The seductive princess is no longer being pursued; the aloof prime minister is facing a crematorium.

Chapter 5 The master is acting very strangely today!

These words clearly struck a nerve with Xia Yurong.

She swayed as she rose, her eyes red-rimmed, and bit her lip slightly: "Sister, I'm genuinely happy that you're returning to the capital, but why...?"

Jiang Jinshuang scoffed lightly: "Xia Yurong, I remember I taught you."

"If you forget, then I'll teach you one last time."

Jiang Jinshuang glanced at Xia Yurong, her tone arrogant: "Don't always act like a victim. Nobody in the capital owes you anything."

"Not to mention that you are not qualified to live in this princess's residence, even if you were, you would only be fit to live in the servants' quarters, because your life was given to you by me."

The woman before me, Xia Yurong, is beautiful, gentle, and quiet.

Her demeanor was delicate and charming, a stark contrast to her taciturn appearance three years ago.

Ignoring her any longer, Jiang Jinshuang turned and left.

Xia Yurong watched Jiang Jinshuang's departing figure, a hint of ruthlessness and ferocity flashing in her eyes.
-
Wenshan Pavilion, study.

Jingmo knelt before his master, bowing his head and respectfully reporting.

Before the desk stood a man in a bright red official robe, the fine silk reflecting a lustrous sheen. He stood upright, holding a white jade brush in his hand, which made his hands appear even longer and whiter.

He was writing something at his desk when the candlelight on the table crackled and flickered twice.

The lamplight flickered, obscuring the man's sharply defined face.

"Your Excellency, Princess Zhaoming has returned to her residence. I intended to enter the residence to inquire further, but..."

The man didn't look up. He sat upright behind his desk, intently flipping through the bamboo slips, his voice indifferent and cold: "But what is it?"

"However, Princess Zhaoming has a shadow guard with extremely high martial arts skills, and I... was unable to get in."

Not to mention Chang'an, even in the entire Wan Jin, there are very few who can rival Jing Mo's skills.

The shadow guard beside Princess Zhaoming was even more skilled in martial arts than him.

Jingmo had no idea how the rude and arrogant Princess Zhaoming had managed to hire such shadow guards for protection.

The man at the desk seemed unsurprised by Jingmo's answer.

He simply responded with a faint "yes" and continued doing his own thing with his head down.

He didn't tell Jingmo to leave. Jingmo looked up in confusion and then noticed his master's clothes.

—Strange, the master wasn't wearing this outfit when he left home this morning.

For some reason, the master got up before 1 AM today, burned incense and took a bath, changed his clothes more than a dozen times in front of the bronze mirror, and left the mansion early without asking anyone to follow him.

Of course, as a subordinate, Jingmo dared not ask about these things.

The man seemed focused on his own thing, holding a calligraphy brush and writing something on the rice paper with his eyes down.

Just as Jingmo was pondering whether to take her leave, she heard the man speak again.

"If anyone visits tomorrow, there's no need to stop them."

"Huh?" Jingmo was taken aback for a moment before replying, "Yes."

Jingmo felt that the adult seemed a little off today.
-
That night, at the Princess's residence.

Jiang Jinshuang sat listlessly on the balustrade of the bedchamber, watching several servants tidy up back and forth, throwing out all the bedding and blankets in the inner room and replacing them with new ones.

Chun Tao walked to Jiang Jinshuang's side: "Your Highness, these beddings look new to me, Xia Yurong should not have used them."

Jiang Jinshuang squinted and chuckled, "She hasn't returned to the Princess's residence since she became the daughter of the Xia family."

A proud person like Xia Yurong couldn't wait to sever all ties with her former self as a servant. After becoming the daughter of the Xia family, how could she possibly return to the princess's mansion to reminisce about the past and invite humiliation?

Today's performance was nothing more than an act to disgust her.

"Then why did Your Highness throw all these new bedding out?" Chun Tao asked, puzzled.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jinshuang slightly opened her eyes.

Then she recalled how Xia Yurong's maid had arrogantly shouted, "This was permitted by our Master Pei!" "It's nothing, I just feel it's bad luck."

Jiang Jinshuang waved her hand and yawned.

She stretched, and the servants finally finished changing the bedding.

Jiang Jinshuang looked at the gurgling cold spring outside the door and chuckled, "Go and throw away everything in the side hall next door."

"Ah?" Chun Tao was taken aback for a moment, then hurriedly said, "Your Highness, I just checked, the furnishings in the side hall are all very new, just like your bedroom, there isn't a speck of dust on them."

"It's such a waste to just throw them all away."

Jiang Jinshuang said nonchalantly, "They're all old things, there's no point in keeping them."

Chun Tao thought for a moment and smiled, “Your Highness, you’ve forgotten, in a few days… that young master will be coming to the manor. The young master loves to read, and I think the side hall next door is very suitable.”

Jiang Jinshuang raised an eyebrow and nodded: "That makes sense. In that case, let's keep it for now."

"Once he arrives, we'll provide him with whatever he needs."

"The slaves obey."

"You can go now, I need to rest too."

"Yes."

……

It's quiet at night.

Jiang Jinshuang did not go to the couch, but instead sat at the table, picked up the paper and pen beside her, and wrote something.

After all the servants had left, she finally stopped writing, made a fist with her right hand, and lightly tapped the table.

"Tuk-tuk-"

It seemed as if a night breeze was blowing through her long hair.

In the blink of an eye, another person appeared beside Jiang Jinshuang.

The newcomer was dressed in black, holding a sword in both hands, with his long black hair tied up high and his dark eyes unfathomable.

Jiang Jinshuang handed the finished writing to the person who came.

"Have someone draft an invitation based on the list above. I'm going to host a banquet in Yichun in three days."

The man took the list, said nothing, and disappeared in the next second.

Jiang Jinshuang extinguished the candle before going to bed to rest.
-
The next morning, Jiang Jinshuang was awakened by shouts and curses outside.

Jiang Jinshuang, still half asleep, was in a bad mood. She irritably got out of bed and asked in an unfriendly tone, "What happened outside?"

Chun Tao hurriedly reported, "Your Highness, something terrible has happened! Lord Xia of the Xia family says you have bullied his daughter and is demanding an explanation from you!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jinshuang's expression grew even colder.

She had only been back in Beijing for two days when some people started to get restless.

When Jiang Jinshuang finished washing up and changing her clothes and arrived at the main hall, Lord Xia Wenbin had already been scolding her in the courtyard for an hour.

Upon seeing Jiang Jinshuang arrive, Xia Wenbin's eyes widened in anger. He rushed straight up to Jiang Jinshuang without even bowing, saying, "Your Highness, isn't this going too far in humiliating my daughter?!"

After being subjected to a barrage of insults, Jiang Jinshuang's already irritated expression turned even more unpleasant.

"My Rong'er originally wanted to befriend His Highness, which is why she went to great lengths for him. I never expected that you would be so ungrateful and instead throw all of Rong'er's belongings out of her room and threaten her to live in a servant's quarters!?"

Xia Wenbin glared, his beard bristling, his eyes filled with resentment: "Your Highness is truly unreasonable and utterly rude!"

Jiang Jinshuang laughed in exasperation: "Is that what Xia Yurong told Lord Xia?"

Xia Wenbin said coldly, "That's the truth. Does Your Highness think I, Rong'er, am lying?"

Jiang Jinshuang smiled and gritted her teeth, her smile growing colder: "Since Lord Xia is convinced that I am being unreasonable, why not go directly to His Majesty and impeach me, instead of coming to my residence to suffer this kind of humiliation?"

(End of this chapter)