Qin Mu, who had been lying limp on the chair pretending to be dead, suddenly jumped to his feet. With an almost tearful look of joy on his face, he said, "Quick! Quickly invite Young Master Chu in!"
Prime Minister Chu and Feng Jingye were also excited. They grabbed the soldier who had come to deliver the news and asked, "Where is he? Where is he?"
The soldier who had come to report looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. His face still carried the innocence of youth, clearly a newcomer who had only been around for a short time.
Having run all the way in a hurry, he was gasping for breath after entering the yamen gate.
Seeing everyone looking at him expectantly, the young boy, who had never received such attention before, blushed with embarrassment.
Presumably, in order to give everyone a satisfactory answer and show off a bit, after all, it was a rare opportunity to make a contribution.
He knelt down on one knee with a thud and replied loudly, enunciating each word clearly.
"Your Excellencies, Young Master Chu has been found! He is, he is in the White Horse Courtyard in the south of the city!"
"Whoa—"
The on - looking commoners immediately erupted in an uproar.
Hearing this, Qin Mu rolled his eyes and fainted again.
Feng Jingye and Prime Minister Chu were struck as if by five thunderbolts.
After regaining their senses, Prime Minister Chu's eyes blazed with killing intent. He snatched the waist knife from a soldier of the Prefectural Magistrate's office beside him and rushed towards Bai Zheng, intending to strike.
"You slut! You actually tied Feng'er to..." He couldn't bring himself to say the words "White Horse Courtyard". Gritting his teeth, he said, "You actually tied Feng'er to such a filthy place! If I don't kill you today and get rid of you, a scourge like you, I'm afraid the whole Great Zhou will be ruined in your hands!"
Seeing this, Bai Zheng quickly scrambled up from the ground and without hesitation hid behind Feng Jingxuan: "Your Highness the Third Prince, save me!"
Feng Jingxuan stifled a laugh and smoothly reached out to stop the enraged Prime Minister Chu. He took the knife and tried to persuade him kindly, "My Lord Prime Minister, please calm down. There may be some hidden story behind this matter of Young Master Chu. After all, Miss Bai is just a woman, and she wouldn't dare to go to the White Horse Courtyard..."
"If it wasn't her, then who else could it be! This scourge, slut, demon..."
Prime Minister Chu wasn't good at scolding people. In his great anger, he could only repeat a few words that he thought were the most powerful. Although Feng Jingxuan had taken the knife from his hand, his pursuit of Bai Zheng didn't stop.
"Earlier, Miss Bai said that Young Master Chu had gone to the pleasure quarters. My Lord Prime Minister said that Miss Bai was slandering him. If Miss Bai had made up her mind to slander, she would surely have made the play more complete. How could she first slander Young Master Chu for going to the pleasure quarters yesterday and then tie him to the White Horse Courtyard today? A woman as intelligent as Miss Bai would never do such self - contradictory things. My Lord Prime Minister must have misunderstood her."
Feng Jingxuan said earnestly.
"Pfft—" Although Bai Zheng had been running hard to escape, she couldn't help laughing out loud after hearing Feng Jingxuan's astonishing words.
"Your Highness the Third Prince!" Prime Minister Chu glared angrily. After chasing Bai Zheng like a hawk chasing a chicken, he soon felt that he was about to collapse, so he had to stop.
His temples throbbed, and he stood there, gasping for breath.
During the moment when he stopped to catch his breath, the voices of the discussions outside grew louder and louder, piercing into his ears.
"I heard that there are all good - looking young men in the White Horse Courtyard, who are no less beautiful than women. They are specifically for those lords who like male companions to enjoy themselves. I didn't expect that Young Master Chu, at such a young age, would have such a preference."
"Love, you know, has nothing to do with gender. It's still very beautiful. You can't look down on Young Master Chu just because he went to the White Horse Courtyard!"
"Yeah, in the end, isn't the most heart - broken one still the old prime minister? His only youngest son turns out to be a homosexual. What a sin..."
The voices of the discussions reached Prime Minister Chu's ears, making him stagger. He felt all the blood rush to his head.
"Shut up! Shut up! All of you shut up!" Feng Jingye roared in a rage.
He turned his head, his eyes full of coldness as he looked at Bai Zheng: "Miss Bai, are you determined to be an enemy of the Chu family and this Crown Prince?"
"I wouldn't dare, Your Highness." Bai Zheng, who had been hiding behind Feng Jingxuan watching the show for a long time, quickly replied aggrievedly when she heard her name being called.
"I don't understand either, Your Highness. From beginning to end, it was clearly Young Master Chu who kept pestering me. He kidnapped me and even forced me to take poison. I didn't do anything... The only thing I did was being saved by the marquis and not dying. If my not dying means being an enemy of Your Highness, then I, I..."
She hesitated, her eyes darting uneasily. After a moment, a look of determination appeared on her face.
She took a few steps forward, bent down to pick up the knife that Feng Jingxuan had taken and thrown on the ground. She walked up to Feng Jingye, holding the knife with both hands and bowing her head respectfully: "If Your Highness wants a subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die. I am willing to accept death."
"Zheng'er!" Bai Yinan was instantly scared out of his wits.
He quickly rushed in front of Bai Zheng, protecting her behind him. Then he knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly to Feng Jingye: "Your Highness, Your Highness, please calm down. My daughter is young. She was just poisoned and rescued. Her mind is still not clear. She is just talking nonsense. Your Highness, don't take it seriously. If Your Highness wants to punish someone, please punish me. It was I who caused this trouble first. I was so eager to save my daughter and had nowhere else to turn, so I had to seek help from the Prefectural Magistrate's office... I was wrong. I will never dare again. Please spare my daughter's life!"
The on - looking commoners, who had been silenced by Feng Jingye's scolding, looked at each other in surprise when they saw this situation. Although they didn't dare to speak, the looks they exchanged were full of meaning.
Who would have thought that our Crown Prince would be such an unreasonable and domineering person.
Feng Jingye's face instantly turned extremely ugly.
How could he not understand what Bai Yinan meant? On the surface, it sounded like a plea for mercy, but in fact, every word was like a dagger stabbing at his heart.
"Your Highness, please spare my life..."
"Daddy..."
Bai Zheng and her father played in harmony, making Feng Jingye's head ache.
"Enough!" He finally couldn't help shouting. He didn't want to deal with them anymore. He turned to the young soldier who had first reported the news and asked, "Where is Young Master Chu? Since he's been found, why isn't he here yet?"
After what had just happened, the young soldier already knew that he had brought bad news. He was so scared that he had been hiding in a corner, not daring to speak. Now, hearing Feng Jingye's question, he trembled and said shakily,
"Young Master Chu drank too much wine and couldn't wake up for a while. He was carried here in a sedan chair. By now, he should be in the backyard of the yamen."
"He still hasn't woken up?" Feng Jingye narrowed his eyes slightly.
The young soldier didn't know how to answer Feng Jingye's question. He just nodded blankly.
"Your Highness, don't worry. I've already sent someone to invite the doctor, and the sobering - up medicine is being boiled." the clerk replied.
Feng Jingye didn't even look at him. He flicked his sleeve and snorted: "Don't wait for the doctor. Drag him up."
"This... Young Master Chu is still unconscious. Dragging him up might not be useful..." the clerk said awkwardly.