It was a sunny day with pleasant spring scenery. The Eighth Princess, who had returned to the capital not long ago, came to the pear garden in the east of the city to watch a play as usual.
She was used to the free and unfettered life in Huai'an. After returning to the palace, she felt extremely restricted. Whenever she got a chance, she would secretly slip out of the palace to have fun in the capital. The Empress Dowager turned a blind eye to this and only told people to follow her.
Therefore, accompanying the Eighth Princess was Li Ji, the third grandson of the Duke Xun, the younger brother of the Empress Dowager.
Li Ji's grandfather was the Duke Xun, and his father was the Minister of Revenue. Although he was the third son in the family, he was the eldest legitimate son. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was a typical playboy in the capital, so it was easy for him to accompany the Eighth Princess to have fun.
Hearing that there was a new play in the pear garden, he immediately told the Eighth Princess. As soon as they entered, Li Ji walked straight to the best seat he had reserved in advance.
Unexpectedly, he accidentally saw a familiar face and his eyes immediately lit up.
"Little aunt, the beauty sitting next to us is Yu Xueming, a well - known talented woman in the capital. Shall we invite her to sit with us?"
There was an octagonal table in front of their seats, on which there were many fruits and pastries, and there were still many empty seats.
The Eighth Princess picked up a handful of melon seeds. Her mind was originally on the stage. Hearing Li Ji's words, her eyes couldn't help but glance at the two young ladies not far away.
She had a slight impression of the more beautiful one in white. It seemed to be the one who played the drum and danced at the palace banquet. Although she danced very hard, she was outshone by the eldest daughter of the Prime Minister's Mansion who was originally pulled in as an accompanist. It was really quite dramatic.
"If you want to go, then go quickly."
Seeing Li Ji's lecherous look that couldn't hide his excitement at the sight of a beauty, the Eighth Princess said coldly. But Li Ji hurriedly shook his head.
"No, no, no. How could a beauty be more important than accompanying you, little aunt! I was just afraid that you would be bored!"
His father had repeatedly told him to take good care of this little princess. How dare he make her unhappy?
Looking at Li Ji's flattering smile, the Eighth Princess glanced at him. Hearing the sound of the strings from the backstage, she looked at the stage and said indifferently:
"Watch the play."
As for these ladies from noble families, she had no intention of making friends with them at all. The people she could take a fancy to would not care about their status.
Since the Eighth Princess entered the venue, Yu Xueming had been looking in that direction intentionally or unintentionally. She even noticed Li Ji's gaze and was sure that he would come over to strike up a conversation.
However, she waited and waited, but there was no movement from that side. Yun Ni was bored and yawning. Seeing this, Yu Xueming frowned slightly and secretly pinched Yun Ni's arm.
"What are you doing?"
Yun Ni felt the pain and immediately glared at Yu Xueming angrily.
But Yu Xueming smiled gently and quietly pointed at the Eighth Princess beside them and said:
"I saw the Eighth Princess come in just now. How about we go over and say hello?"
Yun Ni frowned, glanced at the Eighth Princess, and rubbed her arm and said:
"I'm not going. If you want to go, go by yourself."
It wasn't the Crown Prince. Why should she be so obsequious?
Hearing this, the smile on Yu Xueming's lips froze slightly. Looking at the play about to start on the stage, she said softly:
"I heard that the Crown Prince has a very good relationship with this little aunt, the Eighth Princess. Don't you want to leave a good impression on the Eighth Princess so that she can say some good words for you in front of the Crown Prince?"
Yu Xueming's words hit Yun Ni's mind. Yun Ni's eyes immediately brightened. All her previous listlessness disappeared. She hurriedly grabbed Yu Xueming's hand and said:
"Then what are we waiting for?"
With that, she immediately pulled Yu Xueming and rushed straight towards the Eighth Princess.
The play had started with the gongs and drums roaring. The Eighth Princess was concentrating on the stage, her fingers unconsciously beating the rhythm. Suddenly, a figure blocked her view, and she immediately frowned unhappily.
Sensing the Eighth Princess's anger, Yu Xueming quickly pretended to stagger and covered her chest and said:
"Yun Ni, what are you in such a hurry for? Walk slowly!"
Then, as if she had just noticed the Eighth Princess, she pulled Yun Ni to stand aside with their hands down and said respectfully:
"Yu Xueming from the Grand Tutor's Mansion, pays respects to the Eighth Princess!"
Yun Ni didn't realize her own rudeness. She imitated Yu Xueming's appearance, pretended to be cute, and smiled on her face and said:
"Yun Ni from the Prime Minister's Mansion, pays respects to the Eighth Princess!"
Seeing that these two clumsy girls had interrupted her from watching the play, the Eighth Princess was about to get angry. Li Ji beside her quickly smoothed things over and said:
"The good play has already started. You two might as well take your seats together. Don't delay the Eighth Princess from watching the play."
Then Li Ji whispered to the Eighth Princess:
"I heard that this play was just rehearsed in the past few days. The content is extremely wonderful. You can't miss it, little aunt!"
Hearing this, the Eighth Princess gave Li Ji a disdainful look and said to Yu Xueming and the other girl indifferently:
"Sit down."
"Thank you, Eighth Princess."
The two quickly sat down and accompanied the Eighth Princess to watch the play. But before the play had even reached half of the way, Yu Xueming blinked her eyes with a strange expression.
Then, the more Yu Xueming listened, the more she felt that her guess was right. The smile on her lips deepened, and she unconsciously looked at Yun Ni beside her, who was already extremely angry.
"What a lousy play!"
Unable to bear it any longer, Yun Ni forgot that the Eighth Princess was still there. She slapped the table and pointed at the actress on the stage and scolded:
"As a young lady from a noble family, who already has a betrothal, she still flirts with others, being promiscuous and having an affair with others! I really don't understand what's so good about her?
"Are those men all blind? They even fight desperately to compete for such a woman, even to the point of life and death. This woman is clearly a disaster! A femme fatale!!"
Yun Ni was so deeply involved in the play that she couldn't help but think of her own situation and the hatred she had for Yun Xi, which was why she had such an outburst!
She directly vented all her unfairness and anger on the actors!
The Eighth Princess, who had also been watching the play, unexpectedly didn't get angry after hearing Yun Ni's words. Because she had also been frowning while watching this play.
Although the woman in the play was extremely beautiful and talented, since she had a betrothal in advance, she shouldn't have behaved unchastely and seduced other men. Even more, she shouldn't have instigated the men to fight with each other for her favor and sought superiority from it!
Even though the actors sang and performed very well, they still couldn't cover up the flaw of the character's immorality!
Moreover, when she learned from Li Ji that the woman in the play would eventually ascend to the position of the empress and rule the harem, she became even more disgusted.
If a woman with such a lack of virtue could rule the harem, then the world would really be close to destruction!!
Yu Xueming observed the Eighth Princess's expression from the side. Seeing that she didn't get angry, she was even more confident. As if she had just reacted, she quickly pulled Yun Ni to sit down.
Looking panicked, she seemed to be trying her best to excuse Yun Ni and said:
"Please forgive us, Eighth Princess. Yun Ni has been in a bad mood recently, so she didn't watch her words and disturbed your enjoyment of the play."
Then, Yu Xueming deliberately lowered her voice and pretended to comfort Yun Ni and said:
"Yun Ni, even if you're angry that the Crown Prince has been going to your elder sister's courtyard recently, you shouldn't take it out on others. After all, this is just a play. You can't take it seriously!"