The Crown Prince was too lazy to waste any more words. He looked back at Prince An, "Is that what happened?"
Xiao Yi withdrew his gaze from Cui Yunfeng, shot a dark glance at Cui Yunchu, and let out an "Mm."
He was used to taking the blame anyway. Standing to the side, Eunuch Liu felt that his master was much calmer now compared to the past.
One dared to frame, and the other dared to admit it. Caught in the middle, the Crown Prince was quite pleased.
"Since that's the case, let's just drop it. My royal brother made an unintentional mistake. I will explain this matter to the Empress, so you may go back."
The old maid was speechless.
That was... it?
What about the flower? And what about the humiliation she and the secondary consort had suffered?
The Crown Prince was a master at smoothing things over. "Why aren't you leaving? Do you want me to punish you for disrespecting your masters?"
He was extremely eager to end this farce.
The old maid gritted her teeth and had no choice but to stand up. "Yes, Your Highness. Secondary Consort Liu also instructed this old servant to invite you over once you returned. She personally made the side dish you praised yesterday and invites you to dine with her."
As she spoke, she swept her gaze over Cui Yunchu and Cui Yunfeng.
Truth be told, this really upset the two sisters.
So, all those things their cousin had just said about everything being fine were just reporting the good news and hiding the bad. The Crown Prince also showed favor to Liu Wanting.
Cui Yunchu wasn't particularly surprised, but Cui Yunfeng clearly found it hard to accept, her expression turning gloomy.
The Crown Prince naturally knew what the old maid was plotting, and his gaze darkened. The old maid was good at reading the room; knowing she wouldn't gain any advantage today, she immediately excused herself and left.
Cui Yunfeng couldn't swallow her anger, and the only person she could take it out on was Xiao Yi. She took a few quick steps forward and shoved the peony flower into his hands.
"Since it belongs to Secondary Consort Liu, how could you give it to me? What do you mean by this? Do you want me to be your secondary consort too?"
After saying that, she shot a subtle glare at the Crown Prince and stormed off in a huff.
Xiao Yi was speechless.
He looked completely innocent. He was arguably the most deeply affected collateral damage today, suffering a tremendous injustice.
He took the flower, which was now just a bare stem, and shoved it at the Crown Prince. "Returning this to its rightful owner."
Then he turned to chase after her. "Yunfeng."
He knew exactly what to say to make Cui Yunfeng happy. "Only a primary consort can wear a peony. How could I be the kind of bastard who confuses legitimate and illegitimate, or right and wrong? Listen to my explanation."
Speechless.
He was practically pointing at the Crown Prince's forehead and cursing him, but Xiao Yi had always been unruly.
The Crown Prince looked down at the flower stem that was bent like an old lady's spine, his face dark, holding in a bellyful of anger.
With those two gone, Cui Yunchu couldn't be bothered to look at the Crown Prince's sour face. She coughed lightly and looked at Shen Xiabai. "I've heard some new gossip recently. Would Lord Shen be interested in hearing it?"
She stepped toward him.
Shen Xiabai was never one for gossip, but watching the young girl slowly walk over, he somehow nodded as if possessed.
Cui Yunchu said, "I used to have two friends. One of them had a mother who was a concubine and was later elevated to the primary wife. Everyone cursed her father, calling him a bastard who favored his concubine and destroyed his wife..."
As the two of them talked, they also walked away.
Mo'er looked at the Crown Prince with some pity. "Your Highness, Old Madam Cui has come to visit the Crown Princess. Would you like to go and see her?"
After all, no one wanted to play with him, which was quite lonely.
Xiao Chen first glanced in the direction where Cui Yunfeng and Xiao Yi had disappeared, and then looked the other way toward where Cui Yunchu and Shen Xiabai had vanished.
Finally, he withdrew his gaze, nodded, and left with Mo'er.
...
Having walked quite a distance, Cui Yunchu stopped in her tracks, turned to look at Shen Xiabai who was a step behind her, and frowned. "Why are you following me?"
Speechless.
Was it a dog who just said they would tell him some gossip?
Shen Xiabai's face darkened slightly. He stopped walking, and the two of them stood on the very secluded bluestone path, looking at each other.
Shen Xiabai was the type who didn't like to talk much and wasn't eloquent. Cui Yunchu knew this, so before he could open his mouth, she continued rattling on.
"You really have no mind of your own. I crook my finger and you follow me. If I told you to eat shit, would you do it?"
Speechless.
Shen Xiabai instantly felt that the old maid had not been wrong to curse her earlier—she was rude and filthy.
"You are a lady of a noble house, after all," he said, his face looking terrible.
He felt even more that his earlier moment of soft-heartedness had truly been thrown to the dogs.
The atmosphere fell silent for a few breaths, and then the two spoke in unison, "Whatever a lady is like, that's what you are (I am) like."
Cui Yunchu nodded. "You've even learned to answer before I finish."
Shen Xiabai coldly snorted, turned around, and stood with his hands behind his back.
Cui Yunchu said, "I'm going to wander around and play. Stop following me."
"I'd rather follow a dog than follow you."
Hearing this, Cui Yunchu pulled back the foot she had just lifted. She tilted her head to look at Shen Xiabai and clicked her tongue a few times. "If it weren't just the two of us here, I would have thought a ghost said that."
Shen Xiabai thought: Full of nonsense.
Cui Yunchu put on a look of disbelief. "To think Lord Shen is also capable of speaking such vulgar words."
Shen Xiabai remained silent.
But she kept chattering endlessly. "Did you learn it from me?" She reached out a hand, almost shoving it into Shen Xiabai's face.
"What are you doing?"
"Pay the tuition fee."
Shen Xiabai furrowed his brows tightly, his face full of impatience. Yet, that faint, almost imperceptible fragrance wafted into his nose once again, seeming to emanate entirely from that half-exposed, snow-white wrist.
Shen Xiabai didn't speak; he just lowered his eyes to look at the open palm thrust in front of him.
The atmosphere grew a bit bizarre. Cui Yunchu slowly clenched her hand into a fist, pulled it back, and coughed slightly out of discomfort. "I know I'm beautiful, but you don't need to stare at me like that."
Speechless.
Shen Xiabai's brows were practically twisted together. He instantly averted his gaze and said with his hands behind his back, "What nonsense are you spouting? You are a girl, have you no sense of shame?"
Cui Yunchu curled her lip. "Do you know how to do anything else besides lecturing me?"
Strangely enough, even though the two had never gotten along, their current interactions were inexplicably far more peaceful than before.
At least they weren't strangling each other or trying to kill one another anymore.
It was probably because of this that the tiny bit of fear in Cui Yunchu's heart was slowly, slowly fading away.
Shen Xiabai said, "I'm not lecturing you. It's just that you never know how to speak properly."
"Why should I speak properly to you?"
Shen Xiabai was speechless.
"Aren't our two families mortal enemies?"
After saying that, Cui Yunchu turned and walked away without the slightest hesitation, her footsteps light and brisk.
Leaving Shen Xiabai standing there alone, fuming by himself.
"Yu Feng, have you investigated the matter I asked you to?"
Only then did Yu Feng dare to step forward. "This subordinate has already sent people, but for now... no news has been relayed back yet."
"Tell them to hurry up." He was clearly irritable. Yu Feng immediately complied, not knowing where his master's sudden burst of anger had come from.
There was a flowerbed to Shen Xiabai's right. With a dark expression, he changed direction and walked toward that flowerbed...
"Mas..." Yu Feng uttered a single syllable before shutting his mouth again. He silently followed his master as he circled halfway around the flowerbed, only to return to the main path, heading in the exact direction the eldest Miss Cui had just left.
That half-circle was... completely unnecessary.
