In his fury, Pang Xiao’s eyes turned red like an enraged lion. Pointing at Lu Heng, he cursed: “You bastard! You dare think of touching her—just try it!”
“Pang Zhixi! Have you gone mad!”
Born into a prestigious family, Lu Heng had never suffered such humiliation in his entire life!
“Today the Empress Dowager kindly arranges a marriage, and I’m responding to Her Majesty—what are you to dare interrupt!”
“Choose whoever you want! A woman I’ve slept with—does a weakling like you have the right to covet her!”
“Crude and improper!”
Lu Heng’s face turned red with anger. “You’re just a minor prince. Before my Lu family, you count for nothing. If I wanted to crush you, I wouldn’t even need two fingers—one finger could crush you to death!”
“Bullshit! Try crushing someone! I’ll kill you right now!”
“Hey! Stop, stop!”
The Empress Dowager was doused with a plate of sweet and sour fish all over her skirt. Unable to care about her clothes now, she grabbed at Pang Xiao with one hand while Nanny Chen and palace servants pulled at his robes from behind.
At this moment, guards who heard the commotion outside rushed in and were stunned by the chaos throughout the room.
Seeing the guards looking ready to draw swords, the Empress Dowager couldn’t help but stamp her foot: “Who told you to come in! Get out!”
“Empress Dowager, we came to protect you. You…”
“I told you to get out!”
Seeing the Empress Dowager’s determination, the guards had no choice but to retreat. Before leaving, they looked worriedly at Pang Xiao and Lu Heng, who were glaring at each other like fighting cocks.
These two important figures—they couldn’t afford to offend either one. If these people whom even His Majesty had to be wary of really started fighting, which one would they dare to restrain?
Since the Empress Dowager told them to leave, they’d better leave.
Qin Yining and Sun Shi supported each other as they retreated far away, but their skirt hems were still splashed with soup.
Sun Shi’s face had turned ashen, looking at Qin Yining with suspicion but hesitating to speak.
Qin Yining, however, remained in shock for a long time, unable to recover.
She believed that if Pang Xiao had done nothing, she would certainly have been betrothed to Lu Heng.
But she hadn’t expected Pang Xiao to assert his ownership in such a violent manner, not hesitating to thoroughly offend Lu Heng and the Lu family behind him, even slapping the Empress Dowager’s face in the process.
Wearing the guise of recklessness, what he did was fast and precise, suppressing Lu Heng’s marriage proposal just like that.
Lu Heng gritted his teeth, taking several deep breaths but unable to calm his fury. With one hand clenched into a fist behind his back and the other pointing at Pang Xiao: “You wait.”
After saying this, he ignored the Empress Dowager and left proudly with his oil-stained clothes, flicking his sleeves.
He walked with straight spine and measured steps, as if he were the highest-ranking person in this room, not the Empress Dowager.
Looking at the Empress Dowager, she showed no particular reaction, which fully demonstrated the Lu family’s status and the weight of the harsh words he had just spoken to Pang Xiao.
The Empress Dowager angrily said: “What are you standing there for? Why don’t you go see Second Master Lu out!”
Looking at the ladies in the room, she impatiently waved her hand: “I’m tired. You all disperse!”
“Yes.” The ladies hadn’t yet recovered from their shock and woodenly curtsied before withdrawing.
Pang Xiao helped the Empress Dowager step back and sit in a clean area.
Nanny Chen led people in to clean up the mess.
The Empress Dowager fiercely pinched Pang Xiao’s arm and beat him several times: “You little scoundrel, you little scoundrel! Do you think you’re still in the countryside? You dare overturn my table and challenge that Lu fellow—is a woman worth all this! Do you know how much power the Lu family has behind them! You’ve truly angered me to death!”
“Please calm your anger, Empress Dowager. I was just furious. That Qin woman is mine—how could I let someone else touch her? That Lu fellow is dreaming!”
“You really are… sigh. You refuse to marry her because you resent the vengeance for your father’s death, and the entire capital has spread her affairs everywhere, ruining her reputation. Now that I’ve finally found her a good match, you won’t marry her yourself but won’t let others marry her either—you’re too domineering!”
Pang Xiao said righteously: “In any case, even if I don’t want her, I won’t let other men touch her!”
“Then you might as well let her become a nun!” the Empress Dowager roared.
Seeing that the Empress Dowager was truly angry, Pang Xiao finally closed his mouth and stopped arguing, letting the Empress Dowager scold him to her heart’s content.
Meanwhile, Qin Yining left the Palace of Compassionate Peace with Sun Shi, still hearing the low discussions of the other ladies along the way.
Leaving the palace gates and boarding the prepared carriage, Bingtang and Ji Yun, seeing Sun Shi’s grim expression, didn’t dare follow them up.
Seeing no one around, Sun Shi asked in a low voice: “Yining, have you and that Pang fellow really… really become husband and wife?”