Tang Zhuyun fled in a panic with the two children, stopping Yanran even when she wanted to say a few words to the Prince of Jin.
What couldn't wait until later?
After they returned, she secretly told the two children, "Eat more and talk less!"
On an occasion like this, all she wanted was to avoid attracting attention.
Her father's proud expression just now, as if proclaiming "my daughter is the best under heaven," made even someone as thick-skinned as her blush at the thought.
"Miss, would you like more tea?" A palace maid in a blue-green vest came over with a teapot.
The palace maids serving there today all wore blue-green vests over beige robes and skirts, giving them a fresh, cool appearance.
Tang Zhuyun's cup happened to be empty, so she smiled and said, "Sorry for the trouble, sister."
A twenty-year-old woman calling a girl of fourteen or fifteen "sister"-she really was thick-skinned.
The palace maid leaned over to pour her tea, but suddenly the cup overflowed, spilling tea onto Tang Zhuyun's sleeve.
The maid hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe it off, apologizing repeatedly. "Miss Tang, let me help you change your clothes."
Change her clothes? She'd have to have something to change into first!
Even the outfit she had on now was thanks to Yanran!
Tang Zhuyun glanced at her with a half-smile. "Your clothes look a little big on you, sister. They might fit me."
The maid blushed. "Miss Tang, you must be joking."
Tang Zhuyun waved a hand. "Only my sleeve got a little wet. It's nothing. You may go."
The maid thanked her before withdrawing.
"Aunt!" Linlin called out.
Tang Zhuyun shook her head without changing her expression, forbidding him to speak.
Soon, Ruan Anruo came over and said with feigned intimacy, "A-Yun, it's been so long since I visited you, and there was nearly a misunderstanding today. I know you tend to dwell on things, so I was afraid you'd keep it on your mind. I came to explain a little."
Tsk, tsk. Between the lines, she was calling me petty.
Tang Zhuyun looked her up and down and said loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear, "Ruan Anruo, if an assassin comes, I'll definitely put you in front of me."
Ruan Anruo's smile grew awkward, and she stammered, "I... if there really is an assassin, I'll definitely protect you. We... we're friends."
"You'd be fine, too. With a face as thick as yours, you wouldn't bleed even after three slashes. Believe it or not? I certainly do."
Laughter broke out all around them.
Tang Zhuyun really had a sharp tongue, insulting someone without a single dirty word.
Ruan Anruo's face and ears turned red.
Tang Zhuyun pretended to fiddle absentmindedly with the things the emperor had bestowed, pouring the gold and silver ingots onto the table for the two children to count and sort. She paid Ruan Anruo no more attention.
Ruan Anruo could only grit her teeth and leave.
"Stop!" Tang Zhuyun spoke up.
"A-Yun, was there something else?" No matter how much Ruan Anruo hated her, she could only endure it with so many people present.
Tang Zhuyun had thrown all caution to the wind and abandoned her pride, but Ruan Anruo still cared about hers.
"You dropped something." Tang Zhuyun kicked something to Ruan Anruo's feet.
Everyone looked over and saw a lifelike monkey clutching a watermelon, carved from yellow jadeite, lying on the ground.
Ruan Anruo's expression changed at once.
Tang Zhuyun sneered. "That palace maid who came to pour me tea just now is over there-"
She pointed. The maid was hiding behind someone, and when she heard this, she tried to flee in panic, only to be caught by Song Jingyang.
The lackey finally did one good thing.
Tang Zhuyun said unhurriedly, "When she came to pour me tea just now, I noticed that her clothes didn't fit at all. They didn't look like hers. But at a palace banquet, the palace maids represent the dignity of the imperial family. How could they wear clothes like that?"
"After she left, I found your jade pendant with me."
"Quick, seize her and question her. Who wants to ruin our friendship and sow discord between us?"
Ruan Anruo's face went deathly pale. "Th-That won't be necessary, will it? It's the Dragon Boat Festival banquet, and over such a small matter... forget it."
Song Jingyang had already dragged the maid over and forced her to her knees. A guard following him carried a compartmented food box.
He had been ordered to deliver pastries, only to run into a quarrel between women.
Although he looked down on Tang Zhuyun, she was at least one of their own, so naturally he had to help her at a time like this.
Pah, pah, pah! What do I mean, one of our own? It's for Miss Yanran's sake, since she calls her sister. Hmph!
"Slap her mouth," Tang Zhuyun said.
Song Jingyang: "..."
He still wasn't used to taking orders from Tang Zhuyun, so he didn't react.
Tang Zhuyun rolled up her sleeves and did it herself. Smack, smack, smack, smack! Before anyone could react, she had already given the fake palace maid four slaps.
Everyone was stunned.
Even if noble young ladies occasionally disciplined servants at home, once they went out, which of them didn't put on a proper front? Even if their teeth were knocked out, they had to swallow them, for fear that others would say they weren't dignified and demure enough.
But this one had actually struck someone with her own hands.
Tang Zhuyun thought, What's striking someone? Watch how I deal with this!
Tang Zhuyun blew on her reddened palm and looked down at the maid. "I'll ask you only once. Who put you up to this? You have two choices. First, talk. Second, don't talk... and if you don't, I'll tell you how the Prince of Jin's Residence deals with disobedient maids: their tongues are pulled out, their limbs are hacked off, and they're sent to the red tents at the border..."
Song Jingyang's face turned red with alarm. "You... you can't say that!"
His prince's reputation was bad enough already. If this went on, who would marry him?
Tang Zhuyun said, "Has anyone been treated that way?"
Song Jingyang: "..."
To everyone else, his silence was an admission. The women were so frightened they didn't dare breathe too loudly.
The Prince of Jin's Residence really was a dragon's pool and a tiger's den!
The maid was terrified as well. She looked at Ruan Anruo. "Miss, save me!"
Ruan Anruo said, "Why are you looking at me? I don't know you!"
"Look, no one cares what happens to you now. Song Jingyang, take her away!"
"No, no..." The maid clung to Ruan Anruo's leg. "Miss, you bought me!"
Ruan Anruo had threatened to sell her if she failed, but compared with what Tang Zhuyun had described, being sold was a better fate. At least she wouldn't be tortured!
After all that, what was there for anyone not to understand?
So Ruan Anruo had staged the whole thing herself.
"You wanted to falsely accuse me of stealing from you?" Tang Zhuyun sneered. "Then wipe your own backside clean first! Idiot!"
Ruan Anruo bit her lip hard, then suddenly threw caution to the wind. "You think that even if you didn't steal from me, people wouldn't know how poor and shabby the Tang household is?"
"I don't know whether the Tang household is poor and shabby," Tang Zhuyun said, twisting the knife right in her heart. "All I know is that you and your dear cousin are finished. And after something like this, do you think you can still marry into the kind of high-ranking family your mother wants?"
Go home and explain it to your mother, idiot!
Unexpectedly, Ruan Anruo wasn't afraid of her threat at all. "I'm not afraid to tell you, my cousin and I are about to be betrothed!"
Oh my, had the sun risen in the west?