The Duchess of Guo waited for a long time, but Xu Qingyan’s inner commentary never came.
At this moment, her heart was restless, and she whispered, “Why did she stop talking?”
In the distance, a maid in an apricot-colored long skirt was carrying an exquisite tray toward the princess. Just then, the Duchess of Guo heard Xu Qingyan’s inner scream.
[It’s this maid! It’s her, it’s her! She hid a dagger under the fine silk on the tray! She plans to stab the princess with the dagger the moment she lifts the silk, but…]
Before Xu Qingyan could finish her inner commentary, she saw her mother-in-law, the Duchess of Guo, suddenly vanish from her side and lunge toward the maid.
The Duchess of Guo shouted urgently at the princess, “Your Highness, run! This maid wants to kill you!” With the Duchess’s cry, the entire banquet hall immediately fell into chaos.
Xu Qingyan watched the Duchess’s actions in astonishment and muttered in confusion, “Mother, how did she know that maid was going to kill the princess? She just lunged at her like that—isn’t she stealing the female lead’s thunder? According to the book, it was Xu Qingyue who pushed the princess aside when the maid stabbed with the dagger, causing the blade to pierce her own shoulder instead.”
The maid carrying the tray suddenly turned her gaze dark and sinister. She drew out the dagger, hurling the tray at the Duchess of Guo while lunging with the blade toward the princess.
Thanks to the Duchess’s early warning, the princess was already surrounded by many guards, who quickly engaged the maid in fierce combat.
Seeing the maid gradually losing ground, the Duchess of Guo’s tense heart began to settle. But just then, she heard Xu Qingyan’s inner voice again.
Xu Qingyan thought anxiously, [Oh no! This maid is about to die, but they still have a backup plan! What actually kills the princess is a venomous snake. Once bitten, she’ll die of poison within three days, and by then, not even the Jade Emperor himself could save her. Go find it quickly—there’s a venomous snake in the corner slithering toward the princess!]
Upon hearing Xu Qingyan’s inner voice, the Duchess muttered, “Venomous snake? Where is there a snake?”
She looked around to search, and after a good while, she finally spotted the snake, seeing it slithering toward the princess. Without thinking too much, the Duchess immediately lunged at the snake.
“Ah! Mother, what are you doing!” Pei Jinyu shrieked at the sight of the Duchess’s movement.
Xu Qingyan was drawn by Pei Jinyu’s scream and instinctively looked toward the Duchess, also catching sight of the venomous snake.
[Heavens! Mother actually lunged at the snake herself—she’ll be bitten to death! What do I do? What do I do? Mother is a good person. I can’t let her get hurt.] Xu Qingyan paced frantically in place, speaking with urgency.
When Xu Qingyan saw the venomous snake getting closer and closer to the Duchess, she made a decision she never expected of herself. She lunged toward the Duchess, shouting, “Mother, be careful!”
Just as Xu Qingyan pushed the Duchess aside and was about to be bitten by the snake, a silver-glinting longsword suddenly appeared, cleaving the snake, which was inches away, in two.
Xu Qingyan looked up—it turned out to be Pei Jingchuan.
When Pei Jingchuan had come in from outside to save people, he had heard Xu Qingyan’s cry of “be careful.” Heaven knows how terrified he was when he heard it. Fortunately, he arrived in time and cut the snake down.
Seeing their last resort exposed and neutralized, the maid lost her composure and was quickly subdued with a blade at her throat.
“Guards! Take this assassin to the dungeon. I, this Marquis, will personally interrogate her to find out who sent her to assassinate the princess!” The Marquis of Anyang stood before the maid and declared sternly.
The moment the Marquis of Anyang finished speaking, blood trickled from the maid’s mouth, and she collapsed to the ground with her eyes wide open. It turned out she had long resolved to die—if things went awry, she would bite the poison hidden in her teeth and take her own life.
Xu Qingyan looked at the dead maid and sighed inwardly, [They are death warriors of the enemy nation, so of course they wouldn’t let themselves be taken alive for interrogation. Although the princess escaped this time, there’s no telling what other schemes they’ll devise next time! Heavens above, please bless the kind princess with a long life and turn all misfortune into good fortune!]
Pei Jingchuan heard Xu Qingyan’s inner voice and his expression turned grave, thinking: Death warriors of the enemy nation? Then this matter is far more complicated! He would have to find a way to make the Marquis of Anyang aware of this—he absolutely could not let the enemy succeed. Today, this was all thanks to Xu Qingyan.
“Jingshu, are you alright?” Only then did the princess snap back to reality and walk over to the Duchess of Guo with concern.
She had seen it clearly just now—it was her good sister, the Duchess of Guo, who had noticed something off about that maidservant and, together with her daughter-in-law, had stopped the venomous snake that lunged at her. Had it not been for them, she would have either been stabbed to death by that maidservant or bitten to death by that snake. They were her saviors!
“Princess, I’m fine—it was Qingyan who stopped me. Qingyan, did you get hurt anywhere?” The Duchess of Guo immediately turned to look at Xu Qingyan, who stood nearby.
She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now that she recalled it, if her son hadn’t appeared in time, this daughter-in-law of hers might have been lost. She truly was a filial and good daughter-in-law!
The Princess also looked at Xu Qingyan with great gratification and said gently, “Qingyan, I will surely reward you handsomely! You, your mother, and the Heir Apparent are all my saviors. I shall bear this debt of gratitude.”
Upon hearing the Princess’s words, Xu Qingyan replied modestly, “You flatter me, Princess. These are all things I ought to do as your subject.”
After answering the Princess, Xu Qingyan patted her own little chest and muttered quietly to herself, “It’s because you and Mother are both such good people—I can’t bear to see good people get hurt. Thankfully, everyone is safe.”
Meanwhile, standing among the crowd, Xu Qingyue’s face twisted with jealousy. She thought to herself: How did it come to this? Her husband had told her in advance that the Princess would encounter danger today and instructed her to stay vigilant so she could rescue the Princess at the critical moment. Regardless of the outcome, as long as she made a move, the Marquis of Anyang would surely be grateful to them, and then her husband would gain the Marquis of Anyang’s support. But what she hadn’t expected was that she never even got a chance to act—first the Duchess of Guo somehow noticed something wrong with that maidservant, and then Xu Qingyan went and lunged at the venomous snake.
“Why didn’t that snake bite that little wretch to death? Why did Pei Jingchuan have to appear so timely?” Xu Qingyue gritted her teeth in fury as she watched the Princess and the Marquis of Anyang wholeheartedly recognize Xu Qingyan and the others as their saviors.
This should have been her glory—and Xu Qingyan had snatched it away from her again!