Chapter 5: Who Are You Talking About?

Each occupied a separate position, neither daring to disturb His Highness the Crown Prince atop the high platform.

However, today!

What had they just heard?

His Highness had actually permitted Meng Renping to ascend this high platform, and he had even been the one to initiate it!

Ji Kuan was bewildered; Meng Renping was astonished.

Both felt that something must have happened to their Highness while he was up on that platform just now.

But what could it be?

They had been guarding below, never leaving his side, and had heard no movement nor seen any reckless living creature.

When Meng Renping finally stepped into the pavilion on the high platform and looked in the direction Li Shou was pointing, he saw a master and servant walking one after the other.

The master in front had a thin frame and a haggard appearance; her steps were unsteady, and though her features were striking, she carried an air of sickly frailty. The maid behind her was laboriously carrying a large wooden bucket; judging by the fish tail protruding from the rim, there was a fish inside.

"Who is she?" Li Shou asked.

Meng Renping, of course, did not think the Crown Prince was asking about the maid. Although the master's face looked unfamiliar to him, upon a brief thought, he knew his family only had two young ladies, both in the second branch—the daughters of his second uncle.

The second sister was charming and lovely, whom he saw often; this was not the second sister.

Then it must be...

"It should be my eldest sister," Meng Renping answered somewhat hesitantly.

Li Shou glanced at Meng Renping, who could barely recognize his own sister.

Feeling a sense of embarrassment from the glance, Meng Renping explained, "My eldest sister has been frequently ill since childhood and rarely leaves her room; she has been recuperating in the Taichen Courtyard. When we were children, we siblings could often play together, but as we grew older, the four of us brothers gradually moved to the front courtyard, and we saw the two sisters in the back courtyard less often. The second sister is better; she sometimes follows fourth brother to the front courtyard to find us, but the eldest sister..."

He paused, calculating the days in his head, and the result startled even him. "...hasn't been seen in a very long time."

As Li Shou listened, he already knew who she was from his dreams.

The eldest legitimate daughter of the Meng family's second branch, the eldest young lady of the Meng household, the daughter of his second uncle's first wife: Meng Liangchen, his eldest cousin.

"Please forgive her, Your Highness. My eldest sister just recovered from a chill a few days ago. I suppose she felt better today and thought the weather was pleasant, so she brought her maid out for a stroll. I did not expect her to come all the way to Qiushui Lake and disturb Your Highness's peace." Meng Renping assumed his sister's appearance had annoyed Li Shou and immediately began pleading on Meng Liangchen's behalf.

Regardless of how much sibling affection he felt for Meng Liangchen, they shared the same surname, and he had always felt great compassion for this eldest sister who had lost her biological mother at a young age.

"It is nothing," Li Shou said, waving his hand to signal Meng Renping to withdraw.

After breathing a sigh of relief, Meng Renping was, unsurprisingly, about to be sent down from the Xuanyuan Platform again.

He descended the steps one by one, retreating below the platform. As he passed Ji Kuan, Ji Kuan grabbed him.

"What did His Highness say to you?" Ji Kuan asked curiously.

Meng Renping shook his head. "It was nothing much, just that he saw my eldest sister over by Qiushui Lake and asked me about her."

Ji Kuan thought about which "eldest sister" Meng Renping meant, but since he had never met her, he couldn't figure it out. Remembering that Meng Renping had approached the platform of his own accord just now, he asked, "Was there something else before you went up?"

"How could I..." Meng Renping had just started to say he had nothing to do with it, but as the words left his mouth, he remembered the food box his second sister had specially sent, which was still sitting in the open pavilion. "There actually was something! I completely forgot the moment I went up!"

"What was it?" Ji Kuan pressed.

Meng Renping did not answer; he merely turned his eyes toward the open pavilion and jerked his chin toward it, signaling Ji Kuan to look for himself.

Ji Kuan turned to look into the pavilion. Being a military officer, his sight and hearing were excellent; he immediately saw a vermilion food box resting on the stone table in the center of the pavilion.

Fine, he didn't feel like talking anymore either.

He thought to himself that if it was forgotten, so be it. Even if they reported it to the one on the high platform, His Highness would likely just order them to carry it back exactly the way it was brought up.

"Sigh."

"Sigh."

In the silence, Meng Renping and Ji Kuan shared a telepathic moment and let out a simultaneous sigh.

They both had sisters in their households, and both of their sisters had eyes set too high, each having fallen for this noble and handsome Crown Prince.

Unfortunately, His Highness had not taken a liking to a single one of them.

No, it wasn't just their sisters; among the noble ladies of the capital, His Highness had never truly looked at any of them with interest.

His Highness was already nineteen; he would reach adulthood next year and would need to appoint a Crown Princess.

Given how aloof and disdainful of the world His Highness was, they doubted whether the Eastern Palace could even successfully welcome a mistress next year.

***

Wu's biological daughter, Meng Meijing, had sent pastries to Li Shou as usual. She could not linger in the open pavilion for long; after handing the food box to her eldest brother, she retreated to wait by the garden gate in the southeast corner.

Unexpectedly, instead of receiving news that her brother had delivered the food to the Crown Prince, she instead saw Meng Liangchen and her servant walking toward her.

"Bad luck!" Meng Meijing spat lowly.

Her head maid, Jixiang, spat along with her, her eyes gleaming with the anticipation of a spectacle. Every time the Second Miss encountered the Eldest Miss, the Eldest Miss was bound to be disciplined by the Second Miss.

Baozhu followed behind, carrying the wooden bucket. Because the large golden carp was so heavy, she was panting heavily from the trek, and beads of sweat formed on her forehead, but she was overjoyed in her heart.

This fish was big enough to make fish porridge, fried fish fillets, and stewed fish head soup!

Not only would her lady be able to eat a nutritious, fresh meal, but she and Jin Yin would finally be able to eat their fill.

When her lady had asked what they usually ate, they hadn't dared to say.

If they had said that they usually ate leftovers from the main kitchen, which sometimes even smelled sour, it would surely have caused her lady more sadness, leading to half a day of tears.

...Or perhaps it wouldn't.

After all, her lady was very different now.

Baozhu was so focused on her thoughts that she lost herself in them, causing Meng Shisan, who was walking ahead, to suddenly stop. Baozhu kept walking for two or three more steps before realizing there was someone in front of her.

"Se... Second Miss?"

Second Miss?

Meng Shisan wondered who it was, only to realize it was a narrow encounter with an enemy.

She had heard from Baozhu that before the original owner had caught a chill, Baozhu had accompanied her for an early morning stroll by Qiushui Lake. Little did they know they would run into Meng Meijing. Not only had Meng Meijing used insulting language to humiliate the original owner, but she had also taken advantage of a moment of distraction to push the original owner into the water, laughing as she walked away.

When the original owner returned to the Taichen Courtyard, she had been bedridden ever since.

By the afternoon, she was shivering uncontrollably even under three thick quilts, and by nightfall, she had developed a high fever and fallen completely ill.

"Who are you calling bad luck?" Meng Shisan took a few steps forward and stood firmly before Meng Meijing.

Meng Meijing flared her nostrils and said with high-handed arrogance, cutting straight to the heart of the matter: "Whoever lost their biological mother early and spent ten years falling ill again and again, wasting silver and grain without ever dying, living only to be an eyesore—who is that bad luck!"