The person delivering the message, seeing Su Tianjiao's formidable aura, turned pale with fright and bolted.
Unfortunately, he hadn't run more than a few steps before a yellow Earth Dog darted out from the inner courtyard, chasing him and biting.
When the Earth Dog returned, it was carrying the messenger's outer trousers in its mouth.
Su Tianjiao glanced disdainfully at the Earth Dog, "Why did you pull off his outer trousers... didn't you get the inner ones?"
The Earth Dog, wagging its tail for praise, froze.
Su Tianjiao turned around, then tilted her head back and instructed, "Correct it next time."
As if understanding, the Earth Dog saw Su Tianjiao wasn't angry and continued wagging its tail to follow.
The smile in Su Tianjiao's eyes had already vanished, replaced by icy coldness.
Since this messenger was willing to deliver a message for the ungrateful Wei family, he was certainly no good person. It would serve as a small punishment for him to return with bare legs.
Su Tianjiao returned to her room, crouched down, and took out the dark iron block used to prop up the bed corner. She blew off the dust, and the intricate lotus pattern on the iron was revealed.
This was a Xuan Iron Token, forged from Xuan Iron, proving the Grand Princess's identity.
Su Tianjiao touched the pattern on it and tucked it into her embrace. She turned and saw that the Earth Dog had somehow followed her in.
She curved her lips into a lazy smile at the Earth Dog, "Da Yuan, come with me to the Capital City. Let Xiu'er make you meat! You've only been with me a few days and you've already lost weight!"
"Woof woof woof..."
Da Yuan responded with two barks.
Su Tianjiao looked at the sky, which was already almost completely dark, and thought that at this hour, given the speed of the Imperial Guards, they had likely already left Xiangping Town.
If only the Wei dog's message had arrived a few hours earlier.
Su Tianjiao sighed, turned, and lay back down on the rocking chair, deciding to set off at daybreak tomorrow.
She had already given her daughter the Jade Hairpin symbolizing her identity. As long as she reached the Princess's Mansion, Chun Tao would protect her daughter no matter what upon seeing it.
On the other side, Lu Ming did not dare to delay for a moment. After leading his men completely out of Xiangping Town's borders, he finally found time to write a letter, tie it to a pigeon's leg, and release the carrier pigeon.
As soon as the carrier pigeon took to the sky, it flew non-stop in the direction of the Capital City.
Lu Ming watched the direction the carrier pigeon flew, hands behind his back, his brow furrowed in a headache.
If the Grand Princess was willing to return to the capital, the Emperor must have ordered her back. He, who was just doing his job, was caught in a difficult position between both sides.
The only solution now was to wait for the Emperor's next instructions after he received the letter.
Traveling from Xiangping Town to the Capital City by carriage would take about half a month, while a carrier pigeon would take about three to four days.
While Lu Ming was calculating the travel time, Su Xiuer was already being carried towards the Imperial Palace entrance.
Many common people were gathered at the Imperial Palace entrance, most of whom had followed Su Xiuer from the Dengwen Drum Academy.
After all, this was the first case of striking the Dengwen Drum to be heard since the Emperor's ascension, and it was a case of commoners suing officials, so naturally, everyone was paying close attention.
"They're here, the Drum Court Envoy is coming out!"
After waiting for so long, someone finally emerged from the palace, and the crowd of onlookers immediately stirred.
The case was heard within the Imperial Palace. Now that there was a result, it was naturally necessary to give the common people an explanation.
The Drum Court Envoy looked at all the onlookers, opened the judgment, and loudly read out the verdict again.
Upon hearing that Wei Mingze was stripped of his official title and academic achievements, Duan Gehong was demoted, and Duan Zhenzhu was ordered to copy the 《Book of Female Conduct》 a thousand times and apologize with silver to Su Xiuer, the crowd was overjoyed and shouted "Long live the Emperor!"
"The Emperor is wise! Long live the Emperor!"
"The Emperor is wise! Long live the Emperor!"
Amidst the cheers, Wei Mingze and his two children were escorted out by the Imperial Guards. They were to be taken to the Ministry of Justice prison first, and only after receiving the caning punishment would they be exiled or sent home.
As soon as they emerged, the onlookers began to hurl rotten vegetables and rotten eggs at them.
"Pah, a top scholar, indeed. Such an ungrateful villain. If he became an official, he'd be a corrupt one. He's truly disgraced scholars."
Wei Mingze tried to dodge, but there was nowhere to escape.
The Imperial Guards responsible for escorting them even deliberately pushed the Wei family mother and son trio further into the crowd, to better expose them.
Everyone has sisters. If their own sisters encountered a despicable person like Wei Mingze, who would drain them dry, wouldn't they hate him? Therefore, their hatred for Wei Mingze was even more profound.
Compared to the Wei family mother and son trio, who still had to undergo caning, Duan Zhenzhu and her father were much better off.
Although they each received punishments, none of them were fatal.
Moreover, the Duan family's carriage was waiting at the palace gates, allowing them to go home directly by carriage.
However, as Duan Zhenzhu and Duan Gehong walked out of the Imperial Palace a step behind the Wei family mother and son trio and headed towards their carriage, they were still seen by the onlookers.
After a moment of silence, someone, it was unclear who, was the first to throw a rotten egg at Duan Zhenzhu.
The egg hit Duan Zhenzhu directly between the eyebrows.
The stench almost made Duan Zhenzhu vomit her breakfast. As she gagged and looked up, more rotten vegetables and rotten eggs were hurled at her.
"Beat this shameless vixen who stole someone else's husband to death!"
"And a lady from a good family, truly shameless!"
The commotion was even louder than before. Even Duan Gehong was hit by several rotten eggs and rotten vegetables.
Although Duan Gehong was demoted, he was still an official of the court and needed to maintain his reputation. Fearing further trouble if the situation escalated, the Imperial Guards finally intervened to disperse the crowd.
Once the verdict was delivered, the victims received the justice they deserved, and with the day growing late, the onlookers dispersed.
Soon, only a few scattered individuals remained at the palace gates, including Shen Hui and Ye Jiu.
Shen Hui had changed out of the clothes he wore for the imperial audience as soon as he left the Imperial Palace, changing back into a simple blue cotton robe.
Shen Hui had been stationed at the Northern Territory with Prince Dongjing, and only returned to the Capital City to report for duty during his childhood.
Very few people in the Capital City recognized him, so even though he was secretly investigating the embezzlement of military funds, he dared to appear openly at the Imperial Palace gates.
Shen Hui glanced disdainfully at Ye Jiu beside him.
Ye Jiu's palm still had traces of the rotten egg liquid he had just gotten on it.
Ye Jiu noticed Shen Hui's expression, shook his hand, and sniffed it again. The smell was truly pungent.
He said with a wronged expression, "Young Master, why are you making that face? You were the first one to throw a rotten egg, and I only followed suit! I don't know why the egg liquid only got on my hand."
"You're mistaken!" Shen Hui said with a blank face, as if nothing had happened.
Ye Jiu suddenly felt a blockage in his chest. He wasn't blind; he was standing right next to the Young Master, how could he have mistaken what he saw.
It was just bullying him because he was a subordinate.
However, secretly causing trouble and leading the charge in throwing rotten eggs was indeed not in line with their Young Master's open and aboveboard style.
Ye Jiu thought to himself, then looked up and saw that after waiting for so long, Su Xiuer was finally being carried out.
Just as he was about to speak, he noticed his Young Master had already left him and gone to meet her.
"Shen Hui!" Su Xiuer, lying prone on the stretcher, smiled, baring her teeth the moment Shen Hui approached, "I succeeded!"
"Mm!" Shen Hui nodded, covering her with the cloak he was holding, wrapping Su Xiuer securely.
Seeing that she still had something to say, he spoke first, "We'll talk about it when we get back to the shop."
"Mm!" Su Xiuer saw that there were still many people at the Imperial Palace gates, so she continued to lie there pretending to be weak.
"Aunt Dong Mei, Sister Xiuer is out!" Dong Song and Dong Mei had also been waiting at the palace gates. Upon seeing Su Xiuer emerge, Dong Song excitedly tugged Dong Mei's sleeve.
After spending so much time and taking so many detours, now that everything was settled, he could finally present the Jade Hairpin and directly question the Grand Princess's whereabouts. How could he not be excited?
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