Chapter 8

"Bang!" With a loud noise, the door to the bridal chamber, which had been the focus of everyone's attention since last night, was kicked open by a frantic maid.

In fact, everyone in the Prince Su residence who had rushed over at the sound of the scream—including the steward, the nannies, and the servants who were watering and sweeping the floors—watched in stunned silence as this audacious maid hiked up her skirt and kicked open the door that everyone had been so concerned about, using a posture hardly becoming of a lady.

Inside the room, both the young woman sprawled on the floor and the disheveled man on the bed looked on speechlessly at the maid who had stormed in so aggressively.

"Ru, Ru-Cui..." Anan’s scream died in her throat as she stared in shock at her maid, who had clearly grown a pair of guts.

Outside the door, a crowd of elderly nannies who had followed Ru-Cui stood packed together. The sight of their expressions—a mix of shock, amazement, and subtle conflict—made Anan feel deeply wounded. Fortunately, the steward and the male servants had kept their distance due to the boundaries between master and servant, as well as between men and women, which at least preserved some of her dignity.

Seeing the young woman sitting on the floor, Ru-Cui, once everyone had regained their senses, ran over with a pained expression and carefully helped her up. "Ah, ah, Miss, what bad thing did you do to get kicked off the bed by the Prince?" the incredibly dense maid asked with infinite surprise.

Anan’s initial gratitude turned into a glare.

Prince Su... and the room full of nannies stared with dark lines on their foreheads at the pair of dim-witted mistress and servant, witnessing once again the unique nature of the Prime Minister’s youngest daughter. People in the capital had heard that the Prime Minister’s young lady was born into wealth, possessed great insight, and was peerlessly elegant, making her hard to catch a glimpse of. But this youngest daughter by a concubine was clearly different, even down to the maid who served her.

"Shut up!" Anan said, embarrassed and angry. She deeply regretted why she still kept such a dense maid by her side to irritate her.

Ru-Cui obediently shut her mouth, then lifted her eyes to sneak a glance at the stern-faced Prince Su on the bed. She immediately lowered her gaze and bowed in greeting, her movements as fluid as flowing water, leaving no room for criticism, as if she weren't the same maid who had just kicked the door down.

Prince Su glanced at the maid, threw a robe over his shoulders, and got out of bed. Pursing his lips, he ordered the nanny at his side, "Nanny An, go call Imperial Physician Wang."

After Nanny An left to carry out the order, Prince Su walked over, took his new bride from Ru-Cui’s arms, and placed her on the bed. He frowned as he examined her and asked, "Where are you hurt?"

Hearing that tone—extremely magnetic but absolutely stern—made Anan subconsciously shrink her neck. She said weakly, "My foot... I twisted it..."

"..."

On the first day of marriage, the bride falls off the bed and sprains her leg... How could such a ridiculous blunder be so distressing? What was even more distressing was that the room full of servants wore expressions of "this is only natural." Compared to the women of the past who died in various ways before even crossing the threshold, they felt the Princess Consort was incredibly lucky to have only sprained her leg.

Even the maids who had accompanied her from the Prime Minister’s residence wore expressions of relief.

Only Anan felt miserable.

What is this? She really felt like these people were celebrating the fact that she was injured!

Before the imperial physician arrived, the nannies efficiently helped Prince Su dress and wash, while the young and beautiful dowry maids helped Anan change and wash her face. Anan glanced at the four beautiful maids by her side—all chosen by the Prime Minister’s wife to accompany her, talented, beautiful, and exceptionally capable—and then looked at the stern, middle-aged nannies by Prince Su’s side. She felt that the rumors of Prince Su hating women might not be true. Besides, last night... she had been "bullied" quite miserably!!!

Imperial Physician Wang was quickly dragged over by the old steward of the Prince Su residence. The steward’s surname was Qin, and he had been with Prince Su since the Prince was fifteen and granted his own estate; he was considered an old hand in the residence. Prince Su’s marriage had always been a source of pain for the old steward. Finally, the Prince had married and successfully consummated the union, and the new Princess Consort hadn't died in the various ways people had speculated. But before the old steward could even rejoice, he heard the news of the Princess Consort’s injury. In a state of panic, he abandoned his duties and used his own old legs to personally drag the resident imperial physician over.

Imperial Physician Wang was the same doctor who had come to check Anan’s pulse when she had fainted from hunger (?) the night before. He sat calmly on the embroidered stool in front of the bed. A maid lowered the bed curtains and placed a white cloth over Anan’s extended wrist for the physician to take her pulse.

Anan curled her lip, thinking to herself, *It’s my leg that’s injured, what’s the point of taking my pulse!* She cursed this wretched feudal society; she couldn't even let a doctor personally examine her bones for a sprain. What if a bone was broken?

After taking her pulse, Imperial Physician Wang spouted a bunch of scholarly jargon. Anan couldn't understand the classical language, let alone the medical terminology, and had no idea what the diagnosis was. It wasn't until Prince Su heard the result and immediately ordered a nanny to examine Anan’s bones that she almost screamed in pain, forced to bite her handkerchief and grab onto Ru-Cui with teary eyes.

"The Princess Consort’s foot is dislocated. Please, Your Highness, send someone to the Imperial Hospital to fetch a female physician who knows how to set bones," Imperial Physician Wang said, keeping his distance due to the boundaries between men and women.

Upon hearing this, Prince Su ordered the steward to go to the Imperial Hospital to fetch a female physician.

Imperial Physician Wang prescribed some anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving medicine for the maids to brew, then finally shook his medicine box and left slowly. In his heart, he could only lament that this Princess Consort was truly disaster-prone, though her body seemed healthy. He just didn't know if she would end up dying inexplicably like those other women.

While waiting for the female physician, Anan sat on the bed with her sprained foot stretched out, looking at the Prince with a miserable expression.

The culprit, Prince Su, sat with a stern face, sitting bolt upright. His deep, dark eyes stared at Anan’s miserable face, and when Anan glanced over, his expression became even sterner.

The newlywed couple sat in the bridal chamber, surrounded only by a few maids and nannies, in total silence.

What the two didn't know was that in the palace, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, who were overjoyed that Prince Su had finally married and heard the wedding night had gone smoothly, had woken up early. After being groomed by their attendants, they were waiting for Prince Su to bring the Princess Consort to the palace to offer their thanks after the morning court session. When they unexpectedly heard the news that the Prince Su residence had sent someone to the Imperial Hospital for a female physician, the entire palace was in an uproar.

Outside the palace, many people keeping an eye on the Prince Su residence were watching every move. When they saw the Prince Su residence’s guards rushing toward the Imperial Hospital, everyone began to let their imaginations run wild. They secretly guessed: *Could it be that the Princess Consort couldn't survive the wedding night and kicked the bucket? How miserable must Prince Su be to have been one step away from "eating meat" on his wedding night only to end up with nothing? A joyous occasion turning into a funeral—how tragic!*

Poor Prince Su, even with his immense power, remained the most miserable person in the eyes of all the nobles and commoners in the capital.

The female physician from the Imperial Hospital was carried over directly by the Prince Su residence’s guards. Anan’s jaw dropped when she saw the poor physician, who looked like she had been treated like a sandbag.

"Your Highness, Princess Consort, Steward Qin, I’ve brought the doctor," the honest guard said with a grin, bowing.

Steward Qin looked approving and said, "Good job, Guard Zhao, go to the accounting office and collect ten taels as a reward!" Then, he hurriedly ushered the female physician into the bridal chamber.

Seeing the female physician enter the residence, all the servants of the Prince Su residence stretched their necks and peered toward the bridal chamber with anticipation.

"Set the Princess Consort’s bone!" Prince Su sat in front of the bed, his sharp eyes fixed on the pitiful little physician.

The little physician was weeping internally, regretting why she had been on duty today. Not only had she been carried over like a sack of grain early in the morning, but the place she was brought to was the Prince Su residence. When she heard that the injured person was the newly appointed Princess Consort—who everyone believed wouldn't live long and would die in all sorts of ways—she trembled with fear, shouting in her heart: *If the Princess Consort dies, it really has nothing to do with me!!!*

The physician also valued her life. If the Princess Consort happened to die from the Prince’s "hard-luck" fate while she was in the residence, she would surely be blamed!

Anan looked at the miserable-looking physician and heard that she was here to set her bone, her heart trembling. Then, as the bone clicked back into place, Anan’s courage flared. She grabbed the arm of Prince Su, who was sitting closest to her, and pinched it with all her might, tears streaming down her face from the pain.

Anan hated Prince Su, who had caused her to fall, to death!