Elder Nan and Elder Qi started arguing again in the Imperial Garden.

For no other reason than that they simply couldn't stand each other, and both of them tacitly agreed that the shifty-eyed old man in front of them had stolen their junior sister!

At such an advanced age, why do such things?

Absolutely shameless!

"I can casually set up a chess game that will amaze future generations for decades to study. What can you, a lousy painter, compare to me?"

"I can create a classic masterpiece with just a few strokes of my pen. What can you, a lousy chess player, use to compare with me?"

Neither of them would give in.

Old Nan looked disdainful: "Nine out of ten painters are poor, and the other one is extremely bald. I'm richer than you!"

Old Qi sneered, "One of my paintings is worth a thousand pieces of gold. Who's rich and who's poor is still uncertain!"

"I met my junior sister first, old man Qi. First come, first served. Stealing someone is shameless!"

"Everything depends on fate. You're petty and narrow-minded, and even more shameless!"

The two old rascals argued incessantly, just like two cocks that had eaten too much and were now fighting.

The palace servants and the young attendants who were in charge of serving the two of them went from being terrified to taking it for granted, and now they are completely indifferent.

Don't ask, the answer is that nobody dares to mess with them.

We can't afford to mess with them.

They're all big shots.

Let them argue all they want, and they can also get some exercise by turning their heads three times to the left and three times to the right, twisting their necks and wiggling their hips. Why not?

Unexpectedly, the two of them seemed to have taken some kind of explosive action today. What used to be a half-hour fight turned into a fierce argument, with spittle flying everywhere, faces red, and voices hoarse from shouting.

The palace servants and onlookers looked at each other in bewilderment.

Should we try to break up the fight or not?

This is not just a problem, but a difficult one.

Old Nan slammed his fist on the table in anger, sending all the chess pieces flying in all directions.

"Old Qi, you're throwing a tantrum, you're being a scoundrel, you're being unreasonable! I'm going to ask my junior sister to settle this!"

"Old Nan, you're heartless, ungrateful, and unreasonable! Fine, go ahead! Who's afraid of you!"

Not to be outdone, Old Qi snapped his paintbrush in two with a few sharp cracks.

Palace servant: "???"

The servant was horrified: "!!!"

Good heavens! You should know that each of these chess pieces is made of the finest jade; losing even one would cost thousands of taels of silver.

Oh my god, oh my god, this priceless paintbrush has been broken in half like this?

This is not a disease.

This is pure wastefulness.

If you're going to argue, then argue seriously and focus on it. Why bother messing around with these precious things?

The two servants were heartbroken.

The tears she had been holding back finally spilled from the corners of her mouth.

Not to mention the servant, both of the parties involved also expressed their heartache.

Old Nan: Waaah, it took several years to carve this chess piece. It was so hard to finally get my hands on it. He hasn't even played a single game with it yet.

Old Qi: Waaah, every hair on this paintbrush is worth a fortune! It took so much effort to make it, and he hasn't even painted a single picture yet.

Both of them felt an unbearable pain in their hearts, yet on the surface they remained calm and indifferent.

Nan Lao Zuo snorted: "It's just a few pieces of jade, I don't care at all."

He just felt a little like crying.

Qi Laoyou snorted: "They're just a few sticks, I don't care about them at all."

He was just feeling a little unwell.

After the two finished humming through their noses again, they prepared to go to Haoyue Palace to seek justice from Shen Jiao.

"Elder Nan and Elder Qi, please wait a moment, Her Majesty is not in the palace at the moment," a palace servant who had heard the commotion came forward to remind them.

"Not in the palace? Where did they go?" the two elders asked in unison.

The Four Flowers Banquet preliminary test is in two days. Everyone else is trying to make the most of every day. If Junior Sister doesn't stay in the palace to study the zither and calligraphy, where else can she go?

The palace maid said, "Lord Anbo invited Her Highness to meet at Zui Shan Xuan, but Her Highness left the palace a quarter of an hour ago."

Zui Shan Xuan is not only the largest restaurant in Southern Xinjiang, but under Master Gu's leadership, it has now successfully become the number one restaurant in the royal city.

Of course, the most popular dish is spicy crayfish.

Logically speaking, as the head of the harem, the empress should not leave the palace without permission.

But their emperor didn't care about these things at all, and the rules were just rules.

After all, what's more important than the Empress's happiness and freedom?

Anyway, there's only one empress in the harem, so I'm in charge, and no one dares to gossip or complain.

Marquis Anbo?

Both old rascals were taken aback.

They didn't know these kinds of freeloaders before, but since it concerned their junior sister's family situation, they took the initiative to lower themselves and learn more about them.

Old Nan's tone became even worse: "Lord Anbo? That's Junior Sister's shit-eating scumbag father?"

The palace maid blushed with embarrassment: "...Is that so?"

Surprisingly, Old Nan is quite well-informed; it turns out even a chess master like him enjoys gossip.

Old Master Qi was displeased: "A marquis in name only dares to put on airs with Junior Sister? He deserves a beating!"

Not daring to refute, the palace servant could only nod: "...Yes, yes, he deserves to be beaten."

The two elders grew increasingly dissatisfied.

Whether they argue about it or not is not important; the main thing is that they are genuinely worried that their junior sister will fall behind in her studies!

Furthermore, the junior sister has thin arms and legs and looks delicate, making her seem easy to bully.

Anbo Hou is such a big guy, and he has mental problems. What if he goes crazy and accidentally hurts his junior sister?

The two immediately agreed to a truce, and, unusually, they stood on the same side, instructing their servants to do so.

"Prepare the carriage, we're leaving the palace too!"

Go and teach that scumbag marquis a lesson for your junior sister!

...

Shen Jiao did indeed leave the palace.

But she was going to the Gu family to visit Master Gu and Madam Gu. As for agreeing to meet with Marquis Anbo, it was just something she happened to be doing on the way.

Anbo Hou's attitude towards the original owner was quite obvious, and she didn't have the habit of trying to win him over by being cold to the point of being rejected.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!