At the same time, Tao Hong had smashed five to six vases and a copper stove in a row, leaving the door of Duke Jingguo mansion with pockmarks and peeled off paint. As Duke Jingguo could not get entangled with a broken-leg little girl, he could only hide behind the door and listen to the commotion with the hope that they would quickly leave after finishing with the smashing.
After a few boxes of porcelain were smashed all over, there was no place to walk in front of the Duke Jingguo mansion.Yu Xiang had covered her face with a handkerchief to avoid being scratched by the fragments and only shouted in a clear loud voice once she saw Tao Hong shook her head at her, “Chang Ya Fu, do listen carefully. You yourself have behaved improper and unrestrained yet still framed it on me after withdrawing from the marriage. What’s wrong with you to just easily take off your clothes and stick out your butt? The red mole on your left breast is almost stabbing my eyes blind! As I’ve the propriety of diction today, I will not expose your unsavory past which you should take for what it’s worth and don’t try trampling me as a stepping stone. While the betrothal gifts that you’ve returned have all been smashed by me to avoid dirtying up the space in my Marquis Yongle manor!” Once the words faltered, she waved her sleeve towards the group of servants, “Let’s go.”
The group lifted the empty mahogany boxes then turned and marched away grandly.
Before boarding the carriage, Yu Xiang turned around all of a sudden and added, “Chang Ya Fu, wear more clothes when you go out in the future to somehow cover the lasciviousness of your body! It’s exactly not my scolding if you are to hang yourself to death but due to you yourself are ashamed to face others!”
Well, just a few condemn words prompted others dying to just drop death while another few more words hindered the path of attempted suicide. If Chang Ya Fu really hung herself, it would be precisely due to her own shamelessness which completely and utterly substantiated Yu Xiang’s condemnation today.
The onlookers immediately made an uproar.
Duke Jingguo, who was hiding behind the door, almost passed out with anger, not to mention the mother and daughter of the Chang family who just happened to be back but alarmingly on tenterhooks and wept in each other’s arms as they hid in the carriage not far away.
In any case, they just could not understand how Yu Xiang could do such a thing like raining curses in the street, which girl has such guts to do so? What benefit can she gain by cursing happily? Her reputation of being bold and ferocious could no longer be saved.
What is reputation? Can it be eaten? Yu Xiang curled her lips, merely feeling unprecedentedly content.
While the crowd was carrying the boxes onto the carriages, the door of Duke Jingguo mansion suddenly opened and Chang Qi rushed out with a sword in his hand as he stabbed towards Yu Xiang’s vest without uttering a sound. Liu Lu hastily stepped forward to block yet heard a loud and clear clank sound where a fragmentary silver wielded the sword into pieces. With a livid face, Yu Pin Yan strode forward and the crowd scattered with a bang wherever he passed by. There were still people shouting in fear, “It’s no good, the living King of Hell is here, run!”
Yu Pin Yan’s reputation in Great Han can stop children crying at night. Yu Xiang was somewhat still palpitating but when she saw this, she covered her small mouth and burst out laughing then pounced into her elder brother’s arms and jokingly said, “Elder Brother, can you see, we are the dual black and white sprites that everyone is afraid of!”
“Behave yourself a little! Do you know you almost got stabbed just now!” Yu Pin Yan threw her into the carriage, put the curtain down and smacked her buttocks angrily while his face was still livid as before.
Yu Xiang mumbled and begged for mercy as she dodged by arching her small butt around.
After smacking her five to six times, the strength gradually weakened then changed to kneading where Yu Pin Yan pinched her cheeks and admonished, “Find and tell Elder Brother beforehand whenever you drop by to make trouble in the future, you hear me? Hmm?”
“I hear you, I hear you.” Yu Xiang carefully pulled his fingers away and secretly thought: ‘As it turned out the feeling of being pinched on the cheeks is really unpleasant.’
Turning her over, Yu Pin Yan took her into his arms and bit the tip of her nose before getting out of the carriage and walked towards Chang Qi, who was restrained by a group of servants. In a state of panic, Duke Jingguo hurriedly stepped out of the small side door and rebuked in a threatening but cowardly at heart manner, “All Commander Yu, you are really bold that you have repeatedly struck a child.”
“Lord Duke, you are bold too. Letting your son assassinate my defenseless and disabled sister. If he touches a hair on my younger sister’s head today, I will cut him alive! I believe Lord Duke have long heard of my lynching method which is a total of 3600 cuts and no less.” As he said that, he unsheathed the hilt of his sword while a layer of blood-red gradually tinged his pitch-dark eyes and the atmosphere became stiflingly frigid due to the killing intent he emitted.
Chang Qi was so scared that his face turned ashened and trembled. Duke Jingguo gritted his teeth and said, “Yu Pin Yan, is there still any king’s law in your eyes? Qi’er did not even touch her!”
Seeing that everyone had scattered away, the mother and daughter of the Chang Family on the other side also used the handkerchiefs to cover their faces and quickly ran over. Chang Ya Fu squatted on the ground and cried bitterly as soon as she squeezed into the corner of the door while Madam Chang rushed over trying to pull her son out from under the shoulder-poles.
Yu Pin Yan got closer to Duke Jingguo’s ear and briefly uttered a few words then flicked his sleeve and strode away. Only then did the servants dispersed.
Lying prone on the windowsill, Yu Xiang saw Duke Jingguo got frightened till his soul ceased to exist with big droplets of sweat trickling down. When her elder brother got into the carriage, she hurriedly asked, “What did you say to him? Look how scared he is.”
Yu Pin Yan hugged her onto his lap and said in a low voice, “It’s nothing, just a few confidential letters between him and Xu Mao are in my hands. This matter can be major or minor depending on how I feel.”
“Then, is your mood good?” Grinning broadly, Yu Xiang went to touch the stubbles on his chin.
“You were almost stabbed by Chang Qi, tell me if my mood is good or not?” Yu Pin Yan’s face immediately turned livid again.
Yu Xiang dared not utter another word and turned her head to nestle in his arms soberly. The two of them did not say anything until they reached the west-wing courtyard where Yu Pin Yan carried her onto the soft couch before exhorting again, “You will obediently stay home and not be allowed to go anywhere before jiji[1].” He pointed at Liu Lu, “Keep an eye on your master. If this Marquis knows that you take her out to make trouble, the caning punishment will be fifty staves then expulsion.”
Liu Lu nodded repeatedly yet she criticized inwardly; ‘It’s obviously the master who has led us astray, how could it be us who brought her out to make trouble? You are so biased that your heart is in your armpit, Marquis!’