“Stop!” Prince Ling suddenly said coldly.
The carriage immediately halted.
Prince Ling looked at his consort. “Get out.”
Princess Consort Ling was baffled. She stood up.
“My lord, why must I get out of the carriage?”
Prince Ling’s gaze was extremely grim.
“Will you get out yourself, or shall I have someone throw you out?”
His words, filled with menace, made Princess Consort Ling tremble.
“My lord, what have I done wrong? Why are you driving me out of the carriage?”
“With so many people watching, where am I to put my face?”
Seeing his father’s almost murderous expression, Xiao Yun’an quickly pushed his mother out of the carriage.
“Mother, please get out now!”
Princess Consort Ling could not believe that her son would not speak up for her, but instead pushed her out.
“An’er?”
“Mother, you don’t want to be tossed out, do you?” Xiao Yun’an whispered anxiously in her ear.
Seeing her husband’s iron-like face, Princess Consort Ling reluctantly stepped down from the carriage.
The moment she was out, “Go!” Prince Ling’s cold voice rang out from inside the carriage.
Princess Consort Ling had been in such a hurry to go to the palace and seek help that she had not brought a single maid.
She saw commoners in the distance pointing and whispering about her.
Raising her sleeve to cover her face, she hurried off to find another carriage.
After just a few dozen steps, her feet began to ache.
As a princess consort, she always traveled by carriage.
So she wore soft-soled embroidered shoes.
The stones on the road made her feet sore.
After barely a hundred steps, blisters formed on her soles.
Tears fell from Princess Consort Ling’s eyes.
She did not understand. She had merely spoken ill of the Fifth Prince, and for that, her husband had thrown her out of the carriage.
Had their marital bond come to mean less than Prince Ling’s brotherly friendship?
That brother had now schemed against their own child. As the elder sister-in-law, was she not allowed to even say a word?
The more Princess Consort Ling thought about it, the more she could not make sense of it.
She found a child, paid him a few copper coins, and sent him to her maiden home with a message.
Then, she entered a tea house to wait for her family to fetch her.
Back at the Prince Ling’s mansion, Xiao Yun’an secretly arranged for a driver to go back and retrieve his mother.
After a long while, the driver returned and reported that Princess Consort Ling had gone to her maiden home.
Prince Ling directly ordered the mansion gates shut. No one, no matter who came, was to open them.
He then punished Xiao Yunming by making her kneel in the ancestral hall.
Xiao Yunming had already been frightened by the sudden kidnapping.
Now that she had barely made it home, instead of receiving comfort from her parents, she was punished to kneel.
She could not bear it.
She was the one who had been wronged!
Why was she the one being punished in the end?
Xiao Yun’an dared not plead for his sister while his father was in such a rage.
He waited until late at night before sneaking into the ancestral hall.
“Sister?”
He lit a candle and saw Xiao Yunming lying motionless on the floor.
Terrified, Xiao Yun’an dashed out to call for help.
The gates of Prince Ling’s mansion were opened at midnight after all.
Servants drove a carriage, banged on the door of an herbal medicine shop, and brought a physician back to the mansion.
At the Prince Pingyang’s mansion, Shi Tou returned just before dinner.
As soon as he arrived, Lü Dou took him to Duoduo.
“Shi Tou, did you hear about what happened today at Prince Ling’s mansion and the Fifth Prince’s mansion?” Duoduo asked impatiently.
Shi Tou nodded, his eyes sparkling.
“This servant heard. I made a point to ask around a bit more.”
Duoduo grew excited. “Quick! Tell me everything.”
Lü Dou brought over a plate of pastries and set it before Shi Tou.
“The princess consort told me to give these to you. Eat while you talk.”
“Thank you, Princess Consort, thank you, Sister Lü Dou.”
Having run around all day and being at an age when he was still growing, Shi Tou was naturally hungry.
“Go ahead. Eat something first. Dinner will be ready soon.” Duoduo was not the kind of master who mistreated her servants.
Shi Tou bowed and began to report what he had learned.
Duoduo listened, her face lit with excitement.
“They really fought?” Duoduo wished she could have seen it herself.
“Yes. Because Prince Ling cannot stand, his guards had to protect him, so they were a bit hesitant.”
“Meanwhile, the Fifth Prince’s men deliberately shoved and pushed back and forth.”
“Then, in the chaos, they landed some blows.”
“In the end, it wasn’t until an imperial eunuch sent by His Majesty arrived that the two sides separated.”
“Princess Consort, you should have seen it—there must have been crowds of onlookers gathered around the mansions!”
“They’ll definitely be memorials submitted to the court tomorrow.”
Propping her chin on her hands, Duoduo sighed.
“Pity. It’s still not enough. No wonder Father said we should stir the waters even murkier.”
Shi Tou and Lü Dou looked puzzled.
“Not enough? Princess Consort, what do you mean? This servant doesn’t follow.”
Since they were alone in the room, Lü Dou decided to ask openly.
Duoduo rested her chin on her hand and sighed again.
“Father says that Uncle Second and Uncle Fifth are close.”
“Back when we were entering the capital, Uncle Second sent men to plot against Father.”
“We... we took a detour on the way, and that plot fell on Uncle Fifth, who was traveling behind us.”
“Uncle Fifth must have found out that the one framing him was Uncle Second.”
“If I had known earlier that the people trying to kidnap me were Uncle Fifth’s men, I should have made a bigger scene.”
“I should have stirred the waters even muddier, made those two uncles irreconcilable enemies.”
“Too bad, at the time I was only focused on escaping with Lü Dou. I didn’t think of fighting back!”
Duoduo now fully understood her father’s meaning.
If she had thought to strike back after escaping the danger, the situation now would not be a mere stalemate.
“Princess Consort, you were already amazing!” Lü Dou said, her face full of admiration.
“In such a crisis, you reacted so quickly and got us both out safely. That’s more than most people could do.”
“I’m a few years older than you, and I couldn’t have pulled it off!”
Lü Dou’s words won Shi Tou’s agreement.
“Right! Princess Consort, if it were me, I definitely couldn’t have done what you did.”
Their praise cheered Duoduo up.
Indeed! It was her first time encountering such a situation.
To manage what she did was already pretty good.
Next time, though, she could do even better!
“I wonder what will happen to Uncle Second and Uncle Fifth in the end?” Duoduo was curious.
“What can happen? They’re imperial princes. At worst, they’ll be scolded.”
“You don’t think the Emperor would actually behead his own son, do you?” Lü Dou shrugged.
Duoduo thought for a moment and nodded.
“Lü Dou, you have a point.”
“Shi Tou, how was business at Aunt Xu’s shop today?”
At that, Shi Tou beamed.
“Princess Consort, business is excellent.”
“When I came back, there was still a long line outside the shop.”
“Oh, and Madam Li said that Sister Lü Dou can prepare pastries and start selling them in the shop.”
Lü Dou froze for a moment.
“Really? They’re really good enough to sell? Will anyone buy them?”
Suddenly, Lü Dou felt uncertain.
