She had already come to the flower festival today with a belly full of anger over Fu Rong’s matter, and unexpectedly one wave hadn’t settled before another arose. She had only been in the palace for a few days, yet there was already such a little girl beside Brother Jingchen, who had even moved into Fenghe Courtyard! With her lowly and seductive appearance, she even dared to mock her?

Xiao Ziyu was so angry she laughed instead. For a moment she was too lazy to waste more words with Shen Xiling and only wanted to tear apart that annoying face of hers. She immediately commanded the palace maids beside her sternly, “Pull her up and slap her mouth!”

Hearing this, Shuipei was greatly alarmed. She hadn’t expected this Sixth Princess to be so unreasonable, wanting to hit people after barely exchanging two sentences. She hurriedly shielded Shen Xiling behind her, continuously kowtowing to Xiao Ziyu while pleading repeatedly, “Princess, please calm your anger! This servant doesn’t understand propriety and has offended the Princess—please strike this servant instead, please strike this servant…”

Her continuous pleading only made Xiao Ziyu feel annoyed. She was even too lazy to speak to Shuipei, simply waving her hand impatiently. Two palace maids beside her stepped forward to restrain Shuipei on both sides. Shuipei kept struggling, trying to block in front of Shen Xiling, but couldn’t match the strength of the two palace maids. She was forcibly dragged aside, watching helplessly as two other palace maids went to restrain Shen Xiling.

Shen Xiling had seen plenty of such absurd and unreasonable scenes.

Though she was young, being suddenly barged in upon and bullied without explanation was far from the first time. This sort of thing could apparently become familiar through repetition—after consecutively experiencing Madam Shen, Zhao Yao, and Old Madam Qi, she now didn’t even feel much fear.

She knew it was nothing more than bullying. No matter how angry, frightened, wronged or sad she felt, no matter how carefully and properly she conducted her life, these things would still come for her again and again, over and over in an endless cycle.

It was really quite meaningless.

She closed her eyes somewhat wearily.

Once one cannot see, other senses become more acute. Shen Xiling felt she could hear the sound of wind stirred up when the palace maid standing before her raised her hand. This reminded her of the scene when Zhao Yao had barged into her room to hit her that day, making even the pain feel real for a moment. Though she was somewhat used to such things, she was still afraid of pain. Though the slap hadn’t yet fallen on her face, fear still arose in her heart. Just then, she heard footsteps approaching from far to near, followed by the faint scent of sweet flag.

Her heart, which had felt like it had fallen into dark, deep well water, suddenly began beating frantically.

She opened her eyes abruptly and indeed saw that person standing before her, those beautiful phoenix eyes downcast, reminding her of the scene when she first saw him. At that time he had stepped down from the fragrant wooden carriage in the night snow of the long street, also looking down at her like this.

Then his eyes had been distant and cold, but now they were full of concern and comfort.

Shen Xiling felt some heat in her eyes—she was always like this, originally feeling nothing was wrong, but once she saw him, she would feel wronged.

Then she saw his gaze shift to look at the two palace maids beside her, his look extremely cold and heavy.

Though she had always known Qi Ying was someone somewhat aloof and stern, recently he had treated her warmly, making her somewhat forget his previous demeanor. Seeing him like this now, even she felt afraid, let alone those two palace maids, who were so terrified they immediately released her and tremblingly stepped back, lowering their heads.

Qi Ying withdrew his gaze, lowered his head and reached out to help Shen Xiling up. After looking her over twice, he frowned and asked, “Did they hit you?”

Shen Xiling looked up at him then, feeling very complex emotions in her heart.

When she and her mother had been bullied by Madam Shen in childhood, when she was being beaten she had silently hoped her father would come rushing over. He would push open the wooden gate of that small courtyard and suddenly appear, protecting her and her mother behind him, so she wouldn’t be beaten anymore.

But that time, Father hadn’t come.

Later similar expectations were disappointed quite a few times more. For instance, when she was small and cooking in the kitchen area, her strength was limited, and once she accidentally couldn’t hold the pot steady. The hot water in the pot tilted and was about to pour out entirely. In the moment the pot was about to tip over, she had that sort of lucky flash of hope that Mother or someone else would suddenly appear from nowhere to prevent that half-pot of water from pouring all over her. Of course that didn’t come to pass either, and her arm was scalded, though fortunately the water hadn’t been boiling yet so her injury wasn’t serious.

These were all small matters, but accumulated one by one, they would make her develop certain habits. For instance, she would gradually begin to feel she was someone rather unlucky—from childhood to adulthood, no matter what kind of bad things happened to her, absolutely no one would come to save her. She had to face all the bleakness herself, then clean it all up herself one by one.

Therefore, a few days ago in Rongrui Hall, she hadn’t hoped anyone would come save her. When Fourth Young Master Qi Le had pleaded for Zhao Yao but not for her, she had also felt it was natural—she felt things should have been that way, that she should have been alone all along.

Similarly, today when the princess barged in to hit her, when she was restrained by two palace servants on both sides, though her heart was angry and afraid, she still hadn’t prayed for someone to come save her. She had prepared herself to endure those slaps, even planning in her mind how she would treat her wounds after they finished beating her.

But this time, he had come.

Qi Ying had come.

He wasn’t late at all, didn’t let her suffer any injury, and was now standing before her in such a protective posture, asking her so naturally whether they had hit her.

Shen Xiling’s heart was filled with mixed feelings. She didn’t know what expression she wore at that moment, only gently shaking her head as she looked at him, saying, “No.”

Qi Ying seemed not to believe her, looking her up and down several more times. Seeing that she indeed seemed to have no injuries, his brow relaxed slightly. After a pause he said, “Don’t be afraid.”

His voice was low and gentle, his expression also tender, making Shen Xiling’s heart feel completely soft.

Of course she wasn’t afraid—he had come, what was there to fear?

So she looked at him and nodded.

Qi Ying gave her a reassuring look, then turned to glance at Xiao Ziyu behind him. After a moment of silence, he turned his face toward Shen Xiling and said, “Stay by yourself for a while. I’ll be back shortly.”

Saying this, he walked toward Xiao Ziyu.

For some reason, Shen Xiling felt her heart being suddenly gripped tight.

Xiao Ziyu was also having a hard time.

How difficult was it for her to see Qi Ying normally? She had to seek out various banquet opportunities, beg Fourth Brother to take her out of the palace to find him, or wait for him to enter the palace for imperial audience, waiting bitterly outside the imperial study door. But today it was simple—she had merely come to teach a lesson to the little girl he was hiding in his private residence, and without her having to beg or wait painfully, he had immediately rushed over and appeared before her.

She watched him hurriedly rush over to save that little girl, listened to him gently coax and comfort her with such patience and tenderness—treatment she, Xiao Ziyu, had never received. She felt her heart being burned by fierce flames, a hundred, a thousand times worse than when she learned of Fu Rong’s betrayal and deception.

She felt so bad she wanted to cry.

She watched Qi Ying walk before her, brow furrowed, expression stern and cold, saying to her, “Let’s go out to talk.”

His tone was indifferent, completely different from how he had just spoken to that little girl.

Xiao Ziyu let out a cold laugh and developed some desperate thoughts, looking at Qi Ying and saying, “Why go out to talk? What, are you afraid of frightening her?”

She was pressing aggressively with heightened emotions, but Qi Ying remained calm, only glancing at her coolly before not trying to persuade her further, walking straight out himself, as if certain she would follow on her own.

His certainty made Xiao Ziyu’s heart fill with resentment. She originally didn’t want to let him have his way, but after a short while couldn’t hold out. She stamped her foot hard and, with reddened eyes, turned and chased after him.

Qi Jingchen, you’re really something!

After the two left one after another, the several palace maids beside Xiao Ziyu also departed in sequence. Shuipei had a sense of surviving disaster and crawled up from the ground, holding back tears as she went to Shen Xiling’s side to ask if she was injured. She had barely asked a few questions when she saw Zijun and Fengshang peeking around at the courtyard entrance. Both also had faces full of tears as they ran in to hug Shen Xiling and Shuipei, crying continuously.

Zijun cried while apologizing to Shen Xiling, confessing about how she and Fengshang had run to the flower festival to join the excitement but ended up being spotted by Fu Rong. Hearing this, Shuipei was so angry her face turned red, wanting nothing more than to pull off both their ears.

But Shen Xiling couldn’t attend to any of this.

She only stared blankly in the direction Qi Ying and Xiao Ziyu had left, her mind uncontrollably replaying their departing figures over and over, unable to stop imagining what they would say next, what they would do.

She wanted to stop, but couldn’t. Her heart felt like someone had knotted it into a ball, with a strange sour and bitter feeling.

At that time she didn’t yet know that such emotions… were called jealousy.

Fenghe Courtyard was lush with flowers and trees. In this season the peach and plum blossoms were in full bloom, filling the garden with infinite fragrance, complementing the flower festival on the back mountain.

Xiao Ziyu caught up with Qi Ying among the abundant flowers and trees in the garden, grabbing him and venting her anger: “Aren’t you here to find me! Walking so fast—are you unwilling to talk to me again? Or are you angry?”

She had originally come aggressively to confront and argue with him, but once she saw him turn and walk away, she again shamelessly chased after him. Now with reddened eyes, she was even worried whether he was angry. Originally in the right, she now appeared weak, looking somewhat pitiful.

Qi Ying turned around and, seeing her running breathlessly, was silent for a while before saying, “No.”

Hearing this, those alluring peach blossom eyes of Xiao Ziyu’s grew even redder as she stared at him, saying, “If you’re not angry, why are you walking away?”

Qi Ying didn’t speak. Xiao Ziyu bit her lip and said urgently, “You’re hiding someone here and I’m not even angry, so why are you angry first?”

Qi Ying frowned and said, “I’m not hiding anyone. I already told Your Highness—she is Minister Fang’s daughter.”

Xiao Ziyu had guessed that little girl was indeed the daughter of Minister Fang Yukai whom Qi Ying had once mentioned to her, but her anger was still hard to calm. She said, “That’s different! No matter who she is, how can she live in your private residence? How can you explain being alone together as an unmarried man and woman!”

Xiao Ziyu pressed her lips tightly together, looking at Qi Ying and saying, “Send her away.”

Qi Ying stood with hands behind his back, not hesitating even for a moment before saying directly, “Impossible.”

His refusal was so straightforward that Xiao Ziyu nearly collapsed. The fire in her heart flared up again as she loudly questioned him, “Why is it impossible! Must you keep her by your side? Have you thought about what others will think and say? If you’re truly grateful to her, I can petition Father Emperor for a reward for her—wouldn’t that work? Or do you simply want to keep her by your side, you—”

She went on and on but was interrupted by Qi Ying.

Qi Ying’s brow furrowed slightly as he asked her in return, “This is my own business—why should Your Highness interfere?”

Author’s Note: You don’t need to be jealous—he only likes you from beginning to end (shouting once more: Happy holidays!)