Ji Fengyao rested her right elbow on the table, her palm supporting her chin, her eyes darting around the two hundred-plus people in front of her.
She began to seriously consider methods of revenge, her tone hesitant: "How about skinning them alive, tearing them apart, and scattering their ashes?"
"Okay," Shang Xiye answered softly, seemingly focusing all his energy on playing with her chubby little hands.
The spies below trembled upon hearing this.
They only came to the Ninth Prince's mansion to find out some trivial matters, and now they're going to be punished with a death sentence?
I feel so wronged and aggrieved!
Suddenly, they heard the bandit say, "No, no, this is too cruel," and the spies breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought to himself: Although the Ninth Princess is a bandit, she is still a young girl with a soft heart and is easy to fool.
Some clever individuals even began meticulously preparing their plea for leniency, hoping to elicit tears and sympathy.
Before he could even finish his speech or catch his breath, the bandit cheerfully and innocently said, "Let's give each of them a hundred lashes. After a hundred lashes, those who die will be buried in the ground to be used as fertilizer. Those who are still alive will be spared, their eyes gouged out, their tongues cut off, their hands and feet severed, and then thrown onto the streets to be beggars. That way, they won't be able to harm others anymore, and it will give kind people a few more people to do good deeds for each day. We'll have done a good deed."
Upon hearing her words, some of those who had been temporarily bribed and whose resolve was weak were so frightened that they wet their pants on the spot.
This ignorant bandit is indeed vicious and extremely terrifying!
What's wrong with them? How dare they act as spies right under the noses of the Ninth Prince and this bandit?
"Your Highness, Your Highness, spare my life! I know I was wrong. I will never again dare to tell outsiders about the affairs of the manor for a few taels of silver. If Your Highness and Your Highness can spare my lowly life, I will serve you like a cow or a horse to repay your kindness." A maid in coarse clothes crawled forward on her knees, crying with tears and snot streaming down her face.
Those who had committed the same faults as her, seeing her as an example, immediately followed suit, crawling forward and begging to kowtow.
“If it’s just a few idle words, it’s certainly not a capital offense.” Ji Fengyao tapped her slender white fingers lightly on her face a few times. It was bouncy and felt quite nice. So she tapped it a few more times. “Tell me in detail where you were on duty, who instructed you, how much silver you received, and what you said. I will decide how to deal with you after I hear it.”
"I am a lowly maid in the Huixiang Inn. My daily tasks are carrying water and chopping firewood in the courtyard..." It was the same maid in coarse clothes who spoke first, sobbing.
Ji Fengyao doesn't have much time to wander around the mansion, so much so that even after being here for so long, she doesn't know where any of the places are.
She turned her head, looking completely bewildered, and asked Shang Xiye, "Where is Huixiang Pavilion?"
"Where does Mi Jiang'er live?" Shang Xiye answered expressionlessly, interlacing his fingers between hers and holding her soft little hand in his palm before looking up at her gently.
Ji Fengyao's heart skipped a beat at his gentle gaze and the way his fingers were intertwined. Just as she was about to act coy, she suddenly remembered that they were in public, and this guy was probably just putting on an act, so she held back.
“Yesterday, two people came looking for me. One was Lanxin, the lady’s personal maid; the other I didn’t recognize, but after she gave me some silver, she seemed to have gone to the Dowager Consort’s garden…”
As the maid in coarse clothes finished speaking, Shang Xiye silently glanced at Wu Shang.
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