Murong Zhuangzhuang misunderstood the concierge's good intentions. She rushed in and asked coldly, "What's wrong? Is it a serious crime to stay out all night?"
Zi'an pulled her and said in a low voice, "He means well, don't misunderstand."
Murong Zhuangzhuang looked at her strangely, "You are going back to your own home, is it necessary to be so sneaky?"
Zi'an said, "I'm not being sneaky, I just don't want to argue. I'm tired."
After saying that, he took her and left.
She had no intention of letting Murong Zhuangzhuang in, but she kept saying in the carriage that Prince An asked her to keep an eye on Zi'an as he slept, and she had to do it.
As soon as the two stepped onto the corridor, they heard a sarcastic voice, "Young lady, you're out so early? Or are you not coming back all night?"
Zi'an cursed inwardly that he wasn't even given the time to properly look up the book.
Murong Zhuangzhuang turned around and looked at the person behind him. He saw that this middle-aged woman was holding a bunch of freshly picked lotus flowers with mist on them. He thought she must be a servant in the mansion.
She said, "Is it your place to ask where the young lady is going?"
Aunt Cuiyu looked at Murong Zhuangzhuang. She had never seen Zhuangzhuang before, so naturally she didn't know that she was the current prominent princess. Seeing that she was not wearing very expensive clothes, she thought she was just an ordinary pretty girl. And seeing that Zhuangzhuang's features did not show any feminine temperament, she concluded that she was not a good girl.
She ignored Zhuang Zhuang and just looked at Zi An and said, "Young lady, when you are socializing with others, you should be modest and not be led astray by others. It would not be a good thing if the news of you not coming home for a night got out."
Before Zi'an could answer, Zhuangzhuang became unhappy, "What does it have to do with you? Get out of here, get out of the way, go back and serve."
Aunt Cuiyu's face turned cold, "Where did this uneducated girl come from? Is this Xiangfu a place for you to run wild?"
Zi'an watched the war break out and suddenly had an idea. Murong Jie's life or death was uncertain now, and she needed someone to temporarily intimidate the old lady. It would be a good idea to make a fuss about this matter so that they would be more cautious and give her some buffer time.
So, she said to Zhuangzhuang: "She is the old lady's aunt, and her status in the mansion is not as simple as a servant."
She was the aunt beside the old lady, still a servant, but because she was lifted up by the old lady, she was higher than the servants. When Zi'an said this, Murong Zhuangzhuang was surprised and said, "She is still a servant."
What Aunt Cuiyu hated the most was people calling her a servant, because she had been favored by the old lady in recent years and was like half the master in the mansion. Now Zi'an called her a servant in front of an outsider and was extremely sarcastic and merciless, which was really unbearable for her.
She immediately stepped forward and said, "Miss, you didn't come home all night, and you brought this arrogant person back home to talk nonsense. I must tell the old lady about this."
Her threat was very serious. If the person you brought back was not so arrogant and did not speak nonsense, she could not tell the old lady. To put it another way, Murong Zhuangzhuang must apologize to her.
Zhuangzhuang is a straightforward person. She usually can't hear such hidden meanings, but this time she understood it. She frowned and said, "So, is this always the case in the prime minister's mansion? The servants can ride on the masters' heads?"
"You..." Aunt Cuiyu's face turned the color of liver. "What do you mean servant or not? The masters and servants in the prime minister's mansion live in harmony, without any distinction of rank."
"You can insult your master at will regardless of rank?" Zhuangzhuang looked back at Zian and asked, "Has she always bullied you like this?"
Zhuangzhuang didn’t know much about Zi’an’s affairs, or rather, she didn’t know about all the gossip and had no interest in it.
Zi'an said calmly: "She is someone close to the old lady."
Zhuangzhuang said coldly, "He is still a servant. Go and report to your old lady. I want to see what she wants to do. She just indulges the servants to bully the master. This old lady doesn't have the dignity of a household manager at all."
After saying that, he took Zi'an and left.
Originally, the one hour time to return to the mansion was very limited, but Zi'an still took advantage of this gap to let the princess and the old lady fight first, at least to make the old lady offend the princess.
The first thing she learned after coming to the Prime Minister's Mansion was to do things that would harm others and not benefit herself.
Zhuangzhuang walked away while angrily saying, "Why is your mansion like this? You are the eldest daughter of the family, right? Not only do these servants have no respect for you, they even dare to mock and threaten you. If it were me, I would definitely teach them a lesson."
Zi'an smiled, his eyes gleaming with coldness, "Princess, calm down. When I have some free time, they will look great."
Now, she is really troubled by everything.
Zhuangzhuang heard this and glanced at her. "You are a person who does big things. To deal with these small shrimps, someone needs to help you."
Her words were ambiguous, but Zian understood what she meant.
I originally wanted to use her, but now I feel despicable. Such a straightforward and honest girl dare not be tainted by the atmosphere of worldly struggle.
She shouldn't have dragged so many people into this. This was a game between her, the original owner Xia Zian, and the Xiangfu... She should have participated in the fight herself. No matter how busy she was, she had to take revenge.
After returning to Xiazhi Garden, Zi'an said that he had to pay his respects to his mother first, and asked Nanny Yang to greet Murong Zhuangzhuang.
Yuan didn't sleep the whole night, waiting for news from Zi'an. She felt uneasy until Zi'an came back.
Seeing her come back, she quickly stood up and asked, "How is it? Is the Regent willing to help?"
Zi'an said, "It's not that he doesn't want to, it's that something happened to him and he was seriously injured. Mother, where is the book on golden needles?"
Yuan was a little shocked, "Something happened to the Regent?"
She walked to the bookshelf, took out the Golden Needle Technique, and handed it to Zi'an, "Is it serious?"
Zi'an said in a deep voice: "It's very serious."
She told Yuan the basic situation, and Yuan couldn't help but feel a little worried. However, she was not worried that Zi'an would lose his support. She just said, "Since the Regent took power, he has vigorously promoted new policies and exempted some of the heavy taxes. He is truly for the people. If he really can't wake up, it will be a loss for the Great Zhou and the people."
After hearing this, Zi'an looked at her in surprise.
People outside have always said that Yuan was a smart and talented woman with great fame, but she really didn't know about her glorious past and always felt that it was exaggerated.
In addition, the mother and daughter didn't spend much time together, and they were always busy with conspiracy and calculation, so she had never formally touched Yuan's heart. Now hearing her say this, she suddenly felt that Yuan's vision was higher than she thought.
A woman who married the wrong man, was framed by her husband in every way, and even had her daughter killed, did not complain about herself or become depressed. Instead, she worried about the people of the world. This kind of breadth of mind and magnanimity is something that even the current queen cannot match.
Yuan was lost in thought and didn't notice Zi'an was observing her.
Suddenly, she walked to the bookshelf and took out a book. She quickly opened the book and said to Zi'an, "Come and take a look at this record."
(End of this chapter)