Wei Changying said indifferently, "Why are we supposed to know?"

The yelling from the Sixth Miss of the Qian Family had already made many people around stop. They gossiped and gloated at her. On hearing Wei Changying speak, a person said with a false smile, "Sister Mo'er, the third young madam of the Shen Family is right. The First Miss of the Su Family and she were walking in front of you. How do they know how you got beaten? Besides, they have no grudge against you, so why did they beat you?"

The Sixth Miss, Qian Mo'er, realized it, smirking, "That's right. I told the truth about someone, so she was annoyed and beat me." She lowered her sleeve, and the crowd yelped at the sight beneath it. They saw a trickle of crimson fluid beneath her nose and the corner of her mouth was bruised, with a strand of reddish-purple color there. It was more intense than the color of flower juice and looked like blood.

When people heard that she was hit by a pomegranate flower, they didn't take it too seriously, thinking that it was just a flower. But they didn't know that the corner of Qian Mo'er's mouth would be bruised or even there would be blood! The person beat her really hard. This was just a pomegranate flower, but if it was a stone or a hair clasp or some other hard object, wouldn't her face get ruined?

Suddenly, everyone looked at Wei Changying with fear. The people here today were all delicate and noble ladies. They had no grudge against Wei Changying, but they just didn't like the fact that Wei Changying's reputation was ruined, and yet she could still get married and come into the palace to celebrate the princess's birthday.

Even though there was resentment against her, there was no need to openly display it like Qian Mo'er. If this fierce woman was really angry, she would show no mercy in ruining their face. Wouldn't it be useless to pester her if that happened?

People with money and status should cherish their life and not take risks. The crowd all recalled this saying at the same moment. Even the girl, who had deliberately said something to help Qian Mo'er, changed her mind. She quietly moved back a few steps, blending into the crowd and keeping quiet.

Amidst a strange silence, Wei Changying said casually, "Oh, what did you say about me? What did I do when I was annoyed?"

"You have the nerve to ask?" Qian Mo'er wiped the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief and sneered, "You dare ask about it, but I am too embarrassed to answer! Don't you know the reason?"

Wei Changying said calmly, "I come from one of the six gentlefolk, and I married a husband who is a perfect match for my family. Although I have only been married for a short time, my husband and I live happily together. I always pay respects to my mother-in-law and father-in-law, and even my mother-in-law has never said anything bad about me. I don't know what I have done wrong. You dare come out and judge me?"

Su Yuli sneered, "The Sixth Miss of the Qian Family, in terms of age, you are younger than me and my cousin. In terms of status, you are unmarried, but my cousin is already married. In terms of family, how can your Qian Family be compared with the Wei Family in Fengzhou and the Shen Family in Western Liang? Besides, today in the palace, let alone for Princess Linchuan's birthday, it's not right to disturb the royal family with trivial matters! In this palace, there are the Empress, motherly model of the nation, the Honored Consort, other noble ladies, and even my cousin's mother-in-law. Do you, the daughter of the Qian Family, have right to teach a lesson to her, the daughter of the Wei Family, the daughter-in-law of the Shen Family? You're so special!"

After all, Su Yuli grew up in the capital and had been to the palace a lot. As soon as she spoke, she charged Qian Mo'er with disrespecting the princess, disrespecting the Empress and Honored Consort, and meddling in the matters of another family's rear courtyard.

Qian Mo'er said angrily, "Don't you dare put these charges on me! The Wei Family in Fengzhou and the Shen Family in Western Liang are, of course, very well-known. That's why I said, Wei Changying, you come from such a famous family. How lucky you are! If you know it, why are you so shameless and trying to ruin your family's reputation?"

"In what way am I shameless and immoral that would ruin my family's reputation?" Wei Changying smiled lightly, but her gaze was cold as ice, saying, "You'd better make it clear. Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude!"

Qian Mo'er pointed at the people around and said scornfully, "Don't play dumb here either. Just ask the people here! Everyone here knows about your story!" Qian Mo'er thought that everyone was gossiping about Wei Changying, and now if she took the lead, all the people would definitely start to attack Wei Changying and shut her down.

But she hadn't expected that the people she had pointed at now frowned and avoided her pointing fingers.

After all, they had stopped only to watch a good show and to kick someone when she was down. Anyway, they wanted to have fun rather than get beaten up. They had all seen how fierce Wei Changying was just now, so who would be willing to cross her?

As they got scared, they came up with all kinds of excuses, "The elders of the family talked about how ruthless the Old Madam Song from the Ruiyu Hall was, and how she intimidated her whole clan. The Old Madam Song has only one granddaughter, and it is said that she likes her even more than the Old Madam of the Duanmu Family's favor to the Princess Consort Cai. We and Wei Changying have no grudge. We just hate the fact that her reputation is gone but she behaves as nothing had happened. Anyway, we'll just ignore her from now on. Why should we offend her just because of that? If she becomes our enemy, the elders won't blame us, but we will regret it."

"I saw Wei Changying standing beside the Honored Consort Deng when I entered the palace today. Does the Honored Consort like her? Damn, if I had remembered it earlier, why would I have stopped to watch this! Although the Honored Consort has no children and she is only an Honored Consort, after all, she is His Majesty’s lineal cousin. Although Wei Changying is shameless, there is the Honored Consort educating her now, so I shouldn't say anything anymore."

"What the First Miss of the Su Family said is right. Even if we wanted to humiliate Wei Changying, why would we choose Princess Linchuan's birthday? The princess is talking happily with the Miss of the Min Family. Will she be happy if she finds out there is a quarrel going on here? Qian Mo'er is really foolish! She might make all of us offend the princess!"

As they were thinking, some people signaled each other with their eyes and moved away slowly from the crowd to catch up with the Princess Linchuan and the others in the front.

Among them, there was a young girl who was also about to move her feet, but Wei Changying looked at her and suddenly said, "You stop!"

The girl looked almost the same age as Qian Mo'er. She had thin eyebrows and round eyes and looked pretty, wearing a stone green upper shirt and a pearl dress. In her hair, there was a pearl hair clasp with a bowl-sized china rose on the side, looking very beautiful. On hearing her, she was shocked. She raised her head in fear with tears in her eyes, looking lovingly pathetic.

Wei Changying looked at her coldly and said, "Didn't you ask your Sister Mo'er why she was beaten? Why are you leaving now when your Sister Mo'er hasn't made it clear?"

"I..." The girl bit her lip, bursting into tears, "I was just wondering! I didn't mean anything else!"

"You stay right here and don't leave!" Wei Changying didn't bother to say anything more to her but replied coldly, and then turned to Qian Mo'er, "The people you pointed at either want to leave or just remain silent. Which one do you want to speak to first? I'll ask her for you."

When they heard her say that, those who hadn't left were nervous, and distanced themselves from her. Qian Mo'er noticed the change in everyone's attitude and thought indignantly, "It was you who started it! I just chimed in with you, but now you're leaving and leave me here to be bullied by Wei Changying?"

She thought that the law couldn’t be enforced if all the people broke it. Many people gossiped about Wei Changying, so even if the Wei and Shen families were of high rank, these two families couldn't possibly offend all the other families. She just said something along with them to make herself closer to her peers, and she didn't need to sacrifice anything. Anyhow, Wei Changying was from a noble family and had been loved by her elders since she was young, which made some people from a similar background, who weren't loved by their elders, jealous of her.

What's more, she was married to Shen Cangfeng.

Not to mention Shen Cangfeng's status in the clan and the appreciation of His Majesty, last year when Wei Changying's reputation was tarnished, the Shen Family had already spread the news that they were going to Fengzhou to cancel the marriage, but the third young master of the Shen Family insisted on asking His Majesty for leave and rushed to Fengzhou to get married. Although later the Shen Family just carried on and pretended as if they had never thought about canceling the marriage, there was still a rumor circulating among their servants.

It was said that Shen Cangfeng had done this because he couldn't bear to kick his fiancée when she was down.

She had such a considerate, kind, talented and handsome husband, so how could people not be jealous of her?

If Wei Changying always looked scared and nervous like she was treading on thin ice, and was humble and agreeable to everyone, all the people would think it was fair. Although people might still be jealous, they would be willing to be nice to her in public as if it was a charity to her. By doing that, they would be happy, wouldn't they?

However, not only did Wei Changying not tremble with fear, but she also didn't even bother to run away when being gossiped about! All the people felt they were offended, so the words gradually became meaner. Qian Mo'er hadn't hated Wei Changying or liked her before, but since everyone talked about her so much, in order to attract attention and flaunt herself, she naturally went along with it.

Now because of Wei Changying's fierceness, no one dared stand out anymore but left her out here alone.

Qian Mo'er was so angry that she got carried away and couldn't think clearly, so she grabbed a girl by her side, "Sister Gu, didn't you just say that it wouldn't be easy to be the sister of such a person?"

The girl she held was about seventeen or eighteen years old, with long eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes, looking similar to the Empress Gu, but not as beautiful as the Empress and Princess Qingxin. Since they looked similar and her surname was Gu, she was probably the Miss of the Gu Family in Hongzhou. Miss Gu had no intention of leaving immediately, but she didn't come forward either. At this moment, she was held by Qian Mo'er and found to be gossiping about Wei Changying. She looked embarrassed and annoyed, thinking with hatred, "I stayed and waited for you, but you have got me into a fix!"

With a long face, Miss Gu moved her hand away and said, "I wasn't talking about the third young madam of the Shen Family. I was talking about what happened among the servants of my family. The Sixth Miss of the Qian Family, you're thinking too much."

Qian Mo'er called her "Sister Gu", but she called Qian Mo'er "The Sixth Miss of the Qian Family", hence, everyone could see the estrangement in her words. Suddenly, there was a jeer coming from the small crowd, making Qian Mo'er blush!

She bit down on her lip, thinking she had already offended one person, so she wouldn't mind offending another one. She then talked to another young woman not far away who thought the situation was bad and was planning to leave, "My sister-in-law Deng, didn't you just..."

The young woman named Deng was stared at by Wei Changying intently and then she saw Wei Changying turning the bracelet on her wrist. The bracelet was made of gold and looked very heavy. If this tigress of the Wei Family got annoyed and threw the bracelet at her, Mrs. Deng wouldn't be able to dodge it! Even if Wei Changying was accused later on, her face would have been ruined, she wouldn't be able to go out and the biggest problem would be that her mother-in-law, father-in-law and her husband would dislike her. There was no personal feud between her and Wei Changying, so why to put her life at stake just for gossiping about a stranger?

She didn't want Qian Mo'er to finish her words, so she quickly interrupted, saying, "What are you talking about, the Sixth Miss of the Qian Family? My mother-in-law is still in the palace, so I think she needs to be served. I have to hurry over there!" After saying that, being afraid of being called by Wei Changying, she held her dress and stumbled away on the flower path.

Mrs. Deng's humiliating departure was like a sudden reminder to the crowd, then everyone said, "The princess also urged us to go back to the palace quickly. If the princess finds out we had been held up here, she'll be angry with us."

"That's right, so let's get going!"

Worrying about offending Wei Changying and being hit by her, some of them bravely spoke to her, "Sister Wei, you should go too. The princess must have arrived at the palace. If she doesn't see us, she might ask why."

Someone else sneered at Qian Mo'er, "Maybe she was walking carelessly and hit herself on a branch, so she thought it was embarrassing and deliberately made trouble for the sister of the Wei Family! She caught us here, trifling with the princess's orders. She could harm all of us. How bad!"

"That's right, that's right. It was strange that this branch hit her but not others, who knows if it was god's will?"

Qian Mo'er was listening to their sarcasm. Although it was not as bad as what she had heard earlier in the crowd when it was Wei Changying who had been mocked by everyone, now it was herself. She breathed heavily for a while, then suddenly cried out, "You were all so talkative just now. I just spoke a little too loudly and she picked on me as an example! Many of you, when you saw her hit me with a flower, were afraid to say more, but now you're blaming me for it?! I wouldn't have known Wei Changying. If you hadn't started it, so why would I have talked about her? You are such bullies. I will talk to the Empress and defend myself!"

The crowd was so embarrassed by her words. Miss Gu, who had been pulled over by Qian Mo'er, said coldly, "If you don't go and say it, I'll tell my aunt about it! This is Princess Linchuan's birthday, and you're here to gossip about others? My aunt hasn't even said anything about the third young madam of the Shen Family, but it looks like you're feeling more powerful than my aunt?"

Qian Mo'er was shaking with anger and didn't call her "Sister Gu" anymore, saying loudly, "You are playing nice now! But you're the one who said Wei Changying was shameless. Do you dare say you have never said anything like that?! Do you dare swear on it? I can swear that you said that!"