The next day in the afternoon while Lei Xing was lounging around in her room enjoying some fruit. Xiao Ruo came running into the room like she was being chased. Lei Xing raised her eyebrows and gaped at her.

"Is the building on fire?"

"Ah? No...Miss, the dowager empress has invited you to go admire the Imperial garden." Xiao Ruo said while trying to catching her breath.

Lei Xing knit her eyebrows, "Just me?"

"Ah? No, all the candidates."

"Oh."

...How annoying, I'd rather not go...faking pleasantries has never been my strong suit...frankly, it hasn't been a suit at all for me...

"Miss, you should start getting ready."

"Ready for what? Am I not dressed already?"

"Ah? Miss, you must not go like this! I will be punished!" Xiao Ruo begged as she got on her knees and looked at Lei Xing with imploring eyes.

Lei Xing looked at herself, she was dressed but she had chosen a simple light green robe that was tied loosely around her, and her hair was let completely loose.

...Ah, I see...this might be a bit much...

Lei Xing awkwardly laughed a bit and said, "I understand, there's no need to rush...Go get the stuff ready."

"Miss, we have to rush, the dowager empress is already waiting there." 

"Already?"

"Yes, so we have to hurry." Xiao Ruo said as she got up and quickly went to get a blue dress with silver threaded designs on it and dropped it in front of Lei Xing.

Lei Xing slowly got up.

...What's up with this impromptu invitation? I hate it when people abruptly interrupt my time like this, doesn't matter whether I'm busy or not -_-)...

After changing clothes, Xiao Ruo put her hair in a half bun and stuck some hairpins in it, then started applying makeup. Xiao Ruo looked at Lei Xing and sighed, she would have liked to apply some more makeup on her, but she has learned that Lei Xing does not like makeup.

...actually, as the Miss puts it, she doesn't like "bothersome things"...and it seems to her everything is bothersome...her letting me put on light makeup is already a great concession...*sigh* thankfully she is naturally beautiful, otherwise...

"Are you done?" Lei Xing asked after a while of watching Xiao Ruo holding powder puffer and staring at her blankly.

"Ah? Oh, almost." Xiao Ruo quickly finished putting on the powder and applied some light pink lip paint, "Done."

"Oh, thank you." Lei Xing got up and they both got up and made their way to the Imperial garden.

It seemed Lei Xing was the last candidate to arrive, the rest of them already seemed to be comfortably settled and had divided into groups and were happily chatting and laughing. Lei Xing stood at the entrance way and scanned the scene around her, most of them were in groups, there were a few stragglers who were standing on the sides, looking at the groups, seemingly trying to find an entry point to join one of them, but there was no dowager empress in sight.

Lei Xing sighed. The idea of trying to fake pleasantries with people right now was off-putting, she has always been the kind of person who one would call a "lone wolf", she wasn't shy or anything, it's just she felt most comfortable on her own and didn't feel the need to interact with people most of the time, she had very few friends and amongst them very few she could truly connect with. She could get along with anyone and have great conversations with anyone about almost anything, the problem is usually whether she was in the mood to or not, and right now, she was definitely not in the mood, especially not in the mood for dull conversations.

After looking at the crowd of people for a while, she wandered into the garden on her own, with Xiao Ruo following behind her. She admired the flowers and took a leisure walk. The garden was huge and had various segments with different trees, flowers and rest spots all around it. As she wandered along, soon she couldn't hear the merry voices of the others and she was enjoying the sereneness of the place.

***

On the second floor balcony of a building that was overlooking the Imperial garden, the empress dowager was standing observing the candidates and she had seen Lei Xing wander off earlier.

...How can she not even bother to even acknowledge the others? Behavior like this will only get you enemies in the palace...definitely not suitable...but on the other hand, she is unlikely to be the sort to cause trouble...hmm...

The dowager continued to observe the candidates until her thoughts were interrupted, "Mother, you sent for me."

On hearing those words the dowager turned to the side and saw the emperor had just arrived, she smiled and waved him over to her side, "Kai'er, what do you think?"

The emperor came to her side and followed his mother's line of sight and sighed, "Mother, I have told you to choose as you like, it is all the same to me."

The dowager also sighed, "How can you say that? You are the one who will be marrying them. You - "

"Mother, I have a lot of memorials to review. I am sorry I cannot accompany you." The emperor cut her off, bowed his head and walked off swiftly before she could stop him with a frown on his face.

...If it were up to me, none of them would be here...

As he walked through the Imperial garden with his guards and servants trailing behind him heading towards the South exit, he heard some voices of people talking. As he got closer, he could see the people talking were at a pavilion, one of them was sitting down on a pillow, resting her head on top of her folded arms on the table. While the other was standing and watching the other.

"Can we go back now?" 

"Miss, you're already tired?"

"We've been here for almost an hour."

"Miss, the grace to be able to admire the Imperial garden is something that many hope for but can never attain. The Imperial garden is the most prestigious - "

"I agree and I have admired it, now I'm bored...Now if there were some good music and some good food, I might reconsider."

"Miss, I can't play any instrument but if you're hungry, then I could...Emperor!" Xiao Ruo had turned and saw the emperor and his entourage standing not far from the pavilion looking their way. She quickly bowed. Lei Xing slowly turned her head on her arms to the side and was also stunned to see this spectator and froze.

"Miss! Bow!" Xiao Ruo whispered. Lei Xing quickly got up and bowed and then looked up and saw his frowning face.

...What are you frowning about? You wouldn't think me being bored is an insult to your precious garden right? That is absurd, I didn't say anything wrong!...

Lei Xing bravely cooly looked back at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. The emperor saw this and his frown became even deeper.

...What the hell do I think I'm doing? I still need my head...royals in these times can be that absurd!...

Lei Xing blinked, quickly bowed again and grabbed Xiao Ruo and sped off in the other direction. The Emperor watched the entire display, scoffed and continued on his way.

...And here I thought you were brave...

Lei Xing made her way back to the other candidates in one breath, then heaved a breath of relief when she arrived. After she collected herself, she noticed that there were dagger stares being sent her way. She calmly looked at them and then walked off to the side to admire some flowers.

"Oh, look the guest of honor has finally graced us with her divine presence." One of the candidates, Lady Mudan said with a laugh.

Lei Xing ignored the words and continued looking at the flowers.

...See, this is why I hate things like this...it seemed they were so bored that I had cropped up as a topic...

"Why don't you share some wise words with us?" Another candidate, Lady Mujin spoke up.

Another, Lady Baihe scoffed, "Wise words? Do you think such honeyed words will  really be able to gloss over such sloppy work...even my youngest sister can do better and she's four."

"Don't say it like that, Lady Yin's vision is just so extraordinary that we cannot comprehend it." Lady Lian slyly said while looking at Lei Xing with pity, her statement caused a bunch of the others to burst into laughter.

"That's enough. You talking about wise words, are you making fun of the emperor? You don't want to live anymore?" Lady Jin boldly said while staring them down.

"How can we? The emperor just said that out of pity for her lack of skills." Lady Mujin stepped forward and said while boldly staring back at Lady Jin.

"The emperor is a kind-hearted and generous person hence why he could not watch such a pitiful display and so gave her some credit so she can live on." Lady Mudan spoke up using an understanding and condescending tone.

"Who are you to guess the emperor's intention?" Lady Jin said a bit loudly and then scoffed, "And even then, she got some pity, what did you get?"

Lady Mudan's eyes widened, "What? How dare you? Why good is pity? Also, you didn't get anything either, so you're in no position to tell me that! Anyone can see that she has no skills whatsoever and just says a bunch of crap to cover it up! How can she compete with us at all?"

"That's not wrong." Lei Xing calmly said with a smile and they all turned to her with raised eyebrows, "My embroidery and art skills are truly subpar and will definitely not allow for me to be chosen, but even if I'm not chosen, it is now highly unlikely that you three will be chosen too." She said as she calmly pointed out Lady Mujin, Mudan, and Baihe. Her gaze stopped at Lady Lian, who on seeing Lei Xing's eyes turned and looked to the side.

...This Lady Lian is truly a green snake, she fanned the flames but did not directly incriminate herself...

"What do you mean?" Lady Mudan spoke up. Lei Xing looked at her and then used her hand to cover her mouth as she yawned. On seeing this, the others frowned.

...I'm really tired, it really wasn't intentional...

"Speak! On what basis can you say that?!" Lady Baihe said annoyed with her behavior.

"Simple, because you talk too much." Lei Xing said as she turned to the side running her hand through some flowers, "Where do you think you are? In your parent's homes? Who do you think are at your sides? Your personal maidservants? No, you are in the Imperial Palace and they are maids assigned to you under the dowager empress's orders." When she finished she turned back to the girls and coldly looked at them and watched as their eyes widened as they understood the meaning of her words and came to the realization that everything that just happened will be reported back to the dowager. They all fell silent and their eyes darted all over the place, the rest of the other candidates also felt disconcerted and the atmosphere became awkward.

"Young Mistresses, the empress dowager has instructed to inform you that she will not able to join you and that you should all return to your quarters to rest and prepare for tomorrow." The old maid, Ling mama showed up at the entrance and cut through the silence announcing these words. 

The candidates all made their way out of the Imperial garden in silence and went back to their courtyards.

As Lei Xing arrived at her courtyard, Lady Jin passed by her and looked at her condescendingly and said, "Don't think I did that for you. Your presence is truly degrading the status of this competition." Then scoffed and walked off.

Lei Xing watched her stalking off, then yawned and went back to her room to get some sleep, as Lei Xing lay on the bed trying to fall asleep, the faces of the candidates when she said those words came into her mind. 

...It seems they were all really getting too comfortable too soon...I'm trying to fail so it's fine, but for them...*sigh*...their lives aren't easy either...

 

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