Qin Yining couldn’t help but smile with amusement as she listened.

If it were in the past, although Pang Xiao had high popular support among the people and was respected by commoners, there had always been a sense that he was high above them, completely unlike the current closeness to people’s daily lives.

The current scene was exactly what Qin Yining wanted.

Sometimes reversing the direction of public opinion and making someone who originally felt distant become deeply rooted in people’s hearts could be quite simple.

This fully demonstrated that success depended on human effort.

Qin Yining was curious about the situation outside, but because she now had to pretend to be someone whose entire family had perished, wearing heavy mourning attire made it inappropriate for her to go out and leisurely stroll about openly, so she could only disguise herself and go secretly.

After listening to several storytelling sessions, Qin Yining felt her blood boiling with excitement. Those events that clearly never happened were made reasonable and logical by the storytellers, to the point where she almost believed them herself. What the storytellers described with their thin lips about battlefield campaigns and political struggles was far more exciting than what those of them who had actually lived through it had experienced.

By early February, even the secluded women in the capital knew about the story section of Pang Xiao wisely pacifying Nanyan. Yuchi Yan’s image as a despicable person who repaid kindness with enmity became even more deeply rooted. Even old women gathering to sunbathe would purse their lips, shake their heads, and show disdain when this person was mentioned.

In the garden of the imperial-bestowed Prince Zhennan’s mansion in the capital, Yuchi Yan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his face grim. His graying hair was bound in a topknot, and his newly made silk shirt appeared even looser on him. When the wind blew, his clothes fluttered, making him look like something hanging on a bamboo pole.

Two elderly servant women knelt before him, trembling like sieves.

“What did you just say? Hmm?”

“Your Highness, this servant, this servant didn’t…”

“Speak!”

Yuchi Yan’s roar frightened the two servant women into sobbing on the spot, repeatedly kowtowing.

“This servant doesn’t know either. This servant was out purchasing supplies and heard someone telling stories beside a small tea stall at the market, so, so…”

“Outrageous! How could you actually believe the nonsense spoken by those mud-legs outside?”

“This servant doesn’t believe it, this servant absolutely doesn’t believe it!”

The servant women kowtowed repeatedly.

Yuchi Yan clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging on his forehead, his whole body trembling as he gritted his teeth: “Someone come!”

“Your Highness.”

The mansion’s steward stepped forward and bowed.

Yuchi Yan pointed at these two women and said viciously: “Slap their mouths! Beat them! Beat them hard for me!”

The steward acknowledged and waved his hand at the servants behind him.

The servants immediately stepped forward, pressed down on the two servant women’s shoulders, and took bamboo boards to hold in their hands.

The two servant women were frightened pale, repeatedly kowtowing and begging for mercy: “Your Highness, this servant won’t dare again!”

“Your Highness, spare our lives! These weren’t things this servant said—it’s outside, it’s what everyone outside is saying…”

This statement would have been better left unsaid. Upon hearing “what everyone outside is saying,” Yuchi Yan’s eyes turned red with fury as he roared: “Beat them!”

The servants immediately acknowledged, raising their arms and swinging the bamboo boards down hard. Only the sounds of “slap” “slap” could be heard as the two servant women were beaten until they couldn’t even cry out in anguish. After just two or three strikes, their faces had swollen high.

Yuchi Yan clenched his jaw tightly, his chin tensed, staring fixedly at those two servant women.

The two servants administering punishment each struck over ten times. Seeing the two servant women’s tears and snot flowing, their cheeks swollen like balls with deep purple marks crisscrossing them, fearing that continued beating would completely destroy their faces, they involuntarily slowed their movements and hesitantly stole glances at the mansion steward.

The steward was also somewhat hesitant: “Your Highness, you…”

“Continue beating! Did this king tell you to stop? Could it be that you all refuse to listen to this king’s orders?”

“This subordinate wouldn’t dare!”

The two servants were frightened pale and hurriedly resumed their actions.

The steward wanted to speak but stopped himself, lowering his head, unable to bear watching further.

But Yuchi Yan stared fixedly at those two servant women being beaten until they vomited blood, watching as their expelled blood contained teeth, their faces swollen blue and purple beyond recognition. The oppressive turbid qi in his heart seemed to have found an outlet for release.

He couldn’t control the nonsense those people outside were spouting, but couldn’t he control what happened in his own home?

Just as Yuchi Yan was staring at these two servant women, clearly intending to watch the servants beat them to death, Gu Shixiong arrived, supported by two servants.

“Stop.” The old man’s voice was trembling and weak, with occasional coughs.

The two servants administering punishment felt as if they’d been granted amnesty upon hearing this, immediately stopping their actions.

Yuchi Yan was feeling pleased when he was suddenly interrupted. He whirled around to look at Gu Shixiong.

“Your Highness, these two servant women gossiped recklessly, so punishment is appropriate. Presumably they have already learned their lesson and won’t do so again in the future.” Gu Shixiong cupped his hands and said, “Please show mercy, Your Highness, and spare them their lives.”

Yuchi Yan pressed his lips tightly together. His formerly gentle eyes had now lost their weakness and tenderness, becoming cold, his expression revealing the venomous resentment of someone who had been overly suppressed.

“They are servants of this king’s mansion. When they commit such acts, this king has every right to punish them!”

“Your Highness speaks truly.” Gu Shixiong sighed, “It’s just that Your Highness has always been benevolent, you…”

“Benevolent?” Yuchi Yan raised his chin and let out a cold laugh toward the gloomy sky, “What use is benevolence?”

Seeing that he seemed about to say something that shouldn’t be heard by others, Gu Shixiong quickly waved at the steward.

The steward immediately understood, ordering people to carry away the two servant women who had been beaten unconscious, while the servants also quietly withdrew with light steps.

In the blink of an eye, only Yuchi Yan and Gu Shixiong remained in the garden.

“Your Highness, this old man knows the anguish in your heart, but you must think long-term. You cannot abandon your greatest virtue for the sake of these matters.”

“Virtue? What virtue does this king still have? Are you referring to my soft-heartedness and benevolence? Ha! How ridiculous!” Yuchi Yan threw back his head and laughed loudly, his eyes gradually turning red. Gu Shixiong’s words of persuasion seemed to have struck the most embarrassing thing hidden in his heart that he least wanted others to see.

“This king’s soft-heartedness and benevolence represent weakness! Look at how those people outside talk about this king! Despicable villain, ungrateful! This king is a fallen monarch, a useless coward! They’ve described this king as a bastard who licks people’s shoes to survive ignominiously. Where is there anyone who knows this king’s suffering!”

“Your Highness! Watch your words!”

Gu Shixiong quickly spoke to stop him, fearing that Yuchi Yan would continue saying treasonous things.

This was the capital, right under Li Qitian’s nose. If Li Qitian wanted to know, he could probably even find out what material Yuchi Yan’s undergarments were made of! They had already been misunderstood by the Nanyan people and lost popular support, been flanked by Pang Xiao and fled back to the capital. Having finally obtained a place to shelter, they should be keeping a low profile and recuperating. This was truly not the time to create more trouble.

But looking at Yuchi Yan’s nearly mad appearance, Gu Shixiong felt only powerless.

Yuchi Yan was still the same as before—not skilled at governance. Now he was nearly crazy, having forgotten even his former patience and forbearance.

Yuchi Yan clenched his fists tightly, panting heavily, his teeth grinding audibly.

Looking at such a Yuchi Yan, the thought that had long been circling in Gu Shixiong’s mind became clear once again.

He was old. For the sake of restoring the country, he had already sacrificed enough. Aside from his own old life, he had invested everything—his family, his future, everything.

But things were still in this irretrievable state.

Perhaps he should let go.

“Your Highness, you’re probably tired. Why not rest well? As for the storytellers outside unanimously beginning to tell of Pang Zhixi’s deeds, there must certainly be someone manipulating things behind the scenes, very likely even Pang Zhixi himself building a positive image for himself. Facing an opponent’s slander, you don’t need to be so angry. We can think of ways to counterattack.”

“Counterattack? How do we counterattack?” Yuchi Yan was stunned for a moment, then asked urgently.

When encountering problems, not knowing to think for himself but coming to ask first—such dependence made Gu Shixiong smile bitterly.

“This still needs more thought.”

“More thought? By the time we finish thinking, this king’s reputation will be trampled underfoot!”

Did he still have any good reputation now?

Gu Shixiong secretly sighed, shook his head, only saying he would go back and think about it, then took his leave and departed the mansion.

Yuchi Yan didn’t get a solution to the problem. Remembering how those two servant women had gossiped behind his back made him angry. That very night, he ordered people to throw the two servant women out of the mansion, forbidding anyone to rescue them.

The next day, news of two corpses being discovered in front of Prince Zhennan’s mansion spread everywhere.

Bingtang frowned as she said to Qin Yining: “This is too cruel. I heard that those two servant women’s faces were swollen beyond recognition, all their teeth had been knocked out, and one even had her cheekbone shattered. In this condition, they were thrown out while still running high fevers. In this weather that freezes people but not water, the two were thrown on the icy ground and died in one night…”

Ji Yun was filled with righteous indignation upon hearing this: “Truly treating human life as grass! Punishing servants requires proper cause—they could be fined or sold. Although using private punishment like this isn’t unheard of, no one has been so blatant about it. Does Prince Zhennan no longer care about face?”

Qin Yining sighed: “He was probably driven to fury.”

With Yuchi Yan’s temperament, doing such things wasn’t surprising. A person who was formerly kind-hearted had now become like this—Qin Yining didn’t know what to think. In any case, they stood on opposite sides, both wanting to obtain the treasure, so they could never turn back.

At Daxing Manor.

Huzi said with animated excitement: “Your Highness, now the capital is full of common people praising you everywhere! Even three-year-old children know your deeds! Hey! The Princess Consort is truly amazing! In such a short time, your popular support among the people has become so high! Why didn’t we think of such methods before?”

Pang Xiao smiled: “Before, we needed to act low-key. Now she’s become high-profile.”

Huzi asked: “Your Highness, can we enter the city now?”

“Mm.” Pang Xiao stood up, stretched his stiff muscles and bones, and said: “Pass down orders. Prepare horses and carriages, depart immediately.”

Pang Xiao led over twenty elite tigers along with the two strategists Xie and Xu, riding swiftly toward the capital at twice the speed Qin Yining had traveled.

However, upon reaching the city gate, Pang Xiao ordered them to make camp and did not enter through the city gate.

On the main road before the city gate, there were many common people and vehicles coming and going. Pang Xiao’s group of over twenty people and their several tents set up not far away appeared extremely prominent, especially since a banner was prominently displayed at the camp with a neat clerical script character “Pang” written on it.

Among the passing civilians, those who could read recognized this as Prince Zhongshun’s party having arrived outside the city.

Soon, news that Prince Zhongshun had returned to the capital but hadn’t entered the city spread widely.