Upon seeing that it was rice, and fine rice at that, everyone's eyes welled up with tears. Moreover, there was meat and vegetables as well. The women and children cried, but quickly wiped away their tears and replied, "We'll go cook right away."

The meal was ready, and the group of people held their rice and looked at the meat and vegetables in front of them, their eyes welling up with tears. Even the three-year-old child cherished this bowl of rice.

"Eat quickly, we'll talk after we're full."

Perhaps influenced by everyone else, Ji Yingying also ate a large bowl.

Just as he put down his bowl, the Crown Prince arrived.

Ji Yingying waved happily when she saw him, saying, "Your Highness, this old minister is here."

"Old...Old minister..." The eunuchs following behind the Crown Prince were dumbfounded. How dare Ji Yingying, who looked like that, call herself old?

The entire village was terrified; they all knelt down, not daring to utter a single word.

Who exactly is this person who's been tied up? They don't even need to kneel before the Crown Prince?

"Are you alright?" After asking the question, the Crown Prince suddenly felt a sense of being influenced by bad company, as Ji Yingying usually used this phrase.

"I'm fine, Your Highness. Look at this group of people. They are all refugees from Fengcheng. You can arrange things for them. They had nowhere else to go, so they became bandits in the mountains."

"Alright, I understand. I will make arrangements. It's getting late, Ji San, why don't you go back and rest?"

"No rush, there are still Taoist priests and my cousin's family to deal with."

Ning Qingran turned to look at her. The girl was so energetic; she wasn't sleepy even though it was so late.

"Alright, take them all back with you. It just so happens that Father is waiting for you to return to the palace."

Oh dear~ The Emperor is still awake, waiting for me to return.

[Yes, I haven't slept. I'm waiting for you to go back. Your Emperor of Tianyou Dynasty is quite kind; he really cares for you, his subject. He's actually waiting for you to return. You should hurry back.]

Ji Yingying blinked her big eyes, revealing disbelief.

"Should we go back and tell the Emperor?"

"Your father found out as soon as you were kidnapped."

"so what?"

"So, your parents are waiting for you to come back to the Imperial Study."

Upon hearing that her parents were waiting for her in the Imperial Study, Ji Yingying immediately lost all interest in playing around: "Sigh! I'd better go back early; I'm afraid I can't withstand my mother's Iron Palm."

Hearing that she was going back, the Crown Prince breathed a sigh of relief. Ji Yingying was good in every way, except that she was very playful and had a way of living that didn't care about tomorrow's fate. She was bold in her actions but outwardly timid.

Send people to bring back the family of refugees who were being held captive, as well as the Taoist priest, and also take the thirty refugees away. This matter naturally needs to be dealt with.

Upon returning to the city gates, Ji Yingying even had the guards taken away.

[Host, there's some juicy gossip about those guards guarding the city, want some?]

[Tell me quickly, it's the middle of the night, I'm so bored! This prince is so energetic, he keeps staring at me, it's making me too embarrassed to even read the storybook.]

Crown Prince: You're too embarrassed to read storybooks, so you poison my ears? Along the way, there were either loud singing or mournful wails, and even the ghosts passing by didn't dare to take a step closer.

The coachmen and soldiers outside were trembling with fear. If they didn't know it was you singing, they probably would have hidden themselves away. It was too frightening.

They often accepted bribes and oppressed the people. Most importantly, they conspired to murder an entire family, about a hundred people in total. Those people are now buried in that house.

[What house?]

[They killed those hundred or so people in their home, buried them in a pit, and then staged it to look like the whole family had left the capital. They also turned the house into a haunted house, using it to hide their embezzled silver and as a torture chamber for their crimes.]

[How did they do that?] Ji Yingying's hands were already clenched. These three people went too far, actually killing over a hundred people.

[He drugged them because the family had unintentionally offended the three of them. One of them had taken a liking to the family's daughter, but the family didn't want to marry her to him. Another had accidentally spilled the young master's food, but the young master hadn't done anything to him, only asking for an apology. Yet, he still harbored malicious intentions.]

[Another one was someone who slept with the master's concubine, was discovered, and only planned to kill her after trying to save herself. In short, the whole family died at the hands of these three.]

After poisoning the people, they dug a pit and buried them overnight. While burying them, they did *that*, and committed atrocities against the women.

You mean...they...?

Yes, after that incident, they frequently oppressed the people. They thought they were powerful because they could get away with killing such a large family, so they started to amass wealth.

[Don't the neighbors know about that family?] It's not just one family, is it? Don't they usually gossip?

[I know, they said they were leaving Beijing, so the neighbors naturally assumed the whole family had left the city. Then rumors of a haunted house spread, and the neighbors either ran away or moved out. Basically, nobody lived near that house in that area anymore.]

It's true what they say, "Three men walking together will inevitably cause trouble!"

The Crown Prince: Language isn't used like that. Don't misuse it, or you'll teach people bad things. But... He sighed helplessly, lifted the carriage curtain, and saw Rong Yi outside.

Upon seeing the Crown Prince lift the carriage curtain, he immediately nodded to the Crown Prince, indicating that he had made a note of it.

Back in the capital, it was almost one in the morning. As soon as she entered the Imperial Study, Ji Yingying greeted the Emperor with a smile: "Your Majesty, how are you?"

Then she thought to herself, "Are the concubines in the harem not attractive enough? Or are their methods not seductive enough? They're keeping the Emperor up so late. No problem, when I have time, I'll go to the harem and give the concubines some tricks for vying for the Emperor's favor. At least they should start fighting!"

Listening to her innermost thoughts, the Emperor couldn't help but sigh: Ji Yingying is indeed Ji Yingying! Faced with such a big situation, she wasn't afraid at all, and could even... joke about me like that.

Ji Cailiang and Fang Yulan breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, nothing happened.

The Crown Prince reported everything, and Rong Yi also reported everything that the three soldiers guarding the city had done.

For three mere soldiers to be able to do something so ruthless shows that... even the imperial city is not a safe place.

The emperor was furious and made the matter public. He ordered the execution of the confiscated gold and silver in the autumn and confiscated all the gold and silver.

As for the refugees, in addition to comforting them, we asked them whether they wanted to go back to Fengcheng or stay in the capital. They were already dumbfounded, as they had actually kidnapped an official and taken him back with them.

The thirty men were timid and dared not speak. Ji Yingying comforted the two children, saying, "Don't be afraid. The Emperor won't behead you. You haven't done anything wrong."

The two children secretly looked up at the Emperor, then lowered their heads again.

Finally, he requested to return to his hometown.

This matter is to be handled by the Crown Prince. As for the Fang family members, let Ji Cailiang deal with them. As for the last Taoist priest, just as the Emperor was wondering how to deal with him, Ji Yingying's inner voice rang out.