It was lucky that she didn't fall down at the last moment.
A figure rushed up from the doorway of the attic and took her firmly in his arms.
Xie Zhen looked up with fear and trepidation, just in time to see Yan Yu's tight jaw and thin lips puckered into a line. His arm tightened, as if he was frightened by what had just happened and was still trembling slightly. His back was straight, but he took care of her. He didn't strangle her, but carefully took her in his arms, which were both gentle and firm.
Yan Yu coldly glanced at the stairs, then expressionlessly picked up Xie Zhen and gently put him on the ground.
When the few of them on the stairs came into contact with his gaze, they felt a chill run down their spines.
Especially Chen Yingxue and Gu Ruyi, who were guilty of standing at the same place, unable to even speak.
Chen Yingxue's fall was not on purpose, it was just that she clearly had the chance to hold onto the railing or pull servant maids who was at the side. However, the moment she fell, she saw Xie Zhen, who was walking at the very front, pounce towards Gu Ruyi without her even knowing why.
She thought, if Yan Yu rejected her because Xie Zhen was pregnant, then if this child no longer existed, would it change?
Now that she was stared at by Yan Yu, hse immediately became clear-headed, and her hands were covered in cold sweat from fear.
She should be glad that Xie Zhen was alright. Otherwise, if anything bad had happened to Xie Zhen and the child, Yan Yu would not easily let her off.
As for Yan Yao'an … All of the surrounding servant maids s could see that she did not act to save Yan Yu just now. If Gu Ruyi had told her earlier, she would definitely not have a good ending in front of him.
Why didn't she hold Gu Ruyi back?
There was no other reason but that she had always been angry at Gu Ruyi in her heart.
She never forgave Gu Ruyi from beginning to end.
If Gu Ruyi had not gotten too close to her and she had bumped into him, she would not have been in such a hurry to ask the father to marry her. In the end, she would have been disgusted by him and made it impossible for her to marry him. Yan Yao'an would sometimes daydream about what kind of woman Xie Rong would marry in the future. Did he like Gu Ruyi? As she thought about it, she was swallowed up by jealousy.
If Gu Ruyi crashed Xie Zhen down today, and something happened to Xie Zhen and the child, Gu Ruyi would definitely be involved as well, right?
This way, based on the degree of care Xie Rong had for his two younger sisters, he wouldn't be able to marry her.
At that time, Yan Yao'an simply did not have time to think about it, and this idea passed by in a flash. Now that she had calmed down and looked at Xie Zhen's pale white face, guilt filled her heart.
How could she think that? Wasn't Xie Zhen her good sister?
How could she harm her for her own selfish sake?
Gu Ruyi and Xie Xun had gone down to pay their respects to Xie Zhen's situation, only she was standing hesitantly on the stairs. She didn't know whether to go up or down, and only felt that she didn't have the face to see them again.
Yan Yu seemed to have sensed something and turned to look up the stairs. The black cold eyes seemed to be able to see through everything, causing Yan Yao'an's limbs to turn cold, she almost thought that he had seen through his thoughts.
It was not a small thing that An Wang Fei was hit by someone and almost fell down from the stairs. To put it bluntly, someone had attempted to murder the wangfei and the son of the crown prince. They had ulterior motives and were vicious; to put it cruelly, they had accidentally failed to step on the princess' foot and had accidentally knocked over the An Wang Fei. to see what the An Wang wants to do with it.
Even the Empress Wang was startled. She hurriedly ordered the palace maidservant to call the imperial physician, to let her see if there was anything wrong.
Xie Zhen sat behind a round table on the first floor of the pavilion. Yan Yu was standing right beside her. She quietly grabbed his hand as she responded to their questions. Her fingers were cold. It could be seen that she was extremely frightened just now. Yan Yu took the initiative and wrapped her hand with his own to keep her warm.
Gu Ruyi felt extremely guilty, and kept blaming himself, "It's all my fault that I couldn't hold my ground. If An Wang didn't appear in time, the consequences would have been unthinkable …"
Xie Zhen also knew that she didn't do it on purpose, and told her not to blame herself too much, so she casually asked her about the situation at that time. Gu Ruyi said that she was hit by Chen Yingxue and fell forward unsteadily. As for Yan Yao'an not pulling her, she did not tell Xie Zhen. The matter was already messy enough, so there was no need to exaggerate any further. But, her disappointment with Yan Yao'an was real. Who would have thought that the friendship between the two of them for so many years would break so easily because of such a small matter?
After Xie Zhen heard this, she pondered for a moment, "Chen Yingxue fell, why did the servant maids beside her not help her?"
Gu Ruyi also felt that it was strange. Logically speaking, the servant maids should have been following her closely even in such a narrow staircase.
Unless they didn't want to…
Xie Zhen slowly tightened his grip on Yan Yu's hand, and said with a hint of anger: "It's my carelessness …."
Chen Yingxue had been rejected by Yan Yu to marry off in front of everyone, and she had refused to give him face. She harbored resentment in her heart, so she wanted to vent her anger on her? What good is it for her if something happens to her and her child? Does she think that she can marry into the An Wang's Mansion?
Xie Zhen never had a good impression of Chen Yingxue, and now, she was even more annoyed to the extreme. Forget about letting her marry An Wang, she even did not like to took a good look at her!
Xie Zhen turned her head to look at Yan Yu, her clear almond-shaped eyes blinked several times, looking pitiful. "Big Brother Xiao Yu, help me seek justice."
Actually, it was not that she could not resolve it herself, but she was pregnant now, and the doctor had said that she should not go overboard. Just in case, it would be safer to let Yan Yu do it.
Furthermore, Emperor Yuan Hui had just wanted to allow Chen Yingxue to be the side imperial concubine for Yan Yu, so if she came out to make things difficult for Chen Yingxue, it would be hard to say if their situation was real.
Yan Yu rubbed the top of her head, "Don't worry."
Even without her saying it, he would still decide for her.
When the rest of the ladies had come out, he waited outside for a while to see them. He wanted to go upstairs to take a look, but he didn't expect to see such a soul-stirring scene. He couldn't imagine what would have happened if he hadn't caught her in time. Of course, after he caught Xie Zhen, the guilt in Chen Yingxue's and Yan Yao'an's eyes did not escape him.
He got some people to call Chen Yingxue and Fellow Chen over, preparing to interrogate them in person.
The two of them quickly arrived in front of the body. Great Scholar Chen already knew what was going on, so he pulled his grandson to kneel down towards Yan Yu and Xie Zhen, "This humble servant was inexperienced, Ying Xue almost accidentally injured the princess and the little crown prince. Please don't be angry…." Before he could finish, he was already sweating profusely.
Chen Yingxue was also scared as she knelt on the ground with her head lowered, not daring to say a single word.
Yan Yu's cold eyes swept across the two of them, "Great Scholar Chen didn't ask why I called you two here. Why are you two apologizing so urgently?"
Chen Teng froze and looked up helplessly.
Yan Yu ignored him, his gaze shifting to Chen Yingxue, and slowly parted his lips. "According to father, the granddaughter of the Scholar Chen has learnt quite a bit about etiquette?"
Chen Yingxue softly replied, "Yes."
Right after he finished speaking, Yan Yu changed the topic and questioned coldly: "Then why can't you even walk a good path? If you can't walk, can you ask this king to find someone to teach you? "
Chen Yingxue trembled, his eyes were flustered and at a loss of what to do.
There were rules and regulations in the palace, and women with bad etiquette had to be sent back to the Hall of Rites to be rescheduled. Teach, where the rules are strict, female officials strict, often make people suffer unspeakably. The meaning behind Yan Yu's words was to send her to that place to learn etiquette. Although she was not a person from the palace, she had offended the An Wang Fei. As long as the An Wang said it, she could enter at any time.
Chen Teng quickly begged for mercy on behalf of his grandson's daughter, "I beg Your Highness, for the sake of serving His Majesty for so many years, please let me go … …" After begging for a long time, when she saw that Yan Yu was unmoved, she turned around to beg Xie Zhen again, "Princess, please spare Ying Xue this time … …"
Xie Zhen had originally wanted to scare Chen Yingxue and teach her a lesson. His objective had been achieved and seeing how pitiful Chen Teng's action of kneeling down and begging for help was, he made him stand up. He thought about it for a while and said sincerely, "It's not that you are heartless, but it's just that today was too dangerous. Even now, I am still a little afraid …" "Since you can't even make it to the next step, you must have some problems with Fellow Chen's teachings. From my point of view, you don't need to go to the Hall of Rites. Go home and let Lady Chen Si learn more about the rules."
Chen Teng let out a breath of relief and thanked her gratefully along with Chen Yingxue.
Tears flickered in Chen Yingxue's eyes. Even though she felt wronged, she couldn't say a single word.
After tonight, no one would dare to go to her house and propose marriage anymore. Not only had Emperor Yuan Hui changed hands on her two princes, she also had a bad reputation with etiquette. In the future, it would not be easy for her to make a comeback.
Before she left, she couldn't help but turn around and take another look at Xie Zhen. She was sitting on the embroidered pier, talking to Yan Yu with her head raised. Dependence and trust was written all over her face. On the other hand, An Wang changed his indifferent attitude towards the others. His eyes were warm and gentle, carrying a pampering look, as he listened attentively to her words.
Chen Yingxue suddenly felt a little envious.
With that kind of relationship, no matter what others did, they wouldn't be able to interfere, right?
A good feast had been interrupted midway. Everyone no longer had the interest to admire the flowers.
At the back of the pavilion, Gu Ruyi was talking with Yan Yao'an.
Behind him was the palace lamp, and beneath his feet were clusters of blooming epiphyllum flowers, blooming and shining with a pure white light. Gu Ruyi pulled away the servant maids, and also made Yan Yao'an suppress the palace maidservant. Only the two of them were left here.
Gu Ruyi took off her veil. With clear black eyes and a calm expression: "I always wear my veil in front of others. Yao An, you are the first person who made me take off my veil in front of outsiders."
Yan Yao'an did not look at her, she tilted her head and pretended to look at the Ephemeral Flowers at the side.
"I've always treated you as a sister. If there's anything I need to tell you, I'll tell you." Gu Ruyi spoke slowly, his voice was like clear water, slowly flowing out of his heart, "I dug out my heart and lungs from you, I thought you would do the same to me. You've never thought of me as a sister. Just because of a man, you want to have a falling out with me. "
Being talked about, Yan Yao'an was speechless.
She did fuss over a man, but she did treat her like a sister! Of course, that was on the premise that she did not interact with Xie Rong …
Gu Ruyi recalled the scene from a moment ago and felt a chill in his heart, "You can vent your anger on me, but you better not harm Xie Zhen because of this. She has your brother's child in her womb. That child should call you Auntie when she was born. "
Yan Yao'an was startled, and finally raised his head to meet her gaze.
Yes, that child was her nephew.
What had she been thinking?
Gu Ruyi had finished speaking. After his turn around his body left, she had not taken two steps when she stopped, "If I had known earlier that you loved Young Master Xie, I definitely would not have come into contact with him."
With that, she left without hesitation, leaving Yan Yao'an feeling extremely guilty.
Just as Gu Ruyi walked out of the pavilion, she saw Xie Rong walking out from the pavilion. He had probably just finished exploring Xie Zhen and was walking out. The two of them met at the entrance. Gu Ruyi thought about what she had just said to Yan Yao'an and subconsciously wanted to avoid him.
She didn't know what kind of expression she should have on her face, so she simply brushed past him.
Xie Rong greeted her out of courtesy: "Miss Gu …"
Before he could finish his words, she had already left.
Xie Rong was startled, he did not know how he had gotten into such a situation.