The moon hung high in the sky, the night mild and gentle.
Cui Yunchu opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was a bottomless abyss!!
Half of her body was already dangling over the edge. If the person behind her let go, she would be smashed to pieces.
"Cousin, I didn't, I really didn't."
"Straighten your tongue before you speak to me." The woman's voice was cold, showing utter disgust for Cui Yunchu's feigned sweet voice.
"..." Cui Yunchu curled her lips.
She had been faking this voice for over a decade; was it something she could change just like that?
Just like how she had been stirring up trouble for over a decade—would she ever turn over a new leaf if she didn't get herself killed first?
"Cousin, I really didn't seduce His Highness the Crown Prince."
"Is that so?" The woman behind her suddenly let go. Cui Yunchu's body plummeted, immediately terrifying her into screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Cousin, I was wrong, I really know I was wrong! I promise, I will absolutely never scheme after His Highness the Crown Prince ever again!"
"Is that so?"
Cui Yunchu nodded her head like a chick pecking at grain.
The woman let out a cold snort. With a forceful flick of her wrist, she yanked Cui Yunchu back and threw her heavily onto the ground.
"Cui Yunchu, you are simply a pest in the Cui family."
"."
Cui Yunchu's palms burned with pain.
The Cui family was a century-old aristocratic family, prestigious and prominent. Its descendants were outstandingly talented and upright, yet they had produced a crooked flower like her.
But who could blame her? She was a concubine-born daughter, and this was what her birth mother had taught her.
The woman's skirt fluttered in the wind. Under the bright moonlight, she looked like a fairy. Her features were cold and aloof, especially her eyes, which revealed a sharp and arrogant gleam.
Compared to Cui Yunchu, who was slumped on the ground, terrified and covered in cold sweat, the difference between them was like clouds and mud.
"A flower with crooked roots can never be straightened, no matter how hard you try to prop it up." The woman sneered coldly and crouched down. "His Highness the Crown Prince is mine. If you pull any more stunts and keep having these pipe dreams of becoming the Crown Princess..."
The woman lifted Cui Yunchu's chin, her eyes full of threat. "You will die without a doubt."
"..."
Cui Yunchu immediately nodded.
The woman took a thick stack of letters from a servant, threw them at Cui Yunchu, and left with a flick of her sleeves.
Cui Yunchu brushed off the scattered letters, sat cross-legged on the ground, and sighed.
Then, she picked them up one by one.
She couldn't believe she had actually written this many letters to the Crown Prince.
The fact that Tang Qingwan had tolerated her until today could be considered enduring great humiliation, but alas, Cui Yunchu had been relentless, forged into steel through sheer persistence.
Actually, it wasn't that Cui Yunchu was cowardly; she just didn't have the moral high ground.
Tang Qingwan's father was the Grand Tutor. When Tang Qingwan was only ten years old, the Emperor had decreed their marriage. The current Crown Prince was Tang Qingwan's fiancé.
The two of them were a perfect match, as harmonious as fish and water.
Yet she, on the other hand, had a heart higher than the sky but a fate thinner than paper.
Coveting the position of Crown Princess. Could anyone blame her? Her concubine mother had taught her to do so.
Cui Yunchu sighed again.
"Miss, are you alright? Hurry and get up."
Cui Yunchu looked up at the older maidservant, whose face was full of worry, and frowned.
"Cousin Miss went too far. How could she treat you like this? It's also the Master and the Young Masters who are biased. They don't dote on you, their own daughter, but instead value a cousin, making you suffer such grievances."
Cui Yunchu curled her lips again.
Who would pass up a talented, beautiful, intelligent, sensible, elegant, and gentle noble lady, and instead like a drama queen like her?
Tang Qingwan was simply her perfect foil.
In front of Tang Qingwan, she was nothing but an unpresentable piece of trash.
Otherwise, in her previous life, she wouldn't have obsessively clung to the Crown Prince, determined to compete with Tang Qingwan.
But... unsurprisingly, the Crown Prince looked down on her.
With the moonlight casting shadows everywhere and the birch trees rustling, Cui Yunchu limped back to the estate, supported by the servants.
"Miss, you're finally back."
The maidservant Xing'er hurried over to greet her, her eyes blinking uncontrollably as if they were cramping.
"."
"Big Sister." A crisp female voice came from her room, and a pretty girl dressed in a peach-pink dress walked out with an angry expression.
"Why did you speak ill of me to Prince An and try to drive a wedge between us?"
"..."
The person in front of her was the legitimate daughter of the estate, her second younger sister, Cui Yunfeng.
Prince An was her childhood sweetheart.
Cui Yunchu pressed her lips into a straight line, smacked her lips a few times, and lowered her head.
"Don't pretend to be all pitiful again! It is clearly you who did wrong." Cui Yunfeng stomped her feet in anger.
"Such hypocritical posturing!!"
Cui Yunfeng roared, stomping away with heavy footsteps.
She looked as though she wished she could shatter the bluestone path in Cui Yunchu's courtyard with her steps.
Cui Yunchu awkwardly touched her nose and looked back at Cui Yunfeng's retreating figure.
She was so used to pretending to be pitiful; she hadn't done it on purpose.
Sigh~
After Xing'er served her by helping her change clothes and wash up, she asked, "Miss, Cousin Miss and Second Miss are keeping a very close eye on His Highness the Crown Prince and Prince An. What is our next step?"
"???" Hearing these shocking words, Cui Yunchu wanted to travel back to her past life and viciously slap herself a few times.
"There are so many men in the world. If they are keeping a close eye on them, we'll just switch to someone else."
"Miss, what are you saying?" The older maidservant beside her said in a shrill voice. "Currently, the only princes of marriageable age who are not yet betrothed are these two. If you switch to someone else, how will you ever become a Princess Consort?"
"Then I just won't be one." Cui Yunchu yawned, got up, and slipped under the covers.
"It's easy for you to say, since you weren't the one who was almost pushed off a cliff."
"..."
"Miss, Cousin Miss was just trying to scare you. Would she really dare to push you off? Your father is the Prime Minister, after all."
Even if she was a concubine-born daughter, she was not comparable to a concubine-born daughter of an ordinary official's family.
"I'm sleepy. All of you, get out."
Cui Yunchu rolled over, turning her back to the two of them.
Nanny Zhang and Xing'er exchanged a glance, curtsied together, and left.
Cui Yunchu closed her eyes.
Tang Qingwan wouldn't actually push her off, and even though Cui Yunfeng was gnashing her teeth in anger, she wouldn't do anything to her either.
But she would end up getting herself killed through her own foolish antics.
Cui Yunchu clutched her chest, the image of those ruthless, disgusted dark eyes appearing before her again, along with the sharp blade that had pierced her heart without hesitation.
It had even come with a whistling cold wind, carrying a sense of sheer impatience.
When a man and a woman were intimate in bed, shouldn't she, a pure maiden, be the one at a greater disadvantage?
Seriously, who had given her the rotten idea to climb into Shen Xiabai's bed?
Cui Yunchu rolled over, too angry to fall asleep.
