Spring Banquet

// The little overlord of Northern Wei

After half an hour, Huaiyu sat in the carriage with a proud smile.

Jiang Xuanjin rested his eyes and traveled the whole way. He found his mind remarkably tranquil and couldn’t help but glance at the person next to him.

“What’s wrong? Not so talkative anymore?”

Huaiyu pouted with crossed arms. “I can’t bear to part with you like this, yet you insist on sending me away even when you’re sick. I’m truly pitiful!”

Upon hearing her words, Jiang Xuanjin finally felt a sense of relief in his mood. He even slightly curved the corners of his lips.

These past few days, she had been giving him a hard time. It was rare to see her angry. Prince Ziyang, who rarely smiled or spoke frivolously, thought that this was truly a happy occasion.

“Ah.” Huaiyu sighed while holding her head, then turned her head to look at him with her eyes. Suddenly, she reached out her hand.

“What are you doing!” Jiang Xuanjin was startled and quickly grabbed her hand.

Her fingertips stopped an inch away from his waist, and she reluctantly withdrew her hand. “If I go back this time, it won’t be easy to see you again. Of course, I need a keepsake.”

Jiang Xuanjin’s face darkened. “Don’t even think about it!”

“Please?” Huaiyu pleaded, grabbing his wrist and shaking it pitifully. “Even if it’s not admiration, anything else will do!”

What a joke! Jiang Xuanjin snorted. After finally getting rid of this person, he would be out of his mind to give her another chance to get close to him.

“You better behave.”

Huaiyu became unhappy, glaring at him with resentment in her eyes, while he remained unfazed, looking straight ahead.

After a bumpy carriage ride for nearly half an hour, they finally came to a stop.

“Master.” Cheng Xu anxiously lifted the carriage curtain. “Are you alright?”

“It’s alright.” Coughing twice, Jiang Xuanjin got off the carriage with a pale face, turned around, and looked at the person inside the carriage. “Come down.”

Reluctantly, Huaiyu stuck her head out and glanced at the familiar courtyard wall. She pouted and said, “I really feel that this place is not as good as being by your side.”

Jiang Xuanjin expressionlessly pulled her out of the carriage.

She struggled for a moment, but Chengxu moved quickly and had already gone to the main entrance to deliver the invitation. After a while, a group of people rushed out of the mansion.

“We didn’t know Your Highness had arrived. Please forgive us for not welcoming you from afar!” A noblewoman stepped forward, bowing respectfully, “The Lord has gone to the palace and has not returned. If Your Highness is not in a hurry, please come inside and have a cup of tea.”

Jiang Xuanjin nodded and pushed the person hiding behind him forward. “There is nothing else to do at this mansion. This young lady… perhaps she got lost here?”

The noblewoman raised her head and met Li Huaiyu’s gaze.

In an instant, Huaiyu could read astonishment, annoyance, disdain, confusion, and various other emotions in the woman’s eyes. But quickly, her eyes fell, and she put on an expression of fear.

“This… this is the Fourth Miss of the mansion, who has been mentally unstable for many years. She disappeared a few days ago. If there was any offense to Your Highness, please forgive us!”

Mentally unstable for many years? Li Huaiyu was shocked by these words.

The Fourth Miss of the mansion? Jiang Xuanjin was shocked by this identity.

Both of them looked up and saw the crimson plaque hanging above the main gate, with two characters inscribed in gold ink—Bai Mansion.

It was an official residence near the official road, with the surname Bai. there was no one else but the prominent Bai family of the Imperial Historian, Bai Dezho.

The entire city of Jing knows that Bai Dezhong’s fourth daughter was foolish! Huaiyu felt sorrowful. She borrowed someone else’s body, and it turned out to be that of Bai Family’s Fourth Young Miss! That old man, Bai Dezhong, had never gotten along with her before. Now, she had to act as his daughter and call him father?

What a joke!

Jiang Xuanjin’s expression became even more unpleasant. He glanced at Li Huaiyu, as if he had realized something, and his gaze became intense.

“Your Highness seems to be feeling a bit unwell?” The noblewoman naturally didn’t know what they were thinking. She just politely gestured, “Please have a seat and rest for a while.”

Jiang Xuanjin had originally planned to leave after sending off the person, but now he couldn’t leave.

“In that case, I will trouble you.” He replied.

“Master,” Cheng Xu followed behind him, whispering with concern, “Your health… you should return and rest.”

Coughing lightly, Jiang Xuanjin whispered with pale lips, “It’s alright. There is something more important now.”

Something more important? Cheng Xu was taken aback. After considering the connection between the Fourth Miss Bai and the Jiang family, he immediately understood and lowered his head without saying anything more.

Li Huaiyu snapped out of her thoughts and was about to say something to Jiang Xuanjin again when Lady Bai, who was walking beside her, suddenly pushed her with force, causing her to stagger back a few steps.

“Hiss—” Huaiyu looked at her in confusion.

Bai Mengshi ignored her and simply smiled, leading Jiang Xuanjin ahead. She whispered a few words to a nearby servant.

The obedient servant, who received the orders, rolled up his sleeves and approached Huaiyu.

“Hey? What are you doing?” She glared.

Without a word, several servants covered her mouth and swiftly tried to take her away.

If it had been the previous Fourth Miss, she might not have had the strength to resist and would have been taken away obediently. But now, who was she? She was the little overlord of Northern Wei, the Danyang Princess, whom no one in the court could handle. How could she suffer at the hands of a few servants?

With a powerful kick, Huaiyu sent the servant who covered her mouth flying, and then she swiftly executed a shoulder throw, fiercely slamming another servant who was restraining her onto the ground.

“Thud!” A dull sound echoed, causing everyone to halt in their tracks.

“You think you’re so capable, yet you still want to play this game with me?” Huaiyu stomped on the person’s stomach, stood with her hands on her hips, and angrily said, “You refuse to answer when asked nicely and force me to take action! Now speak up, what do you want?”

The servant being stepped on foamed at the mouth, their eyes rolled back, and their body convulsed, unable to speak.

Jiang Xuanjin glanced sideways, and Bai Mengshi also turned her head in astonishment. “What’s going on?”

“You’re asking me what’s going on? I was about to ask you too!” Huaiyu coldly snorted, lifted her gaze to look at Bai Mengshi, and said, “My people came to your mansion as guests, but you had them forcibly taken me away. What does that mean? Are you trying to snatch my people?”

“What do you mean, your people!”

“What do you mean, snatch them!”

Jiang Xuanjin and Bai Mengshi both scolded her in unison.

Huaiyu scratched her ear and first smiled at Jiang Xuanjin. “Sweetheart, this is the truth. There’s nothing to be shy about.” Then she turned her head, squinted at Bai Mengshi, and said, “If you don’t want to snatch them, why did you lay hands on me?”

Bai Mengshi looked at her in astonishment, forgetting to be upset about her behavior. “You… you’re not foolish anymore?”

Bai Zhuji, the fourth daughter of the Bai family, had suffered a serious illness three years ago that damaged her brain. Since then, she had been half-crazy and half-foolish. This was something known throughout the entire Bai Mansion.

But the person in front of them had Fourth Miss Bai’s face, yet her consciousness was very clear. Not only was she clear-minded, but she was also very arrogant.

“Of course, I’m not foolish.” She sneered at the person and then swiftly moved to Jiang Xuanjin’s side, tightly gripping his sleeve.