The most dissolute couple in the capital

Granny He straightened her clothes and led the two terrified nannies behind her to kneel down respectfully.

"This servant, He, greets Your Highness, Prince Liang. May Your Highness be well."

Only then did Granny Zhou and Granny Sun realize what had happened, and hurriedly knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly: "This servant greets Your Highness, Prince Liang!"

Cui Qinghui's mind went blank. This was the Prince of Liang?

Li Chengjing's gaze swept over the people kneeling on the ground, finally landing on Cui Qinghui's face, and he tilted his head.

"Who is this?" he asked Cui Qingyi.

Cui Qingyi replied calmly, "Your Highness, this is my younger sister, Cui Qinghui."

"Oh—" Li Chengjing drawled, looked her up and down, and chuckled.

Cui Qinghui's face flushed red, her fingers clenched tightly around the hem of her skirt, her knuckles turning white.

Just as the atmosphere in the garden froze like ice, a series of hurried footsteps approached from afar.

"Qinghui! What are you doing here!"

The person arrived before the voice.

Li Shi, supported by her maid, hurriedly passed through the moon gate and saw this scene as soon as she entered: three old women were kneeling on the ground, and her youngest daughter, Cui Qinghui, stood aside in a daze, her face whiter than the wall.

In the center of the garden, a man dressed in a short brown robe sat casually, fanning himself with a fan.

Li spotted the token at a glance.

It is the King of Liang.

Li's mind raced, and almost instantly she pieced together the whole story—what her youngest daughter saw, went to fetch the nanny, and caused this commotion. Good heavens, what an idiot!

She strode forward, raised her hand, and slapped Cui Qinghui on the back of the head, her voice low and harsh: "Kneel down!"

Before Cui Qinghui could react, his knees buckled and he knelt on the ground.

Only then did Madam Li straighten her clothes, turn around and curtsy to Li Chengjing, her face now showing a worried and conflicted expression.

"Your Majesty, I, Cui Li, pay my respects." She first gave a respectful greeting, not even glancing at her daughter on the ground, her tone full of a mother's earnestness and remorse, "My daughter is ignorant and has offended Your Highness. I will certainly discipline her strictly when I return."

She paused, sighed, and seemed to have considered it for a long time before speaking.

"But... Your Highness, there's something I'm unsure whether I should say."

Li Chengjing draped his fan over his shoulder and looked at her with a smile: "Madam Cui, please speak."

"Your marriage to Qingyi is a gift from His Majesty, a tremendous blessing for the Cui family," Madam Li said sincerely, her gaze gentle. "But precisely because of this, we must be all the more cautious. The wedding is approaching, and you two are not yet officially married. If word gets out that you are meeting in private like this, outsiders, unaware of the true situation, will only say that Qingyi has not upheld proper conduct, which would be extremely inappropriate for her reputation and for the honor of the Cui family."

As she spoke, she lowered her head again, as if she found it difficult to say what followed: "Besides... Your Highness, a prince of such high status, coming incognito to a subject's private quarters, if the censors were to hear of it, it would likely damage Your Highness's reputation..."

It's impressive that a master could devise a way to quell the matter in such a short time.

Look at the Li family, and then look at Cui Qinghui.

In my past life, I never thought this younger sister could cause so much trouble. She was too naive, having been pampered by her biological mother.

What a pity for the Li family.

The person you met today isn't buying into that.

After hearing this, Li Chengjing not only didn't take the opportunity to back down, but instead laughed out loud, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

He lazily stood up from the stone bench, closed his fan, and pointed at Cui Qinghui, who was kneeling on the ground.

"Madam Cui's words sound so sweet, I almost believed them." He tilted his head, the smile in his peach blossom eyes turning cold. "But there's one thing I don't understand—if the Second Miss was truly 'worried about her sister's reputation,' and stumbled upon this matter, wouldn't her first action be to cover it up and secretly come to you, her mother, wouldn't it?"

Li's smile froze for a moment.

"But she didn't." Li Chengjing took a step forward, tapping his fan lightly in his palm. His tone was light, yet every word was piercing. "She went to fetch Granny He. Who is Granny He? A governess from the palace. She barged in with three other governesses, and Madam Cui thought—was this an attempt to 'make a mountain out of a molehill'?"

He stopped and looked down at Cui Qinghui on the ground, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"This is clearly meant to solidify the charge, making it impossible for my sister to clear her name even if she jumps into the Yellow River. She'll be happy if the governess catches them in the act, making it known throughout the entire household, and ideally, even reaching the palace to ruin the marriage."

Cui Qinghui trembled all over, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"Your Highness..." Madam Li's face was also extremely ugly, but as the matriarch of the household, she still wanted to say something.

Li Chengjing didn't give her a chance to speak at all.

"As for Madam Cui saying I shouldn't have come—" He unfolded his fan with a "whoosh," strode back to Cui Qingyi's side, and in front of everyone, plopped down on the stone bench next to her, crossed his legs, and smiled broadly.

"So what if I'm here?"

He raised his chin and pointed to the sky with his fan.

"Is Madam Cui going to the Dali Temple to accuse me of climbing over the wall? Or is she going to the Censorate to impeach me for misconduct? Whatever." He fanned himself with one hand, while the other brazenly rested on the stone table behind Cui Qingyi, his posture extremely arrogant. "My brother personally bestowed this marriage upon me. I haven't killed anyone, nor have I set any fires. The maids in the backyard are also present, behaving with propriety and humility. Whom have I offended?"

Su Xin tries her best to minimize her presence.

King Liang, you haven't mentioned the location of this incident at all!

Don't you have any manners? I saw you touch my lady's hand!

Li was speechless, her face flushed red. She dared not offend Prince Liang, much less take the matter to the palace—otherwise, the Cui family, not Prince Liang, would be the ones to suffer.

While the King of Liang was certainly wrong in this matter, even if he were impeached, it would surely be a case of raising a high issue only to let it go lightly.

Finesing someone from their salary is nothing. Look at King Liang, is he someone who lacks a salary?

Moreover, offending the King of Liang...

In the end, she could only grit her teeth and force out a smile that looked worse than crying.

"Your Highness is right... I was overthinking it."

Li Chengjing nodded in satisfaction, reverting to his usual carefree and playful demeanor, and waved to Madam Li, "Madam Cui, there's no need to be so polite. We're all family."

After saying this, he glanced magnanimously at Cui Qinghui on the ground, and said casually, "Second Miss, get up too, the ground is cold. Next time you 'care' about your sister, remember to find out the situation first."

Cui Qinghui bit her lip, her nails digging into her palms, and she didn't dare to utter a single word in response.