Seeing that she wasn’t much older yet called the other a “little girl,” Chu Li’s lips curved into a smile as he asked her, “So what have you decided?”
“If she wants to come, then let her come. But let’s make it clear in advance—she can stay for three days at most. Once the three days are up, she needs to leave immediately. I don’t want her around bothering me!” Mu Yunjin pouted.
“Mm, you can write the reply to your imperial father yourself.” Chu Li stroked her face, his gaze gentle.
Mu Yunjin had never liked writing with the brush pens here. Hearing Chu Li tell her to write the reply herself, she was a hundred times unwilling in her heart. She tugged at Chu Li’s sleeve, saying coyly, “You write it.”
“Oh?” Chu Li raised an eyebrow.
“What? You don’t want to?” Mu Yunjin also raised an eyebrow.
Chu Li smiled faintly and shook his head. “This prince just thinks that your reply would be more convincing.”
“…”
In the end, Mu Yunjin couldn’t find any words to refute. She stood up, walked to the desk, and called to Chu Li beside her, “Come here and grind the ink for your wife!”
…
…
“Foolish girl.” Chu Li frowned slightly, quite displeased with the term “wife” from her mouth.
But he still walked to the desk and began grinding the ink for her.
Mu Yunjin deliberately wanted to write beautifully today, so she wrote each stroke with great care, significantly slowing her writing speed. As she wrote, she found herself missing the ballpoint pens she used to use.
Halfway through writing, she felt an intense gaze from the side. Mu Yunjin turned to look and saw Chu Li’s eyes on her letter paper, filled with amusement.
Chu Li also seemed to sense Mu Yunjin looking at him, and his gaze returned to her.
As their eyes met, it was Mu Yunjin who first lowered her head. Her previous patience in writing each stroke cleanly disappeared. She hastily finished the remaining content and gently blew on the still-wet ink on the letter paper.
“Done.” Mu Yunjin folded the letter and handed it to Chu Li.
Chu Li didn’t take the letter, but instead reached out to grasp Mu Yunjin’s wrist, his thumb resting on her pulse. His expression remained calm, showing no sign of anything unusual.
Indeed, Qingmeng was right—her two heartbeats were becoming increasingly distinct. Just by feeling her pulse, one could sense two parallel beats.
“What’s wrong?” Seeing Chu Li momentarily lost in thought, Mu Yunjin waved her hand in front of his eyes.
Chu Li shook his head, took the letter, and put it away.
“By the way, you went to court today. Your father, the Emperor, isn’t asking you to receive the new Holy Maiden from South Court Country, is he?” Mu Yunjin suddenly remembered this matter.
“Yes.” Chu Li acknowledged with a sound, not surprised that Mu Yunjin knew about the new Holy Maiden’s arrival.
Hearing this, Mu Yunjin became somewhat unhappy, crossing her arms and tensing her face.
Although a Holy Maiden could not do anything to compromise her chastity, she was still a woman, and a beautiful one at that. In her heart, Mu Yunjin was unwilling to let Chu Li have too much contact with this Holy Maiden.
“I heard she’s also a princess from South Court Country?” Mu Yunjin asked sullenly.
Hearing her voice become dejected and seeing her unhappy expression, Chu Li walked closer to her and took her into his arms. “Are you jealous?”
“Of course not.” Mu Yunjin stubbornly replied, then added, “No matter how beautiful she is, she’s not as pretty as me. I’m Western Yuan Country’s number one beauty!”
“What a coincidence—she’s South Court Country’s number one beauty.” Seeing her stubbornly refuse to admit it, Chu Li deliberately teased her, his eyes playful.
Sure enough, upon hearing Chu Li’s words, Mu Yunjin instantly bristled. She broke free from Chu Li’s embrace and poked his chest with her finger, one poke at a time.
“Doesn’t Prince Ning know the thousand-face illusion technique? When South Court Country’s number one beauty arrives, find a scapegoat to replace her, and bring the real number one beauty into this prince’s mansion. That would be the best of both worlds, wouldn’t it?!”
“After all, those empty pavilions next door are prepared for your concubines!”
Hearing her tone so sour it could make one’s teeth fall out, Chu Li laughed lightly. He reached out again to hold her in his arms, his chin resting on her shoulder as he turned his head to whisper in her ear, “I’m just teasing you. Besides you, this prince wants no one else.”
“Hmph, I don’t believe you.” Mu Yunjin’s tone was neither cold nor warm.
“Then what would make you believe?” Chu Li asked.
Mu Yunjin thought for a moment, then looked up at Chu Li. “If I were very ugly, would you still like me?”
“Yes.” Chu Li answered.
“Tch, I don’t believe that!” Mu Yunjin felt a bit like she was fishing for compliments, but she wanted to banter with Chu Li now.
Chu Li lowered his head to kiss her forehead, holding her as he said softly, “If you don’t believe me, you can ruin your face right now, and see if what this prince says is true!”
“Chu Li! Damn you! I want to hit you right now!!” Mu Yunjin instantly went crazy, cursing with words Chu Li couldn’t understand.
Chu Li vaguely sensed that those two words weren’t anything good, but he still teased, “Little Nine is in the palace!”
“Get lost!” Mu Yunjin kicked Chu Li again. “Chu Li, I’m not going to be nice to you anymore!”
Seeing her so exasperated, Chu Li bent down to pick her up in his arms, carried her to the couch, laid her down, and leaned over her.
“Silly girl, don’t overthink. There’s only one of you in this world, and this prince only wants you. Whether others are beautiful or ugly, what does that have to do with this prince?” Chu Li’s tone was gentle as he comforted Mu Yunjin softly.
Mu Yunjin let out a light snort, awkwardly turning her face away. “Did you eat honey? Why are your words so sweet?”
“I didn’t eat it earlier, but I’m about to now.” Chu Li gazed at her, curved his lips, and lowered his head to place a passionate kiss on her lips.
Mu Yunjin held back her smile and gently placed her arms around Chu Li’s waist.
…
Ten days passed continuously, with Mu Yunjin and Chu Li staying together almost all day. Their days were peaceful and warm, and everyone in the prince’s mansion could feel the intense love and affection emanating from the couple.
The weather was also growing colder. Mu Yunjin now stayed in her room all day, trying not to go out if she didn’t have to. Even her meals were brought to her room by Zixiang.
“Miss, word just came from the front that Princess Jingyang’s carriage has reached the outskirts of the city and will enter the city soon,” Zixiang told Mu Yunjin after serving her lunch.
Mu Yunjin’s eyes flickered—she had almost forgotten about this matter.
“Has Chu Li returned from the palace?” Mu Yunjin thought about how Chu Li had gone to court early in the morning.
“Not yet,” Zixiang said.
Mu Yunjin nodded, looking at Zixiang. “Then help me get dressed now. The more magnificent and elaborate, the better. I need to give that girl a show of power first.”
To prevent her from thinking Mu Yunjin was a pushover, she still dared to call her a bastard behind her back. This little girl was asking for trouble!
“Yes, Miss.”
After a thorough grooming and dressing, Mu Yunjin chose a light purple embroidered brocade dress, draped with a slightly deeper snow-silk cloak of the same color. Her black hair was completely pinned up, adorned with several hollow orchid pearl hairpins and gold pendants. The entire look was elegant and noble, yet emanated a forceful aura, making her appear both distant and alluring.
After she was fully dressed, a young maid hurriedly ran into Liquan Pavilion. “Princess, North Ming Country’s Princess Jingyang has arrived and is at the mansion gate. Without your permission, no one dares to let her in.”
Hearing this, Mu Yunjin was first stunned, then realized this was probably Chu Li’s order.
“Tell her to wait for me in the front hall,” Mu Yunjin said.
“Yes, Princess.”
After the young maid left, Mu Yunjin looked in the mirror again, grateful that when she had confronted Jingyang in North Ming Country, she had been in disguise. Otherwise, Jingyang might now be so angry she would hang herself at the gate of Prince Ning’s mansion.
After sitting in Liquan Pavilion for another half hour, Mu Yunjin finally walked out and headed toward the front hall.
Along the way, she attracted many sidelong glances from people in the prince’s mansion.
By all rights, the Princess dressing this way was not problematic and suited her status. But having been accustomed to seeing the simple and plain Mu Yunjin daily, when these people now saw Mu Yunjin’s attire, they couldn’t help but feel it was… grand, even somewhat intimidating.
…
In the front hall, Jingyang sat in a side seat, her stomach full of anger with nowhere to vent. In her heart, she cursed Mu Yunjin thousands of times. She was, after all, a princess of North Ming Country. Since her birth, no one had dared to treat her with such disrespect.
Today, after waiting a long time at the mansion gate and then sitting in this side seat for ages, she felt she was truly about to die from anger.
But that wasn’t even the worst of it. The most infuriating thing was that since she had sat down, no one had even served her tea. All the servants in the room acted as if they couldn’t see her, treating her like she didn’t exist!
These people of Western Yuan Country were all scoundrels, scoundrels!
Just as she was thinking this, a warm voice came from the side, “Oh my, our Princess has arrived!”
The speaker was Mamma Shen.
Mamma Shen had already received instructions from Chu Li and knew how to treat this Princess Jingyang. Now, seeing Mu Yunjin arrive, she immediately hurried over to support Mu Yunjin’s arm.
“Come, Princess, please sit.” Mamma Shen helped Mu Yunjin to the main seat, then turned to a young maid nearby, “Quickly, bring tea!”
After Mu Yunjin sat down, she raised an eyebrow and looked in Jingyang’s direction.
At this moment, Jingyang also directed her gaze at Mu Yunjin. Upon meeting Mu Yunjin’s cold eyes, Jingyang suddenly trembled, the words she wanted to say stuck in her throat.
An old nurse who had accompanied Jingyang gently patted Jingyang’s shoulder and gave her a meaningful look.
Jingyang immediately understood. She stood up, bowed slightly to Mu Yunjin, and put on a sweet, pleasant smile. “Jingyang pays her respects to Elder Sister.”
For a long while, Mu Yunjin didn’t speak. Jingyang maintained her bowing posture, her heart full of displeasure. But perhaps because Mu Yunjin’s aura was too powerful, Jingyang swallowed hard and momentarily lost her voice, not daring to speak.
Beside her, the old nurse, seeing that the situation was somewhat amiss, immediately stepped forward. She also bowed and said, “This old servant pays respects to Princess Ning. This time, I have specially accompanied Princess Jingyang to Western Yuan Country for a visit. If there has been any rude disturbance, please forgive us, Princess Ning.”
“You may rise. We are sisters, there’s no need for formality.” Mu Yunjin’s tone was indifferent as she glanced at the old nurse beside Jingyang. She naturally knew this old nurse—she was one of Yang Qingning’s people.
Thinking about it, Mu Yunjin secretly thought that Jingyang’s sudden visit to Western Yuan Country was probably Yang Qingning’s idea. She wondered what that woman was planning.
With these thoughts, she put on a harmless smile and looked at Jingyang. “After such a long journey, Little Sister Jingyang must be hungry?”