Xi Qingyue sat in her seat without saying a word, instead listening with great interest through her supernatural ability to the conversations taking place in every corner of the teahouse.
In the main hall on the first floor, the storyteller was speaking animatedly, showering the audience with saliva as he delivered his tale. Every so often, the listeners burst into applause, while others whispered among themselves.
Xi Qingyue heard it all. A bright, radiant smile spread across her face, as if she had encountered the greatest stroke of good fortune.
Lu Shiwan leaned listlessly against her chair. She had only come along to accompany the sisters; she had heard the storyteller’s tales downstairs so many times that she was already sick of them.
Xi Weilan was the most relaxed of them all. She kept stuffing pastries into her mouth one after another, as though it were a bottomless pit. Every now and then, she poured herself a cup of tea to wash them down.
The woman in the green dress and the others listened to the commotion below while keeping an eye on the people behind the screen next door, especially the two children. Yet all they could hear was chewing and sipping.
They couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
Just as the storyteller finished another tale and a burst of applause erupted from downstairs, several people came down from the third floor.
When they reached the second floor, they did not continue downward. Instead, they walked straight toward Xi Qingyue and the others.
“Eldest Imperial Sister, what a coincidence.”
At the sound of the voice, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan both looked up. They had never seen the person before and had no idea which prince he was.
“Eighth Brother, what a coincidence,” Lu Shiwan said indifferently before turning her gaze away again. She had no favorable impression of the sinister and crafty Eighth Prince.
The newcomer wore purple robes and a jade crown. On the surface, he appeared refined, elegant, and dashing. But when Lu Shiwan was young, she had personally witnessed him kill one of his attendants. He had done it as casually as if he were slaughtering a chicken. What was worse, afterward he had put on an expression of utter grief and wept bitterly over the corpse. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought he was exceptionally kind.
For years, the Eighth Prince had maintained the image of a harmless man who neither fought nor competed for anything. Lu Shiwan found the act nauseating. He was far too fake.
“Eldest Imperial Sister, aren’t you going to introduce them to me?” he asked with a gentle smile, pointing at the sisters.
Lu Shiwan replied calmly, “They’re my sworn younger sisters. All you need to know is that you’re not to bully them.”
The Eighth Prince put on a shocked and puzzled expression. “Eldest Sister, wasn’t it Seventh Sister who took them as sworn sisters? Because of that, she even argued with Father and was punished with confinement. How is it that you’ve taken two as well? Aren’t you afraid of being confined too?”
At the mention of this, Lu Shiwan’s brows furrowed. She glanced at Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan, and only after seeing that they showed no unusual reaction did she speak coldly.
“Eighth Brother, if you have nothing better to do, go home early. You needn’t trouble yourself over matters between Seventh Sister and me.”
She truly didn’t want to waste time chatting with the Eighth Prince here and ruin her good mood.
Xi Qingyue could also tell that the Eighth Prince was no good. If he truly shared a close bond with his sisters, he would have invited them to a private room upstairs just now instead of pretending that this chance encounter was a coincidence.
What surprised her even more was that Lu Jinshuang had actually argued with the Emperor over them.
Xi Weilan looked around, then pointed at the Eighth Prince with a puzzled expression. “Sister Wan, he’s been standing here the whole time, and it looks like he’s blocking everyone else’s way. How ill-mannered.”
The moment she said this, the several dandies behind the Eighth Prince became furious. Their gazes toward Xi Weilan were filled with anger.
Xi Qingyue said nothing. She merely took out a pistol and idly played with it in her hand, accidentally pointing the muzzle in the direction of the Eighth Prince and his companions.
They had already been told to leave, yet they still refused to go. Some people really were asking for a beating.
For a fleeting moment, the smile on the Eighth Prince’s face twisted and cracked.
Everyone knew that the young grandson of the Duke of Anguo had been injured by a hidden weapon, and the Eighth Prince also knew that the weapon had been used by the sisters. He instinctively took a step backward.
Whether Xi Qingyue would actually fire or not, he was unwilling to take the risk. As a prince, he had plenty of ways to deal with two children, but he certainly wasn’t going to gamble with his life.
He smiled at Lu Shiwan and said, “Enjoy yourselves, Eldest Imperial Sister. I have something to attend to, so I’ll be leaving first.”
With that, he strode toward the stairs, and his lackeys hurried after him.
Once they were gone, Xi Qingyue immediately put away the pistol, the amusement in her eyes deepening.
At any time, no amount of pointless talk was as effective as brandishing the truth before someone’s eyes.
Lu Shiwan warned the sisters, “He’s a venomous snake that never makes a sound. Stay away from him if you run into him again.”
Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan both nodded, though no one knew what they were really thinking.
The woman in the green dress and the others wiped the sweat from their foreheads as well. Had they nearly witnessed a fight between two groups—a prince and a princess?
This time, the women left the private area behind the screen and headed downstairs together. They couldn’t stay there any longer.
Xi Qingyue remained at the teahouse for another half an hour. When she failed to hear anything else interesting, she suggested that they leave. Naturally, Lu Shiwan followed her lead in everything.
After escorting them to the gates of the Princess’s Residence, Lu Shiwan waved goodbye to the two sisters.
Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan did not go running off again this time. Instead, they diligently practiced their lightness skills within the residence.
Xi Weilan was the most dedicated of all. Her mind was filled with images of herself flying through the air, and she wished she could practice day and night without sleeping until she mastered the technique.
“Lan’er, there’s no need to rush. Wherever you want to go, Big Sister can take you. Once you’ve mastered your lightness skills, you can fly there yourself,” Xi Qingyue said.
Xi Weilan immediately shook her head. “Big Sister, we agreed to visit Jiangnan. I have to improve my skills before we go. Then I’ll be able to fly back and forth across the rooftops by myself.”
Hearing this, Xi Qingyue picked her up and pinched her cheek. “It’s fine. Big Sister can carry you there when the time comes. We’ll just improve a little every day.”
She had taught Xi Weilan martial arts so that the girl could live freely and protect herself, not so that she would push herself to practice day and night at such a young age without eating or sleeping properly.
“Big Sister, I understand. I want to eat cola chicken wings,” Xi Weilan said with a smile, immediately making a request.
Xi Qingyue nodded. “All right. I’ll make them for you later. Today, we’ll make extra dishes and save them all for you, so you can eat them whenever you want.”
The sisters then went to the outer kitchen of the Princess’s Residence and drove everyone inside out of the building.
Before long, an aroma that made everyone’s mouth water drifted from the kitchen, stirring up the appetites of all who smelled it.
Over the next few days, the sisters either practiced martial arts within the residence or experimented with food. Whenever they cooked, they sent everyone inside away, and no one knew what they were making.
Each time the servants entered afterward, however, the kitchen had been cleaned spotless. They simply assumed that the children had cooked and eaten everything themselves, and never gave it much thought. After all, most of the ingredients Xi Qingyue used came from her spatial realm.
Several days later, a swift horse charged through the city gates and galloped down the streets before finally entering the Imperial Palace.
The rider was carrying many sheets of paper—the very contents of the secret messages Lu Qianning had ordered people to post in various places.
When the old Emperor saw what was written on them, he was so enraged that he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
“That little fool, Jiu! How could she post something like that so carelessly? And she’s been proclaiming it everywhere—does she want the entire Great Jing imperial family to become a laughingstock? And that Fourth One, too. They’re all a bunch of fools…”
The old emperor hurled a few more curses before fainting dead away. The imperial physicians once again sprang into action.
