Gong Ershao's words about catching birds and plucking feathers were deliberately said to Zuo Miaomiao in order to force her to inform her.

The Zuo family is small, and Situ An has plenty of guards around him, so keeping an eye on him is not a problem.

As their masters, Zuo Miaomiao and Zuo Yushi were naturally the focus of their surveillance.

The next day, after the Left Censor handed over the items, they followed the clues and quickly found Xiao Qingyin as the culprit.

Zuo Miaomiao's original intention was to have Xiao Qingyin relay the message to Fu Weiyun, since she was embarrassed to contact Fu Weiyun directly, lest her father suspect that she was having an affair with another man.

Gong Ershao and Situ An mistakenly believed that the gyrfalcon was in Xiao Qingyin's hands.

After figuring out the clues, they went to visit them.

Upon hearing their purpose, Xiao Qingyin said without hesitation, "That gyrfalcon is my family member, and I will not give it to anyone else."

Situ An had been rebuffed by Zuo Miaomiao once, and then by Xiao Qingyin once more, until he had reached his breaking point.

He threatened, "If you don't give it to me, I'll go and complain to Grandfather the Emperor."

Xiao Qingyin laughed and said, "Even if I were in front of your grandfather, I would say the same thing."

Situ An was furious.

"The gyrfalcon is a first-class divine eagle, only royalty is worthy to possess it. You're hiding it, are you plotting a rebellion? Believe me or not, I'll have my grandfather, the Emperor, confiscate your property and chop off your head!"

Xiao Qingyin found it amusing: "Go ahead and sue me, I'm not afraid."

If the emperor dared to confiscate her property and behead her for the sake of this brat, she would dare to dethrone the emperor.

Situ An felt he was being looked down upon, and his anger intensified.

He stormed off from the Marquis of Zhongyong’s residence with Gong Ershao and his guards, heading straight for the palace.

On the way, fearing that he would only act tough, Young Master Gong taught him a few words of advice.

Upon meeting the emperor, Situ An parroted Xiao Qingyin's accusations.

“Grandpa, An’an thinks the beads on your crown are beautiful and wants to give you some beads too.”

“But my second uncle said that this bead was taken from the stomach of a swan. Swans are very difficult to catch; only a gyrfalcon can catch them.”

"An'an wanted to catch a gyrfalcon so it could help her catch swans."

“A few days ago, An’an and her uncle went out of town to play and saw a particularly magnificent white gyrfalcon, but they couldn’t catch it and it got away.”

"Later we found out that it was raised by Xiao Qingyin, the cousin of the Marquis of Zhongyong. An'an and her uncle went to ask her for it, but she refused to give it to them."

"The gyrfalcon is clearly a pet of our royal family. Isn't it a heinous crime for her to keep it as a pet in private?"

"Grandpa Emperor, please issue an order immediately to confiscate their property and execute them, and bring back the gyrfalcon."

The emperor was moved by his filial piety, but he remained rational.

Although most gyrfalcons were offered as tribute to the royal family, there was no prohibition against individuals keeping them. Xiao Qingyin's gyrfalcon must have been given to her by Fu Junshi.

Standing behind her were not only Fu Junshi, but also Yun Zhao and Yi Shuihan, all of whom seemed to handle the situation with ease.

He couldn't possibly punish her just because she was a gyrfalcon.

It's even less likely that they would confiscate their property and exterminate their entire clan.

The only thing he could do was comfort Situ An: "If she's unwilling, then so be it. Your Majesty has gyrfalcons here; I'll have someone send one over right away."

After saying this, he ordered the palace servants to bring the bird.

Situ An didn't want the gyrfalcon at the moment; he just wanted to vent his anger.

Upon seeing the gyrfalcon brought by the palace servants, she said coquettishly, "Grandpa Emperor, this gyrfalcon is gray, not as pretty as the white one. An'an wants the white one."

“You play with this one first,” the emperor replied. “When we catch the white one, Grandpa will give it to you.”

Situ An realized that there was no room for negotiation.

He returned to the East Palace sullenly with the gray gyrfalcon.

As soon as Young Master Gong saw the gyrfalcon, he knew the outcome of his complaint.

"It seems that Miss Xiao has a very strong backing, even His Majesty has to give way to her."

Situ An kicked the chair hard. "I don't care, I must catch that white gyrfalcon."

Young Master Gong stared at the gray gyrfalcon for a while, and a wicked plan came to mind.

"An'an, we can do this..."

Situ An was overjoyed upon hearing this.

"Okay! Let's head to the outskirts now!"

The two men, accompanied by their guards and a gray gyrfalcon, left the city.

At that time, Fu Weiyun had just received the shuttlecock made by Zuo Miaomiao from Xiao Qingyin and learned that Miss Bai was being coveted.

He knew the personalities of Gong Ershao and Situ An, and his expression immediately darkened.

"They won't let this go."

Although the White Girl is quite clever and has a certain ability to protect herself, she may not be able to handle it if the other party uses underhanded tactics.

"I have to find it and make it leave the capital and go back to Liaodong to avoid trouble."

“I’ll go with you.”

Fu Weiyun did not refuse, and the siblings took their people and rode to the eastern suburbs.

As soon as they arrived in the countryside, Fu Weiyun whistled to summon Bai Guniang.

Normally, the White Maiden would appear in no more than ten breaths.

But this time, they waited for a quarter of an hour, but still didn't see Miss Bai.

Fu Weiyun's heart sank.

"Something must have happened to Miss Bai."

They returned to the city immediately.

Situ An was eager for them to know that he had captured the gyrfalcon, so he spread the news everywhere as soon as he returned to the palace.

Fu Weiyun was so angry that he wanted to storm into the East Palace and rescue Miss Bai.

Zuo Miaomiao also received the message.

She rushed to the General's Mansion, head bowed, too ashamed to face Fu Weiyun.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault. If I hadn't been playing shuttlecock at home, they wouldn't have..."

"This is not your fault."

Fu Weiyun interrupted her.

“They had noticed Miss Bai a long time ago. Even if they hadn’t seen the shuttlecock, they would have found a way to catch it.”

Even so, Zuo Miaomiao still felt guilty.

"I've already asked my father to impeach them both at tomorrow's morning court session. I wonder if His Majesty will order them to return the documents after hearing about it."

This coincided with Fu Weiyun's idea.

He thanked Zuo Miaomiao, and then had someone spread the word about Situ An and Gong Erlang's evil deeds throughout the streets and alleys.

The following day, a dozen or so officials submitted memorials impeaching Situ An for being arrogant, cruel, and for torturing and killing gray gyrfalcons that were being presented as tribute from Liaodong in order to capture Fu Weiyun's white gyrfalcon.

"...General Fu is fighting the Tartars in Liaodong, yet the young imperial grandson is even plundering the gyrfalcons kept by his son. How chilling!"

The emperor was naturally furious.

He never expected that Situ An would say one thing to his face and another behind his back, actually using the gyrfalcon he had given him to lure and capture that white gyrfalcon.

That gyrfalcon didn't even belong to Xiao Qingyin, but to Fu Weiyun.

Isn't this forcing Fu Junshi to rebel?

However, Situ An was still young, and he was inclined to believe that he had been instigated by Gong Erlang, so he stripped Gong Erlang of his official position and gave him a hundred lashes.

Situ An was punished with ten lashes and ordered to return the white gyrfalcon.

Situ An had finally managed to catch this bird, so how could he bear to return it?

Having been whipped ten times, he was filled with rage.

But he couldn't fight city hall; the decree had been issued, and he dared not disobey.

Despite the distortion, it was still returned, but what it returned was a crippled bird with broken wings and two legs.