The Empress said and glanced at Mu Mingtang, the meaning in her eyes loud and clear. Mu Mingtang snorted inwardly, it was truly the act of ‘picking the soft and ripe persimmons(2)’. Just now, a lot of them were very enthusiastic when it came to gossiping about her, but in front of Xie Xuanchen, it was apparently nothing but a mere gentle reminder?
(T/N: The act of picking on/ bullying those who are weak, defenseless or does not fight back. Instead, these types of people also tend to avoid getting on the bad side of those who are influential or powerful)
Plus, they still dared to suppress her and follow along with their narrative?
Mu Mingtang looked down on the Empress’s behavior very much, but she didn’t want Xie Xuanchen to be angry on an occasion like this. Now that they were near the stands, the dragon boat teams were ready to go and there were thousands of people on the other side of the lake. If Xie Xuanchen were to do anything out of the ordinary, everyone else wouldn’t know about the details, so they would assume that he was being disrespectful and arrogant.
Mu Mingtang gently tugged at Xie Xuanchen’s sleeve, but he only grasped her hand and looked straight at the Empress Dowager, “Since it was just a gentle reminder, why didn’t you say it in front of me? I was the one who insisted on making the incense that way, so if you were to say that she is wasting money, that applies to me as well. So why don’t you say these things to me, but only pick on her?”
The Empress and the Empress Dowager had their reputations shamelessly torn down by Xie Xuanchen. The Empress forced a smile and said, “Prince An, the Empress Dowager and the others didn’t say much. You see, Princess An truly didn’t mind that much, so perhaps this is only a small misunderstanding. Though, let’s hurry to the stands; the people are waiting.”
“She doesn’t care because she is big-hearted and is willing to think about your image, but I am narrow-minded. If you have something to say, do it in front of me— as long as it is reasonable, I can bear any lectures thrown my way, but to talk about her behind my back? Do you think she is easy to bully? Then I might as well tell you right now that you can gossip all you want about me, but anything negative about her is not going to be tolerated.”
There was a lot of movement here, which made more people curious as to what was going on. Even the Beirong envoy stood up and looked in their direction. The Empress was a little anxious as she said, “Prince An, there are envoys and outsiders here, let’s not cause a scene and have them joke about it later.”
“Knowing that there are outsiders, how dare you?” Xie Xuanchen also raised his voice. His eyes were now like unsheathed swords as they reflected a cold light, “When you were running your mouths against her just now, why didn’t you think that it was a scene that couldn’t be seen by outsiders? Now that I’m here to investigate the end of this matter, you finally decided to think about the presence of outsiders?”
Can’t wait to read more? Want to show your support? Click here to be a sponsor and get additional chapters ahead of time!
Also check out my other novels: The Tanaka Family Reincarnates, Strict Wife Of The ’70s Manages The Household, and Villainess Wants To Turn Over A New Leaf