Chapter 55 Going Home 2 Her lower back was firmly pressed down by his large hands.

In the early morning, the carriage arrived at the Duke of Wei's residence.

Cui Ying and Xiao Qiyu first went to Fushou Hall to pay their respects to the Princess. Then Cui Ying stayed at Fushou Hall, while Xiao Qiyu went to Cui Ying's boudoir, Yingchun Pavilion, to rest.

Inside Yingchun Pavilion.

On the crescent-shaped table by the window sits a Ru kiln celadon vase with crackle patterns, inside which are a few sprigs of bright red pomegranate flowers in full bloom. A string of exquisite glass wind chimes hangs below the window, tinkling melodiously in the breeze.

Xiao Qiyu stood before the desk, his slender fingers casually flipping through the pages, looking at Cui Ying's past paintings.

Beside a Duan inkstone, its color a clear blue after the rain, lies a stack of drawing paper carefully pressed down.

The paintings on the paper do not depict the landscapes, flowers, and birds that the nobles of the capital city consider elegant, but rather plump crickets with round bellies, some flapping their wings as if about to chirp, others holding their heads high and chests out, their antennae and claws clearly visible, leaping off the paper and exuding a lively and wild charm.

Xiao Qiyu flipped through the pages with great interest, and when his fingertips brushed over a cricket titled "Ever-Victorious General," his gaze suddenly froze.

Beside the menacing cricket, there was a thick, indistinct blot of ink; next to it, a line of delicate yet childish calligraphy caught his eye—

Xiao Qiyu, you big bastard.

The ink had dried completely, clearly some time ago; who knows how long ago it was.

The image involuntarily formed in his mind.

It was probably an afternoon several years ago.

Cui Ying, with her hair styled in two buns, was lying on the desk, the pearl tassels hanging from her temples swaying gently with her movements. Her cheeks were puffed up and red with anger, like she was holding two unmelted candied fruits in her mouth. She was holding a small wolf-hair brush in her hand, and she didn't care that the ink had dripped onto the Xuan paper and spread into a small ink blot. She couldn't wait to express her anger.

Xiao Qiyu scoffed, began grinding the ink, and wrote five powerful characters beside it: Cui Ying, you big fool.

As he put down his pen, a slight smile played on his lips.

...

Fushou Hall.

Cui Ying was nestled beside the princess, vividly recounting recent amusing events, while a maidservant, holding a "beauty hammer," gently massaged the princess's shoulders and back.

At this moment, the curtain was lifted and Cui Yan walked in, still wearing his official robes. He had obviously heard that his daughter had returned and rushed over as soon as he got home.

He glanced around the hall and saw Cui Ying. His expression immediately softened with affection. He then asked, "Why are you the only one here? Where is Qi Yu? Didn't he come back with you?"

"Never mind him for now!" Cui Ying immediately sprang up from beside her grandmother, her face beaming with a wide smile, and ran to greet her. "Father, you're finally back! Please, have a seat!"

She helped Cui Yan sit down attentively, then quickly took the hot tea that the maid had just served, presented it to Cui Yan with both hands, and said in a soft voice, "Father, you must be tired from your journey. Please have some tea to soothe your nerves."

Cui Yan took the teacup with suspicion, but before he could even drink it, Cui Ying had already circled behind him and gently massaged his shoulders with her small hands, the pressure just right: "Father, are you tired? Let your daughter loosen your muscles."

Cui Yan felt uncomfortable with his daughter's sudden attentiveness; he knew all too well her tricks of being overly solicitous.

He took a sip of tea, put down the teacup, cleared his throat, and bluntly said, "Alright, stop trying to sweet-talk me. Just say what you're up to, and what do you want from your father?"

Cui Ying wasn't embarrassed at being exposed. Instead, she chuckled and continued massaging Cui Yan's shoulders. She peeked out from behind Cui Yan's shoulder with a fawning expression and bright almond-shaped eyes that sparkled: "Oh, Father, you are so discerning and insightful. Nothing can be hidden from you."

She paused, leaned close to Cui Yan's ear, lowered her voice, and said mysteriously, "Father, do you still remember the Zhao family mother and daughter who were recently sent to the brothel?"

Upon hearing this, Cui Yan frowned slightly, nodded, and said with a hint of emotion, "Of course I remember."

"Although Zhao Dongsheng's crimes are unforgivable, his wife and daughter are worthy of sympathy. However, I have heard that recently someone has been secretly protecting the mother and daughter, often sending money to the brothel to keep them safe. Moreover, that person acts discreetly, and I don't know what kind of good fortune he has. He is quite responsible and worthy of some admiration."

Upon hearing this, Cui Ying's eyes lit up immediately. She straightened her back, walked around from behind her father to the front, puffed out her chest, and said with a proud expression that seemed to say, "Praise me!" She said excitedly, "To be honest, Father, the person who is responsible and worthy of admiration is none other than your daughter, me!"

As she finished speaking, she looked at her father expectantly, awaiting the praise she anticipated.

To everyone's surprise, the emotion on Cui Yan's face froze instantly, followed by astonishment, and then fury.

He slammed his hand on the table, stood up, pointed at Cui Ying, his fingers trembling with anger: "You... what did you say!"

Cui Ying was stunned by this reaction. She blinked and said blankly, "I said, I am the mysterious person who protected the Zhao family mother and daughter."

Cui Yan's chest heaved as he looked around before walking up to the Princess, bowing and saying, "Mother, your unfilial son begs to borrow your beauty hammer."

Before he finished speaking, he actually snatched the sandalwood beauty hammer wrapped in brocade from the maid's hand and made as if to hit Cui Ying!

"You wretched child! You've got some nerve!"

Cui Yan was furious, his voice booming: "Who are those Zhao mother and daughter? They are the family members of a traitorous official whose property has been confiscated and whose clan has been exterminated! Zhao Dongsheng committed the heinous crime of treason! You! You dare to help them in secret? Do you know how serious this is? If someone with ulterior motives finds out and reports it to the higher-ups, you won't have enough heads to chop off! You'll be in deep trouble!"

Like a startled rabbit, Cui Ying darted into the princess's arms, hugging her grandmother's waist tightly, only showing half her face, and still stubbornly insisted: "Father, you're wrong. I have a good appetite, I can eat anything and keep it all up!"

"How dare you argue so unreasonably!"

Cui Yan held the beauty hammer, but because his mother was blocking his way, he couldn't really hit her. He paced back and forth in anger.

The eldest princess shielded Cui Ying and said to Cui Yan in a deep voice, "Alright, Third Sister is just a young lady from the inner quarters. She neither serves as an official in the court nor holds any power or management. She is also young. She was just feeling sorry for the mother and daughter because she couldn't bear to see them fall into the mire and suffer so much humiliation. Why are you yelling at her like that? Can't you talk things out properly?"

Nestled in her grandmother's arms, Cui Ying felt emboldened and peeked out at her father, saying, "And I'm not just here to tell you this; I have something even more important to ask of you."

She took a deep breath and mustered her courage to say, "I hope that for my sake, you can think of a way to give the Zhao mother and daughter a different punishment and rescue them from the brothel."

"Rescue them?" Cui Yan almost choked on his breath, as if he had heard something out of the blue.

He pointed at Cui Ying, laughing angrily, "Who do you think your father is? The King of Heaven? Why don't you let me go up to the heavens and pluck the moon and stars down for you? And rescue them from the brothel? Let's not even talk about how I, your father, don't have that kind of supernatural power. Even if I did have that ability, why would I rescue them? Why would I take such a huge risk and offend the court for two unrelated criminal women?"

Every word Cui Yan spoke was forceful and irrefutable, leaving no room for rebuttal.

Cui Ying shrank back in shock at her father's anger, but when she thought of Miss Zhao's quiet and gentle appearance in the past, and imagined the scene of her being forced to entertain guests, a stubbornness surged up again.

She abruptly stood up from her grandmother's arms, meeting her father's sharp gaze. Her small face was tense, and her voice, though not loud, was exceptionally clear: "Because of the unpredictability of life, because of the ups and downs of officialdom, today's honored guest may be tomorrow's prisoner."

"Father, who can guarantee that our family will prosper and be wealthy for ten thousand years? In history, which reform has not been accompanied by bloodshed and the trampling of nobles in the streets? What if, I mean what if, one day our family is implicated in some crime, can you bear to watch our daughter, your granddaughter, and your great-granddaughter be sent to a place like the Jiaofangsi, like the Zhao family mother and daughter, and be humiliated by others?"

"shut up!"

Like a tiger whose tail has been stepped on, Cui Yan instantly flew into a rage. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hand, which was raising the hammer, was trembling violently. He said with great pain and indignation, "How dare you utter such rebellious and cursed words about our family? If I don't break your legs today, I, Cui Yan, will be unworthy of being a father!"

Just as the beauty hammer was about to fall, Kong could no longer sit still. She rushed over and grabbed Cui Yan's raised arm tightly.

Madam Kong was so anxious that tears were about to come out: "Husband, you mustn't do this! No matter how many faults Third Sister has, she is already a married girl, a daughter-in-law of the Xiao family through proper channels. Her proper son-in-law is sitting in Yingchun Pavilion in our mansion right now. If you really break her legs, how will you explain to the Xiao family? How will you maintain your relationship as in-laws?"

Cui Yan struggled violently, his anger barely contained: "I don't care anymore! If I can't teach this little brat a lesson today, and she dares to utter such arrogant words and curse the family again, I, Cui Yan, will never live again!"

Cui Ying finally realized that her father was serious and knew that even her grandmother might not be able to completely stop him. So she disregarded everything else, turned around and ran towards the door. Of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best.

"You come back here!"

Before Cui Yan's angry shout had even finished, he grabbed a teacup from the table beside him and threw it towards Cui Ying.

The white porcelain teacup drew an arc in the air, flying quite high and still some distance from Cui Ying.

Although Cui Yan was furious, she still retained some of the rationality that came with loving her daughter. She originally wanted to use the sound of the shattering to scare her and teach her a lesson.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, the brocade curtain of Fushou Hall was suddenly lifted, and a tall figure rushed in. Almost instinctively, he reached out and pulled Cui Ying into his arms to protect her.

"Bang--"

A crisp cracking sound suddenly rang out.

The teacup struck Xiao Qiyu squarely on the forehead.

The white porcelain shattered instantly, tiny fragments scattering all over the ground. Scalding hot tea mixed with a few emerald green tea leaves splashed out, wetting Xiao Qiyu's temples and shoulders.

In just a moment, a bead of bright red blood seeped out from his smooth forehead and meandered down his brow bone.

Everyone in the hall was stunned, even Cui Yan's raised hand froze in mid-air.

Cui Ying was held in Xiao Qiyu's arms, her lower back firmly pressed down by his large hands.

She looked up and saw the bloodstain slowly sliding down, leaving a glaring red mark on his fair, jade-like cheek.

In an instant, her breath caught in her throat, and her heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by a hand, a sharp, throbbing pain shooting through her.

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Author's Note: Little Jade: Thanks to my father-in-law for the help [shy]. My wife is going to feel sorry for me again.