Prince Jin was tall, with sharply defined features. His long brows swept upward into his temples, his star-bright eyes were deep, his nose straight and prominent. His aura was tough and imposing. On his dark indigo robe, a gold-threaded embroidered emblem radiated power, as if it might leap off the fabric.
His gaze swept indifferently over the crowd before he cupped his hands toward the Eldest Princess. “Aunt.”
Seeing him, the Eldest Princess’s expression softened considerably. “We looked everywhere for you and couldn’t find you.”
“I had a few extra cups of wine and wandered here to rest,” Prince Jin said coolly. “With so many people gathered, did something happen?”
Tang Zhuojun stepped forward and saluted generously, her voice clear. “I didn’t know Your Highness was resting here and intruded into the courtyard by mistake. Fortunately, I didn’t enter the room itself. If I caused any disturbance, I ask Your Highness’s forgiveness.”
The moment she spoke, even Prince Jin looked at her twice, and murmurs rippled through the crowd behind him.
Because Tang Zhuojun was simply not someone who could normally say things like that.
“It’s nothing,” Prince Jin replied, cold as ice.
So what if you’re good-looking— you think that makes you amazing? Hmph!
Tang Zhuojun finally relaxed, but she couldn’t tell if it was just her imagination— Prince Jin’s bootlicking guard was looking at her with a deeply aggrieved expression.
Brother, make do with it. I was already being very polite.
If I’d really slept with your master, you wouldn’t be keeping your head.
Prince Jin really could keep his composure. She’d fallen with such a loud crash earlier, yet he hadn’t come out at all…
Wait— something’s not right!
Tang Zhuojun suddenly realized— why hadn’t he come out earlier to stop her?
Prince Jin was clearly fine yet pretended to be unconscious, and the guard had hidden himself. What were they plotting? Playing along with her scheme?
But there were too many people around, and she didn’t have time to think it through.
The Eldest Princess said, “As long as nothing happened, it’s just a misunderstanding. Let’s go— everyone’s waiting for you.”
As she spoke, her gaze toward Ruan Anruo carried a hint of reproach.
Tang Zhuojun looked at Ruan Anruo with a half-smile, her eyes full of mockery.
Unexpectedly, Ruan Anruo hardened her heart and decided to go all the way today. “Your Highness, Zhuojun really did tell me she was going to bring that kind of filthy drug in to deal with Prince Jin… I was afraid something might happen to His Highness, so I—”
Tang Zhuojun raised an eyebrow. “If I say it, you believe it? Then if I tell you to go die, would you do it?”
Now this was how the infamous vicious woman of the capital should sound. Disgust immediately returned to everyone’s faces.
But Tang Zhuojun abruptly changed tack, clapping her hands as she said, “Besides, I never said that, and I would never do such a thing. His Highness is a cloud in the heavens; I’m mud on the ground. I wouldn’t dare reach up— afraid I’d shatter into pieces from the fall.”
“Then do you dare take out your pouch?” Ruan Anruo said, her face flushed and twisted. “If you don’t dare, then let one of Her Highness’s maids do it for you.”
At this point, no one cared about saving face anymore.
If Tang Zhuojun wasn’t nailed to the pillar of shame today, people would say Ruan Anruo had framed her.
Before Tang Zhuojun could speak, Xiu’er panicked first, her body trembling uncontrollably— the drug in question was something she had bought. If this came out, she’d be the first to die.
“On what grounds do you search my sister?”
A cool, restrained voice rang out, and everyone instinctively turned to look.
At the doorway stood a man tall and straight, like polished jade. His brows were sharp, his eyes bright, his eye sockets deep, his features sculpted as if carved with care. He wore a stone-blue coarse cloth robe that was somewhat old, yet impeccably clean.
In his hand, he led a small boy of four or five. The child was fair and delicate, his eyes black like obsidian, but his expression carried a severity far beyond his age, calm and stern.
Tang looked at this adorable little boy glaring at her with anger and hatred and felt her head start to throb.
The newcomer was Tang Boxin, Tang Zhuojun’s only elder brother. The child he held was Tang Zhuojun’s nephew in name— but in reality, her… biological son.
That’s right. Five years ago, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the original owner of this body gave birth to this son. His name was Tang Duo, with the childhood name Linlin.
Because she was unmarried— and didn’t even know who the man was…
Thinking about it now, even the current Tang Zhuojun wanted to beat the former self senseless. How could she have done something so foolish?