Lin Feilu stopped crying and burst into laughter. The three of them left the Imperial School together.
As the crown prince, Lin Qing now lives in the Eastern Palace. Among all the imperial princes, he was the only one who had his own palace. On the way home, Lin Qing began to test his fourth brother on his studies by reciting a few phrases and discovered that he truly had improved. He began to recall the rumors of the fifth princess supervising the fourth prince’s studies. Naturally, he began to see this fifth sister in a different light.
He liked smart people, and he particularly enjoyed being around them as there was less fuss to be had.
This fifth sister may be young, but she was much more intelligent than any of his other imperial sisters.
The three of them were talking and laughing when they passed by a small broken bridge. Suddenly they could hear sounds of a ruckus brewing from the pavilion built on top of a frozen lake.
Due to the recent heavy snowfall, the lake that used to be full of lotus flowers during summer had frozen over. Only withered lotus branches could be seen on the icy lake surface. All the concubines of the Imperial Harem loved to come here to enjoy the Zen-like atmosphere.
Looking up and seeing past the white gauze curtains of the pavilion, there were four or five women standing inside, while two people were kneeling in front of them. When Lin Feilu looked at the two at first glance, she did not recognize who they were as their heads stooped downwards. She only thought they looked a little familiar, so she took a few more glances when suddenly she realized they were none other than her mother and Qingyan!
The woman dressed in light pink robes spoke in a loud and arrogant voice, “When I tell you to kneel, you have to kneel until I am satisfied!”
Qingyan kowtowed before them and begged, “My Lady did not mean to bump into Concubine Ling. Please forgive her!”
Xiao Lan stopped her in a low voice, “Qingyan.”
At this, Qingyan stopped moving and cried silently.
There were two other concubines beside the pink-robed woman, both of them covered their mouths and smiled. Their eyes were filled with the intention to mock and ridicule them.
Concubine Ling took two steps forward. She lowered her body with the help of a palace maid, and pulled Xiao Lan’s hand closer to her eyes. She asked as she looked at it, “I heard that you were gifted in handicrafts. I also heard that you made many beautiful clothes for Consort Xian, is that right?”
When she finished speaking, she pushed down Xiao Lan’s fingers and her fingers were bent backwards into a terrible arc. Xiao Lan turned pale from pain, but she did not utter a single word.
Concubine Ling sneered. Suddenly, a small figure rushed over from behind her and pushed her away.
Concubine Ling was half-squatting in an unstable position, so when she was pushed, she staggered. If it weren’t for the maid beside her who managed to hold her up quickly, she would have fallen and hit her head on the stone table nearby.
The people around her cried out and hurriedly rushed to help her up. While they were busy clamoring about, Lin Feilu who had rushed over was already helping Xiao Lan to stand up.
Xiao Lan’s expression was quite upset as she did not expect her daughter to see her like this.
She was feeling a little stuffy today, so she decided to come out for a walk with Qingyan. Hearing that the withered lotus lake had a Zen scenery, as a devout Buddhist, she became interested so she came here.