At this moment, Caiyu felt a twinge of guilt. Facing Jiang Jinyue's interrogation, she didn't dare to refute and just silently hung her head.
"It's this servant... this servant is clumsy."
The bow was tied on Song Yinghuai's back and covered by the waistband. Although it wasn't very noticeable, but...
Song Yinghuai was riding on his horse. Seeing Jiang Jinyue glaring angrily at Caiyu, he frowned slightly, turned his horse around, and said,
"The Buddha said that anger and obsession are harmful to both the body and the mind. Cousin, when you arrive at the temple, you should listen to more Buddhist scriptures and try to understand the teachings of the masters."
Jiang Jinyue shut her mouth and felt extremely wronged.
She was just thinking about Song Yinghuai's reputation, but in return, she got what seemed like a complaint from him.
However, Song Yinghuai didn't notice her expression at all. After saying that, he turned his horse and rode on.
Jiang Jinyue twisted her handkerchief and gave Caiyu a fierce look. Suddenly, a malicious smile curled up on her lips. "You come and serve in front of my aunt's and my carriage!"
Caiyu answered and followed in front of Concubine Yao's carriage.
As a servant girl, she could only follow on foot.
Jiang Jinyue got into the carriage. Concubine Yao saw the sad look on her face and asked with concern,
"What's wrong?"
"Aunt," Jiang Jinyue hesitated, "did you see? Cousin's belt has a bow on it!"
Concubine Yao was shocked. She quickly lifted the curtain of the carriage and saw a bow on Song Yinghuai's back that looked like a fluttering butterfly as he rode ahead in the distance.
She angrily dropped the curtain. "Quickly inform Han Fen! Ask him to remind the prince!"
Concubine Yao covered her chest and cursed, "Huai'er has always been calm and self - disciplined, and he knows how to behave properly. But now he's getting more and more muddle - headed! It's all that vixen's fault!"
Jiang Jinyue quickly stroked Concubine Yao's chest to help her calm down. "Aunt, don't be angry. Cousin was confused before, but now that I'm here, I will definitely not let that seductive woman bewitch cousin anymore!"
Concubine Yao took a deep breath and looked at Jiang Jinyue with a look of relief in her eyes.
"Fortunately, you noticed in time. Otherwise, during this journey, where would the face of our Yan Prince's Mansion be?"
Jiang Jinyue snorted. "Aunt, cousin protects her, but we can't just keep giving in. Otherwise, she'll be riding on our heads!"
"What do you plan to do?"
"First, give her a little warning so that she knows she can't be so slack when serving her master!"
Jiang Jinyue knocked on the doorpost. "Coachman, hurry up. Catch up with the prince's horse."
Originally, Song Yinghuai rode ahead to go to the mountain temple early to make arrangements. After Concubine Yao and the other female family members slowly arrived, everything would go smoothly with all the necessary arrangements in place.
So Song Yinghuai, Han Fen and the others had long disappeared.
The coachman had no choice but to whip the horse and speed up after receiving the order.
As soon as the carriage moved, Caiyu, who was following, had to run.
The Yan Prince's Mansion was more than twenty miles away from the Great Compassion Temple, and the road was rough all the way.
Jiang Jinyue lifted the curtain and watched Caiyu running desperately. A look of triumph appeared on her face. She kept urging, "Faster. Did the horses forget to be fed grass today? Why are they so slow? Cousin has disappeared!"
"If you keep dawdling like this, be careful that the old princess will scold you!"
Hearing this, the coachman was extremely panicked. He whipped the horse like a shooting star. "Gee - up!"
The carriage sped away like an arrow from a bow, scaring the pedestrians on the road to quickly avoid it. Countless street stalls were overturned, and screams rose one after another.
Caiyu followed beside the horse, running with a flushed face and out of breath. Seeing this situation, she still couldn't help but knock on the window lattice.
Jiang Jinyue lifted the curtain. What came into her eyes was Caiyu's blushing face. Immediately, her face darkened.
She didn't expect that after running, Caiyu's face was like white jade dyed with red clouds. The extreme contrast between white and red made her even more beautiful than before.
Her fair and rosy face was covered with fine beads of sweat, like the crystal - clear frost beads hanging on the daisies on a frosty day, trembling slightly, making people reluctant to pick them.
Instead of showing her embarrassment, this scene highlighted her breathtaking beauty.
A wave of jealousy welled up in Jiang Jinyue's heart. She asked with a straight face,
"What's the matter?"
Caiyu ran beside the window and gasped, "Cousin... miss... we can't disturb the people in the busy market..."
She grew up in the military since childhood. Her father and brother always managed the army strictly and required the soldiers not to disturb the people. She was also deeply influenced by this.
Jiang Jinyue's face changed. "What do you mean by disturbing the people? I just asked the carriage to go a little faster. Don't put blame on me. Besides, this is cousin's fiefdom in Yanjing City. These are all his people. They should make way when they see us. If they get hit, it's their own fault for not being careful..."
Just as she finished speaking, a sudden scream of panic came from ahead.
A small figure suddenly rushed out of the street and ran into the middle of the road!
The coachman quickly pulled the reins. The carriage braked suddenly, making Jiang Jinyue and Concubine Yao stagger in the carriage.
Even so, the horse couldn't stop.
Amidst the continuous screams, cries and the long neigh of the horse, the child stood still on the spot, crying loudly.
It seemed that the horse's hoof was about to fall on the child's head, and a tragedy was about to happen. Everyone was so scared that they closed their eyes and didn't dare to look anymore.
At the critical moment, a graceful figure rushed out from the side of the carriage, jumped over the horse, and knocked down the child standing still. The two rolled on the ground for several times.
At the same time, the horse's front hooves stepped over the place where the child had just stood, and the front hooves rose high, letting out a long series of neighs.
There were two "thumps".
Jiang Jinyue and Concubine Yao's foreheads bumped into each other hard, and stars appeared in front of their eyes.
Time seemed to stop for a moment.
Everyone stared blankly at the tall and slender servant girl holding the child and struggling to get up from the ground.
The child's mother pushed through the crowd, rushed forward, hugged the child, and knelt down in front of Caiyu, kowtowing. "Thank you, miss, for saving my child's life! Thank you!"
Suddenly, cheers erupted from the crowd, and the applause was like a wave.
"Good girl!"
"Sure enough, the people in our Yan Prince's Mansion are so brave and kind, even the servant girls!"
"Long live the prince!"
...
In the cheers, Caiyu was in a daze for a moment. It seemed that she had returned to the time when her father and brother came back from a victorious battle on horseback, and the common people lined the streets to cheer.
She showed a smile to the crowd, and the pain in her ankle, which was sprained again when she rolled on the ground, seemed to be lessened.
The carriage door was opened from the inside, and Jiang Jinyue's angry voice came out:
"Caiyu! Hurry up and get in. Aunt's forehead is broken!"
Caiyu came back to her senses and quickly limped into the carriage.
Concubine Yao was lying on the soft couch, covering her head and groaning.
"Old princess," Caiyu walked forward to check.
Concubine Yao showed her forehead. A lump the size of a quail egg was clearly visible to the two of them. Caiyu was startled.
It was so serious!
Jiang Jinyue also covered her forehead and kept urging, "Quickly think of a way to reduce the swelling for us. Otherwise, when we go to the temple and see the Buddha, our appearance will be disrespectful to the Buddha!"
Caiyu paused for a moment and finally said, "Cousin miss, the Buddha doesn't judge people by their appearance. Whether you are ugly or beautiful, poor or rich, good or evil, in the eyes of the Buddha, you are all sentient beings and are treated equally."
Jiang Jinyue impatiently interrupted her. "Who asked you to argue! Now we're asking you to think of a way to reduce the swelling for us. Instead, you're being so evasive!"
"The servant girls in cousin's house are really out of line!"
Concubine Yao also roared angrily, "Think of a way quickly! Otherwise, I'll hold you accountable!"
They were trying to blame her!
But there was nothing she could do. One had to bow one's head under the eaves.
Caiyu pursed her lips and thought for a while, then stopped the carriage.
Just after a heavy snowfall, there was deep snow on the side of the road in Yanjing City, and icicles hung from the eaves of the streets.
Caiyu endured the stabbing pain in her ankle and reached out to hold the long icicle hanging down.
A cold chill penetrated into her bones and spread from her palm to all parts of her body.