Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Favored by the Third Prince

When Madam Cui learned that the Third Prince had summoned Meng Yang, she grew anxious and immediately had her brought before her, quickly reviewing the rules of conduct several times. Only then, still somewhat uneasy, did she allow the girl to leave the manor.

Meng Yang’s heart surged with excitement.

An Imperial Prince—how noble, how exalted! Even more so than the Heir Apparent. And now she was about to meet one!

[As expected, the advantages of a transmigrator, if wielded well, are just like a golden finger pointing the way to destiny,] she thought.

Her gaze brimmed with ambition, and she resolved to seize this moment, to impress the Third Prince in one bold stroke. If that happened, what would a mere Princess Sheng Zhi Wan matter?

Soon, the carriage drew up before the hotpot shop.

An eunuch attendant, pale-faced and clean-shaven, had long been waiting. As Meng Yang stepped down from the carriage, his eyes swept over her from head to toe. “Is this Miss Meng?” he asked.

Meng Yang held her posture with practiced grace and nodded slightly. “It is I, a common-born woman.”

“Please, this way, Miss Meng.” The eunuch led her up to the third floor.

There, Third Prince Sheng Yuan Hao and his advisors were drinking. When he heard that Lady Meng had arrived, he raised his eyes and saw the eunuch escorting in a girl of plain appearance and bearing. Instinctively, he glanced behind her, only to find no one else. A flicker of disappointment passed through his eyes.

But it vanished quickly, unnoticed by Qi Shu Xian, who stood nearby.

“Your Highness, this is Meng Yang. Meng Yang, this is His Highness, the Third Prince,” Qi Shu Xian rose and introduced her.

Meng Yang was not mistaken. The Third Prince, though not as dazzling as Qi Shu Xian, possessed a refined and noble handsomeness.

She believed herself composed as she offered her salute, lifting her gaze to show her most flattering angle.

Yet, the faces around the room grew subtly strained.

Qi Shu Xian, embarrassed, said quickly, “Your Highness, forgive her. Meng Yang comes from a farming background and has only recently begun learning the proper courtesies. That’s why her gesture was flawed…”

Startled, Meng Yang suddenly realized she had performed the wrong gesture. But it was too late to redo it—doing so would only deepen her shame.

Fortunately, the Third Prince seemed mild in temperament and did not take offense. He waved it off. “Rise. I heard from Shu Xian that the wine was brewed by you?”

“Yes.” Meng Yang exhaled softly in relief.

The prince began asking her about the winemaking process, especially how the wine came to possess such clarity and purity in color.

Meng Yang answered one question after another, but many of the steps she had only learned by rote. She knew how they were done but not why they worked. In places, she could only offer vague and evasive explanations.

The more the Third Prince listened, the more displeased he became, suspecting that she was hiding details.

But he had come to see Meng Yang with two intentions: one was to pull Qi Shu Xian to his side, and the other was the belief that this wine and her talent for trade might bring him profit. So he did not let his dissatisfaction show.

Instead, his words brimmed with praise.

He shifted the conversation from winemaking to hotpot, and from hotpot to the beloved heroine of the recently popular storybook—Lady Meng.

“Miss Meng is truly clever and broad-sighted,” the prince said with a smile. “Though born in the countryside, her thoughts and actions show both courage and strategy. She is not a woman of mere domestic grace!”

“This wine,” he continued, “why not call it Jiaoniang Wine? What say you?”

…

Meanwhile, two streets away at the Gathering Worthies Teahouse.

Sheng Zhi Wan had just stepped down from her carriage when she heard loud voices from inside, ones that sounded all too familiar.

She looked in and, as fate would have it, once again ran into Shang Xiu Yuan and Wang Huai Zhi, along with their usual companions.

“It was nothing but sheer luck,” someone said, “that those bandits were so foolish as to drink fake wine and poison themselves. Otherwise, those young wastrels would’ve been slaughtered the moment they charged in!”

“Too true!” someone chimed in.

“This was no real merit, only a stroke of dogged luck. His Majesty gave them a few token rewards just to save face for Princess Ning. No real appointment, not even a proper title.”

“And to think their families celebrated with feasts, so proud and pompous—it’s laughable!” sneered Zhang Yuan Zhuo, shaking his head in disdain.

“They’re nothing but embroidered pillows—pretty on the outside, empty within. His Majesty surely sees through them. That’s why our dear Brother Xiu Yuan, without slaying a single bandit, was entrusted with the Outer Sea Tea Route!”

“That’s the difference between true talent and empty reputation!”

“It’s just a deputy role,” Shang Xiu Yuan said with a light smile, feigning modesty.

The others all declared him humble.

Wang Huai Zhi stood and raised his cup. “Brother Xiu Yuan, here’s to you—may your ship sail swiftly and your name rise like the tide!”

“Thanks for the good omen, Brother Wang.”

They drank deeply together.

Sheng Zhi Wan had not planned to interfere. But after hearing their mockery of Shang Hang Yu, then their flattery of Shang Xiu Yuan, her feet halted.

Her gaze fixed on Shang Xiu Yuan, basking in the glow of admiration.

For some reason, an image surfaced—Shang Hang Yu drinking alone in silence.

An emotion she could not name stirred in her chest.

[Does Shang Xiu Yuan truly not know why he received that appointment?]

That day, when Imperial Father detained the Grand General Shang, no one knew what was said.

But she did.

For Grandmother had sent word: she had pleaded with Imperial Father on Shang Hang Yu’s behalf, grateful for his saving her life. That conversation was why Grandfather had been kept behind.

And yet, in front of the emperor, the Grand General had slandered Shang Hang Yu mercilessly, heaping praise upon his eldest son.

Thus the appointment had fallen to Shang Xiu Yuan.