The eldest daughter's scheming, the crown prince's exclusive favor to the venomous concubi

Upon hearing this, the burly man's eyes were filled with disdain for Shangguan Hanque, but he was also afraid of Chu Tianyi's sword. After Shangguan Hanque spoke, he secretly glanced at Chu Tianyi. Seeing that the other party was not looking at him, he mustered up his courage and retorted, "So what if I hit someone? I hit him, so what? He's just a stinking beggar, and a robber who likes to steal things. If I kill him, I can rid the people of a scourge."

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Hanque's eyes immediately turned cold as he sneered, "Eliminating harm for the people? What a fine way to say it! Since you say so, I cannot betray my duty as a city patrol officer. Men, seize him!"

The burly man panicked immediately. He took two steps forward, grabbed Shangguan Hanque by the collar, and glared at him, shouting, "You dare to grab me? Do you know who I am?"

Shangguan Hanque lifted his eyelids, pried the burly man's hand off with one hand, threw it aside, and said coldly, "I don't care who you are. Isn't the duty of a city patrol officer to rid the people of evil? It's only right that I arrest you."

Upon hearing this, the burly man laughed in anger. He rubbed his wrist, which had been twisted sore by Shangguan Hanque, and pointed at Shangguan Hanque, cursing, "Shangguan Hanque, don't be so arrogant. You're just a minor official guarding the city. If you're so arrogant, you might offend the wrong people. Not only will you lose your position, but you'll also lose your life. Then you'll have nothing left."

"Arrogant? You haven't seen me when I was arrogant. Back in the military, it was commonplace to chop people up at will. Anyone who disobeyed orders would be dealt with by the guillotine. I've already toned it down a lot. I've already been more merciful than expected by not chopping you up directly."

As he spoke, Shangguan Hanque circled the burly man once, causing the man's heart to tremble slightly before he continued, "

Moreover, under heaven, all land belongs to the emperor, and all people within the realm are his subjects. I, Shangguan Hanque, am loyal to the emperor, and I eat the emperor's official rations. The emperor appointed me as a city patrol officer, which is a sign of his trust in me. I cannot betray the emperor's trust. Those who make mistakes must naturally be dealt with according to the law.

Upon hearing this, the burly man immediately put his hands on his hips and roared, "You say I've committed a crime? Then tell me what crime I've committed! If you want to kill me, you have to give me a reason. Besides, I'm a member of the Sun family. If you want to pin a crime on me, you'd better be more careful."

Shangguan Hanque naturally didn't take the burly man's threat seriously. However, before he could speak, Jian Yue stepped forward and said to the burly man, "What are you still pressing? Isn't this an undeniable fact? Everyone around can testify to it."

The burly man looked at Jian Yue, his eyes twitching: "Hey girl, I caught a thief red-handed, what exactly did I do wrong?"

Jian Yue raised an eyebrow: "How can your memory be so bad? You were just teasing me, saying you wanted to spend a night with me."

The burly man's eyelids continued to twitch: "But you didn't agree, did you? I didn't force you, so it's not a crime!"

As he spoke, he spread his hands to indicate his innocence, but Shangguan Hanque sneered, "You think you're innocent for harassing the heir apparent of the Marquis of Qingyan? That alone is enough to get you beheaded."

Upon hearing this, the burly man was momentarily dumbfounded. He looked blankly at Jian Yue, not understanding how he had unintentionally flirted with a woman and suddenly become some kind of princess consort.

After thinking for a moment about what Shangguan Hanque had said, he suddenly came to his senses and immediately realized who this Qingyan Marquis's heir was, and broke out in a cold sweat.

However, he still struggled desperately the next moment and said, "Impossible. The fiancée of the Marquis of Qingyan is the sixth young lady of the Qiu family. How could she be related to the Shangguan family? You must be conspiring to frame me."

Shangguan Hanque sneered: "Trying to trick you? Is it really necessary? Who are you? You're just a dog of the Sun family. Even if my Shangguan family is down on its luck, we are still a prestigious family and would never stoop to tricking you. Besides, what would we do with you? How much trouble could you possibly cause in my Shangguan family?"

Jian Yue then looked at the burly man with an innocent expression, pretending to be aggrieved, and said, "I'm sorry, but I am the fiancée of the Marquis of Qingyan's heir. I've already made it clear in the Golden Palace that I am from the Shangguan family. The Qiu family has acknowledged it, and the heir has also acknowledged it. This cannot be faked. Otherwise, you can send someone back to the Sun family to ask."

Jian Yue looked completely at ease, but even more interested, and the mockery in her eyes made the burly man break out in a cold sweat.

If it weren't true, there would be no way they could be so confident.

Jian Yue sighed, approached the burly man, and said kindly, "The Shangguan family is indeed not as good as before, but you can't look down on the Shangguan family like this, can you? With your status, looking down on the Shangguan family would make you a laughingstock."

The Sun family might look down on the Shangguan family, but they would never openly feud with them. After all, the Shangguan family had a general guarding the frontier. If they were to defeat the Shangguan family, who would defend the frontier? The Sun family weren't fools.

These words made the burly man's heart bleed. He just couldn't understand why he was so unlucky today.

Although he managed to smuggle some goods through the Sun family's connections, today was a major market day. Except for the North Gate, which had very few people, the other three gates of the capital were packed with stalls and heavily guarded. He couldn't possibly take his life out of the city. Even if he did, he would probably be associated with the Sun family, and if they found out, they would probably eat him alive.

So he had no choice but to go through the north gate. He thought he could find someone to vent his anger on and have some fun, but who knew he would run into trouble with all of them, especially since they were all big shots.

He was merely an obscure cousin of the Sun family. He could only act arrogantly in the capital city because of the Sun family. Among commoners, he was nothing but trash among the imperial relatives and nobles, not even worth a fart.

Thinking of this, his legs trembled, and he immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Jian Yue.

"Oh dear, I was blind and didn't recognize your greatness. I've offended you, madam. Please forgive me for bothering you this once! Or, if you're so magnanimous, just pretend I was a fart?"

Jian Yue chuckled. This man was truly a coward. She narrowed her eyes, leaned closer, and said, "Didn't you want to spend a night with me? I happen to have some time now, so why don't we have a late-night chat?"

The burly man's face immediately turned ashen, and he waved his hands and shook his head: "No, no, no, Grandma, I was wrong, I was really wrong."

Jian Yue squatted down and continued to laugh, "Alright, then you answer whatever I ask. If I'm satisfied, you'll have a way out. But if even one word is a lie, I'll have the heir of the Marquis of Qingyan come over and have a talk with you about life, how about that?"

The burly man nodded quickly.

Jian Yue asked, "What's your name?"

"Zhang Baicheng."

"What is your relationship with the Sun family?"

“Lord Sun’s third concubine is my aunt’s niece.”

Jian Yue clicked her tongue in amazement: "Tsk tsk, this relative is quite distant."

"Yes Yes Yes."

Zhang Baicheng smiled ingratiatingly. Jian Yue stood up, looked at the crowd that had not yet dispersed, and then at the mother and child who were sitting on the ground huddled together after being beaten. She said, "I'll ask about the problem later. Let's talk about this first. What do you plan to do?"

Zhang Baicheng quickly flattered, "Of course we'll release them, we'll release them."

"They let him go? They're not hanging him anymore?"

"No hanging, no hanging."

"Okay, but look how badly they beat you up. Aren't you going to give them some compensation or something?"

"Here you go, one hundred taels, how about it?"

Zhang Baicheng was quite decisive. At this moment, he understood that as long as Jian Yue was satisfied, the other two would not say anything more, and his life would be saved. Therefore, he was willing to give up all his savings.

Jian Yue nodded, glanced at the still-lingering crowd, and laughed, "What? You're enjoying this spectacle so much? Aren't you going home to cook and take care of the kids? Or are you waiting to come with us for a stroll around the Prince's residence?"

The name of the Marquis of Qingyan's heir had already spread throughout the capital. As soon as Jian Yue mentioned the heir, the crowd around him scattered like birds and beasts. In the blink of an eye, apart from the kneeling city patrol officers, only Jian Yue, Chu Tianyi, and the mother and son sitting on the ground remained.

"go?"

Chu Tianyi walked over and asked. Jian Yue looked at Zhang Baicheng and said to Shangguan Hanque, "Brother, arrest him first! I still have some questions to ask him."

Shangguan Hanque nodded, quickly took out a whistle from his pocket, blew it, and saw a group of people standing not far away running over. Shangguan Hanque waved his hand, and the group of people captured Zhang Baicheng and the others.

Zhang Baicheng cooperated fully and obediently followed. As he left, he smiled at Jian Yue and said, "Miss, I'm waiting for you to come and question me. You must hurry, I have to go home and have dinner with my mother."

Jian Yue nodded, which was considered an agreement to hurry up. Zhang Baichen was then taken away with peace of mind. At this moment, Jian Yue walked over to the clerk who had been so arrogant towards her earlier.

The minor official remained kneeling on the ground. No one had come to question him earlier, and he thought the matter was over. He was just waiting for these important figures to leave before he was safe. Little did he know that he had not been ignored.

When Jian Yue squatted down, the clerk immediately trembled with fear. Just then, Shangguan Hanque walked up to him, and he felt utterly hopeless.

Shangguan Hanque asked, "Do you know your crime?"

Knowing he had failed in his duty, the minor official quickly confessed, "Your subordinate knows his crime."

"In that case, he shall be punished with one month's salary and twenty strokes of the cane. If he commits another offense, he shall be beheaded and his head displayed to the public."

Upon hearing this, the minor official burst into tears and kowtowed, saying, "Thank you for sparing my life, Your Excellency. I accept my punishment."

The man was quickly subdued. Throughout the entire ordeal, Jian Yue didn't say a word to the clerk, but her mere presence exerted immense pressure on him. When he was sentenced, he felt a great sense of relief. As the men escorted him away, he didn't even turn his head and walked off happily.

Shangguan Hanque looked at Jian Yue and said, "Now that you're back, come home with me! Your grandfather is very worried about you."

Jian Yue nodded, but instead of following Shangguan Hanque, she walked over to the mother and child.