"Xuan Yang, I have something to say to you."
Xiao Li stood a head taller than Liu Xueyin. She glanced down at her from her superior height with slightly lowered eyes. "I have nothing to say to you."
Liu Xueyin's anger flared. "Can't you speak to me properly? You slandered me and twisted right and wrong. How can you be so vicious?"
What nonsense.
Were they on speaking terms? This bitch who advised others to divorce their husbands, then exchanged intimate glances and flirted with someone else's husband right in front of them—who deserved kindness from her?
"Yes, I'm vicious, you're kind. You're the kindest person in the whole world."
Xiao Li grabbed her hand, forcefully pulled it away, and pushed her back.
Xiao Li glanced downward. Her Princess Manor had over a hundred manor guards. Although trained, their martial skills were truly lacking. Only Yang Jun came from a martial arts family, but even he wouldn't stand a chance against a true expert.
She rushed "clomp clomp clomp" up to the third floor but stopped at the staircase. The Princess had given orders that no one was allowed to set foot there.
Gu Ling caught the person, then glared at Xiao Li with a dark expression. "The Princess Consort is Your Highness's imperial sister-in-law. How dare you show such disrespect?"
"Where is she?" He stepped back in alarm, his intuition telling him to leave quickly.
Gu Ling's expression turned even uglier. "As a Princess, your crude language and lack of etiquette bring shame to the imperial family."
Disrespecting the Princess and defying the Heavenly Might was enough to erase his Pingnan Marquis Manor from the ranks of nobility.
Yang Jun sent people out, then personally led the guards on patrol. Hong Yue and the others didn't dare sleep either, all rising to keep watch. But without Xiao Li's orders, no one dared go up to the third floor.
Xiao Li had no intention of recruiting more capable subordinates. She felt no sense of belonging in this world. To put it bluntly, she only trusted herself.
He quickly threw back the covers, only to find a pillow.
Xiao Li: "…" Is this motherf*cker a troll? "Jing Yi, go tell Emperor Brother that Pingnan Hou Shizi wants to reprimand me on his behalf."
He slowly drew his dagger and approached the large bed. Seeing the raised shape under the covers, a fierce light flashed in his eyes. Without hesitation, he stabbed the dagger toward the pillow.
Liu Xueyin frowned as if struggling to understand. "Xuan Yang, how can you be like this? When did the Shizi reprimand you? How can you be so unreasonable?"
Pingnan Hou never expected to be summoned to the palace. He thought the Emperor had finally remembered him and would assign him a task. Instead, he was scolded because of his son. The first thing he did upon returning home was to beat his son.
"Assassin!"
She had already found ways to learn internal energy and martial arts, but these things couldn't be mastered overnight. Moreover, even with internal energy, one wouldn't be invincible.
"Someone, summon Pingnan Hou to the palace."
Xiao Jingyi: "…Understood." Somehow, he deeply believed that whoever provoked his imperial sister now would surely face misfortune.
Xiao Li gazed at him with cold, dark eyes. "What kind of scallion is she to deserve my respect? And what kind of scallion are you, daring to bark like a dog before this Princess?"
"Help, catch the assassin!"
In the loft, Xiao Li lit a lamp and sat at the table fiddling with a pile of wood.
Pingnan Hou was reluctant to beat this son, but the Emperor had spoken. If he couldn't educate him properly, the Emperor would personally discipline him instead.
Xiao Li declared that filing a complaint meant just that—Xiao Jingyi entering the palace to lodge a grievance on her behalf wasn't enough. She personally wrote a letter accusing Pingnan Hou Shizi of ten major crimes.
Quickly retreating through the window, she leaped onto the roof. In that instant, a sharp whoosh pierced the air.
Landing silently on the rooftop, she confirmed no one else remained inside before sliding down the eaves along a pillar and slipping back through the window like a ghost.
A pile of wooden carved components on the table swiftly assembled in her hands: barrel, trigger, ammunition chamber, stock.
A dagger had pierced through the quilt and pillow, but nothing else. "My mood is quite foul now."
She spoke calmly: "Send someone to report to Bixia—I saw the man’s face. It was Pingnan Hou Shizi Gu Ling. Have him apprehended."
Thus, to dominate in this world, she could only resort to a dimensional strike against them.
The mansion guards only noticed the intruder when roof tiles clattered down, hastily shouting to capture him.
Pingnan Hou Shizi? Yang Jun was so stunned by the assassin’s identity that he didn’t even question how Xiao Li could identify the man from such a distance.
The Emperor, being the legitimate heir, detested such behavior above all.
For instance, how Gu Ling refused to look people in the eye, how his arrogant posturing made him seem like he thought he was the Emperor, how he dared to look down upon the Princess with contempt, and how he even attempted to discipline her on behalf of Emperor Brother—all these and more.
Xiao Li felt unsuited for reasoned debate and gazed at her with a mocking smile: "You may continue speaking. Whenever I’m in a bad mood, I’ll just slap Lu Yanzhi."
Pingnan Hou’s title was earned through ancestral merits, but each generation declined further—especially the current Pingnan Hou, who even acknowledged an illegitimate son. Though no one investigated how his legitimate wife died, it didn’t mean people were unaware.
Seeing how Gu Ling had silently infiltrated her chamber to kill proved these guards were truly useless.
Liu Xueyin’s words stuck in her throat, utterly speechless, her eyes wide with disbelief at such venom.
How dare he lecture the Princess on propriety? —At night, a black figure darted swiftly through the shadows, charging toward its target.
The Fifth Brother’s Princess Consort was beyond description, seemingly desperate to prove her concern for the Imperial son-in-law.
Arrows whistled through the air, carrying a biting lethal intent.
Yang Jun rushed into the room with his men and saw the shredded bedding, only then remembering the Princess hadn’t returned to rest. Glancing toward the high tower, he hurried over.
"This subordinate will see to it immediately."
There’s always someone better—one would inevitably meet their match.
Xiao Li departed, and Xiao Jingyi hurried after her. After walking awhile, he couldn’t help glancing back at the trio, his brow furrowed.
Soon, a wooden shotgun materialized in her hand.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Especially the remark about Pingnan Hou Shizi trying to discipline her in the Emperor’s stead made the Emperor immediately uneasy.
He had no time to react before an arrow pierced through his back.
"Princess, there was an assassin nearby. Were you frightened?"
She sharply turned toward the arrow’s origin—on a distant three-story pavilion, a figure shrouded in darkness, only the cold, gleaming arrowhead clearly visible.
The black-clad figure rolled rapidly across the roof, dislodging tiles, before finally leaping down from a corner and fleeing the estate. Only then did the killing intent dissipate.
Though their abilities were mediocre, their loyalty was reliable, after all, their lives and livelihoods were in her hands.
Reading the letter made it clear they were being unreasonable, yet one could sense she was genuinely angry.
"Bang!"
She made the sound with her mouth.
What a pity—this was only a model. It still required skilled blacksmiths and carpenters to refine it, along with bullets made from iron, brass, and Black Powder to become functional.
After carefully inspecting it and confirming there were no issues, she disassembled it and distributed the parts to different blacksmith shops for casting.
All she needed to do now was wait for the finished product.