Everyone had kneeled to greet the palace princess. In such a solemn situation, someone suddenly sneezed. This sort of disturbance really was not too good. Moreover, this sneeze seemed to have come suddenly, such that the young miss could not even cover her mouth, much less do her best to try and keep it quiet. The sneeze was just let out very openly, and the majority of the people present in the garden heard it.
Xuan Tian Ge was given a start by this and subconsciously asked: “Who did it?”
From the crowd, a girl trembled with fear and replied: “It was I.” The voice carried a bit of a sob, as she had clearly been frightened.
The maidservant at her side quickly kowtowed for her master: “Palace Princess, please forgive us! Our young miss is just allergic to pollen, and the fragrance of the garden was a bit too strong, thus she was unable to hold back. Would Your Highness Palace Princess please pardon us.”
Everyone looked toward the girl that had sneezed. It was the daughter of an official from out of the province, and there were not many people that recognized her, but there were still people that did. Earlier, when everyone was gathered in their own little circles, this girl had remained far away while covering her nose the entire time.
Xuan Tian Ge did not think much of it, only saying: “Since there was a good reason for it, everyone may rise. It’s just a small matter. There’s no need to take it to heart. Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Everyone enjoying themselves would be best.”
With her saying this, that young miss finally let out a long sigh of relief, quickly giving her thanks; however, Xuan Tian Ge muttered: “But the fragrance today is indeed a bit strong.”
Everyone stood up and returned to their small groups. The ladies from the capital would naturally be familiar with one another, and there were quite a few from out of the province that knew people in the capital. Everyone gathered together and chatted back and forth. It was very lively. During this time, there were quite a few people that took the initiative to go forward and greet Xuan Tian Ge and Feng Yu Heng. The toady looks on their faces made their intention to curry favor with them all too obvious.
When faced with these people, Xuan Tian Ge and Feng Yu Heng did not reject them too fiercely. They did not reject a single person that came, and they could warmly chat with anyone. This caused all of the madams and young misses to feel that they had gained a relationship with the palace princess and imperial daughter. But why then, once they turned around and thought about it, could they not remember talking about anything with any real content. It seemed as if those two masters had never even asked what families they were from. They really were just being polite and doing their best to keep up the atmosphere.
Upon thinking of this, it was inevitable that they would begin to feel resentful, and these sorts of resentments would naturally cause others to move forward to try and curry favor. But there was also another group of people that could not be bothered with anything else. Feng Zhao Lian’s existence had practically driven them crazy. The red clothes were very noticeable, and he had a face that made even the sun lose some of its shine. These madams and young misses all hated that they were not men at this minute. If they were men, they would definitely want to bring this woman back to their manor and would be willing to agree to any request.
On that side, a large group of people gathered around Feng Zhao Lian and asked all kinds of things. Although Feng Zhao Lian usually spoke in a bit of a frustrating manner, as long as he wanted, there was no scenario where he could not force himself to deal with it. Thus he remained in the center of a group of smitten girls that were causing a stir. On the other side, having finally dealt with the last of the people wanting to curry favor, Xuan Tian Ge pulled Feng Yu Heng to find a relatively quiet place to sit. Only then did she say: “This courtyard really is extremely fragrant today.”
Xiang Rong thought about it then said: “I saw that a large number of flowers seemed to have been carried into the courtyard later on. Thinking about it, Her Highness the Empress must have brought all of these flowers over for the banquet. That must be why the smell is so thick, right?”
Feng Yu Heng, however, shook her head, “Flowers and trees will have their own smells, but it would not be to such a degree.”
Xuan Tian Ge also said: “That’s right. This is not the smell of flowers. The young miss that just sneezed most likely did not just sneeze because of an allergy to pollen, right?”
Feng Yu Heng had quite a bit of authority in this matter, explaining to the two: “Pollen is not the only thing that people are allergic to. Smells are also possible. The reason that she would sneeze is most likely a result of breathing something that she was sensitive to. Such a strong smell would naturally cause her to feel uncomfortable.”
But Feng Yu Heng knew that aside from the young miss with a sensitive nose, the other people would not think much of this smell. Even if someone thought that this smell did not come from just flowers and trees, with so many madams and young misses gathered in one place, and all of them wearing a bit of perfume, the smell would naturally become a bit more noticeable. This was nothing. Moreover, it did not smell bad.
She looked all around, which left Xuan Tian Ge puzzled: “What are you looking at? Could it be that you’ve seen the Feng family’s fourth young miss? I just saw her speaking with a daughter from the Lu family.”
Upon hearing mention of the Lu family’s daughter, Feng Yu Heng immediately said: “I was looking for a daughter from the Lu family, but it should not be the one that you are speaking of. Wasn’t it said that their family has three young misses?”
Xuan Tian Ge nodded, “That’s right. Because Prime Minister Lu has had two official wives, there are also two daughters of the first wife. One is that Lu Yao that married into the Yao family. There is another that appears to be called Lu Yan. As for the other, I don’t know. She very rarely comes out.”
Feng Yu Heng said: “The one that I am looking for is the one that never comes out.” This thick fragrance had caused her to remember that situation in front of the jewelry shop. At that time, there was also a thick smell coming from a girl’s body, and she had recognized the maidservant at her side as being from the Lu manor. The maidservants from the Lu manor naturally could not be taking care of a young miss from a different manor. As for Lu Yao, she knew her, thus the one at that maidservant’s side would be one of the Lu family’s other two young misses. As for the Lu family’s Lu Yan, even if she did not recognize her, she is not someone that never sets a foot outside. It would be impossible for her to wear a veil while walking around outside while wearing such strong perfume. Thinking about it like this, the one that she had seen on that day was the Lu family’s daughter that lived in seclusion.
“Why are you looking for her?” Although Xuan Tian Ge was puzzled, she helped look around. Xiang Rong did the same. But after looking for a while, she said: “How do we look for her. We’ve never seen her and could not recognize her even if we saw her.”
At this time, Xiang Rong extended her arm and pointed toward a corner: “Look over there, there is a young miss wearing a veil.”
Looking in the direction that the finger pointed, but of course, there was indeed a master and servant standing next to some rockery. The master with dazzling clothes and a veil was saying something to her maidservant.
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “Right, I recognize that servant. It’s those two.”
“Why were you looking for her?” Xuan Tian Ge asked this question once more, but Feng Yu Heng’s thoughts were just guesses, and she could not speak without care. She just said: “Curiosity! You know that I am a bit more concerned with the Lu family.”
Xuan Tian Ge felt that this was a bit reasonable and pointed in the other direction: “Look, Lu Yao and Lu Yan also came. It seems that they came together.”
Feng Yu Heng looked over. Sure enough, the two entered the garden together. One was dressed as a girl and the other was dressed as a married woman. They very quickly found familiar faces and entered the conversations with these madams and young misses. As for the female family members of the Yao family that had come with Lu Yao, they had not yet entered the courtyard. Very quickly, some people came forward to chat with them. It would not be good for Feng Yu Heng to immediately go and disturb them.
When ladies met up, it was mostly just to gossip. As she saw it, it was extremely boring.
Fortunately, something not-at-all boring very quickly arrived, as Feng Zhao Lian finally managed to break free from the smitten ladies and quickly walked toward them. Arriving before them, he sat down on a stone chair and immediately let out a long sigh, “So tiring.”
Feng Yu Heng looked at him with disdain, “It looked to me like you were having quite a good time.”
“Aren’t I doing it for you?!” Feng Zhao Lian spoke naturally, “A-Heng, we are a group. It’s natural that I must be considerate of you.”
Feng Yu Heng was puzzled, “What are you being considerate of me for?”
“I can’t just watch people bully you!”
Xuan Tian Ge was speechless, “When these words come out of your mouth, who would still dare to bully A-Heng so openly?”
Huang Quan added: “Our young miss must not be bullied.” Her words immediately caused Xuan Tian Ge and Feng Xiang Rong’s maidservants to agree.
Feng Zhao Lian, however, said: “This is not the same. None of you were present at the time. Even if you wanted to deal with it, you could not.” While he spoke, he glanced at Huang Quan, “As for you! You watched as someone squeezed out your young miss, yet you remained aloof and indifferent.”
Huang Quan became furious, “When did I? When did this happen?”
Feng Zhao Lian said: “When we just arrived at the imperial palace, when the imperial carriage was being blocked, did you not hear how many people were concerning themselves with A-Heng. The things that they said were even sourer than vinegar. There were quite a few people that were vocal about A-Heng, and their words were very rude.”
With him saying this, Huang Quan was powerless. That’s right, this sort of thing did indeed happen, but her young miss did not allow her to do anything!
It seemed as though Feng Zhao Lian had guessed what she was thinking, as he immediately followed up: “Not paying any heed to it at the time was a strategic choice. After all, our identity will not allow us to quibble and curse with them in the streets. That’s too below our dignity, but grudges must be resolved!”
Huang Quan was speechless, how would they get revenge? At that time, there were so many people speaking outside. Who knew which madams and young misses were talking? She did not recognize a single one.
Feng Zhao Lian very naturally fluffed himself up, which brought about Feng Yu Heng’s mockery: “Stop fluffing yourself up. No matter how much you do it, you don’t have a chest.”
Feng Zhao Lian had suffered an attack and dejectedly said: “Then think of a way to help me grow a chest!” He then very quickly brushed past the subject and continued from where he had left off, “A-Heng, although you don’t recognize the people that were talking about you outside of the palace, I still remember all of their voices. During my earlier conversations, I have found all of the people that were speaking poorly of you!”
Feng Yu Heng nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood, “What?”
Feng Zhao Lian very proudly repeated himself: “Those ones that liked to sow discord, I have remembered all of their voices. At this time, not a single one is missing, and they have all been found.”
Xuan Tian Ge and Feng Xiang Rong were both dazed from hearing this. Huang Quan said: “You keep grudges a little too much, don’t you?”
“Wrong!” Feng Zhao Lian said: “This is A-Heng’s grudge. I need to remember it for you! Not only will I remember it, but through the conversations, I have also figured out their identities. Come, come, come, A-Heng, I will tell you all about it.”
“Wait a moment.” Feng Yu Heng quickly reached into her sleeve and pulled out a notepad and pen, “Point them out one by one. Speak slowly. I will keep note of them all in my book.”
Everyone fainted from the madness!