Tled by Serena Love

Unedited

Chapter 31: The Banquet

The next day, Xie Xun had finished his breakfast and cleaned up, but there was no movement in the east wing.

He sighed, "As I expected." He walked to the door of the east wing, and there was no maid in the yard. They were all inside the east wing, and he didn't know what they were doing.

Xie Xun walked to the door and wanted to enter. However, he hesitated and knocked on the door first.

"Xie Boyuan?" Jiang Shuyao's voice came from inside.

"It's me." Xie Xun replied.

"Come in!" She sounded surprised.

Xie Xun walked into the room, and along the way, he saw a large number of exquisite embroidered belts on the table, dozens of delicate embroidered shoes beside the screen, and around the screen, he saw a chaise lounge that was submerged by clothes.

The corner of his brows twitched.

Further inside, he saw Jiang Shuyao sitting in front of the dressing table.

The surrounding maids were holding their breath, and the room was extremely quiet.

Xie Xun was puzzled. He was about to speak when Jiang Shuyao suddenly turned around, and his words suddenly got stuck in his throat.

The sunlight was pouring down from the carved window and setting off the shining pearl on her dark cloud-shaped hairstyle. A dangling hairpin, which was decorated with fine tassels, sprinkled fine swaying lights and shadows on her face. She applied light rouge on her thin lips and also smudged it in the corners of her eyes, so that her already agile eyes were dyed charmingly. Her eyes looked like it was filled with spring water, looked shiny and brilliant.

Xie Xun was in a daze for a moment. His eyes seemed to be scalded, and he quickly moved his gaze away.

"Xie Boyuan, come here." She said, her tone was a bit high from anxiety, but it sounded as if she was acting like a baby.

Xie Xun's hands behind his back squeezed tightly. He sluggishly walked towards her, but he didn't dare to look at her lotus face.

"The image on the bronze mirror was not clear. Can you help me paste the flower pattern?" She said, "I ask them to help, but they are not willing to do it."

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Xie Xun heard her complaint and understood why the maid would not help her.

They were probably afraid that their clumsy hand would ruin her beauty.

He sighed in his heart. He did not dare to refuse and accepted this task.

Jiang Shuyao raised her head. When she looked up, the corners of her eyes rose, and the rouge-stained eyes became a little more charming.

Xie Xun's hands shook, and he almost dropped the gold flowers.

It's a pity that the more nervous he was, the tighter his face became. He looked cold, frowning and pursing his lips. It made him looked more alienated and indifferent.

When Jiang Shuyao saw this, she was a little embarrassed, "Are you angry?"

Xie Xun said, "Huh?" His hands were shaking, and busy sticking flowers to her forehead. The hand that can hold the pen and sword daily almost couldn't hold the light gold flower petals.

Jiang Shuyao obediently raised her forehead, and her gaze swept across his eyebrows. When he was focused, he looked cold and looked a bit fierce, and she did not dare to take a closer look.

"I made you wait and annoying you, sorry." She spoke softly.

Xie Xun put the gold foil directly on her forehead, and his voice was tight, "No."

Jiang Shuyao thought to herself: 'As expected, he was so angry.'

"I offended you by touching you yesterday. I'm sorry." The two were getting closer now, so Jiang Shuyao saw him as if he was an old, pampered, stinky-faced schoolboy brother next door. She forgot about the distinction between men and women and got too close to him.

Fortunately, the gold flower petals on her forehead had already been placed. Otherwise, Xie Xun's hands would shake and it would be tilted all over the place.

This time he didn't answer. He passed the thing to a maid without saying a word. Then he turned away with a cold face and his hands behind his back.

Jiang Shuyao's willow-looking eyebrows frowned, and she said to the maid next to her, "What should I do. He seems to be very angry."

The beauty frowned, and even the maids felt distressed and quickly comforted her.

＊

Xie Pei arrived in front of the hall, and saw that Jiang Shuyao hadn't come yet, and complained, "Why was she procrastinated? She is the only one left--"

Before she finished speaking, she saw Jiang Shuyao hurried over, holding her skirt.

At first glance, there was a gorgeous red, like a fire, like a hibiscus. Jiang Shuyao wore beaded hairpins on her head. It was an obviously tacky gold ornament, but on her, it was not gaudy at all. It only looked rich and luxurious.

Even so, the most eye-catching on her whole body was her brilliant face, which instantly stunning everyone's eyes.

Xie Pei suddenly thought about the Imperial Concubine Lin during the Winter Night Palace Banquet. She wore the cloud-looking hairstyle. Graceful and beautiful. Sitting on the side of the emperor, really deserving to be the beauty of six palaces, but she made people afraid to look closely.

Xie Pei's heart seemed to be pinched.

She hurriedly glanced at her third brother. She saw that he was as cold as before and felt relieved. She said in her heart: 'Third brother is not someone who will be tempted by beauty.'

When everyone went to the Princess Mansion, Jiang Shuyao, Xie Pei, and Xu-shi shared the same carriage.

When Xu-shi saw her, she was stunned for a moment. Then, she exaggerated a few praises without hesitation.

The few words of compliment made Xie Pei's ears itchy, and her gaze swept at Jiang Shuyao's face again. When she saw Jiang Shuyao slightly raised her eyes to look over, her heart trembled, and she quickly withdrew her gaze.

She squeezed the seat under her body tightly, and crumpled the satin surface.

What happened?!

Xie Pei gritted her teeth and thought: 'It was obvious that she was born so vulgar and mean, but in a short time, she had become so rich and charming.'

She thought of Jiang Shuyao's dress before and compared it to the present. She vaguely understood, but she was also a little confused. If she dressed like this back then, how would she be laughed at by those ladies?

Although the gate of the princess's mansion was wide and spacious, it was still crowded with carriages coming to the mansion.

The sun was coming up, and everyone was a little anxious. Servants in the big family had long recognized which carriage to serve first, so those with lower ranks can only wait patiently.

Lin Cheng got out of the carriage and happened to see Xie Xun, who had just got off the carriage not far away.

He passed through the crowd and the carriages and came to Xie Xun to say hello.

After the last time he went to his house for a meal, Lin Cheng asked the cook at home to try making the duck blood vermicelli soup. He didn't know how many ducks he killed to get blood. It made his heart jump, and he got scolded by his father.

He had heard about the horrible things of the Lord Xiangyang's eldest lady and also saw her pretentious face. Still, because of a bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup, he was very optimistic about her now. He wished that she and Xie Xun would forget any grudges, and the husband and wife would be in love for a lifetime.

The coachman walked to the carriage and lowered the stool. A maid opened the curtain, and the pearl hairpin rang softly. Lin Cheng subconsciously turned his head to look.

The sun was dazzling, and before he had time to react, he stared at Jiang Shuyao blankly, his heart skipped a beat.

Gorgeous and enchanting. Smiles bloomed like a flower. Hibiscus was not as beautiful as her face.

He lowered his eyes in a panic. He pulled Xie Xun shyly and nervously and asked quietly, "Bo Yuan, your younger sister has grown up, and she has the beauty of the country."

Xie Xun squinted at him and said coldly, "That's my wife, Jiang Shuyao."

Lin Cheng took a deep breath and almost choked.

His mind was muddled, and it took a long time to process Xie Xun's words.

"How is it possible?!"

The same sentence from his mind sounded on the other side.

Miss Li pulled Miss Song's sleeve and looked at Jiang Shuyao in disbelief.

"Impossible!" She said, "How could she looked like a different person in a short period. Obviously, she was not as good as..." Life is better when people are good-looking. This was the reason why she blamed Jiang Shuyao day and night. How could such an ugly and untalented woman climb into the star-and-moon-figure of Xie Xun?

"From what I can see, she had the same appearance as before. She just changed her dress, put on full makeup, and groomed her eyebrows. It's normal to look like a different person."

"Huh, it's just facade with a dress and a hairpin." Miss Li said. Everyone was silent. Although she knew in her heart that it was not the reason, she still tried to lie to herself.

When she saw Xie Pei coming over, she swarmed her and muttered ill words for Jiang Shuyao. After all, when Jiang Shuyao was about to get married, Xie Pei cursed the shameless and notorious woman with blood-hatred.

Xie Pei's expression was bad, and everyone was happy.

"Ah Pei, why do you look so bad?"

"It was Jiang Shuyao, right?"

"Yes, look at her pretentiousness, and I am also uncomfortable. Who is she showing the hairpins to? This is a banquet. It's not about looking at each other." This sentence was a bit heavy, but no one refuted it.

Xie Pei raised her eyes to the person who was speaking. The woman thought she said what was in Xie Pei's mind, and she quickly added, "Even if she was dressed like this, she could only be called common. How can she be worthy of your brother's bright moon gentleman look?"

The lady next to her chirped back, "Yes, yes."

Xie Pei's expression was not good, and her tone was even worse, "She is not worthy."

All the faces were filled with joy. Xie Pei is Xie Xun's own sister. If she scolded Jiang Shuyao like this, Master Xie must have treated her...

As soon as they thought about it, they heard Xie Pei continue to say, "But are you worthy?"

Everyone was stunned. They can't believe what they heard.

Xie Pei's gaze swept around the people's faces and said to the person who had just said these words to her, "Are you worthy?"

Turning her head, she stared at the other person, "Or are you worthy?" The person's appearance was incomparable to others.

No matter if they were hit by her words or by being compared to Jiang Shuyao. Everyone's complexion was suddenly blue, and their faces were red as if they were slapped.

Xie Pei's gaze was only lightly swept on their faces, but they felt it was like shining sunlight, illuminating all the gloomy jealousy in their hearts.

Xie Pei was quite used to it and didn't care about their faces.

"Forget it, I see in this capital city, only Jiang Shuyao can be worthy of my brother."

Finally someone couldn't help it and said, "Xie Pei! What do you mean by this! Who care about her in the capital? We just said a few words, but you have to tear our faces like this?"

"Say a few words?" Xie Pei ignored their anger. "You can say whatever you want in front of others, I can't control it. But don't say it in front of me. Why do I have to endure our Xie family being chewed by others?"

She turned her shoulders away from these passerby, and walked away with an unhappy face.

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After she left, the people who were so angry just now finally dared to speak.

"What's so great, who will she show this face?"

"Isn't she just relying on Duke Xie's power? Huh, will she dare to treat the eldest lady of Prime Minister Ge's family like this?"

As if they were seeing hope, everyone began to agree "That's right, only the first talented woman in Beijing is worthy of Master Xie."

"And Miss Ge is smart and her beauty like ice and snow. She is out of the ordinary. Jiang Shuyao's, the empty brain, is not even worthy to give her shoes!"

A carriage passed by, and Miss Ge Qingshu raised a corner of her carriage curtain. Her beautiful features and white clothes, made her looked as if she was an immortal fairy.

Even the beginning tone of her words was faint, "Ning Dong, do you think what they say is true?"

Ning Dong lowered her head and said respectfully, "Naturally."

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