Seeing Bei Tang Wenfeng reassuring her, Mu Yunjin couldn’t say much more. She stood to the side and looked down from the city tower.

After a while, a clamor of voices came from below the tower. Mu Yunjin turned to look and could see that the large contingent from the imperial palace had arrived, with more than a dozen exquisite carriages stopped below.

Seeing this scene, Mu Yunjin sneered. The Southern Court’s ruler was truly idle, inviting so many people to watch the execution of a single person.

Just as she was thinking this, someone stepped onto the city tower.

Mu Yunjin looked around, still feeling uncomfortable. She couldn’t help but move to stand among Bei Tang Wenfeng’s attendants, hiding her figure among a group of men.

Soon after, the Southern Court’s ruler, surrounded by a group of people, stepped onto the last stair of the city tower.

“Brother Bei Tang, you arrived so early?” The Southern Court’s ruler immediately spotted Bei Tang Wenfeng sitting in his seat. He had heard rumors about Bei Tang Wenfeng and Jiang Qingxue, so he wasn’t surprised that Bei Tang Wenfeng had come so early.

Bei Tang Wenfeng returned a smile but didn’t respond.

The Southern Court’s ruler’s expression stiffened. He sat down awkwardly in his seat and looked down from the city tower.

…

…

Mu Yunjin, standing among the attendants, found that almost no one from those who came up the city tower glanced in her direction. This emboldened her to observe the people who had ascended the tower.

Looking around, she didn’t see Consort Yue or Imperial Preceptor An.

She thought these two knew how to avoid suspicion. If they were spotted by people from the Western Yuan, they would be the biggest scandal of the day!

Thinking of Western Yuan, Mu Yunjin carefully looked around again and found that in Western Yuan’s seats, only two anonymous officials were seated, and in Eastern Lin’s seats, she didn’t recognize anyone.

Where had Chu Qing and Rong Min gone?

Did they know in advance that Chu Li was going to eliminate their hidden agent, so they didn’t attend?

Strangely, Mu Yunjin no longer wanted to stay here.

After all the seats on the city tower were filled, Mu Yunjin saw Southern Court’s Grand Marshal Mo Jinglun walk to the Southern Court ruler’s side, bend over and say, “Your Majesty, the time has come.”

The Southern Court’s ruler nodded lightly, then stood up, walked to the edge of the wall, placed both hands on it, furrowed his brows, his expression severe.

“Bring the criminal to the execution ground.” Mo Jinglun ordered.

After he spoke, below, the crowd that had been surrounding a road dispersed, leaving an open space. Then rows of Southern Court imperial guards walked in front to clear the way. Soon, Mu Yunjin saw a figure in green being escorted into the execution ground below.

Mu Yunjin narrowed her eyes, examining the figure.

“Holy Maiden Jiang Qingxue violated the Holy Maiden covenant, bringing shame to the Southern Court, a crime beyond forgiveness. Today, envoys from the three countries of the Canghua Continent gather here. Please bear witness together, and may the remaining Holy Maiden envoys keep to their duties and follow their missions.” Mo Jinglun spoke on behalf of the Southern Court’s ruler.

After speaking, he looked towards the Southern Court’s ruler, awaiting orders.

The Southern Court’s ruler sat back in his seat, nodded to Mo Jinglun, and finally glanced at Bei Tang Wenfeng. He saw Bei Tang Wenfeng with his brows tightly knit, fists clenched, clearly doing his utmost to restrain himself.

The Southern Court’s ruler sighed slightly, thinking that this time they had truly made an enemy of the Northern Ming Kingdom.

“Execute!” Mo Jinglun stood on the city tower, giving the command.

Below, the watching crowd let out a cheer of approval.

Mu Yunjin covered her face with her folding fan, taking a couple of steps forward to see the scene below more clearly. Looking at the figure in the center of the execution platform, she wondered who they had found to evade so many eyes.

Finally, seeing the green figure below being beheaded, Mu Yunjin felt this was an extremely boring farce. She didn’t know what people from the other three countries thought, coming so cooperatively to watch this execution.

…

After the execution, the Southern Court’s ruler invited people from the three countries to enter the palace for a banquet. Bei Tang Wenfeng declined politely. Seeing this, the Southern Court’s ruler didn’t press further. After exchanging a few courtesies, he walked down from the city tower.

The surroundings gradually returned to normal. Mu Yunjin pursed her lips, just about to leave to find Chu Li, when she was stopped by Bei Tang Wenfeng.

“Yunjin…”

Mu Yunjin turned to look at Bei Tang Wenfeng.

“Have lunch with Father Emperor.” Bei Tang Wenfeng’s words carried a hint of expectation.

Mu Yunjin lowered her eyes, thought for a moment, and finally nodded lightly.

Bei Tang Wenfeng was overjoyed to see Mu Yunjin agree. He immediately led Mu Yunjin down the city tower, took her into a carriage, and even Qiqi and Xiu Mei were allowed to ride along.

In the carriage, Bei Tang Wenfeng examined Mu Yunjin and found she looked like Jiang Qingxue, inheriting almost all of Jiang Qingxue’s good points. Trying hard to find parts of her that resembled himself, Bei Tang Wenfeng tugged at the corner of his mouth; for the moment, he really couldn’t find any place where she looked like him.

A moment later, the carriage drove into a separate residence.

Bei Tang Wenfeng got off the carriage first. Jiang Qingxue, hearing the movement, immediately ran out and smiled at Bei Tang Wenfeng.

“Qingxue, look who’s here.”

After he spoke, Mu Yunjin had already jumped off the carriage. Seeing Jiang Qingxue and Bei Tang Wenfeng both looking at her, she felt somewhat uncomfortable.

“Yunjin has come.” Jiang Qingxue smiled and walked over. She wanted to reach out and hold Mu Yunjin’s hand, but halfway through extending her hand, she let it drop powerlessly. Smiling, she said, “Are you hungry? I’ll go make food.”

“Wenfeng, entertain Yunjin well. I’ll go cook.” Jiang Qingxue, unable to hide her excitement, ran towards the kitchen.

Bei Tang Wenfeng led Mu Yunjin towards the main hall.

After sitting down in the hall, the maids came forward to serve tea and brought some desserts. Mu Yunjin was indeed thirsty and drank a few sips of water. Then she heard Bei Tang Wenfeng say, “Yunjin, the entire Northern Ming Kingdom is very eager to meet this mysterious princess.”

“Then let them keep wondering.” Mu Yunjin replied indifferently. She would probably never go to the Northern Ming Kingdom to be a princess in this lifetime.

Hearing this, Bei Tang Wenfeng wasn’t angry. Instead, he smiled, “Yes, let them wonder slowly.”

“How will you two live in the future?” Mu Yunjin looked at Bei Tang Wenfeng. At present, she really couldn’t bring herself to call them father and mother.

“Your mother plans to move the Qinyin Pavilion to the Northern Ming Kingdom.” Bei Tang Wenfeng said. Mentioning this, there was some melancholy in his heart. He had wanted to give Jiang Qingxue a proper status, to let her stay by his side forever, but she had refused.

Mu Yunjin nodded.

After chatting idly for a while, Jiang Qingxue walked into the hall wearing an apron, “Yunjin, Wenfeng, lunch is ready.”

…

In the dining hall.

“Yunjin, come, try this…”

“This is good too, your mother makes excellent sweet and sour ribs…”

Jiang Qingxue and Bei Tang Wenfeng competed to place food in Mu Yunjin’s bowl. Mu Yunjin had a bowl of white rice and an empty small bowl in front of her. Now the empty small bowl was piled full of dishes.

“I can do it myself.” Mu Yunjin picked up her chopsticks and smiled at the two.

“Alright, eat more then. This is the first time you’re eating my cooking, I don’t know if it suits your taste.” Jiang Qingxue said, feeling strangely choked up. A family sitting together eating a meal was something she hadn’t dared to dream of before.

Bei Tang Wenfeng comfortingly patted her shoulder, seeing her emotions were off, and smiled, “Don’t let the child laugh at us.”

Jiang Qingxue nodded, suppressing her emotions.

Mu Yunjin ate the food Jiang Qingxue made. She had to admit, Jiang Qingxue’s cooking suited her taste. Although it couldn’t compare to a professional chef’s cooking, Jiang Qingxue’s food had an air of home about it, allowing her to experience the flavor of ordinary life.

During the meal, Bei Tang Wenfeng and Jiang Qingxue ate very happily.

After eating, Mu Yunjin, concerned about Chu Li’s situation, proposed to leave first. Although Bei Tang Wenfeng and Jiang Qingxue were reluctant, they didn’t dare to forcibly keep Mu Yunjin.

Now that their relationship had finally eased somewhat, they wouldn’t do anything to make Mu Yunjin unhappy.

“Father Emperor will have someone escort you.” Bei Tang Wenfeng said.

Mu Yunjin shook her head, “I’ll go back by myself.”

After speaking, Mu Yunjin looked at Jiang Qingxue again, tugged at the corner of her mouth, then left with Qiqi and Xiu Mei.

After getting some distance from the residence, Mu Yunjin blew a jade whistle. Song Chun, hiding in the shadows, heard the whistle and appeared, looking respectfully at Mu Yunjin.

“Take me to the hidden agent Chu Li was going to eliminate.” Since Chu Qing and Rong Min hadn’t appeared today, Mu Yunjin was strangely worried about Chu Li.

Song Chun hesitated somewhat. Chu Li had instructed that this mission had some danger, and he didn’t want Mu Yunjin involved.

“What’s wrong? Take me there quickly!” Song Chun’s hesitation made Mu Yunjin even more worried, urging Song Chun.

Seeing Mu Yunjin’s determined attitude, Song Chun didn’t dare to disobey her wishes any longer. He could only nod in agreement, “Princess, follow me.”

…

The group used their lightness skills to fly to a secluded place. Along the way, Song Chun explained the hidden agent to Mu Yunjin, “His Highness discovered that Chu Qing and Rong Min have been working together for a long time and have established a hidden stronghold in the Southern Court, where they’ve raised many elite secret guards. His Highness today is going to eliminate this stronghold.”

Mu Yunjin’s heart was in suspense, remembering that Hong Ling had previously warned her that Rong Min was skilled in using poison and was deeply calculating, truly not to be underestimated.

Soon, the sound of fighting came from not far ahead.

Hearing the sound, Mu Yunjin immediately increased her speed and flew over. She saw Ding Xian fighting with five masked men in black in an open space, with no sign of Chu Li nearby.

The five men in black had high martial arts skills. At this time, Ding Xian was fighting them alone, although he could still hold out for a while, he was having some difficulty.

Seeing this, Song Chun immediately went forward to join the battle.

Mu Yunjin looked around, trying to find a trace of Chu Li. Beside her, Qiqi sniffed gently, “Master, there’s a smell of blood coming from that direction.”

Qiqi pointed in a direction.

“Xiu Mei, you stay here to help them. Qiqi and I will go check over there.” After giving her orders, Mu Yunjin ran with Qiqi towards the source of the blood smell.

Soon, Mu Yunjin and Qiqi stopped at a small stream. Along the stream ahead, there were bloodstains all the way.

“Whose blood is this? And where has Chu Li gone?” Mu Yunjin was a bit scared thinking about it.

Qiqi sniffed a few more times, then her standing ears moved slightly, her eyes showing vigilance, “Master, there are people over there…”