Hearing Qi Rong's words, Yun Xi couldn't help but show a hint of surprise on her face. But soon, she calmed down and flatly refused.
"I'm not going! I'm not your appendage. I have my own things to do. If you just want to have fun, you might as well let those women in your palace go!"
Yun Xi admitted that she was a bit sulky when she said this, but it was indeed what she truly thought. Moreover, she couldn't possibly follow him around to make trouble.
"Are you sulking again? If I really let those women go, could you bear it in your heart?"
Qi Rong said with a teasing smile. He thought this kind of Yun Xi, who said one thing but meant another, was extremely cute.
Feeling that Qi Rong was teasing her, Yun Xi gritted her teeth in anger. But Qi Rong said,
"It's just Concubine Jiang. I'll take care of her for you! It's just a piece of cake. Look at your haggard little face."
Qi Rong reached out and pinched Yun Xi's fair and tender cheek.
He meant well out of concern for Yun Xi. However, to Yun Xi, it seemed like an insult, as if Qi Rong was looking down on her. Immediately, she slapped Qi Rong's hand away and said,
"Yes! I'm not as powerful and omnipotent as the prince. I can only go around in circles and waste a lot of effort!"
"But even so, I can handle my own affairs by myself. I don't need your concern!"
Seeing that he had unconsciously angered Yun Xi again, Qi Rong felt a bit helpless.
"I didn't mean that. Why are you so stubborn? Isn't it better to make things easier for yourself?"
He knew that she had been wronged in that matter. As long as she nodded, it wouldn't be difficult to make Concubine Jiang disappear completely. However, he also knew that she had her own considerations, so he had never intervened.
But dealing with things in her gentle way might not necessarily lead to the result she wanted.
After all, there were too many interests involved. Even if the evidence was conclusive, the Empress Dowager wouldn't really take Concubine Jiang's life!
"I'm just stubborn and not cute! Since the prince has understood, don't provoke me anymore in the future! Let's go our separate ways. It would be better if we don't interfere with each other!"
Yun Xi fiercely resisted, trying to break free from Qi Rong's restraint. Her words became more and more heart - rending, and Qi Rong couldn't help getting angry.
His handsome face darkened. He slapped Yun Xi's buttocks. Before Yun Xi could react, he gave two more hard slaps.
"If you say such things again next time, be careful that I'll punish you!"
Qi Rong's eyes were cold and filled with anger.
Yun Xi, feeling the burning pain, hesitated for a moment and then was completely enraged. She opened her mouth and bit the hand that Qi Rong had used to spank her!
As she bit, all her grievances welled up in her heart. Tears fell drop by drop on Qi Rong's hand, but she still refused to let go. On the contrary, Qi Rong just silently let her bite, not moving at all, but his face was extremely gloomy.
It wasn't until a smell of blood came from her mouth that Yun Xi suddenly let go. Looking at the wound on Qi Rong's tiger's mouth that she had bitten out, her tears flowed even more fiercely. She kept throwing pillows at Qi Rong:
"Get out! I don't want to see you! Don't come to my room!"
She had never known that liking someone could be so painful!
Moreover, jealousy really could make a person ugly and crazy! If she had known this earlier, she would definitely not have fallen in love!
Seeing Yun Xi crying so miserably, Qi Rong took a deep breath and didn't want to force her anymore.
"You should rest. I'll come to pick you up after some time."
Knowing that he was referring to the project of building dams and bridges, Yun Xi immediately wiped away her tears and said,
"I'm not going!"
Since she had decided to cut through the Gordian knot, even if she spent the rest of her life alone, she wouldn't get on his "ship" again!
"You have no choice!"
Qi Rong quickly leaned over, captured her lips, and reached out to hold the back of her head, pressing her hard towards himself...
Qi Rong left, leaving Yun Xi with tear - stained face and a dazed look.
After a while, she seemed to wake up. She quickly covered her lips with her fingers, as if there was still his lingering warmth on them.
"Qi Rong, you bastard!"
Yun Xi gritted her teeth and once again regretted getting involved with such a troublemaker!
Early the next morning, Yu Zhu came to Yun Xi's room as usual. As soon as she carried the washbasin into the room, she was so startled by Yun Xi sitting beside the bed that her hands trembled, almost dropping the basin.
"Miss, are you okay?"
Seeing Yun Xi with dark circles under her eyes and a dull look on her face, Yu Zhu quickly put down the basin and stepped forward to support her shoulder.
This was the first time that the miss got up without being called, and with such a strange look. It was really scary!
Yun Xi immediately came back to herself and shook her head.
"It's nothing."
It was more important to attend to the main business!
According to Concubine Jiang's personality, Yun Xi originally thought that the result of this matter would be postponed for a while. Unexpectedly, on the third day after Yun Qi went to the Capital Magistrate's Office, Concubine Jiang confessed her crime.
She admitted that out of hatred for Yun Xi, she deliberately bribed the opera troupe to stage that play in order to make Yun Xi despised by everyone, but she refused to admit that she had used the Third Princess.
She only said that it was accidentally discovered by the Eighth Princess, which led to that disaster.
As for the poisoning in the private box, it was completely because Cui'er had misunderstood. After being scolded by her, she was afraid of being punished, so she staged a scene of committing suicide out of fear of punishment! And Yun Ni had been innocent and unaware from beginning to end. She guessed that the incense on Yun Ni might be deliberately placed on her daughter by Cui'er to take revenge on herself...
Concubine Jiang's words sounded reasonable. It seemed that she had admitted her crime, but she had actually avoided the important and evaded the crucial, shifting the important guilt onto a dead person.
Yun Xi didn't need to think to know whose idea this was.
What was even more tragic was that even though some people knew the truth of the matter, no one really cared.
On the day when Concubine Jiang confessed her crime, the Empress Dowager's imperial edict was sent to the Prime Minister's Mansion:
Concubine Jiang's title of the third - rank gentlewoman was abolished to offset her sins, and she was admonished to abide by her duties in the future and not to do any more evil!
Afterwards, Yun Xi learned that the reason why the originally furious Empress Dowager had given Concubine Jiang a lighter punishment was that Concubine Yu had personally gone to the Kunning Palace to plead for Concubine Jiang.
Presumably, it was also because she wanted to win over the Prime Minister's Mansion and didn't want to lose the big for the small.
As for Li Ji, although he woke up after the rescue, he was doomed to be disabled for life. But fortunately, the Li family had many descendants. With Concubine Yu's explanation, they could only swallow their anger for the time being!
In the end, all those who were involved in this matter were punished to some extent! Especially Concubine Jiang. Even though she was saved by Yun Qi this time, her claws had been cut off.
Just yesterday, Nanny Zhang had sent someone to deliver a message to her, saying that after Concubine Jiang had been severely beaten with a cane by the old lady and had her leg injured, she was secretly locked in a desolate courtyard in the Prime Minister's Mansion without a doctor being called for her.
She was only assigned a maid and a half - blind old woman, and no outsiders were allowed to contact her.
This was almost equivalent to putting Concubine Jiang under house arrest in disguise, but it still deviated too much from what Yun Xi had expected, which inevitably disappointed her!
Because Concubine Jiang had done a lot of evil and harmed countless people on weekdays, even though Yun Xi had tried every means to bring her down, every time, as cunning as Concubine Jiang, she could always revive like the wild grass after being burned, with the spring wind blowing!
And the revived Concubine Jiang not only showed no sign of repentance, but became even more vicious and continued to cause trouble!
Not to mention that Concubine Jiang hadn't received the punishment she deserved this time! Yun Xi even had a premonition that if Concubine Jiang was allowed to stay in the capital and given a chance to catch her breath, what would follow would surely be endless disasters!
Having made up her mind, Yun Xi was determined to take matters into her own hands and root out the trouble completely!