Chapter 88 The Capital's Top Fishermen's Protection Group, Sets Off!
Princess Jianing's face turned bright red, like an angry cat.
She clenched her small fists tightly, her chest heaving violently with anger.
Behind her, Qin Zheng, the daughter of a military family, went even further, rolling up her sleeves in one go.
She revealed two pale, yet powerful forearms.
"Who's so blind as to talk nonsense?"
"I'll tear his mouth apart!"
Qin Zheng said fiercely, looking as if she was about to rush into battle to kill the enemy.
Accompanying them was Liu Qingqing, the daughter of the Minister of Personnel.
In addition, there were several noble ladies from the capital who had a good relationship with Princess Jianing and Qin Zheng.
They were all indignant, clearly having heard some offensive remarks.
Although Liu Qingqing often liked to compete with Mu Yu, she felt that Mu Yu was uncultured and unworthy of the Ninth Prince's favor.
But at this moment, her aloof face was also filled with resentment.
"Although I dislike Mu Yu's rude behavior."
"But it is a fact that she saved the people of Jiangnan from suffering."
“I personally witnessed her drinking away the plague god in Jiayu County.”
"Those people actually turned our achievements into a disaster, distorting the truth and turning black into white. They are utterly shameless!"
She spoke coldly, her tone filled with extreme contempt for the rumor-mongers.
Mu Fang, Chu Chongjin, and the others were all stunned.
They were just overwhelmed by this overwhelming media offensive, their anger finding no outlet.
They never expected that, before they could come up with a perfect solution, the most distinguished young ladies in the capital had already spontaneously formed a "fishermen's protection group" and come to their aid in a grand manner.
This force arrived more timely and more powerfully than any reinforcements they had imagined.
"you……"
Looking at the group of chattering but determined girls in front of him, Mu Fang felt a surge of warmth wash over him, which had almost consumed his reason.
"General Mu, don't get involved in this matter!"
Princess Jianing walked proudly to the center of the courtyard and waved her little hand with great flair.
"If they resort to underhanded tactics, we'll confront them head-on!"
"Leave this to us!"
“Yes! General Mu, you are pillars of the nation, it’s not appropriate for you to argue with petty people from the streets.”
Qin Zheng chimed in, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.
"But we're different. When it comes to arguing, we, the elite ladies of Beijing, have never lost!"
She looked eager to try, as if what lay ahead was not a teahouse or tavern, but a battlefield where she could truly showcase her talents.
Yan Ziche stood aside, watching the dramatic scene, and silently took out his precious little notebook from his sleeve.
He quickly wrote a line of words on it with a charcoal pencil.
"Record: On the seventh day of the first month of autumn, the number one all-female group in the capital—the Fishermen's Protection Team—was officially established at the Anguo Princess's Mansion."
He added a few more strokes below.
“Center position core: Princess Jianing, noble status, ace output.”
"Forceful representative: Qin Zheng, physical deterrence, specializing in suppressing dissent."
"Arrogant Support: Liu Qingqing, a cultured person, specializes in exploiting the weaknesses of scholars."
Before the men in the courtyard could even recover from their shock, the group of girls had already huddled together and quickly devised a battle plan.
"I'll go to the most crowded places, teahouses and restaurants. I want to see who dares to spout nonsense in front of me, the princess!" Princess Jianing set her sights first.
"I'll go to the cosmetics shops and silk stores that those rich ladies love to frequent," Qin Zheng snorted. "Those gossipy women love to compare themselves to others and spread rumors. I'll go and let them know what they can and can't say!"
“Vulgar,” Liu Qingqing frowned. “To deal with literati, we need to use their methods. I’m going to the Lanting Poetry Society, where the most talented people in the capital gather. I want to let them know the truth and use their pens to silence the gossip.”
They have a clear division of labor, precise goals, and amazing execution.
Early the next morning, beautiful and unique scenes appeared in the major teahouses, taverns, cosmetic shops, and even the bustling vegetable markets of the capital.
Princess Jianing, along with her friends, split into several groups, each with their own maids and guards, and launched a large-scale "anti-black propaganda campaign."
The largest teahouse in the eastern part of the city, "Yuelai Teahouse," was bustling with activity.
The storyteller was speaking with great enthusiasm, reaching the climax of the tale of "the demoness who ruined the nation's fate."
"Speaking of that little princess, she was originally a water monster from the East Sea. She used sorcery to bewitch people and exhausted her own spiritual power to transform into human form. Now that she has lost all her magic power, she has to rely on absorbing the national fortune and dragon energy of our Great Chu to prolong her life!"
"Nonsense!"
A sharp, angry shout, like a thunderclap, interrupted the storyteller's performance.
All the tea drinkers in the teahouse turned around at the sound.
Princess Jianing stood gracefully at the door, surrounded by a group of palace maids, her delicate face filled with frost.
"I witnessed with my own eyes that Xiao Yu'er worked tirelessly day and night in Jiangnan to save the flood victims, and in the end, he even stopped the flow of the river with a single finger, saving tens of thousands of people from the flood!"
"I saw it with my own eyes: she found a life-saving water source in Jiayu County, quenching the thirst of the people!"
"If she is an omen of misfortune, are you people who only hide in the comfortable capital and make a living by gossiping the people the auspicious signs of the Great Chu?"
Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear, carrying a royal air that struck everyone's heart.
The entire teahouse fell into complete silence; you could hear a pin drop.
Who would dare to challenge Princess Jianing, the most favored princess of the court?
The storyteller was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he knelt down on the ground with a thud, trembling like a leaf.
In the most upscale brothel in the west of the city, "Baihua Lou," a group of elegantly dressed ladies were discussing the latest jewelry and fabrics in a private room on the second floor.
Before we knew it, the conversation had turned to the rising star, Princess Anguo.
"If you ask me, that little princess is a jinx. She's incredibly unlucky, bringing misfortune to her father and mother, and now she's even bringing misfortune to the nation..."
Before a woman in a royal blue jacket could finish speaking, a loud "smack" came from the side.
Qin Zheng slammed a heavy white porcelain teacup down on the rosewood table, causing tea to splash all over the table.
The woman trembled with fear and swallowed the rest of her words.
“Madam,” Qin Zheng turned his head and looked at her with a forced smile, but his eyes were as sharp as knives.
“My father is the Duke of Anguo, and my father and General Mu are sworn brothers.”
“I’ve been training alongside General Mu’s soldiers since I was a child.”
"When General Mu was loyal and courageous, risking his life to protect his country on the frontier, what were you doing?"
"His wife died saving him; she was a virtuous woman. How can you say she 'bred bad luck to her father and mother'?"
"I...I just heard it from someone else..." The woman looked at Qin Zheng with no confidence and stammered her explanation.
"I heard? Who told you that?" Qin Zheng took a step closer, looking down at her.
"You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want."
"If I hear another word from you slandering General Mu and Madam Mu, don't blame me for using this whip, honed in the military camp, to be merciless!"
The eldest daughter of the Duke of Anguo's family, a famous daughter of a military family in the capital, she was the kind of person who would actually slap someone in the street.
The ladies in the private room immediately fell silent, not daring to utter another word.
Liu Qingqing, on the other hand, chose the most elegant, yet also the most ruthless, approach.
She held a temporary literary gathering in her own name at the "Lanting Poetry Society," the most famous gathering place for literati in the capital.
In front of a room full of self-proclaimed refined and talented men and women, she did not argue loudly, but simply picked up her brush and wrote a poem in front of everyone.
"Koi are born in ponds, but when they encounter wind and clouds, they transform into dragons."
"May blessings flow to the Jiangnan region for thousands of miles, what need is there to fear slanderous words like the autumn wind?"
The verses are simple and straightforward, yet they possess a broad and profound meaning, resonating deeply.
The young lady beside her immediately understood her meaning and loudly echoed, "Sister Liu is right! Those who spread rumors are merely jealous of the princess's unparalleled achievements and have dark hearts!"
"Exactly! Instead of wasting time gossiping behind people's backs, why not learn from Princess Anguo and do something practical for the country and its people!"
"Given the young princess's achievements, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to deify her. How could anyone bear to slander her? It's truly a disgrace to civilization!"
The talented men present nodded in approval, applauding Liu Qingqing's integrity and poetry.
Public opinion in Beijing is both fascinating and realistic.
The day before, the whole city was buzzing with the terrifying story of a "femme fatale bringing disaster to the country."
The next day, the winds of change completely shifted, becoming "the whole city angrily denounces the shameless rumor-mongers, and everyone supports the little lucky star who protects the country."
Those common people who were just following the crowd immediately switched sides when they saw that even princesses, daughters of dukes, and daughters of ministers were personally supporting Mu Yu.
"That's right. What Little Water God did in Jiangnan was written down in black and white in the Jiangnan Times. How could it be false?"
“My third uncle’s neighbor works in Jiayu County. He wrote back saying that if it weren’t for the little princess, his whole family would have starved to death this year!”
"I knew something was wrong a long time ago! Someone must be jealous of the young princess's favor and is deliberately trying to smear her!"
The Third Prince's Residence.
In the study, Chu Huaijin listened to the panicked report from his trusted subordinates, his face turning ashen with anger.
He grabbed one of his most beloved jade ruyi scepters with a coiled dragon design from the table and smashed it to the ground.
With a crisp "crack", the jade ruyi shattered into several pieces.
"A bunch of good-for-nothing brats!" he growled through gritted teeth, his eyes so sinister they seemed to drip with venom.
He had calculated everything, including Mu Fang's fury and Chu Chongjin's counterattack.
But he never expected that these noble ladies, who usually only knew how to indulge in romance and jealousy, would be so formidable in combat.
Their identities, their words, and their influence in their respective circles are hundreds of times more powerful than the online trolls and storytellers he hired at great expense.
Consort De's face was also extremely pale; her well-maintained face could no longer retain its former gentleness.
“Huaijin, we underestimated that little girl’s popularity in the capital.”
She spoke in a deep voice, her tone carrying a hint of coldness.
“Especially Jia Ning, she has the Emperor behind her, and her every word and action represents the Emperor’s attitude in the eyes of the people. We cannot touch her.”
This carefully planned and supposedly foolproof public opinion counterattack ended in utter defeat, and even had the opposite effect.
Inside the Anguo Princess's residence, all was quiet.
Mu Yu finally slept enough. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat up from her father's arms.
Seeing Jia Ning, Qin Zheng, and the others gathered together in the courtyard, chattering away, she asked curiously, "Daddy, what are Jia Ning and the others playing? It looks so lively."
Holding his precious daughter whom he had lost and found again, Mu Fang looked at the group of girls who had gone to great lengths for her, his eyes filled with warmth and gratitude.
"They were playing a game called 'Protect Our Little Fisherman'."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a eunuch's shrill voice came from outside the mansion gate.
"Imperial edict arrives—"
A chief eunuch from the palace carried a bright yellow imperial edict and strode into the courtyard.
The Emperor decreed that the Northern Frontier delegation would soon arrive in the capital, and to demonstrate the might of the Great Chu Kingdom, a banquet would be held in the palace to entertain them, followed by a grand military exercise at the royal hunting grounds outside the city three days later.
At the end of the imperial edict, Princess Mu Yu of Anguo was specifically invited to attend the palace banquet.
"The Northern Frontier Mission?"
Chu Chongjin's eyes narrowed slightly when he heard those words.
He immediately recalled the suspicious Northern Frontier merchant, Uen, whom he had encountered on the canal.
The conspiracy of Sikong Ming colluding with the Northern Frontier Wolf Guard has not yet been completely resolved. At this critical juncture, the sudden visit of the Northern Frontier delegation is by no means a simple friendly visit.
Behind this, there is probably another trap set by Hongmen Banquet, targeting both them and the Great Chu.
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