hatred, it was no wonder her taizi gege was unable to control himself and was so captivated he forgot where he belonged.

Sheng Ling said: “Recently, I got some expensive tea, and because I like it when it’s lively, I specially invited all the sisters to come to the palace as my guests.”

After a pause, she said, “However, just drinking tea isn’t very fun. If any of you have any talent, if you can play the zither, play chess, write calligraphy or draw painting, it can help to have more fun.”

Someone laughed, “We can only write poems, but poems aren’t fun either.”

“Yes ah.”

The junzhu‘s eyes stopped on Ming Zhu, her eyes narrowed slightly as she smiled and said, “I heard that Miss Ming Zhu is good at dancing, how about asking Miss Ming Zhu to give everyone a dance?”

This is was humiliating her by taking as her dancer.

Ming Zhu did know how to dance and Zhao Zhi liked very much to watch her dance, he loved her flexible body to the extreme.

She answered back, “I’m grateful for the junzhu‘s favor, but I don’t know how to dance.”

Sheng Ling did not expect her to have the courage to refuse to her face, her eyes turned cold, her red lips lightly opened as she slowly asked, “Is that so? But I heard that Miss Ming Zhu’s mother was a famous prostitute at Chunxiang brothel, I thought Miss Ming Zhu had also learned a lot.”

When those words landed on the ground, everything became silent.

As the crowd’s eyes looked towards Ming Zhu, all without exception, were looking at her like she was a joke.

Even if she was now favored by the crown prince, so what of it ? She didn’t even have a concubine’s status, and it was even more impossible for her to surpass the future crown princess.