Chapter 89

Chun Xing lifted her eyes and glanced at Xie Tingzhou.
She had already stopped crying when Xie Tingzhou began to speak, and now she
spoke cautiously:

“I only heard Qiu Yun calling for help, but I didn’t
see both of them lying on the couch together.”

Chun Fu was shocked and pushed Spring Apricot hard.
“You’re talking nonsense! You clearly entered the room with me.”

Chun Xing knelt aside and replied softly, “I
indeed didn’t see, only heard the cries. Sister, I’m sorry, I can’t lie to His
Highness.”

Qiu Yun sobbed, “Whether Chun Xing saw it or not,
she heard my cries. Shi Yu plotting against me is a fact.”

“Is it?” Xie Tingzhou raised his gaze to Shen Yu.

Shen Yu said, “No.”

Xie Tingzhou toyed with the ring on his hand and casually
said, “She said she didn’t hear. If she says no, then it’s no.”

“She’s lying!” Qiu Yun suddenly became agitated.
“Your Highness, you can’t favor him just because he’s your guard.”

Xie Tingzhou stopped and asked slowly, “What if I want
to favor her?”

Shen Yu was about to speak but was stopped by Xie
Tingzhou’s raised hand.

Xie Tingzhou’s gaze was piercing as he looked at Qiu Yun
and asked, “What if I favor her?”

Qiu Yun felt a pang in her heart under his gaze and
shivered, saying, “Your Highness, if you can’t distinguish right from
wrong, how will you gain the people’s trust? If it spreads that a guard can
freely harass a servant of Your’s, where will Your Highness’s dignity be?”

She deliberately shifted the focus onto Xie Tingzhou,
intending to escalate the situation.

Xie Tingzhou sneered, “Just a few maids dare to call
themselves servants.”

Qiu Yun and Chun Fu both changed their expressions
simultaneously.

They bore the title of servants in Beilin Palace but had
never served Xie Tingzhou.

Qiu Yun cried, “Even if we’re not servants, even if
we’re just maids, we can’t let people trample on us at will. It’s better to
die.”

As she spoke, she was about to hit the pillar.

A guard gently used the hilt of his sword to intercept,
pushing her back to the ground.

Spring Apricot glanced at the Crown Prince and Shi Yu
beside him, feeling reassured.

Her choice was indeed correct. When the Crown Prince
entered just now, Shi Yu showed no fear at all, which was unreasonable,
indicating his complete confidence in this matter.

Moreover, the Crown Prince made it clear that he wanted to
protect Shi Yu. It was ridiculous that these two fools were still acting.

Spring Apricot secretly rejoiced that she had changed sides
early, not being blindly loyal to those two fools and still able to extricate
herself.

Xie Tingzhou turned to Shen Yu and asked, “It seems
they’re not convinced. What do you suggest?”

Shen Yu, indifferent, said, “How would I know.”

Xie Tingzhou smiled helplessly, “Not willing to
intervene?”

Shen Yu pursed her lips and said, “They came to
deliver snacks. I heard them discussing in the room because martial artists
have better hearing than ordinary people. I devised a plan to see what they
were up to.”

“You’re lying.” Qiu Yun glared, “I
personally made the snacks, and there’s no poison. You can call a doctor to
verify if you don’t believe it.”

Qiu Yun was confident because they had already swapped the
snacks, and the poisoned ones were buried in the courtyard.

Shen Yu chuckled lightly and took out a crumpled
handkerchief from her sleeve, throwing it in front of them.

The handkerchief spread out on the ground, revealing its
contents scattered all over.

Upon seeing what was on the ground, Chun Fu, Qiu Yun, and
Spring Apricot couldn’t help but turn pale with shock.

The handkerchief contained crumbs of the snacks, which
hadn’t been eaten at all!

Shen Yu said calmly, “Perhaps you should call a doctor
to verify this.”

Xie Tingzhou had once said, anything unknown should not be
consumed. The incident with the chicken in the village had taught her a lesson.
So when she was lying on the table earlier, she secretly spat out the snacks
into the handkerchief while the others were discussing strategies.

Qiu Yun fell to the ground in shock.

Chun Fu’s heart pounded heavily, knowing that the situation
was lost. Now, she could only think of self-preservation.

She grabbed Qiu Yun. “Sister, did you really put
poison in the snacks? Are you out of your mind?”

Qiu Yun widened her eyes and pointed at Chun Fu. “It
was clearly our joint decision on the strategy. Now that you want to protect
yourself wisely, you want me to bear it alone. You’re dreaming.”

Shen Yu couldn’t be bothered with their squabbling and
said, “I’ve been conscious the whole time, heard all your discussions.
What’s the point of this drama now?”

Qiu Yun suddenly knelt a few steps forward. “Your
Highness, I had no choice.”

“Da Huang! Da Huang, what’s wrong?”

Suddenly, Er Ya’s worried voice came from the courtyard.

Ignoring the people on the ground, Shen Yu left first and
saw Da Huang running around anxiously in the courtyard, not responding to her
calls.

“What’s wrong with it?”

Er Ya, with red eyes, said, “I don’t know.”

“Weren’t you playing with Da Huang?” Shen Yu asked.

Er Ya timidly replied, “I was eavesdropping at the
door, then I didn’t pay attention to it for a while, and it became like
this.”

Xie Tingzhou also came out and glanced at the restless Da
Huang, instructing the guards to restrain it.

Da Huang was caught by several guards. After observing for
a moment, one guard whispered, “Your Highness, it seems… it’s in
heat.”

Under normal circumstances, even if a dog was in heat, it
wouldn’t go crazy like this.

Another guard ran over, holding half a piece of pastry.
“Your Highness, there are traces of digging in the flower bed over there,
and we found this inside.”

It was the pastry they buried.

Shen Yu glanced at Xie Tingzhou and tentatively asked,
“Did you bring back its mate?”

Xie Tingzhou was speechless for a moment. “Do I look
like someone who would think so thoughtfully for it?”

“Are there any other dogs in the mansion?”

“No.”

Shen Yu frowned. “What do we do now? Should we find
another mate for Da Huang in the capital?”

“Leave it to Chang Liu,” Xie Tingzhou said,
“He’ll figure something out.”

Shen Yu immediately objected, “Chang Liu is still so
young! How would he know?”

Xie Tingzhou half-smiled, “He already found a mate for
the turtle I gave him.”

What started as a drama turned into a comedy.

Last time it was the roasted chicken, this time it was the
snacks, and ultimately Da Huang bore the brunt of it all alone.

With the matter settled, Uncle Zhong hurriedly arrived,
asking Xie Tingzhou how to handle it.

Xie Tingzhou calmly said, “Since they were sent by
father, we shouldn’t be too harsh. Just sell them off directly.”

Uncle Zhong wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Wouldn’t that…”

Xie Tingzhou cut him off, “If you think the punishment
is too light, you can just beat them to death.”

Uncle Zhong dared not say another word.

Chun Fu and the other two were tied up and taken away by
the servants.

Chun Xing managed to break free unnoticed by the
servants and rushed to Xie Tingzhou, crying, “Your Highness, I didn’t
participate. I also said I didn’t see the two of them on the bed before. I only
heard Qiu Yun’s cries. Please spare my life, Your Highness.”

With her hands tied behind her back, Spring Apricot
kowtowed on the ground.

She never expected Shi Yu to pull such a move, completely
disrupting her plan.

Xie Tingzhou bent down slightly to look at her and
unexpectedly chuckled. His voice, low and smooth, sent shivers down one’s
spine.

He said, “Do you think I care whether you were
involved or not?”