"Yes, yes, our Emperor is naturally extremely benevolent," the palace maid said, her eyes darting away, slightly embarrassed.

"Let's go then," Ji Fengyao said with a slight smile.

“Your Highness…” Lin Shuang tugged at Ji Fengyao again, looking very worried.

Ji Fengyao gave her a reassuring look, took Lin Shuang's hand, and followed the palace maid at a distance.

This palace maid, after all, had been invited away by Shang Xiye and the Emperor in the name of the Empress Dowager. Even if they wanted to take action, they wouldn't dare to openly mobilize too many people.

She is no longer the helpless woman she was when she first arrived in Beijing;

Although Lin Shuang is not good at fighting, she can still escape.

Moreover, they had many poisons on their hands; if they couldn't win in a fight, they could always use poison. So Ji Fengyao wasn't worried at all.

The palace maid wandered further and further away, until she reached an area filled with artificial hills and trees. Suddenly, she quickened her pace and, taking advantage of her familiarity with the terrain, disappeared from sight in no time.

After realizing that the palace maid had lost her way, Princess Lin Shuang nervously grabbed Ji Fengyao again and looked at her for instructions.

"No rush. Since they've lured us here, they certainly won't leave us here unattended. After all, our prince isn't someone to be trifled with. If we wait for him to come looking for us, they'll be the ones in trouble," Ji Fengyao said calmly as she strode forward.

Click-clack!

Suddenly, a small white stone flew out from nowhere and landed at Ji Fengyao's feet.

"What is this...?" Lin Shuang glanced down at it, not rushing to pick it up.

The first rule for survival in the palace: Don't look at what you shouldn't look at, and don't touch what you shouldn't touch.

Although she no longer served in the palace, the principles of self-preservation were ingrained in her very being.

Moonstone.

Ji Fengyao recognized the stone at her feet at a glance, but calmly raised her eyes and said, "Did you go to all this trouble to lead me here just to throw pebbles and play hide-and-seek?"

Qin Weiyang, hiding behind a rockery: "!"

Who threw the stone?!

"If you don't come out now, I'm leaving; my maid knows the way around the palace." Seeing that no one responded, Ji Fengyao pulled Lin Shuang and turned to leave.

Just then, a sharp whistle rang out from behind a rockery.

Ji Fengyao heard extremely faint sounds coming from the surrounding grass. Soon after, more than a dozen insects of different shapes and colors appeared on the grass blades by the roadside.

Thank goodness it wasn't a snake!

Ji Fengyao breathed a sigh of relief, released the newly prepared potent snake-killing powder, and turned to face the direction from which the whistle came.

Qin Weiyang's face was partially veiled by a light veil, revealing a ghostly face on her forehead. She chuckled shrilly, "As expected of a crude bandit. Even on the verge of death, you're still so clueless. Do you know who you've messed with?"

"Ugly monster" Ji Fengyao stood still and said with a smile.

"What?" Qin Weiyang didn't immediately understand what she was talking about, or who she was referring to.

Because in her heart, she was still the most beautiful daughter of the Southern Li Kingdom's Grand Preceptor.

"I've answered you. I've provoked an ugly monster that's so disgusting I can't even eat," Ji Fengyao said, somewhat bored, lifting her clothes with an impatient look that suggested "talking to an idiot is too much trouble."

Qin Weiyang then realized that the ugly monster the crude bandit was referring to was actually herself. Thinking of her completely ruined face, she roared with hatred, "You vile and ignorant bandit, today I will make you wish you were dead and suffer a fate worse than death, let's see if you still have your sharp tongue!"