Xie Fengran quickly realized that it was this person who had summoned her. Suppressing her urge to complain, she pointed at the eunuch outside and asked, "When did you manage to win over the people around the princess?"
"It wasn't me who bribed them. It was Princess Si who offered this person voluntarily!" Qin Junxing looked innocent.
He had merely tentatively asked Xiaosi for someone. Who would have thought that after that girl learned what he was planning to do, without hesitation, she had pushed forward her personal eunuch.
Xie Fengran was skeptical. However, remembering that Princess Si was bent on matchmaking for them, it wasn't entirely impossible.
Still, she asked, "Where are we going?"
Qin Junxing gave her a mysterious smile. "To watch a show!"
...
The carriage left the East City and stopped in an alley. The street that led out of the alley was right in front of the Metropolitan Magistrate's Yamen.
By this time, the yamen was about to close for the day. The off - duty officials were leaving in twos and threes.
Just then, a swill cart emerged from the East City, passing by the road in front of the Metropolitan Magistrate's Yamen and heading west.
The road in front of the yamen was quite wide. Four carriages could run side by side without any problem. But for some reason, a merchant who was stocking up on goods suddenly appeared, pulling two large carts of merchandise. Coupled with the officials leaving work, it was difficult to move quickly.
The swill cart was blocked right in front of the yamen. The carriage jolted from time to time.
In the alley, Qin Junxing motioned for Xie Fengran to lift the curtain and look out. She could clearly see what was happening to that carriage.
"What's this..." Xie Fengran turned to ask, her eyes full of curiosity.
Qin Junxing leaned forward, looking out over Xie Fengran's shoulder. The two of them were now closer.
Xie Fengran could even feel the warm breath of the person behind her on her ear. She shifted forward uneasily, but after only moving a little, her shoulder was held down.
"Pay attention. It's starting!"
As his voice fell, the Wang family's carriage was blocked by the goods - laden cart. For some unknown reason, the well - trained horse suddenly went wild, rearing up its front hooves forcefully. In an instant—
The swill splashed everywhere, and the people on the cart and the swill buckets rolled onto the ground.
The area in front of the Metropolitan Magistrate's Yamen immediately descended into chaos. The coachman of the Wang family was no easy person. He jumped down and rushed towards the merchant.
The merchant pleaded for mercy repeatedly, dodging behind the off - duty yamen runners.
It wasn't until someone came out and shouted, "Be quiet, all of you!"
The crowd gradually quieted down. The Wang family's horse was also subdued, and only then could they see the mess on the street—the swill had spilled all over, and the stench was unbearable.
The person who came out to stop them was the constable of the Metropolitan Magistrate's Yamen, surnamed Lin. At this moment, Constable Lin looked extremely grim.
If he hadn't recognized them as members of the Wang family, he would have already flown into a rage.
The steward following the Wang family's carriage, the one who had been ordered by Lady Wang to handle the matter, quickly rushed in front of Constable Lin, adopting a very humble posture and begging for mercy obsequiously.
Constable Lin didn't suspect anything. Just as he was about to tell them to clean up and leave quickly, someone shouted, "Look! A person fell off the Wang family's swill cart."
It turned out that just now, all the things on the cart had fallen off, and the sack containing the person had naturally fallen out too. The mouth of the sack wasn't tied tightly, and half of a head was sticking out.
Someone who was nearby walked over and tugged at the mouth of the sack a couple of times, and a human head was revealed.
The eyes were closed, and the mouth was gagged. No one knew if the person was dead or alive!
The crowd erupted in an uproar. "What does the Wang family want to do? Is this person dead or alive?"
"Who knows? It looks like a rather good - looking person. Why would they be put in a sack!"
"Could it be that this person was killed by the Wang family?"
...
People looked at the Wang family members with increasingly strange looks in their eyes. When the steward saw that the situation was turning bad, he wanted to rush over but was stopped by Constable Lin.
"Someone, help that person up and see how they are?"
The steward was dumbfounded. "My lord... this is a family matter of the Wang family. You..."
Constable Lin said righteously, "This person's life or death is unknown. You were hiding them in a swill bucket and transporting them out. What on earth is your purpose?"
Constable Lin was also groaning inwardly. With so many people watching, there was no way he could cover up for them.
So, the Wang family members, along with the person in the sack, were all invited inside.
Once they entered the main gate of the Metropolitan Magistrate's Yamen, the people outside could no longer see them.
Xie Fengran said in a daze, "What's going on?"
Qin Junxing removed his hand from her shoulder, straightened his body, and explained, "Do you remember the information I gave you about the Imperial College tutor?"
Xie Fengran nodded. "I remember." She had a deep impression of it. The 'information' on it was extremely detailed. Even the fact that the tutor had a mistress had been exposed.
However, with his question...
"Do you still remember that it said on there that Tutor Wang had taken in a mistress outside?"
Xie Fengran nodded. That was the first item on the list.
Qin Junxing's eyes were smiling as he pointed at the yamen across the street.
"Could it be that the person in the sack is..."
"Right. It's Tutor Wang's mistress." Qin Junxing rubbed his fingers and subtly glanced at the person's shoulder across from him. So thin!
Xie Fengran didn't know what Qin Junxing was thinking. She pressed on, "How did you know that it was that mistress in there?"
"Of course, I arranged it!"
Qin Junxing looked at her with amusement and said, "I had someone incite that mistress to go to the Wang Mansion to ask Lady Wang to let her enter the family. She also has a son. Since Tutor Wang has no sons of his own, this son will surely be raised. But given Lady Wang's jealous nature, she definitely won't let the mistress enter the family."
People from high - ranking families never took these commoners seriously. To eliminate future troubles, there was a high chance that Lady Wang would kill the mistress.
"So, I've always had people keeping an eye on the Wang family."
Xie Fengran was in awe of this calculation. She suddenly understood and said, "Your Highness, you're really resourceful!"
Qin Junxing felt that there was something off about this remark.
Suddenly, he said, "Ranran, I don't regret having schemed against you at the Huguo Temple. If I had to do it all over again, I'd still do the same."
"But from now on, I may still scheme against others, but I'll never scheme against you, Ranran!"
Hearing this, Xie Fengran's heart skipped a beat. She raised her eyes and looked at him. "Why are you saying these things all of a sudden, Your Highness?"
"I just want you to know my feelings!"
Qin Junxing said seriously, "I know you don't like scheming. If this were on the frontier, there would be better and more upright ways. But this is the capital city, and scheming will be inevitable in the future. You just need to remember that from now on, I won't scheme against you, and I won't let anyone else scheme against you either."
Xie Fengran half - lowered her eyes and shook her head. "Who can guarantee that they've never schemed in their life?"
Didn't she also scheme a bit when she first came out? Who could really escape it?
Qin Junxing observed her carefully and saw that she really didn't seem angry. He let out a sigh of relief and said, "Ranran, I'll take you out for dinner and then send you back."
This time, Xie Fengran didn't refuse. She nodded. "That's fine."