Watch What You Say

"Father!"

Shangguan Niao cried out in panic and hastily threw on her clothes, which hung loosely around her, barely covering her body.

She pulled back the bed curtains.

At the sight of the familiar and unfamiliar faces before her, Shangguan Niao's mind went blank. Her legs gave way, and she tumbled off the bed with a thud.

Only one thought remained in her mind: It's over!

Everything is over.

Duke Dingguo pointed a trembling finger at Shangguan Niao's nose and roared, "Disgraceful wretch! How did Duke Dingguo's Residence produce such a shameless creature?"

"No, it wasn't me! Father, believe me!"

Shangguan Niao shook her head repeatedly, her voice trembling, her eyes filled with disbelieving panic and fear.

She slipped into a daze. "How did this happen? It shouldn't have been me!"

Suddenly, something occurred to her, and she jerked her head up.

Her eyes locked onto Shen Yuxi nearby, her gaze steeped in venom, as though she wished she could tear her apart alive.

"It was you, Shen Yuxi! You deliberately framed me!" Her voice was hoarse.

Shangguan Niao's eyes brimmed with malice.

[Pah! Bitches really are so full of themselves!]

The system was furious and launched into a tirade.

[You plotted to ruin my host's chastity, and now you're reaping what you sowed. How do you have the fucking gall to say my host framed you?]

[Don't be angry, little system. Look at you-your fur's all standing on end.] Shen Yuxi patted the system's head.

[Host, I just can't stand her. What a piece of work! Duke Dingguo must have the rottenest luck to end up with a daughter like her.]

Shen Yuxi said sympathetically, [Sigh, you can say that again. Duke Dingguo really is pitiful.]

Duke Dingguo: "..."

He had been wounded yet again.

"Shen Yuxi, how dare you mock me?"

"What sorcery did you use? Why am I here?"

Shen Yuxi said calmly, "Miss Shangguan, you can eat carelessly, but you can't speak carelessly. There's no grievance or enmity between us. Why would I frame you?"

"Besides, you should be asking yourself how you ended up here. I was about to ask who this man is. Do you fancy him, Miss Shangguan?"

"Even if you're desperate, there's a time and place, isn't there? Look at the spectacle you've made. How embarrassing." Shen Yuxi clicked her tongue and shook her head.

Her leisurely manner infuriated Shangguan Niao so much that she nearly spat blood.

"I don't even know him!"

Shangguan Niao was still making one final struggle. She looked at Duke Dingguo like a drowning person desperately clutching at the last life-saving straw.

She struggled to crawl to Duke Dingguo's feet and clung tightly to his legs with both hands.

Looking up, she sobbed, "Father, believe me! Shen Yuxi framed me! She sprayed something at me-I don't know what it was-and then I lost consciousness. I don't remember anything!"

"Insolence!"

Duke Dingguo kicked Shangguan Niao to the floor without holding back in the slightest.

Shangguan Niao screamed and lay helplessly on the floor.

"Shangguan Niao, I've always known you were vicious and petty, but I never imagined that not only would you harm your legitimate elder sister and hire someone to slash Qing'er's face, you would now refuse to repent and even sling mud at Lord Little Shen!"

Shangguan Niao had never expected Duke Dingguo to refuse to hear a single word of her explanation. She was his daughter! Her chastity had been violated, yet he showed no concern.

But what shocked her even more was that Duke Dingguo knew she had hired someone to slash Shangguan Qing's face.

The only person who knew everything was Shen Yuxi.

Shen Yuxi must have told Duke Dingguo.

The sight of the naked man on the bed irritated Duke Dingguo immensely. At his command, two servants stepped forward to drag the man away.

Like the other ladies and young misses, Shen Yuxi backed far away and covered her eyes, but she still caught a tiny glimpse.

Tsk, so small!

Just as the two servants were about to drag the man away, he seemed to regain his senses.

Looking at the scene before him, his eyes briefly filled with bewilderment.

"Second Miss, Second Miss? Tell them to let me go!"

The man looked at his own disheveled clothes and Shangguan Niao's as the two servants handled him roughly.

He hurriedly shouted, "Save me, Second Miss! Where are they taking me? Didn't you say you'd reward me afterward?"

He had obeyed the Second Miss's orders and waited in the side hall. Any woman who entered would be his.

Could that woman have meant the 'Second Miss'?

Those words completely cut off Shangguan Niao's last escape route.

Duke Dingguo burned with even greater fury and smashed a decorative vase beside him with a crash.

Everyone jolted in fright.

"Everyone, what follows is my family's private business. It would be inconvenient to have outsiders present. The banquet in the front hall is nearly over. Please return to your residences, and do not spread word of what happened today."

"Yes."

The ladies and young misses voiced their assent, then hurriedly made themselves scarce.

Today's spectacle had been thoroughly satisfying.

Shen Yuxi walked at the rear of the crowd, observing as she asked, [Little system, I haven't told Duke Dingguo the truth yet. How does he know Shangguan Niao hired someone to slash Shangguan Qing's face?]

[That's strange. Nothing on my end shows how Duke Dingguo learned the truth.]

Duke Dingguo's heart clenched. This is bad.

In the heat of the moment, Shangguan Niao had angered him so much that he had lost his reason.

He had forgotten to avoid Lord Little Shen, and a single remark had aroused her suspicion.

The system ventured a guess.

[Duke Dingguo was already dissatisfied with Shangguan Niao. After seeing her fooling around with another man in broad daylight, he got angry and blurted out his suspicions. So he stumbled onto the truth by accident?]

[Mm, that's certainly possible.]

Even the system couldn't find anything, so that was the only explanation.

Phew-

Duke Dingguo let out a deep breath of relief.

Thank goodness. Lord Little Shen isn't suspicious.

Having feasted on such juicy gossip, the guests were left wanting more. So following Lord Little Shen around to eat melons was this much fun!

"Husband, whenever Lord Little Shen is attending something in the future, you must take me along, all right?"

"No wonder Father wishes he could attend court every day now. It turns out he gets to eat melons with Lord Little Shen! It's so unfair. Why does Father get to hear gossip when I don't?"

"Father, why don't you ask His Majesty for an imperial decree allowing your daughter to attend court with you? I really love eating melons with Lord Little Shen."

"In your dreams! Do you think you're Lord Little Shen? How can you be so shameless? You even want me to ask His Majesty to let you attend court?"

"A young lady should stay quietly at home, read the Precepts for Women, and do needlework. Stop filling your head with nonsense."

"Hey, is that any way to speak to our daughter?"

"What's wrong with being a young lady? Is she not allowed to have ambitions?"

"Hmph, I won't stoop to arguing with you."

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night for countless people.

[Host, to secure justice for Shangguan Qing, Duke Dingguo hardened his heart and sent someone to slash Shangguan Niao's face. He also said that once her wounds healed, Shangguan Niao and her mother were to get the hell back to their hometown. He never wants to see them again for the rest of his life.]