CHAPTER 13

Hongshao was indeed smart. When Song Yuanzhi was about to reach the door of her house, Hongshao appeared from nowhere, ran towards Song Yuanzhi with an anxious look on her face, grabbed Song Yuanzhi’s arm, and gasped, “Miss… Miss… you are finally back!”

As she spoke, Hongshao wiped her eyes with her hands, tears coming. “I saw that the Tiangong Workshop was in chaos, and Miss disappeared in the blink of an eye. I thought about going back to the mansion to report to the master and let the servants look for Miss. But then I thought again, Mistress has always regarded Miss as a thorn in her side, and the second young lady has climbed up to the Nan’an Marquis Mansion. If the mistress wants to punish Miss, then this is a ready-made situation. A woman’s chastity is so important. If the mistress has evil intentions and the master doesn’t care about Miss, then how can Miss be alive? There was no other way, so this maid can only wait at the door to see if she can see Miss come back. God bless Miss, she has good luck, and she finally returned safely!”

Look at this mouth, so sweet, every word reveals the meaning of a loyal servant. If Song Yuanzhi didn’t know that Hongshao was an ungrateful person who would betray her original owner, just by looking at her excellent performance of singing, reciting, acting, and fighting, she might even treat her as a close confidant like the original owner.

Song Yuanzhi looked at Hongshao coldly; her eyes were cold. Hongshao had an inexplicable illusion that she was being played for a fool. She was secretly annoyed in her heart, but she said, “Miss, are you angry with me?”

“You are quite self-aware.” Song Yuanzhi nodded and looked at Hongshao’s face with satisfaction. She turned around and said lightly, “Don’t show off your cleverness in front of me. There is no shortage of smart people in this world. If you are seen through, you will become a clown and just make people laugh.”

Hongshao’s face suddenly turned red. At this moment, she was not yet proficient in the art of doing things, and her sense of shame had not completely disappeared. She felt embarrassed to be ridiculed by Song Yuanzhi, but she knew she was in the wrong, so she stopped showing off in front of Song Yuanzhi and followed behind her with her head down respectfully. However, her heart was in turmoil—this miss was indeed much more powerful than before, with a harder heart and more independent opinions. I don’t know if she became strong after the big change, or if she had endured it for many years and acted dumb in front of everyone, and now that her marriage was settled, she no longer wants to endure it.

No matter which one it was, Hongshao felt a little scared. For the first time, she realized that Song Yuanzhi was her master. She had been kind to her because she had a good temper, not because she wanted to take advantage of her kindness. Thinking about how Song Yuanzhi had dealt with Song Lilan so quickly and ruthlessly before, Hongshao shuddered again. If those tricks were to happen on her…

Song Yuanzhi tilted her head to glance at Hongshao, the corners of her mouth slightly raised, then quickly suppressed them.

After returning to the courtyard, Hongshao was particularly diligent and thoughtful in serving tea and water to Song Yuanzhi.

Song Yuanzhi couldn’t stand this and ordered Hongshao, “Go and find out if the Second Miss has returned from the palace.” How did the Imperial Concubine treat her?”

These words really touched Hongshao’s heart. She was also anxious to know whether Song Lilan was favored by Xuanyuan Guifei. She was also planning to compete for favor with Song Lilan when she entered the Nan’an Marquis’ Mansion in the future.

Song Yuanzhi just wanted to listen to it for fun. Anyway, with Xuanyuan Guifei’s mischievous temper, she would definitely hate Song Lilan, who had princess syndrome. Xuanyuan Guifei would not hide her temper in front of Empress Lu. If you expect her to coax Song Lilan, you might as well expect knives to rain down from the sky.

Under the absolute suppression of her status, Song Yuanzhi knew without thinking too much that Song Lilan would definitely suffer a great loss this time she entered the palace.

The news brought by Hongshao also confirmed Song Yuanzhi’s guess: “Miss, I don’t know what the second young lady said to anger the imperial concubine, but the imperial concubine slapped her in the face and sent her back. Now, the second young lady is making trouble in her yard!”

Oh no, Song Lilan was beaten? Song Yuanzhi was curious and stood up immediately, saying with concern, “How could this happen? Let’s go and take a look!”

Song Yuanzhi’s acting skills are much better than Hongshao’s. Her concerned look doesn’t seem fake, and with her appearance, Hongshao couldn’t tell for a moment whether Song Yuanzhi was really worried about Song Lilan or wanted to go there to watch the fun on purpose.

Song Lilan’s yard had already become a mess. Before Song Yuanzhi even stepped into it, she heard a constant crackling sound coming from inside. It seemed that Song Lilan was smashing things to vent her anger. Occasionally, Madam Liu’s coaxing can be heard, which was quite lively.

Song Yuanzhi raised her eyebrows slightly, adjusted her expression, and entered the house. What she saw was Song Lilan standing in the middle of the house, smashing things crazily and losing her mind. There was a very clear palm print on her right cheek. It seemed that Xuanyuan Guifei really didn’t give any face to Song Lilan, her future niece-in-law.

When she saw Song Yuanzhi, Song Lilan became even more angry and picked up a cup and smashed it on Song Yuanzhi’s head.

Song Yuanzhi reacted very quickly. The moment Song Lilan’s cup slipped out of her hand, Song Yuanzhi had already taken a step to the right flexibly. Then there was a crisp sound, and the cup was lying on the ground in pieces.

Seeing Song Yuanzhi easily dodge, Song Lilan became even more angry: “Bitch, don’t think I don’t know that you are deliberately coming to laugh at me! Don’t even think about it!”

Madam Liu’s expression was also not good. She took several deep breaths to stop herself from saying anything bad. She told Song Yuanzhi stiffly, “If you have nothing to do, go back to your yard and don’t wander around.”

Song Yuanzhi would never leave so easily. She immediately lowered her eyebrows and said to Liu with a wronged and fearful look, “Mother, you misunderstood. I came here because I have something important to tell you.”

“What important do you want to tell me? That you went out for a stroll and bought a few extra things?”

Song Yuanzhi looked mysterious and lowered her voice and said, “Please ask your mother to dismiss the people around you. This is a matter of life and death.”

Madam Liu frowned, thought it over again and again, and waved her hand to let all the servants leave.

Song Yuanzhi glanced and saw that most of the maids had slap marks on their faces. Their faces were red and swollen. She didn’t need to think to know who did it.

Song Yuanzhi pursed her lips, no longer feeling any psychological burden about trying to trick Song Lilan. “Just now, a murder occurred at Tiangong Workshop, and I was almost implicated. Isn’t this considered a matter of life and death?”

Even though Madam Liu was used to pretending to be magnanimous and tolerant, at this moment the veins on her forehead were throbbing, and she wished she could throw Song Yuanzhi out and give her eighty lashes with the stick.

Song Lilan was much more direct and said without thinking, “It would be better if you died outside!”

Song Yuanzhi looked at Song Lilan sadly. “Second sister, you and I are sisters. I was thinking about you at the critical moment of life and death, but I didn’t expect that you, second sister, would be so cruel.”

Song Lilan rolled her eyes impatiently and was about to ridicule Song Yuanzhi a few more times, but unexpectedly Song Yuanzhi suddenly changed the subject, pointed out the door, and said in a low voice, “It is precisely because of this that I discovered another secret. It doesn’t matter if my second sister has offended the imperial concubine. As long as we can use this matter properly, my second sister’s marriage with Xuanyuan Shizi can still be successful.”

Song Lilan’s eyes lit up immediately, and she stepped forward and grabbed Song Yuanzhi’s sleeve tightly. “What’s the matter? Tell me now!”

Song Yuanzhi made a gesture to keep quiet and whispered two words: “Hongshao.”