Chapter 12 - Stay Away from Him!

Song Yixiao heard it and felt surprised. Then she just recalled, “Oh crap! I forgot that my mother expected me to marry into the purple. Today since Lingdang saw me make friends with Jian Xubai, my mother must try her best to set me up with him!”

She had a nice conversation with Jian Xubai for a reason. Firstly, she was afraid that he would figure out that she was the real conspirator for the tragedy of the Song Family and Liu Family. Therefore, she went all out to flatter Jian Xubai in case that he would suspect her.

Secondly, somehow Jian Xubai felt like fighting for paternal love against his elder brother and sister out of no reason, so he had to inquire Song Yixiao about how to act like a spoiled child! Although Song Yixiao couldn’t teach him how, he must feel disgraced after asking such a question! Even though Song Yixiao didn’t laugh at him, Jian Xubai must have conflicting feelings.

Afterwards, once Song Yixiao talked of what happened to the Song Family, he made an analysis at once. Hence, he must try to take the opportunity to make himself less awkward!

Hence, they had a good time sheerly for the sake of their own purposes. Hitting it off well right from the beginning was merely an excuse!

In fact, Song Yixiao really doubted whether Jian Xubai would feel too shamed to meet her when he came to his senses and didn’t yearn to strive for his father’s favor like today.

Moreover, she was only eight years old. It was too early for her to talk about marriage so she didn’t want to be made to suck up to Jian Xubai!

After all, Song Yixiao was worried to be questioned by Lingdang!

“Oh. He thought that I was alone and poor after Zhiqin left so he chatted with me to kill time.” She said as if nothing were on her mind, “Why do you ask about it?”

Lingdang gave a sinister smile, “I thought that you and Duke Jian got along quite well.”

“Cut it out.” Song Yixiao pouted and said aloofly, “He is raised by Empress Dowager. How can we talk about him randomly?”

“You are right.” Lingdang met with a soft rebuff and realized that Song Yixiao didn’t feel like talking about Duke Jian, so she just put a stop to it.

When they returned to the room where they selected cloth, Madam Mu had left. Wei Mengying was in a trance, sitting on the chair and holding a tea bowl. Upon glimpsing her daughter carried inside, she directly demanded to go back without even asking about anything. She didn’t shout out as if wakening from a dream until she returned to her room, “What has happened to Yixiao?”

Song Yixiao was dazed and then looked at Zhiqin. Zhiqin was also surprised to look at Ms. Bo. Ms. Bo hurried to remind Wei Mengying, “Zhiqin reported that Miss Song’s ankle was sprained for being pushed by a young man in the yard of the silk store a moment ago. And the young man is kind enough to take her away for applying some vulnerary and meanwhile to ask Zhiqin to let Lingdang carry Miss Song back.”

Wei Mengying seemed to take a tumble, “I was absent-minded just now. I shouldn’t have forgotten about it!” She hastened to ask Song Yixiao how she was feeling.

When Song Yixiao said she would get well after two or three days, Wei Mengying was relieved with a sigh, “You cannot wear the clothes until they are made with the cloth we’ve selected. Supposedly, it will take a few days for tailors to make the clothes. Since you can get well in two or three days, you can go to school in time.”

When she was about to enquire about the background of the one who got her daughter injured, Lingdang finally seized the opportunity to report in spirits, “It is Duke Jian who injured Miss Song! Your Highness, when I went into the wing-room, I happened to see Duke Jian and Miss Song talking happily alone!”

With her lips twitched a bit, Song Yixiao started to ponder over what to say next.

She thought that in light of Wei Mengying’s expectation for her, Wei Mengying might ask her to hold onto Jian Xubai or at least remind her indirectly of maintaining a good relationship with this duke. However, in fact, Wei Mengying appeared discontented and scolded Lingdang, “What are you talking about? Duke Jian is raised by Empress Dowager. How can he not know about avoiding physical contact between a man and a woman? Why would he stay with Yixiao in the same room and talk happily?”

Lingdang was dumbfounded by the reproach!

Yet, it was not the first day that she followed her highness. She came to her senses from a daze soon and hastened to admit her error and ask for punishment, “I am so sorry! I just wanted to tell a joke with Miss Song but I didn’t expect to ruin her ladyship’s reputation!”

“You must be careful with your mouth. If you dare to talk improperly again, you will be doomed!” Wei Mengying scolded her again with a cold face and then looked around fiercely. Noticing that all the people lowered their heads sensibly, she felt satisfied and then waved her hand at her daughter, “Yixiao, come here. I must tell you something in private!”

Song Yixiao was quite confused about her sudden change but she understood why after Wei Mengying asked Ms. Bo to tell all the other people to leave. “Duke Jian is a man of noble birth, but you should not be too close with him!”

“Why?” Song Yixiao asked out of curiosity instead of disgruntlement.

Wei Mengying said patiently, “Because rumor has it that Empress Dowager and Emperor want to set him up with Princess Changxing. The ladies born in the purple are rather barbarous. If you are regarded as a thorn in their eyes, how can you live well then?”

Princess Changxing was the daughter of the empress. As Emperor Xianjia didn’t designate his legitimate son as his heir and felt sorry for the empress, he showed extra favor for this legitimate daughter. The princess and Song Yixiao were about the same age but the princess was known for being barbarian in public. Wei Mengying hoped that her daughter could marry into the purple but she never expected that all the excellent men could be her daughter-in-law. How could she not fear that her daughter might be killed by the princess easily?

No wonder she didn’t seize the opportunity to pair her off with Jian Xubai after learning about their encounter. Instead, she persuaded Song Yixiao into staying away from this young man.

“It’s good that you know what you should do. I think that Duke Jian will not ask you out anymore.” Wei Mengying saw that Song Yixiao remained silent and thought her daughter was frightened by the princess so she said in a comforting tone, “You are still too young. I will teach you more about this kind of thing in future.”

Then she came to the point and said, “You will go to school after your clothes are ready later. Regardless, there is someone you must be alert to in the school!”