Shi Aohan gave a start and quickly knelt down to plead guilty. "Your humble servant is Shi Aohan, the niece of the wife of the Duke Who Assists the State. Greetings to His Highness, the Prince of Yu."
Perhaps because Sheng Jinyu had been so calm and composed just now, his icy tone at this moment made those around him tremble in fear. They then remembered that he was usually a serious and selfless man, a cold and merciless judge, or rather, a sword in the emperor's hand. He would do whatever the emperor commanded.
However, even though Shi Aohan showed such weakness and knelt on the ground looking so pitiful, Sheng Jinyu showed no mercy. "Servant? Who is your father? How dare you call yourself the daughter of a servant?"
Shi Aohan's face turned as white as paper. Everyone knew that she had no father. Her mother was a disgraced woman driven out by her natal family, shunned by both the clan and society. Even after coming to the capital and becoming the most talented woman in the city, people still often laughed at her for being fatherless behind her back.
But at least those voices were whispered behind her and the Duke of He's backs. Today, Sheng Jinyu didn't give her any face at all.
Seeing this, He Chan also knelt down and said loudly, "Your Highness, my cousin..."
"Gu is asking her. Why do you interrupt?"
He Chan's voice stopped abruptly. The two girls knelt on the ground, on the verge of tears. They looked truly pitiful.
He Nanfeng sighed softly. After all, one was his cousin and the other was an orphan girl living in the He family. As their elder brother, it was only right for him to step in.
Just as he was about to speak, a man rushed out from the side and helped Shi Aohan up. "Han'er, it's so cold. Why are you kneeling here?"
Tears streamed down Shi Aohan's face. She shook her head desperately. "My Lord, please don't interfere. It's my fault. I deserve to be punished. Please let go of me."
Fu Rongxuan was extremely angry. He glared at the three men under the corridor and shouted coldly, "How cruel of you men to bully two weak women!"
Sheng Jinyu narrowed his eyes slightly. "Does the Heir of the Fu family want to see Gu's heart?"
Fu Rongxuan paused and didn't say a word for a moment.
Shi Aohan quickly pushed him away and knelt on the ground, kowtowing hard. "Your Highness, it's all my fault. No, it's all this commoner's fault. I shouldn't have... shouldn't have seen the jade flute and wanted to put it away. It has nothing to do with the Heir, nor with my younger sister, He Chan. Please punish me and spare them!"
Sheng Jinyu stood up and walked to the jade flute. He stared at the broken flute and sighed, "What a pity."
Then he turned around and left.
The people present looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, the Heir of the Prince of Qishan managed to say, "Well... Everyone, get up. Someone, put away the jade flute. Well... Brother Nanfeng, this jade flute originally belonged to His Highness, the Prince of Yu, and you. You can handle it."
Fu Rongxuan helped Shi Aohan up. He was really angry. He couldn't afford to offend the Prince of Yu and the Heir of the Prince of Qishan, so he sneered at He Nanfeng. "As an elder brother, you ignore your sisters and let others bully them. Is this what a real man does?"
Shi Aohan reached out and tugged at Fu Rongxuan. "My Lord, it has nothing to do with Young Master He..."
He Nanfeng was always calm and gentle, and he was always willing to tolerate. But hearing this, he couldn't help but say, "I'm really not as good as the Heir of the Fu family. On the one hand, you want to curry favor with the Prince of Zhennan's Mansion, and on the other hand, you're flirting with other women."
He glanced at Shi Aohan. Today, she wasn't so ignorant. She wasn't wearing mourning clothes, but just had a small white flower in her hair, which made her look even more pitiful. "The white flower is inappropriate. If you really have filial piety, the way you two are acting is also inappropriate."
He Chan put her hands on her hips. "What do you mean, He Nanfeng? Brother Fu and Lu Wanning have already broken off their engagement! And you're my cousin. Why do you always give all the good things to the Prince of Zhennan's Mansion? If you don't want to stay in the He family, why did you come back?"
He Nanfeng looked deeply at He Chan but said nothing. Then he turned around and left.
Shi Aohan still looked the same. She pulled He Chan and whispered, "Chan'er, how can you talk like that?"
He Chan muttered, "I'm just telling the truth. You don't know that when we were kids, he doted on Lu Wanning more. I'm his real sister, but he didn't care about me at all. At that time, his father was the heir, and he looked down on me. Later, when my father became the heir, he was dissatisfied and always made things difficult for me."
...
Lu Wanning stomped back to the warm pavilion angrily. She wanted to complain to Jiang Shishi, but seeing that her friend had finally calmed down, she didn't want to tell her such a disturbing thing. She just chatted for a few minutes, and then it was time to go and appreciate the flowers.
The Lu family had a garden bestowed by the late emperor. It was very large, and the fragrance of the flowers never faded throughout the year. It was very attractive. The winter plum blossoms, both yellow and red, were especially eye - catching. There were already many men and women in the plum garden, reciting poems and having a great time.
Lu Wanning was still angry. Besides, she didn't like reciting poems in the first place. So she let Jiang Shishi go and recite poems while she went into the plum garden and found a quiet place under a tree to daydream.
The paths in the plum garden were winding, and the sound of poetry recitation from not far away could be clearly heard.
Lu Wanning just sat there daydreaming. She had run away in a fit of anger today, which meant she had missed a good opportunity. After all, it was just a jade flute. It was really her fault that she had given one person's gift to another. The other person hadn't really done anything wrong, just played a little trick on her.
It wasn't a big deal. Why was she so angry?
Alas, she really regretted it. She had wasted such a good opportunity. No, she had to find a way to get on good terms with the Prince of Yu. After all, the Lu family was in a very precarious situation now. Until she found a more suitable person to rely on, she had no choice but to count on the Prince of Yu.
Lu Wanning turned around and wanted to go out to look for Sheng Jinyu again. If she couldn't find him, she would look for He Nanfeng first. He was her cousin, so it would be easier to talk to him.
But when she turned around, she saw Fu Rongxuan holding a folding fan and fanning the air. He seemed to be looking at the plum blossoms. When he saw Lu Wanning, he coughed awkwardly, covering his mouth.
Lu Wanning frowned. She thought to herself, as expected of the male lead. Isn't he afraid of the cold? It's so cold today, and the wind is freezing. Yet he's still fanning with that folding fan. He must be crazy.
She didn't want to get involved with the male and female leads in the original book. She immediately picked up her skirt and was about to leave.
"Ning'er..."
Hearing this call, for some reason, Lu Wanning thought she detected a note of sadness in it. Did she hear it wrong? This was the male lead, the domineering and scheming one. Why did his persona seem to have changed into Shi Aohan's? His voice was so pitiful.
Lu Wanning got goosebumps all over. She said seriously, "Heir of the Fu family, is my given name something that just anyone can call? Not to mention that we have nothing to do with each other now. Even when we were engaged before, I was a princess. You should have addressed me as Princess Zhaoyang."
Fu Rongxuan's face darkened. Seeing that Lu Wanning still wanted to leave, he reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Do you really not care about our childhood friendship at all?"