13 Chapter 12 | Coming of age Banquet. (2/2)

Yue Mian's mouth twitched, she was about to smile, but did not. ”It's good that he has found someone, now he won't be my problem anymore.”

Yu Sheng chuckled and said, ”To think that he would fall for someone so easily is quite pitiful of him.”

”Yu Sheng, you shouldn't speak like that about your Crown Prince,” she said.

”True, but are you not royalty yourself?” he asked her. Yue Mian stopped in her step and turned to look at Yu Sheng. This tall and handsome young man with sword-like eyebrows, his hair was flowing with the slight breeze and the grin on his face made him look naughty.

Yue Mian raised her right arm slowly and placed her index finger on her lips and looked him in the eye. Yu Sheng straightened his body and stopped smiling and bowed slightly and said, ”Yes Your Highness.”

She reached out her right hand and patted him on his shoulder. Turning around she began walking again and asked, ”So, did you find out what your princess has planned for me today?”

”Mn, she has arranged entertainment for all of us later on and has ordered one of the servants to burn your hair,” he said. Yue Mian stopped walking, she turned around sharply and glared at Yu Sheng.

”Does she not know when to stop?” she asked him with a threatening tone. ”We can always stop her, but your highness, she really is going overboard this time, do you want me to take care of this?”

Yue Mian didn't answer him leaving him to sigh. ”Your Highness, if you allow this, then I'm afraid…” he trailed.

”Afraid of what? That I will lose face?” she asked him. He slowly nodded his head and agreeing with her question. ”Sheng, I have lost face over and over, do you really think that I will be bothered by anything she does now? And also, if her father leaves her and does not punish her then so be it. It is time for me to leave soon and she is just giving me an excuse,” she answered him and walked off.

Yu Sheng stood there watching her walk away as he bit down on his bottom lip and clenched his fists. Taking a deep breath in her jogged up to Yue Mian and they returned to the palace hall where the banquet was held.

The doors opened and the noise from inside hushed for a moment and as soon as they saw it was Yue Mian, they began ignoring her and continued to speak amongst them. Yu Sheng who was walking behind her clenched his fists, but smiled and continued speaking with her.

The two of them walked around all the tables on the left side of the hall and walked up to the main table where they greeted the Emperor and Empress. She greeted the two princesses who chose to ignore her.

Yue Mian stood in front of the two princesses and looked over at The Crown Prince who was looking at her with guilt filled eyes. She looked at the person who was sitting in her place and smiled. She bowed then turned to Yu Sheng and told him something.

The two of them walked off and headed to the Crown Prince's side, where they stood behind him as if they were his personal guards. This made things awkward for everyone at the main table.

Yue Mian's hands were folded in front of her with her eyes closed and a slight smile formed on her lips. Yu Sheng, on the other hand, had a serious expression on his face. Crown Prince An Cheng stopped conversing with General Feng's goddaughter and continued to have dinner with a stiff expression.

The servants offered Yue Mian fruits to eat seeing that she wasn't seated next to the Crown Prince as usual. She accepted the fruits and passed them over to Yu Sheng who eat them while being slightly annoyed.

The evening went on smoothly and the adults went to have fun while the Emperor and Empress went off to bed. As soon as they left Princess Choeng stood up and clapped her hands together getting everyone attention.

”Everyone, I have entertainment arranged for us outside, please would you all join me,” she said then began walking towards the exit with An Chong beside her. Slowly the nobles and royals began exiting the hall leaving Crown Prince An Cheng, Yu Sheng,Qing Hǎi kuí and Yue Mian behind.

Yue Mian turned around and followed the crowd to the courtyard before the gardens where a stage was set up and everyone was gathered around the stage.

A few men and woman were wrapped in cloth that exposed their stomachs. They began dancing and this went on for a while.

From the corner of her left eye, Yue Mian could see that she was being watched by the two princesses. A moment she saw a female servant stand next to Princess An Choeng. A chuckle escaped Yue Mian's mouth.

An Cheng looked over at her and his left brow rose. Yue Mian moved away from the crowd and walked slowly towards an open area near the stage and stood there. The wind blew past her and flowing through her long hair making it blow in the same direction.

Her eyes never left the princess, but it wasn't obvious. She clapped her hand pretending to enjoy the show and cheered for the dancers. A little while later while the performance was still ongoing, an unknown servant approached her.

”Excuse me miss?” she called out to Yue Mian. ”Yes?” she answered. ”I-i'm s-sorry about this.” the servant spoke again.

”Mn?” Yue Mian was confused. She observed the servant and noticed that her eyes were slightly red and her mouth was trembling. The next moment the wind blew from behind Yue Mian into the direction of the servant and her hair blew in that direction too.

The servant grabbed her by her hair, pulled her down to the ground and cut Yue Mian's hair off that was that was in her hand.

Yue Mian looked at the servant with a widened eyes, while her chest rose up and down. The servant stood with a hand full of eleven inch long strands of hair in her left hand and a blade in her right.

The group of young people stopped cheering and looked at the scene on the other side of the stage. The performers also stopped dancing and looked over. Yu Sheng jolted pass An Cheng and Qing Hǎi kuí.

When he reached Yue Mian's side he knelt down and helped her up. The two of them exchanged glances then Yu Sheng turned around and smacked the servant girl. ”Guards,” he yelled out while catching a quick glimpse of the princesses.

Not long after the guards were called they arrived and took her away when the guards and Yu Sheng were gone with the servant to report to the minister of discipline, they left Yue Mian behind with the crowd.

She was looked in the direction wondering why that girl didn't burn her hair and was pulled away from her train of thought when she heard laughing. Looking to her left where everyone was.

Her eyes stopped on the two princesses and she glared at them. There were some nobles and royals who did not find what happened funny and started walking off. An Cheng and Qing Hǎi kuí were standing together and Qing Hǎi kuí was laughing while An Cheng looked over at his sisters.

He walked over to them and Yue Mian could see that they were being berated by him and rolled her eyes. She glanced one last time at those who were laughing at her then headed to the gardens where her horse was.

Climbing on top of him she kicked his sides with the back of her foot and yelled for it to start running. The horse did not need to be told where to go and galloped all the way to the back of the mountains by the river and stopped there.

It was late into the evening and she never climbed onto the boulders to head into her hiding spot.