Lu Shuangyun's Story

"You may or may not already know this," Lu Shuangyun began, "but I am not a daughter of a noble or minister or even a magistrate. I am a commoner–just like you. My father was a teacher in our small town, so I suppose I was from a scholarly family, at best."

Xiao Moxian watched Wang Jingyuan's expression carefully. Growing up, he had suffered many taunts from Xiao Yujin and sometimes the other princes for having a mother who was not of noble or upper-class status. People did not respect Lu Shuangyun as much simply because she used to be a peasant woman, and by extension he was also "less" royal. Xiao Moxian did not think Wang Jingyuan would be like the rest of them, but he still worried slightly about how she would perceive him now.

To his relief, Wang Jingyuan was only surprised. "I didn't know that," she said. "Gosh, was I supposed to know that?"