ebookland Chapter 450 No Tolerance, No False Accusations
Chapter 450 No Tolerance, No False Accusations
Wenwen responded neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Young Master An insulted the people of the General's Mansion, and I naturally had to stop him. The people of my General's Mansion are loyal to the emperor and the country, and we cannot allow others to trample on them at will."
These words carried weight and caused the An siblings, who had been distorting the facts in their complaint, to change their expressions.
This matter involves Junhe State, and no matter how you look at it, it's all their fault. In their view, it was originally a trivial matter, something so insignificant. But suddenly it's been elevated to a higher level, and then it's no longer a trivial matter.
The Seventh Princess fell silent for a moment, but since she had encountered and intervened in this matter, there was no reason for her to give up halfway, otherwise it would damage the royal family's reputation.
She ignored the mischievous glances from the An siblings behind her back, pondered for a few moments, and then carefully said, "All the families invited to the palace are loyal to the emperor and the country. Today is the year-end banquet, so it's best if things go smoothly. If there are any misunderstandings, it's not advisable to let them escalate. Miss Wen, do you understand?"
Before Wenwen could speak, An Erji interrupted, "Seventh Princess, she's an idiot. It would be strange if she could understand anything. Her whole family are brutes, fools, they don't deserve to... um..."
Before An Erji could finish speaking, An Lizhi hurriedly came over and covered his mouth.
At this moment, An Lizhi really wanted to give her younger brother a good beating. Why was this hothead talking so much today? Why couldn't he see her hints?
She gave him so many meaningful glances, but he didn't see a single one. He just kept babbling on and on to himself. How come I never noticed how talkative my little brother was before? What's going on?
An Lizhi's eyes darted around a few times, her mind reacting very quickly. She looked directly into An Erji's eyes, and the two stared at each other, blinking repeatedly. The tacit understanding between the siblings was on full display at this moment.
The next second, An Lizhi touched An Erji's forehead with one hand and patted his back with the other, crying out pitifully, "Little brother, are you running a high fever? What's wrong with you? Why are you talking nonsense all day, saying things that your older sister can't understand?"
"Big sister, my head hurts."
An Erji understood immediately and exaggerated his performance even more, "Ouch, my head is hurting like it's being pricked with needles. Big sister, I didn't mean to say anything inappropriate today, but my head is really hurting. It seems I'm really sick."
The siblings' clumsy acting couldn't fool the noble ladies watching; everyone knew the truth but felt a chill in their hearts.
The despicable behavior of the An siblings has once again set a new low for discipline!
The Seventh Princess thought the matter was over and was about to leave with her two siblings when a palace maid came looking for them.
"Princess, Her Majesty summons you to take Miss An and Young Master An to see the imperial physician. Go quickly."
These words came suddenly, but they gave the An siblings a way out.
Unexpectedly, just as the group turned around, a cold voice came from above.
"Please wait, Your Highness."
Everyone looked toward the source of the sound.
What a coincidence!
At this moment, everyone gathered at the corner of the door. Looking up from here, there was a two-story pavilion not far away, which offered a panoramic view of the entire side hall.
The person who spoke was none other than the Sixth Princess, who was sitting in the pavilion.
The Sixth Princess, the daughter of the late Consort Chen, was fostered under the care of the Imperial Consort. Nominally, she was the new emperor's sixth sister. Because Consort Chen and the Imperial Consort were like sisters, the Imperial Consort doted on the Sixth Princess. The emperor, who was then the crown prince, also loved her dearly.
This resulted in the sixth princess having a higher status than the other princesses in the palace.
As a result, the sixth princess, who was envied by others, was pushed off a rockery when she was young and accidentally broke her leg, resulting in paralysis of both legs and inability to walk. She could only use a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Today's palace banquet saw the arrival of two childhood friends, Yao Maimai and Yao Suisui, whom she hadn't seen for many years. Knowing that she didn't like crowds, the two sisters pushed her into the second-floor pavilion to look down at the many peers in the side hall, hoping to relieve her boredom.
Little did they know that the three of them had only been at the pavilion for a short time when they witnessed a farce.
"Sixth Princess, what do you mean!" The Seventh Princess raised an eyebrow and looked at the pavilion. "If you have difficulty walking, don't climb so high. Be careful not to fall down and hurt yourself and others."
The sixth princess was only one year older than the seventh princess. The two had never gotten along since childhood. Ever since the sixth princess broke her leg, she had become cold, but the Empress Dowager continued to treat her as always, showing her the same care. This made the seventh princess very resentful, and she would always make sarcastic remarks whenever they met.
However, the Sixth Princess seemed not to hear these words at all. She ignored them all and never uttered a single word against the Seventh Princess in front of the Empress Dowager or the Emperor.
This led the Seventh Princess to think she was easy to bully, and her sarcastic remarks became increasingly harsh and biting.
Just like right now.
The Sixth Princess ignored the Seventh Princess's second half of her sentence and spoke coldly.
"I happen to have a royal physician with me, so I asked Physician Liu to examine the injuries of the An siblings to prevent the misunderstanding from escalating and becoming unmanageable."
"Your Highness also knows the principle of harmony at today's year-end banquet. Everyone here can be a witness. I will report to the Empress Dowager and the Empress later on what I saw and heard in the pavilion today. I will not tolerate or falsely accuse any person who is loyal to the emperor and the country."
"Royal sister, do you think what I'm doing is appropriate?"
This last sentence reveals the Sixth Princess's domineering nature.
The seventh princess was puzzled.
The woman who used to be gentle and quiet, cold-hearted and indifferent to everything in her own world, is now actively intervening in the verbal disputes between noble ladies. This is clearly not the behavior of the Sixth Princess.
However, these were indeed the words spoken by the Sixth Princess herself, leaving her no room for rebuttal.
Faced with the facts, the Seventh Princess had no choice but to lower her head and say, "...I'll listen to my elder sister."
Soon, two people came down from the second-floor pavilion, a palace maid leading an old imperial physician into view.
The imperial physician was straightforward. He first examined the slap mark on An Lizhi's face and concluded that there was no need for medicine or ointment. He told her to go home and apply hot water to her face, and the redness and swelling would subside by tomorrow.
Then there were the injuries to An Erji's legs and back. Since he was a boy who had just turned twelve, the noble ladies here could not watch. By sheer coincidence, just when everyone was worried, several ladies walked over from the main hall and were pulled over to be witnesses.
So when An Erji's two chubby white legs appeared before the witnesses and the imperial physician, a lady scolded him unhappily, "Young man An, stop yelling! There's not a single red mark on your legs. Where did this injury come from? Could a little girl not even eight years old break your legs? Who would believe that? You can't make false accusations like that. You're so young, you should watch your mouth and not cause trouble for the family!"
These reproachful words instantly made An Erji blush. He started to protest, "Who said there are no red marks if there's no injury? I have internal injuries, internal injuries! What do you know?!"
"Ouch, besides my legs hurting, my back hurts too! You old man, are you any good at medicine? If not, find someone else. Ouch, it hurts so much."
Just then, a series of footsteps sounded at the entrance of the side hall.