Marquis Xuanping’s mouth twitched as he looked at him, "You have this experience?"
Steward Liu coughed lightly, "I... I am not any important person, at the old King Liang’s residence I was just someone who did odd jobs, and later when old King Liang moved to his fief to establish his mansion, I did not go with."
"It’s that they didn’t take you with them," Marquis Xuanping exposed him.
Steward Liu forced a smile without humor.
He was still young back then, just a small errand boy, naturally he did not have the qualifications to follow to the fief.
Marquis Xuanping continued, "Then tell me about old King Liang and his wife, it’s true they extremely doted on Princess Xinyang, isn’t it?"
Without a second thought, Steward Liu said, "True! Truer than true gold! Old King Liang liked listening to operas and kept a performance troupe in his residence. I was young, only eight years old when I joined the troupe. After the troupe disbanded, I didn’t leave and stayed on as a small errand boy. I heard that old King Liang and his wife were very fond of the Emperor’s seventh princess at that time."
Back then Princess Xinyang had not yet reached the age of hairpinning ceremony and had no title; she was the seventh in order, hence the servants called her the Seventh Princess.
Steward Liu continued, "Old King Liang and his wife often went to the palace to visit Princess Xinyang. They had no daughters or granddaughters, so... they always treated Princess Xinyang as their precious darling."
Marquis Xuanping said, "I know this, I heard they even brought Princess Xinyang to their residence to stay for a while."
Steward Liu excitedly said, "That’s right, that did happen! The performance troupe disbanded because of Princess Xinyang!"
"What do you mean?" Marquis Xuanping frowned.
Steward Liu reminisced for a moment, "I remember... Princess Xinyang was only six or seven years old that year, she came to stay at our place for a while, and old King Liang’s wife specifically instructed the performance troupe to stage a few operas that children loved to see. The class leader arranged a performance...I forgot what it was exactly, I just remember I took a knife and wandered around on the stage."
"She loved listening to the opera?" In these years, Marquis Xuanping had never seen her listen to an opera.
Steward Liu shook his head, "Thinking back now, it seems the princess didn’t quite like listening to opera then. She quietly sat between old King Liang and the Queen, each of them affectionately holding one of her hands, while the maids and old women below the stage were all laughing together, only she had no expression."
Marquis Xuanping’s eyes darkened, "How did the disbandment of the performance troupe get connected with her?"
Steward Liu said, "One day, quite late, Princess Xinyang suddenly came here to the performance troupe. The class leader asked her what she was doing, but she did not speak. Thinking she wanted to listen to the opera, he went back on stage and sang several operas for her. Then he said to her, ’Seventh Princess, it’s getting late, shall we continue tomorrow?’ She..."
These events were all so distant, Steward Liu’s memory was somewhat blurred, but for some reason, upon recalling today, the expression in Princess Xinyang’s eyes at that time became incredibly clear in his mind.
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