I love women
Yang Yulan almost fell off her chair in surprise. And how did she not recognize the villain? She fit the description given by the author perfectly.
But why did she show up in town so early? Wasn't today supposed to be the first meeting between the main character and the villainess? Then what was she doing at that parade?
«Wait a minute, the dialogue really seemed quite strange to me then» – Yang Yulan thought, recalling the incident that happened after the reunion of the main characters. – «Then the villain was talking about something with the bandits who attacked the main character.»
«Then could it be that she planned the attack on Mei Baijie? But why would she do that? At that time, the main character had not yet met her beloved»
Yang Yulan's head started to ache from the amount of new information that entered her brain
«Anyway, doesn't that mean that I theoretically interrupted her when she was talking to her subordinates?»
Yang Yulan shifted her frightened gaze to Shin Zuzhou
«Thank God she didn't see my face.»
Yang Yulan involuntarily recalled all the moments from the book, where the villainess dealt very cruelly with everyone who stood in her way. These memories sent chills down her spine.
«I need to stay away from her in the future.»
At this time, the Empress received the guests and greeted Shin Zuzhou. In the absence of the emperor, she was forced to do all his work on receiving guests. The woman had bruises under her eyes from fatigue, but she never took her good-natured smile off her face for a second. The only thing she couldn't contain was the anger directed at the main character. Mei Baijie, in turn, drooped and buried her eyes in the floor. Shin Zuzhou looked at her indifferently and spoke to the Empress.
– Who is this girl standing next to the Crown Prince?
– Oh, that.. It's nobody. Some kind of simpleton that the prince decided to pick up from the street. He needs to have some fun to get away from important things," the Empress chattered, carefully watching the reaction of the northern princess. Surprisingly, she did not even raise an eyebrow and replied dryly.
– I see
Yang Yulan was sitting at the table, dying of joy.
«The drama has finally begun»
She alternately looked at the Empress and the main character, trying to memorize their every move.
«They play so well. No TV drama can compare»
Yang Yulan let out a sigh of relief. As a fan of this extremely cliched story, it was just terribly interesting for her to watch what was happening. The only thing that bothered her was that she couldn't take popcorn and soda so that she could watch everything more comfortably.
It's not like Yang Yulan used to be an ardent fan of drama in real life. She wasn't usually particularly interested in people. But in a world without internet and phones, it was her only worthwhile entertainment. And it's stupid to miss such a chance.
«I need to do my best too» – she thought, remembering that her character also has her own role in the story this time. And her role was very significant – «This is the first scene, whitewashing the main character. I can't screw up.»
For some time now, Yang Yulan had been catching the eye of a man at the next table. He was sitting next to the other envoys from North Bay and had been staring at her ever since he noticed her. The princess was sure that this was the man who was going to propose to her. Therefore, Yang Yulan, with small intervals in time, seemed to accidentally meet his gaze and smiled sweetly
«Very soon, he should come to our table and quietly talk to the Empress about marriage. And I'll accidentally hear what they're talking about and go crazy.»
– Ahem-ahem
Someone coughed loudly, attracting the man's attention, letting him know to stop his strange actions. He immediately turned away and stopped looking at Yulan. The girl realized what had happened only when the man who had previously been paying attention to her looked warily at the man in front of him. The one who stopped him from looking was a man who was familiar to Yang Yulan.
«Qing Zixiao! What's he doing here?» – she wondered. The Princess did not remember that he was even present at the party. And he definitely wasn't in the book at that point.
Qing Zixiao noticed the girl's gaze directed at himself and approached their table, addressing the Empress before that
– Your Highness – he bowed in respect and took a seat behind her. The Empress nodded at him and began to speak, attracting the attention of the people sitting in front of her.
– Yang Yulan, I heard you've been getting close to the young Qing General lately.
The girl remained silent, not knowing how to react to this. She seemed to be beginning to realize what was going on, but until the last moment she hoped that some stupid misunderstanding had just happened.
– General Qing is leaving for his native country soon, and he wants to marry you. Isn't that right, General?
Yang Yulan swallowed nervously, looking straight into her "mother's" eyes
The Empress has long been trying to marry off her eldest daughter. And so far, everything has been going well. The eldest princess had her own charm and was able to attract men. However, since she lost her mind, it has become impossible to even introduce her to anyone. Any man was ready to run away from her, headlong.
Even though Yang Yulan is a princess, there was a popular belief that her madness was a terrible curse, and anyone who brought her to his house would forever lose happiness and tranquility. Therefore, even those who dreamed of becoming related to the royal family were in no hurry to take such risks.
Everyone began to pay attention to the youngest daughter. She finally came of age and was over the moon when she received new letters with marriage proposals.
Everyone unanimously forgot about the eldest daughter, which made it even more difficult for the Empress to get rid of this headache. To these problems, Yang Yulan's strange fear of all unfamiliar men was also added.
Even if the Empress found the madman who would decide to marry her daughter, Yang Yulan still managed to scare him to death by throwing another tantrum.
The last attempt, which ended with the partial suicide of the princess, followed just after the Empress's last hope to get rid of her troubled daughter.
Therefore, when General Qing, a worthy man from a neighboring country who deserved his title and became a hero of mankind, came to her, assuring her that Princess Yang Yulan was kind to him and clearly harbored deep feelings for him, she could not believe her ears and was ready to cry with happiness. It was the perfect chance, and she wasn't going to miss it. Therefore, she decided to announce the engagement as soon as possible.
In turn, Yang Yulan was in deep shock. For the millionth time this evening. She was completely confused, because the plot, which had seemed quite complicated before, suddenly turned into a disaster. She did not understand why Qing Zixiao, being in love with the main character, decided to propose to her.
She was still silent, and an awkward pause suddenly hung over the table of the imperial family. Then General Qing himself spoke up.
– I need to get married – he turned to Yulan – My parents are already looking for a worthy passion for me. But I don't want to marry some stranger. I know how you feel about me. And believe me, I feel the same way. I would be glad if you would become my chosen one.
– Are you crazy? – Yulan almost shouted, but immediately stopped when she caught the Empress's gaze
– What about Mei Baijie? - She hastened to remind.
– Mei Baijie?
– Ah, I remember, the prince's mistress. What does she have to do with it?
– What do you mean?
Yang Yulan did not understand at all what she had done wrong. Now she doesn't even know what to do.
«In any case, we must leave the plot untouched»
A chair creaked. Yulan jumped up from her seat, attracting the attention of everyone in the hall.
– There's no way I'm marrying that man from North Bay – she shouted, thereby scaring her maids, who immediately rushed to her from the other end of the hall.
– Yang Yulan – the Empress also jumped up from her seat and threatened – shut up now! You're in public. People are looking at you!
– No!
The girl was already determined to return the plot to normal and repeat what the original Yang Yulan had done in her place.
However, she suddenly forgot the words. She had read this book not so long ago, but she could hardly memorize everything that the third-rate heroine said once or twice per book.
«Damn it, I don't remember what she said then.»
«It's not scary. You just need to come up with something similar. Something equally absurd»
Then Yang Yulan saw a terrified Chu Qi, who ran up to her along with the rest of the maids. Then she finally came up with something.
– I will not marry this man because I love women!
The Empress immediately turned purple with anger. And the hall was quiet at first, and then filled with a roar of indignation. Someone screamed in anger, like the Empress, for example; someone stood in shock, like the people from Northern Bay and the failed betrothed Yulan; and someone enjoyed the spectacle presented to him.
So Yang Yusheng almost fell from his seat, bursting with laughter. He was banging on the table convulsively and almost crying. Yang Yulan noticed his reaction and blushed, burning with shame. Even the kindest main character did not approach her to help, fearing that in this case, the situation would become ambiguous.
In any case, by the time she realized that she had made a mistake somewhere, the maids had already run up to her and, grabbing her by the elbows, dragged her towards the exit to the cries of the annoyed Empress.
Even Shin Zuzhou's stone face cracked for a second under the onslaught of such a surprise. Her eyebrows immediately shot up. People started whispering next to her, and she couldn't help but overhear what they were talking about.
– This girl is a real curse.
– A curse?
– Exactly. I heard about her before we came here. She is crazy, and she constantly ruins the status of the imperial family. They say she brings bad luck, and even her parents dream of getting rid of her.
Shin Zuzhou looked closely at the girl who had become the subject of such superstitions. She didn't seem to care about the storm of indignation that had descended on her. She walked along without worrying at all about the people around her, as if she expected such a reaction.
– Pfft – Shin Tsuzhou giggled, and then realizing her act, quickly returned her indifferent expression.
«How funny. Really funny»