Princess Qingyun imdiately looked toward the man in the hall.
Only to see Li Chengxun’s gaze fixed on the thin, yet straight, back of the woman before him.
The Empress Dowager sneered, "Just now, Li Chengxun said you two have no engagent. Why, then, would his marriage require your consent?"
"Mr. Li and I have long had..."
Ji Qingwu’s words rang out in the hall at the sa ti as a detached, cold male voice.
"I have no connection to Miss Ji, nor any private affections for her."
Ji Qingwu turned back to look at him in astonishnt.
Li Chengxun t her bewildered eyes and stated, word by word, "Miss Ji must have misspoken."
After speaking, he lowered his gaze, unwilling to see the deep disappointnt and shock filling her brilliant eyes.
Hearing this answer, Princess Qingyun couldn’t suppress the smile on her lips, and a look of satisfaction appeared on the Empress Dowager’s face as well.
Ji Qingwu was montarily lost in confusion.
It felt as if she were fighting on a battlefield, filled with lonely courage, only to turn around and find that the city gates she was desperately defending had raised a white flag.
For a mont, she went deaf.
The Empress Dowager’s lips moved, but Ji Qingwu couldn’t hear what she said.
’I’m probably about to be beaten with a plank.’
A strange emotion welled up inside her. The note Emperor Wu Su had left for her contained just two words: sever ties.
To sever ties, cut off contact, and draw a clear line...
’How ridiculous. I’m the one about to be punished, yet I haven’t done it. Instead, Li Chengxun was the first to act so decisively.’
Just then, two palace maids ca over to grab her.
They seized her by the arms and began to drag her outside.
Ji Qingwu scanned the faces of everyone in the hall.
The Empress Dowager rolled her Buddha Beads, waved her sleeve to signal them to hurry up and drag her away, while Princess Qingyun watched smugly with a pout.
A flicker of pain seed to cross Li Chengxun’s eyes, but he remained seated steadily in the hall.
Ji Qingwu tensed her arms and suddenly shoved both palace maids holding her to the ground.
"I will not admit to this fault!"
"And I will not accept this punishnt!"
Seeing her actions, the Empress Dowager stood up and rebuked angrily, "What do you think this place is? How dare you be so insolent!"
A smirk ford on Ji Qingwu’s lips.
"The Princess was the one who wronged first. Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, you clearly know everything. The Princess feigns illness to win your motherly compassion—do I not have a mother? Do I not have a family that loves ?"
The Empress Dowager’s heart sank when she heard the ntion of a mother and family.
’If I punish her, the Ji Family won’t raise much of an objection. The difficult part is Ji Qingwu’s maternal family.’
’Qiao nghan is the Crown Prince’s Tutor, and his four sons are all officials in the sa court. A family of upright scholars like that values their reputation above all else. If they were to make trouble in court over this, even I, the Empress Dowager, might not be able to suppress it.’
Ji Qingwu held her head high, her expression stubborn, and said, "Punish if you must, but I will not accept this punishnt."
She turned her gaze to the gracefully poised man sitting on the chair.
"Since Mr. Li says he has no connection to , why don’t we invite my maternal grandmother and uncle to co and ask him if that is truly the case?"
Li Chengxun’s brow twitched slightly.
The Empress Dowager deliberated for a mont before speaking. "Qingwu, this Dowager doesn’t wish to punish you either. But your temperant is too lawless. You react like this after just a few words. Have you forgotten that a woman should be quiet, gentle, and virtuous?"
After weighing her options, the Empress Dowager sighed and said, "The beating is waived. Go kneel at the entrance as punishnt."
When the palace maids moved to grab her again, Ji Qingwu said, "There’s no need. I have legs, I can walk."
"What kneeling?"
An ethereal voice ca from the entrance.
Everyone in the hall looked over in unison.
Princess Hua Chang entered the hall, holding a small fan decorated with white magnolias, followed by two maids.
She fanned herself lightly, dressed in an elegant, pale blue palace gown. The cuffs were embroidered with silver peonies, and the hem depicted a pattern of blue seawater reflecting clouds.
Princess Hua Chang greeted her coolly, "Mother Empress."
The Empress Dowager seed dazed for a mont before saying in surprise, "Hua Chang, you’re here."
Qingyun stood up, lowered her head, and respectfully called out, "Elder Sister."
Princess Hua Chang glanced at Li Chengxun and said, "The gentleman will withdraw. This Princess has so words for the Empress Dowager."
Qingyun watched reluctantly as the man’s figure retreated from the hall.
The mont Ji Qingwu saw the Eldest Princess, who looked like a celestial fairy descended to earth, her heart fluttered and her indignation subsided. She didn’t even notice when Li Chengxun had left.
’Indeed, looking at a beautiful woman can soothe one’s mood.’
Princess Hua Chang sat down in Qingyun’s seat. Her every move was as graceful as drifting wind and swirling snow.
She asked, "This Princess heard quite a ruckus from the entrance just now. Who was the Empress Dowager arguing with?"
The Empress Dowager returned to her throne, avoiding Princess Hua Chang’s icy gaze.
Shixi stepped forward to explain, "Your Highness, there was no argunt in the room. Perhaps you misheard due to the distance."
"This Princess is speaking with the Empress Dowager. What is your status that you dare to interrupt?"
Princess Hua Chang was blunt with the Empress Dowager’s Chief Palace Maid.
Shixi hurriedly knelt. "This servant spoke out of turn. This servant is guilty."
"If you are guilty, you should be punished," Princess Hua Chang said coolly. "Go kneel at the entrance."
Shixi didn’t even try to defend herself, and the Empress Dowager didn’t stop her. She simply went out and knelt.
’How is this any different from slapping the Empress Dowager directly in the face?’
’If the Eldest Princess hadn’t appeared, the one kneeling would have been .’
Her eyes lit up. ’It seems I’ve discovered sothing extraordinary.’
Ever since Princess Hua Chang appeared, the Empress Dowager had been like a frost-bitten eggplant—all her imposing aura and dignity were gone.
Noticing Ji Qingwu’s gaze, a hint of a smile appeared in Princess Hua Chang’s placid eyes.
"This Princess has heard that Miss Ji stayed the night at Zhaoyang Hall yesterday."
’The Eldest Princess lives outside the palace. How is she so well-inford that she even knows I stayed in the Emperor’s bedchambers?’
Ji Qingwu quickly turned her head back, her fingers tightening, and said softly, "I was only borrowing a place to stay for one night."
Gone was her earlier defiant, "baring fangs and brandishing claws" attitude. She now stood obediently to the side.
"This Princess ca looking for Miss Ji. A few days ago, you visited the Princess Mansion, and we agreed on a date for a follow-up consultation. This Princess waited for you for a long ti this morning."
Ji Qingwu raised her delicate eyebrows and t the Eldest Princess’s cool, serene gaze. She slowly confird, "Was that... today...?"
"Miss Ji, you are so young, yet your mory is so poor. You must take the matter of my treatnt more seriously."
Ji Qingwu ekly agreed.
"Mother Empress, I’ll be taking her with now."
Princess Hua Chang stood up without waiting for the Empress Dowager’s reply.
The Empress Dowager watched the two figures—one in blue, one in cyan—depart, then shoved the teacup on the table to the floor.
’Just because she got leverage on once, does that an I have to be controlled by her for the rest of my life? This can’t go on...’
「Leaving Cining Palace.」
Ji Qingwu followed quietly behind Princess Hua Chang.
She stared as the princess’s long skirt fanned out with each step, like layers upon layers of peonies blooming in an azure lake.
"Is there nothing you want to ask ?"
Princess Hua Chang asked faintly, no longer referring to herself as ’this Princess’.
"For instance, why I ca? Or why I helped you out of that predicant?"
A glint appeared in Ji Qingwu’s eyes.
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