“Stolen? Breakfast?”
Each word was easy to understand, but put together, they were utterly baffling.
The Emperor’s brows furrowed tightly. “What do you mean, stolen breakfast? Did the Prince’s residence not give you breakfast? You had to resort to stealing?”
“Yuantang, you are young. You must not speak nonsense.”
Just as Xie Yuantang was about to speak, Empress Jiang, who was at the side, cleared her throat and suddenly said, “It’s nothing more than Yan’er being in critical condition yesterday, and you two waking up late today and missing breakfast time. How did that become ‘not being given food’ in your telling?”
“I’m not talking nonsense.”
Xie Yuantang blinked her large, clear eyes and said in a childish voice, “We just didn’t eat. There wasn’t even any water in the room~ If Father Emperor doesn’t believe me, you can ask my husband. Our stomachs have been rumbling for a long time!”
As if in response to her words, Si Tu Yan’s stomach beside her suddenly let out a loud “grumble”!
Now there was no need to ask. The two of them definitely had not eaten.
“Insolence! How on earth are the servants attending to them?”
The Emperor’s face turned grim. Si Tu Yan was his son. Even if he disliked this son, he would not allow the people under him to bully him.
What’s more, the Grand Tutor was also present today.
Wasn’t this tantamount to saying in front of the Grand Tutor that he didn’t take good care of his son, a slap to his own face!
“Your Majesty, cold steamed buns are harmful to the stomach. Yan’er’s constitution is weak, so it is unsuitable for him to eat them. The servants were merely planning to steam them again to serve them hot.”
Empress Jiang paused, then looked at Xie Yuantang, shaking her head with great helplessness.
“Yuantang, this consort heard from the Prime Minister that you were not raised in the Xie family in your youth, but by a peasant woman. I expected you might be lacking in virtue, but I never imagined that at such a young age, you would be so adept at twisting the truth.”
Damn it!
You’re the one lacking in virtue! Your whole family is lacking in virtue!
Xie Yuantang was furious!
Her small fists clenched tightly, her little face tensed as she glared with wide eyes.
How Xie Yuantang imagined she looked: furious, aloof, not to be trifled with.
How the Emperor and the Grand Tutor saw her: Oh, the child’s gotten angry! Hmm… like a frazzled bantam!
The frazzled bantam… oh no, Xie Yuantang, lifted her head and said coldly, “So what if I was raised by a peasant woman? Is that my fault? That is Xie Zhaoqing’s fault for being a father!”
Her small, pale face was crisscrossed with whip marks. Besides, the matter of the Chong Xi ritual yesterday had caused such a stir; any discerning person could tell what had happened at a glance.
As his gaze swept over her small face, the Emperor’s eyes paused for a moment.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he just sighed.
Regarding this Chong Xi matter, it wasn’t just the Xie family; the imperial family also owed this little bantam… ahem, this little girl a debt.
“There is no need to bring up the past. Since Yuantang is an imperial daughter-in-law, no one may use her past to make an issue of it.”
A single, faint sentence from the monarch.
It served to shut the mouths of the Empress and everyone else in the palace, a public acknowledgment of Xie Yuantang’s status as the Fifth Prince’s Consort.
Xie Yuantang was slightly stunned, not expecting the Emperor to speak up for her. Then she heard the Emperor ask her, “Yuantang, were your words just now the truth?”
“Of course. Tangtang would not dare to deceive the Emperor.”
Xie Yuantang nodded emphatically. The movement was a bit large, causing the beaded tassels on her head to make a crisp, tinkling sound, making her look both playful and lively.
The frazzled bantam nodded!
The thought came to him out of nowhere, and the Emperor couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.
Everyone was a little puzzled. Even Empress Jiang found it strange. The Emperor had always been majestic and stern, so why was he so prone to laughter today?
She couldn’t help but look at Xie Yuantang. Could it be because of this little girl?
Xie Yuantang pouted. “It’s truly strange. Her Majesty the Empress would rather believe the one-sided story of the servants than hear the rumbling of my husband’s and my stomachs.”
Her “childlike frankness” made it seem as if she were simply speaking her mind, yet it effortlessly caused Empress Jiang’s credibility in the Emperor’s heart to plummet!
Empress Jiang’s brow furrowed. She secretly resented Xie Yuantang for her reckless words, but her face appropriately displayed the sorrow of a benevolent mother. “The servants also had good intentions. They chased after you, wanting to get the buns back to heat them up for you, but they ended up getting beaten by you. Is that still not enough?”
Her tone was earnest, all but pasting the words “unreasonably troublesome” onto Xie Yuantang’s and Si Tu Yan’s foreheads!
Xie Yuantang’s eyelashes lowered. As expected, Empress Jiang was not easy to deal with.
She hadn’t expected to topple the Empress based on today alone, but Du Wei and those few servants had to be eliminated. Otherwise, she and Si Tu Yan would never have a peaceful day in the residence, let alone rescue her mother and get revenge on the Xie family.
As Xie Yuantang’s thoughts raced, the Emperor looked at Si Tu Yan and asked in a cold voice, “Yan’er, did you hit someone?”
Si Tu Yan was terrified of him. Hearing his voice, he trembled, his face pale as he whispered, “…I did.”
“Nonsense!”
Si Tu Yan instantly froze and, out of reflex, dropped to the ground with a thud.
It was a force of habit. Only after kneeling did he suddenly remember something. He hurriedly raised his head and looked nervously at Xie Yuantang.
His Peach Blossom Eyes were clear and fearful, with a hint of confusion.
“Wife, you told me I can’t kneel to eunuchs. Can I kneel to Father Emperor?”
A dead silence.
From the moment he saw the Emperor until now, this was the longest sentence Si Tu Yan had spoken.
And it successfully made the already quiet hall even quieter.
At this moment, you could have heard a pin drop!
“Kneel to eunuchs?”
Si Tu Qing’s face turned black.
His, Si Tu Qing’s, son, was kneeling to eunuchs!
“Who made you kneel to eunuchs?”
The Emperor’s face was sinister. At his side, Yan Guanqing lifted his eyelids, his gaze dark.
Both of them were looking at Si Tu Yan, but Si Tu Yan was looking at Xie Yuantang.
He was still waiting for her answer.
“Don’t be afraid, husband.”
Xie Yuantang took his hand and smiled, her voice soft and sweet. “Father Emperor isn’t like those eunuchs. He won’t hit you.”
Her slender little hand always transmitted a reassuring warmth. Si Tu Yan’s color returned somewhat, and he nodded, squeezing her small hand back.
“Wife, don’t be afraid either. Even if there’s a beating, they’ll hit me. I won’t let anyone hit my wife.”
The large and small figures knelt there obediently, looking pitiful and helpless.
Suddenly, a clear, cold voice rang out in the silent hall.
“Have the servants in the residence hit you?”
The one who spoke was not the Emperor or the Empress, but the Grand Tutor who had been sitting there without a word—Yan Guanqing.
He was dressed in a wide-sleeved court robe of deep purple, his face fair and lean. A pair of cool, detached eyes created a sense of distance, making it impossible to tell if he was friend or foe.
Si Tu Yan was clearly very afraid of this maternal uncle, hesitating, unsure whether to nod or shake his head.
Xie Yuantang couldn’t be bothered with all that.
Friend or foe, since he had offered a ladder, there was no reason for her not to climb it!
“Uncle, it wasn’t a hit~”
“It was a slap. The kind that makes a super loud ‘smack’ sound!”
“I’ll show you, Uncle.” She reached out her small hand and cupped Si Tu Yan’s chin. “Husband, look up. Show Uncle your face.”
“Oh.” Si Tu Yan blinked and cooperatively tilted his head up and to the side.
“Uncle, look here. The palm print is still there!”
With Si Tu Yan’s head tilted up like that, the red mark on his face became clearly visible, the shape of five fingers shockingly apparent.
Before, because he had kept his head down, no one had noticed.
Staring at that palm print, Yan Guanqing’s eyes abruptly darkened. “The people the Empress found are truly impressive!”
“This official was unaware, when did a mere eunuch dare to ride roughshod over someone from my Yan family?”