龙凤 longfeng – dragon and phoenix, usually a symbol of royalty in ancient China

金牌 jinpai – gold medallion, received from the Empress Dowager before Yun Qian Meng returned from the palace, symbolizes Her status and authority

“Such a huge fuss over nothing, whatever next?! Be careful not to frighten xiaojie!” Mi mama saw that Qian mama’s hair had become disheveled from running, and noticed she poke while gasping urgently, suddenly frowned and berated her in a low voice!

“nubi knows her faults! But still, da xiaojie, that Taoist Yi Zhen is truly outrageous to actually steal the gold medallion! During the ritual, it fell out from his sleeves and he was caught red-handed by xiangye!” Even though she was scolded by Mi mama, Qian mama continued to report what she had just seen with her own eyes!

At that moment the crying and weeping noises from the inner room stopped, similar to a kite that had its strings cut. Yun Ruo Xue, who was originally causing havoc like she had lost her mind, was now staring blankly in place. Her alarmed eyes flashed towards Qian mama as she sternly demanded, “You, say that again!”

As soon as she spoke, everyone trained their gazes on her one after another, only to find that Yun Ruo Xue currently had a normal expression, her speech calm and logical. Everyone there suddenly realized the truth!

When Yun Qian Meng saw that Yun Ruo Xue’s act was so easily broken, her lips couldn’t help but curve upwards slightly as a mocking smile slowly spread across her face. Only, she didn’t speak yet, instead continuing to drink her tea in a mild mood!

Still, Yun Qian Meng might not have said anything, but it didn’t mean that others were willing to stay silent about it!

Liu Han Yu covered her mouth with a silk handkerchief and chuckled, then walked into the room before giving Yun Ruo Xue a once-over. She then lightly smiled and said, “er xiaojie’s recovery is truly strange!”

Yun Ruo Xue felt uncomfortable from head to toe under Liu Han Yu’s gaze, while also being ridiculed by her words; her face immediately flushed into a bright red. Only, with so many people standing inside the room, she couldn’t simply flare up. In order to avoid being grabbed by the handle and used as a tool by others, she could only lower her head and stood in place uneasily....

Right away, Su Qing threw herself at Yun Ruo Xue’s body, her eyes brimming with tears as she hugged her. Crying with tears of joy, she said, “Xue’er, have you recovered? Quickly, quickly let mom take a good look!”

The way she spouted such blind lies with her eyes wide open caused the servants in the room to all lower their heads and pretend that they didn’t see anything!

Liu Han Yu and Yun Yan eyes were filled with mockery. This manner of inverting black and white, was something only Su Qing and her daughter, who relied on receiving Yun Xuan Zhi’s affection, were able to do!

Yun Qian Meng just treated the matter as if it had nothing to do with her and continued to sip her tea calmly. Yet, Qian mama who, just now, had lost her head out of fear, had calmly straightened up and stood deferentially behind her. The edges of her lips almost seemed to be holding in a smile....

“Made enough noise yet?!”

Right as Su Qing was shielding Yun Ruo Xue with her words, nobody noticed that Yun Xuan Zhi had burst in from outside. They only saw that his expression was dark and gloomy, his lips tightly pursed as he directly stared at Yun Ruo Xue and Su Qing with a severe gaze. From the way his fingers that were pointing at them were shaking, they could tell that everything that had happened in the room had been seen and heard by him....

When Su Qing, who was originally comforting Yun Ruo Xue with care, saw that Yun Xuan Zhi looked like he was going to eat her, the color in her face disappeared. Her feet staggered and she almost lost her balance, endlessly panicking in her heart, but still forced herself to look innocent and pitiful. Her eyes brought joy when she called Yun Xuan Zhi over with pleasant surprise, “laoye, quickly come take a look, Xue’er has recovered!”

As she spoke, Su Qing quickly moved to Yun Xuan Zhi’s side and pulled his sleeves to bring him towards Yun Ruo Xue....

Right now, Yun Xuan Zhi’s expression was gloomy and scary, especially his hazy eyes stared unwaveringly at Yun Ruo Xue, had scared her so that she kept stepping back while watching him advance. Finally, she stepped on her own skirt by accident, and embarrassingly fell on her bottom....

“Don’t.. Don’t.. Don’t come over.. Go away....” At last, Yun Ruo Xue couldn’t withstand Yun Xuan Zhi’s terrifying aura and cried out loudly in fear....

As Su Qing saw that her own daughter was so useless, the smile she had forcefully worn subsequently collapsed. She stood beside Yun Xuan Zhi while still planning to say something, but when she saw that Yun Xuan Zhi was now looking at her with such a dreadful expression, her heart nearly jumped into her throat and tears started to fall from her eyes....historical

“Qing’er, you have really disappointed me too much!” Yun Xuan Zhi stared at Su Qing for a long time, then finally spat out these words between gritted teeth. He then turned his face away and looked at Su Qing’s tear-striken pear-shaped face no more!

Su Qing had never been criticized by Yun Xuan Zhi like this, especially right now, it was in front of so many people, including Yun Qian Meng, she felt like she was being embarrassed in public. She only forcefully dragged at Yun Xuan Zhi’s sleeves while tearfully choking out, “laoye, Qing’er doesn’t understand what you’re talking about. But, at the time, you saw Xue’er’s condition with your own eyes. It can’t be that you don’t wish for Xue’er to recover, right?

As she said this, Su Qing’s face rapidly turned red and unexpectedly, started breathing heavily when she finished. At her condition Wang mama who was standing aside immediately rushed forwards, received a teacup from a yatou and lifted it up to Su Qing’s lips while stroking her stomach gently to help her regain her breath!

But Su Qing was stubborn. She pushed away Wang mama with a hand, then faced Yun Xuan Zhi to kneel without leave, both her hands still tightly grabbing onto his sleeves, as if afraid that he would disappear if she let go!

Yun Xuan Zhi was originally in a raging temper, but when he saw her like this, and noticed that there were servants filling the room, he forcefully pushed the anger back down into his stomach and waved his hands in annoyance for the servants to all withdraw to the yard. He then solemnly asked, “Qing’er, you are usually so cautious and prudent. But this time, actually because you were worried about Xue’er, you were fooled by that Taoist priest!”

Yun Qian Meng was just lifting a teacup, but hearing how Yun Xuan Zhi spoke while avoiding the important points and focusing on trivial matters, her movements momentarily stilled before she put the teacup back onto the table. She then noticed that Mi mama was concentrating on Su Qing’s wrist, so she turned looked towards Su Qing and saw she was wearing an emerald jade bracelet engraved with a dragon and a phoenix on her arm....

The West Chu country had a strict hierarchy. A normal commoner household definitely were not allowed to wear accessories that have dragon and phoenix engravings. Even families of officials could only possess one if it was bestowed by the imperial family!

Su Qing’s maternal family might be government officials, but for her, who entered the xiangfu with the status of a concubine, it was definitely impossible to own such a precious and valuable distinctive accessory!

Especially from calmly looking at Mi mama’s expression just now, she was afraid that the true owner of this jade bracelet was not Su Qing....

As she thought like this, a faint anger had streaked across her eyes, Yun Qian Meng put away her calm and gentle face and slightly narrowed her eyes to enjoy Su Qing’s performance....

When Su Qing heard Yun Xuan Zhi’s stern reprimands, her face paled a bit more, but she knew full well how to use the vulnerability of women. They only saw her wear a deeply hurt expression, looking extremely cute and pitiful, and innocently asked, “laoye, what on Earth are you talking about? Qing’er doesn’t understand!”

Yun Xuan Zhi saw that she really didn’t seem to know, tilted his head upwards and closed his eyes to calm down his mood. Then, opening his eyes, he took out a gold medallion from his sleeves. The gold medallion was engraved with a vivid and lifelike phoenix; the flowing curved lines and golden radiance it reflected caused the phoenix to look like it was soaring in the sky. At this, Su Qing’s body weakened, as she fell and sat on her calves, speaking in disbelief, “How can this be! This must be a set-up!”

Stealing from the imperial family was one of the highest crimes, even if he was sentenced to dismemberment from being torn apart by five horses, it would not be unexpected. No wonder Yun Xuan Zhi wanted to execute that Taoist priest Yi Zhen!

As she spoke, Su Qing’s eyes directly shot a vengeful gaze towards Yun Qian Meng....

“This gold medallion has always been worn close to Shui’er’s skin! Just now, didn’t I advise yiniang against this by any means?! But yiniang was muddled, unexpectedly, as if touched by magic, couldn’t listen at all! If I didn’t know better, I might even think that this was directed by yiniang!” Right now, Yun Qian Meng actually walked forward, both eyes calmly sweept across the gold medallion, before she met Su Qing’s gaze and said one word at a time!

Being pointed out and scolded by Yun Qian Meng, Su Qing’s face turned ashen. She coldly smiled, both eyes shooting out an unyielding hatred, as she clenched her teeth to say, “Without any evidence, even if da xiaojie’s status is respectable, also cannot accuse nubi wrongly! Besides, one may know a person’s face and name without understanding his heart. How could nubi have known that this Taoist priest was a deceitful thief?!”

Yun Qian Meng saw that she was stubbornly defending herself. Just as she wanted to refute, she saw Yun Xuan Zhi right his posture and look at Su Qing and Yun Ruo Xue before he continued with his decision, “Since Xue’er already recovered, in the future, don’t ever mention this matter again! As for the two of you, properly reflect in Feng He Yuan, unless I give the command, cannot leave without permission!”

Finishing, Yun Xuan Zhi handed the gold medallion over to Yun Qian Meng then brushed his sleeves to leave....

Yun Qian Meng saw that he went so far to shield Su Qing and her daughter, the coldness in her eyes abruptly rose. Pinching the gold medallion in her hands tightly, she followed to leave Feng He Yuan!