"Consort Nian is truly impressive, chasing after a child to beat him!" Lanqin finally arrived, supporting Sihua.

"Mother!" Hongli finally saw Lanqin, and tears welled up in his eyes. He had resisted Nian Shi so fiercely just now, only hoping that he could hold out until Lanqin arrived. So when Lanqin came, the pillar in Hongli's heart collapsed, and he immediately softened.

Hongzhou immediately released Cuiling. When Nian looked at Lanqin staring at her, she felt a strange sense of fear.

“Your son smashed my son’s ink stick and won’t admit it. He even hit our Hongsheng. Such a lack of manners, shouldn’t he be disciplined?” Madam Nian retorted defiantly.

"Mother, I didn't break his ink stick. He broke it by accident and is blaming me. He started it too," Hongli hurriedly called out to Lanqin.

"Did you hear that? He made it very clear. Consort Nian, why don't you go back and ask the Third Prince properly? Let's get to the bottom of this first. It's hard to say whose son is truly ill-mannered," Lanqin said angrily.

She walked up to the teacher and said to him, "Now, it seems we can't have class today. I'll take the Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince away first."

The teacher had no interest in teaching and repeatedly told Lanqin, "Classes are suspended today, everyone go home."

Lanqin walked to Hongli's side, then pulled Hongzhou aside, and said to Lady Nian, "It was just a child's joke, and they are brothers. If Consort Nian hadn't made such a fuss, perhaps they could have resolved it themselves."

Madam Nian walked up to Lanqin and blocked her way, saying, "It was clearly your son who broke my son Hongsheng's ink stick, how can you just leave like this?"

Lanqin asked, "When did you see Hongli break Hongsheng's ink stick? Which eye saw it? Is there any witness?"

Upon hearing Lanqin's words, Lady Nian was speechless and could only forcefully say, "What Hongsheng said, do you think he would lie?"

"Why is it impossible? Hongli said he didn't break his ink stick, so does that mean our Hongli is a liar?" Lanqin retorted, not backing down an inch. "Why don't you take your Hongsheng back and ask him properly what really happened? Don't make a scene here. The Prince is back today; let's see how he judges this matter!"

"Alright, let's wait for the Prince to return. Hongsheng, let's go back. Your mother saw that you have been scratched in several places, so I'll have her apply some ointment to you. It's really infuriating. Your mother has never been able to bear to scold or beat you, and now you've been injured like this. It's outrageous!" Madam Nian finally realized that continuing to make a scene like this would not get her any better.

After Lanqin led Hongli and Hongzhou out of the front yard, she went to check on Hongli's injuries.

"How is it? Did he hurt you?" Lanqin pulled Hongli away and carefully examined the wounds on his body.

"It's nothing, just a little scratch. Mother, Hongsheng is really awful; he's always been hostile towards his son. Ever since the first day I entered school," Hongli said. He hadn't told Lanqin about it before. He knew it was his own business, and even if he told Lanqin, she wouldn't go to Hongsheng and ask him to stop being hostile. But now, he couldn't hold back any longer.

“Consort, Hongzhou saw it too. Hongsheng is always bullying us,” Hongzhou said.

“Okay, I understand. You don’t have to put up with it. If he bullies people, just fight back. Keep fighting until he doesn’t dare to hurt people anymore,” Lanqin said. She really hadn’t expected a child to bully people like that.

When Hongli saw Lanqin defending him like this, he was immediately happy and said, "Mother, if you had arrived any later, that Consort Nian would have ordered her maid to beat my son."

“Yes. I’m very happy that you two brothers helped each other today. Nian is too arrogant, and your father will never support her. Now let’s go back and not think about this anymore,” Lanqin said.

After Lady Nian brought Hongsheng back, she threw another tantrum. She was furious that Hongsheng was always inferior to Hongli. How could that child have been so calm in his confrontation with her? He was only three or four years old!

Thinking of this, Madam Nian looked at her fat and somewhat stupid son and scolded him even more angrily, "Look at you, how come you can't even beat Hongli? How did your mother teach you?"

Hongsheng looked aggrieved and cried, not daring to utter a sound of resistance. As soon as Nian scolded him, he deflated like a punctured balloon, standing there dejectedly, letting Nian scold him.

"Why aren't you saying anything? Speak up! What will you say if your father asks you?" Madam Nian said angrily.

“Mother, yes, it was when I got up that I overturned the table and broke those ink sticks. But, but it was Hongli who mocked me for being a frog in a well,” Hongsheng said.

Madam Nian rolled her eyes at him and said, "Look at you, you're so fat now, and you still won't eat less. If your father asks, you mustn't say what you did just now. Come here, let your mother teach you."