"No, it wasn't me, it wasn't me, you're talking nonsense. Yu-gege and I grew up together, how could I possibly harm Yu-gege?"

Xi Yi, sword in hand, stood on the high steps of the Prince An's mansion, looking down at Ren Yong'an who was being carried away by the guards: "These words were spoken by Miss Ren to my Princess Consort herself. Miss Ren has not forgotten them, has she?"

"The guards of the Prince's mansion aren't deaf, so we all heard you admit to these things. If Miss Ren still wants to make a fuss, how about I call them out to demonstrate for her on the spot?"

The people around her all shook their heads at her.

"I never expected that Miss Yong'an from the Left Prime Minister's residence would be such a vicious woman. Tsk tsk, what makes her the so-called number one beauty in Shengjing? Apart from her face, what does she have that makes her worthy of the title?"

"Exactly, exactly! I was even telling my daughter to learn from Miss Yong'an, but I never expected her to do such a despicable thing in private! Ugh!"

"I didn't, you're lying!" Ren Yong'an shouted hysterically, tears streaming down his face.

Xi Yi, undeterred, waved for the guards to demonstrate on the spot what Ren Yong'an had said in front of the "Princess" that day.

The guard not only imitated Ren Yong'an's arrogant expression, but also adopted a female voice, and even his tone of voice was almost identical.

He even perfectly imitated how his princess reacted at the time, and he was able to play two roles at once.

Ren Yong'an was stunned, and so were the onlookers.

The maid quickly helped Ren Yong'an into the carriage.

Xi Yi snorted coldly: "I can't even handle you now!"

In the front courtyard, Yuan Xiu handed an account book to Lu Xiaoyun: "Your Highness, this compensation money is to be sent to the Northern Army. The cash has all arrived. Here is the roster and the accounts. If there are no problems, this old servant will have someone take the money from the bank, load it onto a cart, and send it to the Northern Army."

Lu Xiaoyun took it and quickly flipped through it.

During the ten years of intermittent wars, large and small, with the Northern Qi, the original 250,000 Northern Army was reduced to less than 200,000.

The ceasefire agreement with Northern Qi was negotiated by Zhu Yu himself. In addition to demanding that Northern Qi cede territory and pay reparations, he also demanded ten times the compensation for the fallen soldiers. The Northern Qi people had already sent people to transport this money to Shengjing.

However, Zhu Yu still took out a sum of money from her private treasury and sent them another sum of silver, which is the account book that Yuan Xiu has now handed over to her.

Zhu Yu had told her about this.

"Okay, go and do it."

Yuan Xiu respectfully agreed and withdrew, just in time to see Xi Yi returning.

"My lord, Miss Ren said some very unpleasant things at the door. I took it upon myself to tell the onlookers about how she framed the princess that day."

Lu Xiaoyun nodded: "You did a great job."

Lu Yuyan winked at Xi Yi, which made Xi Yi tremble.

Lu Xiaoyun walked forward, and Lu Yuyan followed beside her, swinging the corn cob in his hand: "Is this little beauty a pure white lotus?"

"Black camellia flower".

"Both black and tea-colored?"

"Um."

"What a pity, such a beautiful woman, yet she has a black heart." Lu Yuyan casually tossed the corn cob in his hand, which Xi Yi behind him caught steadily. He then tossed it to a servant of the Prince's mansion with a speechless expression.

The two walked side by side. Lu Yuyan grabbed Lu Xiaoyun's hand, rolled up her sleeve, examined the scars on it closely, and then pressed them with his fingers.

Most of the wounds were from swords or arrows, and some were scratches from the claws of wolves or tigers. They were all old wounds, probably inflicted when Zhu Yu first joined the army, when his martial arts skills were not high and he suffered a lot.

He also needs to check her scars; if they're all like that, he'll need to prepare several different scar-removing ointments.

"Little Xi Xi, go do what you need to do. The Prince and I have something to discuss." Lu Yuyan patted Xi Yi, who was following closely behind them.

Xi Yi's skin tightened. He glanced at "Prince An" and then at the handsome Mr. Lu, who was holding "Prince An's" hand tightly. He nodded silently. In any case, Mr. Lu was the one who saved him from the "homosexual" sea.

What could I do? I had to repay the debt of saving my life.

He left the front yard and, incidentally, drove all the guards, servants, and other personnel out of the yard.

"Third brother, what are you doing? How can the master be without someone by his side?" someone asked curiously.

Xi Yi's face was dark, and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides. The prince was actually a homosexual!

This Mr. Lu is a skilled doctor, and he's fair-skinned and handsome, and he even has a taste for this!

"Don't ask." He said in a very unpleasant tone.

But the prince's affair cannot be known to others. Right now, only his four closest confidants, including himself, know about it, which is already a lot.

As they reached the doorway, Lu Yuyan whispered, "Sister, take off your clothes when you come inside. Let me see your scars. They look quite old; you need to get rid of them as soon as possible."

Lu Xiaoyun nodded.

Xi Yi's body stiffened. He turned to look at the two people who had entered the house hand in hand, and saw that his "master" had been dragged into the house by Mr. Lu.

The prince had barely dragged the man into the room before he started undressing him without even closing the door. Mr. Lu seemed even more eager and went up to strip his "master" of his clothes, causing him to shudder.

His face darkened further, and his clenched fists cracked.

One minute the master is worried about the princess, even wanting to die for her when she's on the verge of death, and the next minute he's having an ambiguous relationship with this Mr. Lu. Does he like men or women?

Xi Yi closed his eyes, then stood guard at the courtyard gate with a cold face, automatically shutting down his senses to avoid hearing any alarming sounds.

Inside the room, Lu Yuyan carefully examined Lu Xiaoyun's injuries. These wounds showed that she had survived several brushes with death.

"Sister, Zhu Yu, he..."

Lu Xiaoyun finished dressing and said, "You saw it too. Actually, Zhu Yu just has a bad temper, but he's good to Da Zhou and his brothers. He's spent most of his wealth on supporting the Northern Army. Da Zhou has only been established for a few decades and needs money everywhere. Without Zhu Yu, where would such an invincible army come from?"

The Northern Army was established long ago, but its combat power only increased dramatically in the few years since it came under Zhu Yu's control.

Lu Xiaoyun sighed as she fastened her belt.

"He uses his cold exterior to hide his fragile heart. That's why when Ren Yong'an saved him, he regarded her as his only support, treated her with all his heart, and was willing to give her his heart and soul. But it turned out that she had saved the wrong person at all and had been using him as a stepping stone. How could he not be heartbroken?"

Lu Yuyan asked, puzzled, "The old emperor had many sons. Perhaps he disliked Zhu Yu because he felt he was too powerful and threatened his imperial power, so he deliberately isolated him. But Consort Duan is his mother, so why does she treat him the same way?"