Chapter 424: Not A Pretty Crying Face
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Xiang Hualan endured the pain in her heart and wiped away the tears on her face. She lowered her voice and said, “Can you take me out of here?”
Su Ying glanced at the people below, then at the window behind her, and nodded.
At this moment, the room was already filled with people. After Su Ying brought Xiang Hualan out, the latter straightened her clothes and said, “Thank you for your help, Miss. Wait here for a moment. 1’11 be back soon.” With that, Xiang Hualan headed for the second floor.
The people in the teahouse were attracted by the commotion on the second floor and were crowding around.
“What’s happening upstairs? Why are there so many people crowding up there? What happened?”
“The Eldest Young Miss of the Great General Changsheng’s Residence, Xiang Hualan, was caught red-handed by the First Prince in the act.”
“This Xiang family’s Eldest Young Miss has always been arrogant and uncivilized, but 1 didn’t expect her to be so shameless. She was clearly engaged to the First Prince, but she still did such a thing. This will not end well.”
As Su Ying listened to these people’s words, she turned around and saw that Xiang Hualan had already walked up the wooden staircase and arrived in front of those people.
“What are you guys doing?”
The moment Xiang Hualan opened her mouth, everyone turned to look at her. Those people looked at Xiang Hualan in shock as if they had seen a ghost.
When the people in the room heard the commotion outside, they came out. When they saw Xiang Hualan standing outside the door safe and sound, they were also astounded.
The First Prince of the Jin State, Xie Rui, had a glum look in his eyes. The exquisite woman, Xiang Shule, also had a look of disbelief on her face.
“Why are Your Highness and my younger sister here?” Xiang Hualan endured the pain in her heart as she looked at the two of them. If it wasn’t for the fact that her hands were already clenched tightly in her sleeves and her nails were digging into her palms until they had turned blood-red, she would probably have stepped forward and questioned her most trusted sister and the man she loved deeply. Why did they set her up?
“Eldest Sister, you… you were in the room with the Sixth Prince. He… When did you run out? Don’t be afraid. 1 know you didn’t want to do this. The First Prince is here. If you explain it properly to him, this misunderstanding can be resolved.” It would have been fine if Xiang Shule hadn’t opened her mouth, but the moment she did, she led the baffled crowd into more confusion.
Xiang Hualan’s face clouded over, but her gaze still carried a hint of hope that no one could detect as it landed on the First Prince. “Does Your Highness also think that I am such a shameless person?”
Something flashed across Xie Rui’s eyes quickly, and his face was filled with displeasure, “Don’t you know that better than me? You told me that you couldn’t come to the teahouse today, but it turns out that you have already made an appointment with someone else. Xiang Hualan, I’ve really misplaced my trust in you. How can a fickle and unfaithful woman like you become the Imperial Consort?”
While they were arguing, a slender figure walked out of the room.
His robe was loose and his hair cascaded freely over his shoulders. His face appeared languid but arrogant. His slender eyes with slightly upturned eye corners gazed upon the First Prince ambiguously before he said, “Elder Brother, don’t wrongly accuse people. Your Younger Brother does not like a warrior’s vulgar daughter like Xiang Hualan. Tomorrow, 1 will enter the palace and request Emperor Father to annul the engagement.”
“This Sixth Prince is really unpresentable. He’s just an illegitimate child, yet he dares to look down on the General’s Residence. However, 1 think he and this Eldest Miss of the Xiang family are a match made in heaven. One is extremely vulgar while the other is wanton and profligate.”
“Are you tired of living? How dare you speak of such things so frivolously? Be careful that Eldest Young Miss Xiang will cut off your tongue if she hears this. Everyone in Duo City knows that she is a cruel person. Who knows how many maidservants by her side have died after getting beaten up by her?”
After hearing this, that person shut up in fear.
Su Ying dragged a chair over and munched on melon seeds in boredom. She was trying to estimate how long it would take before Xiang Hualan was done.
“Alright.” Xiang Hualan’s eyes became red-rimmed as she spoke. The First Prince thought he had misheard her.
“What did you say?”
Xiang Hualan’s face tensed up and she replied, “1 agree to break off the engagement, but it won’t be you requesting it, but me. I’ll enter the palace early tomorrow morning to ask His Majesty to annul the engagement. It’s I, Xiang Hualan, who doesn’t want you! As for today’s matter, it’s completely groundless. As for you, Younger Sister, 1 don’t know why you’re so eager to come and catch the Sixth Prince in the act of adultery. I don’t know when your relationship with the Sixth Prince became so close. You two are so close that you can become so jealous of him to the point where you don’t care about the General’s Residence reputation!”
Xiang Shule’s face turned pale. She didn’t want to have anything to do with an illegitimate son!
“I am not jealous, Elder Sister. I am with the First Prince. He…”
“So, one Sixth Prince is not enough. You still want to seduce the First Prince? However, you can’t be blamed for this. After all, your father was born of a concubine. How can his daughter be presentable?”
Xiang Shule’s expression became even more unsightly. Her identity had always been a sore point in her heart.
The First Prince’s expression clouded over when he saw that the woman he fancied had been humiliated. “Xiang Hualan, don’t make wanton accusations and retaliations. Shule is pure and innocent. She’s definitely not the kind of person you’re talking about.”
Xiang Hualan gave a scornful sneer. “She knows better than anyone else whether she is such a person or not.” After saying that, Xiang Hualan did not give Xiang Shule a chance to speak and turned to look at everyone. “Everyone has seen it clearly. I have just entered the teahouse and immediately, I get slandered by people. If this matter is brought to the government office, 1 beg everyone to be a witness for me so that my reputation will not be tarnished.”
A woman’s reputation was more important than anything under the sky. Just now, Xiang Shule had been making a big fuss about going in to catch Xiang Hualan in the act of committing adultery, but Xiang Hualan wasn’t in the room at all. Not surprisingly, this dirty deed couldn’t be pinned on Xiang Hualan.
Xiang Hualan turned around and walked down from the second floor. When she passed Su Ying, she nodded slightly. Su Ying threw away the melon seed shells and followed her out of the teahouse.
“Eldest Young Miss, are you alright?”
As soon as they arrived outside the teahouse, a young maidservant dressed in green approached anxiously. Xiang Hualan raised her hand and gave a big slap to that maidservant’s face. “Slut. How dare you collude with outsiders to frame me. Drag her back. 1’11 deal with her personally after this.”
The guards who were waiting by the side of the carriage went forward without saying anything and gagged the maidservant’s mouth before dragging her away. The maidservant did not even have time to cry out.
Xiang Hualan stepped onto the low stool and got into the horse carriage. She turned around and extended her hand to Su Ying. “Miss, please come onboard.”
Su Ying didn’t hold her hand and stepped onto the low stool directly to get into the carriage.
Xiang Hualan withdrew her hand in embarrassment. The moment the curtain dropped down, her ramrod straight back instantly sagged down. She no longer had the domineering air she possessed earlier. Her entire body was curled up in the horse carriage like a small injured stray cat.
“I have made a fool of myself in front of you. My father died on the battlefield when 1 was three years old. His Majesty was grateful for my father’s loyalty and conferred him the title of Great General Changsheng. He even bestowed a marriage to me and the First Prince. When 1 was five years old, my mother passed away because she missed my father too much. There is only me left in the residence.” Xiang Hualan spoke faintly and her voice was somewhat hoarse. Her words seemed to be directed at Su Ying, yet she also seemed to be muttering to herself.
“My step-grandmother and paternal uncle’s family treated me very well. I’ve always treated them as my own family. But it never occurred to me that my younger sister would one day bring my fiance to catch me in the act of committing adultery. I only lost consciousness after drinking the tea that Xiang Shule handed me… It is her. She’s the one who ganged up with my fiance to harm me!”
Xiang Hualan raised her head abruptly and her face was already covered with tears.
Su Ying felt that her crying face was really not pretty..