Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 504 - 495: Handkerchief Exchange

Chapter 504: Chapter 495: Handkerchief Exchange

Last time, Shiyi had expressed to Chen Afu his desire to introduce Chu Hanyan and the Sixth Princess to become friends.

Chen Afu did not wish for Chu Hanyan to mingle with high-ranked ladies, especially princesses and duchesses. Many of those ladies were tyrannical and ruthless, with Rong Zhao being an example. Miss Chu was kind-hearted and lacked craftiness, and was also rather timid. It was best for her not to mingle with these cunning and dark-minded ladies.

Considering Shiyi’s good intentions, Chen Afu subtly declined. Perhaps he was too subtle, as Shiyi did not understand, and still brought Li Cheng over today.

At this moment, Queen An was listening to the banter of the two boys, Yu and Ming. She was so infuriated that she was at a loss for words, suppressing her urge to scold Rong Zhao out loud.

Seeing that the beautiful lady enjoyed their chatter, the two children were also delighted. They each hugged one of Queen An’s knees, loudly recounting how adorable their sister was, how fierce their puppy was, and how their bird could talk. Despite their limited expression skills, their loud voices, boldness, and swagger attracted the attention of many.

"Our sister is pretty and charming, she smells nice, just like a fairy, we love her the most..."

"Our puppy, woof woof woof, loud and fierce, it can jump even higher than a house..."

"Our bird, it can talk, sing songs, recite poems, and dance..."

With their words, Chen Afu was embarrassed, but Queen An was amused and so were the other listeners.

Upon seeing Shiyi’s arrival, everyone stood and greeted him.

Although Shiyi was young, he held the highest status amongst them. After paying respect to his elders, he was pulled by Queen An to sit beside her on the Luohan Bed.

After chatting with several old ladies, and playfully teasing Yu, Ming, and Yu’er, he very formally introduced Chu Hanyan to Li Cheng, "Sixth Sister, you’ve met Hanyan before, she is my childhood playmate. She is gentle and I’m certain you two will be great friends."

He then said to Chu Hanyan, "Hanyan, this is my sixth sister, we get along very well. I hope the two of you will get along as well."

Royal children tend to grow up early, especially Li Cheng who was raised by the neglected Consort Shan Jieyu. Although she knew her foster mother had become the queen, she was aware that she was not her biological child. Shiyi, on the other hand, was the biological son of the queen who she was very attached to. Compared to other princesses, Li Cheng had a high status, but it was far from that of Shiyi. Therefore, she absolutely obeyed Shiyi’s words.

She cheerfully took Chu Hanyan by the hand and led her to a quieter place for some whispered conversation.

The other young ladies, seeing this, all eagerly joined them. They began to chatter away, mostly talking about the past "Bird Pot Lid" incident, while laughing at the same time.

Li Cheng had heard from Shiyi and her mother about the "Bird Pot Lid" incident at Lingji Temple. Hearing it again now made her laugh uncontrollably, expressing a great regret at arriving late and missing the grand spectacle. She didn’t care at all that the person attacked by the "Bird Pot Lid" was her older sister. Li Cheng also resented Rong Zhao, because Lady Ma was always attacking her foster mother Shan Jieyu and the Ninth Prince together with Queen Wang, and she had suffered a lot as a result.

Among these young ladies, one was Queen An’s granddaughter, Princess Ying Hui, who was nine years old; another was Zhu Ying’er from the Rongguo Mansion, the same age as Chu Hanyan, eight years old; another was Feng Miaohua, the eldest daughter of Princess Ronghe, also nine years old; the youngest one was Zhang Ziqi, the granddaughter of the Western Marquis, who was seven years old.

Chu Hanyan had met Zhu Ying’er before, and they got along rather well. Zhu Ying’er was also one of the young ladies that Chen Afu had specifically asked Chu Hanyan to become friends with.

After a while, the girls were led by Princess Ying Hui to the lakeside to ride boats and admire the lotus flowers. Qi’er and Luo Mei, who were always serving Chu Hanyan, followed them.

The long and narrow Mingyan Lake was filled with blooming lotus flowers of splendid colors, and weeping willows swayed gracefully on both sides. Combined with the beautiful figures on the small boats threading their way through the lotus leaves, the slender bodies strolling under the overhanging willows, the fans held by the young masters, and the veils held by the girls, it was indeed a beautiful sight that one could never tire of seeing.

The young ladies greeted each other cheerfully and sat down in a pavilion not far from the lake. The maids quickly served tea and brought several types of fruit and nuts, offering the ladies to sit on ivory chairs.

Although Chu Hanyan was timid and not particularly articulate, she was able to participate in the conversation from time to time due to the friendly attitudes of Li Cheng and Zhu Ying’er.

Princess Ronghe was the Emperor’s third daughter, and also the same father’s daughter as Prince Rui. Feng Miaohua would often visit Consort Zhou, her maternal grandmother, in the palace and had a good relationship with Li Zhao. She despised Xiao Lixuan, the foolish one who upset her grandmother, and naturally disliked the members of the Chu family who were close to Lixuan.

Seeing that the Sixth Princess had been holding Chu Hanyan’s hand all the way, and also Princess Ying Hui’s hand, she wasn’t able to join in. Plus, Chu Hanyan was attractive and radiant with beautiful eyes and teeth, and the little one, Zhang Ziqi kept asking where she bought the disk button on her clothing. Feng Miaohua was not happy at all. She started making sarcastic remarks about Chu Hanyan, calling her a fool and a country bumpkin, among other things.

Even though she remembered that the Chu family had raised Shiyi, she knew that they could not compare to her, a granddaughter of the Emperor, so she didn’t show any respect to Chu Hanyan.

Chu Hanyan was slow to react and at first, didn’t realize that Feng Miaohua was attacking her. By the time she realized it, she didn’t know how to counter or fight back, and she was scared. So she lowered her head to hide her tears and said nothing.

Although Li Cheng was younger than Feng Miaohua, being a princess and Feng Miaohua’s aunt, and having been raised by the queen, she had more confidence. She was patient at first, but when Feng Miaohua went too far, Li Cheng reprimanded her in annoyance, "What’s the matter with you? If you want to play with us, then talk nicely. If you don’t want to play with us, we won’t stop you from leaving." She then pointed to Chu Hanyan and said, "Hanyan is my friend, you cannot be unreasonable towards her."

Feng Miaohua was scolded into tears, but she didn’t dare speak up or leave. She knew that Li Cheng currently held the highest status among all the princesses, even higher than her mother’s, so she needed to get along well with her. But being scolded like this by Li Cheng in public was a huge blow to her dignity. She blamed Chu Hanyan for all of it in her heart, cursing her thousands of times.

Princess Ying Hui, being the hostess of the day, laughed it off and pacified the few of them, giving Feng Miaohua a way out.

Luo Mei, realising that her mistress was upset, had red rims around her eyes. She didn’t know what to do, so she turned her eyes to Qi’er.

Qi’er had Chen Afu’s instructions in mind and often heard from Mrs. Huang how some noble women were domineering. Unlike other servants who stood at a distance from their mistress, Qi’er always stood behind Chu Hanyan in case something unexpected happened. In her heart, she made up her mind that if these noble ladies proposed to play by the lake again, she would have to persuade her mistress to return to the Hudian Pavilion.