After the morning incident with Fusheng, Meilan felt like she was really loosing everything. Never had Fusheng ever spoken to her in that manner, not even when Fusheng was still the prodigy in the Capital. She could not figure out what exactly went wrong, and without her mother to console her, she felt like she was slowly loosing her mind.
She walked to the cultivation department while contemplating about how she should handle Fusheng, she did not realize that she was already late for class. She walked to the gate only to be stopped by the cultivation master, who turned out to be the old man that was rude to Fusheng on thr day she came to register into the Academy.
"Stop there" he said "Where are you coming from? You already missed the first lesson."
Meilan snapped out of her thoughts and discovered that she was indeed the only person still outside, she cursed Fusheng in her mind, but feigned an aggrieved look and said,
"Master Fang, Lanlan is sorry for coming late on the first day of school," She looked around to make sure that nobody was around to listen to their conversation, "But I don't know if Master is aware of this, but my elder sister just got admitted into the Academy, she demanded that I show her around the institute. I tried to reason with her that I was going to be late for class, but she insisted."
With just a few words, she had already made this Master Fang to already see Fusheng in a bad light, while making her self seem very filial.
As expected, Master Fang frowned and asked "Who is your sister?"
Fusheng was a bit surprised that he did not know her sister, but she concealed her surprised look and said excitedly like an innocent little girl proud of something "Meng Fusheng. You must have heard about her, she was a child prodigy."
Master Fang suddenly remembered something and his face immediately distorted to an ugly shape. He very well knew who was Meng Fusheng, that waste that put her entire family name to shame, he still remembered how arrogant she looked as she came to register her admission, if not for that Master Jiang, she would not even be allowed into the gates of the academy, and now that she was here, she dared to bully his prized student. What nerves?
"You Meilan, stay away from her."
Meilan pretended not to understand what he meant and said innocently "Huh? How could I stay away from here, she is my elder sister,I have to..."
Master Fang could not stand hearing this, he said "You don't have to, look even though she is your elder sister, remember that once inside the Academy she is your junior. You enrolled in to this Academy before her and has advanced gracefully in ranks, so she is supposed to call you ShiJie." He continued "You should stay away from her, she is up to no good. Don't let your studies be affected by her."
Meilan still continued her 'green tea' act "But Master Fang, how could I possibly call her my junior, she may not accept it."
Master Fang being blind to her act said "You are so naive and innocent Meilan, really too good for some ungrateful people." He continued without letting her speak "Just go in and catch up with your studies, if ever that waste dared to bully you, then let me know so I can handle her."
With that Meilan walked in to the cultivation department still maintaining her innocent facade until she was was sure that Master Fang had already left before displaying a very sinister smile as she headed to her class.
But she failed to notice that Pan Zi (the young man that confronted Fusheng in the previous chapter) had witnessed everything, even her encounter with Master Fang, even how she had lied about Meng Fusheng. He could not understand why his seemingly innocent Meilan could lie about her sister in that manner and how she was capable of making such an evil face. He was confused, on one hand the image of Fusheng tying up her hair was continuously stuck to his mind, and on the other hand his crush of many years was acting weirdly. He shook his head and walked to his class, Pan Zi might be one of the many fans of Meilan but he definitely wasn't as brain dead as Fusheng said, he clearly knew that Meilan acted out of character earlier and that she had instigated him to confront and humiliate Fusheng. He did not know what to make out of this situation, but he decided to take things slowly.
***
Meilan's joy was short lived because as she entered in to the class, Wang Chenling hurriedly told her about all that she overheard the teachers talk about, "Lanlan, where have you been? I was looking for you earlier."
Meilan put on an innocent face and said "I was speaking to Master Fang earlier, is anything wrong?"
"I heard something very important" she continued "The teachers are saying that Fusheng that trash would be allowed to be a student in our cultivation department, regardless of her being a trash."
"What!" Meilan shouted, but noticing that she drew stares of others, she put on a shy smile and continued "How is that possible? She clearly registered into the Martial arts department."
Wang Chenling shrugged "I don't know the specifics, but I just know that it came from Master Jiang and you know Master Jiang's words are like laws in the Academy. I think it has something to do with your Grandfather."
Meilan did not say anything else, she just gritted her teeth wishing she could wipe off Fusheng from the face of the earth. She did not understand how Fusheng was still enjoying benefits from General Meng Wanning, while she, Meilan has nothing. Meilan could not even understand how Fusheng found the admission letter, how she got into the Academy and now she was going to be both a student of Martial arts and Cultivation, which was something reserved for only special students. The only person that was a student of both departments was the Crown prince and rumour also mentioned the First Prince. Meilan had tried to also be a student of both departments, but she was told that she did not have the aptitude and strength for Martial arts, but now that opportunity was being offered to Fusheng without her even trying. Meilan was so upset she did not even concentrate in the class.
***
A few hours into the first class, Zhang Yinling excitedly came to Meilan "Lanlan I have exciting news for you."
Meilan narrowed her eyes at her and said "What exciting news do you have now? I don't want to hear anything that will worsen my mood."
Zhang Yinling shook her head and said "No, Lanlan you will definitely like this news." She continued without waiting for Meilan's response "I just heard that the First Prince will be attending our politics class. Do you understand, your Royal Brother-in-law is coming to the Academy."
Meilan stood up from the shock, ignoring the curious stares of people, she asked Zhang Yinling "How do you know this news?"
Zhang Yinling smiled shyly obviously waiting for Meilan to praise her and said "I am capable of finding out things, you don't need to know where they are from."
Meilan was so excited that she could not be bothered to praise Zhang Yinling for her news, she already began scheming about her encounter with the First Prince.
Wang Chenling listening by the side said "Wow, Lanlan you are so lucky.. please don't forget to put in a good word for me when you meet the First Prince, your Royal Brother-in-law."
Meilan smiled shyly and said "No, don't say that. I am not yet engaged to the Crown Prince."
Yinling said "It is only a matter of time, before you become the Crown princess. I even heard that a few days ago that the Crown prince visited your Meng Residence to personally visit you. You are so lucky my friend."
Meilan's face darkened at the memory of Fusheng ruining her chances with the Crown prince at their Meng Residence, but she would never let other people know about this, instead she said "please you all are getting it wrong, the Crown prince visited our Meng residence to meet with my father, we just happened to meet."
Her attitude made people even more sure that the Crown prince came to the Meng Residence to meet with her and in a short while a group of people were already gathered around her to fawn over her. Meilan happily basked in their attention, she felt within herself that she belonged to the Royal family.
Meilan had already made up her mind to get into the good graces of the First Prince, because she noticed that he seemed to have a significant amount of power in the Kingdom and the Emperor himself listens to him and loved him dearly. This could be seen in the fact that he was still allowed to stay in the capital and in the Palace despite having come of age (Now so I am not too sure, but in most Ancient Chinese novels I have read, Royal princes leave the palace after turning 14/15/16, to handle their kingdoms outside the capital. The only person that stays in the capital and Palace is the Crown prince. So for the First Prince to still remain in the palace shows the love of the Emperor). Meilan felt that if she could get the First Prince to favor her, her path to becoming the Crown princess was already certain.
Meilan had it all planned out, she planned to make a statement with Fusheng and also make the First Prince dislike Fusheng. But unfortunately, just as she reached the final stage of her plan, where she would pretend to hold Fusheng, then Fusheng would immediately pull her hands away and her Meilan would pretend to fall into the First Prince's arms, she was surprised to see Fusheng fall from her touch, and even more shocked when she saw that the First Prince actually caught Fusheng and even directed a murderous look to her, Meilan.
She was speechless because she could swear that Fusheng stole her role and script ...
~Oh My Green Tea Meilan ~