Qi Yue and A’Ru talked for quite a while before A’Ru calmed down and remembered what she had come to do. She took out shoes from the side room.

“I’ll mend Madam’s shoes,” she said, but instead of returning to her own room, she brought needle and thread over here and sat on the footstool beside the bed to do needlework.

She was still guarding against me, Qi Yue thought with mixed feelings of amusement and helplessness.

“I won’t sleep anymore. Have A’Hao come back – she’s been outside in the blazing sun at midday,” she said.

A’Ru made an “oh” sound, only then remembering that the girl had been out for quite a while.

“I’ll go call her back,” A’Ru put down her work and went out.

Qi Yue, bored with nothing to do, simply picked up the half-mended shoe and curiously tried to work with needle and thread. Soon, A’Ru returned with a strange expression.

“What’s wrong?” Qi Yue asked.

“This girl has disappeared somewhere…” A’Ru said.

Qi Yue looked up to listen to her speak, and her hand slipped with the needle. She cried out “ah.”

“What happened to Madam?” A’Ru was startled and hurried over to look.

Qi Yue’s hand was pricked and bleeding, the bright red very striking.

“Go out and look for her,” Qi Yue felt her heart sink with a bad premonition and immediately stood up.

At this moment, A’Hao also had a bad premonition as she looked at the red coral ornament shattered on the ground, sweat beading on her forehead.

“It wasn’t me… I… it was fine when I picked it up…” she said hurriedly, looking at the servant women and maids gathering around.

This was the Prince’s courtyard. After A’Hao followed Yin Huan inside, she indeed saw many maids chatting and laughing as they collected items, chattering together saying “this is ours, that is yours” in a very lively manner.

“All the items are the same… no distinction between which is which…” several servant women smiled as they continuously handed simply packaged boxes to the maids coming forward. “Our Prince has always been simple…”

A’Hao’s heart became joyful. Although the Prince hadn’t specifically indicated it was for Young Madam, if she took it back, Young Madam would definitely be very happy.

Just as she was about to queue up, a maid nearby beckoned.

“Hey, you, come help me,” she said.

A’Hao looked around.

“Anyone will do, just you then. Help me take this to the Prince’s room,” the maid beckoned.

A’Hao hurried over.

“Oh, you’re actually a senior sister…” The maid only then noticed A’Hao’s waist sash. She herself was just a third-class maid with a green onion-colored waist belt, so her attitude immediately became much more respectful. “This… I dare not trouble sister. Let me find a junior maid instead…”

A’Hao smiled and shook her head, saying it was fine. Seeing this maid’s unfamiliar face, and knowing that the Marquis Dingxi household had many servants with people being released and new ones entering every year, plus she had been staying in Qiu Tong Courtyard for over three years while personnel changes in the household were quite significant, not recognizing her was normal.

“Then I’ll trouble sister,” the maid smiled, handing her a box while picking up another box herself. They walked toward the main room chatting. “Which courtyard is sister from?”

A’Hao found this topic somewhat awkward to answer.

“I’m… from Young Madam’s side,” she said.

The maid was obviously startled, her expression also becoming somewhat awkward. Fortunately, they had already entered the room by then.

“Take the items out and place them on the side table,” the maid hurriedly said, using this to change the subject.

A’Hao looked around the interior. Like all main rooms in the household, it consisted of three main parts: the central hall in the middle, with a bedroom on one side and a sitting room on the other. Moon-gate doors with hanging gauze curtains in soft colors – peering inside one could see large chests and cabinets, with a sword hanging on the wall trailing cherry-red tassels. Unlike other rooms, the furnishings lacked those flowers and plants, not even having porcelain like beauty vases, giving it a spacious and heroic air.

There were four or five maids and servant women in the room cleaning and arranging, who didn’t pay her much attention. A’Hao responded and placed the box on the side table, opening it to reveal a red coral ornament. Just as she reached to take the ornament out but before placing it on the table, the ornament suddenly cracked and slipped from her hands.

The crisp sound made everyone in the room look over, and A’Hao was also frightened into a daze.

“You girl, this was specially ordered by Madam for the Prince…” A maid came back to her senses from shock and shouted with a terrified expression.

“I… I…” A’Hao was almost crying. She knelt down and frantically tried to piece together the fragments, her hands shaking violently.

“What happened?” someone entered and asked.

Everyone hurriedly turned around to see Nanny Su entering.

“Heavens,” she saw the fragments on the ground at a glance and immediately changed color with an exclamation.

A’Hao then looked up to see her and hurriedly kowtowed to her on her knees.

“Nanny Su, I don’t know how… how it broke…” she finally couldn’t help crying.

“You… A’Hao?” Nanny Su said in astonishment, then darkened her face. “What are you doing here?”

“It was… that sister asked me to help…” A’Hao said hurriedly, raising her hand to point, but when she looked up she couldn’t see the maid who had called her, leaving her speechless.

“Which one?” Nanny Su asked sternly with a dark face, her gaze sweeping over the people in the room. “Is the Prince’s room somewhere anyone can enter casually?”

“No, Nanny Su, I came to collect items and happened to be asked by a sister to bring something in…” A’Hao said hurriedly.

“Who told you to come?” Nanny Su interrupted her, asking sternly.

“It was… it was…” A’Hao anxiously looked at every person in the room, but couldn’t find the one who had called her. “It was a sister… you all… you all saw it, which one was it?”

The maids and servant women in the room all looked puzzled.

“We were all in the room. Except for you, miss, no one else came in…” a servant woman said, looking at A’Hao with confusion. “We were wondering which miss you were?”

A’Hao was immediately dumbfounded.

“How… how did you not see her?” she shouted. “It was that girl in yellow clothes with a green onion waist belt, she went into the inner room…”

Everyone looked at her with both amazement and sympathy.

“Enough, A’Hao,” Nanny Su said sternly. “Your thoughts for your madam, I understand, but this matter has really gone too far!”

These words left A’Hao somewhat confused.

“No, no, it wasn’t our Young Madam who told me to come. It was Yin Huan, Yin Huan called me here…” she shouted frantically.

“You must be confused. Sister Yin Huan went out with the Prince today…” a maid couldn’t help saying, her expression becoming even more surprised with some disdain.

A’Hao’s mouth dropped open and her eyes widened.

“No, it really was her! She came in with me, she was just in the courtyard…” she shouted loudly, standing up to go outside. “If you don’t believe me, come with me to see…”

“Enough,” Nanny Su shouted angrily. “Someone, take her away.”

A’Hao had just stood up and sat back down on the ground, her face ashen.

“No, Nanny Su, Nanny Su, I really didn’t… it really wasn’t me… I’m not…” her mind was in chaos and for a moment she didn’t know what to say. She crawled a few steps and hugged Nanny Su’s legs, just calling “Nanny Su” repeatedly.

Several servant women had already rushed in and, like an eagle catching a chick, lifted A’Hao and took her out, simultaneously stuffing a handkerchief in A’Hao’s mouth.

The courtyard had already fallen silent, with everyone watching her being dragged struggling and crying from the courtyard.

“Let me make this clear to all of you – the Prince’s courtyard is not somewhere anyone can enter as they please. Those who harbor thoughts they shouldn’t, don’t blame me for being ruthless,” Nanny Su stood under the eaves and said sternly.

Low acknowledgments sounded in the courtyard. No one dared to look anymore and hurriedly turned back to their previous tasks. Soon the previous liveliness was restored, as if nothing had happened.

Nanny Su watched A’Hao being dragged out the door and quietly exhaled, her expression grim.

Just as A’Hao was being dragged out the door, a group of people approached with large steps.

The servant women respectfully stopped and made way.

The group walked over and stopped, seemingly curious about these servant women’s actions.

“This maid made a mistake, breaking the ornament Madam gave to the young master. Nanny Su ordered household discipline,” the servant women said respectfully.

A’Hao’s vision was already blurred with tears. She struggled desperately, unable to see clearly who was approaching.

“Oh.”

A slightly deep male voice responded, the voice flat and emotionless, as if hearing that the weather was nice today.

This voice entering A’Hao’s ears made her tremble even more violently. She struggled harder, the muffled sounds from her mouth growing louder, but all this was futile. The servant women quickly dragged her away rapidly. A’Hao’s vision only caught a glimpse of the corner of a dark blue long robe.

“Concubine…” A’Jin, who had been standing on another path, couldn’t bear it and couldn’t help calling out softly.

Concubine Zhou gently waved her fan with an expressionless face.

“If they really beat her, I’m afraid A’Hao’s little life…” A’Jin said softly again.

“She’s her maid, taking punishment for her. What can we do?” Concubine Zhou said indifferently, not looking that way again as she walked forward.

A’Jin didn’t dare say more and hurried to follow. Halfway there she couldn’t help but look back, but could no longer see A’Hao’s figure.

Probably would never see her again…

When Qi Yue and A’Ru got the news and rushed over, the punishment had already ended. A’Hao lay motionless on the punishment bench, while her parents knelt beside crying, not daring to cry loudly.

A’Ru had nearly fainted when she received the news, crying continuously on the way there. Seeing this scene now, her body went soft and she sat on the ground.