After Spending a Passionate Night with the Eldest Princess - Chapter 2

The crescent moon hung like a hook, and a gentle breeze brushed against their faces.

Miss Qin said as though casually, “Miss Xin fled famine and came here. Was your hometown struck by disaster?”

Xin Yuan recalled the original owner’s memories and nodded. “That’s right.”

Xidao was a large island nation surrounded by sea on all sides.

The common people lived off the sea and planted some rice and grain. It could be considered a peaceful life. But heaven did not grant people their wishes. A rare storm had begun last autumn and continued all the way until the beginning of spring this year. Countless houses and crops were flooded. Refugees gathered in droves, and ordinary people could only rely on the government opening its granaries and distributing grain.

But the government’s grain was limited as well. As time passed, the people could no longer receive disaster-relief grain, so they had no choice but to leave their homes and wander from place to place, trying to survive. Whether it was wild grass or tree leaves, at least it could fill their stomachs.

Even so, many people still starved to death.

For example, the original owner.

Miss Qin frowned and did not speak for a moment.

Seeing that she was silent, Xin Yuan probed, “Was Miss Qin’s hometown also struck by disaster?”

This woman not only had servants around her in droves, but even during a disaster year, she had brought so many people to stay and eat at an inn, looking as though she lacked neither money nor grain. She was definitely not an ordinary person.

What exactly did she mean by suddenly bringing up this topic?

After thinking it over again and again, Xin Yuan decided to go along with the flow and test her.

Miss Qin returned to herself and said calmly, “Miss Xin, if you have something to say, you may as well say it directly.”

Xin Yuan studied her expression. “Why is Miss Qin helping me?”

Was this woman truly being suddenly kindhearted, or did she have some other motive?

Miss Qin suddenly lifted the corners of her lips. “What Miss Xin wants to ask is why I invited you to the capital, isn’t it?”

Xin Yuan paused and said nothing.

Seeing her silent admission, Miss Qin said frankly, “I once had a dream. In the dream, someone descended from the heavens and became my closest friend for life.”

In other words, she believed Xin Yuan was the person from that dream.

Xin Yuan: “…”

This woman really knew how to make things up. She almost believed her—yeah right.

“Miss Qin must be joking.”

Miss Qin looked deeply at Xin Yuan. “I believe in that dream.”

After she finished speaking, she unconsciously pursed her lips. A trace of gloom quietly flashed through her eyes.

Rather than calling it a dream, it would be more accurate to say she had the same dream every night. Strange and bizarre.

Xin Yuan laughed awkwardly. The original owner was only a farm girl. She and this Miss Qin, who traveled with a crowd of servants, had absolutely nothing to do with each other.

As for Xin Yuan herself, she came from the modern world, making it even more impossible for her to have any connection to this woman.

So whether it was a dream or a closest friend, Xin Yuan did not believe a single word.

Yet Miss Qin seemed to take it seriously and pressed, “Miss Xin does not believe in my dream?”

Xin Yuan was speechless for a moment. “A dream is ultimately only a dream.”

Did she look like the kind of fool who would believe such words?

Miss Qin said meaningfully, “I believe the person in the dream is you, Miss Xin.”

Xin Yuan was speechless again. How was she supposed to respond to that?

Seeing her silence, Miss Qin suddenly smiled. “Miss Xin need not be nervous. Whether you believe it or not, I will regard you as my closest friend.”

Xin Yuan gave a dry laugh. “Thank you, then.”

For some reason, Miss Qin felt that those words sounded somewhat unpleasant, but she could not say exactly what was unpleasant about them.

As they spoke, they had already returned to the inn.

When they reached the door, Miss Qin spoke again. “May I have the honor of sharing a few cups of wine with Miss Xin tonight?”

Xin Yuan hesitated for a moment, but did not refuse. “It would be my honor.”

“Half an hour. I will wait for Miss Xin in my room.” After Miss Qin finished speaking, she entered the room opposite.

Xin Yuan let out a soft breath. After returning to her own room, she was still completely puzzled. What exactly did this woman want from her?

In the room opposite.

Miss Qin took a sip of tea and asked, “Qiuyue, what do you think of this person?”

Qiuyue thought for a moment, then answered, “This servant feels that there is something wrong with her.”

“Oh? How so?”

“Miss Xin speaks in an extraordinary manner.”

She stopped there. The identity document had been written very clearly: Xin Pandi, eighteen years old, born to a tenant-farmer family.

In Xidao, tenant farmers had low status, even lower than ordinary farmers. They made a living by renting and farming other people’s land.

Families like that could usually only manage to feed and clothe themselves. They simply did not have extra silver to send their children to school.

But Xin Yuan’s speech was definitely not that of an illiterate person. Considering her identity, it did not quite make sense.

Miss Qin set down her teacup, her expression thoughtful.

Seeing this, Qiuyue considered her words and said, “Does Master intend to secretly bring her back, or inform the State Preceptor first?”

Miss Qin’s eyes darkened slightly. “Keep it hidden for now. Once I return to the capital and see His Majesty, we will discuss it.”

That was right. Miss Qin was indeed no ordinary person. She was the emperor’s only elder sister, the current dynasty’s Eldest Princess.

Qiuyue keenly caught the deeper meaning in her words. “Master thinks the State Preceptor has ulterior motives?”

Thinking of those dreams, Miss Qin said faintly, “The State Preceptor cannot be trusted.”

Before she left the capital, the State Preceptor had once visited the princess’s residence and predicted that she would meet someone who descended from the heavens on this journey. He had also said that this person from the heavens was the next State Preceptor.

Miss Qin originally had not taken the matter to heart. She had left the capital this time to raise grain. Who the next State Preceptor would be was far less important than the common people.

Yet, starting from the night after she met the State Preceptor, she dreamed of the same person every night. She could not see that person’s face clearly…

Miss Qin did not need to think to know this matter had to be related to the State Preceptor. She had been schemed against by that demonic Daoist.

“This woman is the person the State Preceptor is looking for. Since the State Preceptor has ulterior motives, should this servant…” Qiuyue raised her hand and made a horizontal slicing motion across her neck. On the surface, she was the Eldest Princess’s personal maidservant, but in private, she was also an outstanding covert guard.

Miss Qin was silent for a moment, then said, “Do not alert the snake by beating the grass. I have other plans.”

Half an hour later, Xin Yuan arrived as promised.

“Miss Qin.”

Without leaving a trace, she glanced around the room. The fragrance of wine and dishes filled the air, and there was no one else present.

Miss Qin nodded. “Miss Xin, please sit.”

The two quietly ate. The atmosphere was fairly harmonious, yet it also resembled the calm before a storm, each side brewing their own undercurrents.

Before long, Miss Qin finally spoke. “Does Miss Xin think the dream I spoke of was nonsense?”

Xin Yuan’s expression did not change. “A dream is ultimately only a dream.”

Why was this woman still going on with her nonsense? She had invited Xin Yuan over at night just to talk about a dream?

Miss Qin raised her wine cup, as if letting the topic go. “Miss Xin is right. Come, let us drink this cup together.”

Xin Yuan drained the wine in her cup and said nothing.

Miss Qin’s gaze shifted faintly. “We set off early tomorrow morning. In no more than four days, we will reach the capital. If Miss Xin does not wish to be friends with me, you may leave then.”

Xin Yuan felt that this was also nonsense. This woman clearly had some scheme involving her, yet now she was saying that once they reached the capital, she could leave whenever she wanted. Who was she trying to fool?

Seeing that she seemed unconvinced, Miss Qin laughed. “Miss Xin does not believe my words?”

She smiled brightly and confidently, like a general mustering troops on a battlefield, strategizing everything with victory already in her grasp.

Xin Yuan tugged at the corners of her mouth and said, “Then I shall do as Miss Qin says. Once we reach the capital, I will leave.”

They had only met by chance. Where could trust come from? It was already good enough that she was on guard.

Miss Qin set down her wine cup and suddenly changed the direction of the conversation. “Miss Xin is from the north, isn’t she?”

On that identity document, its holder, Xin Pandi, was from the north.

“Dingzhou.” Xin Yuan thought of the original owner’s ancestral home and did not conceal it this time.

When she had been searching through old clothes in her room earlier, she discovered that the identity document the original owner had always kept close to her body was gone.

By instinct, she felt it was most likely taken by this woman. Perhaps she had already sent someone to investigate Xin Yuan’s background.

Miss Qin’s gaze fell on her face, and her tone was neither light nor heavy. “Does Miss Xin still have any family?”

“My parents and a younger brother are still at home… Why does Miss Qin ask these things?”

Halfway through speaking, Xin Yuan became alert and threw the question back.

Miss Qin slightly curved her lips. “Miss Xin’s accent sounds more like that of a southerner.”

So, whether it was her being from Dingzhou or that identity document, neither might necessarily be accurate.

Xin Yuan froze, then hurriedly patched up the explanation. “My mother is from the south. Having heard her speak since childhood, I may have picked up some of her southern accent.”

So after circling around so much, this was what she had been waiting for.

Was she suspecting Xin Yuan’s true identity?

The more one spoke, the more mistakes one made. Xin Yuan felt that she could no longer continue chatting with this woman. She immediately stood and said, “Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Qin. We still have to travel tomorrow morning, so I will return to my room first.”

“Meeting is fate. On such a fine night with such beautiful scenery, why is Miss Xin in such a hurry to go back? Why not drink and chat merrily with me instead, and have a long heart-to-heart talk?”

Miss Qin raised her brows and quietly looked at her, a faintly intimidating aura showing in her eyes.

The corner of Xin Yuan’s mouth twitched slightly.

A fine night with beautiful scenery? Drink and chat merrily?

Where was the beautiful scenery? What damned merry chatting? She was not merry at all.