A Little Tease
Zhao Ruxi smiled and grasped her cold hand in return, "You're so wonderful, beautiful, talented, and with such a lovely personality. There will always be someone who appreciates you. Let's not rush, take our time."
Xiao Ruotong shook her head. "I don't have that idea for now, and maybe I never will. Let me tell you, these past few years in the Duke of Ying's Residence after I got married have been so stifling. Even my master has his complaints about me. Because I'm in a bad mood, I can't concentrate, and my calligraphy hasn't improved at all. I want to live alone like Madam Cui, and I don't want to get married again."
Zhao Ruxi smiled but remained silent.
Perhaps.
However, if Xiao Ruotong meets someone who likes her and whom she likes in return, this thought will change. So it's best not to make promises lightly.
"Miss, the banquet is about to begin. The Old Princess and the Princess both want you to come," a maidservant announced as she entered.
Xiao Ruotong shook her head. "I think I'd better not go. If I go out, people will start gossiping about me and criticizing our Prince's Mansion."
Zhao Ruxi pulled her along. "Go, how can you not go? Are you planning to hide like a rat and never show your face again? It's the Duke of Ying's Residence that did wrong, not you. You're their granddaughter. If you don't even show up at the old princess's birthday banquet, people will gossip about you, and it will make you look guilty and sneaky, embarrassing the old princess and the princess. Besides, this is the perfect opportunity to explain everything clearly in front of everyone. Once you get through this, everything will be over, and your life will be back to square one."
Xiao Ruotong seemed lost in thought.
She stood up, smiled at Zhao Ruxi, and said, "You're right. If I don't go, it'll make me look like I'm ashamed to be seen."
She turned to Nanny Yun and instructed, "Bring me my red dress; I need to change into it and go to the front to wish Grandmother a happy birthday."
Nanny Yun breathed a sigh of relief, smiled gratefully at Zhao Ruxi, and hurried off to get busy.
Before long, Xiao Ruotong was all dressed up, and Zhao Ruxi even used her superb makeup skills to give Xiao Ruotong a beautiful makeover, making her look both beautiful and radiant. The two of them went hand in hand to the front to offer their birthday wishes to the old princess.
"Oh, isn't that County Princess of Qingyang? Isn't she...?" Some people started talking as soon as they saw Xiao Ruotong, but they kept their voices down.
Xiao Ruotong was extremely aloof at heart, practically disdainful of everyone. From childhood to adulthood, few of the noblewomen present, whether she knew them or not, could catch her eye. Now, hearing others' discussions, she didn't even blink, completely ignoring them.
Zhao Ruxi, however, was the type to hold a grudge. She whispered a few words in Xiao Ruotong's ear, and Xiao Ruotong laughed, tapping her forehead and saying, "You little rascal."
She led Zhao Ruxi straight to the woman who had pointed at her and screamed earlier, and said to Zhao Ruxi, "Xiaoxi, you don't know many people, do you? Let me introduce you. This woman who was talking about me earlier is Lady Xue, the second young mistress of Minister Lord Li of the Ministry of Revenue."
Zhao Ruxi smiled and nodded at the blushing Second Young Madam Li of the Li family, and said, "Nice to meet you."
"Let's go, let's go up ahead." After saying this, Xiao Ruotong ignored the others, pulled Zhao Ruxi away, leaving a group of people standing there dumbfounded.
Along the way, whenever anyone pointed at or whispered about her, Xiao Ruotong would instigate Zhao Ruxi to come forward and identify them. It didn't matter if she didn't recognize anyone; wasn't there Nanny Yun and Xiaoru?
Although both of them were smiling and polite, from a distance, it was Xiao Ruotong had changed her previous aloof personality and become polite and enthusiastic in introducing Zhao Ruxi to her connections.
But she ignored everyone else, only introducing those who pointed fingers or gossiped about her to Zhao Ruxi, which was quite interesting.
Princess of Zhennan doted on this daughter like the apple of her eye, and the old princess also loved her granddaughter dearly, always sending people to keep an eye on her.
When they arrived in front of the old princess, both princesses already knew what they had done along the way, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law couldn't stop laughing.
Princess of Zhennan suppressed a laugh and whispered to her mother-in-law, "It must have been Xiaoxi's idea. Ruotong's personality is such that she only knows how to ignore people, but she gets angry at herself."
The old princess nodded. "That child is clever. With a child like that as a friend, Ruotong won't get bored."
As she spoke, her eyes turned slightly cold.
Those people who came to her house for a banquet were gossiping behind her back; they really didn't respect them at all.
"Don't send invitations to the people Ruotong pointed out today for their banquets later this year," she instructed. "Whether to send them invitations next year or not, we'll see."
"Yes, that's what I think too," said the Princess of Zhennan.
The current emperor doesn't have many brothers. Although Prince of Zhennan Xiao Yuan, is only Xiao Ge's cousin, he holds a special position because he supported him when he ascended the throne and led troops in battle for the emperor on several occasions.
Therefore, the banquets held by the Prince of Zhennan's Residence were of a very high level in the capital. Receiving an invitation from them was an honor. With this punishment, let's see who dares to gossip about Xiao Ruotong behind their backs.
"Let's go, the banquet is about to start over there, let's go."
Princess of Zhennan stood up and helped her mother-in-law move to the hall where more than a dozen banquet tables were set up.
They had just sat down when Xiao Ruotong and Zhao Ruxi entered. Xiao Ruotong went to the old princess, kowtowed, and presented her with her birthday wishes and gifts.
The old princess reached out her hand, pulled her to the front of the crowd, and said with a smile, "I'm sure everyone knows about what happened at the Duke of Ying's Residence some time ago. My granddaughter can't have children. If her mother-in-law had discussed it with us, we wouldn't have been unreasonable. We could have arranged for her to adopt a child, take a concubine for the Duke of Ying's son, or even divorce. There are always solutions. But they took advantage of our family's easygoing nature and did things like acting first and then pressuring us."
She pointed at Xiao Ruotong: "Everyone knows that my granddaughter is a highly accomplished disciple of Master Qin Zhe, a woman of high moral character and unyielding spirit who cannot tolerate any dissent. She has now divorced the heir of the Duke of Ying. From now on, our family and the Duke of Ying's Residence are no longer related by marriage. I take this opportunity to inform everyone, and I hope that you will no longer confuse our two families."
Today is the old princess's birthday banquet, and not a single person from the Duke of Ying's Residence came. Everyone has been speculating about Xiao Ruotong's marriage. There was already a lot of talk about it, so when they saw Xiao Ruotong, some people couldn't control their voices and let Xiao Ruotong and Zhao Ruxi hear them.
Now that the old princess has openly brought things up, everyone has lost interest in gossip. Coupled with Xiao Ruotong's antics along the way, everyone has now changed their tune and started talking about the faults of the Duke of Ying's Residence.
Zhao Ruxi had separated from Xiao Ruotong when she entered the hall. She found the old lady and Lady Zhu in the crowd and sat down at their table. Lady Zhu knew that she didn't have any close friends, so she had already saved a seat for her.