Xiao Siyi could afford to care less about etiquette, but Mu Mingtang couldn’t. No matter what, she definitely mustn’t say anything that might jeopardise her reputation and name here.
Xiao Siyi curled her lips and said, “Well, that’s boring. I thought the King of Qiyang seemed like a ghost to others but treated you differently. At least, that’s what I thought, which is why I assumed that there was something going on between you two.”
When Mu Mingtang heard it, she considered it for a while before replying to her slowly, “Lady Xiao probably misunderstood the Prince; he is just slow to warm up to others. Although he looks fierce, the Prince is actually very gentle and kind. Once you get to know him after a while, he’ll become friendlier.”
After Mu Mingtang finished speaking, everyone including Jiang Mingwei sported indescribable expressions: pm their faces, “Prince An…gentle and kind?”
“That’s right, don’t be intimidated by his reputation. In fact, the Prince’s nature is not bad at all. Rumours spread and they just became even false rumours. Therefore, he was portrayed as a vicious person.”
Jiang Mingwei was silent as even Wanyan Duo raised her eyebrows silently with a look of disapproval.
They felt that the rumours were not wrong since Xie Xuanchen was that vicious.
Only towards Mu Mingtang did he make an exception.
Xiao Siyi had a horrified expression. She looked at Mu Mingtang for a moment, hesitating to speak but gradually adding, “You Hans have a saying, claiming that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I didn’t understand it before, but I think I get it now.”
The women on both sides laughed when they heard it. After all, they were still young girls. A good laugh like that somehow managed to bridge some of the tense distance between them.
Mu Mingtang was teased frequently today— she was ridiculed by many people at the polo field just now and now, she was known as the ‘beauty’ of the ‘beholder’. Even though she was generally open-minded, she was getting a bit embarrassed.
She tried to explain, “No, what I said was true.”
“I see that the King of Qiyang is indeed very gentle to you,” Xiao Siyi didn’t even bother to listen. After she finished speaking, she sighed, “If I was born amongst the Hans, my life would only be at the mercy of others. If my marriage was decided by my parents, I think I would have bashed my head open long ago. To not be able to make decisions for myself and not be able to choose the man I want to marry? What’s the point of staying alive then?”
Although Mu Mingtang had a very different standpoint from Xiao Siyi, she actually appreciated the girl’s character regardless of the country’s standpoint. In the court and in front of everyone, she dared to speak without hesitation that she would only marry the man she loved.
How nice.
After Xiao Siyi finished speaking, neither Mu Mingtang nor Jiang Mingwei answered. They couldn’t answer these kinds of words since it would be troublesome. Xiao Siyi sighed for a while before she suddenly became curious and asked Mu Mingtang, “Don’t you have any regrets? Your engagement was arranged and your marriage was set in stone before you had a say in it. Betting on a good man would still be fine, but what would you do if the chosen man was nowhere near ideal or was someone that you didn’t like?”
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