Princess's Life

Outside the palace, the sky was overcast and looked like it was about to rain.

The palace doors were pushed open, and Xiao Yu was pulled inside. He had changed his clothes before coming and tidied himself up to avoid being disrespectful in front of the palace.

Pei Wenjin, disregarding any notion of hierarchy, led Xiao Yu inside while the others waited outside.

Xiao Yu was unsure of Pei Wenjin's intentions. Pei Wenjin acted entirely in a businesslike manner, saying little and escorting Xiao Yu to the Imperial Study without offering any further comment.

Xiao Yu began to doubt that he had made the wrong guess. He was torn between his own thoughts and his own mind, trying hard to figure out Pei Wenjin's intentions.

She was led away by Pei Wenjin in a daze for half a day. For some reason, Xiao Yu held back from making any rash moves while he was nearby.

The Imperial Study was a large hall, with a strong charcoal fire burning inside. When Xiao Yu entered, she felt comfortable and relaxed in the warmth. Pei Wenjin coughed to signal her to come back to her senses and pay her respects.

Xiao Yu stood shoulder to shoulder with him, lifted the beaded curtain of the inner hall, and passed through the magnificent screen. An old man sat down in the main seat, holding an imperial brush and reviewing memorials with a calm demeanor. The two knelt down and bowed in greeting.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

The emperor didn't even raise his head, leaving the two men kneeling there. Only after reviewing about three memorials did the old emperor finally spare a glance for them.

Taking advantage of the lull, Xiao Yu quickly racked his brains for a solution.

"Xiao Mingzhao, do you know your crime!"

The old emperor tossed aside the memorial in his hand, his imposing presence radiating authority. Xiao Yu knew what was going on; Ji Chuan had just explained to her that the person she had killed was a key figure in a major case, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had been tracking this person for a long time. They had come today to arrest him.

Unfortunately, it was too late. They captured the person, but Xiao Yu was killed.

The princess's appearance was unexpected and caused a major blunder in the stalemate. A detailed report was submitted to the emperor on the way back to the capital.

Xiao Yu bowed and said in a steady voice, "Your subject knows he is guilty and will accept any punishment. Please, Father, calm your anger."

The emperor flung his sleeve, slapping the memorial in her face. He slammed his fist on the table, his anger rising at her indifferent demeanor. He roared, "I truly underestimated you! Weren't you under house arrest?! Huh? What do you take my orders for granted?! Speak!"

Xiao Yu, drawing inspiration from the many period dramas he had watched before, banged his head on the ground, racking his brains for something to say in order to get away with it.

The emperor was even angrier when he saw her just kowtowing without saying a word. He grabbed an inkstone and was about to smash it on her, but Xiao Yu knelt down and didn't dodge. Instead, Pei Wenjin stepped in and drew the fire.

Despite his rage, Pei Wenjin remained composed and respectful: "Your Majesty, I have already sent people to suppress this matter, but the key figure is dead, so it will probably take some more time."

Xiao Yu secretly peeked at him through the cover of his sleeve, his expression as if he had swallowed a thousand flies, his inner thoughts a fascinating mix of emotions.

Pei Wenjin not only did not embellish the story as she had expected, nor did he mention her refusal to cooperate and her attack on the Imperial Guards... On the contrary, he helped her draw the fire, showing no sign of wanting to harm her.

Xiao Yu silently slipped a "good guy" card into Lord Pei's pocket, thinking to herself that it was all a misunderstanding and that she had misjudged the situation; it was truly a sin of hers.

The emperor paced back and forth in his study, hands on his hips. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself down. After a while, he finally turned his attention to Pei Wenjin, who was kneeling on the ground: "How could you, as the commander, make such a big mistake?"

Pei Wenjin remained kneeling without uttering a sound, refusing to respond. Emperor Gan Hui, enraged by these two spitting fingers, turned his attention back to Xiao Yu.

Why did you go to Xuanlan Courtyard?

Xiao Yu was speechless, cold sweat pouring down her back. She knew far too few clues. If she said the wrong thing and made the emperor suspicious of her, the consequences would be far beyond what she could bear.

What to do? Xiao Yu's heart pounded like a drum, and her hands gripping the hem of her skirt tightened involuntarily, just as she was about to give up entirely.

Pei Wenjin spoke again.

"Your Majesty, the Third Prince had a case on his hands before being confined. He must have been eager to solve the case, which is why he disobeyed Your Majesty's orders... Moreover, I had my men carefully examine the scene of the fire. It was a young monk who fell asleep after Your Highness left and knocked over the candlestick."

Pei Wenjin glanced at Xiao Yu out of the corner of his eye as he spoke: "It is not the princess's fault. Please, Your Majesty, see the truth."

Yes, yes, that's it. Let me say a few more words.

"Friendly forces! Friendly forces!" Xiao Yu cheered inwardly, having managed to quell the emperor's anger with just a few words from Pei Wenjin. At this moment, she had elevated Lord Pei to a divine status.

Upon hearing this, the emperor's mood improved slightly, and a tentative look appeared on his aged face: "Is everything handled?"

Pei Wenjin understood: "Don't worry, I've also dealt with all the rumors circulating about the princess that are detrimental to her."

Seeing Pei Wenjin's composed demeanor, the emperor's anger subsided quickly. He glanced at Xiao Yu with considerable apprehension and disdain, then waved his hand and said, "Then lift the confinement and reinstate him to his original position, so that the Court of Judicial Review won't keep coming to me every now and then to demand his return."

“Taking shortcuts is not a good thing. Relying too much on superstition and supernatural forces will inevitably lead to problems sooner or later.” Pei Wenjin struck a nerve with the emperor, giving him a chance to speak.

He knew the emperor's temperament very well. Sure enough, the emperor lay back on his dragon throne, staring wistfully at the exaggerated gilded carvings on the inner eaves, and slowly said, "His ability to detect lies by listening is unparalleled. This is a divine gift that the Empress Dowager sought for the Great Jing... his reputation among the people..."

Xiao Yu couldn't understand why the two had suddenly started speaking in cryptic terms, but she knew that the core of their discussion was mostly about herself.

She moved her knees, which were aching from kneeling, and went to look at the memorials scattered at her feet. The emperor was busy chatting with Pei Wenjin about other things and turned a blind eye to her little actions.

The memorial fell to her knees. Xiao Yu picked it up and opened it. Inside was a detailed record of operations. Starting two months ago, the Embroidered Uniform Guards had been constantly entering and leaving the Ministry of Revenue and going out to the coast to visit merchants. Xiao Yu understood everything from the record.

Pei Wenjin was also reporting the progress of the case to the emperor. Xiao Yu listened intently and pieced together most of the original story.

Last summer, Huaizhou Prefecture suffered from severe flooding, resulting in a complete crop failure and widespread poverty. In accordance with the principle of providing relief to those in the vicinity, the four surrounding prefectures distributed grain from their granaries to aid Huaizhou. Initially, things were fine, but as the grain was distributed, the four prefectures realized that no matter how hard they tried, they could not fill the gap left by Huaizhou's disaster.

There is not enough food, not enough at all, but how could the food from the four prefectures not be enough to feed the small Huaizhou?

It was three months later when the imperial court learned of the matter. Pei Wenjin was ordered to investigate the reasons behind it. Along the way, the sight of refugees eating soil and sand made him uneasy. When he opened the granary in Huaizhou, he found that it was indeed the worst possible outcome.

It was completely empty, including most of the grain sent from the four counties; it was all gone.

The prefect of Huaizhou died in his own well on the very night he arrived there.

How could they have swallowed so much grain without anyone noticing? Such audacity is astounding; no local merchant or powerful family could possibly exonerate themselves.

Xuanlan Courtyard was the clue they had painstakingly uncovered after half a year of hard work. Grain was too much for the wealthy; they could only store it in gold and silver.

The man she accidentally killed was one of the contacts. Two months ago, Pei Wenjin raided a money exchange, uncovered unusual money flows, strengthened monitoring of private funds, and tracked down this "intermediary."

There must still be grain that hasn't been exchanged. It's not properly stored in the official granaries. With the continuous rain in the capital, the grain will rot and become worthless.

The Imperial Guards had been lying in wait for a long time, just waiting to close the net and capture them alive, but unfortunately they were too late.

There was more than one memorial. Xiao Yu, with her sharp eyes, spotted her own name in one of them. The content also mentioned the "fire" that Pei Wenjin had just mentioned in his defense of her.

I don't know which official spoke earnestly and wrote a lengthy piece of nearly a thousand words to accuse Princess Mingzhao, from the princess's life to recent events.

Every word they spoke implied a desire for the emperor to execute the princess as soon as possible.

Xiao Yu also learned about the original owner's identity from this.

Xiao Diting, courtesy name Mingzhao, is the third princess of the current dynasty. She was born with the ability to read minds and detect lies. Due to her special circumstances, she was appointed to the Dali Temple to preside over cases.

Rumor has it that the Empress Dowager, who ate vegetarian food and chanted Buddhist prayers every day, summoned a celestial being to descend to earth for the sake of the Great Jing Dynasty. But everyone knows that the princess's fate was to bring misfortune to her family and relatives, and that she had been plagued by disasters since birth. The so-called "celestial being" could also be a "ghost."

There was more than one such memorial, and all of them were suppressed by the emperor.

"Have you finished reading them?" The Emperor saw that she had put away all the memorials, and it was rare for him to show any affection for his children. "We are in a very dangerous situation right now. Don't cause any more trouble for me... If it weren't for the reliable work of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, your crime would have been even more serious, and I wouldn't have been able to protect you."

Indeed, if a princess already burdened with negative reputations were to become entangled in such a major case, it would be beyond the emperor's ability to handle alone.

Unless an emperor is utterly incompetent and openly admits to harboring criminals and disregarding the common people, the life or death of a princess rests entirely on the emperor's lips.

Just as Pei Wenjin was about to finish his report, Xiao Yu remembered the information he had obtained from touching Yan Zhi not long ago and felt that he could not sit idly by and wait for his death.

What does it mean that "you can only get involved in Huaizhou's goods by begging the adults..."? There are too many mysteries surrounding her, and Xiao Yu can't help but feel anxious. She has never experienced such a situation of seeing things through a fog before.

Past experience told her that sitting idly by and passively moving forward was a dead end. Only by standing at the eye of the storm could she go against the current and find a glimmer of hope.

So she did just that. Taking advantage of the emperor's seemingly good mood, she boldly spoke up: "Father, I know I am guilty and wish to serve my country while awaiting punishment!"

The old emperor glanced at her coldly and scoffed disdainfully, "What else can you do?"

Xiao Yu eagerly added, "My talent—"

"No, this is too dangerous." The emperor cut her off before she could finish. "Allowing a princess from the inner palace to practice martial arts and serve in the Dali Temple is already against the law... Look at the bruises on your neck. If something really happens, how will your father explain to your mother in the afterlife!"

"I second that, Your Highness's precious health cannot be harmed." Pei Wenjin, who had just been showing her favoritism in many ways, also chimed in at the opportune moment, and Xiao Yu mentally withdrew his "good guy" card.

The emperor was in a bad mood and felt angry just looking at the two of them. He simply waved his hand to signal them to kneel down and leave: "Alas, you two are a handful of good-for-nothings who can't give me any peace of mind. Get out of here."

Pei Wenjin scrambled to his feet and rolled away in a hurry, without even bowing. Xiao Yu watched his departing figure without moving, her eyelashes lowered.

The emperor, exasperated, repeated to her, "You only told him to get out, but didn't tell you to leave with him, right?"

Knowing that further pleading would offend the emperor, Xiao Yu respectfully kowtowed and left without saying a word.

As she left the inner palace, it started to rain outside. A palace maid opened a vermilion oil-paper umbrella and asked her if she wanted to return to the palace. Xiao Yu was startled by the cold wind outside, and her back was covered in cold sweat. She was stunned for a long time.

"Your Highness? Your Highness?" the palace maid called her several more times.

Xiao Yu snapped out of her daze, her body trembling slightly. She leaned against the white marble railing outside the palace and, after a while, her eyes cleared as she adjusted herself: "Please lead the way, I need to rest properly."