"Protect the teahouse and the kitchen," Bai Zheng said coldly.
Mo Tong replied, "Yes," and then emerged from the shadows with several secret guards, firmly guarding the entrance of the teahouse.
Meanwhile, the door leading from the front hall to the kitchen was also closed.
Fortunately, when Bai Zheng designed the shop, to protect the kitchen, she had specifically installed a sturdy iron gate at the connection between the front and back yards. Once closed, it couldn't be smashed open no matter how hard one tried.
However, the front hall, which was sparsely guarded at this moment, had already been smashed beyond recognition by the angry crowd.
Feng Jingye laughed cruelly as he watched all this.
"Bai Zheng, this is the consequence of your callous disregard for human life."
Qingzhi, Qingshao, and Zhuling closely guarded Bai Zheng, not daring to move a single step. They didn't allow the restless crowd to get even a bit closer.
Bai Zheng looked back at Feng Jingye, her eyes filled with thick coldness. "Your Highness really has good methods."
By this moment, what else didn't she understand?
The so - called girl who was on the verge of death from poisoning after taking just half a bite of the egg yolk pastry was merely a decoy.
The subsequent commotion was the real intention of the mastermind behind the scenes - to smear Bai Zheng's reputation, smash her shop, and make all evidence disappear without a trace.
Even if she wanted to defend herself, there was no way to do so.
Seeing that the front part of the shop had been smashed to pieces, and the crowd's anger still unquenched, led by a few extremely agile people, they began to concentrate their efforts and attempted to smash open the iron gate leading to the kitchen.
Oh no! There were hardly any capable people guarding there!
Seeing those people carry a thick and round log from somewhere, they rammed it against the iron gate heavily again and again, just like in a siege.
The iron gate was on the verge of collapse under such impacts.
Bai Zheng's eyes suddenly widened, and her pupils shrank violently.
Once the iron gate was broken open, the kitchen would be completely lost.
By then... she would never be able to shake off the charge of selling poisonous food that caused people's deaths.
Bai Zheng was so anxious that her eyes were about to burst. She quickly shouted, "Mo Tong, send a few people to guard the iron gate!"
Mo Tong and the others guarding in front of the teahouse were already in a complete mess and struggling to take care of themselves.
This wasn't a battlefield where the opponents were their enemies. To deal with them, they just needed to draw their swords and fight to the death.
This time, the people they were facing were ordinary, unarmed, and angry civilians. Whether it was the century - old family precepts of the Marquis of Dingyuan's Mansion or the military orders of the Changping Army, they always remembered that their swords were only meant to cut down the enemy army, never the common people.
Therefore, no matter what, they couldn't fight back. They could only defend clumsily. The result was predictable.
Led by a few middle - aged women with extremely strong combat capabilities, Mo Tong and the others were almost all scratched with deep bloodstains on their faces and bodies.
Hearing Bai Zheng's order, Mo Tong heaved a sigh of relief. He quickly responded and selected a few of the most seriously injured brothers to rush to guard the iron gate.
In Anren Alley, there was unprecedented chaos.
Bai Zheng's eyes were filled with a terrifying coldness. She looked at Feng Jingye and said word by word through gritted teeth, "Your Highness must remember that no matter what losses I suffer today, in the future, Your Highness will have to pay me back double."
"Really?" Feng Jingye suddenly laughed. He tilted his head slightly and watched the iron gate, which was already on the verge of collapse under the heavy blows, almost with pleasure, and replied leisurely.
"Madam Marquis must be mistaken, right? Today's misfortune is entirely due to Madam Marquis's own evil deeds, which have aroused the indignation of the crowd. What does it have to do with this Crown Prince?"
"Whether it has anything to do with Your Highness, Your Highness and I both know very well. But it's okay," Bai Zheng suddenly withdrew the anger from her eyes, relaxed her eyebrows and smiled. "I have plenty of ways to make Your Highness willingly compensate me for today's losses."
Looking at Bai Zheng like this, Feng Jingye suddenly had a sense of foreboding.
But he quickly shook his head vigorously.
The scheme today had cost him a great deal of manpower and material resources, and he had carefully planned it for a long time. He was very certain that as long as the kitchen was breached, Bai Zheng would have no way to turn the situation around.
Even if the owner of a shop that caused someone's death was the Madam Marquis of Dingyuan, so what? Even the Son of Heaven would be punished equally as a commoner if he broke the law!
By then, it was even questionable whether she could keep her position as the Madam Marquis of Dingyuan.
Dare to ask him for compensation? It was simply wishful thinking!
Thinking of this, the smile on Feng Jingye's face deepened. He suddenly raised his hand high and waved it forward.
Suddenly, a few more people who looked ordinary but moved extremely quickly emerged from the end of the alley.
Seeing them, Bai Zheng felt a strong sense of uneasiness in her heart.
Those people quickly shuttled through the crowd that was smashing the iron gate, skillfully squeezed to the front, and attacked Mo Tong and the others who were guarding the iron gate.
Mo Tong was concentrating on dealing with the log. Obviously, he didn't expect that a few people with extraordinary skills would suddenly appear. By accident, he was stabbed with a needle on his body.
After this stab, he instantly lost his strength.
No good!
He just wanted to raise his head and tell his brothers around him to "be careful", but his eyes closed first, and he fell forward.
The large and chaotic crowd made their sneak attack extremely smooth.
Mo Tong and the others were quickly subdued. The iron gate lost its guards again, and everyone worked together to ram the log against it again and again.
Bai Zheng's heart was tightly clenched. She opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't make any sound.
"Boom!"
After just a few rams, the iron gate finally couldn't bear the impact and collapsed with a loud noise.
The cooks and helpers inside immediately screamed and scattered in a panic.
Bai Zheng felt that the ground she was standing on trembled with the collapse of the iron gate. The dust that rose filled the air and blurred everyone's eyes.
The first few people quickly covered their faces with their sleeves and waved their hands vigorously to disperse the dust in front of them before opening their eyes and looking inside.
The dust gradually settled, and the scene in front of them gradually became clear.
When they saw clearly, everyone was stunned.
Feng Jingye couldn't believe his eyes. He rubbed his eyes hard and found that he wasn't seeing things wrong.
In the dusty air, a vague figure slowly walked out from inside.
When the dust finally settled, the figure fully emerged.
A man in a long green bamboo robe embroidered with ink - painted lotus flowers fluttered slightly in the wind. A white jade silk ribbon with delicate lotus patterns was tied around his waist. His jet - black hair was tied up with a jade crown. His thin lips were slightly pursed, his gaze was calm, and his eyes emitted a pure and serene light like the moonlight.
Wherever his gaze fell, people felt inexplicably guilty.
It was actually Feng Linyuan, the Marquis of Dingyuan, who had rarely appeared since the wedding.
"My Lord Marquis?!"
Seeing Feng Linyuan walk out of the kitchen, the people who had smashed the iron gate didn't know what expression to make for a moment.
"What are all of you doing surrounding my wife's kitchen? If you want to eat the desserts she makes, you can go to the front hall and buy them."