Chapter 197 Death Escape, Rebirth

Xiao Xuanyou finally raised his head, his eyes flashing with a chilling madness, "Whoever dares to come, I will kill them."

"I want to stay with Zhi'er, all of you get out!"

He was overwhelmed with grief and leaned down to press his trembling lips against Jiang Zhi's stiff cheek.

She was very careful, even her breathing was extremely soft, and tears fell onto her clothes, spreading a small dark patch.

He traced her features absentmindedly, his fingertips trembling, and suddenly chuckled softly.

"Zhi'er, I was wrong. I shouldn't have kept you by my side. You must be punishing me, right? But why didn't you attack me? Why didn't you kill me? Why did you have to punish me in this way..."

Xiao Xuanyou was in complete disarray, his breathing heavy and his laughter low and sinister.

The Empress gave a signal, and immediately a guard came forward and delivered a swift chop to the back of Xiao Xuanyou's neck.

Xiao Xuanyou's laughter stopped abruptly, and he fainted from resentment and pain.

"Yan'er, I'm entrusting the Crown Prince to your care," the Empress said, pinching her brow with a headache. "Take the body away and bury it."

Li Jinyan did not immediately agree. "Mother, please let me handle the body of Princess Qinghe."

Faced with the Empress's questioning gaze, Li Jinyan explained, "Although the Crown Prince is filial, he will inevitably resent you, Mother. If he wakes up and learns that you took away Princess Qinghe's body, it will definitely affect your relationship. Let me handle this."

"Aren't you afraid the Crown Prince will blame you?" the Empress asked her, frowning.

Li Jinyan said, "My relationship with Princess Qinghe is still good. Even if the Crown Prince finds out when he wakes up, he won't blame me too much. Please rest assured, Mother."

The Empress glanced at Xiao Xuanyou with concern, then finally nodded and left.

Looking at Jiang Zhi lying on the couch, Li Jinyan couldn't help but breathe a heavy sigh of relief.

＊

Three months later, inside the residence of the Prefect of Xuzhou.

Today is a flower-viewing banquet hosted by Zhao Anran, the daughter of Prefect Zhao.

Prefect Zhao had only been in office in Xuzhou for a short time, and the wives and relatives of his subordinates from all directions were eager to get acquainted with his female relatives. This flower-viewing banquet was a perfect opportunity for them.

"Oh, the flowers at Sister Zhao's house are blooming so beautifully! Many of them are varieties I've never seen before."

"Look at this Wei Zi peony, it has never appeared in Xuzhou before. Where did Sister Zhao get it from?"

"This has truly broadened our horizons. Sister Zhao, who came from Kyoto, is indeed extraordinary."

"Sister Zhao's outfit today is also very exquisite. It must be the most fashionable moon-like gauze in the capital right now, right? Seeing is believing!"

Surrounded by compliments, Zhao Anran beamed with pride on her pretty face, but remembering her mother's words about maintaining the image of a noble lady, she forced herself to suppress it.

Her gaze fell upon the two women sitting in the pavilion.

A man dressed in an outdated pale yellow spring dress, whose jewelry was clearly mismatched, and whose only redeeming feature was his face, was glancing at her every now and then.

The other one went even further, arriving at the banquet dressed in a cotton silk shirt, without any jewelry, and even wearing a veil. He was leisurely taking a sip of tea from the stone table.

"Feng Yuan, since you've come to the banquet, why don't you join us in admiring the flowers?" Zhao Anran raised her chin at the girl in the pale yellow spring dress. "Are you looking down on me?"

Feng Yuan snorted, "With so many people gathered together, it's noisy and chaotic. I don't like joining in the fun."

One of the girls who had just complimented Zhao Anran covered her mouth with her handkerchief and laughed, "Is it because you don't have anything in common with us and are afraid that what you say will make you a laughing stock?"

"It's just a few flowers, what's there to be proud of?" Feng Yuan disliked these pretentious things the most.

From a young age, she loved playing with knives and guns, and she was completely different from her quiet older brother.

If her mother hadn't forced her to bring her cousin to the flower-viewing party to get some fresh air, she wouldn't have bothered coming here to waste her breath arguing with them.

Zhao Anran and Feng Yuan were already at odds, and upon hearing this, she immediately scoffed, "Just a few flowers? Do you know that these Wei Zi peonies are extremely rare even in the capital? If it weren't for the fact that I am a close friend of the second young lady of the Jiang family, and that she specially sent them by fast ship for today's flower viewing banquet, you wouldn't even be able to see them."

Upon hearing the name of Minister Jiang's residence, the veiled woman paused, her hand holding the teacup still.

Upon hearing that the flowers were transported from the Minister's residence in Kyoto, the girls nearby immediately launched into another round of flattery towards Zhao Anran.

"Sister Zhao, don't pay attention to Feng Yuan. What does she know about these things? She's just talking nonsense."

"It's truly enviable that Sister Zhao is such a close friend with the daughter of the Minister's family."

"Yes, tell us more about you and the second young lady of the Jiang family."

Zhao Anran raised an eyebrow and said with pride, "Do you know Shen Ci'an, the top scholar last year? He was deeply in love with Miss Jiang the Second, but unfortunately, Miss Jiang the Second did not like him. So he settled for Miss Jiang the First as a substitute."

This immediately caused a stir among the crowd.

"Do you know about the heir of the Marquis of Wuyi? He was originally going to propose marriage to the Jiang family, but unfortunately he has been leading troops in battle, which is why it has been delayed until now."

The exclamation immediately turned into envy.

"To be admired and fought over by two such outstanding men, Miss Jiang is truly blessed."

The veiled woman was speechless with exasperation as she gently placed the teacup on the stone table.

She was none other than Jiang Zhi, who had escaped death from the Eastern Palace.

She never expected that the news from Kyoto would be distorted like this when it reached Xuzhou.

What was originally just a quarrel between young ladies, without much malice, was actually quite lively and interesting.

Jiang Zhi, having died twice in total, naturally wouldn't participate.

But seeing Zhao Anran slander her past self like this, she certainly wouldn't sit idly by.

Jiang Zhi stood up, walked slowly to the front of the crowd, glanced at the few pots of Wei Zi peonies, and smiled, "Miss Zhao's few pots of peonies are indeed beautiful, but the petals are thin, the shape is not very regular, the petals are arranged randomly, and the branches are thin and weak. They are defective products of Wei Zi."

It seems your relationship with that Miss Jiang is just so-so. Why would she confide such a private matter to you?

"What do you know, you country bumpkin?" Zhao Anran was immediately furious. "Feng Yuan, has your poor cousin ever been to the capital? Has she ever met those high-ranking officials and nobles? How dare you spout such nonsense here!"

Feng Yuan immediately stood behind Jiang Zhi and tugged at her sleeve, "Cousin Ya Ya, don't be afraid, I'm protecting you."

Her cousin did indeed come from the countryside to seek refuge with the Feng family, but she spoke softly and gently, with a gentle and eloquent manner. She seemed more like a lady of noble birth than everyone else here combined, and she took great care of her. Therefore, she liked her very much and always wanted to stick close to her.

Feng Yuan said loudly to Zhao Anran, "Then you're not even as good as my cousin, which shows you don't have much knowledge!"

Zhao Anran was choked and her face turned red, but she couldn't find the words to refute her.

But she quickly raised her eyebrows and said, "Do you think today's flower viewing party is just for you to look at a few pots of flowers?"

"What do you mean?" Feng Yuan frowned and glared at her.

“My father received news a couple of days ago that a big shot from the capital is coming to Xuzhou on official business and will arrive today. This flower-viewing banquet is to welcome him and wash away the dust of his journey.”