The capital, Princess Wenqing’s residence.
Lu Qianning sat at the table, a letter in her hand. As she read its contents, her brows drew tightly together, and her expression grew increasingly grim.
When she finally finished, she slammed her hand against the table. “Good riddance! The officials of Great Jing are truly rotten to the core.”
She felt that the appearance of Xi Qingyue and her sisters was practically a salvation for Great Jing. Not one of the people they had killed had been innocent.
Luo Ling poured her a cup of tea and handed it over. “Princess, have some tea to calm down. With the two commandery princesses over there, and the Seventh Princess in the south as well, I’m sure they’ll clean out every last scoundrel in Jiangnan.”
Lu Qianning sighed. “Alas, Jiangnan isn’t the only troubled region in Great Jing. Nearly everyone Yue and I have encountered has been rotten to the bone. Who knows how chaotic things are elsewhere? This country already shows all the signs of a dying dynasty.”
Luo Ling gently consoled her. “Princess, if you want to eliminate all these useless officials, you first need enough authority. Right now, many officials in court already regard you as a thorn in their side.”
Lu Qianning snorted coldly. “I haven’t even done anything yet. I’ve merely been going to the palace a little more often. Do they really need to be so frightened?”
After saying that, she put the letter away, a smile curling at the corners of her lips. “Tomorrow, I’ll bring these things out at court and let everyone see them. They can get used to Yue’s way of doing things. While I’m at it, I’ll have them discuss which officials should be sent out.”
Luo Ling chuckled. “Princess, His Majesty has been treating you so well lately that he’s even allowed you to attend court. If you name someone, he’ll certainly listen to you.”
At that, Lu Qianning gave a derisive smile. “He isn’t treating me well. He’s counting on Yue to extend his life. For all we know, he’s already plotting how to kill me. He hasn’t stopped me from attending court all these times because he’s deliberately making me the target of everyone’s hatred. Still, that works in my favor. I’ll take it one step at a time and let everyone believe that he values me, treats me well, and has even allowed me to participate in government. After a while, it wouldn’t be strange for him to pass the throne to me.”
She spoke casually, as though she had already foreseen the emperor’s fate.
Since refusing to fight meant certain death, she would climb to the pinnacle of power and take control of her own destiny.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. Xia Ran’s anxious voice followed immediately afterward.
“Princess, something has happened. Something happened to the people from Willow Tree Village.”
Lu Qianning was startled. She had specifically arranged for people to inquire about the villagers outside the city, but they had found nothing for so many days that she had assumed the villagers had taken a detour and already left. How had something happened to them?
“Come in and tell me.”
Xia Ran entered and hurriedly spoke before she could ask any questions. “Princess, the people from Willow Tree Village were taken away before our men could find them. It was the Wang family from the Ministry of War. They brought them to an estate outside the capital, which is why our people failed to locate them. The Wang family imprisoned them there. If Zhou Shu hadn’t happened to see a child crawling out through a dog hole, we might never have discovered them.”
Lu Qianning’s expression changed drastically. She had promised Xi Qingyue that she would look after the people from Willow Tree Village, yet they had been imprisoned by someone.
She rose and headed outside. “Let’s go. Tell me about it on the way. We’ll rescue them first. Luo Ling, go summon the men.”
Xia Ran followed behind her, explaining the situation as they walked. “It was a collateral relative of the Wang family named Scholar Wang who took them away. He seems to have known a scholar from their village, Scholar Han. At first, the villagers weren’t on their guard. They thought he was simply offering them a meal and a place to stay for one night before they continued on their way. But afterward, for some reason, he refused to let them leave. They weren’t abused at first, but they were probably imprisoned for about ten days. Today, the Wang family began torturing them.
“Zhou Shu has been in the area outside the capital for some time. He encountered a child crawling out through a dog hole and, out of curiosity, went into the estate to take a look. He happened to witness the torture, which was how he learned who they were. The villagers have been rescued now, and the people inside the estate have been restrained. They’re waiting for you to decide their punishment.”
When Lu Qianning heard this, she immediately gave an order. “Take a physician with us. Also, have someone send the evidence of the Ministry of War Vice Minister’s son forcibly seizing farmland, beating someone to death, and forcing women into prostitution to the Metropolitan Governor’s Office at once.”
She had only just finished gathering evidence of those people’s crimes, and before she had even handed it over, they had delivered themselves into her hands. They truly were determined to court death.
The Ministry of War Vice Minister was the maternal uncle of Prince Xin, the Second Imperial Prince. Lu Qianning wondered whether the Wang family’s actions had anything to do with the Second Imperial Prince.
She felt utterly weary. Prince Kang was stirring up trouble in Jiangnan, while Prince Xin was causing trouble as well. The imperial family was practically beyond saving.
A quarter of an hour later, Lu Qianning left the city in a carriage accompanied by dozens of guards.
Many people saw her carriage and began speculating about the reason for her departure.
Lu Qianning had recently become a prominent figure in the capital. After all, she had appeared at court several times in a row as a princess, while the emperor had tacitly allowed her to do so. This had led many officials to speculate about the emperor’s intentions.
Now that she had hurried out of the city with so many guards, it was impossible for people not to wonder what was happening.
In a private room by the window of a teahouse, Liao Zhou, the son of the Marquis of Loyalty and Righteousness, was enjoying tea and chatting with two close friends.
Qi Shun, the son of the Marquis of Nanping, pointed toward the procession of carriages outside the window and exclaimed, “Good heavens! The Ninth Princess usually doesn’t take this many people with her when she goes out. She must be dealing with something serious today. Brother Liao, should we go take a look?”
Before Liao Zhou could answer, Guo Lun, the son of the Earl of Changlong, hurriedly shook his head. “Let’s not. We’ll only get beaten for poking our noses into other people’s business. The Ninth Princess is so close to Commandery Princess Cenyue and her sisters. We’d better not provoke them.”
Hearing that, Liao Zhou quickly nodded in agreement. “Exactly. We should stay as far away from her as possible. Actually, I asked you two out today because I wanted to tell you something. My cousins encountered the commandery princesses on their way back. They said it was terrifying. Once the commandery princesses reached open water, they killed people as easily as slaughtering chickens. They broke apart more than a dozen ships in no time, and the corpses were beaten so badly that their bones were shattered. Let me tell you…”
He launched into a vivid account of what his cousins had witnessed, frightening his two friends until their faces turned pale.
“Heavens, that’s terrifying! It’s a miracle we’re still alive!” Qi Shun patted his chest, his face full of relief.
Ever since Xi Qingyue and her sisters had beaten the three of them, they had been terrified of the sisters. Now they felt even more fortunate. They had been beaten by the sisters but not killed. They truly had been lucky.
Liao Zhou didn’t forget to warn his two friends, either. “When you go home, tell your families that they mustn’t provoke those two little tyrants for any reason. The Ninth Princess may have a mild temper, but she’s protected by the two little tyrants. From now on, don’t provoke her, either, or they might return and go on a killing spree.”
The other two nodded in unison. “Understood.”
Not only did they remember his warning, but they also made up their minds to tell their other friends about it and urge everyone to be more careful.
Many others shared the same thought. Although the deeds of Xi Qingyue and her sisters in Jiangnan had not spread among the common people of the capital, quite a few sons of officials had heard the rumors. They were all deeply intimidated by the sisters.
After all, there weren’t many people who could kill as casually as crushing ants. Girls their age who would throw down at the slightest provocation were even rarer. They were simply not people anyone dared to mess with.
