Jun Lintian watched the people chatting animatedly in the city gate below, and drank his tea expressionlessly.

At this moment, the previous frivolous look in his eyes was gone, replaced by a sense of composure and solemnity.

Sitting opposite him was Uncle Ji, who had been by his side the whole time.

"Lin Tian, ​​what do you think his reaction would be if he knew your true strength!"

“Uncle Ji, he probably already knows by now,” Jun Lintian said calmly, his eyes devoid of any emotion.

For the past few years, he has been hiding his true abilities. At first, he was unwilling, but later he found that he liked the disguised self more and more. For a moment, he felt that this was the life he longed for.

The palace's intrigues and power struggles were none of his concern.

At this moment, a commotion at the city gate caught Jun Lintian's attention.

A line of well-trained guards slowly walked in.

Jun Linyu stood on horseback, dressed in a dark green robe. He was tall and slender, with a handsome face, thick black eyebrows, and a cold glint in his unfathomable black eyes.

Despite being a defeated prince, Jun Linyu's handsome appearance still captivated countless young women in the capital.

He is still a prince, after all. Now that the Empress Dowager is protecting him and allowing him to return to the city, who can say for sure what will happen in the future?

Despite the murmurs of discussion among the crowd, Jun Linyu didn't even bother to glance at them, coldly following the group forward.

Looking at this familiar capital city, Jun Linyu felt excited. The thought of those two women scheming against each other all day long made him feel annoyed. Now that they had no use to him, they had no reason to exist!

At this moment, a woman dressed like an ordinary person blocked the way for the group.

"Third brother, third brother."

"Please, Third Imperial Brother, save Li'er."

Jun Luoli tried to rush in front of Jun Linyu, but was blocked by the guards.

"How dare you offend His Highness the Third Prince!"

Jun Luoli was immediately enraged and slapped the speaking guard away, saying, "How dare you! I am the fourth princess of Cangyue Kingdom. How dare a mere guard stop me?"

The guards looked at each other, they had never seen the Fourth Princess before, and naturally did not recognize her, and finally looked for help from Jun Linyu behind them.

Jun Linyu waved his hand, signaling them to leave.

Whispers and whispers began to circulate among the crowd.

"My God, that's actually the Fourth Princess?"

"Tch~ What fourth princess? A notice was issued a few days ago that the fourth princess made a mistake at the palace banquet and has been demoted to a commoner."

"So that's how it is. No wonder you're dressed so shabbily."

"I also heard that the Fourth Princess has been loitering around the Imperial Preceptor's residence these past few days."

"Who in the entire capital doesn't know about this? Back when she was still the Fourth Princess, she visited the Imperial Preceptor's residence quite often and made quite a few jokes about it!"

A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd. Jun Luoli's face turned pale and then red. If she didn't have important business to attend to, she would definitely teach these damned scoundrels a lesson!

"You still dare to say that? Look at how the Fourth Princess's face changed!"

The people in the crowd scoffed, "If it were before, I definitely wouldn't have dared to, but now—I'd even dare to marry her as a concubine!"

Hahahahaha.

Laughter erupted from the crowd, making it impossible for Jun Luoli not to hear it. She immediately turned red with anger, her chest heaving.

This damned scoundrel dared to humiliate her like this! This is intolerable! Just as she was about to draw her sword, Jun Linyu gave a wink to the people around her.

The man who had just spoken of marrying Jun Luoli was brought forward by the guards. The man's arrogant demeanor vanished instantly. He was kicked from behind by a guard and fell to his knees with a thud, not daring to lift his head.

The people who were just talking suddenly fell silent, not daring to even breathe, for fear of being implicated.

When Jun Luoli saw that Jun Linyu was helping her, she instantly became arrogant. It seemed that seeking help from her third brother was indeed the right choice.

Jun Linyu looked down at the trembling man on the ground.

"You want to take my fourth sister as a concubine?"

Jun Linyu's deep, hoarse voice came through the air, chilling and devoid of any warmth, startling the person on the ground into shivering.

"No...no, no." The man was so frightened that his voice trembled.

"Oh? You mean this prince is hard of hearing?"

Before the man could answer, Jun Linyu's cold voice came again, "My royal sister, even if she has been stripped of her title and demoted to a commoner, still has royal blood flowing in her veins. How can I allow you to insult her like this?"

"How many lives do you have to take after what you said today?"

Upon hearing that he was to be beheaded, the man's heart trembled. He was so frightened that he immediately began kowtowing on the ground. Even as his head bled, he dared not stop. Compared to being beheaded, what was this little pain?

"Your Highness...this humble subject knows, knows he was wrong, please have mercy, please have mercy on the Fourth Princess!"

"I beg Your Highness, Fourth Princess, please have mercy! This humble subject knows his mistake and will never dare to do it again. I beg Your Highness to be magnanimous and forgive my petty transgression..."

The fourth princess snorted coldly, but her eyes held a murderous glint in them.

Seeing that things had gone far enough, Jun Linyu gestured for the guards to lift the man up. "No, no... don't kill me!"

A foul smell wafted over, and a puddle of water appeared at the man's feet. Jun Luoli frowned slightly and quickly moved a few steps away.

The emperor in the teahouse was watching Junlintian with great interest.

"This third prince killed someone as soon as he returned to the city. He really isn't afraid of getting himself into trouble," Uncle Ji said.

Jun Lintian smiled. "He won't kill him. Not only will he not be punished for what happened today, but he'll also be praised by Father Emperor."

Although he had little interaction with Jun Linyu, he knew his third brother fairly well; he was a master at playing the smiling tiger.

Just as Uncle Ji was wondering, Jun Linyu's voice came softly.

"You may escape death, but you'll still face punishment. So let's cut off one of your hands to teach you a lesson, so you'll know what you can and cannot say..."

Before the man could react, a scream rang out, blood splattered everywhere, and a murmur rippled through the crowd.

Although Jun Luoli was very dissatisfied with the result, she needed Jun Linyu's help now, so she had to endure it no matter how dissatisfied she was.

"Third brother, please help Li'er. Plead with Father and Grandmother. I haven't eaten anything all day. Father didn't give me anything when he banished me from the palace..." Jun Luoli felt more and more aggrieved as she spoke.

She originally thought that after leaving the palace, her mother would find someone to help her, but she waited all day and no one came to find her. She had no choice but to go to her uncle's house, but she was turned away. The reason was that she had caused her mother to lose her position as one of the four consorts, and their family was also implicated. No one wanted to be associated with her.

Jun Luoli then sought help from the daughters of officials who used to fawn over her. Unsurprisingly, she was turned away by every family. In the past, it would have been a great honor for her to visit their homes, and they would have been extremely eager to do so, wishing they could boast everywhere that the Fourth Princess had come to visit them.