"Lord Feng, your words are quite amusing. Isn't Miss Feng the Second getting rather old?"
At this moment, Helan Yanting stepped forward to retort. "Regardless of her age, there has always been a clear distinction between the legitimate and the illegitimate. As a concubine's daughter, Miss Feng the Second not only failed to stay in her proper place but also shouted at and verbally humiliated the legitimate daughter. Moreover, she is so self - justified?"
Hearing this, Feng Manshu immediately refuted, "Your Highness Helan, what right do you have to accuse me? According to what your princess said, Your Highness appears weak and gentle on the surface, but in private, you often beat and scold your princess, and your mood is unpredictable. How do you explain this?"
Helan Yanting's face changed slightly. He turned his head and gave Feng Yunshu a meaningful look.
Feng Yunshu forced a polite and awkward smile at him, trying to cover up her embarrassment and uneasiness at this moment. "Your Highness, it's a misunderstanding. It's just a misunderstanding..."
Feng Yunshu never expected Feng Manshu to bring this up at this critical moment. She was completely caught off guard!
Fortunately, at this time, Lord Feng and the first wife grabbed Feng Manshu again to stop her from speaking further. "Manshu, shut up quickly! How can you make such a ruckus in the main hall?!"
As she spoke, the first wife took the initiative to step forward and kneel down. She pleaded with the emperor sincerely, "Your Majesty, my daughter has not been in good health recently, and her words and deeds are indeed inappropriate. I beg Your Majesty to allow me to take my daughter back and discipline her well..."
Facing the emperor's authority, Feng Manshu finally calmed down. Like an eggplant beaten by frost, she hung her head and knelt beside the first wife, kowtowing several times.
Dongfang Chuan still had a gloomy face and remained silent. Lord Feng realized the seriousness of the problem and knelt down with a thud, kowtowing to plead for Feng Manshu.
"My daughter is really naive. It's my fault! I'm willing to accept the punishment. I beg Your Majesty to forgive her this time considering it's her first offense!"
After a long silence, the emperor waved his hand impatiently.
"Get out. Don't make yourself a nuisance here."
In the end, out of respect for Lord Feng, Dongfang Chuan let Feng Manshu off and didn't pursue the matter further.
Lord Feng gave the first wife a look. The first wife dragged Feng Manshu and quickly kowtowed to the emperor to express their gratitude. Then they hurriedly left the main hall, fearing that the emperor would change his mind if they were a bit slower.
When they left, the first wife and Feng Manshu walked past Feng Yunshu. Feng Yunshu looked at the disgraced mother - daughter pair, slowly curling her lips into a extremely provocative sneer.
The first wife stared coldly at Feng Yunshu, while Feng Manshu glared at her. Feng Yunshu smiled and gave the mother - daughter pair the middle finger.
Xiaoling in her arms poked out and silently followed her mistress, raising her paw at the mother - daughter pair.
This time, no matter how aggrieved the first wife and her daughter were, they could only swallow their anger. Angering the emperor was a capital crime.
With Feng Manshu gone, the main hall became much quieter.
Helan Yanting looked at the emperor, coughing weakly a few times as he spoke.
"Your Majesty, cough... Just now, the national master has made it very clear that the animal in my wife's arms is not the spiritual fox. Your Majesty accused me and my wife of being the thieves who stole the spiritual fox without finding out the truth. It seems a bit hasty."
Although Helan Yanting's tone was weak, his words were quite powerful. Everyone present could tell that there was an underlying meaning. They were just surprised that the usually weak - looking Helan Prince had suddenly become so tough.
Dongfang Chuan looked at Helan Yanting, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Today's incident turned out to be a misunderstanding. Since the spiritual fox was not stolen by you, I have no other business. You may all leave."
"Your Majesty, I've been framed more than once, so I'm used to it. But my wife was involved for no reason, which has damaged her physically and mentally. Does Your Majesty plan to just let this matter go?"
"What do you mean by that?"
Dongfang Chuan frowned, sensing the disrespect in Helan Yanting's words.
"What else could I mean? I don't care about myself anyway. I just don't want my wife to be wronged."
Helan Yanting's face was full of self - righteousness, showing an attitude that this matter wouldn't end unless the emperor gave him an explanation.
Seeing Dongfang Chuan with a dark face and not saying a word, Helan Yanting continued to speak and cough, and his cough became more and more severe.
"Cough, cough, cough... Your Majesty, regarding the assassination incident at the palace banquet last time... cough... Your Majesty thought it was my doing and even detained the envoys from Yuan Country, cough..."
"Your Highness, Your Highness, please stop talking!"
Feng Yunshu saw that Helan Yanting was coughing more and more severely and was a bit nervous for a moment. However, immediately after, Helan Yanting quickly gave her a look, and Feng Yunshu understood almost instantly.
"Your Highness, it doesn't matter if I'm wronged..." Feng Yunshu said with a choking voice, trying hard to redden her eyes. "Your Highness, please stop talking. You're already in poor health, and you caught the wind when you went out. I'm very worried about you, Your Highness. You must be okay..."
"My lady, seeing you wronged, I really can't bear it, cough..."
Helan Yanting tightly held Feng Yunshu's hand and looked into her eyes affectionately, his eyes full of pity.
Anyone who saw this scene would probably be touched. Some ministers in the main hall had already cast sympathetic looks.
Dongfang Chuan still remained silent, and his face visibly twitched.
At this time, the grand national master looked up at Dongfang Chuan. "Your Majesty, I have a request."
"Grand national master, please feel free to speak."
"I once had a younger sister, but unfortunately, due to bad luck, she contracted a serious illness and died in her childhood. When I saw Princess Helan today, I had a very familiar feeling. If my younger sister were still alive, she would be about the same age as Princess Helan..."
"What do you mean, grand national master?" Dongfang Chuan had already roughly understood his meaning.
"I would like to be siblings with Princess Helan and become her adopted elder brother."
As soon as the grand national master said this, everyone in the main hall gasped in shock.
Not only them, but Feng Yunshu also opened her eyes wide in surprise, suspecting that she had misheard. What was wrong with this grand national master? He came up and tried to claim kinship. Did he have other motives?
Helan Yanting beside her frowned. Before the emperor could speak, he said first, "This is inappropriate."
Then, Helan Yanting looked at the grand national master, with a hint of provocation in his eyes and eyebrows. "Grand national master, my wife is already taken care of by me. There's no need for others to interfere."
"Oh?" The national master raised his eyebrows and looked at Feng Yunshu beside him. "I wonder what Princess Helan thinks?"
As he spoke, the grand national master deliberately or inadvertently adjusted the hem of his robe, and then -
When Feng Yunshu saw the accessory on the grand national master's waist, her mind buzzed with shock!
The accessory was a jade token. At first glance, the jade token didn't seem to be anything special, but with Feng Yunshu's eyesight, she immediately saw the character "Three" engraved on the jade token.
Feng Yunshu never expected that this grand national master in black would be wearing the jade token of her third senior brother from her previous life!
She couldn't be wrong about this jade token. It was a special jade token of their Liuxian School. Only the disciples of the school could have such a jade token.
Who on earth was he?!
"Xiaoling, did you see that? This grand national master is actually wearing Third Senior Brother's jade token. Can you use your spiritual power to peek at his true form and see if he is my third senior brother?"