Chapter 62 He Must Take Responsibility

Shen Xiangjun relaxed slightly.

What Princess Changning said was certainly correct.

The Empress Dowager would never agree to this match. It was just that during the period of great mourning, the Empress Dowager had no time to manage this matter yet, and the engagement would be broken off sooner or later.

However, making Lu Zhaoling give up sooner rather than later was the best possible outcome. After all, as long as Lu Zhaoling held the title of "future Princess Jin," she would suffer and ache every single day.

How could a bumpkin from some rural village have her name placed alongside Prince Jin!

"Well, Princess, to be honest with you, my parents also know that she is reaching too high by aiming for Prince Jin, but both of them find her hard to discipline," Lu Zhaoyun said with a troubled expression, before pulling at Lu Zhaoling's sleeve. "Second Sister, since the Princess is giving you the same guidance now, you should just be obedient."

Lu Zhaoling had remained silent until now precisely because she wanted to gauge the level of Princess Changning and Shen Xiangjun.

Yet, having seen it now, she felt a slight disappointment.

Were these supposed to be a Princess and the daughters of high-ranking officials in the capital?

She spoke in a flat tone, "Me, break off the engagement? Would Prince Jin accept that? With all his dignity as a Prince, he would actually be persuaded by a little country girl to call off the engagement? What if he feels he has lost face?"

Since a single sentence could choke them to death, Lu Zhaoling couldn't be bothered to say more.

As soon as these words fell, the expressions of those few naturally shifted.

Princess Changning also bit her lower lip and looked at Shen Xiangjun.

What she said wasn't wrong either. Prince Jin had personally begged for the imperial decree granting the marriage; how could he possibly accept Lu Zhaoling calling it off?

An image of Prince Jin’s peerlessly cold and handsome visage surfaced in Shen Xiangjun’s mind, and her heart twitched with fresh pain.

"Then you should go and kneel at the gates of Prince Jin's Mansion," Princess Changning thought of an idea. "You should kneel and plead with Prince Jin, saying that you are of humble birth, devoid of talent or virtue, and lacking in purity, making you unworthy of him and unequal to the post of Princess Jin, and beg him to break off the engagement!"

Lu Zhaoyun's eyes lit up, and she immediately chimed in, "The Princess's idea is wonderful!"

Gu Qing's expression changed entirely upon hearing this.

Everyone else had distanced themselves far from Lu Zhaoling, terrified of being implicated by her, leaving only Gu Qing standing by her side.

Hearing the Princess say this, she was genuinely afraid that Lu Zhaoling would foolishly agree, so she immediately reached behind Lu Zhaoling to poke her while flashing frantic hand signals.

She absolutely must not agree!

If she really went to do and say such things, her reputation would be utterly ruined, and it would spread across the entire capital!

Yet Lu Zhaoling did not look at her, leaving Gu Qing blinking her almond-shaped eyes until they felt close to cramping.

She was frantic with worry.

"Where did the Princess hear that I lack purity?" Lu Zhaoling smiled slightly. "Though, I suppose there is a tiny lack of purity, since Prince Jin and I rode in the same carriage, and he even embraced me. Is that the kind of lack of purity you mean?"

Shen Xiangjun violently dug her fingernails into her palms, jealousy creeping into her heart and making the pain throb numbly.

He had embraced her! Embraced her!

The others also widened their eyes in disbelief at what their ears had just heard.

Besides, how could this Lu Zhaoling be so utterly shameless to utter such words aloud!

Gu Qing also stared blankly at Lu Zhaoling, thinking to herself, *Goodness me, this older sister is truly ferocious.*

"Second Sister, how can you say such things! Even if you don't care about your own shame, you must consider the face of the Lu family!" Lu Zhaoyun cried out.

Lu Zhaoling spread her hands. "I am speaking the truth. Therefore, unless Prince Jin is a scoundrel and a scum, shouldn't he take responsibility for me?"

A scoundrel and a scum...

"You are spouting nonsense! Prince Jin could never do such a thing!" Shen Xiangjun could no longer hold back, refuting in a cold voice.

Prince Jin had always been so aloof toward her, not even brushing against the hem of her garment, so how could he possibly have embraced Lu Zhaoling?

"Many people on the street saw it that day, didn't you all inquire about it?" Lu Zhaoling raised an eyebrow. "Is the purpose of today's gathering among you ladies to interfere with Prince Jin's marriage? Are everyone present elders of Prince Jin? Are you in such a rush to reject the Emperor's imperial decree of marriage?"

*Hiss.*

The expressions of all the young ladies shifted instantly.

They had already experienced Lu Zhaoling’s sharp tongue and her readiness to say anything! Originally intending merely to watch a good show, they were now all dragged into the matter by a single sentence from Lu Zhaoling, and none of them dared to acknowledge it!

If it were spread abroad that they were interfering with Prince Jin's marriage and rejecting an imperial decree, would Prince Jin ever spare them?

Thus, one by one, they hurriedly raised their voices to distance themselves.

"We didn't say anything!"

"Who is rejecting the imperial decree? Stop talking nonsense!"

Princess Changning was burning with rage and opened her mouth to retort further, but Shen Xiangjun caught her hand, signaling her with her eyes not to speak another word.

She and the Princess held the highest status here. If these matters truly leaked out, Prince Jin would surely assume that the two of them were orchestrating interference in his marriage.

Prince Jin would indeed fly into a rage.

Continuing this farce would only work against her.

Since Shen Xiangjun stopped her, Princess Changning could only bitterly suppress her anger and take a deep breath.

"Today, this Princess invited you all here so we could copy Buddhist scriptures together. Afterward, I will send them into the palace to be presented to the Empress Dowager. This is also our expression of utmost sincerity toward the late Emperor and Great Zhou, so everyone must copy these scriptures diligently and wholeheartedly today!"

Her original plan had not been to confront Lu Zhaoling so directly, but who would have expected to be so infuriated by her as to nearly lose control.

Princess Changning loathed Lu Zhaoling even more now.

The young ladies did not dare to say any more on the matter either; they responded one after another and dispersed to make their preparations.

Princess Changning looked around. "Where is Lianxin?"

Lu Zhaoyun opened her mouth. "Princess, Elder Sister He felt unwell earlier and went back first."

The servants of the Princess's Mansion hadn't had the chance yet to report this matter to her.

Lu Zhaoyun also knew it was improper to bring up He Lianxin right now—did she want to force the Princess to continue bickering with Lu Zhaoling?

Now that Lu Zhaoling had thrown Prince Jin into the mix, she had truly managed to suppress them all!

Because reckoning by relation, Princess Changning still had to address Prince Jin as her uncle!

They could talk about He Lianxin after this was over.

"Zhaohua, you take Zhaoling to look around first. There are scriptures over there; pick one later and copy it properly!" Lu Zhaoyun said to Lu Zhaohua.

Lu Zhaohua truly did not want to get too close to Lu Zhaoling, but she dared not disobey, so she could only agree.

"Seeing you makes this Princess's head ache! Go wander over there and stop swaying before my eyes!" Princess Changning pointed toward the lakeside, signaling Lu Zhaohua to take her away.

"Second Sister, let's walk this way." Lu Zhaohua looked at Lu Zhaoling with a hint of a pleading expression.

Lu Zhaoling glanced toward the lakeside and raised no objections.

She began walking in that direction. "I'll go by myself, you don't need to follow."

Lu Zhaohua was more than happy to oblige. "Second Sister, then I'll go pick out the scriptures first, and I'll grind the ink for you later!"

A vague intuition in her heart told her that something else was waiting for Lu Zhaoling, and if she stayed by her side, she might well be implicated. She certainly wasn't going to do that.

Seeing Lu Zhaoling genuinely heading toward the lakeside, Princess Changning and the others exchanged a glance and left her be.

They genuinely had scriptures to copy and could not focus entirely on Lu Zhaoling.

The young ladies began spreading out paper, having their maidservants grind ink, and preparing to copy the scriptures.

Lu Zhaoling walked alone along the path beside the rockery, heading toward the lakeside.