Sure enough, just as Han Shengyu had expected, on the very day the rumors caught fire, chaos erupted completely within the First Branch.
Madam Wu almost instantly suspected the Crown Prince’s faction, who were as incompatible with the Second Prince as fire and water, convinced that the Crown Prince wanted to thoroughly besmirch the Second Prince’s reputation and strike at the Han family along the way.
“It must be the doing of the Eastern Palace! What a venomous heart! They are trying to drive my Tang’er to her death!” Madam Wu beat her chest and stamped her feet in her room, her hatred for the Crown Prince’s faction deepening by another layer.
Han Jintang sat nearby with a dark expression. “Mother, there is no need to worry. The Second Prince and I are betrothed; even if I go to his estate as a guest, it accords with proper etiquette.”
Madam Wu, however, knitted her brows.
While that was true in theory, the fault lay in staying overnight—that excuse was somewhat far-fetched. Even if her daughter was innocent and she believed it, others might not.
Coupled with the previous incident where the Second Prince pushed her daughter into the water, others would only think her daughter had committed such unspeakable acts just to win back the Second Prince’s heart, causing her reputation to worsen even further.
Seeing her daughter’s poor complexion, she could not bring herself to scold her, only waiting anxiously for her husband to return from court to confer with him. This matter absolutely could not be left to let the Second Prince step all over her daughter again.
However, the speed at which the rumors spread far exceeded their control, even shocking those inside the palace.
Upon hearing of this, Lesser Consort Yang was consumed with rage. She summoned Han Jintang into the palace immediately and subjected her to a harsh, scathing reprimand right to her face.
“This consort originally thought you were sensible and refined, but never expected you to be so utterly shameless! An unmarried daughter, in the dead of night, staying at a prince’s estate and making it known to everyone! Where do you expect Yan’er to hide his face? Where do you expect this consort to put mine? Is this how your Han family teaches its daughters?!” Lesser Consort Yang’s phoenix eyes blazed with fury, her tone icy as a blade.
Whenever she recalled going to pay respects to the Empress today, being scolding and mocked by the Empress over this matter, and having to endure the same glances from other palace consorts, her heart felt as if it were being roasted over a fire.
Having navigated the inner palace for years with caution and meticulous strategy, she had never lost face on such a grand scale!
Kneeling on the freezing ground, Han Jintang kept her head lowered slightly, assuming a trembling and terrified posture, yet not a shred of fear showed in her eyes.
Only the weak deserve to kneel; only the strong can stand upright.
One day, she would obtain everything she desired and sit in the position she wished to occupy.
Returning from the palace, Han Jintang sent someone to the adjacent residence with a message, saying she wished to see her three younger sisters.
When the news reached Han Shengyu, she was lying comfortably in a rocking chair in the study, a pastry in one hand and a storybook in the other. Beside her, Han Huiyu was doing needlework, while Han Qingning was practicing calligraphy over a copybook—one demure, one proper.
Hearing Ruyi’s report, Han Shengyu didn’t even raise her head, letting out a mocking laugh. “Oh? Missing her sisters so deeply? Burning joss paper at a grave—who is she trying to fool?!”
At this sarcastic, strange tone, Han Huiyu set down her needle and Han Qingning laid down her brush. The two looked at Han Shengyu in unison, harboring a constant feeling that she was about to stir up trouble again!
Han Shengyu shook the storybook in her hand. “Go tell the messenger that she has time to meet secretly with someone, yet no leisure to see her blood relatives. Since there is no familial affection to speak of, why bother talking about sisterhood? We cannot afford to climb up to such high relatives.”
Ruyi listened to her young lady above all else; without a single word of advice, she turned right around and left.
The First Branch looked down on people—did they really think their young lady was made of soft clay?
Bah!
Seeing Ruyi actually leave to deliver the message like that, Han Qingning hurriedly said, “Shengyu, aren’t these words a bit too… direct? After all, First Uncle and First Aunt are still around.”
Han Shengyu picked up a piece of fruit, bit into it with a crisp crunch, and said with complete nonchalance, “If she dared to do it, why shouldn’t I dare to say it? She never treated us as sisters, so do you still want to press your warm face against a cold buttock? From now on, the First Branch is the First Branch, and we are ourselves!”
Han Qingning subconsciously looked at Han Huiyu. Han Huiyu’s expression was equally unsightly; with a tense face, she said, “Shengyu is doing the right thing. Is our self-respect worth nothing?”
Though her father held a low official rank, he was skilled in economics. For all these years, who had covered the First Branch’s expenses in Jincheng? It was her father sending money over every year to subsidize them.
Spending their money while stepping on their dignity—even Han Huiyu, who always prioritized the bigger picture, was genuinely furious this time.
With Han Huiyu speaking up like this, Han Qingning immediately added, “Then we must send an additional letter back home to explain the reasons behind all this clearly.”
“Rest assured, the letter has already been sent.”
“When did you send it out?” Both Han Qingning and Han Huiyu looked at Han Shengyu in astonishment and asked.
“Written last night and dispatched this morning—how could a matter like lodging a complaint be left overnight?”
“Good line, so it really was your doing!” Furious, Han Huiyu tossed her needlework basket aside and walked briskly over to Han Shengyu. “You wretched girl, your courage is growing larger by the day! If something happens to you, how am I supposed to explain it to Father, and how do I explain it to Concubine Qiao? Han Jing actually indulged you too! I’m going to write to Father and see if he comes to Jincheng to break your legs!”
Han Shengyu: …
She had carried herself away in a moment of triumph.
However, she had never intended to hide things from her two elder sisters anyway. In the future, she would be doing many more things, and both of them would have to serve as her backup team to handle the aftermath.
The most solid alliance was one where everyone was locked onto the same boat, sharing life and death as well as common interests.
“Eldest Sister, if Han Jintang dares to act, I dare to strip away her skin! If I don’t rip her skin off, she’ll come to take our lives! Look at what she did—using the pretext of Lesser Consort Yang wanting to see us to trick our two families into sending daughters to Jincheng. Do you dare say she harbored good intentions?”
“I didn’t say you shouldn’t do it, but you should at least do it safely and soundly,” Han Huiyu looked at Han Shengyu. “You said it yourself—we sisters must all return home safely.”
Having seen a wolf like Han Jintang who devoured people without leaving a trace of blood, Han Huiyu now found this younger sister of hers pleasing to the eye no matter how she looked at her.
By comparison, what did the minor friction between them sisters count for?
Just based on the fact that Shengyu had uncovered so many things in such a short time and stepped up to expose Han Jintang’s plot, it was obvious that back in Yongding, she had truly shown mercy to her and Shuyu.
She must have been bored and simply teasing them for fun.
Thinking about it this way, the gaze with which she looked at Han Shengyu grew increasingly subtle—her mood hard to describe in detail, gritting her teeth while simultaneously feeling a sense of relief.
On the other side, the matron sent over delivered these exact words back to the First Branch word for word. Upon hearing them, Han Jintang was so enraged she smashed her favorite set of teaware right on the spot!
She had never expected that a concubine-born little girl like Han Shengyu would dare to contradict her so bluntly, even bringing up her most disgraceful affair to mock her!
“She… how dare she!” Han Jintang’s chest heaved violently, nearly passing out from anger.
Even a concubine-born younger sister from another branch dared to mock her like this—the heavens were truly being turned upside down.
Looking at her young lady’s face, the matron kept her head lowered and did not dare intrude with a word, terrified that the anger might spill over onto her. Her heart felt bitter; she had originally thought this was a fine assignment, but had never expected it to be so scalding to the touch. Had she known earlier, she never would have fought to take it.