Sisters' quarrel (with picture)

  As soon as he finished speaking, Yuan Yi suddenly stood up and walked away with a flick of her sleeve. Xiao Heng's mouth twitched, knowing he had gone too far, and hastily grabbed the red plum-embroidered white silk sleeve of her dress, trying to placate her: "Alright, alright, I was wrong, wasn't that enough? Fourth Young Miss, please sit down, why must you go back and mix with those narrow-minded women?"

  His words couldn't help but hit the nail on the head, and it was better to listen to Xiao Heng's nonsense here than to deal with those women whose thoughts were smaller than a needle. So he didn't refute him, sat back down calmly on the stone bench, and coldly glared at Xiao Heng, "If you have something to say, say it quickly, and leave as soon as you're done, don't disturb my peace."

  Xiao Heng stopped speaking nonsense, his face turned serious and asked: "The name list is in Si Niang's hands, right?"

  Since you've all investigated, the truth is no longer hidden, and he asked back: "What's it to you?"

  Xiao Heng smiled and gently shook the folding fan in his hand, "Fourth daughter, how do you plan to deal with this name list? Are you going to give it to your father?"

  Her heart tightened, she indeed had thoughts, but never mentioned them to others. How did Xiao Heng know? Her expression didn't change as she said, "This is only right, he's my father. Not believing him, would I believe you instead?"

  Xiao Heng smiled coldly and said, "Last year, the officials who managed the Yellow River were mostly the Crown Prince's men. If Fourth Miss still has some conscience, even if it's for the sake of the countless dead commoners, she shouldn't have handed over the name list to Minister Zhu of the Ministry of Rites."

  As Zhu Changren who grew up receiving orthodox education of loyalty to the emperor, he was naturally a loyal supporter of orthodoxy and a die-hard member of the crown prince party.

  Yuan Yi's face turned slightly pale, she was in the boudoir, how would she know the situation in the court, naturally did not know the faction of those officials on the name list. Nevertheless, Xiao Heng's words were also somewhat cutting, she retorted: "I am clear in my heart and have nothing to be ashamed of. I dare ask Young Master Xiao, this time you insistently asked me for the name list, how much of it is for the sake of the disaster-stricken people?"

  Xiao Heng's hand, which was fanning the air, paused slightly, and his eyes gleamed with a deep, mysterious light as he gazed at Yuan Yi. He spoke slowly: "It's also related to the Second Prince Ding Wang, who is behind Zhang Zhongxi. Looking around the court, only Rui Wang can achieve absolute fairness." From afar, it seemed like someone was approaching, and his eyebrows slightly rose as he quickly handed her a wooden tube, saying: "If Fourth Lady agrees, just ignite this signal tube." Then, his figure flashed, and he swiftly disappeared into the bamboo forest.

  "Fourth young lady, so you're here." A green-clad maid walked in, looked at the bamboo forest with a puzzled expression, but saw nothing, and didn't pay attention to it anymore. She started talking to Yuan Yi, "The princess is inviting all the young ladies to take a boat ride on the lake, Fourth Young Lady should hurry over."

  She folded her sleeves in front of her lower abdomen, covering the object in her hand, and smiled slightly when she heard the words. "I'm troubling you, sister," she said, "I'll go over now."

  As soon as Yuan Yi boarded the painted barge, he received Yuan Yi's stern gaze, and rebuked him: "Where have you been? Just now, the princess was still looking for you, really without etiquette."

  Yuan Hua didn't stand out among the many women this time, and she was even more displeased with Yuan Yi who had stolen the spotlight. She seized upon Yuan Yi's mistakes and began to scold her without regard for the occasion, while a nearby girl who had noticed their quarrel looked on with a mixture of surprise and schadenfreude.

  Yuanyi was just about to retort, but unexpectedly Yuanhua appeared and smoothed things over. She covered her mouth and smiled, saying: "Third sister, fourth sister loves to have fun, you're not unaware of that. Since the princess has given permission for a carefree outing, third sister doesn't need to worry about the princess blaming fourth sister."

  What a clever mouth, and with that, she turned Yuan Yi's accusations into a deep concern for sisterly love, leaving no room for criticism. Yuan Yi also noticed her own mistake, forced a stiff smile, and walked away to stand beside Yuan Rou, ignoring the two of them.

  Yuanyi unexpectedly glanced at Yuanhua, just about to thank her, but unexpectedly Yuanhua let out a cold snort, provocatively looked at her for a moment, then turned around and started chatting and laughing with others.

  She raised an eyebrow and smiled silently.