NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26: A Slap, Clear and Loud
Chapter 26: A Slap, Clear and Loud
Everyone was startled, “Prince Ming?”
They immediately knelt and bowed, “Greetings to Prince Ming.”
Qiao Nian also wanted to kneel, but Prince Ming stopped her.
Prince Ming narrowed his eyes, scanning the crowd. Without letting them rise, he instead took Qiao Nian’s hand in front of everyone, “From now on, I am her support. Whoever dares to speak disrespectfully to her is disrespecting me. Understood?”
For the past three years, Qiao Nian had always been the one kneeling to others. Even during the fifteen years when she was pampered in the Marquis’s mansion, she had never experienced everyone around her kneeling to her.
At this moment, standing beside Prince Ming, looking down at the well-dressed young masters and ladies around her, she felt no joy or sense of vindication.
Instead, it felt unreal.
And this sense of unreality made her anxious.
She wanted to withdraw her hand, but Prince Ming held it tightly. She struggled slightly twice, but in vain.
She didn’t dare make too big a movement, after all, Prince Ming’s appearance now was to support her. How could she publicly go against his face?
So she silently lowered her gaze.
This appearance, in the eyes of others, became her looking demure.
Xiao Qingnu, seeing Qiao Nian standing together with Prince Ming, felt a surge of displeasure for some reason. She disregarded etiquette and said to Prince Ming, “Your Highness, she’s just the lowborn offspring of a servant. How can she stand with someone of your noble status?”
Now everyone in the capital knew that Qiao Nian’s birth mother was once a midwife in the Marquis’s household, who had betrayed the family’s kindness and switched their child. She was truly base and vile!
How could a child born from such a person stand with someone as noble as a prince?
Xiao Qingnu was truly infuriated.
However, Prince Ming’s eyes darkened slightly, a hint of killing intent flashing in his usually gentle gaze, “It seems Miss Xiao didn’t hear me clearly just now. Someone, help clean Miss Xiao’s ears.”
At Prince Ming’s command, two attendants immediately stepped forward and lifted Xiao Qingnu up.
Xiao Qingnu was shocked, and Song Baixuan was also frightened. She hurriedly spoke up, “Your Highness, Miss Xiao was just speaking frankly without thinking. She meant no harm. Please show mercy!”
If she were really taken away to have her ears cleaned, she might come back deaf!
Qiao Nian also hadn’t expected the seemingly gentle Prince Ming to have such methods. Seeing that Xiao Qingnu was really about to be taken away, she finally tugged at Prince Ming’s sleeve.
Prince Ming was startled and turned his head to see the small hand gripping his sleeve.
Those five fingers looked like they had been nourished, but the marks of chilblains were still obvious.
Following that small hand, he saw Qiao Nian frowning, looking troubled, “Your Highness, today is a holy day. It’s better not to cause trouble in front of the Buddha.”
She wasn’t pleading for Xiao Qingnu, just saying it wasn’t good to cause trouble in a Buddhist place.
This sounded much better than Song Baixuan’s excuses about “speaking frankly.”
Prince Ming’s mood inexplicably improved greatly, so he smiled, “Nian Nian is indeed thoughtful. In that case, we’ll let it go today!”
As his words fell, the two attendants holding Xiao Qingnu finally released her.
Xiao Qingnu was already frightened to tears and collapsed to the ground.
Prince Ming’s eyes swept over the crowd before he spoke again, “I don’t like repeating myself. You’d better listen carefully and remember it well, otherwise… next time without the Buddha’s protection, you’ll have to fend for yourselves.”
After saying this, Prince Ming turned to Qiao Nian, “Let’s go in first.”
Prince Ming openly held Qiao Nian’s hand as they walked into the temple.
Qiao Nian regretted it a thousand times over.
She shouldn’t have come today.
The former Qiao Nian was as dazzling as a bright pearl, enjoying the pursuit of everyone’s gaze.
But now, Qiao Nian just wanted to stay quietly in a corner, preferably unnoticed by anyone.
Like now, it was too high-profile.
Moreover, although she had agreed to this marriage, it hadn’t yet received the Emperor’s approval. It was still far from certain.
They really shouldn’t be holding hands in public.
Fortunately, after entering the temple, Prince Ming met the abbot of Fahua Temple. When performing Buddhist rituals, he naturally let go of Qiao Nian’s hand.
Qiao Nian quickly withdrew her hand, secretly sighing in relief.
The abbot had come specially to welcome Prince Ming and was to give him a Buddhist lecture.
Prince Ming turned to Qiao Nian, “Wait for me outside. It will only take an hour. Later, I want to take you somewhere.”
Qiao Nian hadn’t planned to stay out long today, just intending to get a safety charm and return. So hearing Prince Ming’s words, she was stunned, but Prince Ming had already left without waiting for her reaction.
After Prince Ming’s figure disappeared from view, Ning Shuang behind her couldn’t help but step forward and ask softly, “Miss, how did Prince Ming know we were coming today?”
He even found a place and wants to take the young miss somewhere later!
Qiao Nian shook her head, “Perhaps because it’s the holy day, and most people in the capital would come.”
Qiao Nian thought, it couldn’t be that Lin Yuan had told Prince Ming, right?
Not dwelling on it further, Qiao Nian said to Ning Shuang, “Let’s go pray to Buddha and get a safety charm.”
With that, she led Ning Shuang inside.
Kneeling before the largest Guanyin statue in Fahua Temple, Qiao Nian clasped her hands together and prayed sincerely.
Unexpectedly, a voice that made her heart sink came from behind, “Sister, why did you come alone?”
It was Lin Yuan!
Qiao Nian was forced to open her eyes and saw Lin Yuan kneeling beside her.
But she wasn’t praying to Buddha, instead staring directly at Qiao Nian, “Didn’t we agree to come together? I waited for you at the mansion for a long time!”
Qiao Nian was truly exhausted. Just as she was about to speak, Xiao Qingnu’s voice came from behind, “If she had come with you, how could she play the pitiful one in front of Prince Ming?”
Qiao Nian turned around and saw that Xiao Qingnu wasn’t alone.
Besides Song Baixuan, there were two tall figures beside her.
One was Lin Ye, the other was Xiao Heng.
Qiao Nian regretted it once again.
If she had known everyone would be here today, she should have stayed in the mansion. Even being bored to death would have been better than seeing these people!
Lin Ye didn’t know what had happened and couldn’t help asking after hearing Xiao Qingnu’s words, “Playing pitiful?”
“Yes!” Xiao Qingnu glared fiercely at Qiao Nian, “Prince Ming said that from now on, he would be Qiao Nian’s support, and no one could disrespect Qiao Nian. Huh! I really didn’t expect Miss Qiao’s seduction skills to be so great! She even managed to seduce a prince!”
As Xiao Qingnu’s words fell, silence descended around them.
Everyone looked at Qiao Nian.
Even though Lin Ye and Lin Yuan knew what was really going on between her and Prince Ming, at this moment, when she was being slandered and insulted by Xiao Qingnu, they remained silent.
Fortunately, Qiao Nian was already used to their silence at crucial moments.
Ning Shuang beside her was about to speak up angrily, but Qiao Nian stopped her, “Ning Shuang, stand down.”
Ning Shuang had no choice but to swallow her anger and step back.
Then, Qiao Nian clasped her hands together, bowed to the Buddha, and then stood up, walking to Xiao Qingnu.
Relying on her brother’s presence today, Xiao Qingnu wasn’t afraid at all despite having been reprimanded by Prince Ming earlier. She raised her noble chin and raised an eyebrow at Qiao Nian, “What? Did I say something wrong?”
“Slap!”
A clear and loud slap rang out.