Prince Li was hot-tempered, which was no secret among the powerful and the n.o.ble. However, with a more careful watch one could see that Prince Li, who just got married and should have been as pleased as punch, now had an even worse temper. Getting out early in the morning and hearing people gossiping about that woman Ye Li should have made his day, but it didn’t. He also found that wherever he went, people would give him strange looks intentionally or otherwise they would shut up at once and change the subject to something else. Even when drinking tea in the teahouse he could feel eyes on him while those who were shooting him looks thought themselves concealed their looks quite well. That woman Ye Li got into trouble and the one that ought to have been laughed at should have been Mo Xiu Yao! Why did he have the feeling that he was the one that was laughed at?
Most people of the capital were good and honest. Therefore, when they saw this younger blood brother of the emperor, though they knew they couldn’t afford to offend him, they shot him looks full of contempt.
Tut! What kind of person was he! He not only broke off an engagement with the girl for no reason at all and he couldn’t bear to see her lead a good life as well. Let alone he harmed her reputation in the past and at the moment he started such a malicious rumor. If it were a girl from an ordinary family, she would have been forced to end her life. For a person like Mo Jing Li, though he was a member of the royal family, the world had a more general name for him: a sc.u.mbag.
“P… Prince…” The servant by Mo Jing Li’s side was quite scared because of the Prince’s low spirits.
“What the h.e.l.l was all that about?” Mo Jing Li asked, grinding his teeth.
One of the guards looked around and sadly found himself the one closest to the Prince. Other guards already took a few steps away from the Prince. Trembling with fear, he replied: “You… Your Highness, everyone’s been talking about what happened to Ye… the third miss of Ye Family.”
“For G.o.d’s sake I know they are talking about that woman! But what does that have anything to do with me?!” They all looked at me like I was some sc.u.mbag and they couldn’t think I was not aware of that! Shouldn’t they laugh at and mock that woman and that good-for-nothing Mo Xiu Yao was cuckolded? (So you did realize that you were being a jerk, didn’t you?)
“About that… Some people say, they say that since Your Highness can’t stand that the third miss of Ye Family is happy and that you hate that she is going to get married happily soon and move to Prince Ding’s Manor, and that you hate her for being rude to you at Chuxiang Pavilion before so that you started the rumor intentionally… err, to damage her re… reputation…” The guard, wanting to get the story across as quickly as possible, could hardly catch his breath, his face reddened. Hardly had he finished his words, he saw with horror that the Prince smashed the folding fan with the grip of his hands.
“What was that?” A murderous air appeared around Mo Jing Li. People who were pa.s.sing by couldn’t help but avoid him.
“Your… Your Highness…” I didn’t start that, the people of the capital were talking about that.A secret grievance rose in his heart. Anyhow, the reputation of Prince Li’s Manor hit a new low point after Prince Li fooled around with his fiancée’s younger sister and didn’t pay for the things he bought.
“Ah Li, Zheng-er, come right up. There are not many people up here. Let’s sit outside.” A clear woman’s voice saved the guard who was almost frightened to death. Seeing that the Prince immediately turned his eyes towards the stairs, the guard curved himself into a ball and went hiding at a safe corner even quicker.
Murong Ting walked up to the second floor first in her bright red dress while turning and waving to her friends. The young waiter that walked in front of her was near to tears. Secretly he thought to himself: Miss Murong, did you not see the people up here? After all, this was the best teahouse in the capital. Others left since they were afraid of Prince Li.
“Well?” Turning her head, Murong Ting saw Mo Jing Li, whose face looked as dark as the ink. She couldn’t help looking back and considering whether to go to another teahouse. However, in that few moments, Hua Tian Xiang and other girls also got to the second floor. As a result, five of them gazed at each other and didn’t know what to do. Ye Li was the most awkward one. She was beginning to think whether there was an ill-fated relationship between Mo Jing Li and herself in the previous incarnation. Except for her home, no matter where else she went, she would always b.u.mp into him.
Ye Li didn’t know it wasn’t that big of a mystery since even though the capital was the biggest city of Great Chu, it was still smaller compared with the cities in her memory. The powerful and the n.o.ble wouldn’t hang out in the same place as common people. Therefore, apart from people like Ye Li who didn’t go out much, someone like Murong Ting who was everywhere knew pretty much everyone in whichever store she went.
“Ah Li…” Murong Ting looked at Ye Li with an apologetic look. Never in a million years did it occur to her that instead of staying home with his lovely wife, the newly married Prince Li would visit a teahouse and have tea at such an hour.
“It’s okay. Let’s stay.” Ye Li knew Murong Ting wasn’t the one to blame. Besides, she didn’t intend to avoid Mo Jing Li wherever she went. They were in the same capital, they both came from n.o.ble families and they were related. How could she possibly avoid him? She calmly nodded to Mo Jing Li and pulled Qin Zheng and Qing Yu Ling towards a quiet place in the corner.
Murong Ting put her tongue out and pulled Hua Tian Xiang to follow them hastily.
“Well, do you think Prince Ding is going to come here?” Murong Ting asked in a small voice. She wasn’t brought up in the capital and didn’t know much about Prince Ding. However, Hua Tian Xiang was quite confident about that and nodded: “Don’t worry about it. My grandpa said Prince Ding is a good person. He would come since he’s got the invitation.”
Qin Yu Ling said softly: “Then, we’d better get going. I wouldn’t want to disturb Ah Li and Prince Ding when they talk.”
Murong Ting giggled and said: “It’s not the time yet. We went out early. I bet at the moment Prince Ding is still in his Manor. We can leave them alone when he’s here. Haha, did you see the looks of those downstairs? Their faces turned surprised when they saw us coming. I was afraid their eyeb.a.l.l.s were going to fall out into the tea cups.”
Hua Tian Xiang snorted slightly: “Perhaps they thought Ah Li was hiding in her home, crying. Of course they were surprised when we showed up.”
Qin Zheng covered her mouth and grinned: “I’ve never seen so many people stupefied at the same time in my whole life. It was the first time that I became the center of so much attention.”
Ye Li saw her friends talking about how they felt about today’s outing and shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt. It turned out that the gossip was not as bad as she thought. It must have been something that Mo Xiu Yao and her first uncle did in secret. At least most of the people looked at her with surprise or sympathy while she originally thought there would be disdain and contempt. It seemed that most of them didn’t buy the gossip that she was kidnapped.
Ye Li and the girls sat at a quite distant corner chatting among themselves. Mo Jing Li was next to the window by himself, in a very bad mood, drinking tea as if it was alcohol. Since he was far from the girls, he didn’t catch what they were talking about, however, he could still feel the pleasant atmosphere and high spirits. It appeared that Ye Li wasn’t influenced by the rumor at all. Mo Jing Li couldn’t help grinding his teeth. The one who was in trouble was Ye Li while she looked perfectly fine now and he was the one to take the blame. However, Mo Jing Li couldn’t bring himself to argue with Ye Li at the moment. The only way out was for him to sit there and keep drinking his tea, while everyone else avoided him and his bad mood.
“Ah! Ah Li! Prince Ding is here!” While Mo Jing Li was still in a gloomy mood, he heard Murong Ting call out loud from behind, loud enough for all those on the second floor to hear her. Everyone lifted their head and they could see Murong Ting leaning by the window and looking down at the street below. Qin Zheng had no choice but to drag her away from the window, turning around, she grinned at Ye Li and said: “Li-er, you ought to go downstairs and greet Prince Ding.” Hua Tian Xiang covered her mouth and laughed up her sleeve. She waved her hands and teased: “It’s okay if you don’t come back. We would stroll around after finishing the dim sum by ourselves. We don’t have more room for Prince Ding anyway.”
After hearing that, those who took their seats deeper inside the teahouse started to regret their choices that they made due to their fear of Prince Li. Now they could only sharpen their ears, trying to listen to what those girls at the corner said. Ye Li noticed what was happening and she couldn’t help the amus.e.m.e.nt of it all. Indeed, gossip was in the veins of every generation. In their open and secret stares, Ye Li stood up and went downstairs. When she pa.s.sed Mo Jing Li, she felt his bluntly ferocious glare. Ye Li didn’t have a solution for it: some people were just not made to be friends and nothing could force them into being friendly to each other.
Watching the third miss of Ye Family going downstairs in such a calm manner, the way that customers upstairs looked at Mo Jing Li grew much more complicated. Seeing the third miss of Ye Family so calm and completely at ease in front of a big crowd, it seemed that nothing had happened to her. While Prince Li looked very much somber and hideous, like someone who was angry because his schemes went badly. People exchanged looks in secret and discussed in silence. Mo Jing Li looked as if he could no longer bear such a strange atmosphere and put his tea cup down heavily. He stood up, cast a glance at the street through the half open window, turned around and went downstairs with a gloomy face.