Feeling like a chivalrous hero righteously helping a weak old woman without fear of those in power made Su Mu feel incredibly cool.
As she thought this, a silly grin spread across Su Mu’s face.
Before Su Mu could finish grinning, a hand chop landed on her head.
“What are you getting involved for?”
Su Mu clutched the spot on her head where Chen Qing had struck her and looked at her discontentedly.
“That old lady was being bullied. I have to go help her.”
“What if those two soldiers lay hands on you? Can you handle it?”
Chen Qing looked at the Silly Shizun in front of her, who wanted to act cool, and said mercilessly.
“She… she went too, didn’t she?”
Stumped by Chen Qing’s question, Su Mu could only point to Ye Qinglian walking ahead.
But soon, Su Mu realized this excuse wasn’t very useful.
Ye Qinglian walked up to the soldiers and said with a serious expression.
“Since someone is beating the drum of injustice, it means there’s a grievance to declare. Not only are you refusing to investigate the truth of the matter, but you’re trying to drive away the person seeking justice. This is truly flouting the law.”
Hearing this sudden interloper slap such a big label on them, the soldiers were a bit unconvinced.
We’re not actively chasing you away; we’re giving you face. You get a bit of face and suddenly you puff up?
The soldiers, who were about to give Ye Qinglian a proper lesson, saw the identity token she pulled from her bosom. Their faces turned pale with fright, and they dropped to their knees with a thud.
“I-Imperial Princess! It was the City Lord who told us to do this. We were just carrying out orders; it has nothing to do with us!”
Seeing the soldiers and the old woman all kneeling on the ground, Su Mu instantly deflated.
She was the Imperial Princess. Even if you gave those soldiers ten times the courage, they wouldn’t dare lay a hand on her.
If she had gone over to play the hero, those soldiers’ fists might have already come flying at her face by now.
Chen Qing didn’t step forward to comfort the dejected Silly Shizun.
After all, this Silly Shizun was incredibly naive. Using this incident to teach her the principle of not meddling in others’ affairs without sufficient power or strength would be good for her.
But after this thought occurred to her, Chen Qing felt a bit odd inside.
Why did it feel like she was the one acting like the master worrying over this Silly Shizun?
Of course, Ye Qinglian’s intervention in this matter wasn’t purely to do a good deed.
From the old woman’s description, Ye Qinglian naturally associated it with the White Lotus Cult.
The White Lotus Cult had recently been abducting young girls everywhere, and this old woman’s daughter had mysteriously gone missing. The White Lotus Cult was the prime suspect.
Combined with the local government’s attitude of strongly suppressing the matter, it almost directly confirmed that the White Lotus Cult was behind it.
They had just arrived here, and a White Lotus Cult clue had delivered itself to their door. Of course, Ye Qinglian had no reason to ignore it.
Perhaps by retrying this wrongful case, they could ferret out the White Lotus Cult hiding in the shadows.
With the Imperial Princess Ye Qinglian’s intervention, the situation suddenly became much more complicated.
These soldiers were just small fries stirring up trouble at the bottom. Ye Qinglian knew that to get this case retried, they would have to go to the County Yamen.
And so, the several people set off grandly toward the County Yamen.
Seeing the circle of onlookers around them, Su Mu felt like a monkey on display. She quickly shrank her head back into the carriage.
“There are way too many people.”
“We have to make the biggest scene possible to force the County Yamen to retry the case.”
Although Su Mu understood the principle of leveraging the power of the masses, suddenly being surrounded by so many people triggered her social anxiety. She had long wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground.
Fortunately, the spectacle didn’t last long. Once the crowd reached the County Yamen, the onlookers were barred from entering.
Thanks to Ye Qinglian’s status, Su Mu and they entered smoothly as well.
Su Mu curiously eyed the high hall used for trials.
After glancing around a few times, Su Mu spotted the torture instruments piled in the corner, used for extracting confessions.
Just looking at the shapes of those instruments, Su Mu could imagine how painful they would be when used on a person.
Things progressed surprisingly smoothly. They had thought the local officials would deliberately block the retrial to stop their investigation.
But the official in charge of the trial confirmed Ye Qinglian’s identity and immediately agreed to retry the case.
He even readily accepted Ye Qinglian’s request to participate in the investigation.
Su Mu and they, who had prepared plenty of contingency plans but ended up using none, were arranged to rest at the City Lord’s Mansion.
Led by the maids into the assigned room, Su Mu looked around curiously, just like a country bumpkin entering the city.
“Guest, this is your resting place for today. The bedding and everything else has been prepared. If you need anything else, just call for me anytime.”
Su Mu was still not quite used to the maids’ extremely deferential attitude toward her.
The maids could tell Su Mu was ill at ease and tactfully withdrew from the room.
Once the maids had left, Su Mu’s repressed nature fully emerged.
She flew onto the soft bed in a pounce, kicked off her shoes, and revealed her fair and smooth little feet.
The City Lord had arranged a separate room for each of them, which meant that for the first time, she wouldn’t have to sleep with the Villain.
Thinking of this huge bed all to herself tonight, Su Mu felt thrilled. Her jade-smooth, tender little feet swung through the air, expressing their owner’s excitement.
After enjoying the softness of the bed, Su Mu’s attention shifted to the other furnishings in the room.
She lightly tapped the golden wooden chair with her finger.
“This wouldn’t be the legendary Golden Nanmu Wood, would it? I wonder how much it’s worth.”
Su Mu’s eyes turned into little money symbols as she gazed at the antique room, endlessly calculating the value of these antiques in her mind.
She couldn’t actually take them out and sell them, but she could at least get her fix appraising them.
Su Mu was tapping away enthusiastically when suddenly she heard an eerie sound, like someone scratching the wooden window frame with their nails.
At first, Su Mu thought she’d misheard, but then another perfectly clear sound followed.
Hearing this creepy noise, Su Mu broke out in a cold sweat down her back and gulped hard.
“I-Is someone outside?”
Su Mu picked up the nearby stool and asked cautiously.
But all that answered her was dead silence. As her heart leaped into her throat, a cool breeze stirred outside.
The window, which hadn’t been fully closed to begin with, creaked slightly open.
In another room, Chen Qing set down the sword in her hand.
The room contained only her. Without that silly and naive Shizun around, it felt a bit strangely unaccustomed.
But soon she would go drag that Silly Shizun over here. Right now, that Silly Shizun was surely grinning like an idiot over temporarily escaping her clutches.
With her money-grubbing personality, she was probably studying the valuable furniture and decorations in the room.
Imagining the Silly Shizun tapping and knocking on a chair, Chen Qing couldn’t help but curl her lips into a smile.
However, a series of urgent knocks at the door interrupted her thoughts.
