Li Feng shouted to stop her, "Miss Yong'an, please stop talking! Don't add fuel to the fire! When did my young lady ever have such thoughts? My young lady didn't say a word just now, how can you do this!"
Li Feng bit her lip and nodded to Zhu Yu. "Miss is too naive. Miss Yong'an is provoking Consort Duan with every word she says."
Zhu Yu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Every time Yong'an spoke, his mother's anger would rise even higher.
Every word she uttered struck a nerve with her mother.
"How dare you! You lowly servant, who gave you the audacity to speak to Miss Yong'an here? Miss Yong'an is a distinguished guest invited to the Prince's residence by Consort Duan!" Zhang Mama scolded Li Feng.
"I think it's you who's being presumptuous! You call Li Feng a lowly servant, but what about you? I don't even think you deserve to be called a lowly servant!" Zhu Yu coldly looked at Zhang Mama.
Granny Zhang choked, her face turning pale and then flushed.
Ren Yong'an said, "Sister, Zhang Mama is Her Majesty's dowry maid, she has been with Her Majesty for decades. Aren't you slapping Her Majesty in the face by saying such things about her? That's not right."
"Shut up!" Zhu Yu snapped at Yong'an.
Ren Yong'an's eyes immediately reddened, tears welling up in her eyes. She knelt down before Consort Duan, her pitiful appearance truly heart-wrenching: "Your Highness Consort Duan, Yong'an... Yong'an is only indignant on behalf of Granny Zhang, indignant on behalf of Your Highness. My sister, how could she..."
Consort Duan rose and helped Yong'an up: "You've been wronged. Don't worry, I will stand up for you and will never let this vile woman bully you."
At this moment, the steward Yuan Xiu, who had finished punishing the servants, also came over. He glanced at "Lu Xiaoyun" kneeling on the bluestone slab, walked up to Consort Duan, bowed, and said, "Your Highness, the Princess Consort was chatting with the servants, which is why she was delayed in serving you tea."
"What did you say? Chatting with servants?!" Consort Duan looked at Yuan Xiu with a cold expression. This wretch dared to disregard her so much. She clenched her hands tightly.
Yuan Xiu nodded: "That's right. She even used things from the manor to bribe the servants. If I hadn't seen it, who knows how much stuff the princess had stolen from the manor."
Li Feng exclaimed shrilly, "No, Your Highness, that's not how it happened! Miss took her own pearl earrings. She... she just saw that the two maids weren't wearing any jewelry, so she took off her own earrings and gave them to them. Miss didn't steal anything from the Prince's mansion."
Ren Yong'an covered her mouth and chuckled softly: "Your Highness, my sister probably knows that she can't serve you in your current state, so she thought of sending two pretty maids to Brother Yu's side first. Otherwise, with so many maids in the Prince's mansion, why would my sister give them to those two in particular?"
Zhu Yu: "..." Is this still the Ren Yong'an he knows?
“Zhang Mama!” Consort Duan said coldly.
Granny Zhang immediately walked up to Zhu Yu, who was kneeling on the bluestone slab, raised her hand, and slapped him more than a dozen times.
Zhu Yu was slapped so hard he fell to the ground, his face swelling up again, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Blood from the wound on his shoulder soaked through half of his clothes, and he swayed precariously, the pain making it difficult for him to see clearly.
He clenched his fists tightly. Now, not only had he swapped bodies with Lu Xiaoyun, but he had also lost his martial arts skills. In the entire palace, apart from the weak Li Feng, no one was there to help him.
Let alone dealing with Yuan Xiu and Granny Zhang, he couldn't even handle a lowly maid or even a fat woman.
Zhu Yu closed his eyes tightly.
Seeing Zhu Yu's state, Consort Duan's mood immediately improved. She stroked the nail guards on her hands and slowly said, "Kneel properly. Wait until you have knelt for the required time, understood what you were doing, and realized your mistake before you offer tea. I can wait that long."
Upon hearing this, Granny Zhang immediately straightened Zhu Yu's body.
Her hand kept reaching for the wound on his shoulder, causing Zhu Yu to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.
Ren Yong'an said gently, "Your Majesty, it's cold. Please go back inside and rest. I'll take care of things here."
Consort Duan glanced outside. The snow had stopped today, and wearing a cloak made it feel less cold.
She stood up and said to Ren Yong'an, "Very well, Yong'an, you keep a close watch on this wretched woman for me. Teach her manners, so that she won't dare to climb over you when you enter the manor! What is respect and hierarchy, what is seniority and age? The Duke of Zhenguo has no time to discipline his daughter, I will do it for him!"
“Your Majesty…” Ren Yong’an blushed.
Consort Duan smiled and patted Ren Yong'an's hand: "Look at you, why are you still shy?"
She glanced at "Lu Xiaoyun" kneeling in the cold wind and said, "I've said it before, only you are qualified to be my daughter-in-law. As for the other Tom, Dick, and Harry, even if they climb into the pit, I won't allow them to shit out!"
These words were truly offensive. Ren Yong'an's lips curled into a contemptuous and disgusted smile. A royal concubine, indeed. How could she utter such filthy words? She was truly unfit for public life.
She bowed slightly, her face flushed with embarrassment: "Yes, Yong'an obeys."
Consort Duan stopped looking at the people kneeling outside and said to Yuan Xiu, "I heard that the green plum blossoms in the back garden of Prince An's mansion have bloomed. Steward, please lead the way."
Yuan Xiu hurriedly bowed and let Consort Duan place her hand on his wrist: "Yes, Consort Duan, this green plum blossom is extremely precious. In the entire capital, only our Prince An's Mansion has planted these few trees. Please watch your step. This old servant will serve you across."
Consort Duan nodded and left with her servants.
Besides Zhu Yu and Li Feng, only Ren Yong'an and the few maids she brought were in the courtyard.
"Miss, sob sob, Miss, what should we do? You're bleeding again, so much blood. Sob sob, Miss, I'll go beg the Prince, he'll definitely take care of it."
Li Feng's tears kept falling. The prince had been much nicer to the young lady these past few days, and had even dined with her.
Zhu Yu was slapped so hard that he saw stars, as if every bone in his body was aching, and waves of darkness washed over him.
But now, he is powerless to even kill a chicken.
He gripped Li Feng's hand tightly, his voice barely audible as a mosquito's buzz as he weakly pleaded, "No, don't go, don't, don't beg her, don't beg her..."
She only knows how to make a fool of herself.
Yong'an stepped forward, looking down at the pitiful yet despicable master and servant, and slowly uttered a sentence: "Drag this wretched maid away and slap her!"
Zhu Yu, enduring the pain, suddenly looked up and met Yong'an's exquisitely beautiful face: "Yong'an, you..."
"Smack!"
A solid slap landed squarely on Zhu Yu's already swollen face.
Zhu Yu slumped to the side, his hand covering his face, staring at the woman in front of him in disbelief.
The woman before me wore a deep blue fairy dress, her hair styled in a simple bun, with two jade hairpins adorning her black hair, the ends of which were carved from white jade beads.
She was exactly the same as every time I had ever seen her before, dignified and beautiful.
Aside from his piercing gaze and ferocious expression.
"Yong'an, listen to me..."
"Slap!" Another extremely loud slap.
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