Chu Zhao was baffled by the scolding.

She did know about Liang Qin’s ruined marriage prospects—supposedly the proposal to the Xie family was rejected, and when they were at Chu Garden, some girls had mocked that the other party found Liang Qin ugly. Chu Zhao had even stopped them.

She knew what a devastating blow it was for a young lady to have a marriage proposal rejected, especially with appearance cited as the reason. Some girls would never dare show their faces again for the rest of their lives and would never marry.

Liang Qin had kept a low profile these past days. For a girl in her teens, her mental state had likely already been traumatized into instability.

Chu Zhao didn’t rush forward to strike anyone. She frowned at Liang Qin: “I’ve heard about your situation, but why are you coming to scold me? You should go scold the Xie family’s son.”

Hearing this, Liang Qin let out a shrill laugh: “I should go scold the Xie family’s son? Wouldn’t you feel heartbroken? Could you bear it?”

What nonsense was this! Had this young lady lost her mind?

Chu Zhao looked around. The girls had all stood up, but strangely, none of them rebuked Liang Qin for talking nonsense. Their expressions were all somewhat peculiar.

“A’Qin,” Qi Leyun stepped forward to pull Liang Qin back. “If you have something to say, say it properly. Don’t shout and yell.”

The other girls also tried to persuade her like this, and some went to close the door—

“Don’t close the door!” Liang Qin shouted loudly, without any semblance of a proper young lady’s demeanor. She reached out to push away the girls near the doorway, calling to the maids who had chased after her: “Open the door! Why close the door? Let everyone see what kind of person Chu Zhao really is!”

Liang Qin’s maids and servants came running over in a panic, clearly having chased after her the whole way.

They wanted to restrain Liang Qin but didn’t dare, nor did they dare obey Liang Qin’s orders to block the other girls. The maids of the girls who had been waiting outside also crowded over, and instantly chaos erupted both inside and out.

A’Le fought her way through with punches and kicks: “No one gets near my young lady.”

Chu Zhao raised her voice and shouted: “A’Le, close the door.”

Hearing this, A’Le immediately fought her way to the doorway with punches and kicks, dispersed the people crowding at the door, and slammed it shut with a bang, then braced it with her body.

“Lowly servant!” Liang Qin cursed and tried to attack, but before she got close, A’Le kicked her away.

Liang Qin’s maids and servants surged forward to support their young lady, refusing to let go and allow her to approach again no matter what. Liang Qin collapsed into her servants’ and maids’ arms, screaming curses in fury.

Chu Tang whispered a few words to the girl beside her, and that girl stood up with raised eyebrows: “A’Qin, if you still consider us friends, speak properly.”

Lying in her maids’ and servants’ arms with an apparently crazed appearance, Liang Qin heard this and her eyes flickered slightly. The reason she came to cause this scene was to clear her name. Only after clearing her name could she restore her former life.

But if the girls refused to associate with her, that life couldn’t be considered restored.

Liang Qin covered her face with her sleeve in sorrow: “Chu Zhao has harmed me so, her character is so despicable—will you still protect her?”

Sure enough, she stopped cursing and yelling.

Chu Zhao’s ears were buzzing from all the noise. Finally quiet, she glanced at Chu Tang, who made a gesture to her, then hid behind the other girls.

At a time like this, Chu Tang would absolutely never come forward, but Chu Zhao knew that the words the girl used to stop Liang Qin were taught by Chu Tang.

This was fine. As her elder sister, Chu Tang speaking up wouldn’t help anyway—better to let others speak.

Chu Zhao ignored Liang Qin and looked at the girls around her.

“You all know what she’s talking about, right?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

They had invited her here today specifically to discuss this, hadn’t they?

Qi Leyun clarified first: “Liang Qin wasn’t invited by us. We didn’t know she would come.”

Chu Zhao glared at her: “I’ll settle accounts with you later.”

She believed what she said. Qi Leyun was secretly delighted and huffed: “Why so fierce? Tricking you into coming out was for your own good. Everyone wants to discuss this with you.”

“A’Zhao,” one girl volunteered, “The Xie family’s son who broke the engagement with Liang Qin is Xie Yanlai.”

Xie Yanlai. Chu Zhao rubbed her buzzing ears, not reacting immediately. After a moment’s daze, she recalled who Xie Yanlai was.

“A’Jiu?” she said.

The girls didn’t know who A’Jiu was.

“The Xie family’s young master you ran down to protect with your own body that day.”

“A’Jiu—is that his childhood name?”

“To actually call him by his childhood name—the relationship is indeed deep—”

Voices chattered throughout the hall.

Chu Zhao waved her hand again: “What deep relationship? I do know him, but—” She paused and looked at everyone. “What exactly is the rumor now?”

Qi Leyun looked at her and said: “The rumor is that you and Xie Yanlai privately pledged yourselves to each other. When you learned that Liang Qin had a marriage arrangement with him, you flew into a jealous rage and beat Miss Liang, then eloped with Xie Yanlai and left the capital.”

This rumor was truly formidable. Chu Zhao’s eyes widened.

Every single incident had occurred, yet every single one was false.

……

……

“When I had—when I had the conflict with Miss Liang, I didn’t even know Xie Yanlai yet,” Chu Zhao said, looking at everyone in the room. “I fled the capital and only encountered Xie Yanlai on the road. At that time we didn’t know each other. He was just a courier soldier using the alias A’Jiu.”

The girls immediately accepted this: “So that’s how it was.”

Chu Zhao was actually somewhat curious—why did they believe her so readily?

Qi Leyun even had an expression of understanding, saying: “You became acquainted with this A’Jiu on the road, and rushed out to protect A’Jiu on the street—both with the same purpose: to get to know Third Master Xie.”

With Third Master Xie present, who would care about the Xie family’s other men?

Chu Zhao was stunned, then laughed.

“A’Qin, you understand now, don’t believe rumors,” Qi Leyun said, looking at Liang Qin. “How could Chu Zhao possibly be interested in someone like Xie Yanlai?”

“That’s right. At Chu Garden when we heard that Xie family’s son mock you for being ugly and refuse the marriage, A’Zhao even rebuked him,” another girl testified. “She disdains this person.”

Liang Qin lay in her maid’s arms covering her face, also very surprised to hear this. How had everyone come to deeply trust whatever Chu Zhao said in such a short time?

Because of the Chu Garden literary gathering?

Though she had hidden at home, she had heard from her brothers and sisters about the Chu Garden literary gathering. At that gathering, it was others who had shone brilliantly—Chu Zhao’s scholarly abilities were average.

Looking at Chu Zhao now standing in the room, unconsciously occupying the primary position with everyone surrounding her.

Thinking again of what Qi Leyun had said earlier—when these girls heard the rumors, rather than avoiding, distancing themselves from, or questioning Chu Zhao, they actually gathered together to discuss and find ways to respond!

What kind of spell had Chu Zhao cast on everyone!

As for what Chu Zhao said—about not knowing Xie Yanlai before, about looking down on and disdaining this person—she didn’t care at all. She didn’t care one bit.

What she cared about was that she had finally found an opportunity to wash away the humiliation of being rejected for her appearance.

She, Liang Qin, was flawless in both talent and appearance. It was these two who engaged in illicit relations without a matchmaker, indecent in character!

Today, no matter what Chu Zhao said, she wouldn’t back down. Moreover, she had even more evidence.

“Chu Zhao, is whatever you say just the truth?” Liang Qin raised her eyes to look over, sneering coldly. “Then did you or did you not say that you would willingly die for Xie Yanlai, that even if you died, you would be his person?”

These words were—truly devastating!

In an instant, all eyes in the room fell on Chu Zhao.

Chu Zhao’s expression stiffened slightly, then thinking of something, she burst out laughing.