Cui Yunchu frowned. "What do you mean, what do I want to do?"
As she spoke, she reached out with both her hands and feet. Her slender, fair hands plucked the flower off, while her embroidered shoe kicked over the potted plant.
"Eldest... Eldest Miss." Mo'er was somewhat dumbfounded.
Cui Yunchu crushed the flower in her hands while smiling as if nothing had happened. "That is a flower bestowed by Her Majesty the Empress. How would I dare do anything to it? Mo'er, you must not be fully awake yet to be speaking such nonsense."
"..."
"..."
Cui Yunfeng said, "Eldest Sister, there is still mud on your embroidered shoe."
Trying to deny it like this probably wouldn't convince anyone.
Cui Yunchu stuffed the flower into Cui Yunfeng's hands, lowered her eyes, and kicked the mud off her shoe.
"Oh no, Side Consort Liu's people are coming to water the flower," Mo'er said anxiously.
To Side Consort Liu, this flower represented honor and glory. She kept a close eye on it, yet couldn't resist showing it off, which was why she placed it here to deliberately irritate the Crown Princess.
Hearing this, Cui Yunchu raised her eyes and glanced at the person walking toward them.
It was the old maidservant who served Liu Wanting. The old woman had been walking leisurely, but upon seeing her, she immediately pumped her arms and started running.
Cui Yunchu pointed at her and giggled. "Look, she likes me so much. She starts running the moment she sees me. It's just that her running posture is too ugly. Doesn't she look like a free-range chicken?"
Cui Yunfeng was speechless.
Mo'er was even more lost for words.
Cui Yunfeng said, "Eldest Sister, she looks more like a fighting rooster to me, coming over aggressively to settle a score."
Cui Yunfeng lowered her gaze to look at the flower in her hands, feeling rather helpless, but she didn't stuff it back to Cui Yunchu.
The old woman came to a halt in front of the three of them. As soon as she opened her mouth, her voice was incredibly shrill. "Such audacity! You actually dared to pluck the flower bestowed upon Side Consort Liu by Her Majesty the Empress. Do you know what crime this is?"
Cui Yunfeng thought to herself: Great disrespect, a crime punishable by beheading.
She knew, but her sister had already plucked it. What could be done now?
Cui Yunfeng looked at Cui Yunchu.
She saw Cui Yunchu dig her ear, flicking her perfectly clean pinky finger at the old woman. The old woman immediately stepped back, looking utterly disgusted.
"What did you just say?"
The old woman was confused.
"Sorry, all I heard was you going on about Her Highness this and Her Highness that."
"..." Having dealt with Cui Yunchu before, the old woman naturally knew her tricks and immediately turned red in the face with a thick neck from anger.
However, she could finally avenge the grudge of being beaten previously. The old woman stared fixedly at Cui Yunchu as if grasping a lifesaver.
"Eldest Miss Cui, this peony flower is an item bestowed by Her Majesty... Destroying it is a crime of great disrespect. However, considering that you two are from the Crown Princess's maternal family, this old servant can put in a good word for you in front of Side Consort Liu. Perhaps you can receive a lighter punishment."
Having swaggered and run amok with Cui Yunchu for some time, Cui Yunfeng had also developed some skill with her words. "What nonsense are you spouting? Those who don't know better would think your master is the Empress herself."
It should be known that for a mere side consort to cultivate peonies, according to the strict rules of the imperial family, was also an overstepping of bounds.
The old woman coldly snorted, showing no fear of Cui Yunfeng whatsoever. "In that case, I ask the two misses to accompany this old servant to Side Consort Liu's courtyard, and then we shall enter the palace to determine your guilt."
Cui Yunfeng was speechless.
She shifted her steps closer to Cui Yunchu and lowered her voice. "Eldest Sister, I can't intimidate her. What should we do?"
Cui Yunchu shot Cui Yunfeng a look as if looking at a piece of trash. She snatched the peony back from her hands and then, with lightning speed, stuffed it into the old woman's arms.
Immediately after, she shouted, "How presumptuous! You actually dared to pluck your master's flower. Do you have a death wish?"
"..."
"..."
Even the old woman froze in her tracks, staring blankly at Cui Yunchu's opening and closing mouth for several moments.
"What are you spacing out for?" Cui Yunchu patted Mo'er and was about to push Cui Yunfeng.
Cui Yunfeng said, "No need, I'll shout it myself."
"What an audacious servant! To dare touch an item bestowed by Her Majesty the Empress! I will report this to my cousin later and have you beaten to death."
After following Cui Yunchu and doing so many unconscionable things, she simply didn't have a conscience anymore.
"You... you are shameless!" The old woman threw away the ruined peony flower, the veins on her neck bulging with anger. "Do you think others will believe you just because you say so? Will Side Consort Liu believe you, or me?"
Cui Yunchu actually put on a show of pondering for a moment.
"There are three of us and only one of you. Logically speaking, three mouths should be able to out-talk one. But since you are Liu Wanting's person, it's different."
The old woman was made somewhat dizzy by Cui Yunchu's non-stop chattering.
"You two misses, please come with me to see Side Consort Liu," she said through gritted teeth.
Cui Yunchu scratched her head, acting as if she hadn't heard, and said to Cui Yunfeng, "It does seem a bit unconvincing to blame it on her."
Cui Yunfeng replied, "...I think so too."
Cui Yunchu nodded and actually bent down to pick up the withered flower that had barely any petals left.
The old woman's eyes lit up, as if she couldn't wait to convict her immediately and have Cui Yunchu beaten to death with a plank.
Then she saw Cui Yunchu stuff the flower back to Cui Yunfeng.
Cui Yunfeng didn't dodge. She just looked down at it and asked Cui Yunchu, "Eldest Sister, are you trying to settle a personal grudge and have someone beat me to death?"
"Beat to death what?" Cui Yunchu glared at her. Then, acting extremely frivolous and arrogant toward the old woman, she said, "You saw correctly. The flower is indeed in my sister's hands. However, it was... given to her by Prince An."
She casually pointed behind her. "He just went that way. Hurry up and chase him."
What???
Three people, six eyes, all stared simultaneously at Cui Yunchu.
Especially Cui Yunfeng and Mo'er, there were simply no words to describe their expressions and feelings at this moment.
Cui Yunfeng laughed a few times, her laughter truly stiff. "Eldest Sister, isn't this lie... a bit..."
All anyone had to do was ask at the gatehouse, and they would know that Xiao Yi hadn't come to the Crown Prince's estate at all today.
"It doesn't matter. Let them go ask at Prince An's estate. Prince An will admit to it."
Cui Yunfeng was speechless.
Mo'er was also utterly lost for words.
Cui Yunfeng tried hard to force a smile. If she could, she truly wanted to drop to her knees and kowtow on the spot to apologize to Xiao Yi.
Being stuck with such a sister, Brother Yi had suffered quite a lot because of her.
The old woman certainly couldn't possibly believe the words coming out of Cui Yunchu's mouth. "Does Eldest Miss Cui think she can just muddle through by making wild accusations?"
Cui Yunchu frowned. "You old undying hag, don't speak so unpleasantly."
The scene fell into a dead silence once again.
Cui Yunfeng's expression appeared very normal regarding this; after all, it wasn't the first time she had heard such words from her eldest sister's mouth.
She rubbed her face, silently walked away, and found a seat in the pavilion to sit down.
To the side, Cui Yunchu was still arguing incessantly with the old woman.
The old woman's fighting capacity was rather poor. Before Cui Yunfeng's seat even got warm, the woman was already fuming with rage and stomping her feet on the spot.
The old woman said, "Eldest Miss Cui is a lady from a prominent family, after all. How can you speak so crudely and filthily?"
Cui Yunchu leaned against a pillar, her expression nonchalant. "The one being cursed at is you, not me. If it's dirty, you're the dirty one, not me."
Mo'er was speechless.
She tilted her head up and glanced at Cui Yunfeng, who was sitting on a stone bench with her chin resting in her hands, watching the show. Mo'er also silently stood a bit farther away and squatted on the ground.
The old woman seemed to have completely forgotten her original purpose, her mind consumed entirely by a stubborn obsession to win the argument against Cui Yunchu. Unfortunately, while her courage was commendable, her skills were sorely lacking.
Cui Yunfeng's eyelids were drooping with boredom before she finally spoke up slowly, Eldest Sister, I think that is enough. She looks like she is about to pass out from anger.
Indeed, the old woman looked dizzy and unsteady, swaying on her feet as if she might collapse at any moment.
If something were to happen to her, it would be even harder for them to wash their hands of today's affair.
Cui Yunchu nodded, genuinely afraid that the woman might actually keel over and die from sheer fury. She flicked her sleeves gracefully. Let us call it a day.
Do not even think about leaving! the old woman shrieked, her eyes bloodshot as she screamed at the top of her lungs. Somebody, come quickly! Guards! Catch this wicked woman who destroyed a royal gift!
The old woman was so infuriated that she had completely lost her reason.
