Chang Lili finally breathed a sigh of relief and subconsciously said, "So it was Xiao Shu'er who found these helpers. No wonder so many people wanted to kill me."
Seeing her breathe a sigh of relief, Meng Yuxiu looked at her with a somewhat incomprehensible gaze.
"Your ability to be so unreasonable and twist the truth is astounding. You say you and Xiao Shu'er are relatives, and I really don't dare not believe it. Me, bullying her? Go back and ask her properly. She has such a noble status, and she can do whatever she wants to us ordinary people. How could I bully her? You all overestimate me." Chang Lili finished speaking confidently, then turned and walked towards the General's Mansion, completely ignoring Hu Pin.
Seeing this, Meng Yuxiu realized he didn't need to say anything more, so he turned and went into the mansion.
Hu Pin felt as if he had punched cotton with all his might. He roared, "You shameless woman, stop right there!"
Chang Lili thought to himself that these two cousins were exactly the same, and turned around to tell him to watch his mouth, but then he saw two panting guards appear behind Hu Pin.
He pointed his knife at Chang Lili and said, "She insulted the royal family, seize her!"
Meng Yuxiu frowned slightly, then turned around and grabbed the hand of a guard who was reaching out to Chang Lili.
"General Meng, you're not going to protect this lowly commoner, are you? Protecting her is tantamount to disrespecting the royal family!" Hu Ping threatened.
Before he could finish speaking, Meng Yuxiu had already knocked the two guards to the ground.
Seeing that he was not taken seriously, Hu Pin became furious and swung his knife at Meng Yuxiu. The latter had no weapon and suffered in silence, so he could only dodge repeatedly.
Taking advantage of the moment, the two guards captured Chang Lili.
"Let me go!" she shouted as she struggled, but having no martial arts skills, she was no match for the two guards.
But she was determined not to surrender and struggled fiercely, resorting to despicable methods such as pinching and stomping on people's feet. The two guards cried out in pain, but dared not let go.
Meng Yuxiu wanted to go over, but Hu Pin held him back, and he couldn't get away.
Suddenly something fell out of Chang Lili's sleeve. She was stunned for a moment, and after seeing what it was, she continued to struggle. The guards, afraid that she would escape, did not look at the thing on the ground.
Hu Pin stopped attacking Meng Yuxiu. He walked to Chang Lili's side in confusion and bent down to pick up the thing. Chang Lili cried out in alarm and kicked Hu Pin in the face.
"Ah!" Hu Pin screamed in agony, cursing, "You shrew! Seize her!"
The guards were so frightened that they quickly pulled Chang Lili aside. Meng Yuxiu growled, "Hu Pin, this is my residence, and you are not allowed to arrest people at will!"
Hu Pin picked up the object from the ground and, upon closer inspection, realized it was a hidden arrow.
"What an exquisite and delicate sleeve arrow!" Hu Pin exclaimed.
Chang Lili didn't dare to breathe loudly, and instead became quiet and stopped struggling. Her big eyes darted around, revealing a helpless expression. She didn't expect to encounter this person causing trouble. This self-defense hidden arrow had actually made things worse.
Meng Yuxiu looked at the object and knew things were getting complicated.
Hu Pin was in a great mood and tossed the hidden arrow up and down in his hand with great interest.
"General Meng, how come this commoner woman in your household carries such an exquisite weapon? Where did she come from?" Hu Ping was eloquent and not a simpleton.
Meng Yuxiu immediately snapped at Chang Lili, "Isn't this a weapon from the General's Mansion? How dare you take something from the General's Mansion without permission, especially something so dangerous?"
Although his words were accusatory, they also implied an attempt to exonerate her. She was just a commoner who had just left the banquet hosted by the princess. Before she even entered the mansion, such a weapon fell out of her body. She couldn't explain herself no matter what.
By saying this, he directly brought up the matter with the General's Mansion, downplaying the seriousness of the matter and mentioning Chang Lili's theft.
Hu Pin knew they were just trying to dodge the question, so he crossed his arms and watched the spectacle with amusement.
Chang Lili understood Meng Yuxiu's good intentions and immediately seized the opportunity, saying aggrievedly, "I had no choice. Who wants to be a thief? I just wanted to carry a hidden dart for self-defense. I'm just a weak woman traveling alone, powerless to even kill a chicken. I have to find a way to protect myself!"
As she spoke, she began to sob, looking pitiful and heartbroken.
Hu Ping had been watching the show with his arms crossed, but Chang Lili suddenly changed the subject and said, "I am just a weak woman, and you are bullying me by outnumbering me. I am just a commoner. You say I disrespect the dignity of the royal family, but does that mean you high-ranking officials can treat us commoners with impunity? You say I am going against the princess, but it's not like I deliberately went up to pick a fight with her!"
"You! What nonsense are you spouting? I'm ganging up on you? I'm here to deal with you, you criminal!" Hu Ping, who cared about his reputation, hurriedly explained after being spoken to like this, "You've committed insubordination, publicly humiliated the Princess, and now you're turning around and accusing me! You're truly a shrew!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Chang Lili shouted angrily. "All you know is how the princess was bullied. That's just her side of the story. It's like the government is allowed to set fires while the common people are forbidden to light lamps. What can I do to a princess? If she wanted to crush me, it would be as easy as crushing an ant. If I really did anything to her, I would have been ground to dust long ago!"
After listening to Chang Lili's long and rambling speech, Hu Pin actually found it quite reasonable and couldn't find any words to refute it for a moment.
After all, the eldest princess's status is so noble. If Chang Lili really did something outrageous, it would be unreasonable for Meng Yuxiu to protect her.
Seeing Hu Ping speechless, Meng Yuxiu walked a few steps to Chang Lili, looked at the two guards with a cold gaze, and said, "She took the General's Mansion's weapons without permission, so she is a criminal of our General's Mansion. Detain her."
Hu Ping snorted and said, "I just won't let him go. Does General Meng intend to forcibly take him? I've heard about your past actions of snatching people from prison. Today, I'd like to see for myself how you snatch people."
Seeing Hu Pin's stubbornness, Chang Lili thought he was quite fond of Xiao Shuer and came up with a plan.
“Cousin, you’ve come to help the princess get rid of me, this thorn in her side. But I think your most important task right now is to get to the princess’s side and take good care of her, so that nothing goes wrong with her health,” Chang Lili said earnestly.
"What? Then what happened to the princess?" Hu Pin frowned in confusion.
Chang Lili shook her head and said, "You care about her so much, yet you don't know she's unwell. I'm afraid something terrible is about to happen."
Hu Ping thought for a moment, then said disdainfully, "Stop spouting nonsense, you shrew! My cousin is perfectly fine!"
"I'm not exaggerating. Something big happened at the banquet just now. Maybe your cousin didn't want to tell you because she didn't want you to worry," Chang Lili said casually.
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