The news that Song Shuzhou was slandering the Prince of Pingyang at the entrance to the palace soon reached Duoduo and Xiao Yi.
Yunxiao glanced furtively at Xiao Yi.
“Your Highness, shall I go drive him away?”
Xiao Yi shook his head. “It’s only a dog barking. Do you really want to bite it?”
“If you don’t mind getting dog hair in your mouth, I’m worried you might come down with something.”
Yunxiao was rendered speechless.
Why was His Highness acting so unlike himself today?
That man was the Princess’s own second brother, yet he was slandering the Prince of Pingyang right outside the palace!
Qingliu was furious as she finished reporting everything to Duoduo.
“Princess, I’ll go out and beat him up!”
Duoduo shook her head.
“Lüdou, you go.”
“And take this lotus-paste pastry back to him!”
“Tell him…”
Duoduo lowered her voice and whispered a few words.
At the end, she gave Lüdou one special instruction.
“Remember, hand it to the hand he claims was ‘broken’!”
Duoduo deliberately emphasized the word “broken.”
Lüdou’s eyes lit up. She understood Duoduo’s meaning at once.
“Yes! I’ll go right now!”
Lüdou picked up the lotus-paste pastry Song Shuzhou had given them from the table and hurried outside.
Qingliu blinked.
“Princess, I’m worried Lüdou might be bullied. I’ll go too!”
Duoduo knew Qingliu merely wanted to join in the spectacle.
She smiled and nodded.
If it weren’t inconvenient for her to show herself, she would have liked to go as well.
Seeing that Duoduo agreed, Qingliu happily curtsied and hurried after Lüdou.
At the entrance, Lüdou and Qingliu could still hear Song Shuzhou pretending to be pitiful and slandering the Prince of Pingyang’s residence.
Lüdou pulled open the door.
Hearing it open, Song Shuzhou turned around smugly.
But when he saw that the person who had come out was the maid he had initially mistaken for his sister, he became furious.
Lüdou walked up to him and bowed.
“The Princess heard that this lotus-paste pastry you brought cost five taels of silver, so she instructed me to return it to you.”
“She said that, back then, the silver she was sold for amounted to only five taels.”
The onlookers erupted in an uproar.
A single pastry had cost five taels of silver!
More importantly, the Princess of the Prince of Pingyang’s residence was apparently worth no more than the price of one pastry?
This family clearly wasn’t poor!
A household that could casually spend five taels of silver on a pastry—how could it possibly have been forced to sell its daughter?
Lüdou ignored the crowd’s muttering and continued.
“The Prince of Pingyang’s household is poor and cannot compare with the wealthy Song family, who never have to worry about food or clothing.”
“The prince has always taught the Princess strictly, and she would never dare to make even the slightest mistake in word or deed.”
“When the Princess heard that a family member had come, she came out overjoyed. Yet you didn’t recognize her and instead mistook a maid for your own sister.”
“She did not blame you, but for the sake of one pastry, you came here to slander the Prince of Pingyang’s residence.”
“Have you ever considered how your actions will affect the Princess’s standing here in the future?”
The spectators exploded into discussion.
“He doesn’t even recognize his own sister?”
“Well, girls can change a lot as they grow up.”
“You can’t say that here. The Princess of the Prince of Pingyang is only four years old. How much could she have changed?”
“They sold her when she was only four? How much could a little child possibly eat? What kind of family would be so heartless?”
“Exactly. Look at the way her brother is dressed. How could his family not even afford to raise one child?”
“They probably disliked her because she was a girl. They sold their daughter and used the money to support their son.”
“What beasts! They took the money from selling their sister, lived in comfort, and now they’ve come to slander her!”
The crowd was filled with righteous indignation.
Song Shuzhou tried to explain himself, but Lüdou gave him no chance.
“The person who sold her back then was the Song family.”
“And the people who don’t want her to live well now are also the Song family.”
“You called her a jinx and abandoned her in the back courtyard, ignoring her completely. The Princess had neither enough to eat nor enough to wear and nearly died.”
At this point, Lüdou recalled the days when she and Duoduo had depended on each other for survival in that back courtyard.
Tears began streaming down her face.
“If the Princess hadn’t been blessed with such a strong will to live, she would never have survived until the day she met the prince.”
“The prince was kind enough to buy her and, out of compassion, take her in as his adopted daughter.”
“She finally managed to reach where she is today. Please, I beg you—show some mercy and leave the Princess alone!”
As she spoke, Lüdou knelt down and knocked her head heavily against the ground before Song Shuzhou.
Then she rose and held out the lotus-paste pastry to him.
Hearing the common people pointing at him and whispering, Song Shuzhou began to panic.
He took the pastry. “Those were the lucky-money gifts I saved for several years.”
“I only wanted to make my sister happy…”
Lüdou pointed at his hand.
“Didn’t you just say that the people from the palace had broken your hand?”
“Everyone, look! Isn’t his hand perfectly fine?”
“This young master of the Song family came here claiming to seek out his sister. When he was rejected, he resorted to slandering others.”
“He didn’t come to reunite with his sister at all! He clearly couldn’t stand seeing her live well and deliberately wanted to ruin her!”
“No wonder he initially only wanted to use a hawthorn cake worth a few coppers to coax the Princess!”
“The Song family really has no shame!”
“They suck the blood of their own daughter, yet they still don’t want her to live a good life!”
“Everyone, judge for yourselves. Would any of you dare acknowledge relatives like this?”
The Princess dabbed at the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, looking utterly pitiful.
“Of course not!”
“The Princess did the right thing!”
“People like that are worse than pigs and dogs!”
The crowd immediately turned completely against Song Shuzhou.
Someone picked up vegetables from a basket and hurled them at him.
Song Shuzhou hurriedly covered his head and tried to defend himself. “Don’t listen to the nonsense of some servant!”
“Look at his hand! There’s clearly nothing wrong with it!”
“He lied to us just now!”
The onlookers grew furious.
Once the matter had involved them personally, it was no longer a simple case of watching a spectacle.
“Beat him up!”
Someone rolled up his sleeves, grabbed Song Shuzhou by the collar, and punched him squarely in the face.
“Ah! Why are you hitting me?”
“I’ll report you to the authorities!” Song Shuzhou threatened angrily, clutching his face.
“He says he’s going to report us! Beat him harder!”
That cry drew an immediate response. Everyone surged forward and surrounded him.
Countless fists rained down.
Those who couldn’t reach him used their feet instead.
For a while, the scene was utter chaos.
Lüdou slipped back into the palace amid the confusion.
She and Qingliu hid behind the door and watched what was happening outside.
They both found it immensely satisfying.
“You’re amazing!” Qingliu gave Lüdou a thumbs-up.
Lüdou clenched her fists. “If the timing had been better, I would have liked to land a few punches myself!”
Qingliu nodded.
“Me too!”
“How dare they bully the Princess? They must be blind!”
Song Shuzhou was beaten so badly that he was barely breathing.
Worried that they might kill him, the people gradually dispersed.
“Could he have been beaten to death?” Qingliu asked, looking at the motionless figure on the ground with some concern.
