Cui Muyuan's cheeks burned with pain.
He knew right away that after Song Yihuan met Song Nanxin, she had told her what had happened last night.
But he showed no sign of anger. Instead, he knelt down in front of Song Nanxin.
"Your Highness, please calm down. There must be some misunderstanding in this matter," he said.
Song Nanxin glared at him fiercely. "What misunderstanding could there be? Don't try to deceive me anymore!"
"I was just trying to test her reaction for Your Highness. Guess what happened last night?" Cui Muyuan lowered his stance extremely and threw out a new question to Song Nanxin.
Sure enough, Song Nanxin took the bait. "What happened?"
"Last night, Miss Four and I were in the same room. I just intended to comb her hair, but she regarded me as a ferocious beast. When the prince came, she threw herself into the prince's arms, showing her dependence on him."
"What did you say?!" Song Nanxin was greatly shocked. "How did the prince react?"
Cui Muyuan slightly raised his head. "Naturally, the prince hugged her and protected her behind him."
"That slut!" Song Nanxin was so angry that her face turned green. Remembering that she had slapped him just now, she lovingly held his face and asked, "Did I hurt you just now?"
Cui Muyuan covered her hand and smiled. "I'm very happy in my heart."
"Your Highness's actions prove that I have a place in Your Highness's heart."
Song Nanxin naturally noticed the wound on Cui Muyuan's hand. She nervously held his hand and said anxiously, "What's going on? How did you get hurt?"
Cui Muyuan's eyes flickered, and his face looked solemn. "I'm afraid the prince has suspected me. We need to make some changes to our plan."
"What did you say? What should we do then?" Song Nanxin was greatly shocked.
Cui Muyuan stood up with her support and whispered a few words in her ear. Song Nanxin frowned. "Will this work?"
Cui Muyuan smiled. "I guarantee it will be foolproof."
...
Song Yihuan was still sleepy. After seeing Song Nanxin off, she went back to bed and took another nap. She didn't wake up until it was broad daylight and there were other noises outside.
After breakfast, Song Yihuan accompanied her younger brother in the yard to read and write. After a while, Chunxing came back from outside, looking beaming.
"What happened to make you so happy?" Song Yihuan asked with a smile.
Chunxing was overjoyed. "Just now I went to the sundry courtyard. I heard them say that this morning, after the eldest miss got up, she flew into a great rage. She said that the maid named Baishao in Shulan's courtyard was clumsy and broke the perfume paste that the prince gave to the eldest miss. Now the eldest miss is making Baishao kneel outside the house."
Baishao was punished by her elder sister?
Maybe the words she had said to her elder sister just now had worked. This was really good news for Song Yihuan.
Song Yihuan raised her eyebrows. "She broke the perfume paste that the prince gave to my sister? No wonder my sister is so angry."
Fuling said beside her, "Just punishing her to kneel outside for a day is already a lenient punishment."
You know, in the past, whether it was her or the deceased Baizhi, when they made mistakes, the punishment was more than just kneeling.
Song Yihuan said calmly, "Maybe because she is a maid given to my sister by the princess, my sister has to spare her this time for the princess's sake."
She sat in the yard for a while longer. Looking at the sun, she found that it was still early. She told Fuling and Chunxing and then left the house with the books she had copied these days.
However, after she left the Prince Ning's Mansion, she didn't go to the Western Market. Instead, she went to Linshui Fang, which was three blocks away from the Western Market.
There was the theater of the most popular opera troupe in the capital, the Qiongliban.
Song Yihuan had long suspected Baishao's identity. That maid was a little taller than the other maids, and the figure of Cui Ying'er in her memory was indeed very prominent among the women.
Moreover, being able to have the skill of "face - changing" made her think of the actors who often had to play different roles in the opera troupe.
Cui Ying'er was good at ventriloquism. It wasn't difficult for her to disguise as a maid and hide in the Prince Ning's Mansion.
However, all this needed to be verified.
Song Yihuan came to Linshui Fang under the sun. From afar, she saw the red - tiled roof of the Qiongliban, and she could also hear the sound of opera coming from there. The common people beside her were walking in a hurry.
"Hurry up! The leading actress Cui of the Qiongliban has arranged a new play. They are opening the doors to welcome guests today. We have to hurry. If we're late, there won't be any seats left!"
Song Yihuan stopped in her tracks and frowned tightly.
The Qiongliban was opening the stage to perform a new play today?
Song Yihuan thought for a while and didn't go forward immediately. Instead, she looked around, found a cloth shop and went in. When she came out, her figure looked much bulkier than before.
Following the surging crowd, she came to the outside of the Qiongliban's gate. After paying ten copper coins for admission, Song Yihuan sat down in the last row under the stage.
It was only close to noon at this time, but there were already many opera fans in the Qiongliban, filling the surrounding seats. There were quite a few people like Song Yihuan who entered wearing veiled hats, so she didn't stand out among them.
The play hadn't started yet, and the people around started chatting.
"Counting it up, the Qiongliban hasn't opened the gong to perform for seven or eight days, right? If I hadn't heard today that the leading actress Cui had arranged a new play to perform for everyone, I would have thought they were packing up and leaving, not doing the business of the opera troupe anymore."
"I heard that the reason they haven't opened the gong to perform for so long is that the leading actress Cui is ill."
"Ill? Why did she suddenly fall ill for no reason?"
"I heard that she caught a cold and hurt her throat, so she had to recuperate. But now it seems that her throat should have recovered. She not only arranged but also performed a new play."
Song Yihuan lowered her eyes thoughtfully.
Could there really be such a coincidence in the world? A maid who could do face - changing appeared beside her elder sister, and the leading actress Cui of the Qiongliban fell ill and hurt her throat?
It seemed that this Baishao might really be the leading actress Cui of the Qiongliban. No wonder Baishao's behavior always gave her a strange sense of familiarity, and she was so flirtatious with her last night.
Song Yihuan couldn't help but remember that she had met Cui Ying'er when she accompanied her elder sister to Duobaozhai. At that time, Cui Ying'er and her elder sister had a long private conversation in Xiyang Tower. After that, many things happened. Baizhi was silenced by her elder sister, and then another maid appeared beside her elder sister.
Yes, she remembered that when they returned to the Prince Ning's Mansion from the Duke Jiang's Mansion, when they searched Baizhi's room, besides the jewelry that she had asked Fuling to place, there was also a lot of silver coins, which confirmed Baizhi's act of stealing and successfully got Baizhi removed from her elder sister's side.
Those silver coins were probably placed there by her elder sister.
Or rather, Baizhi's removal was already in the plan of her elder sister and Cui Ying'er?
It was just to allow Cui Ying'er to smoothly enter the Prince Ning's Mansion and stay by her elder sister's side, becoming her elder sister's assistant and helping her elder sister use face - changing to hide the fact of finding someone to replace her to serve the prince in bed?