Xiao Jingyue didn’t even glance at Yan Ningshuang. He brushed off the nonexistent dust from his robes and looked at Ren Yaoqi with the same frivolous and presumptuous gaze, as if looking at a woman he could bully and torment at will, his eyes flickering with inexplicable excitement.

The person Xiao Jingyue hated most in his life was Xiao Jingxi. The Xiao family had few heirs, so from childhood to adulthood, people constantly compared him to Xiao Jingxi. Unfortunately, even when Xiao Jingxi was so ill he was nearly dying, he still couldn’t measure up to him. Later, no one made such comparisons anymore, because in outsiders’ eyes, the two had already reached different heights – he had lost the qualification to be compared.

Xiao Jingyue’s feelings toward Xiao Jingxi evolved from initial envy and jealousy to disgust and hatred. Eventually, just hearing the name “Xiao Jingxi” would make him feel uncomfortable all over. However, contradictorily, he yearned for and coveted everything Xiao Jingxi possessed, including his status as the substantial heir to the Yanbei Prince’s residence, the Zhaoning Hall where Xiao Jingxi lived, and even his agreement to marry Yan Ningshuang wasn’t solely due to the court’s plan, but because Yan Ningshuang was madly infatuated with Xiao Jingxi. When facing Yan Ningshuang, just thinking of this point would make Xiao Jingyue feel excited – an excitement that was nakedly displayed in bed, which was also why Yan Ningshuang so detested Xiao Jingyue.

From the way Xiao Jingyue looked at her, Ren Yaoqi understood the filthy desires hidden deep in this person’s heart. This made her feel extremely uncomfortable, and acid rose in her stomach. Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but cover her mouth and retch.

Pingguo hurriedly brought a spittoon and ran to Ren Yaoqi’s side.

Xiao Jingyue narrowed his eyes slightly, then moved his gaze from Ren Yaoqi’s face to her abdomen, his eyes flickering with excited and eerie light. Ren Yaoqi instinctively placed her hand over her lower abdomen.

Princess Dowager Yun glared at Xiao Jingyue angrily, but also felt nervous about his expression. She quickly stood up and positioned herself in front of Ren Yaoqi, helping to gently pat her back while blocking Xiao Jingyue’s line of sight.

However, Xiao Jingyue smiled as he approached Ren Yaoqi step by step.

Ren Yaoqi half-leaned against Princess Dowager Yun, trying her best to suppress the urge to vomit. Looking down, she saw Xiao Jingyue’s robes gradually approaching and couldn’t help but quickly glance toward the inner chamber.

Before Princess Yelu entered, Nanxing had quietly hidden in her inner chamber. Remembering Nanxing’s abilities, Ren Yaoqi reminded herself to stay calm. The more critical the moment, the more she needed to keep her composure.

Xiao Jingyue seemed very satisfied with the tense atmosphere in the room that was about to explode. He reached out his hand, wanting to pull away the annoying person blocking his path, but halfway through, his movement was intercepted by another hand.

Xiao Jingyue raised an eyebrow, then looked at the red-clothed woman who had suddenly blocked his way with a half-smile: “What does the Princess mean by this? If I remember correctly, the condition you all agreed to was that after success, everything and everyone in this Prince’s residence would be mine to dispose of?”

Yelu Sage glanced at Xiao Jingyue. In her heart, she looked down on men like Xiao Jingyue, who would betray their family for profit and wanted to bully pregnant women. In her eyes, men who vented their anger on women weren’t real men at all – they were just cowards.

However, Yelu Sage still gave Xiao Jingyue a brilliant smile: “Why is Third Young Master Xiao so impatient? You Han people have a saying: ‘Haste makes waste.’ Since the condition states ‘after success,’ then we must wait until after success before everyone in this Prince’s residence belongs to you.”

Xiao Jingyue curled his lips: “What’s so difficult about success? Once news comes that the Yanbei Princess Consort has been separated from her head, almost all of Yunyang City will be under our control.”

Yelu Sage smiled and nodded: “Then let’s wait a bit longer.”

Xiao Jingyue snorted with laughter but finally didn’t advance further, though his eyes never moved away from Ren Yaoqi.

While Ren Yaoqi breathed a sigh of relief, her heart couldn’t help but tighten with worry about Princess Consort’s safety. From what Xiao Jingyue had just implied, they had indeed sent people to intercept Princess Consort and didn’t plan to leave any survivors.

With the Yanbei Prince, Xiao Jingxi, and the Princess all away from the residence, if something urgent happened at the Prince’s residence, Princess Consort’s status might allow her to secretly mobilize forces in unknown ways. That’s why Xiao Jingyue and his group planned to have her killed before she returned to the residence, to prevent any complications at the crucial moment.

Xiao Jingyue found a chair in the room and sat down, and Yelu Sage also sat down. Princess Dowager Yun didn’t return to her seat but sat beside Ren Yaoqi, holding her in her arms with lips tightly pressed together, saying nothing.

The room fell into an eerie silence.

After an unknown amount of time, a man dressed as a guard entered from outside, walked to Xiao Jingyue, and called him “Young Master.”

Both Xiao Jingyue and Yelu Sage turned their gazes to him. Xiao Jingyue asked lazily: “How did it go? Is the person dead?”

Princess Dowager Yun and Ren Yaoqi also looked toward him.

The guard paused, then said with difficulty: “In response to Young Master, Mu Hu suddenly appeared halfway with a cavalry unit and rescued Princess Consort. Most of the men we sent out were killed or wounded.”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingyue immediately sat up straight, squinting at the guard and grinding his teeth: “Mu Hu? Wasn’t he supposed to be guarding the city today? How did he suddenly appear!”

The guard kept his head down, not daring to look at Xiao Jingyue’s eyes: “This subordinate doesn’t know. Mu Hu’s appearance should be… a coincidence.”

Their operation today had been planned for a long time. Logically, the Prince’s residence people shouldn’t have detected any problems, otherwise, Princess Consort wouldn’t have gone out today, and the Prince’s residence wouldn’t have been controlled by them so quickly.

They hadn’t expected that merely luring away the two martial arts-skilled maids from Ren Yaoqi’s side as a precautionary measure would attract Ren Yaoqi’s attention and suspicion. That’s why Ren Yaoqi had sent Nanxing to meet Princess Consort, and Nanxing naturally handed the task of escorting Princess Consort back to the residence to Mu Hu, while she stayed behind to protect the young madam and the child in her belly.

Xiao Jingyue’s hand on the chair armrest clenched forcefully, and with a “crack,” a corner of the pear wood chair’s armrest broke off.

“Go keep watching the movements outside and tell my father that his men can prepare!”

The guard received the order and retreated.

Yelu Sage’s expression also soured. She looked toward Xiao Jingyue: “Alerting Mu Hu means alerting Yunyang City’s garrison. Now we’ve become the turtle in the ‘catching a turtle in a jar’ situation instead. Truly, thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river.”

Anyone who has learned a foreign language can’t help but want to show off their vocabulary from time to time, regardless of whether the words are used correctly.

Xiao Jingyue remained silent with a cold face for a moment, then suddenly smiled again. He shifted his gaze to Ren Yaoqi and Princess Dowager Yun, stroking his chin with ill intent: “Turtle or not, we don’t lack bait here. I wonder if Princess Consort will return on her own for the sake of her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.”

Yelu Sage’s gaze also settled on Ren Yaoqi and Princess Dowager Yun. Although she somewhat disdained bullying the old, weak women and children, she was ultimately still a princess. She understood the principle of compromising when necessary, so after hesitating for a while, she said nothing more.

Xiao Jingyue glanced at the silent Yelu Sage, smiled, and rose to slowly walk to Ren Yaoqi and Princess Dowager Yun, looking at one then the other. Princess Dowager Yun’s body tensed as she held Ren Yaoqi tightly, watching Xiao Jingyue with cold eyes.

Xiao Jingyue grinned, half-seriously and half-jokingly: “What do you think – should I cut off an arm or leg to send to Princess Consort, so she can quickly make the right decision? But whose should I cut?”

Princess Dowager Yun watched him warily. Xiao Jingyue sneered: “Hasn’t Princess Dowager always been cold toward her children and grandchildren? Why do you look like you’re protecting your cubs today? It seems we’ve all misunderstood you, Your Highness.”

While saying this, Xiao Jingyue suddenly raised his palm to strike toward Ren Yaoqi’s abdomen. Princess Dowager Yun was greatly alarmed and turned to block in front of Ren Yaoqi. Just then, the sound of breaking wind came. Xiao Jingyue had practiced martial arts, and a warrior’s instincts made him sense danger. He immediately withdrew his hand and dodged to one side.

Unfortunately, it was too late. A hidden weapon of unknown shape cut across Xiao Jingyue’s face with fierce momentum. With a “ding-dong” sound, the weapon fell to the ground – it was a woman’s hairpin.

Almost simultaneously with Xiao Jingyue’s dodge, a slender figure flashed out from the inner chamber. Yelu Sage, standing further away, sensed something was wrong and wanted to rush forward, but the person emerging from the inner chamber delivered a heavy kick to Xiao Jingyue’s chest, sending him flying in Yelu Sage’s direction.

Yelu Sage was forced to dodge to one side. Xiao Jingyue fell heavily to the ground, landing in a pile with the already unconscious Yan Ningshuang. He groaned and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Yelu Sage had no time to care for Xiao Jingyue – she had already stepped forward again to engage the person who had rushed out from the inner chamber.

Ren Yaoqi looked up and recognized that the woman now fighting with Yelu Sage was Nanxing, who had previously hidden in the inner chamber.

For Nanxing to earn Xiao Jingxi’s trust and to subdue a man like Mu Hu, she naturally had considerable skills. Although Yelu Sage’s martial arts were not low, when Nanxing fought with her, she didn’t fall into a disadvantage.

Xiao Jingyue, pale-faced and clutching his chest, tried to stand up. He had just been heavily kicked by Nanxing – his ribs might already be broken, and his internal organs were injured.

Pingguo, standing beside Ren Yaoqi, noticed Xiao Jingyue’s movement. Seeing that Yelu Sage was entangled with Nanxing and had no time for other concerns, she gritted her teeth, picked up the bronze incense burner that had been sitting unused on the shelf for a long time, and regardless of potentially being caught in the crossfire, charged fiercely toward Xiao Jingyue, raising the bronze incense burner to smash it violently onto Xiao Jingyue’s head.

The first blow left Xiao Jingyue dazed, with blood flowing from his forehead. Pingguo ignored this, pressing her lips together and continuing to smash Xiao Jingyue’s head without a word.

The second blow, the third blow – Pingguo struck harder each time. Xiao Jingyue’s head and face quickly became a bloody mess, until finally his eyes rolled back and he collapsed completely to the ground. Seeing him fall, Pingguo seemed to lose all her strength and collapsed to the ground as well, but her gaze never left Xiao Jingyue for a moment, and she didn’t put down the incense burner in her hands, ready to continue smashing if Xiao Jingyue opened his eyes. Pingguo’s face was wet, partly with Xiao Jingyue’s blood that had splattered on her face, and partly with her tears that had flowed at some unknown time. But she seemed unaware, only staring fiercely at Xiao Jingyue like an enraged mother beast.

Pingguo was the most silent among all the maids around Ren Yaoqi, but when it came to loyalty, no one could compare to her. In Pingguo’s mind, her young mistress was like a deity from heaven, not to be defiled by anyone.

This beast Xiao Jingyue dared to speak frivolously and insult her young mistress, and even wanted to harm the child in her belly – this was simply unforgivable! So Pingguo erupted.

Even Yelu Sage and Nanxing, who were fighting, were drawn by the commotion on Pingguo’s side. They turned to glance at the wretched Xiao Jingyue lying on the ground, then continued fighting with strange expressions.

Ren Yaoqi and Princess Dowager Yun stared at Pingguo in amazement. This was also the first time Ren Yaoqi had seen such a fierce side of Pingguo.

Yelu Sage and Nanxing fought to a draw, with neither able to overcome the other. At this moment, the dozen or so guards Xiao Jingyue had left outside heard the commotion and headed toward the main hall.