If you were to teach somebody a lesson, it would be better if it just stayed between the two of you so that there would be no distraction.
So Chu Qiao left with a group of concubines. But before she left, she did not forget to give Chu Jiao an intimidating look.
Li Chenxiang just followed Chu Qiao mindlessly. Her legs were shivering when she went over the threshold. She looked at Chu Jiao with a worried face, when the latter collapsed on the ground.
She and Chu Jiao came up with the idea of framing Chu Qiao together. Chu Jiao ended up like this. Would she be the next one? She was too afraid to think about it anymore. She walked out of the hall hastily as if she were running away from something.
Li Chenxiang was so hasty that she walked in front of Chu Qiao without realizing it. The rest of the crowd all stopped and looked at her in surprise.
Troubles never come singly. When Li Chenxiang realized her current situation, she hurriedly knelt down in front of Chu Qiao and apologized in panic: "Please forgive me, Your Highness. I was so hasty as to forget the etiquette and stepped in front of you. Have mercy on me, Your Highness..."
In the end, her tone turned into crying pleading. It's not because she was spineless, but because she was really frightened today and realized that she was no match for the Princess.
Chu Qiao tightened her dangling hairpin and walked to Li Chenxiang with a smile: "What's the matter? Have Attendant Consort Li done anything wrong which made you quicken your pace?"
Li Chenxiang was choked by Chu Qiao’s words. It's better not to admit or deny. So she had to shut her mouth and respond with silence as well as her head lowered.
Chu Qiao took a few steps aside, bent over and blew the words into Li Chenxiang’s ears: "Rest assured. Chu Jiao is trapped in such a situation, and you won't be better than her." Then she burst into laughter.
For the first time, Li Chenxiang felt Chu Qiao's laughter was so harsh that she couldn't help shivering.
"Let's go." Chu Qiao turned around to the other concubines and left, walking straight past Li Chenxiang.
When everyone was gone, Zhong Jinchun squatted down in front of Li Chenxiang and whispered: "You are no equal for the Princess."
Then she quickly got up and trotted to catch up with Chu Qiao and others.
As for Chu Jiao, she fell in complete despair when she saw Li Chenxiang, the only one who could help her leaving. She looked up at Dantai Yunhan.
"Your Highness! It wasn’t me. It must have been someone who wanted to frame me! " She sobbed and said: "Your Highness, you have to trust me! I’m innocent! "
Dantai Yunhan just stared at Chu Jiao with a poker face, listening to her cries quietly.
It took a long time before he said something: "You said you were innocent, but who would frame you for no reason? This is obviously your excuse. What do you want by presenting me such an embarrassing gift?"
Chu Jiao thought for a while and didn't reply. Dantai Yunhan seemed impatient. "Answer me."
Only then did Chu Jiao come to herself. She was thinking about how to tell the Prince that Chu Qiao was behind all this, so she didn’t hear his question.
"Your Highness, it must be my sister, the Princess who framed me. She is bearing a grudge against me, because I broke into her palace a few days ago! Your Highness, please believe me. How dare I send such a gift to the Emperor? Why would I ask for trouble?"
Chu Jiao added, “Besides, my sister has always been at odds with me. She must have put the gift in my box in order to give me a lesson because I offended her the other day. Please look into the bottom of it, Your Highness! I'm innocent!”
Seeing Chu Jiao complain tearfully, Dantai Yunhan remembered that one of his servants did report a dispute between the Princess and Chu Jiao several days ago. He thought it was trifle so he didn't bother to interfere, but it turned out that he was wrong.
He squatted down in front of Chu Jiao and raised her chin with his right hand, his voice echoing in the empty hall. "I'll find out the truth. You’d better be telling the truth. Otherwise, you will bear all the consequences."
Chu Liao quickly replied, nodding: "I swear it is true. Your Highness, please uphold justice for me!"
Dantai Yunhan stood up and walked out of the hall. He was determined to find out the truth. If he just let someone drive a wedge between him and the Emperor, then this person might even overthrow them someday.
He always turned a blind eye to the internal affairs of the Prince Palace, but he didn't expect that by doing so, he spoiled these concubines that they dared to do such evil things. It seems that he must teach them a lesson.
Dantai Yunhan walked out of the hall, passed by the rockeries, ponds and pavilions, and finally arrived at the gate of Chu Qiao's palace.
He walked back and forth in front of the gate, thinking about whether to go in or not.
By coincidence, a young maid saw him and immediately ran to him to curtsy: "Your Highness."
Dantai Yunhan recognized her as Qin Luo, the personal servant girl of Chu Qiao.
He faked a cough to cover up his uneasiness and embarrassment: "Is the Princess inside?"
"Your Highness, the Princess hasn't slept yet. She knows that Your Highness will come, so she asked me to wait at the door."
Chu Qiao was expecting him? When did she become so smart?
But Dantai Yunhan didn't give much thought about it and said: "Then take me to the Princess."
Qing Luo nodded and gave another curtsy: "Please come with me, Your Highness."
Dantai Yunhan smelled floral fragrance as soon as he walked into the Palace. He looked around and saw several pots of night blooms, which he had never noticed before when he came here in the daytime.
Qing Luo noticed that Dantai Yunhan was looking at the pots of night blooms, so she said: "The Princess planted several pots of night blooms recently and said that she wanted to smell their fragrance."
Dantai Yunhan nodded.
Recently, he often felt that Chu Qiao had changed so much, as if she had been another person. Was it all his illusion?
Qing Luo stopped at the door of Chu Qiao’s room and said: "Your Highness, I’ll just stop here. Please go in."
Dantai Yunhan lifted the curtain and walked in. When he entered the room, he saw that Chu Qiao was leaning against the window sill, looking at the night blooms outside, and taking a deep breath from time to time with her eyes closed.
Looking at Chu Qiao's side face and her jade-white smooth skin, Dantai Yunhan subconsciously swallowed, his Adam's apple slightly moving, and he felt a fire burning up from inside.
Chu Qiao had already noticed Dantai Yunhan, but only after a long time did she turn around and say: "Here you are, Your Highness. Please have a seat." Then she went straight to the soft couch and sat down.
Dantai Yunhan didn't sit down. Instead he walked up to Chu Qiao and asked her with a poker face: "Chu Jiao said that you put the stones into her box to frame her, is that true?"
Having already expected that her cunning sister would say so, Chu Jiao had prepared her answer: "That’s what I have expected, so I asked Qing Luo to wait at the door for Your Highness. First, I disdain to frame her. Second, I don't have any grudges against her, so why would I take the risk of embarrassing Your Highness just to give her a hard time?"
Dantai Yunhan knew that Chu Qiao would defend herself in this way, so he said: "Chu Jiao broke into your Palace a few days ago, didn’t she?"
Chu Qiao suddenly realized that Chu Jiao wanted to take this as an excuse. Then Chu Qiao would also like to take advantage of it.
She looked straight at Dantai Yunhan’s querying eyes and said: "Yes, she did."
Dantai Yunhan then asked: "So did you frame her out of grudges against her?"
"Your Highness, do you think I am a grudge holder? Surely, I was angry that day when she broke into my Palace, but I scolded her. So if someone was to bear grudge, it should be her. Why would it be me?"
Chu Qiao picked up the teacup from a small bed table on the soft couch and took a sip, "Besides, I know that Your Highness value your brotherhood with the Emperor a lot, so how could I commit an offense knowingly?"
Dantai Yunhan would have been convinced that it was committed by Chu Qiao if it had happened in the past. However, he noticed that recently Chu Qiao was very prudent and moderate, so he was not so sure any more.
Noticing that Dantai Yunhan’s face slightly softened, Chu Qiao added: "And I'm the one who arranged this birthday banquet, so I would certainly hope things to go along well. Why would I stir up trouble to upset myself?"
What's more, she was a gangster princess in her past life. Would she get engaged in such degrading business? Of course not.
But she kept these words to herself.
Dantai Yunhan resolved his doubts after a brief moment of hesitation. It’s not good if he questioned Chu Qiao further now that her words were reasonable and justified. So he changed their topic of conversation and said: "You have changed a lot recently, haven’t you?"
Of course she had changed a lot, because she was not the original Chu Qiao at all. She sneered silently and replied: "In fact, I haven't changed much. It’s because Your Highness used to pay little attention to me and recently you see me more frequently that you think I have changed a lot."
Hearing this, Dantai Yunhan couldn’t help being infuriated. He stepped forward, grabbed Chu Qiao's wrist and glared at her.
Chu Qiao didn’t evade. Instead she looked straight into his eyes. But she forgot the fact that men would become more excited if you fight back.
Dantai Yunhan put his left hand around Chu Qiao's waist, and pushed her down forcefully.
Chu Qiao couldn’t move now that she was pinned down by Dantai Yunhan. Hearing and feeling his warm breaths beside her ear, she got lost in a fit of shivers.
When they were lying on the soft couch in a suggestive posture, Dantai Yunhan noticed that there were some freckles on Chu Qiao's face, which were not ugly but rather lovely.
So he lowered his head slowly, stared at Chu Qiao's ruby lips and was about to kiss her.
Seeing Dantai Yunhan’s movement, Chu Qiao suddenly came out of the trance. She pushed him away, turned her head aside and dodged his kiss.