"Of course," Yun Qingran said, extending the bamboo pole towards Gu Manxiang.
Gu Manxiang saw the bamboo pole being extended towards her and happily reached out to pull it. When the bamboo pole was about an inch away from her, it suddenly lifted up and struck her hard on the head, making her wince in pain and burning with rage.
"Yun Qingran, what are you doing?" Gu Manxiang questioned loudly.
"Oh dear, you were moving around and bumped into my bamboo pole, how can you blame me?" Yun Qingran said innocently.
Gu Manxiang was speechless. She knew that she was slipping and unable to stand steadily because of the mud at the bottom of the pool.
"Come on, hurry up, it's freezing!" Gu Manxiang loudly ordered Yun Qingran.
"Here you are." Yun Qingran's lips curled into a faint, mischievous smile as she extended the bamboo pole towards her once more.
"Ah~" Gu Manxiang was hit on the head twice more by the bamboo pole. This time she saw clearly that this wicked girl was doing it on purpose.
"Yun Qingran, how dare you hit me!" Gu Manxiang roared at Yun Qingran.
Yun Qingran ignored her and continued to strike Gu Manxiang's head and shoulders with the bamboo pole, making her dodge left and right, swallowing a lot of mud and water, and looking utterly disheveled.
"Oh dear, Miss Gu isn't cooperating. In that case, I'll save others first." Yun Qingran stopped using the bamboo pole and looked at the other noble ladies who were stunned.
Upon hearing this, the other noble ladies quickly scattered, fearing that they would be targeted by Yun Qingran.
"Miss Fang, you're the one." Yun Qingran's gaze locked onto Fang Lianxin, and she stretched out the bamboo pole towards her, striking her wildly with a series of cracking sounds.
"Ah... Stop hitting me, I'll never say bad things about you again." Fang Lianxin reached out to block, begging for mercy as she did so.
Yun Qingran had no intention of saving them; she must have overheard their words and was deliberately seeking revenge.
"Miss Fang, how could you speak ill of me?" Yun Qingran looked distressed.
“Not just me, they all told me too.” Fearing that Yun Qingran would only retaliate against her, Fang Lianxin quickly pointed to the other noble ladies beside her to share the blame.
Plastic sisterhood!
“Miss Fang, don’t talk nonsense. When did we say anything bad about Miss Yun?” The other ladies all criticized Fang Lianxin.
Yun Qingran stood on the shore, watching the group of noble ladies fight like dogs, enjoying the spectacle.
Just as she was enjoying the view, she glanced over and saw a group of people walking towards her. Judging from the scale of the group, the people coming were of high rank, either the Empress or the Imperial Noble Consort.
Yun Qingran's expression, which had been one of amusement and excitement, immediately changed to worry, anxiety, and a hint of grievance and sadness. She shouted, "Stop arguing! Stop arguing! Grab my bamboo pole and I'll help you up!"
As she spoke, Yun Qingran stretched the bamboo pole out in front of Yun Xiyue, "Cousin Xiyue, quickly grab the bamboo pole."
Yun Xiyue looked at the bamboo pole in front of her, half believing and half doubting. This little bitch is different from before. Who knows if she really wants to save her and get her up there?
"Hurry up!" Yun Xiyue urged anxiously.
Seeing her condition, Yun Xiyue reached out and grabbed the bamboo pole. With a pull at the other end of the pole, she was indeed pulled up.
When the noble ladies saw Yun Qingran pull Yun Xiyue up, they all begged her for help, and Yun Qingran pulled them up one by one.
"Ladies, are you alright?" Yun Qingran asked with concern as she looked at the noble ladies, who were all slumped on the ground like mud figures.
"Yun Qingran, don't think I'll be grateful to you just because you saved us. You ugly, fat, wicked woman, get out of my way!" Gu Manxiang, who had just been hit, stood up angrily, thinking about the blows she had received, and shoved Yun Qingran hard.
Yun Qingran fell to the ground, tears streaming down her face. She lay there sobbing pitifully.
"Cry, cry, cry! Look at you when you cry, it's disgustingly ugly." Fang Lianxin also stood up and raised her foot to step on Yun Qingran's chest.
"Stop right now!"
Everyone was startled by the sudden angry shout and turned to look in the direction from which the sound came.
Not far away, a large group of people arrived, led by the Empress, the Imperial Noble Consort, and Consort Ning.
All three of them looked very angry and their expressions were grim.
Yun Qingran also looked at the three of them, her gaze landing on the Empress and the Imperial Noble Consort. These two were the top two figures in the harem, and they had fought each other openly and secretly countless times.
She took the opportunity to glance at the Empress and the Imperial Noble Consort. The Empress was over fifty years old, but she was well-maintained and looked to be in her early forties. She had a dignified appearance, a grand demeanor, and gentle and kind eyes.
The Imperial Noble Consort was thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, and she was even better preserved than the Empress. Her skin looked very young, yet she possessed a captivating and alluring charm. Dressed in a flowing, dark-patterned brocade palace gown, adorned with jewels, she exuded an air of dignified elegance.
No wonder Consort Liang dared to challenge the Empress; her appearance alone gave her a significant advantage!
"What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and help Miss Yun up." When Consort Ning saw Yun Qingran fall to the ground, she quickly ordered the maid beside her to help her up.
"What happened? How did it get like this?" The Imperial Noble Consort looked sharply at the group of clay-figured noblewomen.
These noble ladies were all recruited to her service, rehearsing for the New Year's Eve banquet performance at the palace; in essence, they were all her people. Their current disheveled and disgraceful state was a reflection of her own disheveled and disgraceful state.
"Aunt, we were walking on the bridge when it suddenly collapsed. Not only did Yun Qingran not call for help to save us, but she also used a bamboo pole to hit Miss Fang and Miss Gu," said Liang Jingxue, the Imperial Noble Consort's niece, angrily pointing at Yun Qingran.
"Why would I hit Miss Fang and Miss Gu for no reason? You're framing them," Yun Qingran retorted, sobbing.
“It must be because you overheard Miss Fang and Miss Gu talking badly about you that you hit them,” Liang Jingxue replied confidently.
After she finished speaking, she felt a strange look and realized that she had revealed that Fang Lianxin and Gu Manxiang had spoken ill of Yun Qingran.
"Miss Fang just said that not only her, but all of you ladies have been saying bad things about my young lady," Bicao said angrily, looking at the noble ladies.
"Where did this ignorant maid come from? Do you have the right to interrupt us when we're talking?" Fang Lianxin stood up and raised her hand to slap Bicao's face.
Just as she was about to strike Bi Cao, Yun Qingran sprang to her feet, grabbed Fang Lianxin's hand, and said with a smile, "Bi Cao has done something wrong, and I will punish her myself. Miss Fang, you are overstepping your bounds and not taking me seriously."
Beneath her smile lay a chilling frost, which sent a shiver down Fang Lianxin's spine.
"Enough." The Imperial Noble Consort looked at Yun Qingran with hostility. "Yun Qingran, you used a bamboo pole to hit Miss Fang and Miss Gu, disturbing the peace of the harem. You are punished..."
"Your Highness, we just overheard Yun Qingran speaking. She told the young ladies to use bamboo poles to climb up. She was trying to save them, not to disrupt the palace. It's Miss Gu and Miss Fang who are gossiping about others behind their backs, which is inappropriate," the Empress said.
The Imperial Noble Consort and the Empress's eyes met, and their gazes seemed to intertwine like two electric currents, sparking and crackling.
As Yun Qingran watched the two clash, she inwardly screamed, "Fight! Fight!"
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