Rebirth of a Lost Nation: Princess, Please Respect Yourself

Throughout history, gossip has been an important skill necessary for making friends on the streets.

In Shenglingjing City, there are two things that have been talked about the most recently.

The first is that the prince of Zhaowang Mansion was brutally harmed by his stepmother and the Hanlin Academy.

Poor Prince Zhao, a well-mannered scholar, was sent to work in the Wucheng Bingmasi!

"Poor thing!" the woman in red lamented. "Prince Zhao once spoke up for the refugees, but ended up implicating the head of the Five Cities Military Department and getting punished. Furthermore, this head is from his stepmother's family. This mix of new and old grudges is going to be incredibly frustrating!"

The lady in blue also nodded. "What's a stepmother? To put it bluntly, isn't she just a concubine in front of the wife of the original master? Why are you showing off? It's a pity that if there is a stepmother, there will be a stepfather. It's really hard for the child!"

"That's exactly the point!" the green-clad woman exclaimed angrily. "Bah! These Hanlin Academy students are nothing. They talk nonsense, but they're actually full of evil intentions! They're not as upright as those of us who come from the military!"

The green-clad woman's daughter held up a portrait, posing as if Xi Shi was holding her heart. "I never thought the Crown Prince of Zhao would be so fresh and handsome! Mother, I will learn martial arts from you today. Who knows, we might even find a happy marriage in the future!"

The lady in green: "Dream on!"

"..."

Song Yue twitched the corner of his mouth as he listened to the gossip. He looked at the man selling Ning Yunxiao's small statue not far away and looked up at the sky speechlessly.

The girls in the queue at the back gathered together and whispered, "Is this Prince Zhao really that good-looking?"

A girl nearby nodded quickly, "This portrait barely captures the prince's spirit, but it doesn't even capture one tenth of his appearance!"

And what about Jiang Lige, the nominal fiancée of Prince Zhao?

He was smiling as he collected the copper coins a woman handed him and waved his hand, saying, "We're sold out today. Come back another day!"

Song Yue couldn't help it, "Princess, is there anyone who would invite a love rival like you?"

Jiang Lige, who had made some money, still had a smile on his face. "Gold will shine sooner or later. I just let it be discovered in another place."

Song Yue was quite helpless, "Will it work?"

"If a girl values beauty, talk to her about beauty; if an aunt is annoyed by her concubine, talk to her about her concubine; if a warrior despises a scholar, talk to him about his pen." Jiang Lige said to Song Yue, counting on his fingers, "Every one of these is effective!"

Song Yue also nodded, "Indeed, with so many eyes watching, these evildoers dare not act rashly."

"This young man is teachable." Jiang Lige happily closed his stall and said, "Let's go to the side to check the results."

"okay."

After the master and servant had packed up, they went into a teahouse on another street.

Teahouses are the favorite place for scholars and literati to discuss political affairs. They are also the origin of another secret in the capital recently.

The case of Bai Fenglin colluding with bandits.

It is said that when Bai Fenglin was in office in the Hanlin Academy, he hired bandits to kill his immediate superior, editor Liu Yujin.

Afterwards, the bandits used this as a threat to force Bai Fenglin to collude with them and provide them with money for a long time.

The long-term "tribute" made Bai Fenglin unable to make ends meet, so he instructed his subordinates to start lending money at usury. The high interest rates persecuted many people and even forced two tenants to death.

Not only that, Bai Fenglin also took advantage of his position to provide the bandits with a lot of information about the government's bandit suppression, which caused the court to fail in suppressing bandits many times and allowed the bandits to commit many crimes and still get away with it.

The evil deeds committed by Bai Fenglin and the bandits are simply too numerous to list!

After the news spread, when the case of Feng Yu's patricide was mentioned again, the public opinion had obviously improved a lot, and some people even called it a "righteous act."

Compared to Feng Yu's heroic treatment, the Bai family was miserable.

A large group of people gathered at the door, with rotten eggs and cabbages scattered all over the ground. Ever since the Bai Fenglin case was exposed, all the members of the Bai family had been keeping their heads down and had even been afraid to leave the house for some days.

Hearing that most of the people were cursing Bai Fenglin, Jiang Lige felt relieved. "As long as the government doesn't want to anger the people, Feng Yu can't be killed for the time being. That way, we can go find Concubine Xian without worry."

"But didn't Lord Wen already promise to protect Feng Yu?"

Jiang Lige smiled when he heard this, "Songyue, always remember that destiny is most reliable only when it is in your own hands."

Song Yue nodded vigorously, "Yes, I will remember it."

Before Song Yue finished expressing his opinion, Jiang Lige had already stood up, with a playful smile on his face, completely different from his previous seriousness.

"Don't forget, there's a member of the Bai family in the palace. We have to take care of them as well."

Two hours later, in Shengling Palace——

The moment she entered the residence, Bai Jinyuan's face, which had been smiling just now, instantly fell.

Her personal maid Zhu Luo came over with a teacup, but before she could say anything, Bai Jinyuan slapped her to the ground.

"You are such a tactless person. Why are you drinking tea? Why don't you prepare a bath with fragrant water first?"

Zhu Luo didn't dare to complain at all, and knelt down quickly: "Yes."

Bai Jinyuan, who had been upset all day, finally found an outlet here. After letting out her anger, she strode into the house with her head held high, completely unaware of the hatred that flashed across Zhu Luo's eyes.

Not long after Bai Jinyuan entered the house, she screamed, saying that her things were missing. She scolded Zhu Luo for being stupid and unable to clean the house properly. She was bound to be beaten and scolded again.

About an incense stick of time passed before Zhu Luo came out of the house crying and began to look for the "treasure" that Bai Jinyuan had lost.

Bai Jinyuan's residence was connected to that of several other daughters of wealthy families who entered the palace. Therefore, the maids around these daughters of wealthy families often saw each other and became familiar with each other.

When the maid Bai Zhu saw that one side of Zhu Luo's face was swollen, she knew that she might have been beaten again today. Seeing her hurried look, she couldn't help but ask.

"What happened today?"

"I'm so clumsy that I've lost the young lady's album. What shall I do?" Zhu Luo was so anxious she was about to cry. "Sister, you don't know, the young lady treasures that album so much that she always keeps it under her pillow when she goes to sleep. Now that it's gone, the young lady will definitely not let me go."

After saying that, Zhu Luo started to cry softly. Bai Zhu was comforting her when he heard a commotion outside. He pushed the door open and saw that the palace wall outside was covered with large pieces of rice paper at regular intervals.

On the rice paper was a small portrait of Ning Yunxiao, along with a very explicit love poem, signed...

Bai Jinyuan.

Bai Zhu's mouth twitched, and he pointed at the rice paper and asked, "Isn't this the thing your young lady lost?"

Zhu Luo: “…”

Bai Jinyuan's "declaration of love" spread throughout the imperial city like a gust of wind. Ning Yunxiao was ordered by Emperor Shengwu to enter the palace. As soon as he entered the Golden Throne Hall, he saw three women performing a drama, arguing with each other in the Yangxin Palace.

Emperor Shengwu sat there with a terrible headache, his brows furrowed so tightly that they could kill a mosquito.