On Lizhu’s side, she was unhurriedly visiting Elder Sister Danzhu, while on the other side, the main hall of the government office was already crowded with people, in an uproar.

A servant dressed in mourning clothes was kneeling among the crowd, pulling at his throat, wailing with exaggerated grief:

“—You gentlemen, unafraid of power and speaking out for justice, are truly men of loyalty and righteousness. If my master knew of this beneath the spring waters, he could die with his eyes closed in peace!”

The five hundred mountain bandits who had followed Pei Zhaoye had originally all gone off to rest and tend their wounds, yet the commotion here was so great that they could not help but come over to watch the excitement, even dragging their injuries along.

“Who’s that man?”

Behind Xu Bi, a mountain bandit asked the soldiers.

Soldier: “A servant of the Mei household. That brother-in-law your Third Boss chopped down with one stroke—Mei Changping, a member of the Mei family.”

Bandit: “Oh oh oh, that bunch—eh? What does it mean, ‘unafraid of power’? What kind of power are we of Hongye Stronghold supposed to be?”

Soldier: “They’re saying Princess Qinghe is shielding you lot. Zheng Danzhu killed Mei Changping along with Mei Changping’s aged father and mother—this is called a commoner killing an official, a grave crime. Yet instead of arresting her, the princess went around the city arresting other officials in great numbers. They’re all officials themselves; everyone’s feeling endangered, so of course they’ve lost their tempers.”

The bandit clicked his tongue discontentedly:

“The Third Boss drew her sword in anger for the sake of her elder sister, and in rage beheaded that beast and his whole family of three. If word gets out, who wouldn’t say she’s a woman of backbone? And these officials, instead, say the Third Boss is guilty—what a pack of gutless cowards!”

The soldier also said, “Exactly.”

At the front, Xu Bi could not help but cough once, cutting off their conversation.

Exactly, huh?

Did they not know whether they were officials or bandits?

Amid the weeping and wailing, several officials kept trying to calm the servant down:

“Rest assured, our Great Yong has its national laws and each family has its rules. When Princess Qinghe arrives, I must ask her: by which statute of Great Yong does the princess presume to act as both Governor and Commandant within a single prefecture—searching and arresting people at will, while harboring criminals herself? Is there still royal law in this world!”

“Lady-in-waiting Xuan Ying—”

That official turned toward the female officer inside the main hall, unable to suppress the anger in his brows.

“When will Princess Qinghe be able to spare the time to come meet us?”

Xuan Ying said: “The princess has been frightened these past few days, her injuries are severe and she can hardly rise. But upon hearing that you gentlemen are anxious to meet, no matter how badly hurt she is, she will certainly come. It will not be long, not long. Someone, quickly serve tea to the gentlemen.”

The maidservants stepped forward to pour tea.

Yet the officials all looked displeased.

It was no wonder they were unhappy—tea had already been served four times over, and they still had not caught sight even of the princess’s hem. Had she actually sent someone to fetch her?

Smiling slightly, Xuan Ying withdrew from the main hall.

“Commander Xu, please continue guarding here, and do not let these officials make too much of a scene.”

Naturally, Xu Bi had no objections.

Having soothed this side, Xuan Ying turned and went toward the guest quarters at the back.

Inside Elder Sister Danzhu’s room, Lizhu and the others were sitting together, eating breakfast when Xuan Ying came in.

“The princess is at her leisure, yet does she know the front hall is nearly in complete chaos!”

After speaking, she recounted everything that had happened in the main hall word for word to everyone.

Before she had even finished, Danzhu was already shouting that she would go and cut them all down, or else let them cut her down, but Chang Jun stopped her with the back of his sword pressed against her waist.

Gu Bing’an said: “Danzhu, do not be anxious. Do you think they truly came for you? You are merely the excuse they are using to test the princess.”

“Test my ass! What kind of things are they!”

Danzhu spat.

“The princess has the bronze tiger tally in hand, and that Governor is right in the courtyard next door. If you ask me, we should just seize the Governor’s seal from him as well. If this bunch wants to resign, let them resign! Once the positions are empty, let the princess choose her own people. Do they really think without them, this Yiling Commandery can’t function?”

Pei Zhaoye said blandly:

“Good, Zheng Danzhu. I never noticed before that you have such insight in political affairs. Since you are so decisive in killing and governing, you should take the position of Assistant Prefect. In a while, you can tell that Tan Xun who’s helping out to get lost, and you’ll handle all the accumulated government affairs—ah, I nearly forgot, you can’t read, can you? No matter, we have soldiers. If you can’t read, make the words recognize you. And if they still don’t, just cut them all down.”

Lizhu, who was drinking porridge, couldn’t help but press her lips together and smile.

The anger on Danzhu’s face froze. She sulkily tilted her head and leaned against her elder sister Zheng Zhuqing’s arms.

The woman on the couch chuckled softly and patted her head.

“Elder Sister Danzhu need not worry,” Lizhu said gently, “actually, once we know what they are afraid of, this matter is not hard to deal with.”

Everyone listened with curiosity.

“These people have served under Zhao Weizhen’s faction for years; they can’t possibly be clean. So once they saw Zhao Weizhen and his people about to be wiped out, they feared being implicated themselves. It looks as if they want to force me to hand over Danzhu, but in truth, they want to force me to hand over military authority and Cui Shiyong. That way, I would have no power to deal with Zhao Weizhen’s faction, and they would be safe.”

Gu Bing’an thought for a moment, then tentatively asked: “Then, Princess, how do you intend to deal with them?”

Lizhu shook her head and said: “What they said is not wrong. Court officials cannot be beaten lightly. I truly have no authority to punish them.”

Xuan Ying’s face grew solemn: “The princess should quickly write a letter to inform His Majesty. As things stand, only His Majesty can make the decision.”

Lizhu still shook her head.

“Father Emperor will surely downplay a major issue into a small one, and a small one into nothing. Moreover, if he learns of the Hongye Stronghold affair, he might even order me to hand the matter over to the Tan family to handle.”

Danzhu suddenly sat upright: “And why would that be?”

“Why else,” Pei Zhaoye sneered coldly, “that dog…”

Lizhu turned her head and looked at him.

“…that clever enough emperor would never bother with such rotten business. He’ll only see that Hongye Stronghold has taken over his salt ponds and robbed his purse. He can endure corrupt officials, but he cannot endure that, isn’t that so?”

Pei Zhaoye finished speaking slowly; Lizhu did not respond, taking his words as tacit agreement.

That was also why, earlier when she wrote a letter to her Father Emperor to report her safety, not a single word in it mentioned Hongye Stronghold.

Chang Jun, who also understood this Emperor’s temperament well, furrowed his brows slightly and said: “Now that most of the people have already been captured, since the princess says she has no right to punish them, does she intend to let them off lightly like this? Or… hand them over to be judged by their own kind?”

“They themselves? What good bird could they possibly judge out of that!”

Danzhu said furiously.

“I’m afraid it truly must be judged by them.”

Gu Bing’an seemed to have grasped Lizhu’s intent.

“Not only judged, but the entire matter must be handed over for them to investigate themselves. Everything that has happened since the princess arrived in Yiling, including Danzhu’s case, all must be examined.”

Danzhu widened her eyes in disbelief.

Lizhu, seeing that someone understood what she meant to do, curved her eyes in a smile:

“Bing’an is indeed my kindred spirit.”

Gu Bing’an cupped his hands and smiled in response, but when he raised his head and met a pair of half-smiling eyes, he immediately withdrew his smile.

Truly frightening.

Since all matters were to be handed over entirely to the officials of Yiling Commandery to investigate on their own, it was inevitable that people would need to be brought in.

Lizhu turned her head and was about to speak to Pei Zhaoye, but he spoke first: “Go to the Pei residence and bring the people over, right? Got it.”

Lizhu blinked: “I haven’t even said it yet, and you already know?”

“A random guess,” Pei Zhaoye cast her a cool glance, “how could I compare to Gu Bing’an, your kindred spirit.”

“……”

Everyone had already filed out one after another. Lizhu walked a step behind, smiling sweetly.

“You’re certainly not my kindred spirit…”

What was that supposed to mean?

Pei Zhaoye was still waiting for the rest of her words, when he suddenly felt someone hook a finger around his from behind, gently shake it once, then release.

“I’ll go ahead to the front office first. After you’ve brought the people, come find me. I’ll be waiting for you.”

She brushed past him in a light run, carrying a faint breeze with her.

Pei Zhaoye watched her back and thought: She truly knows how to control him.

—–٠✤٠—–

A moment later, the officials who had been waiting in the main hall for an entire hour finally welcomed the arrival of Princess Qinghe.

Lizhu pretended not to see the mountain bandits crowding around the government office in three or four layers like commoners watching a street execution, and took her seat at the head of the inner chamber.

“Greetings to Princess Qinghe.”

Compared with the soldiers who had obeyed her command that day by the authority of the bronze tiger tally, the deference in these men’s words now was indeed far more limited.

“Please rise, gentlemen, ” Lizhu gently drew her fine brows together, “I have heard that you intend to resign your offices, which greatly alarms me. You are all pillars of Yiling Commandery; if you resign, how will this commandery fare?”

The young official who had earlier shouted “Is there still royal law?” was looked to by the other officials, clearly hoping he would take the lead in the charge.

That young minor official had originally been full of indignation and had composed a bellyful of speeches.

However, at this moment, when he looked up and met the face before him, beautiful like a pearl glowing, and saw her eyes containing worry as if she were somewhat distressed, much of his fiery indignation was instantly doused.

“…Princess, the other night you harbored that ruffian who massacred in the Mei household, yet you ordered the arrest of more than ten officials in our commandery who had not violated the law. Rewards and punishments are unclear. We… are all in a state of panic and do not know how to conduct ourselves as officials, therefore we have come to ask the princess to accept our resignations.”

This passage was stammered out, entirely unlike the rousing passion he had displayed before.

Lizhu slightly inclined her head on hearing this, and with her eyes looked at him, asking sincerely: “This lord is…”

“I—this subordinate is Lin Zhang, Lin Dinggui, a person from Huaolin County, Xiangcheng, Yiling Commandery…”

“I asked your official post.”

Lizhu said kindly.

“Oh oh oh… this subordinate, this subordinate holds the post of Jue Cao, in charge of deciding verdicts, adjudicating cases, and applying the law.”

At this point, Master Lin Zhang’s face was already flushed red, as if he wished he could bow and never rise again.

The officials behind him nearly died laughing at the sight.

He was even embarrassed, what kind of occasion was this!

The young man truly proved utterly useless!

“Ah, so you are the Decision Officer Lin, quickly please rise.”

Chang Jun stepped forward and personally helped this young official to his feet.

Before Decision Officer Lin could recover from the princess’s gentle manner, he heard the princess above say: “Since I have seen Decision Officer Lin, I can be at ease. Commander Xu—”

Outside, Xu Bi had hauled the batch of people captured that morning into the main hall.

At their head stood Zhao Weizhen, along with his most trusted right- and left-hand men, and several subordinates.

“Princess Qinghe, what audacity you have!”

Zhao Weizhen could no longer force a smile this time.

“Even a prince would not dare deal such a cruel hand to court officials! By what right do you detain me, a dignified Assistant Prefect!”

The other officials in the hall, seeing this, were likewise filled with unease.

If an Assistant Prefect like Zhao Weizhen could be seized at will, what hope had they, the lesser officials?