Meng Anli tidied herself up. Calculating that no one else should be coming, she prepared to cultivate when a knock sounded at the door.
Lu Yao hurried her into bed before going to answer it.
Liuyin entered with two immortal maidens, her chin raised as she swept a disdainful glance around the room. With distaste, she lightly flicked her cloud-patterned handkerchief up to cover her nose and mouth.
Lu Yao mocked her unhappily. "Stop covering up. How could this place possibly stink more than you foxes do?"
Liuyin's expression shifted slightly, but she promptly raised her head arrogantly again. "Meng Anli, the Crown Prince asked me to bring you medicine."
Meng Anli said blandly, "Put it down."
"What?"
Liuyin stared at her in surprise. Shouldn't she have leaped out of bed, rushed over excitedly to see what medicines they were, then eagerly grabbed her and asked after the Crown Prince?
Lu Yao was delighted. Folding her arms across her chest, she lifted her face and looked down at Liuyin.
"Are your ears failing? Our Anli told you to put it down."
Liuyin ignored her and said to Meng Anli, "The Crown Prince sent it."
She deliberately stressed the words "Crown Prince."
Meng Anli coughed lightly. "I said I understand. Put it down. Sorry to make you run all this way. Go back and tell the Crown Prince that I'm perfectly well. If he's still worried, he can come himself."
Liuyin laughed at her last sentence. "I thought you truly didn't care. So you're just playing hard to get."
"Playing hard to get?"
Meng Anli gave a bitter smile. "He protected the person who harmed me. Whatever feelings I had for him have scattered to the winds. I asked him to come because I want to discuss breaking off our engagement with him."
"Really?" The corners of Liuyin's lips rose of their own accord, only for her to force them down. "Don't say such things in anger."
"When the Crown Prince comes, he'll know whether I spoke in anger." She pulled the cloud quilt over her head. "I'm tired. You should go."
"You'd best remember what you said today. Don't regret it."
Liuyin had the immortal maidens put down the medicine, then turned and left. The moment she stepped outside, she began shouting, "Meng Anli wants to break off her engagement with the Crown Prince? Is she really doing it, or is she playing hard to get?"
"Meng Anli says she wants to break off her engagement with the Crown Prince, but she's really trying to lure the Crown Prince over, isn't she?"
"..."
Lu Yao shut the door, then turned to look at Meng Anli, who had already gotten out of bed.
"Weren't you going to avoid falling out with the Crown Prince for now? Why did you bring up breaking off the engagement? Liuyin will probably talk all the way there. By the time she reaches the Crown Prince's residence, the whole Heavenly Realm will know."
Meng Anli took out a meditation cushion and sat cross-legged upon it.
"I'm so heartbroken that naturally I ought to say a few things in anger. It can also lay the groundwork for truly breaking off the engagement later. At a juncture like this, the Crown Prince won't agree to end it. He'll only be relieved that I won't trouble him for the time being."
Lu Yao understood. Her eyes shone brightly as she looked at her. "Our Anli is so clever."
"Let me see what sort of pills that rotten persimmon sent." She opened the pile of medicines.
Meng Anli sneered. "How could he have prepared them himself? Liuyin prepared these."
Lu Yao had already opened them. "Two bottles of Eighth-grade bruise and sprain external application medicine, one bottle of Fifth-grade internal injury healing pills, and one bottle of Third-grade calming pills."
The highest grade for medicine was twelve, but medicines above the tenth grade were few and far between.
Lu Yao commented, "They're passable, at least."
Meng Anli did not care in the slightest. "Let's cultivate."
"Coming~"
Lu Yao casually set the pills aside and cultivated alongside Meng Anli.
Sure enough, Liuyin spread the news as she walked. Before she herself arrived, her words had already reached Shaoguang's ears.
When she returned to the Crown Prince's residence, she was met head-on by Shaoguang's dark expression.
With a grim face, Shaoguang pinched her mouth. "Such a loose tongue?"
Liuyin's eyes were soft and seductive. "Please calm your anger, Crown Prince. This servant merely felt that Meng Anli was throwing a little tantrum this time. If Your Highness generously overlooked past grievances and indulged her, you would win even more hearts."
"A little tantrum?"
Shaoguang released her. This was truly something new—Meng Anli had never thrown a little tantrum before him.
"Yes."
Liuyin repeated Meng Anli's exact words and described her demeanor as well.
Shaoguang mocked, "Give her a pole, and she really knows how to climb it."
Liuyin leaned against his chest. "It's just a little scheme we women have~ She's waiting for Your Highness to comfort her. It happens to be a fine opportunity for Your Highness to win people over."
"She cannot be spoiled too much. Whether she was throwing a tantrum or not, she should not have mentioned breaking off the engagement. Where would that leave my dignity? I will punish her."
The Crown Prince pushed her away. "Go handle another matter for me..."
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