The next day, it was dawn.
Xiao Sanzi took a medium-sized bag and walked out of the back door of Zhuangyuan Mansion. He came to a deserted corner of the North City Market, opened the bag and started to take care of himself.
A quarter of an hour later, a dark-skinned woman carrying a basket of vegetables walked out of the remote corner.
The market is very lively in the early morning, filled with meat, vegetable and breakfast stalls, and the streets are bustling with people.
Most of the people walking on the street were women who came out to buy meat and vegetables. These women were either wives of commoners or purchasing maids for noble families and officials. Most of them loved to chat about the leisure activities in the capital while buying vegetables.
Because of the incident with Xiao Shaokun at the Earl of Qingping's mansion yesterday, the market was still very enthusiastic about discussing this matter today.
A fat woman came to the pork stall and said, "Boss, give me two pounds of lean pork."
"Okay, Madam Zhang." The pork stall owner responded with a smile and took down the pork hanging on the stall and started cutting it.
At this time, several more women came and wanted to buy meat.
Madam Zhang saw that the people who came were all familiar ones. She looked around and believed that there was no suspicious person around. Then she said unscrupulously: "You all heard about that incident yesterday, right?"
As soon as the women heard what she was talking about, they immediately became excited and echoed: "I heard it, I heard it."
A woman said, "Tsk tsk! That dandy originally thought he was just doing something out of line, but who could have imagined he would do something so horrifying."
Madam Zhang continued, "That's right, twenty-eight corpses in total. I heard that when the officials were digging up the flowerbed, many people who tried to peek fainted from fright. It was so terrifying, tsk tsk..."
Madam Zhang spoke louder and louder, and the women around who heard her came over and joined in.
Just as they were talking excitedly, a dark-skinned woman carrying a basket slid into the center of the crowd and said in a clear voice, "Hey, hey, hey, Xiao Shaokun's matter was all yesterday. There's something new today. It seems like you guys don't know yet?"
Madam Zhang showed curiosity and asked quickly, "What else is new? Tell me about it."
She loves to gossip about other people's affairs. She is busy all day long, and the only time she can talk enough is when she is buying groceries. Now when she hears something new that she doesn't know, isn't she curious?
Everyone also cast curious eyes on the dark-skinned woman.
No matter how many people Xiao Shaokun killed, they were not their relatives after all, and the victims had nothing to do with them. At most, they were shocked and would talk about it as a trivial matter after dinner for two days. Now that they heard something new, they were naturally interested.
The dark-skinned woman pretended to be apprehensive and lowered her voice, "It's about Princess Rongfu..."
"Ah?" When everyone heard it was Princess Rongfu, they immediately lost half their interest. "What's up Princess Rongfu? Has she done something good that benefits the country and the people again?"
She's been doing these good things for a long time, so what's so strange about it? They want to hear something even more shocking than Xiao Shaokun.
The dark-skinned woman shook her head: "Of course not..."
"What on earth is that?" Madam Zhang was impatient and couldn't stand hearing someone speaking in such heavy breaths. "Hurry up and tell me!"
Everyone couldn't contain their curiosity and kept urging: "Yes, yes, what's going on? Tell me quickly..."
People are so strange. They always like to see things that are inconsistent with their own feelings happen to a person, even if that person is the lucky star of the Jin Dynasty, the Princess Rongfu whom they have always loved.
The dark-skinned woman whetted everyone's appetite before lowering her voice again and saying, "I heard that Princess Rongfu has done more evil things behind the scenes than Xiao Shaokun."
Everyone stared in disbelief, yet couldn't hide their curiosity: "This? Is this true?"
"What evil thing has the princess done?"
"Yeah, yeah, tell me about it."
Some people were skeptical: "How is this possible? Princess Rongfu is the lucky star of the Great Jin Dynasty. How many good things have she done for the country and the people over the years? How could she have done more evil things than that playboy Xiao Shaokun?"
Someone immediately agreed: "That makes sense. I don't believe the princess would be that kind of person..."
"I don't believe it either..."
"Hey, don't be impatient. Listen to me first," the dark-skinned woman waved her hand and said mysteriously, "You know Shishan Hall, right?"
Everyone nodded: "Of course we know, who in the capital doesn't know?"
Shishan Hall is a place for donations set up by the princess specifically to help the poor and disaster-stricken people. Anyone who wants to do good deeds can donate at Shishan Hall. Princess Rongfu also holds a donation meeting in Shishan Hall every year to encourage more people to donate. Of course, at this time, the women of noble families, court ladies, and wealthy ladies often come the most and donate the most.
One person said, "Yesterday, my husband donated five taels of silver."
"Last year, at Princess Rongfu's charity event, my mother-in-law also donated ten taels."
"I heard that last year, the Yu family, the richest family in the north, donated a full 10,000 taels..."
"Yes, yes, yes. And the Duke of Ji's Mansion also donated 10,000 taels."
"And the Minister of Works' family..."
The dark-skinned woman interrupted everyone and said, "Yes, it seems everyone knows about this. Then let me tell you something you don't know."
"Don't know?"
"What is it? Tell me now!"
"Actually, Princess Rongfu pretends to be helping the poor and the disaster-stricken people, but in reality, she's just using this as a way to make money. Of all the donations her Shishantang receives, less than half is used to help the people every year, just to make a show of it. The rest is spent on her own..."
Everyone couldn't believe it: "No way? How is this possible?"
"Yeah, how is that possible?"
"Tsk!" the dark-skinned woman said nonchalantly, "Believe it or not, many officials already know about this. No one dares to offend the princess, but it's all tacitly understood."
"Ah? Really?"
"Isn't that just using the money we donated for her own enjoyment? And she's also gained a good reputation?"
“Isn’t this too much?”
The dark-skinned woman continued, "This is just one of the small things. I heard that Princess Rongfu has a Jinyu Villa outside the city. Because of the endless hot springs in that villa, the scenery is like spring all year round..."
Someone took over the conversation: "I do know about this. It is true. It is said that the princess plants rare flowers of different seasons in it every year and invites noble ladies from aristocratic families to appreciate the flowers."
"And then? What happened to Jinyu Villa?"
The young woman said, "I heard that the Golden Jade Garden was originally farmland owned by a farmer outside the city. Princess Rongfu took a fancy to that piece of land and wanted to buy it. However, it was land passed down from the farmer's ancestors, so naturally they refused to sell it. Then, guess what happened?"
The dark-skinned woman answered her own question without pausing, "Princess Rongfu, that very night they had the farmer's family killed and their bodies buried in the wilderness. They even claimed that the farmer had sold his land, taken the money, and moved away. The neighbors didn't believe it at first, because that family got along very well with their neighbors and would definitely not move away without informing them. But because it was the princess's people who said it, they believed it..."
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