"Your Highness! Let go of me!"
Shen Miao pushed away Xiao Hanzhi while covering her face with her hands, looking extremely flustered.
Xiao Hanzhi helped Shen Miao sit down properly and frowned as he looked at the red marks on her once fair and creamy skin.
Xiao Hanzhi gently stroked Shen Miao's face with pity and said, "A Miao! How did you get these marks on your face?"
Although the palm print on Shen Miao's face had faded a lot, based on his experience, Xiao Hanzhi guessed that the red marks were probably from a slap.
"Wu... Your Highness, don't look. I look so ugly like this!"
Shen Miao bit her lip gently, crying pear blossoms with rain, looking so delicate and pitiful.
Xiao Hanzhi felt even more tender towards her. He wiped away the tears on her face with his finger and said, "You're not ugly. A Miao doesn't look ugly at all like this! Be a good girl, A Miao. Tell me, did someone bully you? Tell me. I'll stand up for you and won't let you suffer any injustice."
Hearing this, Shen Miao "anxiously" grabbed Xiao Hanzhi's hand.
"Your Highness, there's no need for this. It's all my fault. Sister didn't do it on purpose!"
"Shen Li? How dare she? She even dared to hit you? She's really gone too far!"
Xiao Hanzhi said angrily.
He didn't have a good impression of that Shen Li. As a girl, she spent all day practicing martial arts and was even infatuated with him.
But unfortunately, her father was highly regarded by the Emperor and was currently on a mission outside. Moreover, the Night Shadow Department was under the control of her elder brother, Shen Yi. Their family had great power.
His great cause in the future might still need the support of their family.
Shen Miao frowned slightly and explained, "It's not Sister's fault. I didn't protect her well, which is why she was injured on the street that day. I... I was so scared at that time. If I could have jumped in front of her to take that knife for her, Sister wouldn't have been injured."
"It's all my fault, all my fault!"
Shen Miao punched her thigh angrily with her fist.
Xiao Hanzhi quickly grabbed her hand to stop her from "hurting" herself. "A Miao, this is not your fault! You did nothing wrong!"
He gently hugged Shen Miao into his arms and comforted her, "You're just a weak woman. It's natural to be scared when you see a knife. She, Shen Li, has been practicing martial arts since she was a child but couldn't even dodge a knife. This can only be blamed on herself. A Miao, you don't need to blame yourself."
"Moreover, even though she's the elder sister, how could she take her anger out on you and even hurt you? She's really so willful and unreasonable! Did your parents scold her?"
Shen Miao nestled obediently in Xiao Hanzhi's arms and "defended" Shen Li, "Uncle and Aunt have been away from the capital for a long time. Sister has never experienced family affection, so her personality is inevitably a bit extreme. It's only right for me to be more tolerant of her. I didn't tell Father and Mother about this. Let's not worry them!"
With just a few words, Shen Miao portrayed herself as a considerate person, which made Shen Li seem even more willful and unreasonable.
Sure enough, Xiao Hanzhi was extremely angry after hearing this. He held Shen Miao's shoulders and made her face him. "A Miao, it's just because you're too kind that you're being bullied by her. When dealing with someone like Shen Li, the more you tolerate her, the more insatiable she will be. You should be tougher, and then she won't dare to bully you anymore."
"Really?" Shen Miao asked uncertainly.
"Yes. Don't worry, A Miao. No matter what happens, this king will stand up for you."
Seemingly a bit hesitant, Shen Miao frowned and thought for a while before saying, "Your Highness, Sister said that I colluded with that guard who injured her and wanted to harm her! Your Highness, I really didn't harm Sister!
"I don't even know who that guard is. How could I harm her? But Sister said that she... she would even write a memorial to the Emperor and ask the Emperor to punish me severely. Wu... Your Highness, I'm so scared!"
When Xiao Hanzhi heard that Shen Li had threatened Shen Miao with the same words as when she threatened them to hand over the person that day, using the Emperor to threaten them, he knew that Shen Li was really going too far.
"Don't be afraid, A Miao! Don't worry. I'll protect you! This world still belongs to our Xiao family. A mere Shen Li can't stir up any trouble!"
Xiao Hanzhi stared at a certain place in the room, his expression sinister and terrifying.
Shen Miao was secretly happy. With the Fourth Prince's means, he would surely be able to handle this matter well. Fortunately, she had reacted quickly and exposed Shen Li's plot in front of the Fourth Prince first.
If Shen Li wanted to "frame" her and Wang Ze for harming her again, she believed that the Fourth Prince wouldn't believe it. And it was impossible for Shen Li to use this matter to blackmail her.
"Your Highness, Sister is just a bit willful. In fact, she's not a bad person! Please, Your Highness, for A Miao's sake, don't hurt Sister. As long as... as long as Sister doesn't mention this matter again in the future."
Of course, Shen Miao wished that Shen Li would die immediately, but now she still wanted to take this opportunity to show her magnanimity.
"A Miao, she tried to harm you like this, but you still pleaded for her! She's really lucky to have a sister like you! A Miao, you're really broad - minded and magnanimous."
After achieving her goal, Shen Miao stayed with Xiao Hanzhi for a while before taking the carriage back to the Shen Mansion.
An hour ago, in the Shen Mansion, Shen Yi had also sent over the confession of Wang Ze interrogated by the Night Shadow Department.
After reading it, Shen Li didn't say a word. She sat on the lounge chair in the courtyard, gently tapping the table with her fingers, lost in thought.
Jiao Yue took the paper and read it. She was so angry that her face turned red immediately. She wanted to say something but was afraid of disturbing Shen Li's thinking.
There was no one for her to confide in at this moment, and this anger was stuck in her heart, almost suffocating her.
Seeing Shen Li pick up a plump and attractive grape from the fruit plate and put it into her mouth, Jiao Yue knew that she had finished thinking and started to complain to her.
"The Second Miss is going too far. Usually, she would deduct your share of the monthly allowance and monitor us. That was just a small thing, but now she actually wants to harm your life!"
"No, Miss! We should still ask the Eldest Young Master to write a memorial to the Emperor and ask him to make a decision! I, Jiao Yue, don't believe that the Emperor won't severely punish such a vicious person."
Shen Li mercilessly dispelled her idea. "The Emperor has so many things to deal with in the world. He doesn't have the time to care about these things! I said I would write a memorial to the Emperor just to scare her."
Jiao Yue was stunned for a moment. "Then, if the Emperor doesn't care, what about the magistrate of the capital? This is a serious matter of attempted murder!"
"Uncle is an official. The officialdom is full of mutual protection. They can't be trusted!"
Jiao Yue had no choice but to grit her teeth in hatred and say, "Then we'll go find the Eldest Young Master to avenge you! As long as I, Jiao Yue, am alive, I'll never let you suffer this injustice in vain."
Looking at Jiao Yue's posture of rolling up her sleeves to fight, Shen Li said with a smile, "What? Jiao Yue, do you want to fight with her?"