Chapter 102 - 102. Bride Selection IV

Third person POV

Hong er woke up like usual but she didn't go out of her room as it was too early in the morning for a girl to wake up. She did her usual warm up except running because she couldn't run in a small room and it would be noisy. After she was done with her warm up, Meiyun and Huayun prepared her bath and her clothes. Hong er took a bath and dressed up in her usual white attire, she sat on a chair and read books that she took from Xi An with her until the time for breakfast.

Hong er went to Qingshui Palace and was the first one to arrive there, she sat on her arranged seat and patiently waited for the other girls to arrive. Not long after, Li Qianzi proudly walked in to the hall, she planned to be the first one to arrive and gave the diligent student impression to the other girls but Hong er beat her. Hong stood up from her seat and greeted Li Qianzi by slightly bowing her head. Li Qianzi forced a smile and greeted back before she went to her seat.

30 minutes later, all the girls finally arrived and the lesson started. Hong er's mind only filled with Weisheng for the whole lesson, she couldn't stop worrying about Weisheng. She clenched her hands and prayed to the gods for Weisheng's safety.

The lesson ended with Hong er got scolded by the teacher for not paying attention to the lesson. The girls giggled mockingly like usual but Hong er was careless about what they do so she just walked out of the hall after she gave her greeting to the teacher.

Hong er was walking to her room with Meiyun and Huayun behind her when she suddenly heard a faint whimper, they immediately halted and looked around but they didn't see anyone around them. They looked at each other and shook their head before continued their walk then they stopped again when they heard the whimpering sound again.

They slowly walked towards the source of the sound and found out that it was in a quite secluded alley. Meiyun and Huayun immediately summoned their weapon, Meiyun dashed to Hong er's forepart and Huayun turned her body to protect Hong er from the back. They slowly walked to the alley and the whimpering sound gets louder and louder, Hong er's hand was ready to summon her weapon until she saw a man in a green attire crouching down on the ground. She couldn't see his face as his knee was covering his face. Hong er didn't let her guard down, rather than that, her sword slowly appeared on her hand. Meiyun cautiously approached the green clothed man and asked in low voice.

Meiyun: " You there, with the green clothes, who are you?"

The green clothed man flinched when he suddenly heard a woman's voice. He slowly looked up and saw 3 masked women with one of them facing behind( Huayun). His face got pale when he saw the three masked women were holding a frightening weapon in their hands. He scurried away and begged to spare his life. Hong er tapped Meiyun's shoulder and told her to lower down her weapon and ask kindly. Meiyun nodded her head and lowered her weapon.

Meiyun: " Don't be afraid. Just tell me who you are."

The green clothed man slowly stood up and cautiously walked towards them. Hong er finally could see his face clearly, his face was a bit similar to Long Quan and Long Shangu.

Green clothed man: " I-I am the Seventh prince, Lo-Long Yang."

Meiyun slowly went to Hong er's side and whispered to her ear.

Meiyun: " He is the infamous useless prince, Young Miss. What should we do?"

Hong er replied in a low voice that only Meiyun could hear.

Hong er: " Ask him why he is here."

Meiyun nodded and turned her head towards Long Yang.

Meiyun: " Why are Your Highness at here?"

Long Yang: " I-I… Th-they were laughing at-at me. The-they said that I-I am useless an-and stupid."

Tears flew down his cheeks as he stuttered in his words. Hong er stood still and stares at him without saying anything.

Long Yang: " The-they bully m-me."

Hong er unsummoned her sword and spoke in her gentle but firm voice.

Hong er: " No one is useless. Your Highness, forgive me if I'm being nosy but let me give you an advice. If you can make even one person smile with your own ability, it proves that you are not useless. See, I'm smiling right now underneath my mask. It means you are not useless."

Long Yang looked at Hong er with amazement and admiration, his hand gripped on his sleeve as he enthusiastically nodded his head. Hong er nodded back and waved her hand before she walked out from the alley. Long Yang realized that he hadn't asked for her name, he chased after them but they were already gone when he looked outside of the alley. He gripped his chest as he felt his heart was beating so hard.

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Three weeks passes by just like that, Hong er didn't show any special trait except her dancing skill because she had shown a magnificent performance 7 years ago and it would be suspicious if she suddenly couldn't dance.

Li Qianzi was satisfied with how average Hong er's abilities were so she didn't bother to try very hard to defeat Hong er. And the last day of Bride Selection, the day that they had to show the result of 3 weeks training in front of all ministers except Xu Tingfeng.

Xu Tingfeng had sent his apology letter a few days ago to Long Quan that he couldn't attend the Bride Selection because recently there was a group of bandit roaming around Xi An. Long Quan sent some of his spy to Xi An to verify Xu Tingfeng's letter truthfulness and it was confirmed that a group of bandit had been roaming around Xi An when they suddenly robbed one of the bank in Xi An. Fortunately Xu Tingfeng stopped the bandit before they got their hands on the money.

Long Quan crumbled the letter in his hand and threw it at the spies. He swept away everything on his desk and roared in anger. He didn't know why whenever he tried to lure Xu Tingfeng to come to capital, something always happened and coincidentally it needed Xu Tingfeng's assistance. He couldn't find any flaw in Xu Tingfeng's reasons to leave the capital. Eunuch Zhu slowly called Long Quan, afraid he would anger the already angry Long Quan.

Eunuch Zhu: " Your Majesty, it is time."

Long Quan: " I know."

Long Quan angrily stood up and walked out of his study room with his servants followed behind him.