Chapter 26.1

On seeing Zhou Muyan rush up all of a sudden, everyone was shocked.

There was a flight flicker in Tao Ti’s eyes, and she reflexively raised her hand to block her——

A clear smack suddenly rang out.

“Ahhhhhh—!” A scream of pain rang out immediately afterwards.

Tao Te’s left hand was pressed against Zhou Muyan’s right arm, while her other hand held her wrist and twisted it backwards. Zhou Muyan’s entire body was hunched over and firmly restrained by Tao Te, unable to move. She looked really wretched.

The crowd was dumbfounded. What just happened?! How did Maiden Zhou get restrained all of a sudden?

Zhou Muyan felt like her wrist was about to break. Also, this posture was really humiliating. Her eyes shone with tears and she glared angrily at Tao Ti, “You bitch, let go!”

“Go on, curse some more.” Tao Ti increased her strength.

“Ahhhhh, it hurts!”

“So, you know pain, but you think I don’t? You can hit me, but I can’t hit you—what kind of logic is that?” Tao Te snickered.

“Who are you to compare yourself with me? Let go of me right now! Do you hear me?!” Zhou Muyan struggled to turn her head. On seeing that Tao Te still did not move, she could only yell at Cui Xi, “Why are you still standing there?! Hurry up and pull her away from me!”

“Y-y-y-you… Hurry up and let go of my lady! Otherwise, we won’t spare you! ”

Cui Xi wanted to protect her mistress, but she had seen with her own eyes how this woman twisted her mistress like a braid in a matter of seconds. If she stepped up, she would definitely not end up any better.

She shrank back timidly and shouted with false bravado, “My lady, hold on for a little longer, this servant will go call for help right away.”

Tao Te laughed, “Call for help? Go on! Anyway, if this blows up, your lady’s ‘glorious’ deeds of bullying and beating people in public will spread, and it will be the Left Grand Councillor’s household that will be disgraced!”

After a pause, her gaze swept the crowd present and she said righteously, “All of you have seen it just now—she was the one who provoked me first and wanted to hit me. Even if we go to court, my actions are justified!”

As soon as she finished speaking, a beautiful maiden in a lotus-coloured dress stepped forward, nodded politely to Tao Te, and said softly, “If you need a witness, I am willing to testify for you.”

Most of the customers of Heavenly Brocade court were ladies of noble families. Although some of them were afraid to speak out due to the authority of the Left Grand Councillor, most of them were reasonable. On seeing that someone had spoken up, the rest of them also followed suit.

“Yes, we all saw it too. It’s the young lady of the Left Grand Councillor’s residence who started it.”

“That’s right. How can such an unreasonable thing happen in broad daylight? Everything is a matter of first come first served—it was clearly this madam who first took a fancy to this brocade. Because you failed to snatch it, you got so angry and tried to hit her—it’s too much!”

“Sigh, I thought the noble ladies in Chang’an were all educated and reasonable, and never imagined that there would be such an overbearing and unreasonable young lady. To put it bluntly, how is her behaviour different from that of a mountain bandit?”

Hearing these words, Zhou Muyan’s face turned scarlet. It wasn’t clear if it was because of the pain of having her wrist twisted, or from shame and anger.

Her gaze swept across those who had spoken out. Then, she glared fiercely at the maiden in the lotus-coloured dress who had first spoken out. “Song Yuning, what does this have to do with you?!”

The maiden called Song Yuning was none other than the granddaughter of Grand Mentor Song, the eldest young lady of the Song family.

Seeing Zhou Muyan’s grudging look, Song Yuning’s face was calm. There was no fear in her eyes, but she stayed silent.

Tao Te looked at her gratefully, “Young lady, thank you very much.”

Song Yuning gave a light smile. “You’re welcome. She was the one who was rude in the first place.”

Zhou Muyan was really angry now. Her hand was still being twisted at this moment, but these two people were just chatting among themselves?

She gritted her teeth and looked at Tao Te, and her voice was a bit hysterical, “What the hell do you want before you’ll let go?!”

“Apologise.”

“No way!” Zhou Muyan blurted almost instantly. “You want me to apologise to you ? Who do you think you a… Ahhhhhh, ouch, ouch… I apologise, I apologise…”

Tao Te thought this Zhou Muyan really was rather interesting. She loosened her grip a little, “Go on.”

Zhou Muyan’s face was full of reluctance. She thought inwardly, It’s not too late to settle accounts with this bitch after I get away. She suppressed her anger and said bitterly, “It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have tried to snatch the brocade from you, and I shouldn’t have tried to hit you. Please forgive me. ”

“Is that all?”

“What else do you want?!”

Tao Ti raised her brows. In the first place, she wasn’t expecting this overbearing lady to say anything good, so although the apology wasn’t very sincere, it was still an apology… She would just reluctantly accept it.

After all, she came out of the palace to have fun—it wouldn’t be good if things blew up.

“Don’t be so arrogant in the future. Otherwise, you’ll incur a beating easily,” said Tao Te flatly as she let go of Zhou Muyan’s hand.

Suddenly freed from the shackles, Zhou Muyan hurriedly rubbed her wrist which was on the verge of breaking. The intense pain from her wrist bone almost made her burst into tears.

Seeing her teary-eyed, pitiful look, the corners of Tao Ti’s lips twitched, but she paid her no mind and just gave Linglong a look, indicating that they will pay the bill and leave.

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