At the Queen's birthday banquet, Yi Chenjing posed a difficult problem for Bai Qige, but the real difficulty was not Bai Qige's, but Su Yan's.
Yi Chenjing only allowed Bai Qige, who was a married princess, to wear a maid's uniform. This undoubtedly humiliated Bai Qige and also made Lianchenxuan lose face. Suyan was worried but did not dare to ask. She really couldn't understand the reason for such self-harming behavior.
What's the point? Due to restrictions, Su Yan had no choice but to secretly invite a master from the clothing store to hastily make a maid's uniform using high-quality silk and satin. However, no matter how good the fabric was, it was still of inferior quality.
Bai Qige didn't care about this. On the day of the birthday banquet, she wore a maid's uniform, her long hair was lightly pulled up, and her face was bare. The simple clothes that were far different from those of other female relatives could not hide her elegance. Her calm eyes behind the ugly scars were also unbearable and ridiculing.
With his head held high, he followed the seventh prince of Yao Kingdom into the Imperial Garden Sacrifice Palace.
Except for the few princes and Jin Zhaoyi who had met before, basically no one knew Bai Qige. Although everyone was curious about how a maid entered the birthday banquet, seeing the seventh prince walking in front with a sullen face, they could only hold back any more questions.
Keep it in your belly.
After greeting Emperor Yao and the Queen and presenting birthday gifts, Yi Chenjing sat down near the door, the last of the princes - this was the status of Lianchenxuan in the Royal Palace of Yao Kingdom.
The concubine Jing was ill, and it had already been made clear that Emperor Yao could not come. Only Suyan Surao stayed by Yi Chenjing's side. When the banquet started, Yi Chenjing stopped the two concubines from serving dishes, raised her chin, and faced Bai Qige coldly.
Rubing: "Pour the wine."
Pouring wine is a servant's job, which is inconsistent with Bai Qige's status as the master. However, Bai Qige didn't care, and naturally and calmly walked around the table and tilted the jade pot, filling the wine glass with crystal clear jade dew.
Others see her as a married princess with a noble status, and feel that it is beneath her status to pour wine for her. However, Bai Qige understands that her status in Lianchenxuan is not as good as that of a maid, so it is natural for her to serve others. If she can survive,
It’s already extremely difficult to get down, so why do you care about these vanity titles?
Yi Chenjing's slightly louder voice alarmed Emperor Yao. His majestic gaze swept over it, and then turned into confusion: "Today is the Queen's birthday banquet. All the servants to serve are arranged by the Queen. Why does the Seventh Prince still bring his maid?"
"Father, I don't know. This woman is not the maid of Seventh Brother." The Ninth Prince, who had met Bai Qige before, laughed loudly, "Although her appearance is a bit hard to see, she is indeed Princess Qi'an of Zhaoguo.
And he has a good drinking capacity, so we brothers are so embarrassed that we are so inferior to him!"
The Ninth Prince was young and reckless, and spoke directly without thinking. Little did he know that hearing this seemingly innocuous joke was no less than a boulder falling into the water in Yao Huang's ears, and Kuan He's eyes suddenly lost their warmth.
"Jing'er, since she is Princess Qi'an, why do you let her dress up like this? You, you have led troops and fought in battles for so many years and you haven't made any progress. You still haven't changed your youthful nature. Are you still choosing women based on their looks?"
"My lord, I know I was wrong." Emperor Yao was also a wise king, and he always hated judging people by their appearance. Yi Chenjing heard a hint of dissatisfaction in Emperor Yao's words, and hurriedly stood up from his seat and bowed to apologize, "I just took care of Zhao Guo's situation.
Since I am a minister of Dayao, the princess of my country is naturally not as noble as the daughter of the royal family of Dayao, so dressing up and dining together would be an insult to all the female relatives."
"If you marry me, Dayao, you will have nothing to do with Zhao Kingdom, so why do you always make things difficult and harsh?" Emperor Yao called the maid waiting outside, waved her hand impatiently, "Go, take Princess Qi'an to change into suitable clothes.
Add a seat at the end of the table to sit with the other women."
The golden words must not be broken, Yi Chenjing winked with a cold face, Bai Qige thanked Queen Yao and left with the maid. The Ninth Prince knew that he was punished with a glass of wine for his slip of the tongue, and the suddenly cooled atmosphere gradually became lively again.
"Does the Seventh Prince want to show off his military exploits by belittling the Kingdom of Zhao? Those who grew up outside are just ignorant. They humiliate the princess in such a way. If the news spreads to the Kingdom of Zhao, I don't know how much resentment it will arouse. It is said that the Seventh Prince prides himself on his outstanding military exploits.
You are so arrogant. After seeing you today, these words really feel appropriate." The eunuch accompanying the fifth prince lowered his head and whispered, with no concealment of ridicule in his tone.
"Don't talk about other people's rights and wrongs." Yi Chenxuan put down his wine glass and looked in the direction Bai Qige was leaving with a complicated expression, "Go back and get two sets of clothes. Let Qi'er find the best one and send it directly to the maid's room."
After a brief instruction, the fifth prince Yi Chenxuan stood up with a wine glass in his hand and smiled like a spring breeze: "My son, I have something to do in the palace and I have to leave for a while. I will take this glass of wine as a self-punishment. I will come back later to meet my father, the queen and all my brothers."
Drink heavily."
"Since you have something to do, go ahead and come back early after finishing it."
Emperor Yao did not doubt that he was there, nodded casually, and continued to feast and chat with the others, while Yi Chenjing poured the wine calmly and stared at the fifth prince as he left with an unkind look.
After leaving the birthday banquet, Bai Qige felt relieved, and her steps became brisk. After arriving at the backup room, the maid asked a few words not to wander around and then went to find clothes to change, leaving Bai Qige waiting alone in the room. Or because something unexpected happened and she had no time to make arrangements.
The person who had been following her closely and spying on her recently did not follow her, so even though she was not allowed to move around freely in the restricted room, the feeling of freedom still made Bai Qige feel relaxed.
There was a soft knock on the door, and Bai Qige turned around in response, suddenly froze on the spot and didn't know what to do.
The person who came was not a maid delivering clothes. She had a tall and straight figure, her gentle eyes were the same as when she first saw her, and a faint smile hung on her lips.
"I asked someone to find two pairs of clothes. You can try on them and see if they can still be worn." Yi Chenxuan turned around and closed the door. He walked to Bai Qige very naturally and handed the neatly stacked clothes to his delicate hands. "You put on your clothes first."
Take a look. If it doesn't fit, I'll ask someone to find it. If you need anything, just call me and I'll be waiting outside the door."
"Thank you so much, Fifth Prince." Bai Qige nodded gently, her expression of astonishment suppressed, her eyes not as wary as those she looked at Yi Chenjing.
Yi Chenxuan was about to say something but stopped, and he chuckled helplessly for a while: "Don't call me Fifth Prince, just call me Chen Xuan, otherwise it will always feel like you are deliberately alienating me."
Bai Qige was indeed deliberately alienated. There was a disparity in status, and too much contact would be harmful and useless. Although she liked the feeling of getting along with Yi Chenxuan, Bai Qige understood very well that there were many forces, and the princes who were fighting overt and covertly had their own positions. Now Yi Chenjing would put her
She regards Yi Chenjing as a thorn in her side and secretly sends people to monitor her. Every word she says and everything she does may become the source of making others angry and causing trouble.
I don't want to cause trouble to Yi Chenxuan, even if I can only take a breath and feel a sense of security by being by his side.
He neatly changed his clothes and straightened his temples. When the thin figure opened the door and appeared again, Yi Chenxuan's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but smile appreciatively: "Who said you are ugly? It's just this scar that makes them look down on you. If you stand with other women,
Together we will be even more beautiful."
"So what about beauty and ugliness? The disaster of ruining a country is mostly for the beauties, and only those who are ugly and not popular can live and save their lives." Bai Qige lowered her head and let out an almost inaudible sigh, "No matter whether she is beautiful, ugly, right or wrong, women are not
Are they all going to be blamed? It’s better to live in seclusion with an ugly face, so that you won’t scare others and won’t hurt yourself.”
Although the tone was a joke, only he knew the sourness in it.
Su Yanmei, who came from a humble background, could only live as a concubine, but at least she had a place to stay, shelter from wind and rain, and a younger sister and a concubine to love and protect her; the third lady of the Bai family sounded unattainable, but in the end she couldn't escape and was deeply
The one you love is disgusted and resentful, even if you are a substitute princess, you will be tortured.
Destiny is uncertain, whether it is a beauty who will conquer the country or an ugly village girl, no one can control the future.
"What are you thinking about?" With a touch of warmth in her ears, Bai Qige raised her head and met her gentle eyes. She stroked a strand of stray hair and stuffed it behind her ear. Yi Chenxuan looked at it carefully for a long time. His fingertips lingered on Bai Qige's face, reluctant to put it down: "
actually--"
"It's getting late, we have to rush back to the birthday banquet." Bai Qige quietly avoided the warm palm and took half a step back.
For people you don't know well, you can't trust them no matter how much you like them. The ubiquitous sense of crisis has taken away Bai Qige's right to accept tenderness calmly. Be careful, be extra careful, not to be careful of Yi Chenxuan, but to be careful when hiding behind her.
The person who always wants to give her the most painful blow is Yi Chenjing.
However, Yi Chenxuan's persistence exceeded Bai Qige's expectations.
The moment she turned around, a huge pull came from her wrist, and her strong arms tightly circled Bai Qige, preventing her from escaping.
Her back was close to the warm chest, and her breathing was clear and real. Such an outrageous behavior should have been scolded, but Bai Qige couldn't speak, her voice was stuck in her throat and she couldn't say anything. Inexplicably, countless pains and grievances suddenly came to her heart since her rebirth that day.
, I have the urge to tell the man behind me everything.
In the palace of Yaoguo where it was difficult to move, he was the only one who dared to face Yi Chenjing and make things difficult for her to protect her, even though he was rejected many times.
"I know, I know you are the seventh brother's woman, but I couldn't sit idly by watching him treat you like that. Whether you believe it or not, I moved the first time I saw you dying in the heavy rain.
Heart, I want to protect you and take care of you, but you never give me a chance. Qi Ge, I don’t believe you will harm others, let alone sell your country for glory. Now God allows you to go through hardships and come to Yaoguo just for this reason.
Let me see you, are you still trying to hide and escape?"
Except for the excited talk, there was no sound around. Bai Qige froze and did not dare to move, fearing that if she moved, many things would be disillusioned.
No, maybe, something has already disappeared silently into the dusk.
After taking a deep breath and forcing her mind and emotions to calm down, Bai Qige tried to push the arm around her body: "Fifth Prince, are you done talking? Let me go when you're done. I will consider everything I heard and heard today to be drunk.
I also ask the fifth prince to forget those thoughts that he shouldn’t have..."
"You don't believe me?" Yi Chenxuan let go of his arms, with disappointment hidden in his voice. His palms were still tightly clasped around Bai Qige's wrist, "Qige, what should I do to make you believe in my love for you? If you are willing -
—As long as you are willing, I will petition my father tomorrow to let my seventh brother break off the engagement and give you your freedom, okay?"
"unnecessary."
There was a huge difference between the cold answer and the previous conflict and guilt. Even Yi Chenxuan could tell that Bai Qige was really angry.