The matter had concluded, but Su Xiaoqi never expected it to end this way.
She felt regretful, thinking that if she had known the princess would also be injured, she shouldn't have spoken up at the time.
A good dragon boat race, originally intended by the royal family to express joy with the people and demonstrate a clear court, had unexpectedly resulted in this.
It was truly unpredictable.
Emperor Xing Zhao was enraged and immediately ordered the Dali Temple and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate collaboratively.
Once the truth was ascertained, severe punishment would be meted out without leniency.
The atmosphere in the court had been quite oppressive these past few days.
Emperor Xing Zhao was in a bad mood, his temper growing more impatient, which also led to various physical discomforts.
Even several officials serving as imperial lecturers and readers in the Hanlin Academy had been dismissed for inadvertently angering the Emperor.
After hearing this court gossip from Du Yiyi, Su Xiaoqi, who had been quite worried about Shen Yun leaving the capital for the south,
now found herself somewhat relieved.
Given Emperor Xing Zhao's current regard for Shen Yun, he would certainly be summoned to the palace. If he were to inadvertently incur the Emperor's displeasure, he would undoubtedly be punished.
The punishment could range from demotion to imprisonment.
"How are the Crown Prince and Prince Duan's injuries?" Su Xiaoqi had been staying in her mansion in Mao'er Hutong obediently since the Duanwu Festival, not going anywhere.
One reason was to lie low.
After the incident with Princess Qionghua, although she had been dejected for a few days initially,
she quickly regained her former glory with the help and encouragement of her close "girlfriends."
Consequently, she began to pick fights and vent her frustrations.
Reportedly, she was primarily targeting those who had crowded to the front to watch the commotion on Duanwu Festival and had gossiped about her privately.
Of course, Princess Qionghua, who had been held hostage and fainted from fright at the time, didn't know who these specific targets were.
That decision was left to her close friends.
The second daughter of the Ministry of Rites' Left Vice Minister had mocked her at the time.
The eldest illegitimate daughter of a Ministry of Revenue official had gossiped.
And then there were others...
In short, a long list of people was compiled. Su Xiaoqi wasn't sure if they were clashing with Princess Qionghua or with her group of girlfriends.
Regardless, the capital had become as unsettled as the court.
Generally, people would immediately avoid Princess Qionghua upon seeing her.
Those who couldn't escape could only stand still, waiting to be beaten, scolded, and force-fed earthworms.
That's right. After this incident, Princess Qionghua did not reflect on herself or become kinder. Instead, she became more outwardly aggressive, no longer bothering to conceal her true temperament.
For a time, ladies and young ladies in the capital heard the name Princess Qionghua and trembled involuntarily.
Su Xiaoqi, of course, was not afraid of her, but there was no need to provoke her without reason.
With someone like that, even winning against her would be a messy affair.
"Oh, and although Princess Qionghua is quite fierce towards those ladies from prominent families,
she is incredibly gentle towards one person," Du Yiyi said with a look of amusement.
Su Xiaoqi blinked and tentatively asked, "Could it be the Crown Prince of Prince Duan's household?"
Du Yiyi, who had been looking quite mysterious, felt a sense of anticlimax upon hearing Su Xiaoqi's answer. She pouted her red lips and shook Su Xiaoqi's arm, complaining,
"Oh, Sister Xiaoqi, can't you be a little less smart? You don't let me have any fun. I finally have something interesting to share."
"She wouldn't mistakenly believe that the person who saved her was the Crown Prince of Prince Duan's household, would she?"
Su Xiaoqi frowned. "From the high platform to the riverbank railing, that's a distance of over a hundred paces.
I've seen the Crown Prince of Prince Duan's household's previous performance; he was weak and frail. How could he possibly?"
Du Yiyi chuckled, "Hahaha, Sister Xiaoqi, you finally can't figure it out, can you? Let me tell you..."
"Could it be that the archer was someone else?" Su Xiaoqi did not give up guessing.
In fact, it didn't require much thought. Given the cowardly demeanor of the Crown Prince of Prince Duan's household, he was skilled in composing poetry, engaging in romantic talk, and flirting with others, but drawing a bow and shooting an arrow? Forget about it.
"That must be someone else," Du Yiyi said, tears almost streaming from her eyes from laughter.
Before, when the Crown Prince of Prince Duan's household and Young Master Yu were cornered by assassins, he had lost all dignity, lying on the ground like a dog and even begging for mercy.
He had none of the bearing of a young master from a noble family, not even the quickness of an ordinary person.
"Heh, I was truly blind to have liked him at first," Du Yiyi lamented her regret.
Indeed, appearances could be deceiving; understanding a person's true nature was most important.
When she saw Su Xiaoqi and the others fall into danger near the high platform, she had charged down with her whip and seen the Crown Prince of Prince Duan's household's state. She wished she could gouge out her own eyes so that she had never known him.
Su Xiaoqi wanted to laugh but couldn't quite bring herself to. She merely sighed,
"Who hasn't been blind at some point? After all, there are so many scumbags, and we don't have Sun Wukong's fiery eyes. How can we see through them at a glance and consider everything?
Life is a continuous process of trial and error, learning from mistakes, summarizing experiences, and paving the way forward."
Du Yiyi, who had been feeling a bit dejected, felt much better after hearing Su Xiaoqi's words.
She told Su Xiaoqi that the archer was Zhao Ye...
"Yiyi, you can't call him that name anymore. He is Liang Jingchen, the second son of Prince Duan's household."
Du Yiyi nodded, "That's right, the second son of Prince Duan's household, Liang, is much better than that useless Crown Prince."
A good-for-nothing, a coward, a useless dog!
Although Du Yiyi had come to terms with it, she still resented the fact that she had once been infatuated with such a person.
"Sister Xiaoqi, Sister Yiyi, are you talking about my Chen Gege?" Bao Ge'er toddled over.
He stood at the threshold, struggling to step over the high sill, looking up at the two sisters.
"Apologies, apologies, Madam Shen. This servant couldn't keep up for a moment, and Bao Ge'er, he, he ran out,"
the little maidservant behind him said, panting. Seeing Su Xiaoqi, she quickly bowed her head and explained.
It turned out that Bao Ge'er had just woken up from his nap and had insisted on coming to play with Su Xiaoqi.
Granny Xu tried to persuade him not to disturb Su Xiaoqi, but Bao Ge'er, unhappy, ran out directly.
Granny Xu couldn't catch up, and thinking it wouldn't be a problem at the Shen residence, she assigned a young maidservant to follow and look after him.
She still had to stay in the room to look after the princess, who was napping.
Su Xiaoqi liked Bao Ge'er's innocence and purity and didn't mind his actions. She smiled, walked over, and carried him over the threshold, sending the maidservant away.
"Go back and tell Granny Xu that Bao Ge'er is here with me, and it's fine."
The maidservant also knew that Madam Shen had a close relationship with her mistress and that even the Grand Princess trusted her greatly.
She obediently curtsied and said that Granny Xu was aware of Bao Ge'er's whereabouts before she retreated to the veranda.
Su Xiaoqi carried Bao Ge'er back and sat down, giving him some fried sugar cakes from the table.
Bao Ge'er had always liked these fried snacks.
However, since they were fried and made of glutinous rice, Su Xiaoqi didn't dare let him eat too many.
So she asked Guo'er to go to the kitchen and have Zi Ling make six cups of milk tea.
"Sister Xiaoqi, there are only three of us here, why are we making six cups of milk tea?" Bao Ge'er, with his rosy cheeks and chubby face, looked like a little tiger.
He slid out of Su Xiaoqi's arms and sat in a separate carved huangshan old pine armchair, tilting his head to ask Su Xiaoqi.
"Pfft..." Du Yiyi burst into laughter.
She used to find raising children quite annoying.
Her brothers and sisters in the Du family were all bothersome. Some were five or six years old, with snot still hanging above their mouths.
Some were intolerably mischievous, doing nothing but causing trouble.
Unlike Bao Ge'er from the Grand Princess's household, who was round and chubby, looking so adorable.
"Sister Yiyi... what are you laughing at?" Bao Ge'er looked at Du Yiyi with a serious expression, displeased by her sudden laughter.
Su Xiaoqi also wanted to laugh, but her self-control was excellent. She suppressed her smile and explained, "Because there is also my mother, your elder sister, and my sister Mingzhu."
Bao Ge'er suddenly understood and felt a little ashamed, saying it was his fault for not considering everyone in the family and only seeing the people in front of him.
Su Xiaoqi told him that he was still young and it was normal not to think of these things, so he shouldn't be too hard on himself.
"No, my mother said I am the only male heir in the family, and Mother and my elder sister will rely on me in the future. Others are unreliable."
Those words sounded rather strange.
Su Xiaoqi and Du Yiyi exchanged a look discreetly.
Did Bao Ge'er intentionally omit the important person of the驸马爷 (Fu Ma Ye - the Princess's Husband), or was it a childish oversight?