That night, the hunting grounds was very lively. In the evening, the Sixth Prince finished his official duties then rushed over to that place, planning to have one meal with the Emperor, then hurry back the next morning.

  But he did not expect that something strange had happened in the imperial palace, Xu Mao was the first person to sense this, but he had no one to turn to. Other than Imperial Concubine Li who was locked in Jing Ci Palace, there were no other Masters. The imperial palace had been locked so he could not leave, and could only stayed in this four walled place, feeling anxious.

  He thought about the events of meeting the pair countless times and when it was morning the next day, as the first signs of sunlight appeared, signifying the opening of the palace gates, he concluded firmly: There was definitely something wrong with the pair.

  Therefore, Xu Mao left the imperial palace immediately, hired a horse carriage and rushed towards the imperial hunting grounds.

  And at this time, after half a night of partying, at the imperial hunting grounds, the people had not woken up yet. In fact, the Emperor and Yao Xian were high on drinking and had just fallen asleep. Sprawled on the bed together like that, not differentiating between the Emperor or citizen, they just had that good of a relationship between Brothers and were even speaking nonsense in their sleep.

  Zhang Yuan served the pair, changing their clothes and taking off their shoes, but felt rather happy. When was the last time the Emperor was this happy? He thought that he must tell Feng Yuheng when he had the chance to have Yao Xian enter the palace more and keep the Emperor company, even if the two drank alcohol every day, that would be fine! They were already at this age and should be allowed to do anything they wanted!

  In fact, Yao Xian also had such thoughts. He pitied the Emperor a little, feeling that this person, sitting on a high position and envied by everyone, but who knew about his miserableness of being alone? He also craved for alcohol, thinking in his heart before he fell asleep that he had to enter the imperial palace more often in the future and drink with the old Emperor. At most, if the Emperor fell sick from drinking, he could just treat him. Both of them were already at this age, how much longer could they live?

  With this stay overnight, Xiangrong slept together with Feng Fendai. They did go to sleep earlier, so they naturally woke up early.

  When Fendai woke up and saw Xiangrong on another mattress beside her. She was dazed for a while, and only reacted after a long while, speaking while looking at Xiangrong: “When we were younger, we also slept together before, right?”


  Xiangrong nodded, “At that time, we were closer compared to now, sleeping on the same mattress. It was just that you could not stay still when sleeping and kicked me off the bed in the middle of the night.” She smiled as she spoke, thinking that when they were five years old, both of these girls did not harbour any schemes, and did not understand the in-fighting in the manor. Because they were the same age, they played with each other all day, not even wanting to separate from each other at night, spending a few years being very close to each other. But slowly, for reasons unknown, these childhood playmates gradually grew distant from each other as they grew older, their relationship growing weaker, in the end, even if they were not on opposing sides, it was not much different from being enemies.

  Fendai also remembered a lot of memories from when she was young, telling Xiangrong: “We seemed to gradually grow distant from each other since Madam Yao was removed from the position of First Mother, right? I remember that we were in a good situation before that, even though Madam Yao was the First Wife, she really loved us. She would always share good food with us and would not let Second Sister have all of it. Then when Chen Shi was promoted, everything changed. My mother was not as capable as your mother, at least both of you had an embroidery shop and would have some profit, being able to buy what you wanted to eat. But I am different, even though Father favoured Mother Han for many years, he was stingy and was not willing to give an extra cent, our courtyard was the poorest one. In order to eat well and dress well, I had no choice but to try my best to curry favour with Chen Shi and Feng Chenyu, thinking about it now, it was really disgusting.”


  The pair sat on their own mattresses just like this, talking about the matters of the past. As they spoke, they would laugh together, as they spoke, they would be filled with emotion and sigh. Finally, Fendai told Xiangrong: “Towards that Feng family, there is hatred as well as nostalgia. But if life could be repeated, I do not want to be your sister.”


  Xiangrong was dazed, when they were chatting and laughing just now, she felt that Fendai was different from before and had put down a lot of things. But with this sentence, she reverted to her original date. Therefore, she understood, many things have caused the roots of hatred to grow in the heart of her Fourth Sister, and even as the world changed, she was unable to get rid of these roots, so she could only allow them to take further root and sprout. This was the hateful part about Fendai, and also the tragic part about Fendai.

  The two no longer spoke about the past and got out of bed, washing up with the help of their own personal maids. As Fendai washed up, she asked: “I heard that you’re living at Chun Palace, did you have any developments with His Highness the Seventh Prince, who is like a deity?”


  Xiangrong could hear the sarcasm in her tone, so she shook her head, only saying: “You already said the His Highness the Seventh Prince is a deity, how can he be desecrated by mortals like me and the others?”


  “That is true.” Fendai nodded, “Unlike our Fifth Prince, he is very grounded, but sometimes he is irritating. I am rather irritated with him recently, everyone is ambitious and seeks to improve, but he is even too lazy to attend morning court, staying in the palace the whole day, not even acting like a man.”


  She spoke about her feelings of disappointment towards the Fifth Prince. Outside the tent, a child’s voice was suddenly heard, the voice was calling her: “Older Sister, are you awake? Xiao Bao misses you.”


  Fendai paused in her action of rubbing her face, when tossed the face cloth to Dong Ying carelessly, pointing to outside the door: “See, I say he doesn’t act like a man, and he really doesn’t. Last night, Xiao Bao was sleeping with him. The princes were all sitting around the bonfire and chatting, and even His Highness the Sixth Prince came, yet he personally brought the child back to rest at an early time and said something like Xiao Bao was sleepy. If the child is sleepy, then pass him to the servants, why does a prince like him have to personally keep a child company? He really isn’t ambitious at all.”


  She started to walk towards the direction of outside, and as she reached the door, without waiting for the maid to lift up the curtain, Xiao Bao who was outside could not wait any longer, jumping inside at one go, and he happened to land on her body.

  Irritation appeared on Fendai’s face, pulling the child away from her, saying coldly: “You don’t have any manners at all, what happened to all the etiquette which were taught to you?”


  Xiao Bao’s scrunched up his mouth and wanted to cry, but once he saw Fendai’s gaze, his tears did not flow out because of fear, then he tried his best to remember which rules the servants taught to him on a regular basis, then he bowed to Fendai in a proper way, speaking like a small adult: “Xiao Bao greets Older Sister.”


  At this moment, the servants have already pulled open the curtains, the first rays of sunlight in the morning shone in such that Xiangrong raised a hand on reflex to cover her eyes.

  The Fifth Prince Xuan Tianyan who followed behind Xiao Bao was frowning deeply and after waiting for Xiao Bao to finish bowing, he reached out and pulled Xiao Bao back to his side, telling Fendai: “What are you doing? He’s still young.”


  “One’s behaviour at three years old will affect them until old age.” Fendai replied him seriously, “In Feng Manor in the past, the children will start to learn the rules ever since we learned how to walk, which one has not been hit and punished when young. Of course, I know clearly that my manners are not good enough, that is because I am a concubine’s daughter, my mother was also carried out of the red light district, so her discipline over me was naturally a little lax. But because of this, I cannot allow this child to continue walking the path I have walked. His Highness the Fifth Prince, does that make sense?”


  Xuan Tianyan was rendered speechless by what she said, it was true, Fendai wanted to discipline her own younger brother, he did not have any right to interfere. Thinking about it again, when he was young, wasn’t he restricted and asked to learn all kinds of rules at around this age? He felt that he was a little too sensitive, always feeling that Fendai did not treat Xiao Bao well, afraid that Fendai’s only family relation in this world would also be weakened by her, causing her to become heartless and cold-blooded.

  “As long as you are teaching him the rules.” Xuan Tianyan sighed and said: “But the child is still too young, do not be too strict.” After he said this, without waiting for Fendai to reply, he turned towards Xiangrong, speaking first in greeting: “Feng Third Miss.”


  Xiangrong quickly stooped over in a bow: “Xiangrong greets His Highness the Fifth Prince.”


  “There’s no need to be so formal.” Xuan Tianyan helped her up and said: “When Fendai and I get married next year, we will be considered relatives.”


  Xiangrong said with a smile: “His Highness the Fifth Prince is the one being an outsider, our Second Sister has already married His Highness the Ninth Prince, by this logic, we are already relatives.”


  Xuan Tianyan was stunned and laughed immediately, “That’s right! We are already relatives.” Unfortunately, Fendai was not close to Feng Yuheng, if Fendai had a mild temperament like Xiangrong and had a harmonious relationship with her own sisters, how good would that be? He sighed inwardly, but did not speak to Xiangrong any longer, speaking to Fendai again: “The people from the imperial kitchens have woken up before the sun rose and prepared breakfast. They have just served it and some of them are new dishes in the imperial palace. Taking the chance when they are still warm and delicious, let’s go over now!”


  He had good intentions and wanted to bring Fendai together with him to eat, unfortunately, Fendai did not appreciate it, only telling him: “You can bring Xiao Bao together with you, I’m not hungry, the air in the morning is good, I want to take a stroll on my own.”


  “Then I will accompany you.” Xuan Tianyan quickly made his choice, “It is no hassle to have breakfast later, it is still early.”


  “There’s no need.” Fendai refused flatly, “All of you go first, I do not need anyone to accompany me on a stroll, I will just bring my maid along. Don’t you love this child very much? Then don’t let him go hungry, go and eat quickly and look for me after you are done.”


  Xuan Tianyan wanted to protest a little more, but thinking about it again, Fendai was likely afraid that Xiao Bao would be hungry, she was also stubborn and was embarrassed about expressing her concerns, that was why she rejected his company so stiffly. So he did not insist anymore, pulling Xiao Bao’s hand and telling her: “Do not walk far and do not enter the mountains. Be careful, we will look for you after finishing breakfast.” After saying this, he nodded at Xiangrong and left, pulling Xiao Bao along.

  Xiangrong felt that this Fifth Prince really had to put up with too much being together with Fendai. With Fendai’s temper, forget about men, even women would not tolerate this, right? But she did not expect that a Prince would be able to tolerate her to this point.

  As her thoughts were running wild, she suddenly heard Fendai next to her ask: “Do you feel that there are any changes in that child Xiao Bao?”


  Xiangrong did not understand: “Changes? What are you referring to?”


  Fendai said: “Changes are changes, for example…… appearance.”


  Xiangrong could not help but start thinking about that child she saw just now, thinking about this meeting this time, and thinking about when Xiao Bao was small, half a beat later, she finally said: “He seems to be more good looking compared to before, and is fairer.” She remembered Xiao Bao was very dark when he was small, Feng Jinyuan also became suspicious of Xiao Bao’s skin tone. And Xiao Bao’s birth father was a dark skinned troupe actor, even though his features were flawless, if he did not depend on the oil paints on his face to cover his dark skin, it was possible that no one would be willing to listen to him perform. “Perhaps it was because he was well taken care of after living with you! Children would always change quickly.” She spoke casually, not noticing the strange look in Fendai’s eyes.

  But Fendai was still thinking about Xiangrong’s usage of the term “fair” and hatred grew in her heart, and her doubts over who was Xiao Bao’s father only grew stronger.

  On the way to the hunting grounds from the capital, Xu Mao’s horse carriage travelled for more than two hours, meeting up with the Sixth Prince at an intersection……