Chapter 3
Qu Wanning turned around and saw Qu Qingrong standing in the doorway, holding a small bowl of freshly cooked plain porridge. Her expression was calm, but the fingers gripping the rim of the bowl had gone white at the tips.
“And here I was wondering who it was.” Qu Wanning smiled. “What, you weren’t in the rear courtyard admiring flowers—you went to the kitchen to sneak food instead?”
Qu Qingrong ignored her. She walked in, set the porridge on the stone table in the courtyard, then crouched down to help Xiaolian up. One side of Xiaolian’s face had swollen, and her eyes were red, but she bit her lip and refused to cry.
“Does it hurt?” Qu Qingrong asked.
Xiaolian shook her head, then nodded, and finally whispered, “This servant is fine.”
Qu Qingrong stood and turned to face Qu Wanning.
“Third Sister, Xiaolian is my person. If she has done something wrong, you can tell me. But—before hitting her, did you ask me?” Qu Qingrong’s sharp gaze swept across Qu Wanning.
For a moment, Qu Wanning was stunned by the look in Qu Qingrong’s eyes. Those eyes that had always seemed mild and weak now looked as though they had been tempered in ice, so cold they hardly seemed to belong to the same person. She instinctively took a step back, but almost immediately grew angry at herself for retreating.
What was there to fear from a useless Alpha?
She snorted as though she had heard a joke. “Qu Qingrong, don’t you think you’re taking yourself a little too seriously?”
She pressed a step closer. “Don’t think that just because you latched onto the Eldest Princess, you can throw your weight around in front of me. I’m telling you—”
Qu Qingrong cut her off. Looking directly into her eyes, she said, word by word, “That still makes me better off than you. You want to marry her, but you can’t.”
Qu Wanning’s face instantly flushed scarlet.
“What did you say?!”
“I said,” Qu Qingrong replied, her voice not loud but steady, “Third Sister has admired the Eldest Princess for so many years. Does the Eldest Princess even know who you are?”
The words were like a knife, stabbing precisely into Qu Wanning’s sorest spot. Her lips trembled, and the fury in her eyes nearly burst into flames.
“You—you’re courting death!”
She raised her hand and swung it toward Qu Qingrong’s face.
The instant her palm came down—
“Stop!”
A familiar voice rang out from the courtyard entrance, slicing through Qu Wanning’s movement like a blade.
Qu Wanning’s hand froze in midair, her entire body locking in place.
Gu Cuiyun stood at the courtyard gate, her face as cold as frost. No one knew how long she had been standing there or how much she had seen. There was no ceremonial procession behind her, only two guards.
Qu Wanning’s face changed from red to white, then from white to ashen blue. She slowly lowered her hand, her fingers trembling.
“E-Eldest Princess…” Qu Wanning’s voice seemed squeezed out of her throat, dry and hoarse.
Gu Cuiyun did not look at her. Her gaze passed over Qu Wanning and landed on Qu Qingrong.
The delicate, thin face before her was full of stubbornness, without the slightest hint of fear in those eyes.
A trace of amusement flashed through Gu Cuiyun’s gaze.
She walked straight past Qu Wanning. Qu Wanning instinctively backed away two steps and nearly tripped. Her two maids had already dropped to their knees, not daring to raise their heads.
Gu Cuiyun stopped in front of Qu Qingrong and asked, “Were you going to let her hit you?”
Qu Qingrong shook her head.
Of course not. If the Eldest Princess had not called for her to stop, she would have hit back.
Gu Cuiyun turned toward Qu Wanning. “You are the Third Miss of the Chancellor’s Residence?”
Qu Wanning’s knees went weak, and she dropped to the ground. “Th-this minister’s daughter, Qu Wanning, greets Your Highness, Eldest Princess.”
“This Princess asked you—who were you about to hit just now?”
Qu Wanning’s lips trembled. She could not say a single word.
“You intended to hit this Princess’s wife?” Gu Cuiyun’s voice remained neither loud nor soft, but every word was like a shard of ice. “You even dare touch someone who belongs to this Princess?”
Qu Wanning trembled all over, her forehead pressed against the ground. “This minister’s daughter would not dare. It—it was Qu Qingrong!”
Qu Wanning immediately turned the accusation around, her voice already carrying a sob. “She insulted this minister’s daughter first! This minister’s daughter lost her temper for a moment, so—”
“Insulted you?” Gu Cuiyun interrupted. “How did she insult you?”
Qu Wanning opened her mouth but could not answer.
She could hardly say that Qu Qingrong had told her, “You want to marry her, but you can’t.” Wouldn’t that be openly admitting that she had only come looking for trouble because she was jealous?
She gritted her teeth and changed her story. “She—she spoke disrespectfully and defied her legitimate elder sister. This minister’s daughter was disciplining her on Father’s behalf.”
“Disciplining her?” Gu Cuiyun gave a cold laugh, her gaze dropping to the hand Qu Wanning had just raised to strike someone. “Since when was someone belonging to this Princess yours to discipline?”
Qu Wanning’s face turned white as paper. She had nothing to say.
Gu Cuiyun stopped looking at her and turned toward Qu Qingrong.
“Come here.”
Qu Qingrong paused, then stepped forward.
Gu Cuiyun raised a hand, grasped her wrist, and lifted Qu Qingrong’s hand in front of Qu Wanning.
Gu Cuiyun’s palm was scorching hot, heating the patch of skin beneath her touch.
“She hit your servant,” Gu Cuiyun said firmly. “Then hit her back.”
Qu Qingrong glanced at the red marks on Xiaolian’s face, then at Qu Wanning’s shocked and furious expression.
“Your Highness!” Qu Wanning shrieked. “I am a legitimate daughter of the Chancellor’s Residence, I—”
Smack—
A crisp slap landed heavily across Qu Wanning’s face.
Her head snapped to the side, and five red finger marks immediately appeared on her cheek.
She froze for a moment before screaming, “You—you dare hit me?!”
Qu Wanning covered her face, tears spilling out at once. Just as she was about to lunge forward, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from the courtyard entrance.
“Stop!”
The Chancellor stood at the entrance, panting heavily. The Chancellor’s wife and several servants were behind her. She had clearly rushed back the moment she received word; her clothes were disheveled, and sweat beaded across her forehead.
“Your Highness!” The Chancellor hurried inside, glanced at Qu Wanning kneeling on the ground, then at Qu Qingrong. Her face turned livid. “What is going on here?”
The moment Qu Wanning saw her father, she threw herself toward him and began sobbing hysterically. “Father, Qu Qingrong hit me! She hit me right in front of the Eldest Princess! Look at my face—”
The Chancellor looked at the red marks on her daughter’s face, and her expression darkened even further.
She turned toward Qu Qingrong and said sternly, “Qu Qingrong, as an illegitimate daughter, you have offended your superior and assaulted a legitimate daughter. Do you admit your crime?”
Before Qu Qingrong could speak, the Chancellor’s wife hurried over as well and gathered the youngest daughter she doted on into her arms.
“My poor daughter! An illegitimate daughter actually dared hit you? This is outrageous!”
“Your Highness, you must uphold justice for us! This illegitimate daughter has been unruly since childhood, and now that she has latched onto someone as powerful as you, she no longer even respects her legitimate elder sister—”
“Are you finished?”
Gu Cuiyun watched the farce with an icy gaze.
Every voice in the courtyard immediately died.
The Chancellor’s wife opened her mouth, but no longer dared make a sound.
Gu Cuiyun looked at the Chancellor and said, one word at a time, “Chancellor, what did this Princess say yesterday in front of the imperial edict?”
Sweat gathered even more densely across the Chancellor’s forehead. “Your Highness said… said that from yesterday onward, Qu Qingrong belonged to the Eldest Princess’s Residence…”
“And?”
“A-and… that whoever dared—whoever dared touch her would be offending Your Highness.”
“Then what was your daughter doing just now? Hitting someone who belongs to this Princess.” Gu Cuiyun’s gaze swept over Qu Wanning, then landed on the Chancellor’s wife. “And what was your wife doing just now? Insulting someone who belongs to this Princess.”
The Chancellor’s face shifted between green and white. Her lips trembled, but she could not speak.
“This Princess said those words only yesterday, and today the Chancellor’s Residence already treats them as meaningless.” Gu Cuiyun’s voice was calm, yet every word cut like a knife. “Chancellor, do you perhaps not take this Princess seriously?”
The Chancellor’s knees buckled, and she dropped to the ground.
“This minister would never dare! This minister absolutely did not mean that!”
“Wouldn’t dare?” Gu Cuiyun lowered her eyes toward her. “This Princess thinks you dare quite a lot.”
The Chancellor’s wife was frightened senseless and immediately knelt as well, trembling from head to toe.
Qu Wanning still had one hand over her face, tears clinging to her cheeks, but she did not dare say another word.
Gu Cuiyun did not spare them another glance.
She turned slightly toward Qu Qingrong.
“Have you finished packing?”
Qu Qingrong nodded.
“Then let’s go.”
Gu Cuiyun started toward the courtyard entrance. As she passed the Chancellor, she paused.
“Since the Chancellor’s Residence looks down on this Princess’s future wife so much, there is no reason for her to remain here.”
Gu Cuiyun’s voice was not loud, but everyone heard it clearly.
“From today onward, Qu Qingrong will live in the Eldest Princess’s Residence. Before the wedding, she need not return here again!”
Qu Qingrong finally felt vindicated. At last, she had vented the resentment bottled up inside her.
Xiaolian climbed up from the ground and tugged gently at her sleeve. “Miss, the Eldest Princess is calling for you.”
Qu Qingrong snapped out of it and hurried after her.
As she passed Qu Wanning, she paused for the briefest instant and glanced down at her.
Qu Wanning knelt on the ground with one hand over her face, resentment and fury intertwined in her eyes.
Qu Qingrong did not stop.
She followed that tall figure out of the courtyard where the original owner had lived for more than ten years, and then out through the gates of the Chancellor’s Residence.
Gu Cuiyun waited for her outside.
Only now did Qu Qingrong finally have the chance to curiously study the Eldest Princess whom she had met only twice in passing, yet who had rescued her from disaster both times.
Unlike the previous two occasions, Gu Cuiyun was dressed today in a brilliant red brocade robe that blazed like fire. Auspicious cloud patterns embroidered in gold thread wound from her shoulders all the way down to her waist. A black belt cinched her middle, emphasizing her lean, firm waist.
Her features had always been exceptionally beautiful, but they were usually overshadowed by the cold aura surrounding her, making others afraid to look too closely.
Now, against the vivid red brocade, she resembled a red plum blooming in snow—the colder she seemed, the more strikingly beautiful she became.
Qu Qingrong became so absorbed in looking that she somehow caught a trace of tenderness between Gu Cuiyun’s brows.
“Have you looked enough?”
“Huh?!”
Only then did Qu Qingrong realize just how long she had been staring.
Her face immediately flushed, and she lowered her head.
The Eldest Princess’s carriage had already been waiting outside for some time.
Qu Qingrong had originally intended to walk behind it, but the Eldest Princess pulled her into the carriage instead.
Her reason was simple:
“You are this Princess’s wife. Naturally, you should ride with this Princess.”
Inside the enclosed carriage, that faint, cold fragrance appeared again.
Qu Qingrong twisted her hands together, her mind a complete mess.
The carriage was clearly so spacious. Why did the Eldest Princess have to sit right beside her?
That fragrance seemed to come alive.
First, it curled around her hair, strand after strand. Then it drifted down along her cheek, brushed past the shell of her ear, grazed the side of her neck, and paused for an instant over her gland—
Qu Qingrong shuddered all over.
The skin at the back of her neck burned as though it were about to catch fire.
She bit her lip and desperately shifted toward the carriage window, but that crisp pine scent followed her like a shadow. It climbed from her fingertips to her wrist, flowed from her wrist across her chest, and finally wove itself into an airtight wall around her nose and lips.
The air she breathed in was hot.
The air she exhaled was hot too.
Her entire body felt as though it had been submerged in warm water, even her bones turning weak and soft.
Gu Cuiyun sat beside her, staring straight ahead with an expressionless face, as though nothing whatsoever were happening.
Qu Qingrong desperately endured it until they finally reached the Eldest Princess’s Residence.
She scrambled out of the carriage in a hurry, only to lose her balance and topple sideways.
Fortunately, Gu Cuiyun caught her in time.
Gu Qi, Gu Cuiyun’s personal guard, was also an Omega. The moment Qu Qingrong stepped down, she immediately caught the intense pine scent clinging to her.
Her pupils contracted.
She looked at the Eldest Princess, whose lips carried the faintest hint of a smile, then at the Princess Consort, whose cheeks were flushed bright red.
She understood.
The Princess Consort—
absolutely could not be provoked.
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