Exile? A mad, wicked woman empties the national treasury to escape famine.

The man seemed intimidated by his aggressive demeanor, having never encountered such a situation before. He immediately bent down, preparing to pick up the durian from the ground and give it to him.

"Okay, okay, stop yelling. I'll make it up to you, alright?"

Reluctantly, he picked two durians from the pile, stood up, and handed them to Xie Zhaoting.

"Here you go, didn't you want these? I'll give you these two to help you recover. We really don't have any more. We don't have many here either, and we have a lot of people."

The boy looked to be no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, handsome, and refined.

Xie Zhaoting grinned, rubbed his hands together, and eagerly took the two durians.

To his surprise, just as his hand touched the durian, before he could even take it, a piece of durian peel flew out from nowhere and hit him squarely in the hand.

"Ah!" Xie Zhaoting screamed, the scream even louder than when he fell down earlier.

His hand was also covered in blood from being pricked by the suddenly flying durian peel.

Xie Zhaoting roared.

"Who! Who attacked me? Step forward!"

I wonder if durian peel can cause harm?

He actually used so much force! He wanted to see who was trying to harm him!

"When we came, I told you that I didn't object to you coming to pick durians, but you have to pick them yourself. If you want to eat durians, pick them yourself. Don't try to steal other people's durians. Don't think I didn't see you moving over there just now, trying to sneak over and take someone else's durians!"

"A man over fifty, bullying a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy, aren't you ashamed?"

Ji Yunshu's voice rang out softly.

This Xie Zhaoting is always thinking about getting something for nothing. We're both from the same royal family, so how come there's such a big difference between us?

Like a wooden fish, it needs to be struck constantly.

Xie Zhaoting was initially furious, but upon hearing Ji Yunshu's voice, he deflated like a punctured balloon and his anger vanished.

"Yunshu, I didn't mean to. I thought that since they have so many, it wouldn't be a big deal if I got a few. Besides, there are so many of them, it's so easy for them to pick durians. I, I'm all alone, and I don't have anyone to partner with. Even if I wanted to pick durians, I wouldn't be able to."

He looked at Ji Yunshu with a wronged tone and a pitiful expression.

Ji Yunshu wasn't buying it.

She had just finished preparing everything in the space and wanted to take advantage of her free time to come out and see what was happening outside.

Unexpectedly, I witnessed exactly what had just happened.

"Don't give me that nonsense, and don't play the victim in front of me. I'm not a member of the Xie family. Your life or death has little to do with me. I'll say it again, I won't stop anyone who wants to eat durian."

But you have to pick them yourself, don't try to get them from others. If I find out again that any of you are stealing or robbing someone else's durians, I'll chop off their hands, no matter who it is!

Her tone was unusually firm, and her expression turned cold, startling Xie Zhaoting, who shrank back and dared not say another word.

He started seriously thinking about how he could get some durians to take home.

Ji Yunshu glanced casually at the back of a large tree not far away. These words were not only for Xie Zhaoting to hear, but also for the others hiding in the shadows.

She had noticed earlier that there were other people following behind them.

The villagers and officials were all here; even a fool could figure out who those people hiding in the shadows were.

However, she couldn't understand why those people had secretly followed them here, and judging from their demeanor, it seemed they weren't there to pick durians.

Since they won't show themselves, I'll just pretend I don't know anything about it.

But if they try to take what belongs to others like Xie Zhaoting does, she will not hesitate to act ruthlessly.

Behind the big tree, several guards were desperately trying to hide themselves, afraid that the princess would discover them.

One of the guards said with some concern,

"Hey, do you think the princess has spotted us? I thought she looked at us just now, like she did."

"I don't know, it shouldn't be possible. We've been following them very discreetly. Look, none of the villagers or the officials have noticed us. You're probably overthinking it."

"I'm not overthinking it, really, I just saw the Princess looking this way! And it seems like she even saw me! I feel like what the Princess just said was directed at us!"

"Really? Then, what do we do now? Should we stay here and guard it, or go back? The Crown Prince only instructed us to find the location of this tree and write it down."

"In that case, shouldn't we head back? We already remember the location, and the First Prince didn't let us pick durians. If you ask me, let's go back first, report the situation to the First Prince, and then we'll proceed after he gives his orders!"

The guards discussed the matter amongst themselves.

At this point, they all regretted not bringing Xiao Wu along.

Normally, Xiao Wu would make the decisions in these kinds of situations.

Finally, after discussing it, the group unanimously decided to first go back and report what had happened to the Crown Prince, and then proceed with the next step as instructed by the Crown Prince.

To avoid the situation going wrong and the Crown Prince taking his anger out on them.

After memorizing the location of the durian tree again, the group quietly slipped away from everyone's sight and returned.

Ji Yunshu sat on the rock, watching the few figures sneaking away. Her eyes flickered slightly. What exactly were these guards up to?

I secretly followed them here, stayed for a short while, and then got up and left. I wasn't here to pick durians.

She had a feeling that they had ulterior motives, but she couldn't figure out why for the time being.

After a moment, she simply stopped thinking about it.

Chu Jinsheng's thought process is unpredictable; who knows what he's up to this time?

She glanced at the pile of durians on the ground, then looked up at the big tree overhead. Judging that most of the durians had already been picked, she finally spoke.

"That should be about right. You can come down now. We'll pack up and get ready to go back. Everyone's still waiting in the rest area."

"Yes, Your Highness, we're coming down now!"

Everyone listened obediently, and not long after Ji Yunshu finished speaking, the people on the tree began to slide down one after another.

The people below began to use the bags they carried to collect the durians from the ground, and the people coming down from above also started to help. The group worked enthusiastically, their mouths agape with joy.

"Bang!"

Just as everyone had finished packing up, a loud bang suddenly came from the air not far away.