Regaining Face
The full set of white crystal head ornaments had caused a much stronger reaction than Chen Yu had imagined. Not only did those young misses scream, some even cried! Without any concern for whether their makeup would run, they only focused on crying. This scene caused her to recall how Fen Dai had cried and screamed when the Yu Palace had brought the five treasures to the Feng family.
Chen Yu thought quickly and turned to look at Fen Dai. She even said: “Why is fourth sister standing so far away? Quickly come to eldest sister’s side.”
Fen Dai was indeed standing far away. The first reason was because the eldest prince was at Chen Yu’s side. The second reason was because she had always hated Chen Yu, so she did not want to stand with her.
It was precisely because she had been standing behind her that she did not understand why the madams and young misses were crying. Even if Chen Yu was beautiful, she should not be beautiful enough to cause this many people to cry, right?
Now that Chen Yu called to her, Fen Dai finally looked over. Just looking was enough to cause Fen Dai to be stunned from surprise.
Seeing Fen Dai’s expression, Chen Yu’s heart blossomed with laughter. Ever since Feng Yu Heng had returned to the capital, not only did she lose face outside, she even lost face before the other family members. Especially with Feng Fen Dai, who had caused her trouble time and time again. She had even tried to harm her with underhanded tactics. How was Chen Yu supposed to feel at peace.
Today, she had deliberately put on a bamboo hat and did not remove it until she reached the main hall. This was the result she had desired.
While one of the sisters was rejoicing and the other was suffering a mental collapse, Xuan Tian Qi had already left Chen Yu’s side and walked towards the seats for the princes. Xiang Rong did not want to stay at the entrance any longer and walked towards where Feng Yu Heng sat, but she too was surprised by Chen Yu’s set of crystal head ornaments: “Where did eldest sister get such beautiful ornaments from? Was it from the Chen family?”
Feng Yu Heng did not respond to this question. Instead, she stared at Chen Yu and pondered for a while before appraising: “The crystal is beautiful, but when paired with the black face, it loses too much of its brilliance.”
Xiang Rong could not help but look at Feng Yu Heng. Her second sister never dressed up. She clearly had too many more nice things than eldest sister, but she had never seen her wear them. “In truth, if second sister wore the things his Highness Prince Yu gifted, you would definitely be much prettier than eldest sister.” As she was thinking, the words came out of her mouth, but she then recalled the news that had come from the court. She also recalled the current situation of Tong Sheng pavilion and felt that she had misspoken, so she quickly stopped speaking.
Feng Yu Heng, however, comforted her, saying: “It’s fine. The victor has yet to be determined.”
At this time, Chen Yu had finished showing off at the entrance and was walking in their direction.
Fen Dai was also following along behind her, her eyes staring straight at Chen Yu’s crystal ornaments. It was as though she had been completely enchanted.
The young misses who had previously detested Chen Yu now approached her. They completely forgot the deeply ingrained concept of daughter of the first wife and daughter of a concubine. Chen Yu was now the daughter of a concubine, but she still became the focus of the crowd.
Feng Yu Heng pulled Xiang Rong a couple seats away, giving space for the gathering around Chen Yu. The young misses seemed to not have seen Feng Yu Heng, and some even kicked away the chair that was left behind with expressions of disdain.
Chen Yu’s vain heart had already reached its upper limit. She felt that even when she was the daughter of the first wife and did not need to apply black blush, she had not been placed on such a pedestal. And all of this had to be attributed to the crystal head ornaments gifted by his Highness the eldest prince. She had specially prepared a set of light-colored clothing for these accessories. This strongly suppressed the memory of when she had worn red clothes for the sake of Xuan Tian Hua.
The young misses surrounding her endlessly praised how beautiful the accessories were. There were a few who reached out to touch them, but they were all stopped by Yi Lin.
Chen Yu turned her gaze towards the eldest prince, and he just happened to be looking in her direction. Their gazes met up, causing Chen Yu’s face to turn red, as she lowered her head.
Though she lowered her head, her mind began thinking things over.
When she had seen the eldest prince a moment earlier, she seemed to have felt another gaze looking in her direction. In the beginning, she thought it was the third prince, Xuan Tian Ye. After all, among all the princes, Xuan Tian Ye was the only one to have had any interactions with her. But when she looked over, she found that Xuan Tian Ye seemed to be saying something to the fourth prince. She was familiar with the appearances of those princes, but the one looking in her direction was one she did not recognize at all.
Chen Yu’s heart raced, and she could not say if she was happy or flustered. It was as though there had been a sudden change, as all the princes expressed their goodwill to her, which caused her to feel overwhelmed by their favor.
Feng Yu Heng smiled slyly while watching her for a while then turned her attention to the group of princes. Though Chen Yu did not recognize the one looking at her, Feng Yu Heng did.
The fifth prince, Xuan Tian Yan, was the prince who had taken in n concubines. He also seemed to like Chen Yu’s set of crystal ornaments quite a bit.
As though she were watching a play, she watched everything that happened before her and reached out to pick up her cup of tea from the table. Who knew that the empty cup that had been on the table would be taken away by someone else just as she was about to grab it.
Feng Yu Heng was stunned and turned to look at the person who had taken it away. She saw that it was a girl roughly 14 or 15 years of age and did not appear to be unfamiliar. Thinking about it, she had seen her at this sort of banquet before.
At that girl’s side, there were some other girls of the same age. At this time, they were looking at Feng Yu Heng with faces filled with joyful smiles.
Feng Yu Heng ignored them. Either way, there were plenty of tea cups on the table. If that one was taken away, she could take another one.
But she did not think that a hand would reach out and snatch away the cup that she had set her sights on just as her hand reached the cup.
Feng Yu Heng felt this was interesting. Whenever she went to pick up a cup from the table, someone else would snatch it away. Like this, another six cups were snatched.
She turned her head and looked at the girls in amusement. Puzzled, she asked: “Do you like collecting these things?”
This question caused them to be stunned. The first girl to snatch a cup away responded: “We are just thirsty.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “Oh.” But her gaze turned to the cups in their hands and shook her head. With a look of regret, she said: “Growing up in the mountains, I have seen a good number of rude village girls. After returning to the capital, I heard that all of the young misses of the noble families have received proper education. But I did not think that I had misunderstood.”
“What do you mean?” Upon hearing Feng Yu Heng say such a thing, that young miss could not help but become aggravated and immediately began to shout: “Are you saying that we are lacking education?”
“No?” Feng Yu Heng spread out her fingers, “Snatching cups of tea from others is something I can still understand as you being too thirsty. But take a look at yourselves. Each of you is holding two cups of tea. How thirsty must you be to hold a cup in each hand and alternate between drinking from each cup? I fear that even men are not so bold when drinking wine, right?”
The group blushed from what she said. They had clearly heard at home about how Prince Yu had lost power, and even his future princess had been punished. They were no longer as respectful as they were in the past. Now, the person with the most influence was Prince Jing. Why would they continue to pay attention to Feng Yu Heng like they had in the past? Moreover, of the nine princes, the seventh prince, Xuan Tian Hua, and the ninth prince, Xuan Tian Ming, were considered to be the most beloved by the young misses of the capital. Although Xuan Tian Ming had injured his legs and had ruined his complexion, he could still translate that love into pity.
In short, in the eyes of these girls, Feng Yu Heng was guilty of ruining their male deity.
“It’s just as you said. Us sisters like collecting these things.” That young miss was unwilling to relent and continued: “The Yuan Palace’s tea cups are quite good. We are planning to bring one back each to collect and play with.”
“Oh.” Feng Yu Heng expressed her understanding, “Then take good care of it. Remember to tell the palace’s people about it when you leave. Don’t leave them thinking that they lost something. It would not be good if they began searching for them.” She said this while waving to a maid who was passing by, “Come here.”
The Yuan Palace’s maids were very polite and courteous to Feng Yu Heng, so she immediately saluted upon arriving: “This servant greets county princess. May I ask what orders county princess has?”
Feng Yu Heng pointed to the people beside her and deliberately raised her voice: “They are interested in the Yuan Palace’s tea cups and are wanting to take them home and collect them. Go help wrap them up. Do not let them break, or they will feel saddened.”
The maid was stunned, “This is just a normal tea cup. Although it is quite pretty, it… is not worth collecting, right?”
The group of girls blushed heavily from the conversation between the two. They then saw that people had heard their conversation and were looking over, so they could not help but lower their heads. At this moment, only two words filled their minds, losing face!
Unfortunately, they were not done with losing face. The host of the night’s banquet, the second prince, Xuan Tian Ling, had walked in from the side hall holding his princess’ hand. Some how, he just happened to hear the contents of this conversation and could not help but laugh loudly “Who knew that my palace’s tea cups would be so loved by others. Servants! Prepare a few more sets for the young misses to play with.” After saying this, he gave Feng Yu Heng an unnoticeable wink. He then added: “If this prince is not mistaken, then you must be the beloved daughters of lord Zhao, lord Zhou, lord Qi, lord Zhen and lord Sun? There is no need to be modest with this prince. Whatever you have set your eyes on, please do speak up. This Prince will not be stingy over these material possessions. Young misses, just remember to tell your fathers to report to this prince after court is dismissed tomorrow about what you thought of them.”
The faces of the young misses paled upon hearing this. If the bickering of these girls made its way to their father’s official court, would it not become a massive joke?
But when they looked at the second prince, they found that he was already leading his princess to the main seat. Even if they wanted to say a few words of refutation, they did not have the chance. They could not help but shrivel.
Feng Yu Heng smiled and spoke as though speaking of daily life: “No matter how much power he has lost, he is still the son of the Emperor. No matter how disliked I am, I am still call county princess by others. Young misses, if you do not understand even this bit of reasoning, I fear that you really will cause your fathers a great deal of trouble.”
After she said this, the maid returned with another cup of tea. Even the tea in the cup was different from what everyone else was drinking.
“This tea was specially prepared by his Highness Fei Yu.” The maid smiled to Feng Yu Heng and placed it before her.
At this time, the host had already been seated, so the guests left their own cliques and returned to their own seats.
Chen Yu’s side finally quieted down slightly, but there were still some young misses who did not want to leave. Their eyes were stuck to the crystal ornaments, and they were unable to leave no matter what.
The second prince, Xuan Tian Ling, looked around the hall then loudly said: “My young son is too young, so there should not have been anything as troublesome as a banquet. But this kid loves lively parties and insisted to this prince and his imperial consort mother to invite everyone here for some merriment. Thinking of how he is still a young child, I only invited madams and young misses. This prince was still worried that my preparations were inadequate, but just now, I heard that some young misses had taken to my palace’s tea cups. This came as a relief to this prince!”
Prince Yuan’s words were taken as a joke and caused many to laugh. Those that knew better felt that Prince Yuan was expressing his goodwill to Feng Yu Heng.
“Wasn’t it said that she fell out of favor?”
Another person thought of it from another direction: “I heard that county princess Ji An had once saved his young Highness’ life. Prince Yuan is merely expressing his gratitude. That’s all.”
Feng Yu Heng held her cup of tea and took sip after sip. Huang Quan, however, gently prodded her at this moment then shot a look in the direction of Chen Yu.
When she looked over, she just happened to see a palace maid whispering something into Chen Yu’s ear.