Chapter 2425: Childhood Sweethearts
Long Rui frowned, "Really?"
Gu Lingqiao playfully replied, "Of course it’s true, does Brother Rui not believe Lingling?"
At this moment, the steward returned after sending off the shopkeeper.
Long Rui’s face darkened as he said, "Steward, do you realize your mistake?"
The sudden question from the Prince startled the steward. He had no idea what had happened, and being scolded by the Prince made his legs weak. He immediately knelt down with a thud, "Forgive me, Your Highness, it is a crime punishable by death."
"Oh, you know what you did wrong?" The steward indeed had a guilty conscience, and Lingling hadn’t wronged him. Long Rui looked at him with some anger.
The steward, kneeling, just kept bowing his head, not hearing what the Prince said at all.
Long Rui: "Miss Gu is a guest. As the steward, you should have ensured she was well entertained on my behalf. The dishes weren’t even cooked, how could you let her eat them!"
The steward finally understood clearly. He raised his head in bewilderment and asked Long Rui, "Your Highness, what are you talking about?"
Long Rui glared at him fiercely, "You still have the nerve to talk. The dishes weren’t even cooked before you served them to Miss Gu. If she hadn’t told me, I’d still be kept in the dark!"
The steward obviously still didn’t understand Long Rui’s meaning, "What? What’s not cooked?"
Beside them, Gu Lingqiao, fearing her lie would be exposed, immediately scolded the steward, "You damned servant, trying to deceive the Prince? You were serving this young lady duck heads every day, know your mistake now?"
Still daring to oppose him, does he not realize the Prince and she are childhood sweethearts? Now he knows his mistake, surely? Gu Lingqiao looked at the steward with some smugness.
The steward, bewildered by the scolding, looked up at the Prince with some fear, asking, "Your Highness, wasn’t it you who instructed me to prepare a dish of duck heads for Miss Gu every day?"
Long Rui: "I did say that, it’s a dish Lingling likes. Steward, what kind of cook did you hire? Half-cooked dishes, how can they come out like this?"
The steward grew more confused, looking at the Prince, then at Miss Gu, baffled, asking, "What wasn’t cooked?"
With a guilty conscience, Gu Lingqiao immediately added, "You damned servant, don’t try to deny it. When Brother Rui wasn’t at the mansion, you bullied me on purpose, serving uncooked dishes. Otherwise, how could the aromatic duck heads be something I wouldn’t eat?"
Only then did the steward understand what was going on: the Prince and Miss Gu were childhood sweethearts, always siding with her. He had no other words: "This... this...."
Gu Lingqiao: "What’s all this? Are you saying I accused you wrongly?"
In a panic, the steward dumbly nodded his head once.
Gu Lingqiao was not pleased and addressed the servants nearby, "You all saw with your own eyes the steward bringing the dishes over, you have the most say. Now tell me, did I falsely accuse him?"
Gu Lingqiao’s sharp gaze scrutinized them.
The servants, under pressure, nodded one after another.
Gu Lingqiao, triumphant, shook Long Rui’s arm, saying, "Brother Rui, look, I didn’t falsely accuse him, did I? This was his chance when you were away to mistreat Lingling."
This wretched girl is magnificent at turning black to white, the steward seethed with fury in his heart. Though she’s the Prince’s childhood sweetheart, there’s nothing he can do about her.
"Oh my, why’s it so lively this early in the morning?" Xuexue, dressed in a white gown, without a trace of makeup, was stunningly beautiful with every frown and smile.
Jealousy flared within Gu Lingqiao as she looked at her. She spent an hour or two daily doing her makeup but couldn’t match even a fraction of Xuexue’s beauty. Unconsciously, she touched her cheek. The scar from where the little wench threw her into the flowerbed hadn’t healed. Even with a thick layer of powder, it was still visibly clear.
Misjudging Long Rui’s emotional intelligence this time was her mistake, and now she could only suffer in silence.