Marrying the Crown Prince

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'go get treatment' if you have a mouth ailment?" Zhou Zhou scoffed coldly, his sarcasm clear.

They didn't understand anything else, but Zhou Zhou's sarcasm was off the charts, so, "Why waste words with her? This kind of person deserves a beating!"

"Hit her!"

They swarmed forward, and Zhou Zhou, not to be outdone, pounced on the leader, biting her with her mouth and grabbing her hair, pulling it, and pinching her waist if she couldn't pull it.

The little girl immediately burst into tears, which caught the attention of Zhou Rong, who was admiring the flowers in the distance.

Originally intending only to call the nanny over, she noticed that the person surrounded was Zhou Zhou, and Zhou Rong appeared without hesitation.

Zhou Rong has always been gentle and mild-mannered, so she doesn't fight as fiercely as Zhou Zhou, but she has the advantage of being older and stronger.

Two Zhou family girls were fighting against seven or eight little brats, making quite a ruckus.

When the adults in the main hall appeared, both sides had bruises on their bodies and faces.

"They hit me and cursed at me." The little girl immediately pulled the princess aside to complain.

Her daughter's hair was disheveled, and her face was covered in something black, with snot and tears streaming down her face.

The Princess Consort's anger flared instantly, her eyes turning icy as she glared at Zhou Zhou and Zhou Rong, "Whose children are these, so rude!"

Zhou Rong shielded Zhou Zhou behind her, pretending to be an adult even though she was still a child herself, and firmly retorted, "Princess Consort, it is unfair to draw conclusions based on only one side of the story?"

Behind her, Zhou Zhou could clearly see Zhou Rong's hands trembling slightly behind her back—she was afraid, but still stood in front of him without hesitation.

“Princess Consort,” Old Madam Zhou stepped forward, “is a child of my Yongjing Marquis’s household. I wonder if the Princess Consort has any opinions to say to this old lady?”

Even if the Yongjing Marquis's mansion is outwardly strong but inwardly weak, they would not stand idly by when their own juniors were bullied!

Old Madam Zhou was, after all, a Lady of Imperial Decree. Even though the Princess Consort of the County hated her to the core, she did not order the servants to take action. However, her words were unkind and disgusting. "I heard that the Fifth Madam of the Yongjing Marquis's Mansion died young. No wonder her family upbringing is like this."

Zhou Zhou, who had been obediently hiding behind others, suddenly raised his head upon hearing this, his eyes filled with fierceness, like a snake flicking its tongue.

The Princess Consort's eyes met hers, and she felt a chill run down her spine. Before she could look at her properly again, Zhou Zhou had already lowered her head.

The princess consort comforted herself: I'm so angry I've lost my mind, I can't believe I misread this.

In the end, it was the Duchess of Dingguo who stepped forward and smoothed things over.

With 100,000 troops guarding the border, who could refuse to give face to the wife of the Duke of Dingguo?

"The Princess Consort just said that my child has no mother," Old Madam Zhou said, displeased. Even though the Duchess of Qi had spoken before her, she still chose to retort, "but she doesn't know that what is more tragic in this world is raising children without teaching them."

After saying that, Old Mrs. Zhou took Zhou Zhou's hand, led Zhou Rong away, and turned to leave.

"You!" The Princess Consort was about to reprimand her, but she met the smiling eyes of the Duchess of Dingguo.

As the recollection ended, Zhou Zhou couldn't help but chuckle—putting everything else aside, he was indeed quite sarcastic back then.

If you ask her if she holds a grudge, she does to some extent. However, since then, the Yongjing Marquis's Mansion and the Wuxing County Prince's Mansion have had no further contact, and Zhou Zhou has very few opportunities to run into that little county princess.

The two women met again four years later at a palace banquet.

At that time, Zhou Zhou was a member of Consort Mei's family and a companion to the Seventh Princess, while she was the daughter of a prince who was not favored by the emperor and had no real power.

The young county princess had forgotten what happened many years ago and did not remember Zhou Zhou. She continued to flatter Li Zixi and talk to her.

Unfortunately, Li Zixi, who grew up in the palace, was used to sycophants. She didn't listen to her say more than a few words before pulling Zhou Zhou away.

Zhou Zhou looked back at the lonely county magistrate and once again felt the benefits of holding power.

Just as they were lost in thought, Zhou Zhou and Si Zhu ran into Zhou Rong and Le Lan. Their hair was a little messy, and their clothes were wet. If you looked closely, you could see that the corners of their clothes were missing.

Zhou Zhou quickly grabbed a cloak and draped it over Zhou Rong, wrapping her up completely. "Sister, you've been out for so long without telling me. I was so worried about you."

“I couldn’t fall asleep during my afternoon nap, and I was worried that you would fall asleep, so I went for a walk in the bamboo grove. Who knew it would start raining so soon after I came out.” Zhou Rong sighed helplessly, “Luckily there was a bamboo house there where I could take shelter from the rain, otherwise I would have gotten soaked.”

"Hmph." Zhou Zhou gave a haughty snort, her hands continuing their work as she buttoned up the cloak one by one.

Zhou Rong reached out and took her hand, smiling apologetically, "It was my fault, I won't do it again next time. Zhouzhou, don't pout anymore, it doesn't look good."

Hearing that she would joke with him and seeing that she looked normal, Zhou Zhou finally felt relieved. When the two of them first appeared, Zhou Zhou's heart skipped a beat, thinking that they had encountered a lecher.

It now appears that the two did encounter some trouble in the bamboo forest, but it was nothing serious.

"Let's go." Zhou Rong took Zhou Zhou's hand, her voice gentle and warm.

Wang was no longer in Zhou Zhou's room, so Zhou Zhou was about to take Zhou Rong back to her own room. "I don't know if Third Aunt is with my sister. If my sister goes back like this, Aunt will definitely be heartbroken."

Thinking about her elderly mother's reaction, Zhou Rong also felt a headache coming on, but...

"But my clothes are there."

"What's so difficult about that?" Zhou Zhou smiled and beckoned Sizhu to fetch Zhou Rong's clothes.

As soon as they got back inside, Le Lan started to untangle Zhou Rong's hair, and Zhou Zhou took a towel and dried her hair.

A young lady's hair is extremely important, so the Yongjing Marquis's mansion spends a lot of money every year to buy hair oil, hair cream and other hair care products for the girls.

Therefore, Zhou Rong's hair was jet black, thick, long, and straight, and felt smooth like silk to the touch.

Soon, Sizhu returned with a message: "The Third Madam is with the Old Madam."

It turned out that after Zhou Zhou left, Wang Shi fell into a state of irrational thinking again, and in the end, feeling completely lost, she ran to Old Madam Zhou's room.

After hearing Wang's description, Old Mrs. Zhou slammed her hand on the table in anger, "She's such a grown woman, where could she have run off to? And you're still going to look for Zhouzhou!"

Wang felt extremely wronged; she was worried because Zhou Rong was so old and still hadn't been seen.

Seeing her like this, Grandma Zhou knew she couldn't be relied on. She calmed down and said, "Since Zhouzhou said we'll talk about it at 5 PM, let's wait and see."

Wang didn't want to go back to her room alone to wait, so she stayed with the old lady. Although the old lady didn't like her, she didn't kick her out.

"In that case, we should go there." Zhou Zhou put down the handkerchief in her hand and said calmly.