Chapter 2: It Has to Be Done Sooner or Later; Better Early Than Late

*Slap!*

*Slap!*

*Slap!*

Song Lan raised her other hand and delivered three consecutive slaps to Xie Siming’s face. The force was surprisingly great, causing half of his face to swell up immediately.

Those who had just been whispering about Song Lan’s lack of propriety were all so frightened by her silent, decisive action that they swallowed hard and retreated in unison.

They were terrified that if they stood too close, they would be the next to be slapped.

“These slaps are for the fact that you knew full well the Eldest Princess was hosting a banquet and that the most prominent figures in the capital were gathered here, yet you spoke without restraint, maliciously twisting the facts, and were so afraid that people wouldn’t know I had fallen into the water and been rescued that you attempted to ruin my reputation.”

Song Lan smoothed her hair, her posture dignified and composed.

Hearing her words, the crowd recalled the shouts and reprimands from the Xie girl and the Zhang boy just moments ago; there was indeed a suspicion that they had deliberately called people over.

Hadn’t they all hurried over precisely because they heard those two shouts and reprimands, sensing some gossip to be had?

The crowd couldn’t help but whisper and murmur to one another again.

“Then why did you hit me? I didn’t say anything!”

Xie Siming had taken the most slaps. His face was so swollen that even speaking made the corners of his mouth feel as if they were being torn apart. The pain made him wish he could rush forward and tear Song Lan to pieces.

This bitch!

Sooner or later, he would pay her back tenfold, a hundredfold!

*Slap!*

Song Lan delivered another slap, landing it on Xie Siming’s face with practiced ease.

“You’re an eyesore.”

After saying that, Song Lan switched to a slightly more tactful phrasing: “It had to be done sooner or later, and it’s better to do it sooner than later. I’m giving you a preventative measure so you’ll stop being so foul-mouthed.”

Xie Siming was so angry his nose and eyes were practically twitching.

“You…”

He gritted his teeth, wanting to say something, but seeing Song Lan raise her hand again, he immediately fell silent.

He only felt his face throbbing more and his teeth loosening.

“What is everyone gathered here for?”

Accompanying the voice was the most noble person in the dynasty, the Eldest Princess, Zhao Tan.

Her gaze swept over the crowd, not particularly sharp, yet the natural authority she exuded added a great deal of pressure to everyone present.

The crowd bowed and curtsied to pay their respects.

Xie Yurao’s eyes shifted slightly. She stepped forward, tears streaming down her face: “Your Highness, please forgive us. My second sister did not mean to offend you!”

This plea for mercy instantly drew everyone’s eyes to Song Lan.

“Your second sister?”

The Eldest Princess clearly did not know the relationships within the Xie family.

Nor did she have any interest in knowing.

A mere Xie family was not worth her attention.

However, the head maid serving by her side explained the relationships between them in a few short sentences, including what had just transpired.

The Eldest Princess’s gaze landed on Song Lan, then shifted to the guard who had been keeping his head down and acting very properly ever since he had rescued her.

She let out a soft laugh, as if murmuring to herself: “Interesting.”

She then turned her gaze back to Song Lan, looking intrigued.

She had never seen a young lady quite this lively before.

Xie Yurao, however, thought she had seized an opportunity. In a few words, she twisted Song Lan’s fall into the water into a deliberate act.

“My second sister usually has a good tolerance for alcohol, but today, I don’t know what happened. She only drank half a cup before saying she was drunk and insisting on coming to the water pavilion, and then she accidentally…”

She looked at Song Lan with what she considered to be a generous and worried expression: “Second sister, hurry and apologize to the Eldest Princess. The Spring Banquet was something the Princess put a lot of effort into organizing. You must not ruin Her Highness’s mood and intentions for your own selfish reasons!”

With those words, she directly convicted Song Lan.

She was certain that the always timid Song Lan would not have the courage to defend herself in the face of the all-powerful Eldest Princess.

She had completely forgotten about the slaps she had just witnessed.

Song Lan stepped forward. Recalling the customs of the Da Jing Dynasty and adjusting to them, she bowed and greeted the Eldest Princess in a respectful and standard manner.

Then, she straightened her back and said with great righteousness: “My cousin is right!”

Xie Yurao felt a surge of joy and let out a sigh of relief.

She knew this soft-hearted pushover Song Lan couldn’t stir up any trouble.

The smug smile had only just spread to the corners of her mouth when it froze completely.

“I ask the Eldest Princess to follow my cousin’s suggestion and thoroughly investigate the matter of someone poisoning my wine, and to severely punish the culprit!”

“That way, we can avoid those petty villains who, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, dare to jump out and stir up trouble even at a Spring Banquet presided over by you, ruining your reputation.”

Xie Yurao panicked: “When did I ever say that…”

“You didn’t? That’s fine, I’ve said it for you now.”

Song Lan wore an expression that said, *You don’t need to thank me; this is a favor to you.*

Unexpectedly, upon hearing her demand a thorough investigation into the poisoning of the wine, Zhang Chi was the first to panic.

“What poisoning of the wine! Song Lan, don’t you go making things up and exaggerating here!”

“How could there possibly be poisoned wine served at the Eldest Princess’s banquet?”

“Stop trying to alarm people and be so unreasonable!”

Hearing him rattle off so many idioms in one breath, Song Lan raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

She had always assumed that the cup of wine Xie Yurao had handed her was poisoned by Xie Yurao herself.

She hadn’t expected there to be a hidden story?

“Why is Young Master Zhang panicking?”

Song Lan smiled slightly: “I didn’t say the poison wasn’t administered by you.”

“Of course that poison was administered by me!”

Zhang Chi retorted subconsciously, without carefully listening to what Song Lan had said.

Only after the words were out did his face turn deathly pale, and he fell to his knees with a thud.

“Your Highness, please investigate!”

“I didn’t poison it! I really didn’t!”

He realized what he had done too late. He pointed at Song Lan, his face twisted: “It was her! She deliberately framed me, she set a trap to make me say the wrong thing!”

“Young Master Zhang’s words are truly unreasonable!”

Song Lan glared at him coldly: “You and I are betrothed; why would I deliberately frame you and trick you into saying the wrong thing?”

“Or is it that Young Master Zhang is judging others by his own standards, harboring a guilty conscience, having done something dark, and feeling ashamed before me, so you see me as being just like you?”

Zhang Chi was flustered and uneasy.

Feeling the many gazes upon him, he suppressed his panic and desperately searched for a countermeasure.

Rumors were like knives; a few words could take a person’s life.

If he didn’t explain himself clearly, he feared his reputation would be ruined before he could even leave the Eldest Princess’s estate.

“You, you have been dissatisfied with this marriage for a long time, so… ah!”

Song Lan found the finger Zhang Chi was pointing at her to be an eyesore.

With a cold expression, she stepped forward, grabbed the hand Zhang Chi was pointing at her, and snapped it with force.

A pig-like scream instantly echoed through the backyard of the Eldest Princess’s estate.

Everyone was startled by her sudden movement.

Even the maid beside the Eldest Princess made a move to support her blade, ready to draw it from her waist at any moment.

“Your Highness, please forgive me.”

Song Lan curtsied properly: “This commoner has suffered from a strange illness since childhood; I cannot stand anyone pointing a finger at me. Whenever I see it, I just want to chop those claws off!”

She didn’t spare Zhang Chi a single extra glance.

Yet, it made a chill rise from the soles of everyone’s feet.

Zhang Chi’s lips trembled, his face deathly pale from the pain of his broken finger.

A demon!

She is a demon!

She is not Song Lan!