Back to be a beautiful Miss

Ming Shu entered stealthily by the window of her room. Fortunately they packed everything fast and her mother excuse was not unusual now.

Because of the long carriage drive, it was very common to the Young Miss and Madams to rest an hour or two before the meeting set by the Empress.

Calculating that there was still half an hour before meeting her mother, Ming Shu took of her clothes and put them in a parcel and decided to take a bath to wash off the blood smell she had.

"Luyu, I want to take a bath" Ming Shu said loud enough for her personal maid outside the room to hear.

"Yes Miss"

She heard Luyu steps getting farther away and served herself some tea before slumping in the chair.

Luckily everything went smooth in the fight. At first she was a bit nervous since her cousins decided to test something in a real fight with trained guards, but she really underestimated them this time. Who would have thought that their pace of adaptation and learning was this fast! Not only they went well, her brother and Si Yifeng also did a good job. Even the guard that escaped she was almost sure it was her little voyeuristic friend Seven.

In a good mood, she wondered if the day would continue as pleasant as it was already until now.

A knock interrupted her thought.

"Miss, May I come in?"

"Yes"

Her two personal maids entered with the preparations for her bath.

"Did you rest well Miss?"

"Yes, it was very pleasant" and I wish I had more fights like that so I can relax every now and then, Ming Shu added in her heart.

Ming Shu entered the bath and Luyu and Hongyu washed and massaged her.

"While I was picking the hot water in the kitchen I heard Miss Gu and Miss Wang bickered, resulting in Miss Wang be slightly injured"

"Serious?"

Ming Shu asked enjoying the care of her maids.

"No. Apparently was just a cut in her palm, but people who were there said that Miss Gu was unreasonably finding fault with Miss Wang"

Oh, it seems that they started to fight for favor, and this time was Fangyi's win apparently. At least, she's way smarter than me when dealing with her love rival, Ming Shu thought.

"En"

"Miss, will you visit Miss Wang later?"

Ming Shu just shook her head. Her concern was not welcome by the other party, why bother then?

Hongyu and Luyu kept silent. If it was before their Miss would surely visit Miss Wang, but since Old Madam Wang's birthday, their Miss never visit or sent letters to the Wang household as she used to. They wondered what Miss Wang did wrong for their Miss change their attitude to her. Of course they would never thought that Ming Shu was wrong. And even if their Master was wrong she was right. They thought willfully.

"Is there anything else?"

"I saw some maids from Consort Huang taking a lot of broken things from her yard and a few of them had bruises"

Ming Shu smiled.

It seems that her ex-mother-in-law already heard the news. Seven is really fast ah.

"I wonder what happen. Consort Huang is known for gentleness, so I doubt it was her. Miss do you think it was an harem dispute?" Luyu added with gossiping eyes.

Ming Shu must say that her little maid intuition was too good.

Hongyu knocked her head.

"Is the Imperial family what you can speculate? Pay attention to your service"

Luyu snorted.

"No one is listening to"

Ming Shu shook her head helplessly at the childish maid.

"Hongyu is right. Even if we are alone it doesn't mean we are not being heard. Outside our house we should always be alert" forget outside, even inside we are being watched. Ming Shu added in her heart thinking on little Seven.

Luyu nodded.

"I understand Miss"

"Is good to understand"

Finishing her bath, she dressed up with an elegant blue and silver brocade that was not to plain or too fancy. It was enough to receive some praises but not outshine anyone.

Putting a silver begonia pin, she went to where her mother was.

A few Madams gathered together before Her Highness banquet.

Different from when they were younger, there was not much banquets for them to meet or time to visit each other. The hunting was one of the few occasions that they had every year to reunite occasionally.

Moving forward, Ming Shu saw the Madams and some Misses chatting lively with each other. They all smiled at each other sweetly and someone who saw them like that would think they were the best of friends, when in reality they were probably fighting with thorn phrases and petty comparisons.

She looked for a bit, until she found her mother with her sisters-in-law, the Wang Madam, Mo Madam and a few others who shared the same political faction as them.

"Ming'er you are here"

"Mother, Aunties, Madams, it seems you're beautiful as ever, would you mind let me bask at your beauty for a while?"

Ming Shu made a courtesy at them.

"This sweet mouth. You can compliment me as many times as you want I won't mind" her Big Aunt said.

"It's such a pity we don't have a little girl like you at home" her second aunt added with jealousy.

The other Madams also added some compliments and let Ming Shu sat with them.

"Your Mother said you were tired from the trip, are you better now? Meihui, that stupid girl, ran everywhere when we got here and now I had to send her to wash. Seriously, sometimes I feel I birthed two boys "

Madam Mo commented full with disgust at her baby daughter, but those who knew the family, knew that she was the one who petted Miss Mo the most.

"Yes, thank you for your concern. I'm sure Meihui was just excited about the hunt and will be beautiful later" Ming Shu answered with a smile.

"My little girl was also tired"

"And mine! She said she would come out only when the banquet begin"

The Madams chatted a bit about their daughters in a pleasant mood.

"What about Fangyi, Madam Wang? Is she better now?" One of the Madams asked.

Madam Wang nodded with a generous smile.

"Yes. It was just a scare. The young girls got too excited playing and got themselves hurt"

Although the people around wanted to know more about the gossip, but seeing Madam Wang answering like this, they all smiled and brushed the matter aside. Such a small matter is not worth getting in Madam Wang's bad side just to kill their curiosity. Plus, they still had the Empress banquet to know more about it.

Madam Wang was relieved that they let go. Honestly she was baffled with her daughter's behavior since her mother's birthday. First she made a huge scandal with the Prince and would meet him every now and then alone. This alone would ruin her reputation. But she not only did that, but also begin to interfere with her Father's work and tried to pull the family to Zhao Song's camp. Even the way she acted and treated her love ones had changed.

Whereas she would be sweet and innocent while facing them, now they would be cold with a bit of disgust and some pity. Sometimes, Madam Wang sweared that she saw some hatred in her daughter's eyes which confused. What could her well guarded daughter possibly hate?

While thinking of her daughter, Madam Wang approached Ming Shu.

"Shu'er it's been a long time since I last saw you. Grandma misses you"

She said taking Ming Shu's hand in hers.

"I hope Grandma is well"

Ming Shu smiled but never answered about the visits. What Fangyi's like right now her Mother should know best. She had no interest to attaching a hot face in a cold butt.