Chapter 109 - Questioning

"You're telling me this is the first princess of the Zhu empire? Like this is her?" Mei Xiang asked in disbelief.

Yu Yingyi nodded again, who knows how many times Mei Xiang asked despite introducing each other already. Mei Xiang was still in disbelief that the princess of the Zhu empire was before her.

"Now are you done fangirling? We have something important to discuss," Yu Yingyi said.

"I'm not fangirling!" Mei Xiang exclaimed. "I'm just surprised about how pretty she is."

"Oh? Are you being bent by her beauty?" Yu Yingyi asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mei Xiang deadpanned Yu Yingyi, "Don't even think about it. I'm straight and it'll be that way forever."

"Yeah, yeah. Enough of the nonsense, do you have somewhere private to talk?"

"There's a private room that only staff is allowed to enter. Though since you're with me, I guess it's fine."

"Alright then, lead the way. We have a lot of time but I don't want to waste it."

As Yu Yingyi and Zhu Ru Shi followed Mei Xiang inside the room, Ru Shi decided to ask a few questions.

"Your friend, Mei Xiang, has red hair. Is she a foreigner or is her hair naturally that color?" Zhu Ru Shi asked.

"Her hair is naturally that color, I couldn't believe it when I first saw it too. It was my first time seeing reddish hair mixed with a bit of brown. Her red eyes too."

"En, it reminds me of my hair and eyes. I have turquoise eyes and hair, I was naturally born with it."

"Did you inherit it from your parents?"

Zhu Ru Shi shook her head, "No, I'm the only one in our family that has this color. I'm not adopted either."

"Hmm, maybe you're special then. Perhaps you were born with a gift that gave you this color, who knows?"

"I see."

When they entered the private room, multiple sofas and coffee tables could be seen. There were also leftover cups that still had tea in them.

"This doesn't look like a private room, it's more like a lounge," Yu Yingyi said.

"Agreed," Zhu Ru Shi added.

"Either way," Mei Xiang made herself comfortable before continuing, "This room is meant for staff only. Make yourself at home, not literally."

Yu Yingyi and Zhu Ru Shi took a set apart from each other, their positions formed a triangle.

"Alright, Yingyi. What did you have to say to us that's so important that we had to move to the private room?" Mei Xiang asked.

"I'm curious as well, elaborate," Zhu Ru Shi said.

"Okay," Yu Yingyi said as she let out a deep breath, yet she hesitated to speak.

"Just tell us Yingyi, no one besides us is going to hear us anyway," Mei Xiang.

"Alright, remember the intruder incident?"

"Of course, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But what does that have to do with Princess Zhu Ru Shi though?"

"Apparently, despite Ru Shi being the princess of the Zhu empire. She had no idea bandits that were from the Zhu empire were sent to the Song empire."

Zhu Ru Shi suddenly stood up, "That can't be! You have to be lying! Our empires don't have a grudge against each other nor do we want anything from you!"

"Calm down Ru Shi, I still haven't deciphered if they were telling the truth or not. But this makes it hard," Yu Yingyi said and pulled out a golden pin.

Zhu Ru Shi widened her eyes in disbelief, "Where did you get this?"

"I picked it up from where the bandits invaded, they dropped the golden pin and seemed to forget about it. The pin is from the Zhu empire, correct? It's written on the center."

Zhu Ru Shi grimaced, "Yes, the pin belongs to the Zhu empire. However, this pin is fairly new. There's no telling if they're really from our empire unless they have the old pin."

"What did the old pin look like?"

"It wasn't a pin at all, it was a handmade jade that had Zhu carved on the center of it. It was specifically made for those part of royalty and the most trustworthy."

"So you're saying unless they had that one, it couldn't be confirmed if they were from the Zhu empire?"

"En, since almost anyone can get the golden pin. Moreover, if someone sent intruders to your empire, I would've known about it. I wouldn't even have come here."

Yu Yingyi didn't doubt Zhu Ru Shi's words, but she didn't fully trust them either. Zhu Ru Shi wasn't only a childish and cheerful girl. She had another side of her that reminded Yu Yingyi of Song Liya.

Cunning, calculating, fierce, manipulating, there were a lot of words to describe Zhu Ru Shi and none of them were good. It made her seem like a supervillainess.

"I see, I don't doubt your words. But do you have any clue where the intruders came from then?" Yu Yingyi asked.

"If I had a clue, I would've told you already," Zhu Ru Shi said.

"Hold on," Mei Xiang spoke for the first time in a while. "You're telling me the invaders came from a different empire?"

Yu Yingyi nodded her head, "Yep."

"Could they be from the Jia empire?" Mei Xiang asked.

Yu Yingyi shook her head, "That's impossible, we're on friendly terms with the Jia empire."

"Then there's only one other empire we don't know much about, it's the empire in the east."

Yu Yingyi mentally groaned, she disliked the empire in the east. Not only were they unfair, but they also acted as if they were better than everyone else. It was annoying.

Yu Yingyi didn't want to become associated with the people of the east at all. If anything, she wanted to be as far away from them as possible. The empire in the east might have people that can infuriate Yu Yingyi to the max.

There was no doubt in Yu Yingyi's mind that she wasn't going to get along with the people of the east.

"Uh, what is the empire in the east? I didn't even know there was an empire there," Zhu Ru Shi said.

Yu Yingyi rubbed her temples, "Alright, I'll explain it to you."