At this time, Chi Xue and Dan Shuang had already joyfully rushed forward to greet them. After the poisonous insects retreated, the two had followed the direction of Tie Ci’s disappearance, climbing down the mountain all the way. After entering this valley surrounded on all sides, they couldn’t find an entrance. They had originally planned to search elsewhere, but hearing Murong Yi’s attendants say that based on the traces, the person had disappeared in the valley, they had been guarding outside this door for several days.

The two explained their situation, looked behind Tie Ci, and when Dan Shuang was about to ask something, Chi Xue tugged at her sleeve.

Both their expressions were somewhat unnatural as they looked at Tie Ci’s face, then at Murong Yi’s attendants over there.

Tie Ci could tell at a glance that they had concerns, afraid that if Murong Yi hadn’t been saved, it would provoke these people’s fury, so they didn’t dare ask.

She was about to speak when suddenly the woman who had spoken earlier strode forward. This girl was quite beautiful, except her complexion was extremely pale. A red fruit hung from one earlobe, and only that bright red color made her complexion look somewhat better.

She looked Tie Ci up and down, casually cupped her hands in salute, and said, “So this is Your Highness the Crown Princess? I’m Chazi, an attendant under the Young Master. May I ask where my Young Master is?”

Tie Ci said, “The Young Master’s poison injuries have not yet healed. I left him in the stronghold to recuperate first.”

Chazi grinned and said, “How strange. I’ve also dealt with the master of this place before—extremely stubborn and mysterious. Moreover, the entire tribe has sworn oaths not to involve themselves in worldly disputes and not to save those outside their tribe. I didn’t expect Your Highness to have such divine powers—not only smoothly entering, but also smoothly getting them to save someone, and when you wanted to arrange for the Young Master to recuperate there, they just took him in.”

Tie Ci smiled slightly, “Just so, just so.”

Chazi was obviously choked up, stiffened for a moment, then suddenly her face turned cold. No longer speaking sarcastically, she let go and said, “Since Your Highness is so slippery, let’s speak plainly. I’ve been stationed in Yannan for over a year and know something about the Mo tribe. The Mo tribe would never break their oath because of anyone’s power or temptation, and subduing them by force is absolutely impossible. By rights, Your Highness shouldn’t just be unable to get them to save people—even breaking into the Mo tribe stronghold should result in no return. Now Your Highness has come out safely, but my Young Master is nowhere to be seen. Please explain clearly where the Young Master is now!”

Tie Ci said, “Everything I said is true. If you don’t believe it, you can ask A’Kou—she’s from the Mo tribe.”

A’Kou nodded repeatedly, “It’s true! Our Uncle saved someone! You don’t know…”

Her words were interrupted by Chazi waving her hand, irritation showing in her expression, “Don’t mention any Mo tribe Uncle. No one would save people, least of all the Uncle. What Mo tribe person—probably some impostor you found somewhere!”

A’Kou stared in amazement, adjusting her glasses. She didn’t understand why no one believed the truth. Uncle was right—the people outside were indeed too fierce.

“What impostor? I’m A’Kou from the Mo tribe. Uncle wouldn’t save people, but Your Highness…”

She wanted to explain what Tie Ci had done, but couldn’t organize her words for a moment. She wasn’t good with words to begin with, and the accent of people outside the mountains made her uncomfortable. Her hesitation, in the eyes of Chazi and the others, looked like inability to maintain her lie, making their faces even uglier. Chazi impatiently waved her hand again to interrupt her, but addressed Tie Ci, “Your Highness, please provide the method to open the door so we can go in and search for the Young Master!”

This time A’Kou spoke first: “No! Tribal rules don’t allow it!”

“Now you say it’s not allowed.” A man immediately laughed mockingly, “How strange—why didn’t Your Highness need to follow tribal rules? Could it be the Mo tribe belongs to Your Highness?”

Someone said, “Perhaps she has a guilty conscience and doesn’t want us to go in, afraid we’ll discover the Young Master has already met with misfortune!”

“Exactly. Two people went in—how come only one came out? How was Your Highness able to come out safely? She didn’t use our Young Master’s life as collateral, did she?”

Chazi suddenly said coldly, “I’ve heard of one Mo tribe rule.”

Everyone immediately looked at her.

“Save one person, kill one person.”

Everyone’s faces changed, and Tie Ci’s color also changed slightly.

Chazi’s face grew colder as she stared at Tie Ci, “Please explain this to us, Your Highness!”

When Tie Ci agreed to Duanmu’s life-for-life condition, A’Kou wasn’t present, but she knew most of what had happened. Now vaguely understanding what Chazi and the others meant, she hurried to say, “It’s not like that, it was Your Highness…”

Tie Ci stopped her words.

What she had done for Murong Yi, she didn’t want outsiders to know. Because she didn’t want him to know in the end.

She only said, “I made some efforts and made a deal with the Mo tribe, so they were willing to save him. The Young Master is indeed safe and sound. If you don’t believe it, wait here for two more days. In a few more days, he should be able to leave the valley.”

Chazi said, “What about Your Highness—will you wait together?”

Tie Ci shook her head, “I have urgent matters to attend to. I’ll leave first.”

Chazi’s gaze immediately sharpened, “What urgent matters are more important than the Young Master’s safety?”

She suddenly shook her head again, “No, I misspoke. For Your Highness, there must be many things more important than my Young Master, right? The country, the people, power… many things rank before the Young Master, don’t they?”

Tie Ci wanted to say why should I explain to you, but heard Chazi laugh coldly, “How unfair it really is. My Young Master puts everything important after Your Highness—self-destructing the great wall, fires in the rear, the throne in peril—he can ignore and abandon it all. As long as Your Highness gives one command, he probably forgets who he even is.”

She spoke harshly, with people behind her tugging at her clothes, but she slapped their hands away.

Murong Yi’s subordinates all shook their heads. This one was fiery-tempered, even more stubborn than Chief Manager Mu Si beside the Young Master. Chief Manager Mu Si only liked to banter privately with the Young Master, but always gave him face in public. This one never cared about anything.

But this one was also genuinely loyal. When the Young Master said he needed someone to manage Yannan affairs, she volunteered to come to the humid and hot Yannan. Within a year, she had traveled through all of Yannan’s famous mountains and great rivers. Being able to successfully find the road down to this valley bottom was because she was familiar with the local situation.

Tie Ci: “Self-destructing the great wall? Fires in the rear? The throne in peril?”

“The Young Master must have taken the wrong medicine. He suddenly transferred large amounts of silver from his banks to flow into Great Qian, even alarming several of the largest banks in Liaodong. This probably caught the attention of interested parties, and he encountered massive malicious silver exchanges. If he hadn’t withdrawn quickly, most of the Young Master’s foundation would have been destroyed. Even so, he suffered great damage. Moreover, this was done so abruptly without any explanation, causing many old managers to become dissatisfied and resign voluntarily. The Young Master’s enterprises all relied on these old managers’ support for years. Now most of them have left—how long will it take to recover? And how important enterprises are to great causes, the Young Master must know, and surely Your Highness also knows?”

Tie Ci naturally knew, but she was completely unaware of this matter and was momentarily stunned.

“Moreover, this was done too hastily. The malicious exchanges might have also caught the attention of the Great King’s secret guards, or there were other matters. In any case, recently the situation in Ruzhou has been ominous. The Great King has issued three secret orders summoning the Young Master back to Ruzhou, but the Young Master ignores them. It’s said the Great King has sent secret guards and embroidered-robe envoys to follow the Young Master…”

As Chazi spoke, her face suddenly changed, and she glanced at Tie Ci, unwilling to continue. Watching her expression, Tie Ci suddenly had a very vague but terrible thought flash through her mind, but perhaps her subconscious was very resistant to this thought, so it passed in an instant and became elusive.

Chazi said nothing more, bowed to her again, and said suppressing her anger, “After all, we’re just servants, naturally everything is decided by the Young Master. It’s just that the Young Master faces many difficulties now. Please, considering the Young Master’s wholehearted support, tell us the Young Master’s whereabouts soon so we can bring him out early…” As she spoke, she stared at Tie Ci, her face clearly written with “I still very much suspect you traded the Young Master’s life for your own.”

But Tie Ci couldn’t let Chazi enter the stronghold, nor did she want them to disturb Murong Yi’s recovery. He had finally been detoxified, but the residual poison wasn’t cleared. If he was disturbed by external affairs and left hidden dangers, what then? The Liaodong matters were indeed urgent, but she believed that with Murong Yi’s abilities, he must have countermeasures. A few days’ difference shouldn’t matter.

She shook her head and said gently, “Trust your Young Master. Wait a few more days and it will be fine. I have matters to attend to, so I’ll leave first.”

Chazi’s face was about to explode with rage when she moved her finger. The tiger on A’Kou’s shoulder suddenly stuck out its long tongue and slapped it on Chazi’s hand with a smack. A wisp of black smoke dispersed from between Chazi’s fingers, and the tiger jumped over joyfully, opened its big mouth, puffed up its belly, and sucked all the black smoke into its stomach like smoking opium.

After being licked by the tiger, Chazi’s entire body stiffened and couldn’t move, watching helplessly as Tie Ci nodded and smiled at her, then walked past calmly.

Chazi couldn’t move but could still speak. As Tie Ci walked past her, she spat and cursed in a low voice, “How heartless the imperial family is!”

Tie Ci’s steps paused slightly. Dan Shuang’s face flushed with anger as she reached to draw her sword, but Tie Ci pressed her shoulder and firmly yet calmly led her away.

She took the three women and followed the more convenient route A’Kou pointed out, crossing this mountain cliff. Not far ahead was where she had originally camped that night. The burned-out fire and some insect corpses still remained. Chi Xue told her that they had been separated from the Chi Qingbo couple that night and couldn’t find them afterward, while Xiao Xueya and Vice General Zhu had left Li Mountain after the poisonous insects disappeared.

Tie Ci nodded, “I asked them to leave early. There were some matters to handle.”

She turned to look at the vast jungle. Today the jungle was quite quiet—even the monkeys that usually scampered about were nowhere to be seen.

However, it would soon become unquiet.

A’Kou was very familiar with Li Mountain’s terrain, leading Tie Ci and the others through the great mountains. After two days they emerged from the mountains, then found local people’s small carts to ride for most of the day, passing through a small city. A’Kou was a local and carried the Mo tribe’s natural mysterious aura. Though the Yannan locals didn’t understand the Mo tribe well, they had natural respect for the mysterious tribes from deep in Li Mountain, making travel very convenient for Tie Ci and the others. After two more days, they saw the high and broad city walls of Kunzhou, Yannan’s capital.

Kunzhou’s city walls rose seven zhang high, with a moat outside the city. The walls were high and strongly defended, no less secure than the capital’s city gates.

Entry through the city gates was slow, with queues extending several li outside, reportedly because all small merchants entering the city had to pay taxes, causing delays.

Because of this, there were complaints before the city gates.

Tie Ci recalled that when passing through that small city earlier, it too was in chaos, with tax collectors and minor officials running throughout the city. They might as well have beaten gongs and drums to tell everyone: the Crown Princess is coming, the Crown Princess has great pomp, the Crown Princess acts extravagantly, the Crown Princess is coming to Yannan to cause trouble. To appease and entertain the Crown Princess well, everyone must pool their wisdom and strength, contributing money and people to placate this plague god and send her away.

For the common people, they didn’t care whether you were Crown Princess or not—touching their purses made you a mortal enemy. During this period, the Yannan people’s hatred for her had probably reached its peak.

When she came to Kunzhou, unless she remained forever incognito, as soon as she revealed her identity, she would fall into an ocean of spittle and be unable to move a step.

But since she intended to conduct a southern inspection and find ways to subdue Yannan, she couldn’t remain incognito.

A’Kou went forward to see if they could enter the city gates. After asking a few questions and returning, she said with great surprise, “Now to enter Kunzhou’s city gates, you don’t just need household registration and travel passes, but also require guarantor documents from long-term residents of Kunzhou city and its attached counties, plus property deeds within Kunzhou city. Outsiders are absolutely not permitted to enter.”

This completely blocked any possibility of Tie Ci and the others quietly mixing into the city.

Chi Xue still wanted to find a way, but Tie Ci jerked her chin toward the front, “No need.”

At the city gate, a small merchant who had been taxed was pleading bitterly, saying his profits were meager and begging for mercy. The gate guard looked sympathetic and troubled, but unhesitatingly took away even his last few bundles of silk thread.

The merchant collapsed crying and pointed to heaven, cursing the Crown Princess for harming the people. Everyone sighed endlessly, but the city guards acted as if they didn’t dare listen, simply closing the city gates early.

Immediately there was another round of complaints.

The common people and merchants who couldn’t enter the city could only go into the tea pavilions outside the city to rest, waiting for tomorrow, drinking cold tea while cursing the Crown Princess.

“This month’s earnings all went to the tax collectors. My feet are worn raw, and we can’t even afford porridge at home!”

“If this continues, I’ll have to change trades. The taxes are heavy and high. I saved some silver over the past few years hoping to get my eldest son married, but now it’s all been squandered!”

“Change to what trade? Farming? Buying farm tools also requires taxes! Everywhere requires taxes!”

“I heard the officials even donated their salaries because the Crown Princess said our Yannan was too humid and hot, so they specially built her a traveling palace. They gathered all of Yannan’s skilled craftsmen and finished it in two months. The precious ice from the Sun family’s ice houses was carted in by the wagonload. I heard they dug pools and created lakes inside, with continuous pavilions and towers. Even the trees were transported thousands of li from the north—each one worth a thousand gold, a hundred times more magnificent than the Yannan Prince’s mansion!”

“Just to stay for a month or two, yet she must have such extravagance!”

“What do the officials care? Their family foundations are thick. A few months’ salary is just a drop in the bucket for them. But for us common people, adding even one-tenth more tax could cost us our lives… Hey, waiter, your tea tastes wrong today. Why is it so much weaker than before? Are you really making this black-hearted money?!”

Before the waiter could come over, the shopkeeper came first, his face stern as he threw down his towel and shouted, “So what if it’s weak? I charge you three big coins for a pot of tea and have to pay two coins in taxes. Calculate what profit I have left!”

Everyone was immediately speechless. After a while, someone said resentfully, “It’s all that damned Crown Princess!”

One voice brought a hundred responses. The Yannan people had little sense of belonging to the court to begin with. No matter how noble the Crown Princess was, in their hearts she wasn’t as important as the You clan members of the Yannan Prince’s mansion, let alone being a Crown Princess who brought calamity to the people and wasted money.

Someone looked around, then suddenly lowered his voice, “Everyone, this tax matter has always been easy to add but hard to reduce, so precedents cannot be lightly set. Today the Crown Princess comes wanting to add taxes, tomorrow some prince will come wanting to add taxes—then how can we live? So I say, this time we must have a response…”

“What response?” everyone asked.

“The Crown Princess lives deep in the palace, enjoying all the world’s noble treatment and offerings. Perhaps in her eyes, she’s only made some small requests? So we should go petition her, explain our hardships. The Crown Princess is said to be a benevolent and wise ruler—surely she wouldn’t let us common people fall into deep water and hot fire?”

Everyone looked at each other, then after a moment, responded thunderously.

“Exactly, exactly! The Crown Princess surely wouldn’t ignore our lives!”

“But how should we petition?”

“Everyone, everyone, listen to what I say.”

The voices lowered, heads huddled together, and finally they simply stood up and walked away while discussing.

Tie Ci also sat in the tea pavilion drinking tea, listening with a smile, shaking her purse and playing with it, holding it to her ear to hear it jingle.

A’Kou noticed her purse and smiled, “Your purse is really beautiful.”

Tie Ci stuffed the purse into her hands: “A gift for you!”

A’Kou didn’t know what false courtesy meant and smiled innocently as she accepted it.

Both attendants’ thoughts were on these people’s plotting. Dan Shuang’s face was dark as water, and Chi Xue’s expression was also poor. She whispered to Tie Ci, “This You father and son act quite viciously and without leaving any openings. Your Highness, have you thought of how to enter the city?”

Tie Ci smiled, “Naturally, I’ll enter the city openly and honorably.”

She took a sip of tea, her expression leisurely, “By the time I enter the city, things will be about finished.”

Chi Xue and Dan Shuang looked at each other in amazement. Wasn’t this just arriving in Yannan? Just reaching Kunzhou and about to face popular unrest, with the current power holder of the Yannan Prince’s mansion surely causing trouble afterward—how could things be finished?

Suddenly someone entered the tea pavilion, saw Tie Ci and smiled, raising his hand in greeting, “Young Master, we’ve been waiting at this city gate daily, and today we finally waited for you!”

Happy New Year!