Mo Qinghuan sent the maid back to the Qi Prince's Mansion.
Today Mu Yichen was on duty. When she rushed to the palace in a hurry, she happened to bump into Mu Yanming, Mu Yefeng and Mu Yichen talking.
The maid stood aside with her head down. As soon as Mu Yichen caught sight of her as his princess's maid, his heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the mission had failed and they had been discovered on the way?
Then he thought it didn't make sense. If they had been discovered, the maid should have been detained by now.
Holding out a glimmer of hope, he walked side by side with the other two. Seemingly casually, he asked, "Are you two going back to your mansions too?"
Mu Yefeng smiled and tugged at Mu Yanming's sleeve, looking rather coquettish. "Brother Wang, you owe me a meal. How about treating me today?"
Mu Yanming curled his lips and gave a faint smile. "Sure. It's up to you."
Mu Yichen twitched the corner of his mouth. Mu Yanming's tone when talking to Mu Yefeng was way too doting!
But since the two of them weren't going back to their mansions, even if Nier's mission had failed and she had been discovered, he could take her away before they got back.
As for Mo Qinghuan in the Regent's Mansion, he didn't take her seriously. She was just a woman. Could she stop him?
Thinking of this, he felt a bit more at ease. "Since you two are going for a meal, go ahead. I still have to make a patrol today. Otherwise, I'd like to let Brother Wang treat me too."
Mu Yanming and Mu Yefeng exchanged a look. Mu Yanming said, "When you're free, I'll host a meal for you."
Mu Yichen deliberately pretended to be extremely happy. "It's a deal then. Brother Wang, you're not allowed to go back on your word!"
Without even looking at him, Mu Yanming continued walking forward. "I never go back on my words!"
Mu Yefeng pretended to be anxious. "Oh, stop talking. Brother Wang, let's go quickly. After we get out of the palace gate, we can stroll around the market, and then it'll be lunchtime."
As he said that, he eagerly tugged at Mu Yanming's sleeve.
The two of them rushed towards the palace gate. After getting out, Mu Yanming told the coachman to drive the carriage to a secluded place and wait.
He lifted the curtain and observed the situation at the palace gate.
Sure enough, just as they had expected, as soon as they left the palace gate, Mu Yichen followed out.
He rode away on his horse.
"Brother Wang, guess what happened to make him so anxious!"
When they met this morning, Mu Yefeng told Mu Yanming about the letter he had received.
Mu Yanming said that he had received the same letter, so the two of them thought something was bound to happen today.
"If I'm not mistaken, your sister-in-law has already detained the person in the mansion. We'd better hurry back, lest that Mu Yichen fly into a rage and do something harmful to your sister-in-law."
The coachman quickly drove the carriage in the direction of the Regent's Mansion.
However, Mu Yichen still got there one step ahead.
"Your Highness, you can't go in!" Several gatekeepers stepped forward to stop the rampaging Mu Yichen.
All of them were whipped away by him.
He knew the regent wasn't in the mansion, so he wasn't afraid of anyone at this moment. After being whipped, the gatekeepers who had stepped forward to stop him stood still and didn't dare to move.
He rushed to the main hall. There were six or seven guards standing at the door, who raised their hands to block him outside.
Seeing her savior coming, Leng Nier quickly stood up and walked outside. In a few steps, she came to the door.
"Your Highness, I don't know where I offended sister-in-law. She detained me in the mansion and wouldn't let me leave no matter what."
She took the initiative. Before Mu Yichen came, she had already thought it through. Since she had already come out of the study and hadn't touched anything in it.
No one could say she had gone in then. Even if they did, they were all people from the Regent's Mansion. She would just flatly claim that they had joined hands to frame her and ruin the reputation of His Highness the Qi Prince.
She was secretly pleased with herself, thinking this was an excellent plan. Only a smart woman like her could come up with such an idea.
Mo Qinghuan snorted and walked to stand beside Jinghua.
At this moment, Bai Ke and Mu Yanming weren't in the mansion. She couldn't let anyone other than Jinghua get close to her. Otherwise, if something happened, no one could bear Mu Yanming's wrath.
"Tell me, why do you think I've kept you in the mansion?"
Leng Nier pretended not to know. The people led by Jinghua blocked Mu Yichen outside and wouldn't let him in.
He and Leng Nier looked at each other across the crowd. Leng Nier put on a look of extreme grievance. "Your Highness, I've lost all my face in the Regent's Mansion today. From now on, I'll never dare to come here again."
"You're really good at pretending to be pitiful. Dozens of pairs of eyes in the Regent's Mansion saw you sneaking into the prince's study. Now you say you don't know why I'm making things difficult for you. Do you think you can just erase what you've done?"
Leng Nier still refused to admit it. "Just because you say I sneaked into the regent's study, I did? Sister-in-law, you're being too arrogant. Under the feet of the Son of Heaven, there are still laws. Besides, as the emperor's daughter-in-law, would I do such sneaky things?"
Mu Yichen nodded in agreement. Suddenly, there came the sound of applause behind him. He subconsciously looked back, and his breath caught in his throat. "Brother... Brother Wang, Crown Prince, didn't you say you were going to stroll around the market..."
Before he could finish, he realized he had been tricked. After throwing his head back and laughing out loud, he pointed at Mu Yanming. "Today I'm going to take this person away. I'll just ask Brother Wang one thing. Will you give your brother this face?"
Mu Yanming walked up to Mu Yichen. The guards made way upon seeing this, and only then did Mu Yichen follow Mu Yanming's footsteps into the main hall.
He came up to Mo Qinghuan, reached out his hand and held her small hand. The spring cold had passed, and her small hand was warm, as if it had melted his heart.
Mo Qinghuan looked up at Mu Yanming. "Your Highness, when the Princess of Qi came to our mansion today, I thought something was fishy. People who usually have nothing to do with each other suddenly became so enthusiastic. So I kept an eye on her. Sure enough, I found her sneaking into your study. The things inside were in a complete mess. I don't know what she was looking for!"
When she said the last sentence, she suddenly turned to look at Mu Yichen.
"Your Highness, how do you think this matter should be dealt with today? You should know that being a scoundrel won't work, because it wasn't just one person who saw it! Everyone here can testify that your Princess of Qi sneaked into our prince's study!"
Mu Yichen felt embarrassed and pointed at Mo Qinghuan. "I'm talking to Brother Wang. When did it become your turn to talk! You're being so ungrateful!"
Mu Yanming's face darkened. He looked at Mu Yichen with a look as if he were looking at a dead man.
"Mu Yichen, you're so bold! I order you to apologize to my princess right now!"