Xi Weilan's finger gently squeezed the trigger, and the young boy who had been standing in front of the carriage cursing at them instantly took a bullet to his left arm, wailing loudly in pain.
The shot had originally been aimed at his chest, but at the critical moment, the coachman noticed something was wrong and yanked the boy aside, causing the bullet to miss its mark.
"It hurts! Grandmother, it hurts so much! Waaah..."
Song Qian's cries of agony made Duchess An's heart ache so much that tears streamed down her face. In that single instant, her precious grandson had been wounded, and her fury blazed to new heights.
"Qian'er, are you alright? Quick! Back to the estate and have the household physician look at you—no, send for the imperial doctor at once!"
With that said, she didn't dare linger and hastily ordered someone to summon a physician while telling the coachman to rush home. Before departing, she shot a menacing glance at the Xi sisters and left several guards behind to arrest them.
Had she not been worried about her grandson's injury, she would have stayed to personally watch the two girls being taken into custody.
The carriage hurriedly left, but the street had by now become a hive of commotion.
Several guards, acting on Duchess An's orders, stayed behind to seize Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan, but Lu Jinshuang's bodyguard had already stepped in front of the two sisters.
He stared coldly at the advancing guards and said, "These two are sworn sisters of our Seventh Princess. Think carefully before you make a move."
The guards paused mid-step, hesitating. Sisters recognized by the Seventh Princess—that was not a status they could afford to cross lightly.
But if they didn't make the arrest, they'd have a hard time answering to the Duke of Anguo's household. After a quick huddle and whispered exchange, they turned and hurried back toward the Duke's manor.
They figured that verifying the girls' identities was enough for now—let the Duke go to the Seventh Princess if he wanted to demand justice. They certainly couldn't afford to offend a princess.
The onlookers in the street buzzed with chatter. None of them had even seen how Xi Weilan had made her move before Song Qian was shrieking in pain. Now they all stared at her with wide eyes, full of curiosity.
Xi Qingyue scanned the surrounding crowd and frowned slightly. She turned to the bodyguard, thanked him for his help, and tugged Xi Weilan forward.
Xi Weilan had already returned the pistol to its holster. That kid had tried to have them seized and beaten—getting shot was his own damn fault.
But the bodyguard trailing behind them was deeply shaken. His job was to watch over the two girls, yet he'd never expected them to be carrying concealed weapons—and extremely deadly ones at that.
His heart raced. He needed to get word to the Seventh Princess immediately, or else if Duke Anguo came to seize them later, he wouldn't be able to hold his ground.
Xi Qingyue had no idea what was going through his head. She casually led Xi Weilan into a ready-made clothing shop.
"Lan'er, pick out whatever you like. The clothes here are all very pretty."
The two of them chose over a dozen outfits each—only two meant to be worn now, the rest in larger sizes so they'd have new clothes waiting as they grew taller.
Besides clothing, they also picked out matching shoes, socks, and hair ornaments for their heads.
When it came time to settle the bill, Xi Qingyue said very naturally, "Send all these clothes to Wenyang Princess Manor. And as for payment, go collect the silver from Mingyang Princess Manor—just tell them it's for the Yue sisters' purchases."
The shopkeeper was bewildered. Surely the Seventh Princess wasn't short on money? Why on earth would she have them bill the eldest princess instead?
But when she caught the Seventh Princess's bodyguard nodding in confirmation, she forced a smile and said to Xi Qingyue, "Very well, Miss Yue."
After that, Xi Qingyue took Xi Weilan to several more places. They bought mostly snacks and pastries—only a few boxes of each, not emptying the shelves—but again, every purchase was billed to the eldest princess's account. The shopkeepers were all utterly perplexed.
Two little girls with the Seventh Princess's guards, buying up goods charged entirely to the eldest princess—it was strange no matter how you looked at it.
In a nearby teahouse, the patrons were brimming with excitement. The day's drama was far from over.
First, a bunch of court officials had been flogged. Then several men had died at Drunken Moon Pavilion—not just any men, but the sons of court officials, and all of them had drowned in a latrine pit. And now, to top it all off, the young grandson of Duke Anguo had been wounded by another child—a girl who had come out of the Seventh Princess's circle.
"Do you think Duke Anguo will go after the Seventh Princess over this? I'll bet one tael of silver he doesn't dare."
"That's too small—I'll wager five taels that he definitely will go after those two girls. That's his grandson, after all! How could he swallow that?"
"Come on, you're all too stingy. If you're going to bet, bet big—at least a hundred taels."
A pack of idle young wastrels joked and laughed, clearly the sort who loved stirring up trouble just for the fun of it.
The teahouse's business was booming. The owner grinned from ear to ear behind the counter. Every time some fresh scandal hit the capital, the teahouses made a killing—they all loved it when the city had a good lively bit of chaos.
In an elegant private room upstairs, a grim-faced young man in embroidered robes overheard the chatter below. Standing by the window and staring down at the lively scene, he let out a cold laugh.
"Lu Jinshuang, I refuse to believe the Emperor will keep tolerating you if you keep messing up like this. Once the timing is right, your grandfather's military power will be mine for the taking."
The Fourth Prince hated the Seventh Princess to his very core. Having been beaten so badly that he couldn't leave his bed for three days had become the talk of the capital—his pride and dignity were in tatters. These days he barely set foot outside, terrified of people whispering about him behind his back.
If it weren't for the military authority held by Duke Zhen, he would have already sent assassins to slit the Seventh Princess's throat.
Now these two kids had shown up—perfect material for him to exploit. If he could turn Duke Anguo against the Seventh Princess, that would be better than anything he could have hoped for.
With that thought, he strode toward the door. He needed to have someone deliver a heavily embellished account of the affair to his dear father the Emperor.
Meanwhile, Lu Jinshuang had no idea what trouble the two girls had stirred up. She was standing with her head lowered in the main hall, enduring a scolding.
If she hadn't been worried that talking back might earn her house arrest, she would've fired right back ages ago. Was it her fault someone had ruined the Emperor's dragon robe? It wasn't like she'd told anyone to snip it.
Besides, her imperial father spent all day watching alchemists refine pills and swallowing those elixirs—why not just wear a Daoist robe and be done with it? What was the point of keeping a dragon robe around?
She stood blank-faced in the middle of the hall while, beside her, Lu Shiwan also kept her head low and stayed silent, occasionally tugging at Lu Jinshuang's sleeve whenever she looked about to snap back.
They bore it for a full half an hour, until the old sovereign finally seemed tired of ranting and stopped.
Just as Lu Jinshuang thought it was over, a young eunuch hurried in from outside.
He whispered a few words to the head eunuch and then withdrew. The head eunuch froze for a second before addressing the Emperor, "Your Majesty, word has just come from outside the palace. Duke Anguo's young grandson has been injured—apparently quite seriously. The one who did it..."
He trailed off and cast a glance at Lu Jinshuang, making her stomach drop unpleasantly.
The old Emperor barked, "Stop dithering and get to the point. I'm the Emperor—do you think I have time to manage every street brawl that happens in this city?"
The head eunuch hurried on, "Your Majesty, the ones who did it are two children. They're the sworn sisters the Seventh Princess just acknowledged. The girl carried some sort of concealed weapon, and she nearly crippled Duke Anguo's grandson's arm."
After hearing this, Lu Shiwan was first shocked, then sighed inwardly—she had endured all that scolding for nothing. If she had known there was a twist like this coming, she wouldn't have bothered to mediate.
