Lu Yunxi grabbed Gu Liyue's sleeve. Seeing the faint marks on her wrist, she asked in confusion, "Did... I do this?"
Gu Liyue nodded. "Yes, it was when you forced me to practice kung fu at the royal villa last time... These are not the only marks on my body. I ached all over and had to hide it from my family. I just recovered a few days ago."
Lu Yunxi couldn't believe it. She pulled aside Gu Liyue's clothes and saw the bruises on her neck. Although they were faint, they were still vaguely visible.
She vaguely remembered that day when she had grabbed Gu Liyue and forced her to do squats. The marks were exactly the same as the imprints of her own palms.
So it was really her who had hurt Gu Liyue.
"I... I'm sorry. It was my fault. I didn't mean to."
Gu Liyue was born with a special constitution. Bruises didn't show up immediately after a knock or a bump, but they would become obvious later and take a long time to fade. Moreover, Lu Yunxi had been quite heavy - handed that day without knowing her constitution.
However, Gu Liyue wasn't here to settle scores. She just took Lu Yunxi's hand and said, "How could I blame you? But please don't blame me either, okay? I cried because I was in so much pain."
Lu Yunxi then laid Gu Liyue on the bed and applied medicine to her wounds herself. "I didn't blame you. I was just in a bad mood and took it out on you and the others."
Gu Liyue quickly said, "It was my fourth brother's fault yesterday. He hurt you. He felt very guilty when he got home. Last night, my uncle forced him to go to the palace to plead guilty. Your Highness, I know you are kind - hearted. Could you forgive him just a little? I'll definitely ask him to come and apologize to you in person, okay?"
Lu Yunxi's hand trembled slightly, but she just shook her head. "No need. I was just in a bad mood with myself, not because of him... I didn't even know he was kneeling outside. Later, when I found out, I asked the Empress Dowager to let him rest. I'll send him back later."
Gu Liyue didn't know if this princess was just being capricious. She hesitated and looked at Lu Yunxi. "Do you really not blame my fourth brother?"
Lu Yunxi answered in a muffled voice. She lifted Gu Liyue's skirt and saw that the wound on her waist was even more serious. There were even faint finger marks on her side. She was very curious. She compared her own palm and found that the finger marks were much bigger than hers.
"Liyue, did someone pinch you? Why are there such big finger marks on your waist?"
Gu Liyue was extremely surprised. Lying on the bed, she couldn't see the situation on her own waist. She couldn't figure out for a moment how there could be finger marks on her waist.
Lu Yunxi looked at Gu Liyue. She hadn't noticed before because of the commotion. Now she saw that Gu Liyue's lips were slightly swollen and seemed redder than usual.
"Hey, what's wrong with your mouth? Was it bitten by an insect? Why is it a bit swollen?"
Gu Liyue suddenly remembered that the swollen lips and the finger marks on her waist were clearly caused by Lu Jinchen's molestation in the North Palace Gate earlier.
Her face flushed instantly. She nervously pulled down her clothes and stammered, not knowing how to answer. But Lu Yunxi was persistent. Her big eyes were full of concern.
She mumbled, "Well, I didn't notice either. Maybe... maybe it was mosquitoes. Although it's autumn, there are still as many mosquitoes as ever."
Lu Yunxi was still confused. "But don't the maids in your mansion drive away the mosquitoes in advance? How could they let your mouth get so swollen?"
Gu Liyue was extremely shy. She covered her lips and blamed Lu Jinchen in her heart. He had kissed her and even bitten her. It had made her so embarrassed now. Fortunately, her lips hadn't been swollen in front of the Empress Dowager. But then again, maybe they had been swollen, and the Empress Dowager, being an experienced person, just didn't say anything.
This made Gu Liyue even more worried. Would the Empress Dowager think she was promiscuous for being so affectionate with a man before marriage?
Lu Yunxi pushed Gu Liyue. "Liyue, what are you thinking about?"
Gu Liyue came back to her senses. Her mind was racing. She quickly said, "Well... I'm used to living in the countryside before. There were a lot of insects and ants. I didn't really care about mosquito bites. Now that I've become more delicate, I might not have noticed the bite and felt nothing."
Lu Yunxi nodded blankly. "When you were in the countryside, didn't anyone drive the insects away for you?"
Gu Liyue smiled. "I didn't have a good life back then. Only my aunt was kind to me. She had to work every day to support the family, and I had to do embroidery. When my aunt was busy, I had to do the laundry, cook, pick vegetables, and feed the chickens. I was very busy."
Lu Yunxi had never heard of this before. She grabbed Gu Liyue and asked her a lot of questions.
Gu Liyue knew that Lu Yunxi wasn't deliberately trying to humiliate her but was really curious. So she told her everything about her childhood in detail.
The more Lu Yunxi listened, the angrier she got. "What kind of uncles and aunts are they? How could they treat you like this? It's a pity that the Gu family didn't know you existed earlier. If they had brought you back earlier, you wouldn't have suffered so much."
Gu Liyue smiled gently. "It's not too late now. They are all very kind to me. My grandparents, uncles and aunts, and elder brothers and sisters - in - law all love me very much. I'm very satisfied."
Lu Yunxi hugged Gu Liyue's shoulders lovingly. "I wish I had met you earlier."
Gu Liyue knew that even if a noble lady like Lu Yunxi had met her before, any kindness shown would have been just the pity and charity of a superior towards an ordinary person, not equal - footing friendship. But Lu Yunxi's current sincerity still touched her deeply.
Lu Yunxi asked again, "I heard you had a fiancé before?"
Gu Liyue was stunned. She subconsciously asked, "How do you know?"
Lu Yunxi blinked her eyes. "Everyone is saying so. You were shocked a while ago, and many people talked about you in private gatherings. But later, the truth came out, and we all knew those people were villains. They were just not human."
Gu Liyue was worried. She knew that her past couldn't be hidden, and she had never intended to hide it. But Lu Yunxi was a straightforward person. If even she had heard about it, it wasn't just a matter of hiding. It seemed that someone was deliberately ruining her reputation.
Was this really the whole truth?
Lu Yunxi continued, "Fortunately, you broke off the engagement with that man early, and he married someone else early. Otherwise, you would have been in big trouble. Fortunately, you returned to the Gu family early. Otherwise..."
Gu Liyue was a bit dazed. Feng Lanqing and her group had all been punished for trying to frame her. Feng Lanqing had been demoted to a commoner and sent back to Cangyun County. Her descendants would never be allowed to serve in the government. Liu Anping had plotted to harm the son of a marquis and was sentenced to death. As an accomplice and for abusing the descendant of a marquis, Miao Shi was given thirty strokes of the cane and exiled a thousand miles away, never to return. After thirty strokes, she was half - dead, and there was no hope of survival after the exile.
Liu Qinting, who had framed Gu Liyue, was given twenty strokes of the cane and was supposed to return to Cangyun County with Feng Lanqing. But the night before the punishment, she hanged herself.