Counterattack of the Concubine’s Invincible Daughter

20. What Are You Doing Here?

Translator: Snowball

Miss Yueli went mad! No, actually she was sick.

Ever since she woke with a start that morning, whenever at the thought of countless scorpions crawling about in her room, on her body and even on her face while she was asleep, Mu Yueli would feel chilly all over with her hair standing on end. Moreover, she had a bitter taste in her mouth and would throw up whatever she ate. As she couldn’t help thinking of those scorpions crawling on the floor at the sight of any food, she hadn’t had anything except for a little water for a few days.

In just three days, the pretty Miss Yueli had become skinny, plus her livid face, she looked as if she were dying. Concubine Fang cried miserably in front of her bed every day as if her daughter had already died.

Though sick of her mother’s crying, Mu Yueli felt ashamed to send her away. Now that her fear of scorpions seemed to have diminished, she ate a little porridge, which helped her recover a little. After thinking for a while, to prevent her mother from whining again, she decided to eat something at each meal in spite of the feeling of vomiting. After some time, she finally recovered from her illness, but she was dreadfully thin, and it seemed that it would take long for her to get back in shape. Her face was as ashen as a ghost’s and her hair was as dry as a handful of withered grass, which hardly suggested that she had once been a beauty. Sitting in front of the dresser and looking at her reflection in the bronze mirror, Mu Yueli suddenly burst into tears.

“Mu Yingxue, you’ll die in your boots one day! Boohoo…”

On the contrary, Mu Yingxue was in a good mood recently. Now that nobody came to seek trouble, she would go to the Moonlight Pavilion whenever she had spare time.

As she had won the competition and taken Mei Qianqian’s place on the Talented List, Mu Yingxue was in her element here. In the beginning, those noble childes and even some royal members still felt sorry for Mei Qianqian, but men’s deep-rooted wickedness came to the fore soon. As Mu Yingxue and the Seventh Prince were close and she was much beautiful than Mei Qianqian, someone had begun to accost her tentatively.

Mu Yingxue didn’t give them the cold shoulder, but she had no intent to make their relationship a step further other than drinking tea and composing poems with them. As she seemed friendly to everyone, all the guests of the Moonlight Pavilion thought that she was a gentle, elegant, pretty girl with brilliant talent.

“I never expected Marquis Mu’s fourth daughter would be so talented. How lucky I am to have such a beautiful young lady to drink with me!”

Ever since Mu Yingxue saved Anning from those kidnappers, Xuanyuan Sheng had often come to the teahouse to meet her and they gradually became close friends. However, Xuanyuan Sheng was back to the uninhibited way he had been when they first met and always said something which wasn’t in line with his identity. Mu Yingxue didn’t care about it. Instead, she found Xuanyuan Sheng increasingly charming for his straightforwardness.

Hearing that he was joking on her again, she shot him a glare while pouring a cup of good wine and putting it in front of him. Instead of standing on ceremony, Xuanyuan Sheng settled his ass casually, rose the cup to her and emptied it. Mu Yingxue immediately poured another one for him. After drinking three cups of wine, Xuanyuan Sheng praised her with a sigh, looking pretty satisfied. “Yingxue, the wine you poured for me is especially tasty!”

Mu Yingxue was amused by what he had said. “Your Highness, you never watch your tongue when you speak. Aren’t you afraid that people will think you’re too frivolous?” she said grumpily.

Narrowing his eyes, Xuanyuan Sheng leaned forward with a sly smile. “Miss Mu, not everyone is as lucky as you. I’m not bored enough to try to coax the others. By the way, don’t call me ‘Your Highness’ in the future. It sounds like we’re strangers.” Mu Yingxue smiled heartily. At least, she hadn’t come in vain to this new world to have made such a friend.

“Aren’t you a prince? What shall I call you if I don’t address you that way?”

Though she was moved, she didn’t forget to shoot back. Every time she bickered this Seventh Prince at the Moonlight Pavilion, She would put her troubles at home behind her and feel much more relaxed.

Xuanyuan Sheng picked up the fan on the table and unfolded it. “How about you call me ‘Brother Sheng’ just like Ning’er?” he said slowly with anticipation in his eyes while flapping the fan.

As she had been with him for days, Mu Yingxue turned to be mischievous as well. At the thought of calling this baby-faced guy ‘Brother Sheng’, she got goose bump all over. She immediately covered her mouth with her sleeve, as if she was about to throw up.

Xuanyuan Sheng blushed at her reaction at once. He had pondered all night before he finally came up with this idea that would bring them closer, but to his surprise, not only did Mu Yingxue refuse to call him ‘brother’, but she looked extremely disgusted. “Pa!” Being a little angry from embarrassment, he slapped the fan onto his palm and then pointed at Mu Yingxue’s nose with it. “Mu Yingxue, it seems you don’t know how to appreciate favors! Nobody wants to be your brother! Do you believe that I can punish you for defying me right now?”

Watching his blushed face, Mu Yingxue realized that she had gone too far. After all, Xuanyuan Sheng was not only a prince but also the emperor’s favorite son, so she thought perhaps no one had ever dared make fun of him like this. She was clear that Xuanyuan Sheng asked her to call him brother out of kindness, and she also took him for her buddy, so she decided to coax him.

However, before she could say anything, a woman’s hoarse voice rang from outside, her words full of contempt.

“You’re right, Your Highness! You don’t need to show mercy to such an unappreciative person!”

When Mu Yingxue and Xuanyuan Sheng exchanged glances, both of them saw the confusion in each other’s eyes. But Xuanyuan Sheng immediately figured out what had happened. It must be because someone overheard their conversation and misunderstood that he was really scolding Mu Yingxue out of anger.

When he was about to retort, to his surprise, Mu Yingxue raised her hand and blinked at him, gesturing him to stay calm. Before Xuanyuan Sheng could figure out her intention, the door was pushed open from outside and a thin young lady entered.

Her clothes seemed oversized, which made her look so thin that even kind of skinny.

“My name is Mu Yueli. Greetings, Your Highness!” that young lady said with her head lowered.

It was no other than Marquis Mu’s sixth daughter, Mu Yueli, who had just recovered from a serious illness.

Xuanyuan Sheng was a little shocked. He had heard something funny happened in the Mu’s Mansion, but he didn’t expect that Marquis Mu’s sixth daughter would have looked like this. If it weren’t for her clothes of fine texture, the dazzling gold hairpins and pearls on her head and the heavy make-up on her face, Xuanyuan Sheng would have thought that she was a refugee from somewhere. He then looked back at Mu Yingxue and found there was a world of difference between Mu Yueli and her. “As both of them are Marquis Mu’s daughters, how come they look so different?” he wondered.

Though he didn’t reveal a surprised look, he was angry with this young lady’s unannounced arrival. He had been a little annoyed by Mu Yingxue just now, so he immediately vented all his anger on the uninvited Mu Yueli.

“Since you know who I am, why are you standing here? How dare you break into the room without my permission?”

Mu Yueli was stunned. Although she had heard that the Seventh Prince was quirky and moody, she didn’t expect that he would have yelled at her the first time they met. After all, she was the young lady of the Mu’s Mansion. Her father, Mu Yunxiao, had made great contributions to the Xuanyuan Dynasty’s border defense, so even the emperor and the empress had to show him respect. She thought for the sake of her father, Xuanyuan Sheng mustn’t have embarrassed her like this, especially in front of that shameless bitch, Mu Yingxue!

“Your Highness, I’m here for my sister and I didn’t expect you’re here as well. Please excuse my impudence!”

Though burning with anger, she didn’t dare say anything offensive. When she raised her head and cast a resentful glance at Xuanyuan Sheng, she was surprised to find that the devil in the rumor was actually a handsome, graceful childe with fair skin!

She did have some opportunities to go to the imperial palace with Mu Shuilan, but most people she saw were the imperial concubines and occasionally, she would see the emperor from afar. As she rarely saw the princes, she only heard their names but didn’t know what they looked like. Mu Yueli was about fourteen years old, the age of the first flush of love, so at the sight of such a handsome young man, she almost couldn’t hide her fascination with him.

As Mu Yingxue used to live in the modern society and she had complicated experience in her previous life, she was very insightful. Though the shyness crossed Mu Yueli’s face in the blink of an eye, she had figured out what was on her mind. Watching her acting in front of Xuanyuan Sheng, Mu Yingxue couldn’t help laughing inwardly. If Xuanyuan Sheng didn’t know who she was, he might not find fault with her, but as Mu Yingxue had told him about the scorpion incident as a joke, she was certain that Xuan Yuansheng must have been sick of Mu Yueli, so he wouldn’t possibly have feelings for her. Now that Mu Yueli said that she was here for her, Mu Yingxue couldn’t help but ask, “What are you doing here?”

Mu Yingxue knew it well that Mu Yueli was an arrogant and narrow-minded person, so she must have come here to find fault with her. Watching Mu Yueli’s weary look which couldn’t be concealed even with thick powder, Mu Yingxue was curious about what bad ideas she would come up with against her.

As Mu Yueli fell for Xuanyuan Sheng at first sight, and she also wanted to put on airs in front of Mu Yingxue, she turned a deaf ear to her question but turned to Xuanyuan Sheng. “Sorry, Prince Sheng. My sister’s mind is different from others, so she always behaves strangely. If she did something offensive, please just punish her without scruple.”

Hearing that, Xuanyuan Sheng looked at Mu Yingxue with a playful look in his eyes. Knowing that he was planning to play a prank on Mu Yueli, Mu Yingxue decided to keep silent.

“Oh? You mean I can do anything to punish her?” Xuanyuan Sheng asked.

Mu Yueli’s face lit up in an instant when she heard what Xuanyuan Sheng said. “If the Seventh Prince can punish Mu Yingxue, it will spare me a lot of effort!” At the thought of this, she immediately answered, “She shouldn’t have contradicted you or annoyed you, so she deserves to be punished. Your Highness, I always feel ashamed of my sister. As she acts in a different way from other people, everyone around her has to be more cautious.”

With that, before Xuanyuan Sheng could say anything, she rushed over and began to yell at Mu Yingxue.