Chapter 112

Chapter 112: Reap What You Sow

Ji Ru Zhen felt as if lightning struck: [This cannot be real]. She almost fell backward before her maid caught her.

Ji Ru Zhen forced herself to stand and tried to step forward, but her legs would not move. The ladies and young misses who had followed over began to whisper all at once: “The chancellor’s daughter married the new top scholar, which was already marrying down, and it has not even been a year; how is Top Scholar Lu already with someone else?”, “Look at Ji Ru Zhen’s face; she looks like she might faint from anger…”, “Which shameless hussy dared to seduce Top Scholar Lu inside the Princess Royal Anyang Manor?”, “Won’t Ji Ru Zhen tear him apart?”

Madam Wang hurried up without even looking inside and said with a knowing tone: “The people who left the banquet for a long time were Top Scholar Lu and Song Chun Zhi. I heard the two of them still have old feelings.”

Her words hooked everyone’s curiosity. If the future Princess Consort of Chang’an got caught with a married man like Top Scholar Lu, and in public no less, it would be quite the scandal.

Hearing the crowd, Ji Ru Zhen, who could barely stand a moment ago, suddenly found strength and strode inside in fury. Madam Wang lifted the corner of her lips with a satisfied smile.

Ji Ru Zhen rushed to the bed and yanked the woman down to the floor. The young misses craned their necks for a look, then gasped together: “Isn’t that the Wang Clan’s Sixth Miss, Wang Yi Yue?”

Madam Wang’s smile froze on her face.

Thrown to the ground, Wang Yi Yue woke from the pain. Ji Ru Zhen slapped her hard twice and raised her hand for a third. Wang Yi Yue scrambled up, and the two noble ladies fell into a messy brawl. They slapped, scratched, and pulled, throwing all etiquette to the wind. The onlookers gaped; many had not seen a scene like this in years and were eager to watch.

Madam Wang had never imagined the one rolling on a bed with Lu Jing Yun would be her own daughter. Her plan had been so careful: make Song Chun Zhi and Lu Jing Yun commit an ugly act in public and ruin Song Chun Zhi’s marriage with Prince Chang’an. How did it end up with her daughter on that bed? She stood stunned for a long moment, then rushed in to block Ji Ru Zhen.

But Ji Ru Zhen had lost all reason. Even the Wang mother and daughter together could not overpower her. The ladies at the doorway only watched; no one stepped in.

Only when the Princess Royal of Anyang arrived did order return. Seeing how ugly the scene had become, she told the maids to pull Ji Ru Zhen and the Wang mother and daughter apart.

Wang Yi Yue’s cheeks were swollen and covered with nail marks, and Madam Wang had taken several hits too. Both looked wretched. Ji Ru Zhen had also been struck; her clothes were torn. Crying, she turned to the Princess Royal of Anyang and pleaded: “Eldest Princess, Wang Yi Yue used your flower-viewing banquet to seduce my husband; please be my judge.”

Huo Qiong Hua took in the three battered faces and the ruined hairpins and nearly laughed out loud, but as the mistress of the Princess Manor and the host, she swallowed it down. She kept her tone even and asked the crowd: “What exactly happened here?”

Court Lady Cao arrived and reported to the Eldest Princess: “The maid who led Miss Song to change was knocked out and dragged into the bushes. Miss Wang’s maid was also struck and lies outside the window.”

Huo Qiong Hua frowned and asked: “Then why is Top Scholar Lu here?” Just now, even while Ji Ru Zhen and Wang Yi Yue were fighting so fiercely, Lu Jing Yun had not stirred on the bed. No one knew how he had ended up in this room.

The only person who knew was Wang Yi Yue, who buried her face and sobbed: “Mother…” Madam Wang’s hairpins were gone and her bun had come loose; she looked nothing like a proper Madam Grand Preceptor. All around, people craned their necks, hungry for more gossip.

Huo Qiong Hua coughed lightly and ordered Court Lady Cao: “Wake Lu Jing Yun first.”

“Yes,” Court Lady Cao answered, and had a basin brought to splash his face.

Cold water hit, and Lu Jing Yun startled awake. An unnatural flush still colored his cheeks. He sat up fast and found dozens of eyes pinned on him. These were ladies and young misses from the banquet, the best gossip spreaders in the whole capital. Their stares said they had seen a great secret.

Panic flared across Lu Jing Yun’s face. After a long beat, his mind finally caught up. He saw Ji Ru Zhen crying, the Wang mother and daughter disheveled, Court Lady Cao, and the Princess Royal of Anyang standing a few steps away. [I was just talking to Chun Zhi. How did I end up here?] He could only remember speaking with Chun Zhi, then darkness closing in, and now this.

Huo Qiong Hua spoke in a calm, heavy voice: “Lu Jing Yun, you did something so disgraceful in my manor; do you understand your guilt?”

Startled, Lu Jing Yun tumbled off the bed to kneel before the Princess Royal of Anyang and pleaded: “Eldest Princess, please do not be angry. I only drank too much and stepped out for some air. I do not know what happened.”

Ji Ru Zhen cried through her tears: “You were on a bed with Wang Yi Yue, and you say you do not know what happened?” She wanted to claw his face, but she had spent all her strength fighting the Wang mother and daughter. She could not even stand, and sank to the floor, panting and sobbing.

“Madam—” Lu Jing Yun tried to explain, but there was no way to make it sound clean. He had chased after Chun Zhi, and the things he had said to her could never be told to others. [If they hear any of that, I am finished.]

Amused despite herself, Huo Qiong Hua told Court Lady Cao to wake the two unconscious maids as well.

The two maids came to one by one. Huo Qiong Hua first questioned her own manor’s maid: “I told you to lead Miss Song to change. Where is Miss Song?”

Touching the large lump on her head, the maid dropped to her knees and answered: “Your Highness, I brought Miss Song to change. She asked to change by herself, so I waited outside. Top Scholar Lu came and insisted on going in to see Miss Song. I blocked him, and he knocked me out.” After fainting, she knew nothing more.

Huo Qiong Hua turned to Wang Yi Yue’s maid: “And you? Why were you passed out outside the window?”

Shaking, the maid knelt and said, “I… I know nothing.”

“Not talking?” Huo Qiong Hua’s tone stayed level as she said: “Then drag her out and beat her to death.”

The maid shrieked in terror: “Eldest Princess!”

A voice came from the outer ring of people: “Aunt, let me speak.”

Everyone turned as they made way. Chun Zhi walked in slowly, looked down at Wang Yi Yue, and said with cool eyes: “Sixth Miss Wang, how does it feel to reap what you sow?”