Xie Jiang narrowed her eyes, sweeping a gaze over the two elders. "What are you two looking at me like that for? As if I've done something heinous."
The Duke of Qian snorted, "If we were to say you've done something heinous, it would be a bit unfair to you."
Marquis Yongxin immediately added, "But you're not exactly innocent either."
Xie Jiang grew even more bewildered. "Explain to me how I'm not innocent. I've only been out of prison for a couple of days. Apart from attending one palace banquet, I've stayed in my manor. I haven't even stepped outside, so who could I have harmed?"
Could the two old fogies be referring to something that happened at the palace banquet?
Marquis Yongxin chuckled and looked at the Duke of Qian, "Look how innocently this kid is pretending. If it weren't already all over town, we might have been fooled by her."
"What's all over town? That my medical skills are god-tier, and I snatch people from the King of Hell?"
Xie Jiang was always so confident. If she had done anything noteworthy at the palace banquet, wouldn't it be that she saved Minister Hou's life?
Her palace banquet trip was very brief. She neither had time to flirt with the palace maids nor acted recklessly like a wastrel and got beaten up.
The protagonists in melodramatic dramas, whenever they attend a palace banquet, are always framed or put in difficult situations, but none of that seemed likely to happen to her.
It wasn't because her fearsome reputation made people wary.
It was the Emperor's cold and brutal nature that made people afraid to cross him.
Marquis Yongxin scoffed, "Besides Hou Chun and his family, who else remembers that incident!"
"Is Hou Chun, the esteemed Minister of Personnel, so insignificant that not many people care about him surviving a brush with death?" Xie Jiang hadn't really thought about the matter, but if they insisted she did something at the palace banquet, what else could it be besides this?
The Duke of Qian and Marquis Yongxin exchanged a glance. It seemed the kid's expression wasn't an act; she truly didn't know what had happened. Marquis Yongxin's eyes were practically spitting disdain. "She gets so drunk she doesn't recognize her own father with just two cups of wine?"
The notorious Xie the Demon, who killed wherever she went and was hated by all, had such a low tolerance for alcohol?!
The Duke of Qian directly instructed Nie Tong beside him, "Tell Old Tian to prepare a gift with some thought. We'll be going to the Third Prince's manor to apologize later."
"Huh?"
Xie Jiang's head was full of questions. "When did I offend Xia Rongyu? Is it Xia Rongyu, right?"
The Duke of Qian wanted to slap her. "How can you call the Third Prince by his name!"
Considering she had been ill, the Duke of Qian didn't follow through with the slap. She was as thin as a chick; he was afraid she would fall apart with one blow.
Xie Jiang said, "I'm just trying to confirm. I don't even know who the Third Prince is, so how could I have offended him? And I need to bring a gift to apologize?"
Marquis Yongxin's earlier disdain for her alcohol tolerance made Xie Jiang think, "Could it be that after getting drunk, I beat up the Third Prince?"
Xie Jiang was a bit shocked. Did she meet Xia Rongyu that night before meeting Yi Yancheng?
But she had no memory of it!
Marquis Yongxin drank his tea like a cow chewing peonies, gulping it down noisily, spitting out tea dregs. "You might as well have beaten up the Third Prince!"
The Duke of Qian couldn't help but agree.
Xie Jiang was even more curious. "Stop beating around the bush. How exactly did I offend Xia, the Third Prince?"
Marquis Yongxin put down his teacup and said, "You pinned the Third Prince down by the lake..."
Marquis Yongxin gestured with his hands, rubbing them up and down as he spoke.
Xie Jiang's eyes widened, and she gasped.
Marquis Yongxin's expressive ability wasn't great, but his gestures were quite vivid, especially the expression on his old face. She instantly understood everything!
She actually did something like that while drunk?!
Marquis Yongxin nodded.
The two men looked at her as if she were a beast.
Xie Jiang patted her forehead, trying hard to recall.
Marquis Yongxin's gaze was peculiar. "You're so thin, you don't have three ounces of flesh on your body, yet you have quite some strength. And the Third Prince is so sickly that he couldn't escape your grasp!"
Xie Jiang's mind was blank. "Why don't I have any memory of what you're talking about? Are you sure it was me?"
The Duke of Qian thought she was trying to deny it. "This matter won't be settled just because you refuse to admit it. Someone personally witnessed you molesting the Third Prince."
Xie Jiang's eye twitched, very resistant. "Isn't the word 'molest' a bit..."
The Duke of Qian glared at her. "You know it sounds bad now, but when you were acting out in your drunken state, why didn't you consider it?"
Xie Jiang scratched her head and pondered for a long time, trying to struggle a bit more. "The Third Prince didn't accuse me, maybe it's just a misunderstanding?"
The Duke of Qian snorted coldly. "After the palace banquet, the Third Prince has been in seclusion. Does he need to make an accusation?" Isn't it obvious that he's been mentally and physically traumatized? It's not something glorious, so the Third Prince wouldn't go around shouting about it.
Xie Jiang said, "Didn't you say the Third Prince has poor health and has always been reclusive? Can you blame me for him not going out?" How ridiculous.
The Duke of Qian's gaze was sharp as he looked at her. "At this point, don't even think about denying or quibbling. More than one person saw it. Who would use the Third Prince's reputation to frame you?"
Xie Jiang silently drank her tea and said nothing. She did have a period of blackout.
She didn't even know if she had done anything to Xia Rongyu.
Who had nothing better to do than to watch and solidify her crime!
No wonder Yi Yancheng suddenly brought up that Xia Rongyu could also be her aphrodisiac!
So that's what happened.
Does this mean Yi Yancheng also saw her inappropriately touching Xia Rongyu?
No wonder he was so impulsive and pushed her head into the lake. It wasn't just about drinking a little that would make him so rough.
Oh dear!
So that's why he left in a huff yesterday, and didn't come as promised last night. There was this hidden reason.
Nie Tong saw that his young master wasn't speaking and immediately understood. He quietly retreated to find Tian Kangtai.
Marquis Yongxin unleashed his criticism. "It's one thing that your tolerance for alcohol is so low, but your behavior when drunk is even worse! You only spent a few days in the Shuntian Prefecture prison, and you were so bored without a beautiful woman by your side that you dared to act out at the palace banquet!"
Based on Yi Yancheng's reaction, Xie Jiang had no choice but to admit it, even if she didn't want to. "... I'm not that lustful."
Marquis Yongxin slammed his palm on the table, making the cups and plates jump. "If you're not lustful, who is? On Jade Pot Island that night, with so many people there, why didn't you just grab anyone?"
"Fortunately, the person that night was the Third Prince. If it had been a lady from some family, you would have had your legs broken on the spot!"
Xie Jiang: "..."
The Duke of Qian frowned deeply. "If I had known you would be like this when drunk, I wouldn't have persuaded you to drink!"
He had thought she was refusing their invitations to drink repeatedly because she disliked their old age.
Marquis Yongxin also sighed regretfully. "Who knew that the one who swept through the bandits of Yellow Orchid Mountain would be such a lightweight."
What's the use of saying "if I had known" now! Xie Jiang glared at the two elders with a dark expression.
"Didn't I say back then that if I caused a death after drinking, you two would be fully responsible!"
She had indeed said that, and they had both agreed. The Duke of Qian had no intention of reneying on his word.
"So we'll go to the Third Prince's manor with you later. You need to be sincere and apologize properly to the Third Prince."
Marquis Yongxin said, "The Third Prince isn't usually petty, but after being insulted by you like this, anyone would find it hard to accept..."
Xie Jiang sighed. "Alright, I'll apologize."