Her mother was speechless for a moment at the mention of Zeng Weiyang. Then, she snatched the teacup from the table and hurled it at me. "Rebellious girl! If you didn't spend your days cooped up at home, why would your mother have to worry about your marriage? Now you're being picky. If you have the guts, go find a man yourself."
I dodged the teacup, and my mother's next move came.
Having not stretched my limbs for a long time, I suddenly grew interested. I parried her attacks and found myself sparring with my mother. The side room wasn't big enough for our movements, so we moved out of the room. The small courtyard was immediately filled with flying sand and stones. Axiu, standing by, fretted and wrung her hands, but could not intervene.
We fought with gusto. My mother's eyes were filled with delight. It seemed no one had sparred with her for a while, and she was itching for a fight.
However, as we continued, I began to feel my strength waning. My mother, oblivious, thought I had left an opening and lunged towards my chest with a clenched fist. In the past, I would have easily dodged such a move. Thus, she used eighty percent of her strength.
I watched helplessly as the fist, cloaked in killing intent, rushed towards me. I could neither dodge nor evade, so I had no choice but to push my palm forward to meet it head-on. If this strike landed squarely, I would likely be injured again.
But, the fist never touched me.
A familiar scent of pine wafted past, and a tall, upright figure appeared before me. At that moment, he was facing my mother directly. Palm against fist, both would suffer. My mother took a step back; he took five.
My mother recognized him immediately and quickly withdrew her fist. "Your Highness, the Crown Prince! Oh heavens, are you alright? Axiu, quickly find a physician."
The Crown Prince wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and waved his hand. "Aunty Qing, I'm fine."
"Why did you rush up like this?"
"Aunty Qing, have you forgotten? A'chun's injuries are not yet healed. She cannot withstand your strike."
A flicker of guilt crossed my mother's eyes, but she quickly said, "But you shouldn't have taken the blow for her. She's just an idle person; at most, she'll lie in bed a bit longer. But you're different; you have a mountain of state affairs waiting for you."
Is this my own mother?
I rolled my eyes impatiently and casually threw the injury-healing pills, bottle and all, that she had bought at a high price from the Wuyi clinic. "It was just one punch. You hit me quite a bit in the past."
"You wretched girl, can you compare yourself to His Highness the Crown Prince?" My mother pulled Situ Yao down to sit and personally brought him water, almost feeding him the medicine directly. I couldn't bear to watch and turned to call Axiu. "Let's go see what's for lunch in the kitchen."
My mother stopped me. "I arranged with Madam Gu the Second that if you two took a liking to each other, you'd stay at the temple for a vegetarian meal. If not, you'd each go your separate ways. Since you don't like that young man, don't wander around the kitchen; it might lead to misunderstandings."
"It's just a matchmaking meeting, and you two are using so many secret signals. You'd be wasted if you didn't become spies."
"Stop your prattling." My mother gave me a glare, then turned to Situ Yao, her attitude changing one hundred and eighty degrees. "Your Highness the Crown Prince is at Huangjue Temple for important matters, isn't he? It's not good for you to overexert yourself when injured. If it's nothing that needs to be kept secret, perhaps Nannan can run an errand for you."
Situ Yao curved his lips. "Aunty Qing, I truly have no serious injuries, and the matter has already been handled. There's no need to trouble A'chun; her injuries are not fully healed yet. However, why didn't A'chun take a liking to young Master Li? Is it his appearance that is displeasing?"
"That's not it. A'chun quite liked his appearance and demeanor. But he is the favored disciple of Scholar Gu. Nannan said that the moment she saw him, she was reminded of the ruler Scholar Gu used to beat her with back then. It's truly difficult to get along with him."
Situ Yao's smile froze abruptly. He looked genuinely amusing.
Where my mother couldn't see, I shrugged at him. This was truly beyond my control.
The vegetarian meal today was canceled. We'd have to hurry back to the city. After all, Huangjue Temple was quite far from the city, and if we delayed any longer, we'd miss lunch. To my surprise, Situ Yao shamelessly hitched a ride. He claimed that after sparring with my mother, his chest felt congested and he was afraid of having an accident if he rode a horse.
My mother's strength was indeed considerable, but Situ Yao had started practicing his horse stance at the age of four. The Emperor had also gathered a group of top experts to teach him martial arts. To think he had the nerve to feign fragility in front of my mother. Tsk, tsk. It seems all men in the world are the same; even a Crown Prince can spin a lie without batting an eye.