“Xiao Lan, stop putting on airs. I slapped your face, not your belly.”
Cui Yunfeng curled up in Cui Yunchu’s arms, and this time, her act looked entirely convincing.
Xiao Lan tossed out a dismissive “Ridiculous,” then turned to leave.
But the maid guarding the door blocked her path. She was from Prince An’s residence. “Your Highness, you cannot leave until my prince arrives. Our princess is still lying inside. If anything happens to her, who will take responsibility?”
“Anything happen?” What could possibly happen? It was only a slap. It wasn’t as though she had slapped Cui Yunfeng’s head off.
Xiao Lan said, “I slapped her face, not her belly.”
She looked at Cui Yunfeng, who was clutching her stomach and claiming it hurt, then at Cui Yunchu. An ominous feeling rose in her heart.
“Move aside. This princess is going home.”
“Your Highness cannot leave until the prince arrives,” the maid said, just as firmly.
“How dare you?” Xiao Lan’s expression darkened. “I am his aunt. So what if he comes?”
“Then the princess may as well wait for him,” Cui Yunfeng said calmly.
Xiao Lan turned back and stared at Cui Yunfeng, suspicion filling her eyes. “What exactly are you sisters scheming this time?”
Cui Yunchu: “…”
I know just as much as you do.
She was about to speak when Cui Yunfeng shot her a warning look, telling her to keep quiet.
Cui Yunchu had no choice but to remain silent.
“My prince!”
The voices of people offering their greetings came from the covered corridor. Xiao Yi arrived first.
Cui Yunfeng immediately took Cui Yunchu’s hand and placed it around her waist. She tilted her head and leaned weakly against Cui Yunchu’s arms, curling up and clutching her stomach.
Xiao Yi hurried into the flower hall like a gust of wind and went straight to Cui Yunfeng.
“Husband, you’re here.” The moment Cui Yunfeng spoke, tears of grievance slipped down her face. She reached out, wrapped her arms around Xiao Yi’s neck, and said, “My stomach hurts so badly.”
Xiao Yi was frantic with concern. “Where does it hurt? Where’s the physician? Why haven’t you sent for one?”
He shouted so loudly that even Cui Yunchu flinched. “Someone has already gone to get one.”
She glanced at Cui Yunfeng, who was nestled in Xiao Yi’s arms, and felt her scalp prickle.
This little girl had been gone only a few days, yet her acting and scheming had both improved by leaps and bounds.
Xiao Yi lifted her into his arms and carried her toward the adjoining side room. As he passed Xiao Lan, his gaze was cold and still as ice.
Xiao Lan said, “I didn’t hit her stomach.”
Cui Yunfeng said, “Aunt slapped my face. Her hand was so strong that one slap sent me tumbling to the floor. She was terribly arrogant too. I told her to stop, saying that my stomach hurt, but she just kept going on and on.”
Xiao Lan: “…”
Not a single word of her accusation was false. The only problem was that she had completely rearranged the order of events.
The corners of Cui Yunchu’s lips twitched. Right in front of Xiao Lan, she gave Cui Yunfeng a thumbs-up.
Cui Yunfeng raised her brows and continued leaning weakly in Xiao Yi’s arms.
Xiao Lan’s face turned livid with rage.
Xiao Yi’s voice was dangerously low. “Aunt had better pray that Yunfeng is unharmed. Otherwise…”
He let out a cold snort and strode into the side room.
Xiao Lan had no way to leave, so she could only wait in the corridor.
Cui Yunchu stood there as well.
“What exactly are you sisters plotting?” Xiao Lan asked in a deep voice.
Cui Yunchu spread her hands. “I have no idea.”
She was telling the truth. She truly knew no more than Xiao Lan did.
Xiao Lan stared at her darkly. “That’s all you’re capable of. Without the Cui family behind you, you’re nothing.”
Cui Yunchu smiled. “I am a member of the Cui family. Why would I separate myself from it?”
This was the first time she had enjoyed the benefits brought by the Cui family name, but those benefits had come from Yunfeng—from the bond between sisters.
Xiao Lan glanced toward the side room, then said, “My old nurse is already dead. Her life was exchanged for another, so you and I are even now.”
Cui Yunchu arched a brow.
“Are you afraid, Princess?”
Xiao Lan scoffed but said nothing.
Cui Yunchu tilted her head and looked at her. “What about your ear, Princess? Are you willing to call that even as well?”
Were they truly even, or was Xiao Lan merely waiting for another opportunity to strike back at her?
How could Xiao Lan possibly let the matter go? Whenever she looked at Cui Yunchu, her eyes were filled with cold mockery.
Cui Yunchu said, “Nanny Zhang was as dear to me as my own mother. How could the life of a servant you, Princess, never cared about possibly make up for hers?”
Xiao Lan sneered arrogantly. “She was only a servant. Do you expect this princess to pay with her life?”
Before Cui Yunchu could answer, a commotion came from the side room. The door opened, and the physician and Prince An emerged one after the other.
Everyone’s attention was drawn toward them.
The physician bowed and clasped his hands. “Congratulations, Prince. Congratulations, Prince An’s wife is with child.”
The words fell, and the entire place fell utterly silent.
Prince An looked as though he could hardly believe it. “What did you say?”
The physician repeated himself. “Princess An is pregnant. However, she has only been pregnant for a short time, and the first three months are especially important. She fell today and was frightened as well, so the pregnancy is unstable, and there are signs of a possible miscarriage. She must rest properly and avoid exertion. I’ll prescribe several medicines to protect the pregnancy.”
Prince An’s sharp gaze swept over Xiao Lan, seeming to freeze the air around her.
He immediately ordered the physician to prepare the medicine.
Cui Yunchu was not particularly surprised, but Xiao Lan stood frozen in place.
Cui Yunfeng was pregnant?
She had confronted Xiao Lan head-on while carrying a child?
Having spent so many years in the palace, Xiao Lan’s first thought was that perhaps the child did not belong to Xiao Yi, and Cui Yunfeng was trying to use her as a scapegoat.
Xiao Lan said, “Yi’er, she did it on purpose.”
Prince An’s voice was cold enough to freeze. “You mean Yunfeng framed you? She didn’t even know she was pregnant before today. How could she have plotted against you in advance?”
Xiao Lan was rendered speechless.
“Putting the pregnancy aside, did you or did you not injure Yunfeng’s face?”
Xiao Lan immediately turned her face to let Xiao Yi see it. “She was the one who struck first.”
Prince An glanced at Cui Yunfeng’s face. The five distinct finger marks were clearly visible.
He withdrew his gaze and said in a heavy voice, “Yunfeng is carrying my first child—the first imperial grandson of the Xiao imperial family. If anything happens to her or the child because of you, Aunt, can you bear the responsibility?”
His eyes were filled with a savage, murderous intensity. Xiao Lan had no doubt that if anything happened to Cui Yunfeng or the child, Xiao Yi would immediately draw his blade and kill her.
Xiao Lan instinctively took a step back. When it came to a prince, she had to avoid his edge—especially when that prince was Xiao Yi, a madman.
“I… I didn’t know she was pregnant.”
Just then, Yunfeng’s cry of pain came from inside the room. The emotion in Xiao Yi’s eyes instantly sank into bottomless darkness, as if he had lost all reason.
He strode forward, raised his hand, and seized Xiao Lan by the throat, slowly tightening his grip.
Xiao Lan stared at him in disbelief as the air was gradually forced from her lungs. “Xiao… Xiao Yi, I’m your aunt. Let me go.”
At last, just as Xiao Lan was about to lose consciousness, Xiao Yi abruptly released her and threw her to the ground. He bent down and leaned close to her, speaking in a low voice.
“Aunt, you’d better remember how that felt just now. Keep it etched in your heart, so you won’t make the same mistake again.”
“I am not the Crown Prince. I don’t care who is right or wrong. If Yunfeng or my child is put in danger, even you, Aunt, will have to die.”
Terror filled Xiao Lan’s eyes. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t know she was pregnant.”
Xiao Yi said, “If she schemed against you, then that means you touched her deepest taboo. Even if she used the child to scheme against you, for the sake of her and the child’s safety, you still cannot be allowed to live.”
This was Prince An’s creed.
He rose to his feet, his gaze icy. “Aunt, remember this: if you run into Yunfeng in the future, keep your distance.”
With that, he gave Xiao Lan the salute of a junior to his elder. If not for the scene moments ago, when he had his hands around Xiao Lan’s throat, he would have looked like a perfectly filial nephew.
Cui Yunchu was startled as well.
In that fleeting moment, he had truly seen murderous intent in Xiao Yi’s eyes—precisely when the physician said that Cui Yunfeng might miscarry.
Before entering the side room, Xiao Yi had glanced at Xiao Lan and said, “Your nephew never lies. I really will kill you.”
Cui Yunchu let out a long sigh of relief, feeling that the only reason he hadn’t been strangled was his blood relationship with Cui Yunfeng.
The servants helped Xiao Lan up from the floor. She stared heavily at Cui Yunchu.
“…”
“Don’t look at me. The mad dog in your family can only be kept on a leash by my sister.”
This turn of events had been entirely beyond Cui Yunchu’s expectations.
