Chapter 129: Your Highness, Someone Has Filed a Complaint Against You

Su Jingluo intended to first check on the suppression of the gu-poison within Lin Wanwan’s body, but just then, Shen Zhong stumbled in from outside, clutching a stack of papers.

"Your Highnesses, this is dire! Someone has brought charges against the Princess, and overnight, the streets have been flooded with rumors slandering her," Shen Zhong gasped, handing the papers to Su Jingluo.

Xiao Jingxuan, who had been inside the room, rushed out the moment he heard this, snatching the leaflets from Su Jingluo’s hand.

As Alan had feared, the worst had come to pass. The leaflets were clearly written by the three maids. They alleged that the Princess had not only deprived them of food and clothing but had also fabricated lies to expel them from the manor, later persecuting them to the point where Li Yue’er had thrown herself into the lake, her body nowhere to be found.

"Who is Li Yue’er?" Xiao Jingxuan frowned. Who was this person? Whether she threw herself into a lake or lived or died, what did it have to do with his wife?

"Your Highness, she was one of the maids formerly serving Concubine Lin. She, along with Chunhong and Yanhong, were the ones the Princess expelled from the manor a few days ago," Shen Zhong said, glancing at Su Jingluo with concern as he slowly explained the situation.

"Expelling them from the manor isn't the same as taking their lives. Whether she died or not has nothing to do with the Princess." Xiao Jingxuan threw the papers to the ground. He knew Su Jingluo’s character well enough; she was indifferent to such trifles and possessed a broad mind. Otherwise, Lin Feifei would have died a hundred times over.

Typically, Su Jingluo’s policy was: if you don’t cross me, I won't cross you. But if you seek trouble, she would deal with you ruthlessly. If she treated the Lin family that way, she would certainly treat a few maids the same. If there had been a conflict, it must have been the maids' fault, and expelling them was hardly an excessive punishment.

Xiao Jingxuan might not have cared, but Su Jingluo did. She picked up the papers, though not because she was troubled by the gossip. It was the fact that someone had died that drained the color from her face. She looked at the leaflet, which bore the sensational title: "The Princess Uses Her Status to Bully and Coerce a Loyal Servant to Death." She had not expected Alan’s prediction to come true. She had assumed that even in the most desperate of times, people would cling to life; she never imagined someone would actually leap into a lake.

"What about the Prefect?" Shen Zhong dared not mention that the Prefect’s constables were waiting at the gate. The Prefect was in a difficult position; he could not afford to offend either the currently prominent Princess or the overbearing Prince Jing, but he could not ignore the petitions flooding the streets either. He had no choice but to send his secretary and constables to the Prince Jing manor to summon the Princess.

The Prefect knew he could not withstand the wrath of the Prince Jing manor. If he did nothing, he would be accused of dereliction of duty, but if he acted, he would be accused of letting the Prince bully him. So, the secretary and constables were merely putting on a show, secretly hoping that Xiao Jingxuan would come out and beat them. That way, it would be clear that it was the Prince Jing manor’s tyranny, not the Prefect’s incompetence.

"The Prefect? If he dares to try and arrest the Princess, I will cut down every one of them who shows their face," Xiao Jingxuan declared, his handsome face twisted with gloom. Su Jingluo and Yunbai were his softest spots. How could he allow anyone to drag Su Jingluo to court?

"Well, the Prefect has sent seven or eight constables and a secretary to wait outside the manor. They didn't explicitly say they were here to arrest the Princess for questioning; they claimed the Prefect’s wife is inviting the Princess to enjoy the plum blossoms." Shen Zhong was a slippery character. Since they hadn't explicitly mentioned an arrest—framing it as an invitation to view plums—it would be inappropriate for the Prince to start killing people. Shen Zhong wasn't up for that either; he was a steward, and beating government officials wasn't exactly part of his job description.