The three of them immediately rushed back to the county seat and took a short rest there.
This was because Li Xinyue's hand still needed to be cleaned and bandaged.
Doctor Xing rushed over in a hurry with his medicine chest on his back. Without even catching his breath, he was led by Chu Junyi to bandage Li Xinyue's wound.
Chu Junyi watched worriedly, but Doctor Xing thought he was in the way and sent him outside to wait.
As a result, he ran into Murong Xiu, who was also waiting outside.
Their eyes met, and there were subtle changes in their expressions, which they quickly concealed.
Time seemed to stand still. Both of them wanted to "greet" the other, but couldn't find the right identity to do so, so they remained silent.
The wind blew through, making their brocade robes and blue shirts rustle.
I don't know how much time had passed when they suddenly heard a voice behind them say, "Let's go!"
Only then did they gather their thoughts, lower their heads, and cough lightly.
The atmosphere seemed to return to its previous calm.
Li Xinyue wasn't stupid. She had long sensed the subtle atmosphere but didn't expose it. She fled through the two of them like a scared rabbit, then mounted her horse and galloped away.
The two of them had no choice but to mount their horses and chase after her.
The horses galloped at full speed, and the wind roared in their ears. The three handsome and beautiful figures sped past on the official road like a beautiful landscape.
Li Xinyue urged her horse on desperately, deliberately trying to leave the two of them ten miles behind.
"Yah!"
Chu Junyi and Murong Xiu exchanged a look, then accelerated. In a moment, they were riding side by side with Li Xinyue, one on the left and the other on the right.
Li Xinyue, "... "
...
"Your, Your Majesty..." Inside the princess mansion, Lian'er, Jing Bai, and Hongxiu were so panicked that they broke out in a cold sweat.
The princess hadn't returned yet, but the emperor had come first. If the emperor asked where the princess was, how should they answer?
"Where's Yuanyang?"
Sure enough!
The three of them closed their eyes in despair and hung their heads low.
Emperor Mingde's heart sank. The hand behind his back trembled slightly.
The words of the court officials pressing him for an answer faintly emerged in his mind.
"Where there's smoke, there's fire. If Princess Yuanyang behaves herself, how could there be such rumors? Moreover, the Fu family is the princess's maternal grandfather's family. Who would believe that the princess has no contact with the Fu family?"
"Your Majesty, why don't you go to Princess Yuanyang's mansion in person to find out if the rumors are true?"
Emperor Mingde took a deep breath and gritted his teeth secretly. He was angry at the court officials for pressing him and at Li Xinyue for being so disappointing!
"If I go and find that Yuanyang is really in the princess mansion, my dear minister will say that the princess sent her confidant to Jiangnan.
You always have a hundred excuses for her!"
"Besides, as a princess, why does she need to rely on the Fu family's bribes to have her current wealth and honor! Haven't I given her enough rare treasures, mansions, and manors!
You old fogeys spend all day impeaching this person and that person. Now you even want to impeach her for something based on mere hearsay. Have I been too kind to you, leaving you with nothing better to do?"
"Your Majesty, we made this memorial only after careful consideration. As the saying goes, three men make a tiger. People's words are fearsome. Even if Princess Yuanyang behaves herself, a princess of the state being slandered like this is an insult to the dignity of our Great Yan Kingdom.
To quell the public opinion, Your Majesty had better go to the princess mansion in person. Your Majesty needs to show the subjects with your own actions that the princess is in the mansion."
Emperor Mingde had nothing to say. To quell the public opinion, he had no choice but to go to the princess mansion, but he didn't expect that she really wasn't there.
Emperor Mingde frowned deeply. His heart tightened like a string, on the verge of breaking at any moment.
Li Xinyue and the other two were still on the road. Because the journey was long, even if they rode their horses at full speed without stopping, it would still take a long time.
She was extremely anxious!
Chu Junyi and Murong Xiu were no less anxious. They all silently urged their horses on!
At the same time, in a place they didn't know, a portrait of Princess Yuanyang was quickly spreading from Jiangnan to the capital.
To tie his official career and the fate of the entire Fu family to Li Xinyue, Fu Chengyuan commissioned a portrait of the princess to praise her for her meritorious service in suppressing bandits. He also had the story of her suppressing bandits compiled into storybooks and ballads to be sung everywhere, spreading them throughout the streets and alleys and making them known to every woman and child. He wanted to spread the news to the capital as soon as possible.
It was late at night, and the crows were flying south. Emperor Mingde frowned in annoyance and drank cup after cup of tea. The strings in his heart broke one by one.
The pressure from the court officials was like a slowly forming mountain, pressing down on his heartstrings bit by bit, making them tremble slightly.
If Yuanyang didn't come to explain soon, he would almost believe the rumors.
At this time, the hasty footsteps of a servant came from outside.
"Your Majesty, the imperial uncle requests an audience."
Before Emperor Mingde could say anything, the imperial uncle, Lin Wei, who was following the servant, stepped forward on his own and bowed to Emperor Mingde.
Emperor Mingde frowned in annoyance. "Dispense with the formalities."
A servant in the princess mansion served tea to the imperial uncle. The imperial uncle glanced at Emperor Mingde shrewdly and sat down directly in the lower seat.
"I heard that Your Majesty has been sitting in the princess mansion all afternoon but hasn't seen the princess yet?"
Emperor Mingde didn't answer.
The imperial uncle continued, "Your Majesty, there are some things I don't know if I should say..."
"If you don't know whether you should say it or not, then don't say it!"
"But for the sake of the country and the people, I still have to say it, even if Your Majesty doesn't like to hear it.
Princess Yuanyang is arrogant and domineering. She has repeatedly done things that are an insult to the dignity of the state. Now she is also involved with the Fu family.
I think Your Majesty should discipline her strictly!"
Emperor Mingde opened his eyes angrily and glared at Lin Wei. "Are you saying that I'm a bad father? Rong'er and the crown prince are also my children. Why don't you say anything about them?
You're a man in your fifties. Why are you picking on a little girl?"
"Hehe, that little girl has quite a lot of tricks up her sleeve! She dares to leave the capital at will and is involved with the Fu family. Who knows what she'll do in the future!
If it were Princess Fourteen who did this, as her uncle, I would not only scold her but also beat her!"
Emperor Mingde stood up angrily!
"Your Majesty, Princess Yuanyang is back."
Li Xinyue arrived in a hurry, flustered about how to explain to her father. But when she saw the imperial uncle, Lin Wei, there, she already had a feeling that things were going to go badly today.
Sure enough, as she knelt down to pay her respects, a sudden slap landed on her face, knocking her back several steps. A trace of blood oozed from the corner of her mouth.
"Depose her princess title and confine her to the princess mansion to reflect on her mistakes!" Emperor Mingde tightened his stinging palm and looked at the imperial uncle angrily. Are you satisfied now?
The imperial uncle smiled smugly.
Emperor Mingde didn't even look at Li Xinyue. He left in disappointment and anger.
The imperial uncle followed him contentedly.
Li Xinyue stood there stunned. Her heart, which had been pounding anxiously on the way back to the capital, now pounded with an additional sense of panic. It seemed to be hanging in mid-air.
Although she had expected the consequences of this incident, she still couldn't really not care.
She turned around and looked in the direction where her father had angrily left, feeling sad.
That night, the imperial guards took over the entire princess mansion.
Lian'er, Hongxiu, and the others were driven out of her garden.
The Mingyue Courtyard where she lived was guarded by imperial guards. Not even a fly could get in.
"Princess, Princess!" Lian'er cried and chased after Li Xinyue, but was blocked outside the gate of the Mingyue Courtyard by the imperial guards' swords.