After breakfast, Xiangliu went to patrol the city with Mengtu, Guifang Qing, and the others. Xiaoyao rummaged through the Imperial Princess Mansion for various jars, bottles, herbs, and spices, and genuinely set about preparing to blend some incense. However, after busy-working in her room for half the day, the Second Royal Princess was nowhere to be seen, neither arriving early nor appearing late. Exercising her patience, Xiaoyao waited for nearly another hour, yet still there was no sign of her. What on earth was she off doing? Unable to help herself any longer, Xiaoyao stood up and made her way around to the back courtyard. Bringing no one with her, she slipped through the small gate connecting the two courtyards. Having walked only a few steps, she heard voices drifting over from afar long before she got close:
"Rushou, what is wrong with you? Instead of going to the council hall, you rushed right over here first thing this morning. If Your Eldest Sister were to bump into you here, heaven knows what kind of nonsense she’d spin out of that mouth of hers."
"I should be asking what is wrong with you. Yesterday, the Princess brought up some nonsense about a 'stinking cot' and getting 'tainted with a stench all over.' She spoke so crudely, yet you didn't refute a single word? You just endured it?"
Chapter 135