“Miss Jiu’er, step aside! We’ll deal with this flower thief ourselves!” the woman said coldly again.

Feng Jiu’er truly hadn’t expected that a perfectly good hotpot dinner could turn into such a huge mess.

“Don’t worry! If things really are as you’ve described, I won’t let him off either.”

“Put your weapons away for now, he’s not getting away!”

Feng Jiu’er gave everyone a look, then turned back to look at Yu Jingfeng.

“You.” She glared at him. “Step forward and explain yourself clearly — what exactly happened?”

Since Miss Jiu’er had spoken, the several people holding blades and swords put their weapons away as best they could.

Yu Jingfeng felt utterly wronged!

All because of one slip-up — no, one could say it was simply because he’d been too hungry and eaten a bit too greedily — he never imagined it would lead to such a serious mistake.

He’d put Miss Jiu’er in an awkward position, hadn’t he?

Yu Jingfeng pressed his lips together, stepped out from behind Feng Jiu’er, and stood to one side, facing everyone.

“Here’s what happened.” He let out a faint sigh.

Wasn’t this supposed to be him going in to apologize to Miss Leng, having her forgive him, then the two of them gradually growing close, and finally her agreeing to marry him?

He’d even been thinking that Miss Leng was so lovely and beautiful, she was sure to make a fine wife.

Now his future wife was nowhere in sight, and on top of that he’d been mistaken for a flower thief.

He felt so wronged, even more wronged than Dou E herself.

Yu Jingfeng knew that if he didn’t explain himself properly, a beating was unavoidable.

The key thing was that he’d put Miss Jiu’er in a difficult spot, and as for Miss Leng, she might never forgive him either.

“Miss Jiu’er, earlier while we were eating hotpot together, didn’t I offend Miss Leng?”

“So afterward, I wanted to go apologize to her.”

“After I went in—” Yu Jingfeng certainly wasn’t going to mention that he hadn’t even knocked before entering.

He blinked and continued, “After I went in, I— I didn’t actually do anything.”

“It’s probably that I look too fierce, and Miss Leng got scared of me, so she called for help.”

“I was worried everyone would misunderstand, so I went over and covered Miss Leng’s mouth, and I never expected she would faint like that.”

“It must be that I looked too fierce and scared her into fainting.”

“Nonsense! You clearly took off Xuepiao’s clothes, and you were on top of her, kissing her!” a woman retorted.

“Miss Jiu’er, the seven of us, with our fourteen eyes, all saw it — don’t listen to his nonsense.”

“He’s just trying to shirk responsibility, you must punish him severely.”

“Why did you take off Xuepiao’s clothes?” Feng Jiu’er looked at Yu Jingfeng.

She believed Yu Jingfeng’s character was decent enough that there must be more to the story.

Seeing his hair now disheveled and his clothes torn, Feng Jiu’er knew that even though Yu Jingfeng had been wrongly accused, he hadn’t fought back.

“Miss Jiu’er, isn’t this exactly how you save people too? Undoing the clothing — right, I didn’t take off Miss Leng’s clothes, I only undid a few buttons.”

“First undo the buttons, then press on the chest, and then mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

“I hadn’t even started the mouth-to-mouth part when they all burst in.”

“Miss Jiu’er, I truly had no improper intentions — I’ve known you all this long, don’t you know what kind of person I am?”

“I’m sorry! This really is a misunderstanding, Miss Jiu’er, I didn’t mean it, I truly meant well.”

“Yu Jingfeng really isn’t a bad person, he’s the Prince’s most capable aide.” Xiao Yingtao stepped forward.

“This time the Prince left him behind specifically to protect Jiu’er.”

“When Yu Jingfeng and Xuepiao were eating just now, something did happen, and it was Jiu’er who told him to go apologize to Xuepiao.”

Xiao Yingtao turned to look at Yu Jingfeng, her expression turning somewhat grim.

“Yu Jingfeng, what were you thinking? You managed to scare someone unconscious just apologizing?”

“And another thing, you say you know mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — do you actually know how to do it? You clearly don’t, so why didn’t you come find one of us? What if you’d actually hurt Xuepiao?”

“You already know you look fierce, so couldn’t you have been gentler?”

“Xuepiao normally barely says a word — you, a grown man, already fierce-looking, must have spoken loudly on top of that, didn’t you?”

“I’m asking you, didn’t you?” Xiao Yingtao raised her voice a second time.

This was completely different from the tone she’d used with the brothers just moments ago.

“Mm.” Yu Jingfeng nodded, looking wronged.

Did he really look that fierce? He was so gentle, wasn’t he? Even if he carried himself with domineering presence outside, he was still a gentle man at heart.

He’d only meant this as an excuse, but hearing Xiao Yingtao say this left him genuinely hurt.

“I don’t know, I’m sorry! I was in a panic at the time, and I remembered that this was how Miss Jiu’er always saved people, so I—”

“Isn’t this the principle that a healer draws no distinction between male and female? I was saving a life, I didn’t think too much of it.”

“Brothers, I really am sorry! Don’t put Miss Jiu’er in a hard position over this, I’ll take full responsibility for what I did.”

“Once Miss Leng wakes up, I will apologize to her properly, I’m sorry.”

Yu Jingfeng looked around at everyone and bowed sincerely.

“How could we possibly be putting Miss Jiu’er in a hard position?” a woman said coldly.

“Exactly, don’t try to stir things up!” another woman chimed in.

Yu Jingfeng kept his head lowered and said nothing more.

“Alright.” Feng Jiu’er let out a faint sigh, taking her gaze off him.

“Xuepiao is in her room, isn’t she?”

“Mm.” The woman nodded in response.

“I’ll go see her.” Feng Jiu’er stepped forward. “Everyone, go back and rest. Once Xuepiao wakes up, I’ll ask her clearly what happened.”

“Rest assured! I, Feng Jiu’er, will not let anyone off easily.”

“Yes.” Everyone present cupped their hands in response.

As Feng Jiu’er walked off, the brothers who had just been restraining Yu Jingfeng almost all glared at him at once before turning to leave.

“Just looking at him, you can tell he’s no good person!”

“The Prince has no eye for people, hiring someone like this.”

“With those thieving, rat-like eyes, he’s clearly no good person!”

“Hope the Prince fires him!”

“Right, this kind of person can’t be kept around!”

Grumbling among themselves, everyone slowly drifted away.

Xiao Yingtao and Yue Qinchun followed Feng Jiu’er into the room.

The other five medicine practitioners left as well, with two women following in since this was also their room.

The remaining three men turned and walked off in another direction.

In the blink of an eye, only Long Shiyi, Xing Zizhou, Feng Yinan, and the thoroughly wronged Yu Jingfeng remained.

Yu Jingfeng looked up at Long Shiyi once, then lowered his head again in defeat.

“What are you looking at? Where exactly do I look fierce, I was just being kind-hearted, ugh, I feel so hurt! I’ve never been this humiliated!”

“Whatever happened today cannot get out to outsiders, understood?”

Yu Jingfeng frowned and glanced up again.

“If word of today’s events gets out, I won’t let any of you off!”

“Don’t worry!” Xing Zizhou said, his voice hoarse from holding back laughter. “It’ll definitely get out.”

“Lord Yu, that much you really don’t need to worry about.”