She sat upright in the carriage, her back straight, her face as pale as paper, as if all the color had been drained from her body in an instant.
Every word the maid spoke pierced Princess Jingle's heart.
Owes money and refuses to pay?
The old friendship of Bazhenlou?
These fragments, taken together, paint a picture of Pei Ziqing that is completely different from what she knew: a hypocrite who might cheat women out of their money, has a low moral character, and might even have ulterior motives in attaching himself to her!
"Is every word true?"
Princess Jingle's voice was as cold as polar ice, devoid of any warmth.
"This servant...this servant dares not conceal the truth! Many students present heard it at the time! The headmaster saw the IOU, and it seemed to be genuine..."
The maid's back was soaked with cold sweat, and her head hung even lower.
Princess Jingle closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling violently.
The image of Pei Ziqing bravely jumping into the water to save her flashed through her mind.
Was all of this just a carefully crafted lie?
Could this be another man using her status to climb the social ladder?
The overwhelming sense of deception and shame overwhelmed Princess Jingle like a cold tide.
She felt like a complete fool!
"Return to the palace."
Two words were squeezed out from between her tightly pursed lips, carrying an undeniable resolve and a chilling coldness.
"yes!"
The driver immediately responded.
The carriage started slowly, its wheels rolling over the bluestone pavement with a dull thud.
Princess Jingle couldn't resist any longer and gently lifted a corner of the carriage curtain once more.
Through the thin gauze curtain, she took one last look at the figure being carried away.
Her pale white robe was filthy and covered in blood. The image of the once handsome and talented scholar collapsed in her mind, leaving only a mess and a disgusting ugliness.
She abruptly pulled down the carriage curtain, as if to completely shut out everything.
After a long silence, Princess Jingle's icy voice rang out again, as soft as a sigh, yet sharp as a knife: "Investigate."
"That Bazhenlou restaurant, that young master... and are those IOUs even real?! I need to know everything!"
Her nails dug deeply into her palms.
"yes!"
Outside the carriage, a deep, emotionless male voice immediately responded, followed by the soft rustling of clothes, and a shadow quickly disappeared into the deepening twilight.
Just after Princess Jingle's carriage drove away, a figure almost blended into the shadows of a tall sycamore tree not far from the academy gate silently watched the end of this scene.
Helian Jue leaned against a thick branch, his black outfit perfectly concealing his aura.
He had a blade of grass between his teeth, his posture seemingly lazy and casual, but his beautiful peach blossom eyes gleamed with a sharp and complex light like that of a hawk.
"So what does this mean... falling into the water when you should have fallen in..."
He chuckled silently, his tongue licking the grass stem.
All of this was within his expectations.
Or rather, it was he who spearheaded it.
Ever since realizing that the cycle of this world seems unchangeable, the hero-saves-the-damsel-in-distress incident, whether intentional or unintentional, could not be avoided.
Helian Jue then secretly began his experiment.
He had thought that without the start-up capital, Pei Ziqing would be unable to carry out his plan to get close to the princess, and Princess Jingle would naturally not fall into the water at that time and place.
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