Ghostly Masked Prince Xiao

This sound successfully made Xiao Xu raise his eyebrows, cold eyes staring intently at Chu Qing-Yan, who wanted to dig a hole with a shovel and drill into it.

Chu Qing-Yan really wanted to cry but lacked the tears, she really didn't do it intentionally. Who told him to speak up so suddenly when she was already like a bird who would be startled by the mere tw.a.n.g of a bow? How could she have endured his fright?

It could be said like this, but even if she was to be given 100 times more courage, she wouldn't dare to pull the tiger's whisker right in front of the tiger itself.

"Sorry, my hands slipped." Chu Qing-Yan choked out a sentence.

Hands slipped?

Xiao Xu had deep doubts towards this explanation.

"Does it not suit your palate?" Xiao Xu put down his chopsticks and looked at her.

Huh? Chu Qing-Yan was stunned. She originally thought Prince Ying would punish her and didn't think that he would ask such an unrelated question.

"No, I really like it. Poof—— that's spicy as h.e.l.l——" To prove that she really liked these dishes, Chu Qing-Yan randomly picked up a chopstick full and stuff it in her mouth. Who knew her random pick would turn out to be a red hot spicy pepper. She quickly spat it out but unfortunately that spicy pepper flew into a soup bowl not so far away, splashing soup everywhere, and then——

Chu Qing-Yan couldn't help but to cover her eyes, she really didn't do it deliberately!

Xiao Xu lowered his head to look at his sleeves that were dampened by the spilled soup. The corner of his eyes couldn't help but to twitch.

"I'm sorry. I didn't do it on purpose. I'll help wipe it clean for you right now!" Chu Qing-Yan immediately stood up and was able to react resourcefully in an emergency, wanting to use her own sleeves to help him clean it off.

A pity, the other party didn't seem appreciative of the offer and lifted his hand to signal her not to get closer. Then, he accepted a piece of cloth from the maid and proceeded to wipe the soup from his wrist and sleeves. In the end, with a somewhat disdainful manner, he stood up and turned around to walk into another room. He only left behind one sentence, "Eat by yourself."

Chu Qing-Yan watched that departing figure and couldn't help but feel somewhat defeated. It seemed that she had offended the bankroller. The first impression was already this bad, how could they get along in the future, ah? Chu Qing-Yan worriedly held her chin, her chopsticks moving back and forth, poking at the rice in her bowl.

Originally, she had wanted to show how well-behaved she was, then maybe Prince Ying would be happy and he'd let her live in the manor as a rice weevil (1). If she had a good relationship with the bankroller, at the very least, she'd have freedom.

Only, don't know why, seeing this Prince Ying for the first time, her heart would grow apprehensive. Not because she was afraid he would behead her if he was unhappy, rather, because facing a guy with such a strong existence giving off an aura of not allowing strangers to get near him, she still hadn't thought of what kind of att.i.tude to treat him with.

Just when Chu Qing-Yan was thinking distressfully, she saw a yellow-clothed maid changing the soup she had just dirtied and suddenly recalled matters related to Prince Ying's side that she had gotten from Xi Ning.

There were seven senior maids serving by Prince Ying's side. They were named after the seven colors of the rainbow, Hong Yi, Cheng Yi, Huang Yi, Lu Yi, Qing Yi, Lan Yi and Zi Yi (2). Everyone had an area they were good at. For example.

Hong Yi was good at housekeeping. She was in charge of managing the inner courtyard, and arranging all the servants. She was known for her warm and gentle temperament. She was very much trusted by Prince Ying.

Cheng Yi was responsible for arranging Prince Ying's clothes, but she had a fiery temper. Aside from Prince Ying and Hong Yi, very few people could make her lower her head.

Huang Yi had great cooking skills. She was only responsible for Prince Ying's meals, her temperament was more romantic and naive.

Lu Yi was responsible for taking care of Prince Ying's everyday life. She also treated people relatively gently and softly.

Qing Yi was responsible for areas relating to travel, but according to Xi Ning's words, her personality was a bit eccentric.

Lan Yi was responsible for taking care of the study. Her personality was gentle and soft, good at understanding others.

Zi Yi's age was still quite young, she was a bit reckless and lovable. She was currently in the middle of being trained.

Moreover, these women were easy to identify because the clothing they wore was the same color as their names. The girl in front of her dressed in goose yellow clothing, without a doubt, must be Huang Yi; and the person who followed Prince Ying into the inner room wore a watery peach-colored gown must be Hong Yi. Sadly, she had only gotten a hurried glimpse of her and didn't see Hong Yi's appearance clearly, but just from her back view, it was enough to make people feel a dignified lady's temperament that wouldn't lose to any daughter from a n.o.ble house. And the Huang Yi before her had big almond-shaped eyes, charming and lovable; one couldn't tell that she was only a maid.

Just when Chu Qing-Yan was staring at them, being stunned, Huang Yi felt that this Chu Ninth Miss's big eyed-gaze made people feel a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps, it was because she had just entered the manor and was unfamiliar with many things, that she would have this timid expression. Huang Yi looked at the untouched dishes of food and couldn't help but open her mouth in a soft tone, afraid she'd scare this little doll, to ask, "Are these dishes not to your liking? Why don't Chu Ninth Miss tell this servant the dishes she normally likes to eat so this servant can go now and make it for you?"

Just like Xi Ning had said, her personality was naive and unaffected. Chu Qing-Yan immediately shook her head and bit her chopsticks with an expression like she was about to cry, "This older sister, did His Highness get angry?"

Seeing this tender girl doll revealing such a pitiful expression, Huang Yi wished she could feel sad in her place and promptly comforted to say, "You don't need to worry, even though His Highness's nature is a bit more indifferent compared to others, however, he treats people well.' After finished saying this, Huang Yi wanted to bite her own tongue. How could she say His Highness's nature was indifferent to the Chu Ninth Miss who was about to become his consort? If by chance Older Sister Hong Yi was to find out, she predicted that she'd be scolded again.

"But just now, it seemed as if I made him unhappy, should I go and apologize to him?" Chu Qing-Yan's face remained frightened and anxious.

Huang Yi let out a breath of relief. Fortunately, this person before her was still very young and didn't seem to notice what she had just said. After that, with a boost in morale, she said, "Of course, this is not impossible, maybe if His Highness was to see how sincere Chu Ninth Miss was, then he wouldn't be unhappy anymore."

Chu Qing-Yan saw that Huang Yi really coaxed her as if she was a child and couldn't help but to purse her lips and smiled. His nature was indifference? Then that's perfect, from now on, she wouldn't have to worry that this person would be temperamental to her!

As a result, Chu Qing-Yan folded up her sleeves and pulled Xiao Xu's bowl towards herself. Afterwards, under Huang Yi's confused gaze, she rapidly picked up the chopsticks and picked up a bit of food from each of the dishes, one after another. Her speed was so fast that Huang Yi was overwhelmed. Chu Qing-Yan then used another bowl to pour some soup in and said to Huang Yi, "Just now, His Highness didn't eat much before I angered him to leave. I'll bring these over now to apologize to him."

Consequently, with a bowl in each hand, Chu Qing-Yan, in a swaying manner, headed into the inner room under Huang Yi's dumbfounded gaze.

Once Huang Yi returned to her senses, she remembered something: she forgot to stop Chu Ninth Miss. No outsider was ever allowed inside His Highness's inner room. She covered her eyes, Chu Ninth Miss, you are on your own in seeking good fortune!

The smoke from the heater rose in spirals, a concise, simple and neat arrangement, as if a person's body was in the middle of the bamboo forest during summer. It could only be described as clean, fresh and cool.

But a certain somebody didn't notice these things right now because she overlooked a matter. Her two little hands simply didn't have enough strength to carry two bowls that looked as if it was nothing out of the ordinary, but were actually porcelain bowls that were as heavy as stones. Using such heavy bowls to eat, wouldn't he resent the heaviness for causing panic?

At this moment, Xiao Xu, who had changed into a set of clean clothes and was idly sitting on a chair, heard the sound of footsteps and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

1) rice weevil: I forgot to mention this is the American equivalent of wanting to be a leech.

2) Hong Yi, Cheng Yi, Huang Yi, Lu Yi, Qing Yi, Lan Yi and Zi Yi: in English the colors are Red Yi, Orange Yi, Yellow Yi, Green Yi, Cyan Yi, Blue Yi, Yi and Violet Yi. I'm using the Chinese pinyin for the servant's names because it doesn't sound as good in English as Fire Spirit, Earth Spirit etc.