Debt collection
Once we had stopped, the imperial guards who had come with Mu Li arrived at the gate of the Crown Prince's residence.
They stood at the doorway with practiced discipline, like a silent trial.
The servants in the Crown Prince's residence were very perceptive and immediately ran to report the news.
I had already reached the main gate and said to the remaining servant guarding the gate, "Go and announce that the Imperial Observatory has granted permission to visit."
A moment later, a refined-looking middle-aged man came over and politely cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Please come into the mansion, young lady."
Muli and I followed the middle-aged man through the corridor and the garden, and entered the prince's main courtyard again.
The courtyard was much more peaceful today, with all sorts of servants diligently performing their duties. The prince called out to me from the doorway of his study, "Aunt, over here."
It's as if we really are just an ordinary pair of distant relatives.
Muli took my hand and we went into the study together.
The Crown Prince wore a perfect smile and spoke in a perfectly standard tone: "Why did Aunt think of coming to see her nephew at this time?"
I felt a chill when I heard the terms "aunt" and "nephew," but when I thought about how disgusted he must be feeling right now, I instantly felt less disgusted.
I smiled and pretended to be friendly: "Auntie has never come to see my good nephew before, so of course I have to pay her a visit."
His smile widened, but his eyes became even more vacant: "It's kind of you, Aunt, to still remember your nephew. I wonder if you've come today for some business?"
Can't keep up the pretense and are getting straight to the point? Great, I don't want to play games anymore.
I nodded: "That's right. I happened to save my nephew before, but I haven't seen his thank-you gift yet, so I had to make the trip myself."
"Oh? But I have a bad memory, how come I don't remember promising Auntie?"
"I don't need your consent. It's a fact that I saved you, and it's only right that you pay me. You're just not being conscientious enough."
"Heh..." He sneered, "To be honest, it's all my ignorant wife's fault for believing the instigation of some stranger on the street. I'm also considering whether to hold someone accountable!"
"Find someone to hold them accountable?" I rolled my eyes at him: "It's all because your wife liked the effects of that medicine so much that she increased the dosage for you. It seems that the Crown Princess's longing for marital life isn't something that just started today. The root of the problem still lies with you, Your Highness."
He was furious, slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and shouted, "You!"
"What about me?" I shook my head, nonchalantly: "Am I wrong?"
"Auntie, you've probably forgotten where you are right now!"
"I haven't forgotten!" I stood up and stamped my foot. "I'm afraid you're the one who forgot!"
As I stood up and stomped my foot, circles of pale yellow magic spread out from beneath my feet, gradually enveloping the entire courtyard.
As the yellow light of the array beneath his feet flashed, the prince clutched his heart in disbelief and knelt down on one knee.
From my position, I could clearly see the prince's malevolent and ghostly aura being stirred up little by little as the array's runes flickered...
"This is the magic artifact of the Director of the Imperial Observatory. No matter when or where, as long as the formation is activated, the demons and monsters within it will have to follow this formation. A ghost like the Crown Prince, who has been dead for decades, probably can't withstand it, right?"
His head was covered in sweat, his face was deathly pale, and even his soul was beginning to faintly detach from his body and float to the surface...
"It's not that the supervisor and I couldn't kill you, it's just that we didn't like to forcefully send you to the afterlife in this way. After all, you've been trapped underground for decades. If it weren't for your insatiable greed for that position, we probably wouldn't have even given you a second glance."
Seeing that his soul was drifting further and further away from his body, I decisively stopped the formation and calmly sat down again.
"Even without mentioning this magic array, did you feel the small bone needle I left behind when I extracted your malevolent energy?"
He glared at me fiercely, gritted his teeth, stood up from the ground, and stared straight at me: "Auntie, you certainly have some tricks up your sleeve!"
“That’s right,” I gladly accepted his praise. “I know what kind of people you and your men are. If I don’t have some means of self-defense, am I just waiting to be devoured alive? I’m kind, not stupid.”
He straightened the strands of hair that had slipped down his front from his earlier outburst, panting heavily as he sat back down in his chair, remaining silent for a long while.
I raised an eyebrow, adopting an attitude of "it's for your own good": "I'm doing this for your own good. No matter what, I did save you. This karma has already been recorded in the Book of Heaven and Earth. If you pay the price today to clear this karma, it'll be better if I 'use your kindness to repay' you with karma in the future, right?"
He glanced at me sideways, his tone icy: "Fine, but you'll have to remove the bone spurs from my body."
"That... that definitely won't work!" I turned my head and smiled at him: "If I don't leave you some means of control, what will I do if you go berserk and become possessed later?"
"Then there's no need to discuss this matter any further."
"Sigh..." I sighed, "In that case..." I stomped my foot on the floor again, and instantly the magic array pulled him to his knees. The ghostly aura and resentment belonging to the Third Prince were locked by the array, pulling him layer by layer, causing him to bleed from the pain.
But he refused to admit defeat: "If my aunt has a temper, she'll kill me."
“Killing him is definitely not an option,” I shook my head, instantly deactivated the formation, and then reactivated it as he recovered: “It’s just a matter of activating it a few more times. We’re not in a hurry, we’ll take it slow.”
The excruciating pain, tearing at his very soul, caused him to scream involuntarily, "Ah..."
His men heard the prince's voice and rushed over to try to pull him up, but no matter how the various magical artifacts worked, the formation on the ground remained completely still...
I shook my head with a laugh: "It's no use. This formation is naturally able to suppress evil spirits. Who told him to be a ghost? No matter what, he can't break free."
My men were furious and charged at me in unison, but Mu Li decisively stepped forward and kicked away those who got close...
Dissatisfied, the subordinates began to pick up magical artifacts and aim them at Mu Li, but no matter how they tried to activate them, the artifacts wouldn't work...
I laughed out loud: "Mu Li is a human, and a great general who protects his country. In front of this formation, he is equal and will not receive any magical attacks..." I winked at Mu Li: "Mu Li, let's take them down."
"Okay," Mu Li laughed, and then went up and beat those cultivators who didn't focus on physical strength to a pulp.
Meanwhile, the prince gradually lost his strength as they were repeatedly pulled.
I clicked my tongue and reminded him, "Why bother, nephew? Your aunt is only here to collect payment!"
"Okay," he said weakly, "How much does Auntie want? I'll give it to you."
I slowed down the formation's operation and held up three fingers to him: "Thirty thousand taels."
"What?" This exclamation wasn't just from the Crown Prince; it was a collective gasp from everyone around him. The Crown Prince turned his head sharply to the side: "Nothing."
"No?" I raised an eyebrow: "Then continue..." I began to symbolically form hand seals, intending to restore the speed of the formation.
He decisively raised his hand to stop him: "Fine, I'll give it to you."
That defiant "I'll give it to you" sounded like I was robbing someone...
I rolled my eyes, slowed down the formation's operation, and said to him, "Then I'll trouble my nephew's men to get the silver. You can just wait with your aunt."
Finally, the banknotes containing 30,000 taels of silver were handed to me intact.
I waved the silver note at Mu Li, then brazenly went over to help the Crown Prince up and pulled him along as we walked out: "I'll have to trouble you to see us out, nephew."
Finally, Muli and I, under the protection of the Imperial Guards, watched the Crown Prince's ashen face and met the angry gazes of his men, and left happily.
Then I went to the most expensive restaurant in the capital and packed two meals. I had one of them sent to the palace for Wu Qing and Bao He, and I took the other with Mu Li to the Prime Minister's residence.
The steward of the Prime Minister's residence was delighted to see me: "Miss Xu has arrived? We're just about to prepare dinner, Miss Xu, your arrival is perfectly timed!"
I nodded: "That's good," and then handed the three-tiered food box to the butler: "Add these dishes as well."
"Alright," the butler said with a grin, taking the food box and handing it to the servant beside him before leading us to the main courtyard.
The study window in the main hall of the main courtyard was open, and the prime minister was painting inside, while in the side room, Ah Shi was leaning against the window railing, looking unwilling as he read a book.
I first waved to the Prime Minister in the main courtyard and called out, "Prime Minister!" He glanced at me, grunted an "Mm" through his nose, and continued painting.
Ah Shi on the other side was much happier. He waved to me, ran out in a few steps, and called out, "Auntie, what brings you here?"
I excitedly shared with Ah Shi, "I went to the Crown Prince today to ask for my reward, haha, I asked for a whole 30,000 taels! You didn't see the expression on the Crown Prince's face! It was quite a sight."
"Really?" Ah Shi grinned. "That's a pity!"
I turned my head and saw that the Prime Minister was still painting seriously, so I went over with Ah Shi to lean against the window frame and look inside, asking the Prime Minister, "Uncle Prime Minister, what are you painting?"
The prime minister ignored me. I craned my neck to look and realized that the prime minister had drawn a very standard portrait, and the person in the portrait was me...
"Hey... Uncle Xiang, why did you suddenly decide to paint a portrait of me? What's it for?"
He said in a casual tone, "It's for hanging in the ancestral hall."
"Uh..." Although I'm dead, oh right, I'm already dead, so it seems I can indeed be hung in the ancestral hall, huh? I clicked my tongue: "Alright, if you want to hang it in the ancestral hall, then hang it in the ancestral hall."
"Hmm," he hummed again, "Let's go play in the yard first, then we'll eat."
"Alright," Ah Shi, Mu Li, and I laughed and walked back into the courtyard to the stone table to drink tea and play chess.
After a long while, the butler came over to greet us: "Miss Xu, Tenth Prince, General Mu, the meal is ready, please come in."
"Alright, dinner's ready," I quickly threw down the chess piece in my hand and exclaimed, "This food is so good, I would have lost if it had been any later..."
Ah Shi pouted in dissatisfaction from the other side: "Auntie, you even cheated in a game of chess!"
"Isn't it because I can't beat you? I told you I couldn't!"
"Hmph..." He snorted coldly, but let me go after all: "Alright, let's continue next time."
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