Just as Mo Yu approached, Xiao Changying suddenly sprang up like a leaping carp, dodging Mo Yu’s attack and lunging toward Shen Xihe.

Shen Xihe remained steady as a mountain, not retreating a single step. Bi Yu, at her side, swept her arm and hurled the sewing basket at Xiao Changying. While he batted away the basket, Mo Yu had already advanced from behind with his sword.

He became entangled in combat with Mo Yu, and by this time Zi Yu and Hong Yu had also entered, joining the fray.

Because Shen Xihe was physically weak and couldn’t practice martial arts, and due to propriety between men and women, guards couldn’t protect her closely. When selecting maids in her childhood, the first consideration was their physical constitution and determination. Over the years, her maids didn’t need to be clever or quick-witted, but they had to endure the hardships of martial arts training.

Though Bi Yu and the others weren’t as specialized and martially skilled as Mo Yu, they weren’t merely for show.

However, Xiao Changying was ultimately trained by martial arts masters selected from the imperial gardens. For a time, even with Mo Yu and the other two against him, they couldn’t gain the upper hand.

Bi Yu watched anxiously. Having inhaled some of Shen Xihe’s entrancing incense, she was now somewhat weakened. While needing to protect Shen Xihe closely, she could see from their martial prowess that Mo Yu and the others would soon be defeated.

“Princess…” Bi Yu looked toward Shen Xihe.

With just one word from Shen Xihe, the guards hidden outside would surround her chambers so tightly that not even a drop of water could escape, making it impossible for this prince to flee even with wings.

Shen Xihe raised one finger and gently shook it.

What Bi Yu and the others didn’t know was that Emperor Youning’s princes were all accomplished in both literary and martial arts, and each had their secret guards. Once her guards rushed in, Xiao Changying’s secret guards would also act without restraint.

Duanming ran over, landing on the table facing Xiao Changying, meowing and scratching its claws, appearing ready to pounce at any moment.

Just as it was about to spring, Shen Xihe’s delicate white hand pressed down on it. Picking up Duanming, Shen Xihe walked halfway around the table, her gaze fixed intently on the four people locked in fierce combat.

Her hand, which had been gently stroking Duanming’s fur just a moment ago, suddenly aimed at Xiao Changying. With a gentle flick of the mechanism on her bracelet, a needle as fine as ox hair and as short as an eyebrow shot out.

It struck Xiao Changying’s arm with extreme precision.

At first, there was only a slight stinging pain, but within a few breaths, his arm went numb. Xiao Changying was swept off his feet by Mo Yu’s long leg and fell to the ground.

Unlike the previous dizziness and blurred vision, this time his mind remained clear, but his limbs wouldn’t obey him.

Already affected by Shen Xihe’s entrancing incense and barely holding on, Xiao Changying now had no strength left to resist.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to surrender earlier?” Shen Xihe scratched Duanming’s nape as she slowly walked to Xiao Changying’s front.

“Do you intend to throw me at the entrance of the prince’s residence?” Xiao Changying lay on his back, his narrow eyes fixed on Shen Xihe’s face.

“I never speak empty words.” Shen Xihe turned around while holding Duanming. “Today I went to the Eastern Palace. You came looking for me so urgently because you thought there was something between the Crown Prince and me. You’re not the only one who wanted to test this – at the Eastern Palace, the Third Prince and Sixth Prince had already done so before you.”

Inviting the Crown Prince to watch polo – wasn’t that like jabbing at his sore spot?

Knowing the Crown Prince couldn’t participate, yet still not avoiding the impropriety.

Her openly going to the Eastern Palace, with so many eyes watching, was simply because since the Crown Prince went, she had to follow to probe his true intentions, just like Xiao Changying, wanting to know exactly what relationship she had with the Crown Prince.

“You princes, I know exactly what you’re thinking.” Shen Xihe’s lips curved slightly, her smile containing mockery. “You don’t dare to seek my hand in marriage easily, yet you’re unwilling to let me marry others.”

As she spoke, Shen Xihe, who had been pacing, made a graceful spin and looked back at Xiao Changying: “I don’t have time to teach you all a lesson one by one. Since you’ve delivered yourself to my door, I can only use you as an example to warn the others.”

After speaking, Shen Xihe tilted her head slightly and gave Xiao Changying a gentle smile, then Mo Yu dragged him out.

Shen Xihe followed closely behind. Just as they left her chambers, several secret guards indeed flew in.

Shen Xihe’s eyes shifted slightly, glancing at them: “You’re welcome to try to rescue him, but weapons are indiscriminate. I don’t wish to harm your master’s life, but if you insist on testing my people’s capabilities and accidentally cut your master a few times, don’t blame me.”

Hearing this, Xiao Changying’s eyes showed a hint of amusement. After several encounters, he had come to understand Shen Xihe’s uncompromising character.

She never took his status as a prince seriously. When she said she would cut a few times, she definitely would.

“Everyone withdraw.” Since he was destined to be used as her warning to others, why suffer more?

After Xiao Changying’s people withdrew, Shen Xihe turned and gave him a smile that clearly said: “How sensible.”

The sensible Prince Lie was then dragged to the entrance of the prince’s residence by Shen Xihe’s people, stripped to just his underwear, and left at the entrance.

Fortunately, the prince’s residence was built to one side, where common people couldn’t enter the alley, but two princes happened to encounter this scene while returning to their residence.

Thus, news spread throughout the mansions of civil and military officials that day about how Prince Lie had secretly invaded the Shen residence and was stripped and thrown back to the prince’s residence by the Shen household’s servants.

Rumors spread quickly, with each person adding and imagining details, until finally, it became that Princess Zhaoning possessed matchless beauty, and Prince Lie, upon hearing this, couldn’t wait to catch a glimpse of her face, but unexpectedly the prince’s guards were highly skilled and in the end…

This aroused many people’s curiosity about Shen Xihe’s appearance while also making them more wary of her.

She dared to throw out the Emperor’s cousin from the Shen residence, and she even dared to strip the Emperor’s son and throw him back to the prince’s residence.

These were all royal relatives, and she showed not the slightest consideration. If it were anyone else, wouldn’t they be tormented half to death even if they didn’t die?

Thinking about how the old Princess of the Kang Prince Manor still had nightmares daily, and although their eldest son had saved his life, he still spoke incoherently with high fever and sweats, with doctors practically living in the Kang Prince Manor, people became even more fearful of Shen Xihe.

Shen Xihe was very satisfied with this.

As for the old Princess of the Kang Prince Manor having nightmares every night, it was simply her returning the favor in kind. She had found a spy in the Kang Prince Manor and replaced the Princess’s incense with a type that easily induced hallucinations.

Now that the Xiao family had returned to the Kang Prince Manor, it was time to add fuel to their fire.

Thus, that night, the Kang Prince Manor was suddenly overrun with mice scurrying everywhere, frightening all the women in the manor to scream throughout the night, alarming the neighbors who thought the Kang Prince Manor was being massacred.

“Princess, this mouse-attracting incense is so fun, I’ll go tonight,” Zi Yu played with Shen Xihe’s incense, looking expectant.

The reason for last night’s mouse invasion at the Kang Prince Manor was that they had secretly snuck in and lit this mouse-attracting incense.

The mice had all seemed to lose their minds, trying every possible way to enter the Kang Prince Manor, creating quite a spectacular scene.