It was exactly what Princess Ming Zhao had been waiting for.
With a swift flick of her foot, she kicked a small stone. It shot forward and struck the soft tendon behind Zheng Yingying’s left knee with perfect accuracy.
“Ah!”
Zheng Yingying felt her leg go numb and collapsed heavily onto the cold, hard ground.
The two maidservants holding Princess Ming Zhao saw their mistress suddenly fall. Forgetting everything else, they instinctively released their grip and hurriedly bent down to help.
“Miss!”
“Miss, are you alright?”
The moment her arms were freed, Princess Ming Zhao kicked hard at the shin of the maidservant in front of her.
“Ow—my goodness!” The maidservant was caught off guard and pitched forward.
In panic, she reached out to grab the back of another maidservant’s robe, trying to steady herself.
“Why are you grabbing me? Let go!” The second maidservant was yanked off balance, her foot landing on a loose stone.
“Ah—!”
“Ouch!”
Before Zheng Yingying could react, she suddenly felt a heavy weight slam onto her back. The two maidservants—together nearly two hundred pounds—collapsed on top of her, pinning her completely.
Trapped at the very bottom, Zheng Yingying felt as if her organs were being crushed. She could barely breathe.
“You’re crushing me to death! You two idiots, get off me!”
“Hurry up—get up! I’m going to die!”
Princess Ming Zhao dusted off her hands, then smoothed the sleeve that had been tugged out of place.
She walked over to the pile of bodies and looked down.
The two maidservants scrambled to get up, but with one pressing down on the other—and Zheng Yingying struggling and screaming beneath them—the more they panicked, the worse it became.
After a long moment, they hadn’t moved at all. Instead, Zheng Yingying’s cries only grew louder.
Princess Ming Zhao raised a brow.
Suddenly, she lifted the hem of her bright yellow skirt and—under the horrified gazes of Cuiguo and Cui Xueqin—sat down directly on top of them.
Precisely on the fleshy lower back of the top maidservant.
This time, all three were completely immobilized.
“Princess Ming Zhao, you lunatic!” Zheng Yingying finally caught her breath. “Get off me! I’ll kill you—I swear I’ll kill you!”
Princess Ming Zhao sat comfortably on her “human cushion,” even swinging her dangling legs leisurely.
“You want me to get up?” she said slowly, her voice laced with amusement. “Sure.”
“Just admit your mistake. Call me ‘Father’ loudly and say, ‘Father, I was wrong. My mouth was foul, my hands were restless. I won’t dare again.’ Say it three times, and I’ll get up.”
“How about it?”
“In your dreams! Don’t even think about it!” Zheng Yingying turned her head and shouted at Cui Xueqin, who stood frozen nearby.
“Hurry and get her off me!”
Cui Xueqin stared at the scene before her—Princess Ming Zhao casually sitting on top of the pile, smiling!
This was not something a Princess would ever do.
This was a madwoman—completely insane!
When her eyes met Princess Ming Zhao’s indifferent gaze, Cui Xueqin lifted her skirt.
“I’ll go get help! Sister Zheng, hold on!”
She ran off without looking back.
Princess Ming Zhao watched her fleeing figure and, with a teasing tone, said to the suffocating Zheng Yingying below:
“Your good friend abandoned you!”
…
Cui Xueqin ran breathlessly, lifting her skirt as she went.
At last, she saw the light from the side entrance of Linde Hall. Just as she was about to rush in to find guards, she caught sight of a figure out of the corner of her eye.
A deep purple robe. A tall, upright posture like a pine tree. Even from a distance, he radiated an air of cold detachment.
Her cousin.
It was Cui Weijin.
Like grasping a lifeline, Cui Xueqin rushed toward him, forgetting even to bow.
“Cousin Brother, something terrible has happened! Princess of Lin’an has gone mad—she’s beaten Sister Zheng! Please go take a look!”
…
Cui Weijin arrived and stopped.
Before him was the sight of Princess Ming Zhao sitting sideways atop the stacked bodies, swinging her legs.
“Princess of Lin’an,” he spoke coolly, without warmth, “this behavior is improper.”
【Propriety, propriety—again with propriety. Is that the only word you know?】
【I might as well call you ‘Mr. Propriety.’ It suits you perfectly!】
She tilted her head at him, looking utterly unbothered, as if she hadn’t heard a word.
Cui Weijin was… rebutted.
For the first time in his twenty-two years, someone had talked back to him like this.
Everyone said he was the model young master of noble families—refined and flawless. Now the head of the Cui family, holding high office, he had never made mistakes, nor had anyone dared to question him.
Yet this Princess always defied expectations.
His thin lips pressed together. In the end, he did not repeat the word “propriety.”
Cui Xueqin, who had followed behind him, pointed at Princess Ming Zhao.
“Cousin Brother, look—it’s her!”
“I don’t know what happened, but Princess of Lin’an suddenly went mad, attacked Sister Zheng, and even pinned her and her maidservants to the ground to bully them!”
“We couldn’t stop her no matter what—Cousin Brother, please do something!”
Listening to this, Princess Ming Zhao almost wanted to applaud.
【What a lie—so smooth, not even a hint of guilt, and with a perfect victim tone.】
【You might as well become a professional schemer.】
Cui Weijin listened, silently shaking his head. Crude and unrefined.
She didn’t move, still sitting firmly on the “pile.”
Pointing at Cui Xueqin, she said, “You liar—do you not even bother drafting your lies properly?”
With her other hand, she pointed at Zheng Yingying, still groaning beneath.
“Which eye saw me hit her? The left or the right?”
“You called someone over and immediately started throwing accusations at me? Where did you learn to twist black into white like this?”
“Princess,” Cui Weijin’s voice cut in, “mind your words.”
He looked at her. “Please get down first.”
His tone was calm, without anger.
Their eyes met.
Cui Weijin simply thought: though this place was secluded, the banquet was not yet over—people came and went. If others saw her like this, it would harm her reputation and only bring trouble.
Princess Ming Zhao met his gaze.
【Of course he’s siding with Zheng Yingying—siding with his dear cousin.】
【They were the ones who blocked me, insulted me, and tried to have their maidservants restrain me. Now it’s turned into me bullying them?】
【As expected, all these noble families are the same—cut from the same cloth!】
Cui Weijin clearly heard the words “siding with Zheng Yingying” and “cut from the same cloth.”
“Dear cousin?”
He frowned and glanced at Cui Xueqin beside him.
Under his piercing gaze, Cui Xueqin looked away guiltily.
Why was he looking at her like that? Had he believed that madwoman?
Cui Weijin withdrew his gaze.
Cousin she may be—but since when had she become his “dear” cousin?
Nonsense.
Princess Ming Zhao looked away, lifting her eyes to the dark night sky and taking a deep breath.
【Forget it.】
【I acted impulsively today. The Zheng Family is already offended—if I clash with Cui Weijin here and push the Cui family against us too, what will happen to Imperial Father and my brother?】
She thought of her father’s frail hands and worried expression back in the Golden Throne Hall.
【Damn it… this is suffocating.】
She bit her lower lip and, unwillingly, stood up and stepped aside.
The moment she got up, the three people beneath her finally moved.
The two maidservants scrambled to their feet, then hurried to help Zheng Yingying up.
When Zheng Yingying stood, her hair was disheveled, her silver hairpin crooked. Her luxurious lake-blue brocade dress was smeared with dirt and snow.
“Princess Ming Zhao, you wretch!”
Ignoring that Cui Weijin was still present, she raised her right hand and viciously swung it toward Princess Ming Zhao’s face—the face she hated so intensely.
Princess Ming Zhao could have easily dodged the slap.
But she glanced at Cui Weijin, standing expressionless nearby.
【I’ll endure it.】
She closed her eyes, preparing to take the blow head-on.