Upon hearing this, the emperor frowned slightly. "My beloved consort, speaking of this matter, so much time has passed, and the eldest daughter of the Ji family is still a good-for-nothing. Now she has disappeared and her fate is unknown. I am beginning to doubt whether Master Kongwen made a mistake back then!"

Master Kongwen was a well-known and highly respected monk in Cangyue Kingdom, which is why the emperor believed his words without question. However, Master Kongwen had passed away several years ago, and now there was no way to ask him.

Upon hearing this, Consort Liang was overjoyed, not expecting that the Emperor would also have the idea of ​​softening his stance. However, she did not show it, but only pretended to regret it.

"The two young ladies of the Ji family, one is a useless person who cannot cultivate, and the other is a genius with exceptional talent... Hearing Your Majesty say this, I have some doubts."

Upon hearing this, the Emperor wondered if Master Kongwen had truly made a mistake? Was it the Second Miss, not the Eldest Miss, who was destined to be a Heavenly Phoenix?

"My beloved concubine, what are your thoughts?"

"Your Majesty, the decision on this matter rests entirely with Your Majesty." Consort Liang cleverly passed the buck back to the Emperor.

The emperor pondered for a long time, wondering if he should ask the Imperial Advisor. But Jun Bufan immediately interrupted the thought. Although he was the emperor, he never dared to breathe loudly when he met the Imperial Advisor, feeling a terrifying sense of oppression that made him want to submit.

Fine, fine, let Jun Linyu marry the Second Miss Ji then. As for the Eldest Miss Ji—if something happens to her, he still has several princes…

This emperor is truly cunning and shrewd, but he's likely to be disappointed; Ji Jiuying won't let him manipulate her.

Besides, if the Imperial Advisor knew that the Emperor was after Ji Jiuying, then his reign as Emperor would be over!

Looking at the emperor's ever-changing expression, Consort Liang knew that the annulment of the engagement was probably a done deal.

Her delicate hands wrapped even tighter around the emperor's neck—with such a beauty in his arms, what man could resist?

A stage was set up on the street, and with a sharp bang of a gong, the melodious strains of Beijing opera filled the air, accompanied by various shouts and cries of vendors...

However, the intrusion of a group of people disrupted this noisy scene.

Leading them were a man dressed in fine clothes and a woman dressed in pink.

People on the street were drawn to it.

"Who is that? What happened?"

"Brother, you don't know this! That's the Third Prince and General Ji and Miss Ji the Second."

"I heard that the Third Prince's fiancée, the useless eldest daughter of the Ji family, has been missing for several days and has not been found yet."

"After being missing for so many days, an unmarried woman like her, she'd probably be dead or something, taken by some random man..." The speaker smiled knowingly, his face lewd.

The onlookers continued their discussion, and with the encouragement of some, they began to think in that strange direction.

I think so too.

"In my opinion, the Third Prince and Miss Ji are a perfect match, far superior to that good-for-nothing eldest daughter."

"·····"

Upon hearing this, Ji Fengyan's face instantly turned red, and she seemed to dare not look up at Jun Linyu again, but when they occasionally met eyes, their eyes were so sweet that they seemed to stretch into silk.

A look of determination flashed deep in Ji Fengyan's eyes.

"Third Prince, thank you for helping me find my sister, but so many days have passed and we still haven't found her. What should we do?" Ji Fengyan nestled beside Jun Linyu, her eyes filled with worry.

Jun Linyu frowned, a hint of disgust flashing in his eyes when he mentioned that good-for-nothing. That damned good-for-nothing was such a nuisance; he should have just died out there. His gaze softened as he looked at Ji Fengyan. "Yan'er, we've been searching for so long, why don't we just give up?"

“Now, Ji Jiuying stays out all night and is not a proper wife. Such a woman who has ruined her reputation is not worthy to be my imperial concubine.”

Upon hearing Jun Linyu's words, those people immediately started to jeer.

"Yes, why don't we let Miss Ji and the Third Prince get married?"

"The Third Prince and Miss Ji are a perfect match."

"·····"

In the crowd, a masked woman coldly observed everything, thinking to herself: It's a real pity these two weren't born in modern times; they would definitely be movie stars.

To go to such lengths to damage her reputation and accuse her of premarital infidelity.

Ji Jiuying glanced at the two of them a few times, finding them so disgusting that she wanted to vomit, and then disappeared at the end of the street corner.

After making inquiries along the way, Ji Jiuying finally arrived at the Imperial Preceptor's residence.

A magnificent mansion came into view, its glazed red tiles covered by snow, looking quite beautiful in the silvery white. Beneath the tall gatehouse were two vermilion doors, with a plaque hanging above them. The plaque was edged with gold and engraved with three striking golden characters: "Residence of the Imperial Preceptor".

Suddenly, Ji Jiuying heard a quarrel in front of her.

"How dare you! You dare to stop me? Do you know who I am? I am the fourth princess of Cangyue Kingdom. If you dare to stop me again, believe me, I will send you to meet the King of Hell!"

The woman's voice was arrogant and audacious. In the capital, everyone knew that the Grand Preceptor was not interested in women and did not even have a maid in his mansion. This woman still dared to dream of entering the Grand Preceptor's mansion.

A large crowd of onlookers had gradually gathered, and Ji Jiuying learned from them that this was not the first time the Fourth Princess had caused trouble at the Imperial Preceptor's residence.

Relying on her status as a princess, she was ignorant of the proper ways and tried to enter the Imperial Preceptor's residence, but was turned away every time.

The guards at the gate, used to it, now wouldn't even give Jun Luoli a glance, even though it happened two or three times a month.

Upon seeing this, Jun Luoli was instantly enraged.

"I, the princess, do not believe you dare to touch me!" she said, intending to force her way in, but before she even got close to the gate, she was blasted away by the people inside with their spiritual power.

"Ah!" came a gasp.

"Princess!"

The palace maids quickly caught Jun Luoli as she flew towards them!

"Ah~" A group of palace maids fell to the ground along with Jun Luoli, and some of the maids at the bottom were even crushed and vomited blood.

It was clear that this spiritual technique had a powerful aftereffect, leaving him looking quite disheveled.

The people on both sides of the street were trying hard to suppress their laughter at the sight, and were whispering among themselves.

Jun Luoli is a spiritual cultivator, so how could she not hear the people's discussions?

His chest heaved violently, anger surging within him like a balloon about to burst, and he was about to explode.

The vermilion gate slowly opened, and Yingyue's face darkened, her eyes filled with an indescribable coldness. Her voice, imbued with spiritual power, rang out, "Who dares to cause trouble in the Imperial Preceptor's residence?"

"The Spirit King!"

"Wow~ So strong!"

Who is this person?

"I guess it must be the Grand Preceptor's shadow guard."

Everyone exclaimed in surprise, "Even the Shadow Guards are Spirit Kings, which shows how powerful the Imperial Advisor is!"

Jun Luoli was momentarily stunned by Yingyue's strength, but then she remembered that he was just a servant, while she was a noble princess of Cangyue Kingdom!

Anger overwhelmed her cowardice. "So what if I caused trouble? How dare you, a mere servant, injure this princess? I order you to take me to see the Imperial Advisor immediately, or you'll regret it."