Chapter 15: Rumors Are Not To Be Believed
Bai Xiangxiu had no intention of fighting with the female lead over the male lead. She was still hoping they’d quickly fall deeply in love and roll in the hay1 until they could no longer get up. Thus, she tried to speak a few words in defense of the male lead.
However, just as she was about to do so, two servants came by from the other side of the artificial mountain. They obviously didn’t see the stooping women as well as the male lead and the others who had just passed by earlier, as they talked happily between themselves, standing there and speaking for even longer as though they were scared that people wouldn’t be able to hear their words.
While the world within a novel wasn’t something you could control; the scenarios within were really something that could change because of your thoughts and perceptions!
“I’ve heard that Xi’er’s family has arrived. Choosing today of all days, are they here to make things difficult for Old Madame?”
“That’s right; they’re really looking down on Prince and Old Madame. The Prince already gave the order for them to be dragged away before they entered. I heard that below, the man was almost beaten to death.”
“Sigh, talking about it, Xi’er really is pitiful. She just wanted to climb up on a high branch, and which maid in the manor doesn’t dream of that? Even those mistresses of his and young ladies outside also hope for the day that they will be able to get close to Prince, not to mention the maids. Only this time, she was unlucky and paid the price in blood…”
“Yes, the Prince was really too brutal, being so hard on a mere girl…”
“This isn’t some rare thing. I’ve heard people say that while he was at war, the Prince captured women from the enemy and forced them to submit to his subordinates until they died…”
“Really?!”
“I heard it from the soldiers, how can it be false?”
As Bai Xiangxiu listened to this gossip, she looked at the face of the female lead opposite her. Her face slowly changed from pink to a pale, and from pale to white, completely bloodless. When the two servants left, she immediately spoke up for the male lead without hesitation.
Although the female lead would still be captured when she escaped, if they all directly reached a happy ending just like this, wouldn’t she be thrown out of the manor earlier? Right, although the old madame would plead for them at that point, she needed an exit strategy that didn’t involve her coming back to this scary manor! She absolutely needed to seduce the male supporting character to come for her at that time.
In order to plan for her own future, she immediately waved her hands, “You should not listen to them talking rubbish. That maid was killed by staves because she harmed the Prince, while the matter of the army is definitely not true. The Prince is especially caring towards the women in the complex… well, that’s wrong, he’s extremely cold, but he doesn’t randomly beat or kill them as he likes! Or kill them!” Hey hey hey, why was the female lead’s eyes looking past her head, even revealing an expression of fear?
Looking beside her, even Xiao Shi was kneeling on the ground, frantically tugging at her mistress’ clothes. Sadly, she had been too engrossed in explaining to the female lead to notice. Bai Xiangxiu could only feel a chill within her heart, at the same time deeply believing the law of nature that when the female lead appeared, bad things would definitely happen.
As her head stiffly completed its turn, she found the male lead, the male supporting character and the other young masters all standing in a row behind her. Their expressions varied, but their attention was completely focused on her.
However composed she was, Bai Xiangxiu also felt herself grow limp at that moment as she fell to the ground in a heap. Her face showed deep and complete shock, and it was clear that she wouldn’t regain her spirits in a short amount of time.
Long Heng frowned slightly. Earlier, when he had been listening to her fervently defend him, he had actually felt something. While he didn’t need any such defense, he was struck by the thought that this woman seemed to understand as well as trust in him quite a bit. This feeling, was not bad.
Seeing her mistress so shell-shocked, Xiao Shi hurriedly went over to support her, her heart in pieces from worry: Please don’t be shocked till you fall sick again, you only just got a little better recently!
Bai Xiangxiu now knelt down with Xiao Shi’s support, her voice quivering, “Your Highness.” Don’t be mistaken, this was not out of fright, but of shock, anger and worry for the female lead. Could she really still escape with so many people watching? However, she had clearly thought too much. Just before the male lead had a chance to open his mouth to ask about the female lead’s true identity, the latter had already leapt into the waters of the pond behind her.
“Wah! COOOLD…” This was the female lead; if she froze herself till she got sick, what if the male lead found an excuse to rage at her then?
Bai Xiangxiu reached out her hand as if to stop her. She really didn’t want something like this to happen, because she really didn’t want to be beaten to death by staves just because of something like this. You know, getting beaten to death by staves was a psychological shadow within her heart. It could not be wiped away so easily.
“You recognize that pageboy?” With the clarity of his eyes and heart, Long Heng had long since gotten a clear glimpse of that servant when that servant had daringly looked at him earlier. Or perhaps it could be said that when the pageboy had walked towards them earlier, it was definitely for getting a closer look at him. This person was definitely not from his complex, of that he was sure. This eye power had been trained by the army. With close to ten thousand people amongst his personal guard, even if there was one unfamiliar face, he would be able to point it out with a single glance. And from that person’s figure, it was definitely not a servant at all.
“No, I didn’t recognize him.” Not daring to admit that she knew the female lead, Bai Xiangxiu hurriedly shook her head to shake off the relations between them. However, from the situation earlier, the female lead was indeed the best at stirring up trouble, as she felt extremely panicked.
“Oh? In that case, why did you still talk with him for so long?” Actually, he knew what they had been doing. It was obviously none other than the trash talk by his servants having been overheard by them, but why had she explained it to a mere servant? Unless, she knew who that person was, or there was some other secrets involved?
“Um, this concubine and that servant… just happened to meet by chance, going into hiding when we heard those people spouting those lies. And, this concubine.. really doesn’t know him. I only felt like he.. did not seem like a bad person.” Best not speak ill of the female lead, if this old debt was dug back up in the future, this was a crime for which she could be beaten to death by staves!
“Cough, that’s right… I saw that that guy seemed to have been scared into fleeing, and doesn’t look like he will harm anyone.”
Amongst those men, a young master smoothly followed up on Bai Xiangxiu’s words. However, his true inner thoughts were: Your Highness, you’d better not send troops to hunt down your fiancée!
Hey, there was actually someone who was speaking up for her! Oh wait, it’s speaking up for the female lead. Unconsciously raising her head, Bai Xiangxiu just happened to see the panicked look within that young master’s eyes. With but a glance, she determined that this man who looked similar to the female lead and had just spoken up for her was clearly the female lead’s sole elder brother, the book’s number one big cannon fodder!
Thinking about how even after he had died for the female lead, the female lead had still continued with her game of running away from the prince, she really felt that this elder brother’s actions were not worth it! Handsome, kind and obedient. If she had such an elder brother, even she would want to stay in this world for a few more years. It was a pity that all of this belonged to the female lead, she really felt various emotions of envy, jealousy and hatred.
Silently retracting her gaze, when she lingered on the male supporting character Song Jiaoyue’s face for 0.1 seconds, Bai Xiangxiu discovered that he was also looking at her. She couldn’t help but tense up, did this mean that she had been noticed? However, when she lowered her head, she found that his gaze had already shifted to the pond, as she felt a chill grip her heart once more. It looked like the female lead halo was indeed too strong, with her really not being able to pull back the hearts of these men.
“Oh? This prince feels that offenders must be exterminated. Men, quickly capture that person who just escaped!”
Long Heng was also not blind, how could he not see what Bai Xiangxiu had been able to see? He had not thought that the famed Miss Lin would actually be so bold, actually openly running over to the Prince Li Manor and even conversing with this woman. However, his mood today was very good today, so he would let her go for the time being!
1. Euphemism for having sex