Hearing the palace maid describe the location and details, the other palace maids all exclaimed "Oh!" in surprise.

Seeing this, the palace maid looked smug and said, "In my opinion, judging from the Ninth Prince's fierceness, it shouldn't be over yet. Do you want to go and take a look?"

"Are you out of your mind? That's the Ninth Prince!"

"That's right, if we get caught, we're all dead!"

The palace maid reassured her, "What's there to be afraid of? That place is very secluded. The area has been cleared out by the Ninth Prince's men. We'll hide far away in the artificial hills and bushes, and no one will find us."

"Okay, I want to go!"

"Ninth Prince, I really want to see it too!"

A group of restless palace maids whispered excitedly as they made their way forward.

Ji Fengyao paused in place, tilted her head, and pouted:

Was the Ninth Prince having a secret rendezvous?

They even tore someone else's clothes and covered someone's mouth to prevent them from making a sound.

This story sounds a bit intense!

But, well, she didn't believe it.

If her master were truly so accomplished and so uninhibited, at his age in this dynasty, he would probably have had a dozen junior brothers and sisters by now, and he would still be spending all his time figuring out how to make suggestive advances on her.

If Master really takes a fancy to a girl, he'll drive her around.

She was too busy welcoming her master's wife with open arms to go and ruin her master's good deed.

Should we welcome them with open arms?

Ji Fengyao felt inexplicably depressed: she and her master had always lived together, and the sudden thought that her master might marry a mistress made her feel quite uncomfortable.

But as a disciple, she still hoped that her master was happy; so she would have to keep a close eye on her master's wife's affairs in the future.

Judging from the direction the palace maids went, Ji Fengyao guessed that there was a pit ahead, so she stopped and sat down by the roadside to start thinking.

The palace maids practically wore themselves out trying to persuade them, but when they secretly looked back, not a single ghost was following them.

"Those bandits don't seem to fall for that."

"Did we speak too softly and the bandits didn't hear us?"

"How about we go back and talk about it again?"

The others all shut up and looked at the palace maid who had just spoken with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot.

Just then, a palace maid dressed similarly to them came running from the other end of the path, panting, and asked, "Haven't you started yet?"

“The bandits didn’t come with us,” the leading palace maid replied.

The palace maid patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness, everyone hurry up and leave. We'd better not provoke these bandits. We can't earn the Sixth Princess's money. I heard that the bandits just killed two maids in the Imperial Garden."

The group's expressions immediately changed, and they quickly dispersed.

Shang Chuyue, who had been watching the show from nearby, stomped her foot in anger: "A bunch of good-for-nothings! Just wait and see how this princess deals with you!"

Just then, a melodious zither tune drifted from not far away.

The faint, delicate sound of the zither was almost imperceptible, yet even though Ji Fengyao was not musically literate, she could easily discern the loneliness and melancholy of the player.

"Princess, it seems to be the Third Prince again," Xiao Luzi reminded her once more.

Shang Chuyue listened in silence for a long time: "I didn't expect that my third brother's zither skills are so good."

“In fact, the Third Prince is exceptionally talented and handsome. Before that incident, he was the most favored by the Emperor among all the princes,” Xiao Luzi said with regret. “Everyone says that if the Third Prince hadn’t ruined himself, it would have been uncertain who would have become the Crown Prince in the future.”

"That's such a pity," Shang Chuyue said, feeling inexplicably sad. "He's so pitiful. I shouldn't hurt him anymore. After all, he's my brother."