Fu Rong covered her face and heard Xiao Ziyu continue scolding, “Fu Rong, in vain have I befriended you for so many years, yet you deceive me so in this matter—ha! Your courage is impressive, but you’re far too presumptuous! Daring to steal this princess’s consort, you don’t even weigh your own worth—are you worthy!”
The onlookers took in this furious tirade completely. Though they tried to restrain themselves on the surface, their hearts were crying out in astonishment: Good heavens! What a jaw-dropping spectacle this is! The Fu family young lady has also taken a fancy to that Qi family Second Young Master, and was secretly trying to compete with the Sixth Princess! Now caught by the Sixth Princess and publicly slapped!
Oh my! Oh my!
Everyone’s sharp gazes fell upon Fu Rong, making her momentarily become the target of all arrows like Shen Xiling had been in the Qi family’s Rongrui Hall that day, perhaps even more miserable than Shen Xiling. Being publicly subjected to such extraordinary humiliation, no matter how dignified and steady Fu Rong was, no matter how gentle and magnanimous, she could hardly suppress the anger in her heart.
Xiao Ziyu asked if she was worthy? Ha! Even if she wasn’t worthy, was Xiao Ziyu worthy then? So what if she was golden branch and jade leaf? So what if she was His Majesty’s precious pearl? Wasn’t she still eagerly following behind Qi Ying, burning with her own one-sided passion? Qi Ying had never married her, never even had a marriage contract with her, had never even expressed the slightest difference in feeling toward her—where did Xiao Ziyu get the face to clamor here?
Shameless! Wishful thinking!
Fu Rong was also provoked to anger. In her fury, she only wanted to take a knife and stab Xiao Ziyu’s heart. Just as she was worrying about what to say, from the corner of her eye she spotted two familiar-looking maids in the crowd.
She looked intently into the crowd and carefully recalled, finally remembering that she had seen these two maids at the Qi main family—they were exactly the pair of servant girls who attended that Fang Jun!
Fu Rong only knew that Miss Fang had been expelled from the main family by Old Madam Qi, but had assumed she had already been sent away from Jiankang. Now seeing the maids who had been by her side back then at Fenghe Courtyard, she couldn’t help suspecting that she had been secretly brought back to Fenghe Courtyard by Qi Ying.
Shen Xiling’s status was special, and Qi Ying didn’t want to make a fuss about matters concerning her, having long instructed the Qi family members not to spread word outside. The Qi family members, considering that keeping her in Jiankang did after all go against Old Madam Qi’s wishes, had also followed Qi Ying’s intentions and never mentioned her whereabouts to outsiders, so that outsiders like Fu Rong were still kept in the dark until now.
But now that Fu Rong caught sight of Zijun and Fengshang who had secretly run over to watch the flower festival, her mind immediately formed a conjecture. With this thought arising in her heart, she slowly stood up from the ground, patting off the grass fragments clinging to her dress, appearing calm and serene, steady and dignified.
She walked two steps closer to Xiao Ziyu, leaned near her ear and lowered her voice, saying, “I’m presumptuous—but isn’t the Princess being wishful in her thinking? He doesn’t like you at all, not one bit. Now he’s even keeping a young lady at his private residence, startlingly beautiful, and the academy matter was originally arranged specifically for her. Did you know about this?”
“Xiao Ziyu, you know nothing at all.”
“You’re nothing but a complete laughingstock.”
As her words fell, Fu Rong saw Xiao Ziyu’s face instantly turn pale, even her body swaying slightly, showing a shocked expression of complete surprise. Her heart immediately soared with the pleasure of revenge, wanting to say a few more things to make her more painful and embarrassed. Unfortunately, just as she was about to speak again, she saw the aristocratic young masters pushing through the crowd to approach. Fu Zhuo, Han Feiyu, and Han Feichi all came, with the Third Prince and Fourth Prince following after. Only the Qi family brothers were nowhere to be seen—who knows what other business they were attending to at that time.
Fu Rong’s brother Fu Zhuo, seeing this chaos, immediately walked to his sister’s side to support her. Noticing the slap mark on his sister’s face, he frowned deeply, secretly glanced toward Xiao Ziyu, then asked Fu Rong, “Rong’er, what is this about?”
The Fourth Prince also saw the current situation and walked to Xiao Ziyu’s side. After looking her up and down and seeing she wasn’t injured, he also asked Xiao Ziyu, “What’s going on? What are you making a fuss about now?”
Xiao Ziyu’s face was deathly pale, biting her lip and unable to speak, head hanging low with tears welling in her eyes.
Everyone present was stunned by this scene, then heard Fu Rong covering her face and saying softly with her head down, “…Brother should ask the Sixth Princess and Second Brother Qi instead.”
Two women fighting, yet involving a man—combining this with the scene before them, people could naturally imagine some romantic intrigue. Such exciting drama of an imperial princess and aristocratic young lady fighting over a man was truly rare to witness, so the distinguished guests immediately cast aside all thoughts of floating wine ceremonies and literary elegance, focusing entirely on watching this spectacle.
But the Fourth Prince didn’t want people to see his sister in such an embarrassing state, so he tried to pull Xiao Ziyu away. But this princess seemed possessed by some stubborn streak, refusing to accept her fourth brother’s good intentions, standing straight in place as if rooted to the ground. After a while, she seemed to go mad again and suddenly turned to walk in another direction.
Seeing the princess turn and leave, the palace maids who had come with her naturally followed immediately, disappearing from sight in moments.
Seeing his sister storm off in such a menacing manner, though Xiao Ziheng didn’t yet understand the full situation, he instinctively felt this girl was going to cause trouble. Turning to see the Fu family siblings staring at him as if demanding an explanation, his head began to pound.
Meanwhile, Zijun and Fengshang in the crowd suddenly realized they had caused great trouble.
Both knew about the connection between the Sixth Princess and their young master. When Fu Rong spotted them in the crowd earlier, they had even made eye contact, knowing the Fu family young lady had recognized them. Though they hadn’t heard what the Fu family young lady said to the Sixth Princess, seeing Xiao Ziyu’s furious expression and noticing she was walking toward Fenghe Courtyard, they could easily guess what this princess was going to do.
They had brought trouble upon their young lady.
The two maids looked at each other with pale faces, not knowing how their young lady would cope if the Sixth Princess went to Woyu Courtyard to cause trouble.
Zijun steadied herself and whispered to Fengshang, “Should we go find Young Master? Otherwise, if this matter escalates…”
Fengshang was already panicked and had no ideas, only regretting why she hadn’t listened to Shuipei’s advice and had been so bewitched as to come watch the flower festival. Hearing Zijun suggest finding Second Young Master, she also felt it was the only solution and quickly nodded. The two maids then quietly slipped away from the crowd.
Fenghe Courtyard was built among Qingji Mountain, and though separated from the back garden flower festival by only a wall, to prevent festival guests from accidentally disturbing Second Young Master Qi’s private residence, Fenghe Courtyard’s back gate had been locked early that day, with Qi family servants guarding the entrance to prevent unknowing guests from barging in.
But while these loyal servants could stop drunken guests who might wander in by mistake, they couldn’t stop the furious Sixth Princess. This princess was known for her willful arrogance, and arriving in anger made her seem especially formidable. The Qi family servants had always known of this princess’s connection to their Second Young Master, so they naturally dared not stop her. After being intimidated by a few words from the palace maids beside her, they opened Fenghe Courtyard’s back gate.
At that time, Shen Xiling was still reading in her courtyard.
Shuipei had been dozing beside Shen Xiling when she suddenly heard noisy shouting outside the courtyard, very clamorous and annoying. Half-awake from being disturbed, she stood up and walked out of the inner room toward the outer room’s entrance, lifted the door curtain, and said with some irritation, “Who’s making all that noise? Disturbing our young lady’s reading…”
Shen Xiling sat in the inner room reading with her head down, but heard Shuipei’s words cut off mid-sentence, followed by her cry of alarm. Not knowing what had happened, Shen Xiling rose from her table and walked to the outer room to peek out, only to see a large crowd of people rushing through the doorway, with Shuipei covering her face and fallen to the ground—she had been slapped!
Seeing this, Shen Xiling was greatly alarmed and hurried over, crouching down to examine the injury on her face.
Shuipei was a respected maid in Fenghe Courtyard now, and even back at the main family, not just any servant could strike or scold her. Shen Xiling looked up and saw that all the people who had burst in from outside were dressed in palace attire, with one of the older palace maids looking down at her and Shuipei disdainfully, saying coldly, “Making noise? When the Sixth Princess graces you with her presence, failing to kneel in welcome shows lack of propriety—this is to teach you manners!”
Sixth Princess?
While Shen Xiling was still in a daze, she saw the palace maids step aside, revealing a beautiful young woman of sixteen years emerging from behind them. She had a pair of peach blossom eyes very similar to Fourth Prince Xiao Ziheng’s, rippling with charm in her glances. Though her face was cold now, her delicate beauty and allure were still evident.
Shen Xiling realized: the visitor was Fourth Prince’s sister, Great Liang’s Sixth Princess Xiao Ziyu.
She had heard about this princess from the Fourth Prince, that day at the roadside dumpling stall during Lantern Festival, though he had been vague then, leaving her confused, only gathering that this princess was somehow connected to Qi Ying.
Matters related to that person, Shen Xiling instinctively paid attention to. Later she had listened carefully to casual conversations between Zijun and the others, and had asked about it once herself, finally learning about this princess’s relationship with Qi Ying.
This matter was quite complex and seemed to involve court affairs as well. Shen Xiling hadn’t completely understood it, and was even more puzzled now: why would this golden branch and jade leaf born in the clouds above not be in the back garden admiring the abundant flowers, but instead storm aggressively into her residence and have someone strike Shuipei?
As she hesitated in confusion, she heard the palace maid who had struck Shuipei shout, “Insolent! How can you not bow and pay respects upon seeing the princess?”
Shen Xiling had never learned such etiquette, nor had she expected to meet members of the imperial family. Though she had met the Fourth Prince twice before, that prince disliked elaborate ceremony and had excused her from formal courtesy both times, so she still didn’t know how to perform such rituals and felt somewhat at a loss.
It was the clever Shuipei who, seeing this scene and despite having been unreasonably slapped across the face, immediately pulled Shen Xiling to bow and kneel before Xiao Ziyu. Shen Xiling followed her example, prostrating herself at Xiao Ziyu’s feet.
The princess’s shoes were very precious. Shen Xiling, prostrate on the ground, saw those golden silk shoes step closer to her one by one. She and Shuipei knelt on the ground, but hadn’t heard the princess tell them to rise. Instead, she saw the princess lift one foot and hook her toe under her chin, forcing her to raise her face.
It was a deeply insulting gesture.
Shen Xiling knelt prostrate on the ground, forced into an uncomfortable position with her face tilted up, while the princess looked down at her from above, studying her for a while before letting out a cold laugh, her eyes filling with contempt as she mocked, “This is what others praise as startling beauty? Just you? A milk-toothed yellow-haired girl?”
As her words fell, though Shen Xiling had always been good at enduring, she still felt deeply insulted.
In her childhood she had once been called a “little whore” to her face by the Shen family matriarch, and a few days ago at the Qi family she had knelt in Rongrui Hall under everyone’s piercing gazes. Though both occasions had made her feel upset and embarrassed, neither compared to how this made her feel… angry.
She rarely experienced such emotions, rarely felt anger toward others, but now facing Xiao Ziyu, a ball of rage actually rose in her heart, as if she had suffered great humiliation and injustice, making her heart unable to find peace.
For the first time, Shen Xiling’s eyes showed a trace of defiance—not obvious, but definitely there. She looked directly at Xiao Ziyu without flinching, raised herself to avoid her toe, then lowered her head and answered very properly and calmly, “Sixth Princess possesses celestial beauty and national grace. This commoner girl has only the appearance of weak willows and feels deeply ashamed of her inadequate looks.”
Her tone was very respectful, as if she truly felt ashamed of her appearance. But her beauty was so obvious, and her lovely eyes seemed even brighter due to that barely noticeable anger. Anyone looking would feel that Xiao Ziyu was inferior to her, making this humble response seem more like mockery.
This single sentence completely ignited the fury that Xiao Ziyu had been suppressing in her heart!
Author’s Note: Even Shen Xiling is angry—shows how outrageous the princess is! Next update the male lead comes to save his wife~
Thanks to the little angels who left comments, voted, and gave nutrients. Last time I opened the comment section and saw several compliments, it made me so happy I opened my computer at 2 AM and passionately typed 2,000 words for everyone ♥ Happy holidays!