CWTGD Chapter 60 - Falling out

"Yue Niang!"

Seeing the Princess of Cheng walking out with Tang Ning without even looking back at him, the King of Cheng hurriedly bypassed the banquet table and grabbed her: “What are you doing? Are you really going to follow Gu Helian? Do you know who he is? He…”

“No matter who he is, he has never deceived me.”

“Yue Niang!!” The King of Cheng was both annoyed and angry.

The Princess of Cheng forcefully shook off his hand. What right did he have to be angry?

“Xie Tianyu, you should have known the consequences when you deceived me.”

“How many times do I have to say it? I didn’t mean to deceive you?!”

The King of Cheng stood still, feeling the gaze of everyone on him, his face extremely awkward.

“I’ve already explained to you; it was the Song family who deceived me. I was just afraid that after Tang Ning's trouble with the Song family, you would get implicated. I was only momentarily blinded by the Song family; that jade pendant was given to me by someone from the Song family, and I was thinking of Tang Ning.”

Seeing that the Princess of Cheng seemed not to hear him and turned to leave again, he angrily grabbed her wrist: “Rong Yue, are you even listening to me?!”

“We’ve been married for so many years, don’t you know how I’ve treated you? It was just a momentary mistake; why do you have to hold it against me?”

He spoke with great grievance: “Yes, I deceived you, but I still have the entire Cheng royal house and the whole clan behind me. You, for the sake of your sister's daughter, act recklessly, but I cannot. I have to think of everything to protect you. I was just momentarily confused and deceived by others; I never intended to harm Tang Ning. Are you really going to disregard our years of feelings over such a trivial matter…?”

“Slap!”

The Princess of Cheng endured and endured, until her eyes turned red and her heart ached, until her throat felt sick, and finally, she slapped the King of Cheng’s face, stunning him in place.

“Xie Tianyu, do you really think I’m a fool?”

“You say you were deceived, that you were momentarily confused by the Song family. Then let me ask you, who took away the household registration of Song Shulan from the Jingzhao Prefecture?”

The King of Cheng's face froze, and panic appeared in his eyes.

The Princess of Cheng looked at him, feeling extremely ridiculous: “I didn’t want to embarrass you, nor did I want to expose what you’ve done to show how absurd and shameless you are. But you insist on pushing your mistakes onto others and even falsely accusing me of being heartless.”

“I’ve given you countless chances. Even before the spring banquet, I asked you if there was anything you wanted to tell me, but what did you say?”

“Yue Niang…”

“Don’t call me that!”

The Princess of Cheng’s eyes were red: “We’ve been married for over a decade, and I’ve never deceived you. Yet you treat me like a fool, trying to use those absurd excuses to deceive your wife who shares your bed.”

“You say I’m petty; well, today I’m being petty. What can you do about it?”

“I hate your hypocrisy, despise your deception, and I’m disgusted that you can fabricate lies to help the Song family while pretending to be affectionate with me. Xie Tianyu, I really wonder if the person I’ve known all these years is really you.”

The Princess of Cheng suppressed her voice, her hands trembling in pain, but her face showed none of the usual shyness or warmth, instead filled with disdain and disgust.

She violently shook off the King of Cheng's hand and hoarsely said to Tang Ning: “Let’s go.”

She couldn’t stay in the Cheng royal house for another moment.

The guests at the banquet grew quieter as they looked at the huge palm print on the King of Cheng’s face. Gu Helian, noticing the Princess of Cheng’s pale face, showed a hint of malice.

He withdrew his previous joking demeanor, slowing his steps as he waited for the Princess of Cheng to approach before following her and Mu Feng closely, subtly adopting a protective stance.

Seeing the group about to leave, the matriarch of the Cheng royal house reacted, struggling to stand up.

“Stop them! Stop them for me!!”

She looked at the King of Cheng’s beaten face and the strange expressions of those around, her anger reaching its peak:

“Unfilial children, all unfilial! Do you think my Cheng royal house is a place where you can come and go as you please? Rong Yue, you shameless woman, how dare you hurt your husband? This is simply revolting!”

“Someone, stop them! Take the princess back to the rear courtyard!!”

Hearing the matriarch’s summons, people rushed forward to block the way. The Princess of Cheng saw those blocking her path and lowly ordered them to move aside, but they only looked at the King of Cheng.

The Princess of Cheng turned her gaze back to him: “Xie Tianyu, are you going to stop us?”

The King of Cheng avoided her gaze: “Yue Niang, you’re just angry now. I don’t want to argue with you. The matter of the Song Duke’s mansion isn’t that simple. If you go like this, you’ll cause trouble. Stay in the mansion to cool down, and I’ll explain to you later…”

“Xie Tianyu!” The Princess of Cheng ignored his explanation, angrily saying: “Are you going to tear your face with me?!”

The King of Cheng’s expression was extremely poor as he looked at the furious Rong Yue, feeling extremely troublesome.

He didn’t want to break his relationship with Rong Yue. He had genuine feelings for her after so many years of marriage, but he couldn’t let Song Tang Ning and the others leave, at least not right now.

The matter of the Song Duke’s mansion would be hard to conceal after today, but he needed time to deal with Song Hong. Otherwise, if they went out to recklessly confront the Song family, he would be entangled with the Song family and that rebellious Wang of the Yi clan.

Avoiding the Princess of Cheng’s gaze, the King of Cheng said to the hall: “Today’s hospitality was lacking; I apologize for the spectacle. There are matters in the mansion that require attention, so I cannot keep everyone here for long. If there is an opportunity in the future, I will host another banquet for everyone.”

Most of those who came to the banquet were officials and their female relatives, and naturally, none of them were foolish.

"Today’s incident has stirred up quite a commotion, and since the Prince has already expressed his desire to send everyone away, they naturally will not linger, each rising in understanding to take their leave.

“Since the Prince has family matters to attend to, we shall take our leave first.”

“We shall also take our leave.”

“Us too; please feel free, Prince.”

The Prince let out a sigh of relief, maintaining his composure: “Someone, please see our esteemed guests out of the manor.”

The guests exchanged a few polite words and began to follow the attendants of the Prince’s residence to leave. However, once the others had departed, a few remained in the flower hall.

Madam Lu and Lu Zhi Nian did not move, nor did the Song family remain in their place. Additionally, the Qian family women stayed beside Madam Wen Xin Hou, not having shifted at all. Not far away stood an elderly woman.

The Prince furrowed his brows and said in a low voice, “Madam Zhou, Madam Qian, and Madam Fu, I must attend to family matters; I hope you can be accommodating.”

The women all discerned the Prince's intent to dismiss them, yet they stood firm without any intention of leaving.

Madam Wen Xin Hou calmly said, “I am a close friend of Rong Yue; the Prince should be aware of that.”

Madam Qian impatiently twisted the arm of her little daughter, who was pulling on her to stop her from leaving. After giving her a glare, she looked up and said earnestly, “I also had some connection with the late Second Madam Song.”

As for Madam Fu, she was more straightforward in her speech than the previous two.

“I have no ties with anyone, yet I understand right from wrong. The fault in today’s affair does not lie with the Prince's wife or Miss Song. The Prince's earlier act of forging evidence and altering the records was already a mistake. Now, to forcefully detain them, if this gets out, it will only invite criticism, making it seem like the Prince is guilty about his dealings with the Song family.”

“I may not be of high status, but I pity Miss Song for encountering such an unjust situation. I ask the Prince to let them go. Otherwise, my elder brother will certainly report to the court tomorrow, claiming you are abusing your power to oppress local officials, showing favoritism and indulging in villainy, unworthy of the royal status within the clan.”

By the way, Madam Fu’s maiden name is Cao.

That Cao, the one related to the Grand Historian Cao Dejiang.

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[You can read ahead to chapterr 111 here]

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