The Crown Prince, watching from the side, chuckled and remarked, “This girl is quite interesting.” Cao Fugui, however, felt a shiver run down his spine. Within the royal family, being labelled as 'interesting' was rarely a good thing.
Li Hui stepped forward to apologize, “Your Highness, please forgive my sister's recklessness.”
“It’s Yunxia’s fault, your sister was an innocent victim.” He was well aware of Princess Yunxia's temperament. But Li Xia's actions today took him by surprise. She didn't exhibit the common fear of a maiden, nor did she argue for justice. Instead, she demonstrated a strong aura by resorting to self-harm as a response, leaving Yunxia speechless.
“I think she's too reckless. A lady's hand is part of her dignity, and she’s not cherishing herself,” Cao Fugui expressed his distaste for Li Xia's behaviour.
“When did you start parroting these pedantic scholars?” The Crown Prince lost interest in Li Xia.
Cao Fugui was displeased, “I did not! Cousin, don't make false accusations. If my father hears this, I'll surely be punished again.”
“The uncle is just looking out for you,” The Crown Prince found Cao Fugui’s dandyish behaviour troublesome.
“I'm living a more relaxed and joyful life this way. Living like my elder brother, busy every day of the year without rest, is too exhausting,” Cao Fugui felt tired just thinking about it. He preferred his carefree lifestyle. Then, eager to change the subject, Cao Fugui suggested, “This green plum is not interesting. Let's go to the Viewing Plum Pavilion to see the red plums.”
The Crown Prince didn’t argue. They left together, and although Li Hui didn’t want to leave, he was dragged away by Cao Fugui.
Feng Zhenzhen, along with Li Xin and Li Xia, returned to her residence. The house doctor had been waiting there. Li Xin carefully unwrapped the bandaged handkerchief.
After the doctor examined and cleaned the wound, he applied some medicine and re-bandaged it, “Be careful not to get the wound wet.”
“Will it leave a scar?” Li Xin was worried about Li Xia's hand developing a scar.
“Sis, don’t worry. I cut my palm, no one will notice,” Li Xia had thought this through before acting.
Feng Zhenzhen, who cared deeply about appearances, couldn't accept this. How could a beauty be marred, especially such delicate, rounded hands? A scar would be such a shame. Before she could speak, noticing the blood on Li Xia's clothes, she changed the subject, “Yue Ping, fetch the new winter clothes I had made.”
The maid Yue Ping agreed and went to fetch the winter clothes.
Only when Feng Zhenzhen mentioned clothing did Li Xia notice the blood on her own. She thought to herself that this was bad, definitely her aunt would notice when she got home, and her ears would suffer again.
Yue Ping quickly fetched a set of winter clothes, and Feng Zhenzhen looked at Li Xia, “Sister Xia, our heights and figures are similar. Please make do with this set of clothes.”
“Thank you, Sister Feng,” Li Xia didn’t refuse. Qiu Chan took the winter clothes from Yue Ping. She followed Li Xia behind the screen, and together with Qiu Ling, they helped Li Xia change into clean clothes. Qiu Ling combed Li Xia's hair again while Qiu Chan took care of the dirty clothes.
In the outer room, the doctor brought a scar-removal medicine. Feng Zhenzhen took it and handed it to Li Xin, “This is the best scar-removal cream from the Feng Residence. Let Sister Xia apply more of it, and the scar will surely fade.”
“Thank you, Sister Feng,” Li Xin took it and thanked Feng Zhenzhen.
Feng Zhenzhen felt a bit embarrassed. Today's incident was partly her fault. When Princess Yunxia wanted to cut the plum branches, she should have let her. There was no need to argue, which ended up causing Li Xia to get hurt.
"Sister Feng, if you say so, my injury seems to be in vain," Li Xia walked out from behind the screen. Feng Zhenzhen turned around to see Li Xia in a new outfit, "I'm glad I didn't wear this dress, otherwise it would have been wasted."
Feng Zhenzhen's words made everyone in the room laugh. The maid Yue Ping was somewhat helpless about her lady's habit of speaking without thinking when she saw a beauty. This laughter dissipated the gloomy atmosphere in the room that had been caused by Li Xia's injury.
Lady Li sent someone to find Feng Zhenzhen. The most important thing at this year's plum blossom banquet was to arrange a match for Feng Zhenzhen.
Li Xia's hand was injured and it was inconvenient for her to go, and Feng Zhenzhen herself didn't want to go. But the person who came was Lady Li's head maid. It was clear that Feng Zhenzhen was in a difficult position. Li Xin spoke up, "Sister Feng, I'll stay here with Xia. You go ahead."
Seeing this, Feng Zhenzhen left Yue Ping to take care of the Li sisters and left with her maid.
Soon, a table full of delicious food was brought in, and Yue Ping stood by to serve. Li Xin picked up a chopstick and fed Li Xia.
"Sis, it's my left hand that's injured, my right hand is fine," said Li Xia, extending her unharmed right hand. Li Xin grunted in response, without saying a word. Li Xia turned her head to see Li Xin silently shedding tears.
Li Xia opened her mouth, and Li Xin looked at her in confusion.
"Aren't you going to feed me?" Li Xia opened her mouth again. Li Xin wiped her tears and picked up Li Xia's favorite dish to feed her.
The two waited for Feng Zhenzhen to return and then said their goodbyes.
Feng Zhenzhen escorted Li Xin and Li Xia to the door, where Li Hui was already waiting. He carefully checked the two of them for any other issues. Then he took them in a carriage back to Osmanthus Alley.
After sending off the Li siblings, Feng Zhenzhen went to Lady Li's room and detailed the events. After hearing this, Lady Li couldn't help but sigh, "Princess Yunxia is too bullying."
By this time, Feng Zhenzhen was not so angry, but rather exclaimed, "Mother, I never thought that Xia would dare to cut herself with scissors."
"This girl is not simple," Lady Li nodded, considering the situation at the time. Li Xia did not kneel and beg for mercy, nor did she flaunt her beauty. Instead, she directly and decisively injured herself. Not only did she foil Yunxia's plan, but she also slapped the other party in the face. "But this has completely offended the Yun Prince's Manor."
"Mother, this is my fault, please help Xia," Feng Zhenzhen pleaded, holding Lady Li's hand. Lady Li grunted in response.
On the way back, Lady Luo of The Cheng'en Mansion also learned about the incident from Cao Fugui. The Li sisters were invited by her daughter-in-law to the Feng family. Being bullied like this was a slap in her face.
Without returning to The Cheng'en Mansion, she instructed the carriage to detour to the palace. She handed in her card, she wanted to see the Empress.
The Empress was worried about her brother and nephew when Lady Luo arrived just before the palace gates were about to be locked. She quickly had Lady Luo brought in. Lady Luo had married into the Cao family before the Empress had left her maiden home. The relationship between the two was very good. Lady Luo did not beat around the bush, nor did she exaggerate, she simply recounted the conflict between the Li sisters and Princess Yunxia.
Not to mention that the Li family were the saviors of her daughter. Just the fact that Princess Yunxia had someone cut the plum branch of the old Feng Grand Tutor was very rude. When the late Emperor was alive, the old Feng Grand Tutor directly refused to cut this plum branch. Yet, she, a mere princess, dared to be so arrogant.
Upon finishing her talk, Lady Luo didn't linger, leaving just in time before the palace gates were locked.
The next day in the imperial court, an Imperial Censor accused the Yun Prince's Manor of negligence in educating their women, alleging that Princess Yunxia had intentionally inflicted harm on others.
The Yun Prince was the Emperor's half-brother, sharing a different mother. Their mother, Consort Jing, had once assisted the Grand Empress Dowager and the Emperor when they had lost favor many years ago. Hence, whenever someone reported against the Yun Prince's Manor, the Emperor had always been lenient. The ministers expected the same this time, but to their surprise, the Emperor punished Princess Yunxia by confining her to her quarters for three months to reflect on her actions and ordered her to transcribe the Book of Rites a hundred times.
