Rebirth of a Lost Nation: Princess, Please Respect Yourself

"what?"

The unexpected answer made Jiang Lige unable to react for a long time, but Feng Quan understood quickly and said hurriedly.

"Oh, look at me, there's something wrong in the kitchen, I'm afraid I have to go and deal with it first. I can't help you tie your hair."

Song Yue wanted to stay and watch the fun, but unfortunately, just as she started to say "I'm free", Feng Quan dragged her out and said, "You come and help too!"

The servants left, and there were only two people left in the room again. Jiang Lige looked at Ning Yunxiao with a look of "want to do something but lack the ability".

Obviously, Ning Yunxiao didn't count on Jiang Lige. "Princess, can you lend me the bronze mirror?"

"Of course!" Jiang Lige stood up and led Ning Yunxiao to the dressing table.

Ning Yunxiao ignored the various rouge and powder on the dressing table and went straight to pick up the wooden comb.

Ning Yunxiao's hands were slender and white, with distinct joints that looked very beautiful. He deftly moved among the three thousand black hairs. Although his movements were not smooth and flowing, they were clean and neat.

The scattered hair was quickly tied up by him, meticulously, just like him.

Even though Ning Yunxiao was not favored, he was still a prince after all, and it was not his turn to do such work on a normal day. Now he had to fix his hair bun with one hand and put on his hair crown with the other hand, which was really embarrassing for him.

Although it was fixed on with some difficulty, it still looked a little crooked.

Jiang Lige, who was immersed in watching the scene, couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he unconsciously reached out to adjust Ning Yunxiao's hair crown.

The warm and soft back of the hand brushed against his fingertips, and Ning Yunxiao only felt a slight tremor from his fingertips.

The trembling feeling slowly spread from the fingertips back to the heart, like raindrops falling into the center of a lake, easily breaking the calmness.

Unfortunately, Jiang Lige was a careless person. He was concentrating on fighting with the hair crown. He kept adjusting it in front of the bronze mirror to see the effect. He didn't notice that Ning Yunxiao's ears were already red.

"Princess!"

Ning Yunxiao stood up suddenly, which scared Jiang Lige. He hurriedly adjusted his hair crown and ran out.

"I just remembered that I have something important to do today. I hope Su will leave first!"

Jiang Lige tilted his head and looked in the direction where Ning Yunxiao ran and disappeared, his face full of confusion. How did he offend him?

Oh, it’s so hard to guess what men are thinking!

As soon as Ning Yunxiao left, Song Yue came into the house. Jiang Lige saw that she came in with a bowl of melon seeds, and he knew that the matter was probably done.

As expected, Songyue looked around and saw that there was no one in the room, so he said proudly.

"Princess, everything has been done. Within three days, the news will be known to the whole city!"

Jiang Lige nodded with satisfaction, "Remember to clean up your tail too."

Song Yue patted his chest confidently, "Princess, don't worry!"

Jiang Lige was naturally relieved to leave the matter of spreading gossip to Song Yue, so he didn't ask too many questions and took the booklet sent by Ning Yunxiao to look through it.

As soon as I took a look, I found the problem immediately.

As luck would have it, she actually saw a familiar name on the list—

Feng Lin is the pseudonym of Feng Yu's biological father Bai Fenglin.

When Jiang Lige saw this name, he was still a little confused. After all, he had no grudges with the Bai family. If you had to count it, he could be said to have been in the same trench with the Bai family.

After thinking it over without success, Jiang Lige asked Song Yue to go out of the palace to take the handwriting on the booklet to Feng Yu to identify whether it was Bai Fenglin's.

Songyue came and went like the wind and soon brought back the news. The handwriting was indeed Bai Fenglin's.

Jiang Lige became furious upon hearing this. She didn't know how she had offended Bai Fenglin to make him want to kill her!

Feng Quan felt ashamed when listening to Jiang Lige greeting Bai Fenglin's ancestors for eighteen generations.

He wanted to persuade her, but his princess had really been wronged, so he had to find another way and analyze the situation with Jiang Lige.

"The princess said that he might have recognized Feng Yu and was worried that what happened back then would be exposed and affect his future, so he ordered people to kill Feng Yu?"

"Absolutely impossible."

Jiang Lige's rationality quickly returned after Feng Quan's interruption. "A little inquiry would have revealed that I was outside the palace during those days, and Feng Yu was always by my side. If he wanted to attack Feng Yu, he should have chosen a day when I wasn't. Even if I'm not a good person, I'm still a princess. If anything were to happen to me, Emperor Shengwu would investigate it for the sake of diplomatic relations. And Feng Yu's death wouldn't have caused such a big stir. He's been an official for so many years, he's always been able to clearly distinguish between the pros and cons."

"So he came after the princess from the beginning!" Feng Quan nodded in agreement, but he was very confused: "But the princess has no grudge against him, and the prince has even supported the Bai family. Why would he take such a big risk to assassinate the princess?"

Jiang Lige couldn't figure this out, so he could only sigh and give orders.

"Go and find out what happened to the Bai family after they returned to Beijing. Report everything, no matter how big or small."

"Yes."

While Jiang Lige was investigating the Bai family, the Gu family in Beijing was also busy investigating the source of the rumors spreading in the city.

It’s a pity that I couldn’t find the exact source after searching for a long time.

Ever since Ning Yunxiao's coming-of-age ceremony, rumors that Emperor Shengwu intended to crack down on the Gu family had spread throughout the capital. Some shrewd officials would now avoid the Gu family for ten miles when they saw them in the court, for fear of being implicated.

Occasionally, there are young officials who are sensible and can get guidance from senior officials.

"The Emperor bestowed upon the Crown Prince of Zhao the name 'Wangsu,' a reference to the current generational name in the Gu family tree. This clearly expresses his anger at the Gu family's disrespect for the royal family. Regardless of any grudges between your family and the Zhao Palace, neglecting the royal family is your fault."

Furthermore, at Ning Yunxiao's coming-of-age ceremony, His Majesty specially summoned Madam Gu, who had not returned to the capital for many years, to attend. What does this mean? His Majesty is using the Gu family as a warning to all officials: even if they are from a prominent family and have made great contributions, they are ultimately only ministers. Duty is the foundation of being a minister.

After receiving the advice, the official hurried home and told his wife, "Don't go to any banquets related to the Grand Tutor's Mansion these days."

The lady turned around and reminded her relatives, and the story spread like wildfire, and soon became the talk of the whole capital.

The news finally reached the ears of Old Lady Gu.

The nanny next to her was so angry that she jumped up and down, vowing to find out who was gossiping behind the scenes, but Old Lady Gu just smiled faintly and praised her.

"No need to check. That girl is smart. You won't be able to find any clues."

After receiving a tip from Old Madam Gu, Nanny connected the person behind the scenes with Jiang Lige, and she became even more angry: "Thank goodness the old madam was so kind to her, yet she actually plotted to harm us!"

"Hurry?" Old Madam Gu chuckled. "Cui Ming, you should have looked closer. That girl's move killed three birds with one stone. Even I, the old woman, would have to praise her for her cleverness."