Although he was angry, Ye Lingxiao did not lose his temper with these unarmed beggars. After all, they were all people who did not know the truth, and no one could control what they said.
"Don't talk nonsense, our Princess Chang'an is a very good person!"
Suddenly, a dirty and inconspicuous beggar stepped forward. The broken bowl and wooden stick in his hand were cleaner than the clothes on his body, and his hair was so messy that his face was almost invisible.
Because of years of living a life of starvation and indiscriminate eating, this beggar was so thin that he was unrecognizable. His tattered coarse cloth clothes hung loosely on his body, but his mental state seemed quite good. Although he was a little hunchbacked, he spoke with a strong voice.
"Liu Ganzi, what did you get in return to say we're talking nonsense? Those scumbag stories have spread all over the capital!"
Because he was tall and thin, the other beggars gave him that nickname. Liu Ganzi didn't like to gossip with the other beggars, and he mostly begged alone. Because of this, he didn't do very well in this area. He was only kept from being driven away because he was law-abiding and didn't steal business from the other beggars.
And this Liu Ganzi is the same beggar who accepted the pastries from Li Chang'an before.
Because it was very dark at the time, he couldn't see the woman's face clearly, but her figure and voice were firmly etched in the heart of this humble beggar, after all, that woman had given him a little warmth that he would never forget in his life.
However, the beggars had never received any favors from Li Chang'an, so they naturally wouldn't listen to Liu Ganzi's one-sided story. After a fruitless argument, they dispersed, cursing and swearing.
Although there is a saying that rumors stop with the wise, Ye Lingxiao still couldn't sit idly by. In recent years, Li Chang'an had been working tirelessly for the country and the people, but now he had become the target of everyone's criticism. Even as an observer, he felt disheartened.
It just so happens that his return to the capital was also to celebrate his father's birthday. Taking advantage of the connections of the Marquis of Anyang's family, Ye Lingxiao had someone write down all of Li Chang'an's experiences on the battlefield and then adapted these stories into storytelling or opera.
Rumors spread like wildfire again in the capital, creating a situation of confrontation between two sides. Some even went so far as to throw dirty water at the entrance of the General's Mansion where Li Chang'an lived.
"Who is it so early in the morning? What bad luck!"
That morning, Xing'er was about to leave the manor after receiving instructions from Madam Qin Xia when she opened the gate and saw a large puddle of sewage on the ground, emitting a foul odor.
Xing'er covered her nose and couldn't help but curse. This wasn't the first time. In the past few days, someone had been secretly throwing this disgusting swill at the entrance of the General's Mansion. What's worse, they had previously sent servants to guard the entrance in an attempt to catch someone, but that person was very cunning and seized the opportunity to sneak in. So far, they haven't even seen a shadow of the person, let alone caught them.
"This is outrageous! Who exactly is it that's causing trouble for my General's Mansion, doing such despicable things!"
Upon returning home, Xing'er immediately told Qin Xia about the incident.
Qin Xia was furious. Her servants had reported this to her several times before, but she hadn't taken it seriously. Later, she discovered that someone seemed to be deliberately targeting the General's Mansion, but she couldn't catch the culprit. So, she could only ask someone to clean up the sewage at the entrance.
"Have someone keep watch outside. I refuse to believe we can't catch that thief!"
For some reason, Qin Xia had a vague premonition that these things were aimed at someone in the General's Mansion. She had naturally heard the rumors circulating in the capital during this time, and she disliked the woman who had suddenly appeared more and more.
Li Chang'an has been very polite since she returned. Apart from Feng Beichuan's occasional visits to see her, she has been very well-behaved. Especially in the last few days, Li Chang'an has stayed in the General's Mansion without leaving the house, and sometimes she even volunteers to help with some trivial matters.
But it was precisely because of this that Qin Xia felt uneasy. She was unwilling to continue living under the same roof as Li Chang'an, otherwise her interests would be threatened sooner or later.
"Success! The guy's been caught!"
Just as he was fretting, a servant suddenly rushed in, followed by Li Chang'an.
Before long, an old woman was brought before Qin Xiashi.
To be honest, this woman was really unlucky. The person who threw dirty water had just left when she came over with her own bucket for washing the pigsty. But before she could even do anything, the servants who were guarding outside saw her.
This old woman was quite fierce. She threw a bucket of excrement at the servant and tried to escape, but she was caught red-handed by Li Chang'an, who had just returned from the morning court session.
"Tell me, did someone instigate you?"
Qin Xia slammed her hand on the table, her tone stern.
The old woman knew this was the general's mansion, and the people inside were not people she could afford to offend, so she told them everything in detail.
"No, I came by myself. Everyone was doing it, so I just followed suit. But I was discovered before I even started. I'm innocent, Madam!"
Before they could even exchange two sentences, the old woman started begging for mercy, and she tried to distance herself as much as possible by downplaying the seriousness of the matter.
"Then tell me, why are so many people making trouble for my General's Mansion?"
The reason for asking this question was that Qin Xiashi hoped to take advantage of the situation and, ideally, drive Li Chang'an out of the general's mansion.
"It's all because of that demon... no, no, it's her..."
The old woman pointed to Li Chang'an, whose face was cold and stern, and said, "I was just confused for a moment. I'll clean up the dirty water outside for you in a bit. Please forgive me!"
Because she had been captured by Li Chang'an and had heard so many rumors about the princess's fierceness and tyranny, the old woman dared not reveal too much and tried to gloss over the matter with vague words.
Unfortunately, Qin Xia was determined not to give up easily. She slammed her hand on the table and shouted, "Don't try to fool me! This matter concerns the reputation of my General's Mansion. If you don't explain things clearly today, you can expect to go to jail!"
Under this coercion, the old woman had no choice but to sweat profusely as she recounted all the bad rumors she had heard about Li Chang'an over the past few days.
"I've said everything, madam, please spare me! I have children at home, I can't go to jail..."
Knowing that she had offended Li Chang'an, that female demon, the old woman wanted to get away as soon as possible, so she began to kowtow to Qin Xiashi desperately.
Having achieved her goal, Qin Xia's shrewd eyes began to dart around again. She didn't really want to blame her, so she told the servant to keep an eye on the old woman and clean up the doorway before letting her get away with it.
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