Hearing this
, Zhou Yuyi raised an eyebrow, about to turn and lash out with the whip again.
But unexpectedly, a sudden change occurred. Almost the instant she turned, the horse beneath her went berserk, its hoof throwing her off its back. She landed heavily on the scattered pastries in her bag, rolling around covered in crumbs.
Before she could react, the wild horse's hoof came crashing down on her again.
In extreme fear, Zhou Yuyi froze, her eyes tightly shut before the shadow fell, as if the hoof wouldn't come down unless she opened them.
Amidst gasps, the hoof struck heavily.
"Thump—"
Having not felt pain for a while, Zhou Yuyi slowly opened her eyes, trembling.
She saw Jie Xiangsi holding the reins in one hand and stroking the horse's neck with the other, whispering something to the horse. Seeing her look over, Jie Xiangsi raised an eyebrow and smiled at her.
Provocation, absolutely provocation!
Seeing her piercing smile, Zhou Yuyi trembled with rage, pointing at Xie Xiangsi and shouting, "You dare hurt me?! Do you want to die?!"
Sensing the ferocity in her tone, Qingshu couldn't help but be startled. She stepped forward, protectively shielding Xie Xiangsi behind her, but Xie Xiangsi gently patted her, giving her a reassuring look.
Smiling at Zhou Yuyi, who was still sprawled on the ground, Xie Xiangsi tilted her head and said earnestly, "Who said I hurt you?"
Seeing Zhou Yuyi's confusion, Xie Xiangsi kindly pointed to the ground, "Look."
Zhou Yuyi looked in that direction and saw that the hem of her clothes was tightly pressed down by the horse's hoof, right next to her knee. Seeing this, Zhou Yuyi felt a chill run down her spine.
If the hoof had landed even an inch off course, her leg would probably be gone by now.
"You...bitch." Zhou Yuyi tugged at her clothes, glaring fiercely at Jie Xiangsi, wishing she could whip her until her skin was torn and bleeding.
Hearing that she still refused to yield, Jie Xiangsi raised an eyebrow, her hand holding the reins twitching almost imperceptibly.
The next moment, the hem of Zhou Yuyi's clothes, which she was about to pull out, was stomped down again by the horse's hoof.
"You!"
Zhou Yuyi was both shocked and angry, and seeing Jie Xiangsi looking at her calmly, she felt a strange sense of humiliation.
In her anger, the string of reason snapped, and she quickly drew a short knife from her waistband. With a swift stroke, she cut the piece of clothing that was trapped under the horse's hoof, and then, in a swift movement, plunged the knife into the horse's thigh.
The red horse, provoked by the pain, reared up, letting out a agonizing neigh before bolting towards the crowd. Xie Xiangsi, holding the reins, hadn't expected Zhou Yuyi's move and was immediately thrown off balance by the wild horse. At the
same time, Zhou Yuyi lunged at Xie Xiangsi, biting her shoulder and snarling,
"You little bitch! I'll kill you!"
Xie Xiangsi, unable to dodge, was caught off guard and felt the pain in her shoulder. She thought, "Is Zhou Yuyi a dog?!" She then frowned and lunged at Zhou Yuyi's abdomen with her knee.
Zhou Yuyi, not to be outdone, grabbed Xie Xiangsi's hair.
Seeing this, Qing Shu rolled up her sleeves and shouted, quickly joining the fray.
"Girl! I'll help you!"
Suddenly, a sharp, piercing shout rang out from afar.
"Imperial Guards, stop right there!"
Under the gloomy sky, Su Feng rode in on a pure black steed, still holding the reins of the horse that Zhou Yuyi had just stabbed. He was now sternly watching the three people in the center of the commotion.
Sensing someone's arrival, Xie Xiangsi secretly pushed Zhou Yuyi away with a flick of her wrist, then cried out and fell to the ground, inadvertently revealing the wound on her arm. She looked up at Su Feng, two lines of tears slowly sliding down her cheeks.
"My lord..."
When they faced each other, Su Feng finally recognized the person on the ground.
After a moment of silence, Su Feng exclaimed in surprise, "Yan Zhi's cousin?!"
Xie Xiangsi, who had just recognized who it was, was speechless.
It was Su Feng?!
...
The main hall of the Dali Temple.
Zhou Yanzhi had just finished interrogating prisoners in the dark prison when his subordinates reported that Su Feng had come to see him. He assumed it was something important, so without even changing his clothes, he hurriedly washed his hands and, still reeking of blood, rushed into the main hall, calling out without looking up, "Su Feng?"
Unexpectedly, a soft voice answered him.
"Cousin."
Zhou Yanzhi: "Cousin?"
Hearing Xie Xiangsi's voice, Zhou Yanzhi realized that Su Feng wasn't the only one in the main hall today. He looked up and saw
Xie Xiangsi and Qing Shu wiping away tears with handkerchiefs on one side, and the Fifth Princess Zhou Yuyi, furious, on the other side. Su Feng, sandwiched between the two, was forcing a bitter smile. Oh, and Mo Yue and Yu He were making faces at Zhou Yuyi.
Wow, quite lively.
Seeing Zhou Yanzhi enter, Zhou Yuyi instantly stood up from her chair, shoved Su Feng aside, and rushed to Zhou Yanzhi, saying sweetly, "Cousin! She bullied me!"
Seeing this, Xie Xiangsi also rushed over, grabbing Zhou Yanzhi's sleeve and pouting, "Cousin..."
Her voice was exceptionally weak and vulnerable.
Hearing this, Zhou Yuyi's barely suppressed anger flared up again. She also grabbed Zhou Yanzhi's sleeve, saying aggrievedly, "Cousin, she deliberately made me fall from my horse and embarrass myself."
Unexpectedly, Xie Xiangsi also raised her injured arm, weakly saying, "Cousin, the Fifth Princess whipped me..." As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes, and coupled with the shocking whip marks, she looked exceptionally pitiful.
Sure enough, a hint of heartache flashed in Zhou Yanzhi's eyes, who was still unaware of the situation. He turned his head and looked heavily at Zhou Yuyi on the other side, his tone heavy, "Your Highness?"
He couldn't hide the reproach in his voice.
Zhou Yuyi glared angrily. This bitch, was she doing this on purpose?!
Su Feng gave her medicine earlier, but she refused to use it; now she's playing the victim!
She couldn't help but shout, "Since you know I'm the Fifth Princess, why don't you kneel down and admit your guilt?!"
Jie Xiangsi choked back tears as she retorted, "I know the Fifth Princess is of noble birth, a person of the highest order. But even so, there's no such thing as someone with power and influence being able to harm others at will. Fortunately, Your Highness only struck a commoner today. If one day Your Highness didn't see clearly and lashed out with your whip, it wouldn't be good if you injured another noblewoman."
Hearing this, Zhou Yuyi forced a laugh. This little bitch hadn't said this to Su Feng just now.
Back then, she was incredibly eloquent, quoting classical texts to ridicule her, implying that she had gone mad and attacked people indiscriminately, and that being trampled by a horse's hooves was her own fault, subtly mocking her for falling because of poor horsemanship.
But only Zhou Yuyi knew that she had secretly flicked something onto the horse's belly, startling it and causing it to rear up and throw her off.
"It was clearly you..." Zhou Yuyi said angrily.
"Enough," Zhou Yanzhi said in a deep voice.
Upon hearing Zhou Yanzhi speak, Zhou Yuyi stopped talking, feeling wronged. Unexpectedly, Xie Xiangsi, under the guise of wiping away tears, smiled at her and silently mouthed: "Yes, it's me."
Zhou Yuyi gritted her teeth and immediately reached out to pull her away.
The next second, her outstretched arm was forcefully pulled away.
Zhou Yanzhi said coldly, "Your Highness!"
Seeing the coldness in Zhou Yanzhi's eyes, Zhou Yuyi lowered her head dejectedly.
From childhood, among the royal relatives, she feared Zhou Yanzhi the most. While her other brothers still yielded to her, Zhou Yanzhi had already learned to point out her mistakes without mercy and was not afraid of her threats at all.
Therefore, although they were cousins, there was no affection between them whatsoever.
Not daring to throw a tantrum any longer, Zhou Yuyi returned to her chair sullenly.
Seeing this, Xie Xiangsi was secretly delighted. If the occasion weren't inappropriate, she would have laughed out loud and mocked her.
Just then, Zhou Yanzhi pointed to an empty seat for her, his tone equally cold.
"You sit down too."
Xie Xiangsi: "..."
Xie Xiangsi: "Okay."
Releasing Zhou Yanzhi's wrinkled sleeve, Xie Xiangsi obediently returned to her chair, looking as docile as could be.
Seeing their equally disheveled appearance, Zhou Yanzhi sighed heavily. Thinking about why he sighed, he turned to Su Feng, who was preparing to sneak away and be all set, and said, "Yunyun, you tell us."
Hearing this, Su Feng, caught red-handed, stiffened, clapped his hands, turned around elegantly, and recounted from beginning to end how he saw the mad horse and why the three of them were fighting.
As he spoke, Su Feng glanced at Xie Xiangsi, who sat upright to the side, thinking to himself, "You can't judge a book by its cover. She looks so gentle and delicate, but I never expected her to be so sharp-tongued and ruthless."
She always targets places others can't see. The physician had just said that although the Fifth Princess appeared unharmed, her injuries were internal and required careful care. Xie Xiangsi, on the other hand, aside from a messy hair, a whip mark, and a few bite marks, seemed unharmed.
Thinking this, Su Feng patted Zhou Yanzhi on the shoulder, giving him a pitying look.
One was his cousin, the other his cousin; the former was of noble birth, the latter of lowly status.
But the former was at fault first—how to judge this? It was a real headache.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Yanzhi seemed untroubled. After hearing Su Feng's explanation, he made his decision and asked Zhou Yuyi, "So, Your Highness injured someone first?"
Xie Xiangsi nodded frantically, while Zhou Yuyi reluctantly hummed in agreement.
"Why?" Zhou Yanzhi frowned.
Zhou Yuyi tugged at her whip, her voice lacking confidence, "She bought the last portion of Golden Silk Pastry Cake, and I didn't get any. I was already quite upset, and then I saw her and her maid laughing, which made me angry. In a moment of impulse, I..."
"Just because of a pastry?" Zhou Yanzhi found it unbelievable.
Zhou Yuyi nodded listlessly.
At the beginning of the year, her father had sent her to Huguo Temple to cultivate, where she had been eating vegetarian food for several months. She was already quite irritable and was thinking of secretly going down the mountain to buy some food, but unexpectedly, the last portion was bought by someone else, and her temper flared up immediately.
Hearing this, Su Feng's eyes widened in surprise. This Fifth Princess's temper really was growing stronger every year. Just for a pastry, she made such a fuss. It was truly... hard to know what to say.
Zhou Yanzhi chuckled in exasperation, "So you beat my cousin up like that?"
Sensing the displeasure in Zhou Yanzhi's tone, Zhou Yuyi felt aggrieved: "I'm your cousin too! Didn't she beat me up too? Why are you only siding with her?"
Hearing this absurd remark, Zhou Yanzhi didn't want to pay attention.
Su Feng, however, tried to smooth things over, saying, "Oh, Fifth Princess, well… after all, the girl didn't do anything wrong. You hit her first, how can Yanzhi side with you? Besides, you ran away from Huguo Temple without permission; Yanzhi hasn't exposed you yet, which is already showing you favoritism."
Seeing that the situation was slightly more relaxed, Su Feng summoned a guard and said with a smile, "How about this, Princess, return to Huguo Temple first. When you return to the palace, I'll personally buy you some pastries."
Hearing this, Zhou Yuyi thought for a moment, then nodded, agreeing with Su Feng's suggestion.
Seeing this, Su Feng breathed a sigh of relief. He'd finally gotten rid of this troublesome person. Zhou Yanzhi was the Fifth Princess's cousin; he might have offended someone, but the Fifth Princess might not let him off so easily. If he didn't handle it properly, the consequences would be dire.
What a miserable fate! Why was he on duty today?
With a smile on his face but tears in his eyes, Su Feng saw him off, patted Zhou Yanzhi's shoulder, and left, his heart heavy. He
'd leave the rest of his cousin to Yanzhi to deal with; he really couldn't handle it.
...
Seeing that Zhou Yuyi was truly gone, Jie Xiangsi lowered her eyes, trying her best to suppress the upward curve of her lips, afraid that she might burst out laughing.
But how could Zhou Yanzhi not notice her little scheme? However
, he didn't expose her, only saying helplessly, "Alright, cousin, she's gone. Can you apply the medicine now?"
He had noticed when she and Zhou Yuyi were struggling earlier; the whip mark on her arm hadn't been treated yet. It was hard for her to still be secretly provoking Zhou Yuyi even in her condition.
Despite having her thoughts exposed, Jie Xiangsi wasn't ashamed. She openly offered her arm to Qing Shu, who had already prepared tools for cleaning the wound. However, because it was so late, the inner fabric of her clothing was inevitably stuck to the wound.
Qing Shu said softly, "Miss, the fabric is stuck here. I'll try to be gentle."
Jie Xiangsi was about to say that it wasn't necessary to go to such trouble when Zhou Yanzhi stepped forward, took the tools from Qing Shu, and said in a deep voice, "I'll do it."
Before Jie Xiangsi could refuse, he tore off the fabric stuck to the flesh, and instantly, layers of blood gushed out from the mangled wound.
Seeing the tears welling up in Jie Xiangsi's eyes from the intense pain, Zhou Yanzhi pursed his lips and said earnestly, "Cousin, a short pain is better than a long one. You must be strong."
Qing Shu, Mo Yue, and Yu He, who thought Zhou Yanzhi would show her mercy, were speechless . Jie Xiangsi,
who thought her crush plan had taken another step forward, was also speechless
. Suppressing the urge to punch Zhou Yanzhi, Jie Xiangsi smiled through her tears.
"Okay, thank you, cousin. I will be strong."