The hall was completely silent.

It seemed that everyone was holding their breath, eagerly anticipating what this burly man, who had appeared out of nowhere, had brought with him a series of shocking events that had shaken the entire court and the public. What astonishing thing was to come next?

Just as her secret was about to be exposed, at this crucial moment, Mei Xiyuan, who had been silent for a long time, finally couldn't hold back and spoke again, interrupting the burly man in time.

She angrily retorted, "Shut your mouth right now! What nonsense are you spouting, you barbarian from a desolate land, like a stray dog?!"

At this moment, Lu Yuan, who was standing in front of the hall, seemed to have anticipated this scene, and asked, "Strange, I haven't even introduced them yet, how does the princess already know they are from the Northern Lie Kingdom?"

Mei Xiyuan then realized that she had acted out of guilt and, in her haste, had been tricked and said the wrong thing. Her eyes darted away, unsure how to explain: "I..."

Lu Yuan pressed on without hesitation, "Could it be that the princess was already acquainted with them?"

Mei Xiyuan glanced at the group with disdain and said, "How dare you! This princess is of noble birth; how could I possibly know such scoundrels?"

He paused for a moment, then explained, "Looking at how unruly and disrespectful they are in front of the palace, and how fierce they look, it's obvious they are from the Northern Lie nomadic people."

After speaking of the four burly men, Mei Xiyuan suddenly turned her gaze to Lu Yuan's face and said angrily, "And you?"

Lu Yuan maintained his composure and calmness as always.

Mei Xiyuan, however, started finding fault with Lu Yuan again, trying to cover up her own vulnerabilities.

"Although you are the young city lord of Dragon Tiger City, you will at most become the lord of a city in the future. Why do you not kneel before the palace? Could it be that you intend to rebel with these desperados from the Northern Lie?"

At this moment, Mei Zhixuan slowly spoke, saying, "It was this prince who specially granted him the privilege of not having to kneel before the palace. He is the person entrusted by Princess Yongning and has Princess Yongning's token. Not only can he not kneel before the palace, but he can also freely enter and exit the palace gates and enter and exit the main hall without any restrictions."

Recalling the situation of the epidemic at that time, Mei Zhixuan was still clearly afraid: "When the epidemic broke out, refugees were running around everywhere. If Lu Yuan hadn't sealed off the city in time, the epidemic would have spread to every corner of Dongning Kingdom. At that time, the entire Dongning Kingdom would probably have ceased to exist. Without his sacrifice, there would be no Dongning as we know it today."

After saying that, he ordered Lu Yuan, who was standing in front of the hall, "Lu Yuan, continue."

"Did you hear that? The Third Prince orders you to continue..."

Lu Yuan, however, gave orders to the four burly men.

"You dare?" Mei Xiyuan still threatened the four people with a furious look.

The burly man was not afraid of her at all.

He glanced at her, then deliberately raised his voice and said to himself, "You all know that your Princess Yongle has already been divorced by Prince Qin, Xuanyuan Han..."

Upon hearing this, the entire court was in an uproar.

"What?"

"The princess has been divorced?"

When did this happen?

"How come there's not a single word about it?"

"It seems the princess must not be favored by the King of Qin."

"But we can't just divorce the princess unilaterally."

"Isn't the King of Qin's behavior a blatant attempt to sabotage the marriage alliance between Dongning and Xiqin?"

"The King of Qin clearly doesn't take my Dongning Kingdom seriously."

"Damn it, this is absolutely awful."

...

For a time, everyone had different opinions.

The burly man who had just delivered the news seemed quite satisfied with his performance.

She couldn't help but stick out her tongue at Mei Xiyuan in a very provocative way.

Then he made a face and said, "I've already told you, what can you do to me? Go ahead and have someone kill me right now? Oh dear, I'm so scared."

Under immense pressure from being discussed and ridiculed by the court elders, he feared that they would continue to reveal more about him.

Mei Xiyuan then became enraged: "Shut up! If you dare to say another word, I will order your tongue to be cut off and fed to the dogs, so that you will never be able to speak again for the rest of your life. Killing you would be too easy for you. I will definitely cut you into a thousand pieces."

The burly man, however, seemed even more self-righteous: "Why don't you send someone to cut it?"

He even made his own request: "Why don't you, Your Highness, do the dismemberment yourself? I'm standing right here."

"you……"

How can a princess maintain her dignity after being provoked like this?

Clearly, in this grand hall, Mei Xiyuan, like Mei Zhihao, could do nothing and made no decisions.

At this point, the courtiers began to discuss the burly men again.

"Who exactly are they?"

"How do you know so much about the princess?"

"It seems that Princess Yongle dislikes them very much."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan explained to everyone, "The four of them are the leaders of the Northern Lie people who stole the ephedra that Princess Yongning had found for Longhu City in Western Qin."

Mei Zhixuan finally understood and said, "Lu Yuan, are you saying that the person who kidnapped the ephedra that Princess Yongning retrieved from Western Qin for Princess Yongle was a Northern Lie? So, Princess Yongle cooperated with the Northern Lie?"

At this moment, the burly man chuckled and said, "Princess Yongle's ambitions are far-reaching."

Mei Xiyuan was furious: "Shut up! You should have known long ago that you are all treacherous and shameless scoundrels."

The burly man continued earnestly, "Princess, you didn't say that to us when you formed an alliance with our eldest prince."

Another burly man chimed in, "That's right, that's right. Back then, when the princess was driven out of the Qin King's mansion in Western Qin and had nowhere to turn, she treated us like her own brothers. She even said that if we brothers helped her succeed, she could have whatever she wanted."

In no time, the four burly men started talking, one after another.

"Yes, yes, Princess, you can't be so ungrateful. The Crown Prince is still waiting for your news."

"What would happen if the Crown Prince found out that the Princess had gone back on her promise?"

“Our Crown Prince’s methods are notoriously cruel throughout the entire Lingkong Continent.”

"Oh my, tsk tsk tsk..."

Unexpectedly, the two tainted witnesses he brought with him have now joined forces with the two accomplices brought by Lu Yuan to turn around and accuse him.

Thinking of Tuoba Ze's cruelty, Mei Xiyuan couldn't help but swallow hard in fear.

"What nonsense are you spouting? What Crown Prince? Who promised you any of this? Stop talking nonsense here."

Mei Xiyuan clearly never expected things to turn out this way, as her attempt to steal a chicken backfired.

But she couldn't just sit and wait to die; she had to do something, even if it was a last-ditch effort...

But things have come to this point, and anyone with eyes can see the truth.

Mei Zhixuan's eyes were already blazing with fury. He immediately ordered the guards in front of the palace: "Guards! Princess Yongle has failed to share the burdens of the country and win the favor of Prince Qin. Now she has been sent back to her country, which is a disgrace to our nation. Moreover, she has even tried to falsely accuse Princess Yongning of colluding with foreign enemies and plotting a rebellion. She is now confined to her own palace. Once everything is investigated, she will not be tolerated. During this period, she is not allowed to leave the palace without my permission."

"No"

"You can't treat this princess like this!"

"For the sake of Dongning, this princess is willing to sacrifice her own happiness for the rest of her life."

"You cannot discard me like a worn-out shoe."

"Don't lock me up."

When Mei Xiyuan saw the two guards with swords enter, she finally panicked.

"open"

"Let me go!"

“I am the noble Princess Yongle.”

"You lackeys, how dare you treat me like this."

"I will definitely skin you alive..."

And so, in full view of everyone, Princess Yongle, Mei Xiyuan, who was born proud, was finally dragged away by her arms.

No matter how much she screamed, it was all in vain.

Mei Zhihao was left trembling in front of the hall, seemingly still confused about what had happened, unsure of how to leave.

Just then, Mei Zhixuan shifted his gaze to Mei Zhihao's face and asked, "What, you're still not planning to leave? Don't you feel ashamed enough? Do you want someone to come in and ask you to leave?"

Upon hearing this, Mei Zhihao was so frightened that he shrugged, and then left with a fierce remark: "You just wait!"

Then, it raised its sleeves, tucked its tail between its legs, and quickly walked away.

At this moment, Mei Zhixuan smiled and praised, "Lu Yuan, you did a great job. If it weren't for you, Princess Yongning would probably have been framed."

Just as Lu Yuan was about to speak, someone in front of the hall weakly said, "But no matter what, our princess has been divorced like this. Are we just going to swallow our anger like this?"

Lu Yuan said, "Princess Yongle has brought this humiliation upon herself. I heard that she repeatedly targeted Princess Yongning when she was in Western Qin. Sooner or later, she will be divorced by King Xuanyuan Han of Qin."

After a pause, seemingly filled with regret but having no choice but to accept it, Lu Yuan continued, "Moreover, the current Princess Qin is also our princess. If we were to pursue this matter, it would likely be detrimental to the princess as well."

Upon hearing this, the crowd gasped in surprise once again.

"What?"

"The current Queen Consort of Qin is also our princess."

"Does the young city lord mean that Princess Yongning has become the Princess Consort of Qin again?"

"What exactly is going on?"

Lu Yuan said, "It was the princess. In order to save Longhu City, she made a deal with the Qin Prince's mansion. Fortunately, she heard that the Qin Prince treated our princess very well, so she exchanged the dozen or so carts of ephedra that saved the entire city. Unexpectedly, on the way to Longhu City, she was poisoned and robbed by Princess Yongle, who was allied with Tuoba Ze."

"So that's how it is."

Thus, the truth about this batch of ephedra was finally revealed, and the hall returned to silence once more.

Mei Zhixuan then asked Lu Yuan with concern, "So, Princess Yongning has been found? Is she at the residence of the Prince of Qin in Western Qin?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan's expression suddenly turned melancholy: "No, the princess... she's missing."

"Disappeared? What happened?"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately looked at each other in bewilderment.

Lu Yuan's mood grew increasingly heavy as he recalled, "West of Western Qin, there's a place called Lu County. Not long ago, it experienced the most severe sandstorm in its history. The princess volunteered to go there to lead the local people in combating the sandstorm, and she just happened to be caught in that sandstorm..."