The maidservant approached Lu Xiaoyun, curtsied, and said, "Your Highness, Consort Duan has ordered that Princess Lu... must kneel for five hours. This... this is why..."
It's only been half an hour.
Lu Xiaoyun snorted coldly. Five hours is ten hours. Zhu Yu's injuries had not fully healed. This body was already in poor condition when it was the original owner, and then there were the successive blows in the past few days.
If he were made to kneel for another ten hours, his knees would be ruined, and his body would be useless.
Ren Yong'an really has a clever plan.
Then look at where Zhu Yu is kneeling. Ha, they're all ruthless people. There are already bloodstains on the sharp bluestone slab.
Zhu Yu's entire weight was resting on Li Feng, clearly due to a serious knee injury and a complete lack of strength. Otherwise, given Zhu Yu's pride, how could he have almost fallen in front of her?
She glanced indifferently at the maid who had spoken, her eyes suddenly turning cold, her face becoming terrifyingly gloomy.
The oppressive aura made it difficult for the maid to breathe.
The maid's face turned pale, and she unconsciously took a step back. Unable to bear it any longer, she knelt down with a thud, crying out, "Your Highness, I was only following orders. Please don't make things difficult for me."
Lu Xiaoyun recognized the maid; she was the same little servant who had framed the original owner for pushing Ren Yong'an into the pond on the day of the original owner's wedding. She was Ren Yong'an's maid.
Lu Xiaoyun's face darkened, and she said coldly, "Acting on orders? Whose orders are you following? When did it become your place to make decisions about matters in this Prince's manor!"
Zhu Yu couldn't help but glance at Lu Xiaoyun. What did she mean? Why didn't she kick him when he was down?
The maid's face was as white as paper: "Your Highness, this servant... this servant is a maidservant of Miss Yong'an, no, not a maidservant of the Prince An's mansion."
The maidservant trembled with fear, cold sweat pouring down her forehead.
"Heh, you know you're not a servant in my manor. So what? Just because a maidservant is by Ren Yong'an's side doesn't mean she's not a maidservant, and that she can be the master of my Anwang manor? Do you think there's no one else in my Anwang manor?!" Lu Xiaoyun shouted angrily.
"That's not what I meant, that's not what I meant! Please, Your Highness, have mercy! I was wrong..." The maid was terrified and kept begging for mercy.
Lu Xiaoyun naturally understood what she meant. She was just taking advantage of the fact that she was Ren Yong'an's maid and thought that "Prince An" wouldn't do anything to her.
Ha, she's probably overthinking it.
Zhu Yu looked at Lu Xiaoyun with an inscrutable expression, his hand clenching slightly inside his sleeve.
The maid touched her forehead to the ground and mustered her courage to say, "Yes, it was Consort Duan who instructed my young lady to watch over the Princess Consort being punished. My young lady and I were only following Consort Duan's orders and dared not overstep our bounds. Please investigate thoroughly, Your Highness."
Lu Xiaoyun coldly looked at the little maid kneeling on the ground. She thought that her young mistress was no longer effective in front of the prince, so she brought up Consort Duan again.
The maidservant's forehead was covered in sweat: "My young lady pleaded for the Princess Consort, but the Princess Consort was late in serving tea, which was very disrespectful to Consort Duan. She also spoke rudely and even dared to question whether the Consort had been expelled from the palace by the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, which angered Consort Duan. My young lady is very uneasy."
"But we cannot disobey Her Majesty's orders. My young lady is kind and benevolent, which is why she turned a blind eye and didn't keep an eye on things here. Please, Your Highness, understand."
Li Feng was so angry that tears welled up in her eyes: "You're talking nonsense! It was clearly Miss Yong'an who instigated Her Majesty to increase the punishment for my young lady. If it weren't for Miss Yong'an fanning the flames, Her Majesty would have only punished my young lady by making her kneel for an hour. Besides, Her Majesty didn't make my young lady kneel here. This place is full of protruding stones, Her Majesty didn't..."
Upon hearing this, Ren Yong'an's maidservant immediately knelt up, pointed at Li Feng, and shrieked, "How dare you, a mere servant, question Consort Duan's orders! Who do you think you are..."
Lu Xiaoyun's voice suddenly turned cold as she shouted, "Insolence! Who do you think you are! I am here, how dare you spout such nonsense!"
Ren Yong'an's maid was so frightened that her face turned ashen, and she immediately knelt down and dared not utter another word.
Lu Xiaoyun ordered in a deep voice, "Guards, drag this disrespectful servant away and give her twenty lashes!"
At this point, she had to order the person to be dealt with; otherwise, not only would the people in the Prince's mansion be suspicious, but if the maid told Ren Yong'an about it, Ren Yong'an would also be suspicious.
The maidservant trembled violently. She knew perfectly well that the rods used in the Prince An's mansion were military rods. Not to mention twenty strokes, even ten would kill her.
The maid's face was drained of color, her body trembled, and she repeatedly kowtowed, begging for mercy: "Your Highness, spare me! Your Highness, spare me! I will never dare to do it again! Your Highness, spare me..."
Lu Xiaoyun stood there with a cold and stern expression.
Two guards immediately came up and, without saying a word, lifted the person up on either side.
"Miss, Miss, Miss, save me, Miss..." the maid screamed in terror, her voice filled with agony.
Unfortunately, even though she shouted herself hoarse, Ren Yong'an, who had already seen "Prince An" from the corner, did not come out to say a word for the little maid who kept begging and crying.
Ren Yong'an knew Prince An better than anyone else. Zhu Yu was furious and wanted to kill someone. If he were to plead for someone's life, he might implicate himself.
She couldn't possibly risk her life for a maid, even if it was just a few words of reprimand. Her brother, the Crown Prince, hadn't even gained military power yet, so how could she risk the life of a maid and displease Zhu Yu?
"Your Highness, spare my life..." Seeing that there was no hope of begging her mistress, the little maid turned to "Prince An" in terror and begged for mercy.
"Take him away!" Lu Xiaoyun's face was very ugly.
One of the guards immediately pulled a handkerchief from his sleeve and gagged the maid. Soon after, the dull thud of the paddle hitting flesh echoed from outside the courtyard.
Lu Xiaoyun did not notice Ren Yong'an hiding in the corner of the room, but Zhu Yu did.
His face was grim. This maid had grown up with Ren Yong'an and they had been master and servant for over a decade. Yet she wouldn't even come out to plead for him.
He looked up at Lu Xiaoyun, who was dressed in a python robe. She had her hands behind her back, her face was cold, and her order was just right. At this moment, she was exactly the kind of person a Prince An should be.
He was quite surprised that Lu Xiaoyun, this stupid and brainless woman, actually did a pretty good job.
The other servants and maids around were all terrified, their faces turning pale. Miss Ren Yong'an's maid was too bold; she dared to say such things.
Lu Xiaoyun turned to the other servants and asked in a deep voice, "Where is Ren Yong'an?"
The servants were all silent and shook their heads. They had left the courtyard when Consort Duan left, and had just been called in by Jiang Chuan.
Lu Xiaoyun frowned slightly and looked at Zhu Yu.
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