Wuying and Wuhen also knelt down with Wushang and Wuzhong, their eyes reddening, their faces full of humiliation and shame.

"Help me up," Shang Xiye said calmly.

"ah?"

The four guards looked up in confusion.

"Is my language hard to understand?" Shang Xiye's calm tone clearly revealed his gentleness: "Hurry up and help me up. Can't you see this chair is almost falling apart?"

Wu Ying, still somewhat doubtful, got up to help him up. When he saw that Shang Xiye had indeed helped him stand up and even staggered a couple of steps, the four guards' eyes immediately filled with tears of joy.

"Your Highness, your leg...!"

"Last night, the Princess sealed all the toxins in my body into my feet," Shang Xiye told the four guards without hiding it from them.

All four guards were taken aback.

Looking at Shang Xiye's forward steps, although he was not very stable, his leg joints could indeed move normally. Unlike before, when he needed to use his hands to help him bend or stand.

“But the princess isn’t…” Wu Zhong, who had been in charge of gathering intelligence, was puzzled.

Shang Xiye glanced at him indifferently.

Wu Zhong immediately lowered his head and said, "I understand. After returning to the capital, I will screen the intelligence network again."

Wuying and Wuhen, along with the guards, carried Shang Xiye to the main hall of Bald Vulture Village. Ji Fengyao's family was having dinner. When they saw him arrive, no one paid him any attention. Even the servants looked away as if no one had ever been there.

In this situation, Ji Fengyao felt embarrassed for Shang Xiye.

You said you'd continue being aloof like yesterday, why don't you just go down the mountain yourself? You know everyone in Vulture Village dislikes you, so why do you have to come here and put up with this?

Shang Xiye cast a cold glare at Ji Fengyao, who was shoveling rice into her mouth. Ji Fengyao's hand holding the chopsticks trembled. She looked up and silently swallowed the rice in her mouth, forcing a stiff smile: "Hehe, Your Highness, you've arrived. Have you eaten?"

nonsense!

Did you tell me if I ate?

Shang Xiye clenched her fists on the armchair and glared at her again.

Ji Chenhai put down his bowl, slammed his chopsticks down on the rim, and said coldly, "Ninth Prince, you have quite the temper. You dare to be so disrespectful to Yao'er right in front of us. If Yao'er really enters your palace, won't she be at your mercy? If you're not satisfied with this marriage, you can defy the imperial decree and refuse. You can make do, but I don't want to delay my daughter's future!"

Ji Fengyao was startled by Ji Chenhai's actions and secretly admired her father's might and domineering presence. He was indeed a bandit leader who had repeatedly failed to subdue the imperial court, showing no fear in the face of the Ninth Prince of War and when he mentioned the imperial edict.

Unable to contain her pride, she raised her slender eyebrows at Shang Xiye. "This young lady has her father's protection. You dare to bully me?"

"Father-in-law, you've misunderstood." Shang Xiye received Ji Fengyao's smug look, but instead loosened his grip on the armrest and said calmly, "In the words of the Princess Consort, this is just a little bit of fun between my husband and me. However, if Father-in-law feels it's not good, I will correct it in the future."

Ji Fengyao: "..."

Your Highness, what happened to your aloofness?

You can even make up such a thing? You're shameless?

Receiving questioning glances from her family, Ji Fengyao barely managed to pull her jaw back from the floor, maintaining a smile that seemed to want to curse: "Ah, this... bedroom pleasures, hehe. Xiao Jiu, you should be more mindful of the occasion for these kinds of things in the future. Look, you've scared your parents."

Wuying and Wuhen stumbled upon hearing this, narrowly avoiding dropping Shang Xiye from their shoulders.

Shang Xiye clenched his fist tightly and then released it, a slight smile playing on his lips and eyes, but the icy daggers in his eyes were piercing straight into Ji Fengyao's heart: "Yao'er is right, please don't take offense, father-in-law and mother-in-law."