Chapter 59: Chapter 58: The Aftermath
Mrs. Zhen was on her knees, and Du Yunru and Du Yunluo, not wanting to sit there like wooden logs, exchanged a glance and properly knelt behind her.
Old Mrs. Xia’s gaze swept over the two silk flowers atop Du Yunluo’s head, her face expressionless, without telling anyone to rise.
With such a stance, everyone in the room became more uncertain in their hearts.
Miao Shi turned her head and sighed. Even Du Yunluo, who was not originally involved, was accompanying them in kneeling for punishment. Could the rest of them escape?
The maids and servants were all understanding people and held their breath, silently kneeling on tiptoe.
In the East Wing, aside from the two sitting on the Arhat Bed, everyone else was kneeling.
The three Du Yunlang brothers got the news and dared not be slow, heading together to Lianfu Garden.
Inside, with such an atmosphere, the little maid at the curtain had a troubled expression, unable to announce their arrival. The brothers did not trouble her and knelt on the porch in front of the main house.
They knelt like that for nearly half an hour, until the Western clock chimed, and Du Gongfu cleared his throat.
Old Mrs. Xia understood, picked up her tea cup, and took a sip of the now-cold tea, saying calmly, "Stand up, explain the matter clearly. Lanzhi, let Yunlang and the others come in."
Lanzhi got up, hurried out to call them.
After standing up, Du Yunluo helped Mrs. Zhen up with Du Yunru. After kneeling for so long, their knees were sore and painful, but in front of Du Gongfu and Old Mrs. Xia, no one dared to rub them, enduring the pain with gritted teeth, sitting or standing according to their rank.
Miao Shi, anxious and sleepless all night, had knelt for almost half an hour upon arrival, now feeling somewhat dizzy.
She pressed her temple, said, "Old Master, Old Madam, yesterday..."
"Did you go with them yesterday?" Old Mrs. Xia interrupted Miao Shi directly.
Miao Shi lowered her head, "No."
"If you didn’t go, what can you explain?" Old Mrs. Xia snorted coldly, her gaze shifted to Du Yunying and Du Yunnuo, and said, "You two explain yourselves."
Du Yunnuo bit her lower lip, eyes shining, opened her mouth, but not a word came out.
Du Yunying saw this, thinking if Du Yunnuo continued to be this frightened, Old Mrs. Xia would surely get angry again. She secretly took a breath, and said, "Grandfather, Grandmother, it was like this, when we got to the riverside, the place was already crowded.
The place where the official was releasing lanterns was crowded too. Originally, our brothers were accompanying us, but upon reaching the shore, we met many family sisters, many of whom were acquaintances, so they went to greet them."
Du Yunying paused here, turned her gaze to Du Yunluo, who was somewhat puzzled, only to hear Du Yunying say, "Princess An Ran was there too."
Hearing the name Princess An Ran made Du Yunluo furrow her brows unconsciously.
Could it be that Princess An Ran made things difficult for Du Yunying and Du Yunnuo, leading to the burning of the river lantern?
The thought crossed her mind, and Du Yunluo denied it to herself.
Princess An Ran, after all, was Du Yunnuo’s cousin. With the closeness between the Liao Family and Aunt Liao, Princess An Ran, no matter how arrogant, wouldn’t go as far as to burn Du Yunnuo’s hair.
"She is a Commandery Princess, and also Fourth Aunt’s niece, so we went up to greet An Ran. The County Princess was not very pleased when she saw us, and then..."
According to Du Yunying, Princess An Ran was with several well-connected noblewomen. Although she was displeased upon meeting Du Yunnuo and Du Yunying, she still cared about the family’s face and didn’t trouble them. Two girls familiar with Du Yunnuo even invited them to release river lanterns together.
Du Yunnuo did not refuse, and Du Yunlang and his brothers couldn’t stay long among the girls, so they moved away, leaving the maids and servants to look after them carefully.
After that, they encountered Princess Hui.
Princess Hui and Princess An Ran had always maintained superficial harmony despite internal disagreements.
Seeing Du Yunnuo speak a few words with Princess An Ran, Princess Hui covered her mouth, laughing blatantly, "Sister An Ran is really generous, if it were me, I couldn’t lose face like this."
Knowing Princess An Ran’s temper, such a mocking remark infuriated her to the point of trembling all over.
For Du Yunnuo, Princess An Ran had to consider Aunt Liao’s reputation, but with Princess Hui, there was no need for such concerns, so she instantly retaliated sharply.
Who dared to intervene in their quarrel? Some even further incited it, making the situation escalate uncontrollably.
Princess Hui raised her hand to hit Princess An Ran, and as they pushed each other, they knocked over the river lantern held by a maid, setting the collar of Du Yunnuo’s light green brocade gauze robe on fire.
Du Yunnuo stood there, stunned, not having come back to her senses yet. The people around screamed and scattered, even the two main culprits stood there motionless in shock.
Seeing Du Yunnuo’s hair on her back catching fire, Du Yunying hurriedly rushed over, using her sleeve to put out the fire for Du Yunnuo, not feeling the pain even when her fingers got burned.
When Du Yunying acted, the Du Family’s maids and servants came to their senses, hurriedly helping to put out the fire, causing Du Yunnuo to burst into tears.
Hearing the commotion, the Du Yunlang brothers came over, dumbfounded at what they saw, fearing that the fire burning the hair would cause a serious incident. Du Yunlang took out a small knife from his pocket and cut off the smoking hair.
The still-shaken Du Yunnuo was helped back to the carriage, and they abandoned the lantern releasing, returning to the manor.
After finishing, Du Yunying couldn’t help but shiver, lowering her gaze to her still-red fingers, feeling a surge of pain flooding her heart again.
Last night, when they returned, Miao Shi asked her why she ran over crazily to put out the fire. She and Du Yunnuo weren’t sisters with a close bond, and with so many maids and servants around, why did she bother?
Du Yunying didn’t answer a single word, her mind was blank.
When she saw the collar on Du Yunnuo’s nape catch fire, her mind had gone blank too.
Without thinking about anything, she instinctively rushed over.
After extinguishing the fire, she stood by the riverbank, looking at the terrified, indifferent, or cold noblewomen, and thought, no matter how her secret relationship with Du Yunnuo was, they both bore the surname Du. She didn’t want them to become a joke in front of these people.
After Du Yunying had finished speaking, Old Mrs. Xia asked, "Yunuo, is this how it happened?"
Du Yunnuo hung her head, slowly nodding twice.
Liao Shi took out a handkerchief, dabbed at the corner of her eye, and produced a embroidered handkerchief from her sleeve, offering it with both hands to Old Mrs. Xia, "This is the hair Yunlang cut off yesterday, we brought it back."
Du Yunluo looked over; the black hair was burnt yellow and dry near one end, even carrying a charred smell.
Seeing the cut hair, Du Yunnuo instinctively raised her hand to touch the back of her neck, feeling the much shorter hair, biting her lip about to cry again.
Old Mrs. Xia indicated for Liao Shi to put it away, saying, "The matter is explained, do you know where you went wrong?"
Du Yunnuo looked up in astonishment. Clearly, she and Du Yunying were the victims; Princess An Ran and Princess Hui started it, what wrong did they do?
