Shen Yuning looked up at them. They were familiar faces. The older one was Xiao Yuan, the legitimate daughter of the Xiao family and her former cousin. The other was Song Yanyan, a relative living in the Xiao family.
Since they were all daughters of the Xiao family, Shen Yuning had known them since childhood. However, they were of different ages. Xiao Yuan was now seventeen, while Song Yanyan was sixteen. So their interactions in the past had not been frequent.
If one had to talk about sisterly affection, Xiao Yuan was about the same age as Xue Yuhan, the illegitimate daughter of the second branch of the Xue family.
Shen Yuning frowned. Xiao Yuan was domineering. When they used to go back to the Xiao family together, Xiao Yuan had bullied Xue Yuhan a lot. At that time, Yuning, taking on the role of an elder sister, had protected her younger sister Yuhan. Naturally, she didn't get along well with this cousin Xiao Yuan.
Xiao Yuan looked down at the "cousin" in front of her and snorted, "Such a place is not for a country bumpkin like you!"
Shen Yuning slightly curled her lips, glanced at the two of them, but didn't answer. She just bypassed them and wanted to head towards the main entrance of the villa.
At this moment, there weren't many guests at the entrance, but there were quite a number of servants greeting them. However, they were all low - ranking servants of the princess mansion. The distinguished guests invited today wouldn't come so early. Therefore, the stewards and senior maids beside the princess wouldn't come out to greet people so early either.
The servants stared blankly at the three women in the dispute. Seeing that the two on the left were exquisitely dressed and each had a maid behind them, while the one on the right, although good - looking, was simply dressed and only had a little girl in her teens following her. It didn't look like a master - servant relationship but more like sisters. So they naturally favored the two noble ladies on the left.
Immediately, they started to drive her away, "Get out! It's the princess's lotus - viewing feast. Idle people are not allowed to watch the fun."
Xiao Yuan burst out laughing and sneered, "Do you still think you're the daughter of a marquis mansion? Or do you want to cling to the ladies of the marquis mansion later and go in with them?"
Weirui was so angry that her face puffed up. She looked at Xiao Yuan and the other with great dissatisfaction.
Shen Yuning originally didn't want to pay attention, but being repeatedly sneered at, she simply stopped and coldly looked at Xiao Yuan and the other. Then she laughed and said, "If Miss Xiao hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have thought of it for a while. What kind of status is Princess Jiayang? Her invitation is not something everyone can get. It seems that Lord Xiao is just a low - ranking official in the Ministry of Works, barely a seventh - rank official. For such a place, Miss Xiao and the other might not be able to get in, right?"
Xiao Yuan's face turned as red as a pig's liver. What Shen Yuning said was true. For decades, the Xiao family had been getting worse from generation to generation. By the generation of Xiao Yuan's father, he had barely managed to get a low - ranking position. In the capital city, not to mention seventh - rank officials, there were plenty of fifth - and sixth - rank officials. Naturally, the Xiao family was not impressive.
She and Yanyan had come so early with the intention that Xiao Yuan had just mentioned. Now, their aunt was eager to marry their cousin Yujiao into the Xiao family and was very kind to the Xiao family. Today, they were waiting here. Even if their cousin Yujiao was reluctant, their aunt would take them in.
Seeing Shen Yuning turn the tables and sneer at them, Song Yanyan immediately widened her eyes and shouted angrily, "You country bumpkin, what are you talking nonsense about? If we're not worthy, are you worthy?"
Weirui seized the opportunity and stepped forward and said loudly, "My aunt got an invitation from the princess, so of course she can go in."
As soon as she finished speaking, the senior maid beside the princess rushed out. Seeing Shen Yuning, she smiled even more brightly and shouted repeatedly, "It's the maid's dereliction of duty. I didn't come out early to greet the rural noble lady. The princess has been thinking about the rural noble lady since early on. Please follow the maid in."
Obviously, just now, a smart maid had seen the dispute outside and specially went in to find this senior maid.
Since someone had come to help, Shen Yuning didn't bother to pay attention to Xiao Yuan beside her anymore. She followed the senior maid into the villa.
Weirui, however, looked at Xiao Yuan triumphantly and even made a naughty face secretly, which made Xiao Yuan and Song Yanyan turn pale with anger.
Entering the inner courtyard of the villa, Princess Jiayang was dressed in gorgeous clothes and sitting majestically on the upper seat. Seeing Shen Yuning, she gently waved her hand with long fingernails, smiling and sizing up Yuning from head to toe.
"Yuning girl has grown up, but she's not as good - looking as when she was a child."
Normally, when people praise others, they would say that they are getting more and more beautiful. But this princess was an interesting one. She just said that Yuning was not as good - looking as when she was a child.
Shen Yuning pursed her lips and smiled. She also sized up the princess, "However, the princess looks younger and more beautiful than when Yuning saw her before."
Princess Jiayang laughed and asked her to sit beside her, "Living care - free and having the money to maintain oneself, of course one looks young. Unlike you, Yuning girl, who has to worry about things every day. Isn't that why you're not as delicate?"
Shen Yuning then pretended to act coquettishly, which made Princess Jiayang laugh even more happily, "Looking at you like this naughty monkey, you're just the same as when you were a child."
After talking about Yuning, she called Weirui forward and asked about her age in detail. Maybe seeing the childishness on Weirui's face and her pretending - to - be - mature look, Princess Jiayang felt a bit sad. Somehow, she remembered her own childhood.
She reached out and took off the gold - inlaid and emerald - decorated hairpin on her head and tried to put it on Weirui's head.
Shen Yuning was startled and quickly stopped her, "Princess, Weirui is still young and can't carry such a gorgeous hairpin. Moreover, this hairpin is for the princess's rank. It's not something Weirui should wear."
Princess Jiayang glared at her and didn't allow Weirui to dodge. She insisted on putting the hairpin on Weirui's head. Weirui's appearance was just delicate. Besides, she hadn't fully grown up yet. Wearing such a gorgeous hairpin really didn't suit her.
But Princess Jiayang simply didn't care. She burst out laughing, "In a few years, this little girl will be as beautiful and lovely as you. What if she can't carry it now? She will surely be able to in the future. As for the rank, in front of this princess, there are not so many rules. If this princess says she can wear it, then she can. Don't take it off today. Do you hear me?"
Shen Yuning was used to socializing with noble ladies since childhood. She knew exactly what to do in what kind of occasion. But Weirui was just a girl who had grown up in the countryside. Even though she had seen some of the world with Shen Yuning, this was still her first time in such an occasion.
Weirui was so scared that her body trembled slightly, but she didn't dare to say no. She wanted to look at her aunt with her eyes, but her face was firmly held by the princess. She didn't dare to move.
Seeing this, Princess Jiayang laughed even louder. She hugged Weirui in her arms and wouldn't let her go anywhere.
When the noble guests came in one after another to pay their respects, they saw a child sitting on the princess's lap. Those noble guests were very good at flattering. They either said that the princess looked like the Goddess of Mercy in the painting or that the child on her lap was just like the little maid beside the Buddha.
Shen Yuning, this insignificant rural noble lady, sat silently in the corner drinking tea.
When most of the guests had arrived, Princess Jiayang took Weirui's little hand and walked out with the crowd. They went all the way to the lotus pond to enjoy the flowers.
Weirui's heart was pounding. She took the opportunity to search for her aunt's figure everywhere. But there were so many people around the princess that she just couldn't find her aunt. Fortunately, the princess's hand gently rested on her shoulder, and the kindness radiating from the princess made Weirui calm down a little.
It seemed that fate brought foes together. Shen Yuning had tried her best to avoid the attention of those noble guests and sat in the outermost pavilion.
But just as she was lowering her head and playing with the wild flowers she had picked by the roadside, she heard a cold sneer.
"Isn't this Shen Yuning? You really are a scheming person. You can even find a way to get into the princess's lotus - viewing feast."
Shen Yuning looked up. In front of her, Xue Yujiao's voice was full of arrogance, but there was only hatred on her face. And beside her, Mrs. Xiao was pulling her sleeve hard.
Xue Yujiao shook off Mrs. Xiao and stepped forward, pointing at Shen Yuning's nose, "Don't think that just because you've become some rural noble lady, you're so great. After all, aren't you still a low - class merchant girl?"
Shen Yuning gently waved away her hand, "You've been in the Xue family for many years. How come you don't even know such basic etiquette as not pointing at people with your finger?"
Xue Yujiao was so angry that she shouted, "You say I have no etiquette?"
Shen Yuning didn't want to argue with her and warned, "Today is Princess Jiayang's lotus feast. Please, Miss Xue, restrain yourself. Don't make the princess unhappy."
Xue Yujiao was so angry that she was speechless for a while. Seeing that Shen Yuning was about to leave, she was not willing to let her go. She immediately stepped forward and tried to pull at her clothes.
Shen Yuning shook her off without hesitation and stared at her coldly, "Xue Yujiao, I don't want to say more. I have nothing to do with you. Whether I'm a merchant girl or not has nothing to do with you. But if you always have bad intentions, I'm not the kind of person who will just keep silent."
Hearing this, Mrs. Xiao, who had been hesitating, filled her eyes with tears. She angrily helped her daughter to the side and shouted, "Yuning, don't get it wrong. You owe her. No matter how she treats you, you should bear it!"
Shen Yuning looked at this woman who had raised her for fifteen years. Although she had been raised in her grandparents' courtyard since childhood, after all, this woman had been her mother for fifteen years, and their relationship had always been good.
Even when Mrs. Xiao and Xue Yujiao had forced her to leave the Xue family penniless, she had never complained. But today, seeing the naked hatred in Mrs. Xiao's eyes, the grievance in her heart welled up.
She quickly calmed herself down. Was she still feeling aggrieved? It had been six years. Those grievances should have disappeared long ago.
She asked word by word, "I owe her? How do I owe her? It was my birth mother and you who made the mistake of mixing up the children back then. What does it have to do with me? I was raised in the Xue family since childhood and thought I was a daughter of the Xue family. Later, when I found out the truth, I left the Xue family obediently. What else do I owe her?"
Xue Yujiao had heard such words in the Xue family before. The eldest uncle's family had never regarded her as a family member. But she was not willing. Why? It was the Xue family who had lost her, and it was also the Xue family who should compensate her. As for Shen Yuning, she was just a bitch who had occupied her place for fifteen years. It would be no exaggeration to beat her to death.
This bitch even said that she didn't owe her?
Xue Yujiao was not good at speaking, but her hands were quick. Seeing Shen Yuning standing beside the pavilion, she immediately rushed forward and gave her a hard push.