klisemfg Chapter 343 Princess Chang's Rebellion 4
Chapter 343 Princess Chang's Rebellion 4
Rongrong transformed into a tiny cloud and floated to Ji Xiaosong's side, softly asking, "A-Song, are you going to give this evidence to the Emperor?"
“I won’t give it to him. Even if I did, he wouldn’t believe it, and he might even hold a grudge against me. No matter how much effort the original owner put into helping him ascend the throne as his older sister, he is still the emperor now.”
"So what are you planning to do next?"
Ji Xiaosong lightly traced the secret letter with her fingertips, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips: "Naturally... let them slip up on their own."
She tucked the letter into her sleeve, turned, and walked towards the door: "Did you send Ji Yao away?"
The maid standing at the door bowed her head and replied, "Your Highness, this matter is being handled."
*
Outside the gate of the princess's residence, Ji Yao was being dragged out by two guards who were holding her arms.
Her hair was disheveled, and her luxurious dress was covered in dust, she had long lost the dignity of a princess.
"Let me go! You lowly slaves!"
Ji Yao struggled desperately, her voice shrill and piercing, "I am a princess! I am the daughter of the eldest princess! How dare you treat me like this?!"
The guard said expressionlessly, "His Highness has decreed that from this day forward, you are no longer a member of the Princess's household."
"Nonsense!" Ji Yao screamed hysterically, "She's my mother! How could she abandon me?!"
More and more onlookers gathered, pointing and whispering among themselves.
"I heard that this princess publicly declared that she wanted to marry a poor scholar, which infuriated the eldest princess."
"Not only that, I heard she even helped the prince consort cover up his affair!"
"Tsk tsk, what an ungrateful child I've raised..."
Ji Yao's screams echoed outside the princess's residence, and more and more onlookers gathered, their pointing and whispering voices surging like a tide.
"Look at this, is this the princess's daughter? She looks like a madwoman!" an old woman carrying a vegetable basket said with a sneer.
"I heard that someone abandoned their own mother for a poor scholar!" A sugar figurine vendor nearby shook his head. "What a tragedy!"
Ji Yao turned her head sharply, glaring at the people who had spoken: "What do you lowly people know?! Mingyuan and I are truly in love! My mother... she's just temporarily angry!"
"Oh dear, still being stubborn?" a merchant woman dressed in silk sneered. "The Princess even obtained an imperial edict to strip you of your title of Princess. How could that be fake?"
"Impossible!" Ji Yao's face turned deathly pale, but her voice weakened. "My imperial uncle will not agree..."
"Come on!" a young man who looked like a scholar sneered. "His Majesty respects the Princess the most. You embarrassed her in public. It's already a miracle that His Majesty didn't punish you!"
Ji Yao trembled all over, her nails digging deeply into her palms.
She suddenly rushed into the crowd, hysterically shouting, "Shut up! All of you shut up! You lowly creatures, how dare you talk about me?!"
The people were startled by her mad appearance and retreated.
A bold child threw a pebble at her: "Crazy woman!"
A pebble struck Ji Yao's forehead, causing blood to seep out.
She froze, trembling as she touched the wound on her forehead, looking at the bloodstains on her fingertips, as if she couldn't believe that she had fallen to the point of being humiliated by commoners.
"You...you..." Her voice choked with sobs, tears mingling with blood streaming down her face, "I need to tell Mother..."
"Save your breath!" the merchant woman sneered. "The princess doesn't want you anymore, didn't you hear?"
Just then, the side gate of the princess's residence opened, and two guards escorted Liu Mingyuan out.
The scholar was dressed in rags and looked pale, clearly having suffered a lot in the dungeon.
"Mingyuan!" Ji Yao's eyes lit up, and she stumbled over to him. "Are you alright? Did Mother let you out?"
Seeing Ji Yao's disheveled appearance, Liu Mingyuan's eyes flashed with disgust, but he quickly replaced it with a gentle expression: "Yao'er... I'm fine..."
The guard said coldly, "By order of the Princess, Liu Mingyuan and Ji Yao shall have no further connection with the Princess's residence."
After saying that, they threw two coarse cloth bundles on the ground, which contained only a few old clothes and a little bit of silver.
Ji Yao stared at the bundle in disbelief: "That's...that's all? Mother...is she really so heartless?"
Liu Mingyuan hurriedly rummaged through his bundle and found that it really only contained some worthless items, at which point his face immediately darkened.
He grabbed Ji Yao's shoulder: "Didn't your mother leave you any gold, silver, or valuables? What about your jewelry? What about your land deeds?"
Ji Yao felt a sharp pain from his grip and shook her head blankly, "Mother said... I'm not allowed to take anything with me..."
A sinister glint flashed in Liu Mingyuan's eyes, but it vanished in an instant.
He released Ji Yao's grip, then gently cupped her face and carefully wiped the blood from her forehead with his sleeve.
"Yao'er, I was confused."
His voice was so gentle it could melt your heart, “I’m just so worried about our future. You’re of noble birth, how can you suffer with me?”
A glimmer of hope rekindled in Ji Yao's swollen eyes: "Mingyuan, you're not angry with me anymore?"
"how come?"
Liu Mingyuan pulled her into his arms, coldly surveying the crowd from an angle she couldn't see. "I love you so much. Your mother was just saying that in a fit of anger; she'll take you back once she calms down."
These words made Ji Yao straighten her back.
She broke free from Liu Mingyuan's embrace, arrogantly raising her chin: "That's right! Mother loves me the most; this is just her way of teaching me a lesson!"
The candy vendor couldn't help but sneer: "They've already been kicked out of their homes, and they're still dreaming?"
Ji Yao glared at her fiercely: "What do you know? My mother single-handedly broke into the enemy camp to save me!"
She became more and more confident as she spoke, even straightening her disheveled clothes. "Within three days, she will definitely send someone to bring me back to the manor!"
Liu Mingyuan grasped her hand at the opportune moment: "Yao'er is right. Let's find a place to settle down first, and wait for your mother to calm down."
As he spoke, he picked up the bundle on the ground, knelt down on one knee in full view of everyone, and looked up at Ji Yao with deep affection: "I, Liu Mingyuan, swear to heaven that even if I go bankrupt, I will never let Yao'er suffer the slightest grievance."
This behavior brought tears to the eyes of several young women.
The merchant woman who had previously mocked him hesitated and asked, "Could it be that the Princess is really too strict?"
Ji Yao looked around at everyone triumphantly, as if she had transformed back into the aloof and superior princess.
She gracefully placed her hand in Liu Mingyuan's palm: "Let's go to the villa in the south of the city. There are my coming-of-age gifts from my mother there; the jewelry alone is worth ten thousand taels of silver."
A glint flashed in Liu Mingyuan's eyes, and he eagerly helped her leave.
After stepping out of the crowd, he lowered his voice and asked, "Yao'er, that other courtyard..."
"of course it's true!"
Ji Yao frowned unhappily, "My mother was transferred to my name last year, and even my father didn't know."
She suddenly lowered her voice, with a hint of smugness, "There are some of my mother's confidential documents hidden there; she thought I didn't know."
Liu Mingyuan's heart suddenly raced, but his expression softened even more: "Yao'er is so clever. However..."
He glanced worriedly in the direction of the princess's residence. "Will your mother send someone to keep watch?"
Ji Yao scoffed, "That villa was bought under the name of my maternal grandmother's dowry maid. Apart from my mother and me, no one knows it's my property."