Chapter 67: A Coward
That was the person they would never mistake. With a sly smile on her lips, she gave the Second Prince a hastily bowed said, "Wow, it's quite lively here." It was as if she was a passerby who just casually poked her head out and took a look at the hustle and bustle, with a sense of indifference as if it had nothing to do with her.
Tang Ying's teeth were chattering, she was trembling, and she almost wanted to run away, but when she saw the Second Prince's gentle and noble face, she knew that this was a man she would never be able to touch in her entire life... She deceived herself and shrank to the Second Prince's side, even holding his arm tightly, leaning her head against him, and said softly and helplessly: "Your Highness, I suddenly feel dizzy..."
Given the Second Prince's usual gentleness and thoughtfulness, he would certainly quickly carry her back to her room and urgently call a doctor to take her pulse, perhaps this incident could have been avoided.
At this moment, she was like a gambler at the end of his rope, hoping to escape the casino. He would not give up as long as there was a little bit of hope.
Ever since Tang Ying stepped into the hall, A'lian has been like a fool. It was as if she had swallowed a handful of stones in her throat, making it impossible for her to speak. She could only keep shrinking back, wishing she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
When she encouraged Tang Ying to pretend to be her daughter, she must have been possessed by a ghost. Anyway, there was no evidence. But when Tang Ying stood in front of her alive, she felt so ashamed that she could only hold her belly with both hands and comfort herself over and over again in her heart: I am doing this to survive! Survive!
The fate of the maids in the Tang Mansion is tied to their masters. What is the difference between a maid without an owner and a stray dog on the street?
At this time, Tang Song suddenly said, "Xiaoying - why do I feel that she is Xiaoying?" He was referring to Tang Ying who had just stepped into the hall.
When Tang Ying went to Bingzhou as a child, she could not play with her cousins. Tang Jue was afraid of restraining his sister, so he took her to play with Tang Song. As a result, he was impressed by his little cousin and was even more familiar with her than Tang Jiayi and her sisters.
Tang Ying turned her head and found her childhood self in the young man's eager eyes. She immediately smiled and said, "Brother Xiaosong, why are you here?"
Tang Song strode over excitedly and held her shoulders tightly with both hands. It seemed that he wanted to give her a hug after a long separation: "Xiaoying, I'm sorry for making you suffer!"
Fu Chen's fingers moved slightly, and he almost couldn't help but pull Tang Song's wrist - he always felt that he was going to crush the little girl's shoulder.
Mrs. Tang San's eyes swept across Tang Ying and Tang Ying's faces, and finally stopped at Tang Ying's fresh and fair little face. There was a vague shadow of Tang Yao in the girl's eyebrows and eyes, but when she smiled, she looked more like Tang Yao's wife Bai.
She still maintained her previous anger and asked sharply, "What's going on?"
When Tang Ying came in, her eyes were first attracted by the Second Prince and Tang Ying standing in the middle. She didn't even bother to look at the people next to her. When she followed the sound, she was simply confronted with her childhood nightmare. The third cousin from Bingzhou who was strict and picky about her in everything actually appeared in the Second Prince's Mansion. Besides looking older and stricter than before, with a bunch of white hair on her temples, she had aged a lot over the years.
"Third... Third Aunt?"
"Ying girl, come here——"
Tang Ying walked over a few steps and was caught by the old woman. Her palm was warm and dry, and her skin was old and rough. She held her hand tightly and suddenly burst out: "It's all your father's fault! It's all your father's fault! I said back then that you two siblings would stay in Bingzhou and be raised by me, but he refused! He insisted on taking you two siblings back to Baicheng... Now even Jue'er can't be saved..."
Since she heard that Tang Yao died in battle, the old woman has been worried day and night. Although the clan members have many complaints about Tang Yao, they can only accept the densely packed tablets of the dead in the ancestral hall. The sons of the Tang family who joined the army were mentally prepared to die on the battlefield when they first stepped into the barracks. ... But Tang Jue was still so young, and he died on the battlefield before he could get married and have children. It is really sad.
Tang Ying turned away in embarrassment, not daring to look directly at the old woman, and forced a smile, "Third Aunt, it's all over..."
The old woman hit her hard and cursed angrily: "You cruel girl, why didn't you send a message home when such a big thing happened?" But tears flowed down her old cheeks, sliding across the harsh lines at the corners of her mouth, unable to hide the unrecognizable appearance that had been ravaged by years of life.
Tang Jiayi persuaded with red eyes: "Mother, Xiaoying didn't do it on purpose. Look at her, she still looks sick. She must have suffered a lot."
Tang Song, the fool, interrupted at this time: "Aunt, who is that Tang Ying? Why did the Second Prince say that she was the little cousin when we first came in?"
He pointed directly at Tang Ying and wanted to get to the bottom of the matter.
Tang Ying was originally leaning on the Second Prince pretending to be dead. Listening to the Tang family's recognition of their relatives, her mind was working rapidly. She also secretly peeked at Yuan Lang's expression. She saw that the Second Prince had a confused look on his face, as if he didn't understand what was going on. She was anxious as if a fire was coming out of the house, but she couldn't think of a good solution. She could only "weep" twice, hoping to draw the Second Prince's attention and quickly call a doctor for her.
But the Second Prince seemed to be far less considerate today than before. He pulled away her arm and asked in shock, "Miss Tang, what's going on?"
"...Aren't you Marshal Tang's daughter?"
Everyone in the hall turned their eyes to Tang Ying. A-Lian shrank back and hid behind her. Even Mrs. Tang San stopped scolding Tang Ying and stared at the gorgeously dressed woman. She cursed with disgust, "How could such a vain woman come from my Tang family? She hasn't fulfilled her father's duty yet, but she dresses like a seductress!"
Yuan Lang noticed that since Fu Chen entered the room, he had not said a word except greeting him from beginning to end. His expression was calm and he showed no curiosity at all, which showed that he had known about this for a long time.
Fu Chen knew the situation, so he could remain calm.
Even if he knew, he could only pretend that he didn't know. He pushed away Tang Ying who was trying to lean on him, and said angrily, "Who are you? How dare you deceive me?"
Fu Chen glanced at him mockingly, but the other party did not respond at all and stared at the fake lady stubbornly. He looked sad, as if he just realized at this moment that the girl he brought back home and took good care of was a fake lady!
——What a great acting!
Lord Fu admired this prince, who was famous for his virtue, from the bottom of his heart.
Is this how he usually fools his court officials?
Tang Ying's lips trembled and she couldn't utter a word.
Her chest felt like it was on fire and boiling with oil. She didn't know how many words she had accumulated were stuck in her throat. Only tears kept flowing down. She looked at him pitifully and sobbed, "Your Highness..."
The facts are right in front of her, how can she refute it?
Tang Ying clapped her hands and laughed, "This should be the future Second Prince's consort, right? Why are you crying so sadly? Hey, don't cry, if you keep crying, His Highness will be heartbroken!"
It would have been better if she didn't say anything. Once she opened her mouth, it was like lighting an invisible fuse. The countless resentments in Tang Ying's heart could no longer be contained and rushed straight towards her.
"It's all your fault! It's all your fault! Didn't you die in Baicheng? Why did you come to Beijing again? You've been like this since you were a child. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to learn needlework, dress up, or please ladies. You spend the whole day wielding swords and guns, getting smelly and dirty. And there are people surrounding you, wishing they could put you on their heads. What's so good about you?"
Tang Ying was stunned by her yelling, touched her face, and said shamelessly: "I don't know what's good about me, is it... because I have a good-looking face?"
"Bullshit!" Tang Ying was so angry at her careless attitude that she said something she didn't want to say. It was as if she mustered up the greatest courage in her life to fight to the death with the other party, but the other party not only didn't accept the challenge, but also made a weird look of "Who are you to fight with me?" and made a fool of her. She was so angry that she cursed: "Yu An is blind and can't see my gentleness and thoughtfulness! He died in Baicheng, why didn't you die? Aren't you going to get married soon? Why don't you be a pair of mandarin ducks with the same fate and die in Baicheng?!"
Once she uttered the vicious curse, she seemed to finally understand what she was thinking. She realized that for a long time, she was not sad at all about Tang Ying's death. Even when A Lian occasionally talked about it, her sad expression was pretended. In her heart, she was even secretly glad that Tang Ying's death made her life complete.
When Tang Ying heard the name "Yu An", her expression suddenly changed. Her face was cold and she looked very imposing: "Shut up!" It seemed as if she was going to hit someone the next moment.
Fu Chen was first shocked by what Tang Ying blurted out, and then he seemed to think that the name "Yu An" sounded familiar. He quickly recalled it from his mind and found that it was the "young General Yu who will never come back" mentioned by Zhang Qing, and they were probably the same person.
His heart was shaken, as if he was awakened by a heavy hammer - it turned out that she already had a lover in her heart?
If Yu An was still alive and kicking and standing in front of him, he could still compete with him, but Yu An was already dead, having died in the Battle of White City.
Fu Chen examined his heart and couldn't even find a reason to be jealous. He could only look at the pale-faced woman with eyes that seemed to be spitting fire with heartache. He couldn't imagine how she had struggled back from the underworld after surviving a near-death experience, while her father, brother and beloved had all died on the battlefield, leaving her all alone. How hopeless she must have felt?
She could still stand in front of him with a smile on her face, and had never been defeated by the hardships of life and the great pain. How much courage and perseverance did this take? At this moment, Lord Fu felt extremely distressed.
Tang Ying's crazy laughter rang out in the hall: "Why, I can't mention Yu An? I 've touched your sore spot but I still want to mention it! Yu An, Yu An, Yu An! Are you heartbroken after he died? Are you almost dying of pain? Your childhood sweetheart was going to marry your fiancé, and now that he's dead, why didn't you die with him?"
The long sword at Tang Ying's waist broke away from the scabbard with a clang and flew out, heading straight for Tang Ying's face like a spirit snake. At that moment Tang Ying felt the pressing murderous aura, and she screamed in fear and squatted down. The long sword slashed across her head, and her gold and jade jewelry fell off, and her complicated bun was cut off in half. The long sword continued to move forward, and it pierced straight into the pillar behind her, making a buzzing sound.
Tang Ying, with her long black hair disheveled, screamed at the top of her lungs: "Help! --"
The whole hall was silent; the sword energy seemed to still echo in the ears, but no one made a sound.
The girl holding the scabbard walked slowly to Tang Ying, looking down at her. She laughed and looked down at Tang Ying, who was squatting on the ground and trembling. "You are a coward, and you dare to challenge me?"
" I didn't expose you because I saw you were having fun and wanted to let you daydream for a few more days. Do you really think you have climbed up the phoenix tree and become a real phoenix?"
She raised her head, looked directly at A-Lian, and hooked her finger at her.
Ah Lian was frightened by this scene and crawled to her, kneeling at her feet, crying and kowtowing: "Miss, please be magnanimous and forgive me. I was bewitched and listened to Tang Ying's instigation, so I committed a big mistake! Miss, please forgive me?"
Tang Ying leaned forward and gently hooked A Lian's chin with her index finger, like a frivolous playboy: "Tsk, tsk, tsk, look at this little face crying, like a little cat , it really makes me feel sorry for her!"
Ah Lian stared at her blankly - the young lady didn't scold her? And... wasn't she going to hit her?
She covered her belly and said timidly through tearful eyes: "Miss..." It was just like when she first entered the Tang Mansion many years ago, kneeling down in front of that heroic young girl and bowing her head to the dust.
"My Tang family is full of loyal and brave people. How could we have a traitorous servant like you?" She took out a handkerchief and wiped her index finger carefully, as if there was something dirty on it. After wiping, she threw the handkerchief on A Lian's face and said in a deep voice: "When you go out next time, don't say you are a servant of my Tang Mansion, otherwise - I will take your dog life!"
