Commandery Princess Qingjiang"s voice was not loud but it still astonished Cui Jianlian!

Cui Jianlian responded fast and instantly knelt down, crying, "Your Highness, I am so sorry! I shouldn"t exaggerate my injury out of the fear for Sister Muting"s blaming!"

Jiang Muting was furious to hear her words. Cui Jianlian still kept slandering Jiang Muting even at the moment!

"So you just neglect Her Highness"s kindness to visit you and even sent for the imperial doctor from the imperial capital just now?" Song Yixiao gave her a hint with the eyes to be patient and questioned closely in a cold voice, "As I recall, you are two years older than me. You are not a child anymore. How can you lack tact like this? How dare you turn a blind eye to Her Highness"s warm-heartedness and hospitability!"

Song Yixiao managed to put the label of defying the Commandery Princess on Cui Jianlian with a few words. Having noticed that Commandery Princess Qingjiang looked at her with a colder look, Cui Jianlian felt like breaking out into curses so much!

However, her primary task was to ease Commandery Princess Qingjiang"s anger. Otherwise, if Emperor Xianjia found out about this, even n.o.ble Consort Cui had to be implicated, let alone keeping Cui Jianlian safe!

Therefore, Cui Jianlian had to hold back her urge to take Song Yixiao by the throat and instead begged for mercy sobbingly, "I know that Sister Muting respects her grandma most. Unfortunately, my maid broke the thing that her grandma left for her. When I saw her walk towards me along the mountain road, I was terrified! Hence... Hence, I thought that if I could exaggerate my injury, Sister Muting might not blame me for the mistake out of sympathy!"

She kept kowtowing heavily, "I only feared Sister Muting"s blame and yet failed to live up to your concern! I am terribly sorry! Your Highness, please punish me!"

Jiang Muting was again stopped by Baoying with a pinch.

The room fell into silence. Everyone except Commandery Princess Qingjiang was kneeling on the ground with no courage to raise their heads. Out of the corner of their eyes, they only saw Commandery Princess Qingjiang rolling her golden bracelet unhurriedly. After a while, Commandery Princess Qingjiang said, "I am too old to badger with you young girls too much now!"

Cui Jianlian felt astounded and made even harsher kowtow, "I am so sorry. Please..."

"But even if I don"t hold anyone accountable, you must talk the problem through." Commandery Princess Qingjiang sneered, "Let"s be honest. Since you came here today, you should know why you are here more or less! The feast is prepared by me but you must know who asks me to do so... It has been a slap in my face to see such an absurd thing happen on this occasion. If I cannot even figure out the truth, I will be too ashamed to go out and meet people!"

Looking at Cui Jianlian hesitate in speech, Jiang Muting felt greatly delighted and said on the high ropes, "Your Highness, the facts are all there. Cui Jianlian slanders me..."

"Hum?" Unexpectedly, Commandery Princess Qingjiang suddenly interrupted her with a cold look!

Jiang Muting stopped smiling at a loss and heard Song Yixiao say in a soft voice, "Your Highness, here is what happened. Miss Cui"s maid broke the dangling ornaments Sister Muting"s grandma left to her. Afterwards, when Sister Muting tried to ask Miss Cui about the ins and outs of the matter, it happened that Miss Cui"s feet slipped. Although Sister Muting immediately reached out her hand to help her, it was too late anyhow! Luckily, there is nothing wrong with Miss Cui and she can still make it back to the feast!"

Jiang Muting stared at her unbelievably. She wanted to say something but she just couldn"t utter a word for being pinched by Baoying.

Commandery Princess Qingjiang snorted, "Then?"

"Sister Muting tried to help Miss Cui generously. Although she failed in the end, I suppose the Cui Family must be grateful for her gesture." Song Yixiao smiled, "Otherwise, as the people in the distance couldn"t see clearly, wouldn"t it be too chilly if Sister Muting was wronged? The Cui Family is a n.o.ble family. How can a lady out of this family do such a thing?"

"Is that so?" Commandery Princess Qingjiang narrowed her eyes and asked in a casual tone.

Cui Jianlian bit her teeth for a while and then said in a low voice, "Yes!"

Jiang Muting was blue in the face and didn"t nod her head reluctantly until she was gazed by Baoying for a long while.

Obviously, she was rather discontented with not being able to accuse Cui Jianlian of slander in public!

However, Commandery Princess Qingjiang didn"t feel like paying attention to her. As a consensus was reached, she said casually, "Since the mistake is clarified, tidy yourself and go back to the feast. Although the feast is about to end, rumor may occur if you don"t show yourself in time!"

Hence, all the people hastened to see Commandery Princess Qingjiang off. Surprisingly, she took a few steps away and suddenly stopped, "Song Yixiao? Come with me!"

Song Yixiao was shocked and then Jiang Muting said in a hurry, "Your Highness, it is none of Yixiao"s business..."

"Shut up!" Commandery Princess Qingjiang, annoyed about her att.i.tude just now, shouted at her mercilessly, "What? Do I have to gain your permission to summon anyone?"

Bitterly depressed by Jiang Muting"s action, Baoying struggled to drag Jiang Muting and kept apologizing to the Commandery Princess on behalf of her, "Your Highness, please forgive us! My lady is too young. Please forgive us!"

Commandery Princess Qingjiang was not in a mood to badger with Jiang Muting. After shouting at her, she gave a flick of her sleeve, "Come!"

Song Yixiao had to give Jiang Muting a hint of holding her horses with eyes and then followed up.

Commandery Princess Qingjiang led her to a remote cottage instead of returning to the feast.

Upon entering the cottage, the Commandery Princess ordered all the people but Song Yixiao to leave. She sat by the screen and said nothing, rolling her golden bracelet and looking her up and down.

Song Yixiao couldn"t figure out what Commandery Princess Qingjiang was up to but to stay concentrative and sit demure and prim.

After a while, Commandery Princess Qingjiang looked away and sneered, "Was the idea conceived by you?"

"Yes!" Having sensed the certainty under her question, Song Yixiao didn"t dare to slight over but to admit obediently.

Commandery Princess Qingjiang asked teasingly, "How did you think of using the snake to scare Cui Jianlian and let the cat out of the bag?"

"I have seen clearly how she fell." Song Yixiao answered with a smile, "She fell with the dancing techniques, so she must be fine."

"Then how did you guess that she would fake being unable to walk?"

"In my view, she and Sister Muting are of similar social position. Since she felt like slandering Sister Muting on her own, she would not settle with a minor injury. Otherwise, how could she make a big fuss about it?" Song Yixiao replied with her eyes lowered, "But you have imperial doctors standing by here, making it difficult for her to fake other injuries. Therefore, she could only pretend to be unable to get up. After all, if she couldn"t get up, others couldn"t drag her up forcibly... Even if she was found to be fine, it was hard to prove verbally. Hence, I had to take such an unwise decision to terrify her with a snake that has been deprived of poison fangs."

Her words were half true and half made-up. Song Yixiao had known Cui Jianlian"s scheme since she fell off the mountain road. Cui Jianlian must have made a deal with Commandery Princess Nanzhang. Cui Jianlian would get rid of Jiang Muting for Commandery Princess Nanzhang and as return, Commandery Princess Nanzhang would cope with the aftermath for her.

However, after all, what Cui Jianlian wanted was to fail to be chosen in today"s matchmaking event!

Other might not know why she failed to be chosen but Song Yixiao almost got herself killed for that. How could she forget about it?

It was because Lu Guanlun, the third young master of Prince of Hengshan.

The Cui Family hoped one more member of their family to be the princess consort or the future imperial concubine, but Cui Jianlian still loved her cousin.

Therefore, she didn"t mind falling off the mountain road and found it okay to fake being unable to stand up. After all, she was only too anxious to fail to be chosen.

However, Song Yixiao was not going to leak any word to Jiang Muting and Baoying or Commandery Princess Qingjiang.

After all, if she leaked it, Cui Jianlian might be in trouble but Lu Guanlun could be inevitably implicated. She was raised in Prince of Hengshan"s mansion and Lu Guanlun also looked after her quite much. How could she return kindness with ingrat.i.tude?

Luckily, Commandery Princess Qingjiang didn"t seem to hear any relevant word. Now she seemed to accept her explanation and said, "That maid doesn"t work for me. Was she arranged by you or Jiang Muting?"

"Baoying did." It was not that Song Yixiao didn"t want to shoulder the responsibility, but Commandery Princess Qingjiang must be able to ascertain what happened in her place through investigation. Therefore, Song Yixiao came all clean before she continued to question, "The snake was brought by Baoying."

She kind of admired Baoying. It was nothing to arrange a maid who faked to be the servant of Zhanchun Venue. After all, Jiang Muting had a wide acquaintance. She could find someone among the guests in the feast bold enough to undertake the crime of cheating Commandery Princess Qingjiang.

However, to get a snake without poison fangs in such a place on this occasion was just beyond Song Yixiao"s imagination.

The snake"s fangs couldn"t be pulled in situ, could they?

Commandery Princess Qingjiang seemed to sense her thought and suddenly said, "The snake is Ping"an"s."

Seeing the confused look of Song Yixiao, Commandery Princess Qingjiang smiled, "Ping"an is my only son, who is in poor health, so His Majesty grants the Zhanchun Venue to him for rest-cure. He likes this kind of thing so I"ve ordered the servant to prepare some for him. Baoying must borrow the snake from the servant of the Venue."

Song Yixiao took a tumble but she still felt surprised and bewildered, "Why does she mention her son to me suddenly?"

In particular, she had never heard of Commandery Princess Qingjiang"s son. It seemed that this young master called as Ping"an was really in poor health. Otherwise, in light of his family background, how could he remain nameless regardless of mediocrity?

"Oh I see. I must thank for your son"s generous help." Song Yixiao couldn"t figure out Commandery Princess Qingjiang"s intention or by instinct, she just didn"t want to have a guess in a way. She held back her fear and said.

Commandery Princess Qingjiang gave a causal reply and kept her eyes closed for a while, asking, "As to what happened today, if it is you but now Jiang Muting who is taken as the target, what are you going to do?"

Song Yixiao stayed silent for a while, "I would fall off with her!"

"If she still says it is you who pushed her?"

"Miss Cui is much n.o.bler than me. How dare I hurt her?" Song Yixiao pursed her lips, "Moreover, no matter how seriously she is injured after she falls, I will stay in bed one longer than Miss Cui does. If she stays in bed for one month, I will stay in bed for one month and one day. After all, I will make myself even more serious injured than her and stay in bed longer than her. After all, I am injured for saving her!"

She sighed and said, "If Miss Cui still blames me in this case, I will be at the end of my wits."

Commandery Princess Qingjiang opened her mouth and put on an angry and amused look, "Since she dared to make trouble at the moment, she obviously didn"t want to be selected in the matchmaking event. And you, aren"t you afraid that your youth may be delayed?"

"But Miss Cui is two years older than me." Song Yixiao said sincerely, "I don"t think she will waste two years on me. Even if she wants to, the Cui Family will not agree!"

"You are quite smart." Commandery Princess Qingjiang narrowed her eyes and nodded her head, "Return to the feast and try to calm Jiang Muting down. I ask her to make concessions to avoid trouble not for the sake of me only! She must think about how many people will be implicated by the trouble today. Can she bear so much grudge? She is too ignorant. The Jiangs have spoiled her too much!"

Song Yixiao replied with great respect and wanted to leave when a cough suddenly came from behind the screen!

She was startled. Commandery Princess Qingjiang also turned around abruptly and asked harshly, "Who is there?"

"Sister!" Jian Xubai said. Since he made a noise, he didn"t intend to hide himself. He walked out of the screen with Ji Su and said directly, "I wanted to have a rest here but I didn"t expect you to come in the room by coincidence."

Commandery Princess Qingjiang found that it was her brother and felt relieved. Then she asked with anger, "What are you doing here?"

She set the feast at the halfway of the mountain not for the sake of relaxation and happiness as Commandery Princess Nanzhang expected. What she wanted was to let her brother see the people clearly from the pavilion above.

However, he just ran to the cottage down the square. If Song Yixiao were not here, Commandery Princess Qingjiang would start to roll up her sleeves!

"I have something to deal with tomorrow and I will go back to the imperial capital later." Jian Xubai still acted like not having seen her countenance. After raising his head slightly, he walked outwards, "I"ll leave other things to you, Sister!"

Commandery Princess Qingjiang only thought that he didn"t follow her advice and became so incensed that she patted her desk and stood up. She was about to curse. To her surprise, when Jian Xubai walked by Song Yixiao, he suddenly stopped and picked off an okra yellow jade pendant with a palace sash from his waist. Then he pa.s.sed it to her.

Song Yixiao was awed.

Commandery Princess Qingjiang was also shocked!

"I will leave the other things to you, Sister!" Jian Xubai waited for a while and saw that Song Yixiao was staring at him dumbfounded. With a smile, he directly grabbed her hand and put the jade pendant into her hand. Then he released her hand and turned around to Commandery Princess Qingjiang, saying repeatedly, "I am more than a.s.sured about my sister!"

After saying that, he swaggered off while Song Yixiao and Commandery Princess Qingjiang looked at each other in speechless despair. They didn"t come to their senses even after Jian Xubai completely disappeared!