064 Little Yellow Bean Sprout

Hearing me cry out in pain, Li Yexuan finally released my foot, and I quickly drew it back. Our faces seemed to compete for redness, each more flushed than the other.

Li Yexuan suddenly lunged at me, and before I could escape, he trapped me in his arms.

"Let go of me," I demanded.

"Why, do you want Yun Heng to come back again?"

"You! I swear I will never yield." Turning my face away from him, I refused to meet his gaze, letting out a huff—not loud, not soft, but I was certain it reached his ears.

I wanted him to hear it, wanted him to know I was not hiding my feelings. To avoid that damned Yun Heng, I had to endure such indignity; just thinking about it left me frustrated.

"I've noticed you're awfully full of yourself today," Li Yexuan retorted as he strode out, pulling the curtain closed behind him. "You think someone as dashing as I am would fancy a scrawny bean sprout like you? What a joke."

Bean sprout? Only then did I realize he was talking about me. Looking at myself, I admitted I was a bit small—after all, I was only fifteen. How big could I possibly be?

Yun Heng must have had business with Li Yexuan, and after the commotion earlier, he surely wouldn't return. I hopped off the bed and settled at the table.

Back in the days of the Lingyun Kingdom, there was someone who had called me that before. I was chasing butterflies in the imperial garden when a little boy addressed me that way. Later, I learned he was the son of a minister serving my father.

A few years before the kingdom fell, my mother mentioned the boy again, saying he was four years older than me and now quite accomplished. What exactly made him so accomplished, she did not say, only asked what I thought.

I wasn't sure what she meant, so she had to spell it out, asking if I would consider marrying him.

Suddenly, it dawned on me. At fourteen, it was indeed the age to be married off.

My father was handsome, and so the various kingdoms assumed his children were equally so. As his eldest princess, I became the focus of many. My mother said if I married early, I wouldn't be forced into a political alliance. Though my father was reluctant, there weren't many sisters my age, and should an alliance be demanded, it would undoubtedly fall upon me.

My mother held me close, gently patting my back, saying she didn't want me to go too far. Better to find a virtuous and talented match within the court; if I lived well, she would be at ease.

I asked who the young man was, and my mother answered he was the eldest son of Minister Wang, named Wang Huan.

My mother thought I was interested and was delighted.

The next day, my brother and I left the palace and slipped into Minister Wang's residence, but we couldn't find Wang Huan. After much sleuthing, we finally found him in a place surrounded by willows and mist, but after a glance, I shook my head and left. He was hopeless.

Yet Lady Wang brought Wang Huan to the palace, hoping for a chance encounter. Unexpectedly, his first words upon seeing me were, "Little bean sprout!"

My brother was furious, though still young, he rushed forward with punch after punch. I took the opportunity to add two kicks of my own. Though Wang Huan was older, faced with a prince and a princess, he dared not retaliate and could only endure the beating.

Palace attendants arrived one after another, and just as my mother was about to scold us, my brother burst into tears, wailing that Brother Wang bullied us...

The matter of my marriage was thus postponed, and even after the kingdom fell, I remained unmarried. Luckily, for had I wed, I would have doomed an entire family. Yet my reputation lingered, all due to a single word: beauty.

The Wang family remains prestigious in the Lingyun Kingdom, and it is clear they pledged allegiance to the new ruler, betraying my father.

"Little bean sprout"—it is indeed a bitter memory...