It was simply a matter of whether that old man of hers could bring himself to eat tender grass.
“Yunfeng, what do you think it feels like when an old cow eats young grass?”
Cui Yunfeng looked up, still chewing on a meatball. “How would I know? Why don’t you try it?”
Cui Yunchu shot her a sidelong glance.
Cui Yunfeng lowered her voice. “I heard that South Wind House has quite a few young people from poor families who were sold into the establishment. Big Sister, why don’t you go there and become a great hero who rescues people from danger?”
Cui Yunchu suddenly remembered the day someone had slung her over his shoulder and carried her away. She felt she had been more of a great bear than a great hero.
She had even spent ages kowtowing to him!
Beside them, Prince An turned Cui Yunfeng’s head back around. With a dark expression, he coaxed her gently, “Good girl. Don’t play with her.”
“……”
A mocking smile curved Shen Xiabai’s lips. His voice was so low that only Prince An could hear him. “I’m not deaf. If I recall correctly, it was the Princess An who suggested it just now.”
He had not even complained, yet they were refusing to let A-Chu play with her. What kind of logic was that?
Cui Yunchu angrily folded her arms across her chest, refusing to pay any of them the slightest attention. Suddenly, a pale green skirt wafted past her, carrying a rich fragrance, and stopped beside Shen Xiabai.
Cui Yunchu did not look up. Her eyes remained fixed on the skirt and embroidered shoes.
“Lord Shen.” The moment Xiao Lan began to speak, Cui Yunchu covered her chest and let out a dry heave, drawing frequent glances from those around them.
“Big Sister, what’s wrong?” Cui Yunfeng asked. “Are you feeling unwell?”
“It’s too fragrant. I feel like throwing up.”
Xiao Lan’s cool, thin eyes swept over Cui Yunchu before she continued looking at Shen Xiabai. “This cup of wine is for Lord Shen. I thank you for saving me from my suffering.”
The Empress Dowager and the Emperor both turned their eyes toward them, but only for a moment before calmly looking away.
“Your Highness, I have already said that I was merely carrying out orders,” Shen Xiabai replied.
Xiao Lan directly picked up a cup and handed it to him. With the Emperor and the Empress Dowager present, Shen Xiabai naturally could not slight her too openly. He accepted it impassively and drained it in one swallow.
But Xiao Lan did not leave.
Cui Yunchu’s dry heaves grew louder and louder, repeatedly interrupting Xiao Lan whenever she tried to speak.
Aside from Cui Yunfeng and the occasional glance Shen Xiabai cast her way, no one paid her any attention. This infuriated Cui Yunchu.
Meanwhile, Xiao Lan was still drinking with Shen Xiabai. Cui Yunchu swirled her cup and said to Cui Yunfeng, “Yunfeng, why is this wine yellow? It looks just like urine.”
Even Cui Yunfeng could tell by now that her sister was jealous.
She nudged Prince An beside her. When he looked over, she began winking and making frantic gestures, signaling for him to drive Xiao Lan away.
Prince An: “……”
“This is imperial wine presented as tribute by another country. Naturally, its color is different from ordinary wine.”
Cui Yunfeng clicked her tongue in displeasure and gave Prince An a vicious kick beneath the table.
Prince An’s body swayed uncontrollably. Whether deliberately or not, he bumped into Shen Xiabai.
Xiao Lan glanced at their little exchange, her expression unchanged. “I heard from my Imperial Brother that Lord Shen is to be granted a marriage soon. May I ask which young lady Lord Shen has taken a liking to?”
The question landed like a thunderclap out of a clear sky. Both young women fell silent, looking at Xiao Lan in disbelief, then at Shen Xiabai.
With a smile as pleasant as ever, Xiao Lan said, “Big Miss Cui, you seem rather surprised. Could it be that you haven’t heard?”
“Imperial Brother has already begun choosing a suitable young lady for Lord Shen. Lord Shen agreed as well. He said that the matter would be settled after some time.”
Cui Yunchu’s gaze fell on Shen Xiabai. After waiting a long while without hearing him say anything, she withdrew her eyes and replied in an indifferent voice, “I’m not all-hearing. How would I have known? The princess’s constant inquiries and concern for the man who saved her are perfectly understandable.”
The sarcasm in her words could not have been more obvious.
Cui Yunchu viciously stabbed a meatball with her chopsticks, opened her mouth wide, and stuffed it in. She chewed slowly, her cheeks puffed out.
Shen Xiabai’s gaze skimmed over her before he looked back at Xiao Lan, clear displeasure in his eyes. “What exactly does Your Highness want? I said everything I needed to say at the Shen residence and at the palace gates that day. Has Your Highness failed to remember a single word?”
Xiao Lan maintained her faint smile. “What are you saying, Lord Shen? I merely wanted to remind you that Imperial Brother and Mother Empress are both here tonight. You should be more careful. Do not let anyone notice the truth.”
She gave a light laugh, then tilted her head toward Cui Yunchu, her eyes full of provocation and contempt.
Cui Yunfeng’s cheeks were puffed out too—not because she had food in her mouth, but because she was furious.
“Big Sister, I really can’t stand her.”
“She bullied me, mocked me, and provoked me.”
Her anger rose with every word. She jabbed Xiao Yi beside her and glanced at Consort Liang. With everyone present, she slapped the table and began making things up out of thin air.
“What did you say?” she demanded.
Her voice was so loud that even Prince An jumped, as though thunder had suddenly cracked beside him.
Xiao Lan stared at Cui Yunfeng pointing at her, the smile on her face slowly stiffening. Had she said anything? It seemed she had not.
Before Xiao Lan could speak, Cui Yunfeng began to cry pitifully. “Husband, she said that I’ve been married to you for so long without bearing a child, and that I’m nothing but a barren old hen!”
Prince An: “……”
Was the Cui family’s talent for spouting nonsense hereditary?
Cui Yunfeng shook Xiao Yi’s arm. “Did you hear that? Stand up for me!”
Xiao Yi raised a hand and dug at his ear. Cui Yunfeng continued, “Were you temporarily deaf just now? You didn’t hear her?”
“Perhaps… I was,” Xiao Yi replied, the corners of his mouth twitching.
If he admitted otherwise, he would probably be sleeping in the study again tonight.
He looked at Cui Yunfeng, then at Cui Yunchu, his expression utterly speechless.
Cui Yunfeng sought confirmation from Cui Yunchu. “Big Sister, did you hear her?”
Cui Yunchu was quick on the uptake. “I heard her. She also said that all the daughters of the Cui family are ill-fated and incapable of having children.”
At that, Tang Qingwan’s expression darkened as well. She signaled to the Crown Prince with her eyes, prompting him to stand.
Xiao Lan’s head felt as though stars were spinning around it. After briefly short-circuiting, she finally recovered. “Princess An, do not slander me. When did I ever say that?”
Prince An knew she had been falsely accused, but he did not dare tell the truth. “Aunt, Yunfeng is your junior, after all. How could you say something like that about her?”
The Crown Prince added, “Aunt, whom exactly are you mocking?”
Having inexplicably become the target of everyone’s hostility, Xiao Lan stood there with her face shifting between livid and ashen. She was, at the very least, a princess of the imperial family, yet she had been falsely accused in the palace.
But the ones who had risen to confront her were all her nephews—the Crown Prince and the princes. And the Cui sisters stood there with their chins raised, as if bullying others through sheer privilege were their birthright.
She let out several cold laughs. “The Cui family’s upbringing has truly opened my eyes tonight.”
Cui Yunfeng cried, “The princess dares to insult the ancestors of the Cui family too!”
The commotion was not small, and naturally it attracted the attention of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager.
Xiao Lan: “……”
The whole family was a pack of mad dogs. Not one of them was normal.
She was already considered unhinged, but she had never imagined that the capital would have people who were even more uniquely insane.
“Lord Shen, you have been sitting here the entire time. Why don’t you testify? Did Princess An make all of this up?”
Cui Yunchu lowered her voice, not bothering to avoid Xiao Lan’s ears as she glared viciously at Shen Xiabai. “You’d better say yes, or I’ll pinch you to death.”
Shen Xiabai: “……”
His face remained impassive, but the corners of his eyes and brows betrayed his delight.
When all was said and done, today’s court session had been stirred up by A-Chu’s jealousy—all because of him.
