"Have you finished talking?" Murong Qiqi's voice became unusually cold, and Su Mei and Su Yue, who were familiar with her, understood that this was a sign of their young lady getting angry.
"Oh, am I not allowed to speak? Everyone in the Capital City knows that Miss Murong the Third is not good at martial arts or literature, are you afraid of people talking about it? You are so dull. Even the people around you are as dumb as you!"
Feicui did not notice the chilling atmosphere around her, and in the end, even scolded Su Mei and Su Yue, who were by Murong Qiqi's side. Murong Qiqi coldly said, "Slap her!"
Before Feicui could understand, Su Mei had already flashed in front of her, slapping her face left and right with two resounding strikes.
These days, Su Mei had been quite stifled, seeing Feicui "bullying" their young lady like this made her impatient to retaliate. As soon as Murong Qiqi gave the order, Su Mei rushed over with such speed that Feicui could not dodge in time.
Su Mei was a martial artist, so her slaps were quite powerful. Just two of them left Feicui dazed, seeing stars, and blood flowing from her nose.
When Feicui was able to stand steady, she saw Su Mei smiling and wiped her nose, her hand covered in warm blood. She shrieked, "You! How dare you hit me!"
"So what if I hit you? I slapped you for being such a good-for-nothing!" Su Mei raised her eyes, flexing her wrist. "You don't know your place, daring to bully our young lady like this! You got off lightly with a slap!"
"Ah, I will fight you!"
Feicui, who had never been humiliated like this, saw Murong Qiqi's maid act so high and mighty and a wave of anger surged through her. She lowered her head and charged at Su Mei.
Before she could reach Su Mei, Su Yue, who was standing on the side, lifted her leg and kicked Feicui's chest, sending her flying.
"Bang—" Feicui's head collided with a rockery, not sure if it was Su Yue's intention or Feicui's bad luck. She felt dizzy and her hand covered in blood after touching her head. Feicui cried out loudly.
"Help! Murder! Someone come! The Third Young Lady is trying to kill someone!"
Feicui's loud cries quickly attracted a crowd of onlookers, and Murong Xinlian rushed over when she heard the news.
"Feicui, what happened to you?" When she saw Feicui's swollen face covered in bloodstains, Murong Xinlian could barely recognize her. If it weren't for the clothes Feicui was wearing, Murong Xinlian would never have guessed this person was Feicui!
"Wuu wuu wuu, Second Sister, you have to speak up for this servant! I personally brought your invitation to the Third Young Lady, but she ordered someone to hit me without saying a word. I came with good intentions, only to be beaten like this. The Third Young Lady even said she wanted to kill me! Second Sister, you must save me!"
Feicui was an expert at twisting the truth. Having suffered at Murong Qiqi's hands today, she could not swallow her anger. As Murong Xinlian was present, it seemed better to escalate the situation. After all, Murong Qiqi's reputation was already rotten, one more accusation wouldn't change much.
After listening to Feicui's words, Murong Xinlian was puzzled. Wasn't Murong Qiqi always weak and incompetent? When did her courage become so great? But Feicui's expression did not seem to be lying, and the injuries on her face were indeed real. It seemed that something must have happened.
"Third Younger Sister, is what Feicui said true? Did you really hit her? I asked her to invite you to enjoy the moonlight tonight. Even if you didn't want to go, there was no need to take your anger out on a maid! What did Feicui do wrong that you had to be so cruel to her?"
Murong Xinlian's reputation in Murong Manor had always been good, beautiful and even more amiable than Murong Qinglian. She had no airs of a young lady, so everyone liked this Second Sister.
This time, when they heard that Murong Xinlian said Murong Qiqi had indiscriminately beaten Feicui, they began to discuss and criticize the Third Young Lady.
Murong Qiqi couldn't help but clap her hands in her heart, thinking Xinlian was indeed talented in playing the victim. She seemed to have the hearts of the people in the manor, as everyone was on her side.
"Second Sister, it's not like that..." Murong Qiqi timidly began, "It was Feicui who said I was a useless person, not deserving to enjoy the moon with the Second Sister. She also called me an ugly duckling, and said that Second Sister is a white swan, and that I was not even worthy to carry your shoes!"
The moment Murong Qiqi said this, Murong Xinlian was stunned. Knowing what kind of person Feicui was, she somewhat believed that she had said those things, as she had spoken like that to Feicui in the past.
"She even pressured me to give the position of Princess Jing to the Second Sister. She said that only a beauty like Second Sister was worthy to stand beside King Jing, that you two are a match made in heaven. As for me, I am nothing but an incompetent waste, and it would be better for me to leave early and not hinder your blossoming relationship!"
Murong Qiqi sobbed softly, her small shoulders trembling. Her watery eyes made her look especially pitiful. Those who had just criticized Murong Qiqi began to change their gazes on Murong Xinlian and Feicui after hearing her words.
"I thought that since Second Sister has always been so kind, she couldn't have raised such a servant who would tarnish her reputation, so I scolded her. But then, she slapped her own face twice and hit her head on a rock, which led to what you saw..."
"You're lying! She's the one who hit me! Don't believe her!" Seeing that Murong Qiqi was even better at spinning tales than her, Feicui jumped out in a panic. "If I slapped myself, how could the marks be like this? Don't listen to her nonsense!"
Feicui's words drew everyone's gaze to her face. Seeing that everyone believed her, Feicui purposely raised her face high to show off the slap marks on her cheek.
Her fair complexion made the bright red marks vividly clear. However, the two marks on her face were clearly thumbs-down, obviously self-inflicted. At that moment, the onlookers began to believe Murong Qiqi's account.
"It seems that the Third Young Lady was telling the truth! I didn't expect Feicui to be that kind of person! The Third Young Lady is already unfortunate enough, yet Feicui is still framing her!"