Chapter 4 – Anger Hurts the Liver

“Who’s the idiot talking about?”

Zhuang Xiaoyu turned around, looking innocently confused at the person behind her.

“The idiot is talking about… Zhuang Xiaoyu. This prince thinks you’re tired of living.”

Daring to insult him time and again—Murong Xiao had never been humiliated like this in his life.

“So you’re the Crown Prince? And how did you figure that out—can you read faces or something?” She really said he thinks she’s tired of living? Sounds like someone needs to be dealt with.

“Your subject’s daughter greets the Crown Prince,” Zhuang Xiaowan bowed properly. Zhuang Xiaoyu glanced at her, then mimicked her movement in a completely unpolished attempt at a formal curtsey.

“I greet the Crown Prince too.”

“Zhuang Xiaoyu, you’re still pretending—”

“Your Highness,” Zhuang Xiaowan quickly interjected, “my sister just returned home and doesn’t know the proper etiquette. Please don’t take offense. I’ll take her away immediately.”

“This prince said you could leave?”

Zhuang Xiaoyu stared at Murong Xiao, slowly looking him up and down, then from the ground back up again. Her gaze made Murong Xiao feel completely uncomfortable—it was like she was the one looking at a fool.

“Zhuang Xiaoyu, you’ve got some nerve, daring to look directly at this prince!”

“Jie, you can’t look directly at His Highness. It’s disrespectful,” Zhuang Xiaowan whispered urgently, tugging at her sleeve in panic.

“Oh.”

Then Zhuang Xiaoyu tilted her head and started staring at him sideways—still from head to toe. That odd, slanted look…

Murong Xiao’s veins were practically popping with suppressed rage. He was hanging onto the last shred of reason. If he killed this woman, would Zhuang Xian fight him to the death?

“Guards! Zhuang Xiaoyu has shown blatant disrespect—forty slaps, as an example to others!”

A guard stepped forward to carry out the punishment.

Zhuang Xiaowan dropped to her knees in fear. “Your Highness, please have mercy! My sister doesn’t understand the rules. I’ll teach her well once we return. Please forgive her just this once!”

She hadn’t even seen Zhuang Xiaoyu giving that sideways glare. But the guards behind Murong Xiao had seen it clearly—it was blatant provocation and scorn.

“What does ‘as an example to others’ mean?”

Zhuang Xiaoyu still looked completely clueless.

“Jie, kneel and beg His Highness!”

Was the definition the point right now? The point was—they were about to hit her!

Naturally, the commotion drew the attention of nearby guests. Madam Zhuang rushed over as soon as she heard what was happening. How could things go wrong the moment she left them alone?

“Still not moving? What are you waiting for?”

Murong Xiao was dead set on punishing Zhuang Xiaoyu. The fewer people around, the easier it would be. If Madam Zhuang came, she’d just get in the way again.

The guard moved to slap her. But as Zhuang Xiaowan tugged her down, Zhuang Xiaoyu dropped to her knees just in time—the first slap missed.

“Do it!”

Murong Xiao, seeing the guard hesitate, barked another order. But that slight delay gave Madam Zhuang enough time to arrive.

“Your Highness, please show mercy! It was my failure to teach her properly. If there must be punishment, please let it fall on me—don’t harm the child.”

“Madam Zhuang, today this prince must teach her a lesson. Guards, proceed!”

Murong Xiao was so furious he wanted to kick the sluggish guard himself. Just one slap—even just one—would make him feel better.

“Your Highness, what offense have the girls committed to deserve such fury?”

If it was about the previous “playing dumb” incident—they could still deny it.

“Zhuang Xiaoyu feigned stupidity and mocked this prince. If she’s not punished today, it won’t ease my anger!”

“Your Highness, Xiaoyu grew up away from home, without a mother’s care. It wasn’t easy for her to survive to eighteen and finally return to her family. She knows nothing of etiquette. If she has offended you, then please punish me in her place.”

“Madam Zhuang, are you trying to shield her?”

“I’m not. Xiaoyu is a motherless child. I’ve pitied her ever since she returned and swore I’d treat her like my own. If I can’t protect her today, then I’d have no face left to see the Prime Minister. I beg Your Highness—please let me take her punishment instead.”

Her words were heartfelt and sincere. If Murong Xiao still insisted on punishing someone now, he’d look petty and cruel. So what if she was a country bumpkin who didn’t know the rules? Was it really necessary to hit her?

“Fine, fine!” he snapped. “Zhuang Xiaoyu, you have a good mother. This prince will spare you today. You better pray you never fall into my hands again.”

“So… I’m not getting hit after all?”

Zhuang Xiaoyu popped up from the ground and even took a few steps closer to Murong Xiao.

“Your Highness, no offense, but you really need to work on your temper. Too much anger harms the liver—it shortens your life. That’s what my master said.”

After speaking, she even gave his shoulder a pat, then turned back to pull her mother and sister away. Madam Zhuang could already imagine their miserable fate—this girl really was a walking disaster. They had just smoothed things over, and now she went and patted the Crown Prince?!

Murong Xiao was left standing there, stunned. He didn’t even say anything for once. He just turned around with a tightly restrained expression of fury and stormed off. But after taking five or six steps, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. His personal guard rushed up to support him.

“Your Highness! What’s wrong?!”

“Help me back to the residence. Now.”

“Mother, quick, get up! His Highness is gone, no need to keep kneeling!”

Zhuang Xiaoyu cheerfully bounced along as if nothing had just happened. Meanwhile, Zhang shi and her daughter looked like they’d just come back from the gates of hell.

“From now on, you two are to avoid the Crown Prince at all costs.”

“This wasn’t even our fault. I was just talking to my sister—he came over to pick a fight.”

“Exactly, Mother. He was clearly making trouble for Sister on purpose.”

“The Crown Prince is so petty.”

“Right? He wouldn’t let me look at him directly, so I looked sideways. But then he didn’t like that either and wanted to hit me. Isn’t that just over the top?”

Zhuang Xiaowan: How come I didn’t know any of this happened?

Madam Zhuang: No wonder the Crown Prince was so furious—this girl was clearly provoking him on purpose!

Everyone else: Ignorance truly is fearless. She actually dared to side-eye the Crown Prince…

“No more of that nonsense from now on,” Madam Zhuang scolded. “You’re far too mischievous. Be careful—your father will punish you again.”

“Got it, got it.”

Those two little taps of hers probably knocked Murong Xiao off his feet for a while.

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At the Crown Prince’s Residence

Murong Xiao lay weakly on the bed while the imperial physician carefully took his pulse.

“Your Highness, your body is weak. It’s not advisable to get so worked up. I’ll prescribe you a course of herbs to soothe the liver and strengthen the spleen. Take it for a few days and you’ll recover.”

He suddenly remembered what Zhuang Xiaoyu had said: Too much anger hurts the liver and shortens the lifespan. Could that really be why he’d felt this sudden tightness in his chest? Had she actually… made a point?

Should I start avoiding her… for the sake of my health? But the thought still stuck in his throat like a fishbone—he couldn’t swallow it down.

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The Wei family’s Peony Viewing Banquet was indeed as lively as Zhuang Xiaowan had promised. Besides admiring the blooming peonies, guests could also compose poems inspired by the flowers. The one who penned the best verse would get to take home a potted peony as a prize.

Well-read ladies and young mistresses were all fired up, each hoping to take the win.

“Wan’er, is there a particular peony you like?”

“I think they’re all so beautiful.”

“They really are. When they bloom together, it’s a dazzling sight. A single stalk alone just wouldn’t have the same charm.”

“Pfft! That’s hilarious. Clearly someone can’t write poetry and is just making excuses, saying a single peony wouldn’t look good alone. What a joke.”

The voice came from a young lady around seventeen or eighteen, her brows arched sharply—clearly not an easy person to get along with.

Zhuang Xiaoyu glanced at her. “And who might you be, huh?”

“Who are you calling a ‘who’?!”

“Whoever thinks I’m talking about them—that’s who.”

“Zhuang Xiaoyu! Don’t think just because you’re the Prime Minister’s legitimate daughter that you can go around bullying people. You’re nothing but a bumpkin from the countryside!”

“Excuse me? I think we need to break that down. I’m bullying people? Who did I bully exactly?”

If she really enjoyed bullying people, this spring onion over here would’ve already been slapped into the nearest brick wall.

“Don’t think I don’t know—you picked on Zhang Xue the moment you got back, and you’ve been relying on Madam Zhuang’s noble title to push others around.”

“Xue Ziyan! What nonsense are you spouting?! My sister never bullied anyone!”

Ah—so Zhuang Xiaowan did know this scallion.

“You’re talking about that little thing? That counts as bullying? Scallion, have you never actually been bullied before?”

“I’m not a scallion! Don’t call me that!”

“Why shouldn’t I? I’m calling you a scallion because that’s what you are. A big fat scallion. And you’ll always be a scallion. Forever.”

Zhuang Xiaowan couldn’t hold back her laughter—she tried, really she did—but in the end she burst out laughing. Xue Ziyan’s mouth had always gotten her into trouble, and seeing her get humiliated like this had the other girls chuckling too.

“Ahhh! You’re all too much! Zhuang Xiaoyu—I’m going to rip you apart!”

She had a bit of a temper, unfortunately for her, she was dealing with Zhuang Xiaoyu. As Xue Ziyan charged at her, Xiaoyu smoothly sidestepped, stuck out her foot, and—bam! Xue Ziyan went down in a dramatic faceplant.

“Oh dear,” Xiaoyu said sweetly. “Looks like someone’s trying to grow into an upside-down scallion.”