XH 52

Xiao Hua headed to the Summer Courtyard with the Eighth Prince and Eunuch Heng. She knew Long Lian would be there for it was her favorite place and every time she came here, she would drag Xiao Hua to the Summer Courtyard.

Although the courtyards were named in seasons, their interior design was the same, with no decorations that represented their name, giving her a hard time memorizing paths. The courtyard with more personal touch was actually the Silence Courtyard where servants stayed!

Sure enough, in Summer Courtyard, Long Lian and the Third Prince were sitting inside a room, playing Chinese chess. With a glance, Xiao Hua could see the black side was dominating the game.

"Wait, I don't want to put here." Long Lian removed a white stone from the board and placed it elsewhere. Unfortunately, her new move still allowed the Third Prince to eat one of her white stones.

"This spot still can be eaten?" Long Lian exclaimed. "I take back my move!"

"Stop killing the game, Long Lian," the Third Prince reprimanded but he did not make a move to stop Long Lian shifting the stones around.

This was not the first time Xiao Hua had seen how Long Lian destroyed the chess game but surprisingly the Third Prince never refused to play with her even if she boldly cheated.

If only they could replace the Third Prince with another handsome gentleman that has no blood relation with Long Lian, Xiao Hua will do her best to match them up as a couple.

Le XiaoTing had never seen a guy with that much patience to let a girl massacre a game while playing with him!

Long Lian finally stopped playing when her every move was blocked by the Third Prince.

The Third Prince can only helplessly sigh. He turned to the Eighth Prince. "Eighth brother, Mother Empress says to return to the palace before nighttime. I took the opportunity to ask the kitchen cook the games I've caught from the hunting game. The eighth brother will love its taste."

Actually, the Eighth Prince wanted to leave after bidding farewells, but now that the Third Prince had offered food, he could not be rude.

"Thank you, Third brother! Third brother always have delicious food," the Eighth Prince gave his thanks.

Tian Zi approached and gave a curtsy. "The meals will be served in a moment, Your Highness."

"Have the meal to serve here."

"Understood, Your Highness."

Long Lian could only give up on the game, letting Tian Zi and Tian Chi swiftly and efficiently packed the chess board away and wipe the table clean with a wet cloth.

"Xiao Hua, come over here!" Long Lian pulled Xiao Hua to sit beside her. "When's your birthday?"

"I don't know." Le XiaoTing does not know Xiao Hua's birthday and unconsciously answered honestly. Ah! I need to train to hold my tongue more!

"You don't know?" Long Lian, as expected, was surprised at that.

"This...Xiao Hua does not remember, because Xiao Hua did not know what day it is."

Xiao Hua: Yes, please think of this young lady as stupid! I'm sorry, myself!

Xiao Hua could hear the Eighth Prince smothering a laugh and she silently cursed him.

"How about this then, Xiao Hua, can I decide your birthday?"

"Sure?"

Long Lian beamed with a bright smile on her face, making her even more beautiful.

Xiao Hua: Ugh, heart, stop galloping! That's a girl!

"Then I decided! Your birthday will be on the same day as mine!"

"...Eh?" Xiao Hua stared at the princess blankly.

"I will tell Mother Empress about this so she won't be surprised!"

Why would she need to tell the Empress about a maid sharing the same birthday with her?

"I will ask the Royal Chef to prepare your favorite food! I also need to tell the guest too so they will prepare gifts for you too."

Xiao Hua: '...' Chotto Matte!!! Stop!!!

"Ah Lian, there's no need to tell everyone!" Xiao Hua hurriedly intercepted Long Lian's rambling.

"But we need to celebrate your birthday too," Long Lian said, confused. She had already viewed Xiao Hua as her sister and had conveniently ignored the fact that Xiao Hua was not even married to the Third Prince yet.

Long Lian: As a princess' sister, it's not weird to have a big birthday celebration!

"Long Lian, to celebrate a maid's birthday with a princess is not suitable," the Third Prince reasoned.

You tell her, Third Prince! Xiao Hua cheered inwardly.

"You only need to inform Father Emperor, Mother Empress and our brothers to prepare gifts."

Xiao Hua: '...' What's the difference between your suggestion and Ah Lian's?!

"Third brother is right!" Long Lian's eyes lit up in excitement. "He he, my gifts from them will be more valuable this year."

So...Xiao Hua was used to make the royal family to upgrade their presents?

"They could have given me a small present," Xiao Hua pointed out. "And your present will remain the same."

Long Lian must be thinking that they had to prepare a more valuable gift for her so that her gifts would outshine Xiao Hua's. But they could also prepare the same value of gifts as previous celebrations and just give Xiao Hua a cheap present.

After all, Xiao Hua was only a maid, who will be easily satisfied with something the high ranked nobles would not deem as valuable. In fact, who was to say that she would even get gifts from them in the first place?

Long Lian's smile slowly turned devilish. "Not after I have my say. Wait and see, Xiao Hua! I will make sure they would not slight our presents!"

The princess laughed evilly, alike to a villainess' evil laugh from Japanese anime. The villainess' evil laugh usually made Le XiaoTing silently criticized it to be fake and overly dramatic, making them look stupid.

Fortunately, Long Lian's evil laugh leaned more towards mischief than cruelty and does not look stupid at all.

"Don't get overboard," the Third Prince warned. "Forcing is not persuasion."

Long Lian sulked. "Don't you trust me, third brother? I know what I should not do."

"A reminder never hurts," the Third Prince said gently.

Long Lian rolled her eyes. "You are just like mother!"

"Thank you for your compliment. Little sister knows this brother the best."

Long Lian pouted and looked away from the Third Prince's insincere fawning. "I will need to enter the palace again to inform everyone before the day ends."

"The food is ready right on time."

Today's lunch was hotpot and as usual, Xiao Hua sat with the royalties to eat a meal together. The servants in the Third Prince's residence had more or less gotten used to the special treatment Xiao Hua get to receive.

An Jing and An Wan's hands moved with experience as she soaked the raw meat and vegetables inside the hotpot before removing them within the right amount of time needed. Eunuch Heng helped the Eighth Prince with his portion, steadily accumulating meat on top of his bowl.

The soup smells and tastes delicious, immediately warming up Xiao Hua as soon as she swallowed a spoonful of the soup.

Long Lian happily sweeps the food into her mouth, the Third Prince avoided the rice, the Eighth Prince only ate the meat and Xiao Hua hardly eat the dish, only stuffing herself with rice.

The Third Prince noticed it and placed some cooked meat onto her bowl. "Eat more."

"Y-Yes." Xiao Hua dunked her head low, very aware that she was blushing as she could feel the heat accumulating on her cheeks.

After her eyes cured, she found it hard to shift her eyes away from the Third Prince, enthralled by his beauty. But now that her heart was stolen by the very same man, she finds it difficult to look at him for long.

Le XiaoTing was the type of girl that would run the opposite way whenever she saw her crush.

After the lunch, the Third Prince decided to accompany the princess and Eighth Prince into the palace. The Third Prince and Long Lian shared a carriage while the Eighth Prince has his own.

The Third Prince gazed at his sister thoughtfully. "I never would have believed my sister, who never likes to share things with people, would share her birthday with someone."

"I'm not a child anymore," Long Lian whined. "I don't mind sharing my birthday with Xiao Hua. But if it's other people, I don't like it."

"It seems that you really like Xiao Hua. What did she ever do to make you this nice to her? Did she compliment you often?" The Third Prince teased.

"Don't make fun of me!" Long Lian pouted before answering honestly. "She's nice to be with."

"Nice?"

"Whenever I'm with her I feel relaxed, free from the constraints of etiquette that is demanded from me. Maybe it's because I know she won't judge me no matter what I did. The one thing that impressed me the most is she never makes use of my title or abuse our friendship!"

"I heard that you and her being friends was originated from her feeding you food," The Third Prince busted his sister's cover-up.

"I love food, but I'm not an animal that judge people with food!"

The Third Prince chuckled in amusement but he stopped teasing his sister. He was perplexed why Long Lian's treatment towards Xiao Hua in past life seems to be different in this life. Could it be because this Xiao Hua was not the real Xiao Hua, and elicited a different response from Long Lian?

That could be possible.

Although Long Lian treated Xiao Hua well in their past life, it could not be compared to this life.

The past Long Lian did not share the same birthday with Xiao Hua and had never treated Xiao Hua as her own sister, but a very good friend.

Long Zhu had originally assumed Long Lian had not endured a harsh period in Munzhu country this life, hence she trusted people more easily because she was not exposed to the deeper layer of cruelty in life. But it seems not to be the only case, for this Xiao Hua could make people willingly treat her well, knowing that she would not take advantage of their kindness.

He could not even will himself to put a distance between them, which was what he had originally planned when he found out that she was not the original Xiao Hua but a stranger. Long Zhu does not know how to behave around the new Xiao Hua.

But seeing Long Lian reminded him that he had not even talked much with Xiao Hua in his previous life other than inquiring news about his sister.

He closed his eyes and silently apologized to the original Xiao Hua. For a foreign soul to possess a body, the body must be empty in the first place. He had attacked Munzhu's army food supply, planning to make them surrender quicker, but it had led to the original Xiao Hua's death.

Now, Long Zhu had the record of killing Xiao Hua twice. It seems like he would not able to repay his gratitude to Xiao Hua in his second life as well. What he could only do was hoping that his future reincarnation have the chance in meeting the original Xiao Hua's reincarnation.

He would not have his memories in his future reincarnation, but he hoped fate would be fair to the original Xiao Hua, giving him the chance to repay his gratitude.

When the carriage finally stopped before the gates to the palace, his eyelashes fluttered slowly, revealing bright eyes with a deep sense of peace towards his resolve.