What was wrong with him? How had it come to this? He had believed her! So why… why had he said those things to her?

Feng Chenling’s face filled with anguish, but he still stubbornly refused to call out to the retreating Mo Qingli in front of him.

Instead, he bit down on his lip, refusing to make a sound. It wasn’t until Mo Qingli had completely disappeared out of his sight that he finally began to sob.

“Princess.” Seeing Mo Qingli exit, Yue Yao hurriedly stepped forward to greet her. However, Mo Qingli’s expression was so icy that Yue Yao unwittingly s.h.i.+vered in fear.

So Consort Feng had offended the Princess.

“Let’s go to the market,” Mo Qingli said, briskly walking forwards. She did not look back.

I thought that sending Feng Qingjue home would be in his best interest, but… to be accused of masterminding the conflict between two kingdoms, I’m afraid the road to going back home will not be easy.

It’s likely that the woman with him had ulterior motives.

When she had heard about what happened to Feng Qingjue, she knew that surely Feng Chenling would be devastated by the news. Therefore, she had dropped by his residence to console him. But she could have never imagined that Feng Chenling would think the mastermind of this farce to be her!

And so, the two of them parted on bad terms.

Yue Yao quietly followed after Mo Qingli, knowing that at a moment like this, it was probably best to keep quiet. Otherwise, she didn’t want to imagine how the Princess would vent her anger on her.

The current Princess… was extremely terrifying.

Mo Qingli finally stopped at the biggest restaurant in the Imperial City. Yue Yao hurriedly flagged down the shopkeeper. “Shopkeeper, get my Young Miss a comfortable private room!”

Mo Qingli waved her hand. “No need.”

Instead, she headed up the stairs to the restaurant’s second floor, surveying the hall. There wasn’t a lot of people, nor were there too little. It perfectly suited Mo Qingli’s taste.

There were too many people in the first floor, and moreover the majority of customers were various sorts of riff-raff. In contrast, the customers on the second floor were much more refined.

Still, it was said that men and women’s love of gossip were not affected by their social standing.

Mo Qingli found a table near the window to sit at. Yue Yao followed suit, standing by her side.

The shopkeeper watched the duo from afar, not daring to approach. He didn’t know who Mo Qingli was, but he could sense the killing intent surrounding her. Ordinary mortals like him were unable to handle such concentrated amounts of death.

“Yue Yao, sit,” Mo Qingli said, gesturing at the other chair in the table.

Yue Yao vigorously shook her head. “Prin… Young Miss, I pretend to stand.”

Mo Qingli rapped her knuckles against the table, her tone obviously annoyed. “Now that we’re out of the palace, we are no longer a pair of master and servant. When I tell you to sit, you’ll sit.”

“This…” Yue Yao hesitated. She looked around the large hall, only to find that none of the young masters and misses present had servants standing at the side to attend them. Furthermore, some of the young masters and misses were even looking at their table, pointing fingers and gossiping. She could only grit her table, irritated at her own callousness, and sit at the table across from Mo Qingli.

Who cared anymore? If she was going to die, then die! To be able to share a table with the Princess was a honor worth death!

Mo Qingli nodded her head, satisfied. Then, she turned around lazily, looking at the shopkeeper who was standing a good distance away. “Shopkeeper!”

“Coming!” The shopkeeper looked around, trying to direct the waiter to attend to that table, only to realize the son-of-b.i.t.c.h had run away long ago. He could only gather up his courage and approach Mo Qingli’s table, forcing a friendly smile. “Young Miss, what do you want to drink?”

The closer he approached, the more potent that aura of death became. This person was clearly not an ordinary person. To have such strong killing intent, perhaps this was a general who had just returned from the battlefield!

Mo Qingli saw the shopkeeper’s fear, and suddenly felt annoyed. Just one verbal blow from Feng Chenling had been all it took to release the jiangs.h.i.+‘s natural killing intent. Yue Yao had long become accustomed to it, but an ordinary human like this shopkeeper wouldn’t be.

After pulling back her killing intent, she ordered, “I want a jar of Son Red¹!”

Son Red was a specialty of this Motian Dynasty. This kind of wine was fermented, produced, and s.h.i.+pped all by young men of the highest quality. As a result, the wine would carry the faintest fragrance of its makers. Many people knew of its legendary renown.

But this kind of wine was also extremely expensive.

When the shopkeeper heard her order, his face filled with more awe. He now viewed Mo Qingli as a general newly returned from a successful campaign.

With this new revelation and the killing intent gone, the shopkeeper was all too happy to recommend Mo Qingli and Yue Yao some side dishes. Then, he ran off, b.u.t.tocks jiggling merrily, to personally prepare the requested dishes.

A decorated general was definitely someone to be respected! Without them, how would they, the commoners, live such easy lives?

Mo Qingli didn’t know why the shopkeeper had suddenly changed his att.i.tude, but couldn’t bring herself to care. Instead, she propped her cheek up with her arm, turning away to look at the commoners outside of the window.

She looked just like a bored young miss from a rich family drinking at a restaurant to pa.s.s the time.

The people in the restaurant slowly lost interest in her, returning their attention back to drinking wine and gossiping.

“Do you know how the Second Princess’s Prince Consort really died?” A green-robed woman in a table not far from Mo Qingli’s said to her friend, a woman in a blue robe.

The blue-robed woman shook her head. “How?”

The green-robed woman looked around her furtively, than said to her friend, “I heard, it was the Fengchao Prince who killed him!”

“Really!” the blue-robed woman said, surprised. “So even something like this could happen.”

“Exactly!” the green-robed woman said, with the satisfaction of someone who knew cla.s.sified information.

“Wasn’t the Second Princess’s Prince Consort a prince from the Xiaoyao Dynasty?” the blue-robed woman asked. “Why did that prince from the Fengchao Dynasty need to kill him? There’s no need for them to fight at all!”

“Of course that’s something that you won’t understand!” The green-robed woman saw that more and more attention was being drawn to her, and couldn’t hide the satisfied smirk growing on her face. “The prince from the Fengchao Dynasty is known for his intelligence and talents. By killing the Second Princess’s Prince Consort, he can put the blame on the Second Princess. That way, the Xiaoyao Dynasty would be at odds against our Motian Dynasty, and we would be at war. Then… the Fengchao Dynasty would profit through our defeats.”

A hushed gasp spread through the crowd—heavens! So even something like this could happen! The Fengchao Dynasty was really too terrible.

However… not all people were so easily convinced. “How do you know about such cla.s.sified information?”

“Right, how did you learn about this?” The crowd looked at the green-robed lady.

The green-robed lady grabbed a jug of wine from the table and took a long sip. “Wasn’t the Sixth Princess about to marry that prince? Who knew that the prince actually hated the Sixth Princess.”

The crowd nodded. Anyone who met that idiot Sixth Princess would of course hate her!

“After the prince finished his task, he randomly found a woman, and in front of the Sixth Princess’s very face, he… slept with that woman.”

“Pu…”

Anyone who was currently drinking wine at the moment couldn’t help but spit it out. This kind of news—was really too explosive!

“Could the Sixth Princess who wore a green hat bear to suffer this kind of disgrace? Immediately, she sent that prince back to the Fengchao Dynasty!”

Afterwards, the green-robed lady shared a glance with the blue-robed lady. With a mutual glance of understanding, the two stood up, making an unnoticed exit as the room lit abuzz with gossip.

Yue Yao felt sweat drip down her forehead. No, not drip—her sweat was practically pouring down. She snuck a glance at Mo Qingli.

However, seeing Mo Qingli’s calm expression, she only got more terrified!

This was definitely the calm before the storm!

“Yue Yao,” Mo Qingli said slowly.

Yue Yao immediately stood up. “Princess, don’t worry! Yue Yao knows what to do. I’ll have people take care of these slandering people right now!”

“No need,” Mo Qingli said, watching the people in the lower floor come and go. That green and blue robe was still visible in her line of vision. “Follow those two people. There’s something wrong with them.”

Yue Yao was shocked at Mo Qingli’s calm att.i.tude, but then forced herself to think for a moment. Rumors were hardly the same thing as facts. It would take a few days for rumors like these to become wildly spread. As for now, the most important thing was to capture the people spreading the rumors.

Yue Yao looked back at Mo Qingli, and cusped her hands together. “Princess, don’t worry. I’ll definitely capture those two.”

Mo Qingli rubbed her forehead helplessly. “Just follow these two. Afterwards, report their every movement to me.”

Yue Yao immediately understood the Princess’s meaning. In her heart, her respect for Mo Qingli rose again an increment.

Afterwards, she ran outside to tail the two women.

In the meantime, Mo Qingli sat down and enjoyed the Son Red, some side-dishes, and a rare moment of pleasure and peace.

The people in the restaurant gradually changed, but the story of the Sixth Princess wearing a green hat was pa.s.sed on as the hours went by.

To this, Mo Qingli purposefully turned a deaf ear. Her only purpose for coming here was to find out where the rumors were coming from. Who would have thought that she would have been this lucky, to find out the source right from the get-go!

She could only hope that those two women were the people she was looking for.

It wasn’t until the restaurant was about to close that Yue Yao arrived.

“So?” Mo Qingli murmured, studying the cup in her hand.

“Princess, those two are indeed the origin of the rumors. I’ve already sent people to have them captured, and they are currently imprisoned in your residence,” Yue Yao reported.

Mo Qingli finished the last few droplets of her wine, then called out to the shopkeeper, “Shopkeeper, I want three more jars of wine to bring with me.”

“Okay!”

Yue Yao found herself carrying the wine as she and Mo Qingli headed home. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. Had Mo Qingli brought her here just so she could help the Princess carry the wine back to their residence?

Mo Qingli turned back to look at Yue Yao. “Hurry up, you’re too slow!”

Yue Yao: …

¹lit. “Nan’Er Hong” [男兒紅]: A play on “Daughter Red“, a type of glutinous rice wine from the Zhejiang Province in China. Traditionally, when a daughter was born, a jar of wine would be buried in the cellar. It would only be unearthed after she was married off, to celebrate her wedding. Obviously in this matriarchal world it’s the sons being married off, hence the name “Son Red”.