There were attendants assigned to welcome guests at the entrance. Seeing that every arriving guest held an invitation, Hu Xiaotian inwardly groaned. Although the Eldest Princess had asked him to come, she had not given him an invitation. This was trouble. Xue Lingjun knew him, but the servants at her residence might not. He could well end up being embarrassed.
While Hu Xiaotian hesitated, a beautiful young woman approached with a smile blooming like a flower and greeted him warmly. "Lord Hu, you're here!" She was Jian Ping, the personal maid of Eldest Princess Xue Lingjun. Hu Xiaotian had met her before, but she had been busy with other matters a moment earlier, so he had not noticed her.
"Lord Hu, Her Highness specifically asked me to wait here for you," Jian Ping said. Many people nearby heard her words and turned to look at Hu Xiaotian, wondering just who this fellow was to command such regard from the Eldest Princess. She had actually sent her most trusted maid to welcome him personally! After all, Jian Ping's position in the Eldest Princess's residence was equivalent to that of a steward-below one person and above everyone else.
Under everyone's gaze, Hu Xiaotian followed Jian Ping into the Eldest Princess's residence, which had formerly been the Prince Consort's Residence. After marrying Hong Xinglian, a gifted scholar of Great Yong, the Eldest Princess had lived with the Hong Family rather than here. Yet the unfortunate prince consort had departed this world only three months after their marriage. Following Hong Xinglian's death, misfortune had continued to plague the Hong Family, and the Eldest Princess had become infamous as a bearer of ill luck. To distance themselves from this bane, the Hong Family had even abandoned everything in the Yong Capital and left. In the