Hongzhou wandered around the back garden for half a day, only able to observe the appearance and behavior of the girls, who were largely the same. He had no idea about their personalities and virtues.
Hongzhou suddenly remembered a sentence Lanqin had once said unintentionally: "A beautiful appearance is a dime a dozen, but an interesting soul is one in a million." Hongzhou knew that the person he was looking for must be a woman with a pure and kind heart, not a beautiful woman who approached him for ulterior motives or selfish reasons. So Hongzhou simply came up with an idea.
Hongzhou picked up a pot of flowers and deliberately walked towards the young ladies of the capital. When he reached a girl, he dropped the flowerpot in his hand, almost hitting her foot. The soil had already stained the bottom of the flowerpot.
This commotion drew everyone's attention, and they all gathered around.
The young woman looked at the mud on her feet, her face instantly showing slight fear. She said sharply, "What... what are you doing? You almost tripped my foot and got me all muddy..."
Hearing the commotion, Ushiha quickly came over and asked the person next to him, "This young lady looks unfamiliar, whose is she?"
The maidservant took a closer look and said softly, "She is Xie Yalan, the princess of the Marquis of Dingbei..."
Ushiha nodded knowingly, continuing to watch without showing any emotion. He saw Hongzhou feign fear, hurriedly kneeling on the ground and pitifully begging for mercy: "This servant deserves to die! This servant accidentally broke the vase, please forgive me, Princess..."
Xie Yalan saw more and more young ladies surrounding her, all casting strange glances at her. Instead of calming down, she became even angrier, blaming the gardener for making her lose face. She angrily shouted, "Do you know who I am? You think you can get forgiveness for a mere slip of the tongue? You deserve to die..." She was about to make a move when Wuxiha quickly stepped forward and coughed softly to remind Xie Yalan.
As expected, Xie Yalan, seeing Wuxiha standing to the side, withdrew her hand, suppressing her anger, and said, "Today, for the sake of Princess Gulun, I will spare your life. If you make a mistake again next time, don't blame me for being impolite..."
The people around her whispered among themselves. Xie Yalan stole a glance at Wuxiha and felt really unwilling, but she didn't dare to act recklessly in front of Wuxiha, so she had no choice but to compromise.
Looking at Hongzhou, who was engrossed in his work, Ushiha thought to himself, "If we give up now, it won't be interesting. It would be better to fan the flames and make Hongzhou put on a big show." So he stepped forward with a smile.
Ushiha glanced at Hongzhou and deliberately shouted, "You damned servant! The one whose shoes and socks you just dirtied is Princess Xie Yalan of the Marquis of Dingbei!" Ushiha deliberately said her name aloud so that Hongzhou would remember it. Xie Yalan, on the other hand, was rather smug and completely unaware of the siblings' plan.
"Although the princess is magnanimous and spared your life, how could I, the princess, let you off so easily... Why don't we let the ladies present think of a way to deal with this servant..." Ushiha, with the mindset of watching a show and not being afraid of a big drama, deliberately stirred up the atmosphere. Hongzhou's legs were already numb from kneeling, and when he heard Ushiha's words, he immediately turned black-faced.
Ushiha spoke immediately, and everyone chimed in. Miss Lin, the daughter of the Imperial Scholar Lin, even stepped forward, rebuking Hongzhou for his behavior and deserving severe punishment. Everyone echoed her, explaining even the details of the punishment. Ushiha, though outwardly smiling and nodding, inwardly sighed with a profound sense of awe, realizing that one can truly know a person's face but not their heart…
At this moment, only one young lady timidly stepped forward, seemingly having held back for a long time before mustering the courage to say softly, "Everyone, please calm down. He's just a lowly servant; perhaps he really made a mistake unintentionally. Since the princess invited us to admire the flowers, let's not let such a trivial matter spoil our enjoyment..."
Hongzhou was taken aback and secretly looked up. Only then did Wuxiha recognize the owner of the voice...
This woman was Wu Zhaku, the daughter of Deputy Commander-in-Chief Wu Shitu.
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