Chapter 43

The two strutted out of the prime minister’s estate, appearing back on the street. Wenren Yunfei sensed that the way the crowd looked at her had changed. They had weird expressions that she couldn’t decode, causing her to feel annoyed.

The spy that had been stationed at the prime minister’s estate saw the two come out and immediately turned to deliver the news.

XunMi was drinking afternoon tea when she received the news. She spat out her tea in disbelief. What had she just heard? Wenren Yunfei was spotted on the streets? Shouldn’t she be lying low at home waiting for the talk to die down right now? She dared to go onto the streets?

But XunMi wasn’t in the mood to go join in the fun. Instead, she’ll just allow her to make a fuss by herself for now. In this time, it was better for her to stay at the duke’s estate and wait until her princess estate was arranged. Unfortunately, there was a saying that goes “even when one sits at home, calamity may drop down from the sky.”

As a matter of fact, looking at the palace officials in front of her, XunMi was flabbergasted. “You mean to say that someone has accused me of theft?” XunMi really was speechless. She was the duke’s granddaughter as well as the newly conferred Princess RouJia. Any one of her titles could demonstrate her power and money. Since she wasn’t lacking in anything, where was the need to go out and steal? Where was the logic and common sense in this? Were these people mentally okay? She really wanted to curse.

“Yes, ma’am. We will have to ask you to come with us.” The man in charge impatiently spoke.

XunMi had been preparing to head out when she was intercepted by these officials waiting at the gates. Her muslin veil hid her dissatisfied expression away from sight.

“What governmental office are you from? If you want me to leave with you, where is your arrest warrant? It seems that the two of you are purely here to cause an inconvenience. Do I really look so easy to bully?” Her voice sharpened. She was really angry. XunMi turned to Xiao Xiang. “Xiao Xiang, go inform grandfather and An wang that someone has accused me of theft, yet is unable to show any proof and attempting to arrest me.”

After Xiao Xiang quickly left, the Duke estate’s bodyguards appeared and formed a protective circle around XunMi. XunMi was entirely angered by the two sanctimonious officials looking down at her. “You truly are courageous for daring to come to the Duke’s estate and creating trouble. Guards, strike these two 20 times with a plank for offending a princess and for disrespecting the duke estate.” After all the contributions that grandfather had made for Country An, there were people who wanted treat his name so negligently now that he was older? Did they think she was dead, even daring to ignore her title as Princess?

Only now did the two government officials begin to feel uneasy. It seems like they have hit a strong wall.  But the magistrate had definitely told then that Wenren XunMi was cowardly and someone they didn’t need to worry about. As long as they managed to bring her back, they would be able to assign her a crime and throw her into prison.

“Yes, Princess.” The bodyguards were courageous since they were brought back directly from the army. Subduing two government officials was a piece of cake for them. Moreover, they were loyal to the Old Duke and had already been resentful of these two’s disrespect. Now, with the Princess’ orders, they would of course act willingly.

“AH!!!!” Soon, blood curdling screeches filled the air. XunMi stood on stair steps, looking down at the situation below.

The old Duke and Shangguan Yan arrived quickly. Only after seeing XunMi was unharmed did they let out a sigh of relief. Halfway through the 20 strikes, Zongzheng Mufeng rode in on horseback.  His wrinkled clothing and slightly messy hair hinted at how anxiously he had made his way over.

XunMi warmly stepped towards him, allowing him to collapse her into his embrace.

When Zongzheng Mufeng had first received the news, he wanted to erupt with anger. Someone actually tried to frame his belle! Moreover, it was with such a clumsy technique? It was plain insulting.

Fortunately, Belle was unharmed. His heart calmed yet fire began to emit from within. He took her hand and walked towards the two red faced government officials. He coldly spoke, “Speak. Who told you to come?” These two pieces of trash dared to act so impudent in front of his belle? “Keep hitting. Hit them until they admit their wrongdoing.”

The old duke also nodded his head, “Guards, go investigate whether there’s yet another round of troublemakers these days.” He wouldn’t believe that his granddaughter would steal when she already had the highest quality of goods. Even if there was some rare treasure, her granddaughter’s morality wouldn’t allow her to steal. Those people dared to use such a lowly method to try to ruin her granddaughter? In this era, a thief was the most disgraceful of all people.

A guard quickly returned with news that somebody had reported the case earlier this morning. They had said that they had lost an ancestral jade pendant yesterday. Only the Princess was passing by at the time it was lost. Thus, they had suspicions that the Princess had stolen the jade pendant and hoped that the authorities would be able to recover it. Hearing this logic, XunMi wanted to laugh out loud.

“Ah… This Prince wants to see what kind of high quality jade pendant could make my wangfei personally extend her delicate hands.” Zongzheng Mufeng wanted to directly kill the scoundrel who caused this. He wrapped his arms around XunMi, “Belle, let’s go take a look?”

XunMi nodded her head, “I’m also curious about what kind of exquisite thing this fuss is all about. Grandfather, why don’t you rest at the estate. Prince and I will go take a look.” Her grandfather was a senior after all. She was a bit worried that her grandfather would be angered and hurt himself.

The old duke knew his granddaughter was worrying about him. However, if this matter wasn’t clarified, he wouldn’t be able to calm down. He shook his head, “I’ll go with you two. These old bones of mine haven’t deteriorated to the point that I can’t be mobile. If somebody is daring to scheme against the duke estate, then grandfather must go and personally observe. Guards, call Wei Wu and Hao Qiang to the magistrate’s office. For such a big matter, they must be present.”

Thus, the group proudly strutted to the magistrate’s office, dragging along the two government officials with them.

The magistrate sat in the hall like a Bodhisattva, thinking about how relaxed and easy this case was. When he was done, he would get a thousand taels of gold. That was enough for him to spend the rest of his life in the lap of luxury. Below him sat a young scholar leisurely swaying a bamboo fan in his hands.

When Zongzheng Mufeng brought XunMi in, they immediately saw the man.

“I was wondering which blind thing was causing this ruckus. So it was you. You really are blind.” XunMi pensively sized up the scholar while flipping through the original plot in her head and identifying the man.

Guan Shengqing, the number one gifted scholar. His father was the long serving head of the Ministry of Rites.

“An wang?” Guan Shengqing said with surprise. “You…when did you come back?” He grasped his folding fan in his hand tighter. He was here today because he had previously promised FeiFei he would fulfill three unconditional things for her.

But what about An wang?

Hello, dear readers! If any of you are feeling extremely generous at any time, please donate to my food fund on Venmo. Food gives me nutrition that keeps me going, allowing me to churn out these daily translations. Here’s my username: @jl518