Feeling that this girl seemed quite popular, Shi Muyuan couldn't help asking Xiao Xiao,
"Who is she?"
"She's Zhang Mingzhu, the granddaughter of the Duke."
"Pearl?" It was a rather straightforward name.
"Miss Zhang loves to bicker with Miss Chen the most. This ice hockey game held by the Empress Dowager should be quite exciting. Although Miss Zhang has never practiced martial arts, she plays ice hockey very well. She and Miss Yao are arch - enemies on the ice hockey field."
"Kun'er?"
"Yeah, Miss Yao plays really well."
Shi Muyuan sized up the flamboyant girl in red on the field, then looked at several girls led by Chen Leran. Yao Yao was standing among them, while on Zhang Mingzhu's side were Jiang Qiong, Xie Lan and others.
Chen Leran was pulling Yao Yao and saying something, with her eyes constantly glancing in Shi Muyuan's direction. Shi Muyuan found it strange, and Xiao Xiao also noticed.
Shi Muyuan looked at Yao Kun beside her and stroked her head. "Why don't you go and play?"
The little girl turned to look at her, her eyes full of surprise as if asking "Really?"
Shi Muyuan gave a helpless smile. "Go quickly. Your sister is waiting for you."
Getting her response, the little girl happily went to change her clothes. In a short while, she was standing on the ice hockey field.
Chen Leran slapped her on the shoulder. "I thought you weren't coming. I asked your sister to call you, but she refused."
Yao Kun just stared at her without any reaction. Chen Leran was already used to it. She shrugged her shoulders, and her confidence returned.
The game officially started. With her agile moves, Yao Kun quickly snatched the first ball. Yao Yao closely followed behind to protect her, but Zhang Mingzhu suddenly jumped out from the side and intercepted the ice hockey. Chen Leran chased and blocked, but the ice hockey kept moving around on the field and failed to score a goal.
"The young girls are so full of vitality. It's really enviable," the Consort Dowager Shen said with a smile.
"Sister, what's there to envy? I remember you were also very good at ice hockey in the past," the Consort Dowager Qi took over. It was when the Consort Dowager Shen was playing ice hockey that the Emperor happened to see her and then she entered the harem.
"This makes me think of the Empress Dowager. She always lost every time. In order to win, she even specially found someone to help, but still lost," the Consort Dowager Qi suddenly mentioned her. Shi Muyuan was a bit dazed when suddenly being named.
Saying "find someone to help" actually meant that Shi Muyuan cheated. Eventually, it was discovered, which really angered the original owner. The day after losing, someone found that the person she had found was lying on the street covered in wounds, with a bag of gold beside him. The mark on the bag indicated that the money came from the Shi Mansion. So some people guessed that Shi Muyuan was furious and beat the person severely when he came to collect the money.
But in Shi Muyuan's memory, there was no such thing. The original owner was really angry after losing, but she just went back and smashed a few vases.
Shi Muyuan suddenly felt that the original owner must have been maliciously framed in the first half of her life, which led everyone to preconceive that all the bad things were done by her.
After saying this, the Consort Dowager Qi stared at Shi Muyuan, waiting for her reaction. However, unexpectedly, Shi Muyuan didn't show any reaction.
This shouldn't be. In the past, Shi Muyuan would have flown into a rage by now. After today's snow - viewing banquet, everyone would have a new joke.
"Sister Qi, what are you talking about? I've loved ice hockey since I was a child and have practiced hard. How can I compare with others? It would be too unfair," the Consort Dowager Shen came out to smooth things over.
Her father was just a minor official. By coincidence, she entered the palace. Her family was even promoted two ranks, but they were still insignificant. She had no reliable background. In fact, she was the pillar of her family. So she had always been well - behaved in the palace and had safely become a consort dowager until now.
She didn't want to get involved in their conflicts, lest her family suffer along with her.
Hearing her words, the Consort Dowager Qi's face stiffened. She forced a smile and said "You're right." But in her heart, she was scolding non - stop. This good - for - nothing.
As a result, the consorts dowager sitting on the high seats suddenly had nothing to say. The high platform fell into silence.
It just so happened that Shi Muyuan was too lazy to bother to beat around the bush with them. She concentrated on calculating how to start the conversation later. She couldn't just ask directly, or it would expose the fact that she had run out secretly.
The ice hockey field was outdoors. In the middle of the seating area was a huge brazier, crackling and giving off heat. Shi Muyuan's little hand drew circles on the hand warmer in her bosom.
The battle on the field had reached a white - hot stage. Some of the girls were out of breath from exhaustion.
Finally, Yao Kun scored another beautiful goal. The little eunuch on the side signaled for a halftime break.
The girls immediately relaxed and ran to the seats beside the brazier to rest and drink water.
"Hey, have you seen Hui'er recently?"
"No, but I heard that Miss Li and Miss Yang haven't appeared for a long time either."
"What's going on? Could it be that they went out to play behind our backs?"
Although they were fighting on the ice hockey field, once the game was over, these young girls gathered together and shared the little gossips they had heard.
"I don't think so. Are they familiar with each other?"
"I don't think so. By the way, I didn't see Sister Li at the plum - viewing banquet last time, but Hui'er was still enjoying the plum blossoms with me at that time."
"It's really strange."
"During that time, I often heard Hui'er talking about her desire to watch a theater troupe from outside the Great Liang."
"Theater troupe? Miss Li also mentioned it once."
"I've also heard of that theater troupe, but I haven't been to watch it. It left a few days ago."
"Did Hui'er go to watch it?"
"I don't know. She should have. I saw that she was quite happy preparing for it those days."
"Miss Li was the same, but it seems that there has been no news of her since then."
"Really? Could it be the doing of that theater troupe? It's really scary."
"Probably not. If it were, people would have been sent to investigate long ago. There couldn't be no movement."
A little girl mysteriously poked her head out and looked around. Some of her sisters who were familiar with her knew what she was going to do when they saw her expression and directly asked, "Xiangxi, do you know something?"
"Of course. Xiangxi's father works in the Supreme Court." They had heard a lot of interesting things from Xiangxi's mouth. Although some of them were very scary and often made them unable to eat or sleep.
"I really don't know about this, but my father went to another place a few days ago. I heard from my mother that he went to investigate a missing - person case."
"Missing?"
Everyone seemed to think of something and shivered.
They chattered about their speculations, getting more and more excited and raising their voices. Almost everyone sitting there heard a bit of it. Several ladies not far away heard their discussion and scolded their daughters not to talk nonsense.