"It's all your Liang family's fault. How could you do such a stupid thing! Tie up all those who came from the gambling house and send them to the yamen. Let the officials deal with them!"
"As for you..." His gaze swept over Liang Gui. The man being stared at trembled all over and didn't even dare to move. "Go and apologize to the young prince. If he doesn't mind, I'll let it go."
"If not..."
All the onlookers were stunned.
"Yes, yes, yes. I understand, my lord." Chairman Liang, a merchant who had been around the nobility for many years, naturally knew how to read people's expressions. He knew that this matter wouldn't end easily today. Immediately, he turned around and kicked his son hard.
"You scoundrel! Hurry up and apologize to the young prince!"
Wen Qianyue felt a bit regretful. She didn't expect this old scoundrel to be so spineless. He was a perfect example of a bully who feared the strong and oppressed the weak.
There was no room for her to intervene!
Liang Gui got up reluctantly and walked up to Xie Yunxiao. He gritted his teeth and finally mumbled something so softly that it was almost inaudible.
Xie Yunxiao strained his ears but still couldn't make out what he said.
Is this it?
"It seems that Young Master Liang's apology is quite sincere," Wen Qianyue sighed.
Xie Yunxiao turned to look at her sharply.
"I'm so close to the young prince and I still couldn't hear it. I guess Young Master Liang is usually very shy. He's as timid as a little rabbit. Or perhaps..." Her voice paused and then she said slowly, "His Highness the Prince didn't treat Young Master Liang well. He didn't even let Young Master Liang have enough to eat. How can he have the strength to speak?"
Liang Gui, who had been indirectly insulted, was so angry that his nose almost turned crooked. But he didn't dare to lose his temper. Since the Prince of Ling hadn't given him permission to leave, he could only stand there looking like a fool.
"It seems that I really didn't treat him well. What do you think I should do to make it up to him, miss?" The Prince of Ling looked at the people below with a playful expression.
"Of course, Young Master Liang should be well-fed," Wen Qianyue said matter-of-factly. "Your Highness surely doesn't want people to say that you're stingy and won't even let someone have a bowl of rice. I'm sure there's still a lot of food in the kitchen. Why not just give it all to Young Master Liang?"
After all, this was a proper banquet in the prince's mansion. To prevent any unexpected situations, there was a lot of extra food prepared besides what was on the table. According to the usual practice, this extra food would be given to the servants after the banquet. But it seemed that they wouldn't be able to enjoy it today.
The Prince of Ling couldn't help but laugh and ordered his servants to do as Wen Qianyue said.
Wen Chengen looked at his father, who had been acting strangely today, and couldn't help but speak up. "Father, Young Master Liang already knows his mistake. Why don't you forgive him?"
"Although Liang Gui's actions were indeed excessive, it might not be appropriate for you to listen to a woman's words like this, Father."
The Prince of Ling frowned and glanced at his eldest son. "What's inappropriate? I'd like to see who dares to say anything." His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for everyone in the hall to hear.
The Prince of Ling's obvious protection and indulgence showed that this young woman was not someone to be underestimated. Maybe she had some connection with the prince.
Could she be the prince's long-lost daughter?
Everyone was making their own guesses, but no one dared to say it out loud.
Wen Qianyue was thinking about something else.
What kind of grudge did Xie Yunxiao have with Wen Chengen that made the latter act like this?
It couldn't be because of a woman. As for power... Xie Yunxiao was just a prince with an empty title. There was nothing much to covet.
After a while, two rather strong servants carried a half-person-high wooden bucket over.
"Your Highness, there wasn't enough food prepared in the kitchen today. The maids were afraid they wouldn't be able to make it in time, so they asked this servant to bring the remaining rice." After saying that, he opened the lid, and sure enough, there was cold rice inside.
The people in the prince's mansion were all very shrewd. As soon as they heard that it was something the prince wanted and knowing about the commotion in the front hall, they easily guessed what their prince was up to. So they did it on purpose.
"It doesn't matter," the Prince of Ling waved his hand.
Liang Gui watched helplessly as the bucket of white rice was placed in front of him with a thud. He looked at his father for help, but his father was no less shocked than he was. His jaw dropped in surprise.
"Is Chairman Liang hungry too?" Wen Qianyue asked with false concern.
"No, no, no," he said quickly, waving his hands in fear.
At this moment, Liang Gui regretted his decision deeply. Why on earth did he listen to that Ji guy and think that Xie Yunxiao was a fool who could be easily manipulated?
He had just been itching to gamble a bit of money. Afraid of being punished by his father, he had listened to Ji Wenzhen's stupid idea. As a result, he got a bucket of white rice.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Liang Gui resigned himself to his fate and started shoveling the rice into his mouth with a big spoon. Everyone watching felt like they couldn't breathe and were trembling in fear.
The banquet couldn't continue. The guests had watched the show and left as quickly as they could, afraid of getting involved.
Wen Qianyue thought it was about time. She grabbed Xie Yunxiao and was just about to leave the door when they were stopped again before they could even leave the prince's mansion.
Looking at the person in front of them, she vaguely remembered that this was Zhang Liang, the trusted subordinate who always followed the Prince of Ling.
"Your Highness, please wait a moment," Zhang Liang said with a smile, blocking their way.
Xie Yunxiao pretended to be calm. "What is it?"
"His Highness the Prince would like to have a talk with this young lady. Please be kind enough to let her go," Zhang Liang said.
Xie Yunxiao was just about to make an excuse to refuse when Wen Qianyue patted him on the shoulder to stop him. She showed no sign of worry about her identity being exposed and calmly agreed.
She motioned for Xie Yunxiao to go first and then followed the servant away.
When Wen Qianyue arrived, the Prince of Ling was pacing back and forth in his study. His steps were disordered and without any rhythm.
"Your Highness, Miss Wen is here," Zhang Liang brought her in and then very consciously stepped back and closed the door.
A young servant rushed over. "Steward Zhang, the Prince of Huainan refused to leave first. He bumped into the young master and they went back to the courtyard together."
"It doesn't matter. Let them be," Zhang Liang didn't take it seriously.
Wen Qianyue walked in unhurriedly. She paused for a moment and asked, "I wonder what Your Highness wants to talk to me about?"
She knew her elder brother well. With his strange behavior at the banquet just now, how could she not guess?
The Prince of Ling didn't mind that Wen Qianyue didn't bow to him.
Since the first time he saw this woman, he had gone from disbelief to self-denial. Seeing her at the banquet, he began to believe that one-in-a-million possibility in his heart.
What if it was true?
"I wonder where Miss Wen is from? I feel like I've seen you somewhere before," the Prince of Ling asked.
If Wen Qianyue didn't know her elder brother well, just based on these words, one might think that some old lecher had taken a fancy to a young woman and wanted to take her as a concubine.
It was a pity that the Prince of Ling couldn't see the expression under Wen Qianyue's veil. Otherwise, he would have immediately confirmed his suspicion and wouldn't have taken so long to find out the identity of his younger sister.
In response to the questions, Wen Qianyue answered fluently. She said that she was from Taihua. There were also people with the surname Wen in Taihua, so it wasn't something unusual. But the moment the Prince of Ling heard her name, his expression changed a bit.
But the woman in front of him was so calm and open that the Prince of Ling even thought his own thoughts were absurd.
Seeing the undisguised annoyance on the Prince of Ling's face, Wen Qianyue couldn't help but want to laugh.
"Does Your Highness have anything else?"
The Prince of Ling suddenly remembered his son's question at the banquet. "Why do you cover your face with a veil?"
He wanted to see what the woman looked like under the veil.
Wen Qianyue sighed. The Prince of Ling thought she had some embarrassing secret and was just about to say forget it when the woman calmly spoke up.
"In Taihua, I was often troubled because of my beauty. It made countless people envy and jealous of me. Now that I'm in Yunsheng, I just want to experience an ordinary life and don't want to attract attention."