Translator: Sweet Bun; Proofreader: dulene

Li Yun didn't expect that someone would save her at this moment. Once she threw off the shackles of the imperial bodyguards, she turned to look at the person who spoke for her.

Then she noticed that there was a white jade table behind the colorful crowd, and two people sat facing each other. Now the board was turned over and the pieces scattered, it looked like they were playing the game of Go just now. But because of the crowd, she didn't find their unique existence before.

They looked quite young, about eighteen or nineteen years old. Both had handsome faces and elegant demeanors. One of them walking toward Li Yun was in a light green long gown with a jade-decorated belt. There was a verdant jade pendant attached to his belt, and as he walked briskly, the pendant would sway accordingly. His brow and eyes both raised up slightly at their end, and his tone as well sounded up and lyrical. When he came close, the crowd split up and made a way for him.

Many a girl s.h.i.+fted their eyes from the Crown Prince to him and blushed slightly. Their stare was unstable and faces looked bright, seeming that they dare not look directly at him but they couldn't help themselves. For a time, it looked like that the atmosphere in the viewing garden got a bit lighter.

Li Yun heard this man had just talked about "uncle Majesty", so she believed he to be a royal family. While she was looking at that man, she felt quite relieved as she finally encountered a pleasing person since she came to this world! She would soon know his ident.i.ty.

Looking away at the other man sitting next to the white jade table, she noticed that he did not get up but looked down at the scattered pieces on the table, pondering. She could only see his profile from her position, but just one profile had already demonstrated his uncommon handsome. She then withdrew her sight and looked again at the man who came to her, secretly thinking that the ancient time was indeed rich in handsome men, and the story of “throwing fruits to fill the carriage”* really existed. If the two walked on the street, then the street could be blocked by the cheering crowd.

“Qingran! You have been out for seven years, I have thought you would behave more calmly. Now it seems that you are still the old you.” The Crown Prince looked at the approaching man with a helpless and blaming look, reproached, “when you burned down Hongxiu Tower, you were still young and ignorant, how can you compare that with sister Yue's burning w.a.n.gchun Tower? At that time you didn't injure anyone, concerning your young ignorance, fuw.a.n.g doted on you and didn't blame you. But this time hundreds of lives died in this case.”

“Why can't I compare these two cases? I don't see any difference, as they are both about dealing with filthy places. At that time, if you didn't try to protect those pimps, prost.i.tutes and johns, I should have already burned all of them to death, which means thousands of people would have been ashes now, not to mention several hundreds of them.” That man arrived at the middle of the field when he spoke, then he gave a glance at the Crown Prince with his eyebrows up, sounding quite sw.a.n.king.

Li Yun stared blankly, it turned out that this person was Qingran, which was the "young Lord Ran" said by her servant girl.

The Crown Prince stifled his anger but his face suddenly turned sullen, “that is a matter of life and death, how can you regard it as a joke?”

“My good brother Crown Prince, I just haven't seen you for seven years, how come you become so innocent now? Life is indeed valuable, but those shameless and sordid lives are valueless! Moreover, these years more than a hundred people died because of you, why don't you have sympathy for them? Amazing! Do you just take pity on the lives that died because of sister Yue?" The man stopped at three steps in front of Li Yun and stared at the Crown Prince seriously, wondering at his response.

The Crown Prince's face got stiff, and a trace of anger crawled over his eyes.

But Qingran turned a blind eye to him, but suddenly sighed and continued, "I heard about that, you don't like sister Yue and is not willing to marry her, but do you really need to put her into death? The Yun Royal family have only such a legitimate daughter, but there are many illegitimate daughters. Originally, the ancestor emperor did not insist that the Empress be the legitimate daughter, which means illegitimate girls can also become the Empress! Then it is unnecessary for sister Yue to learn courtesy and constrain her natural temperament in order to enter the palace. From my point of view, sister Yue is already awesome with her true nature, there is no one in Heavenly Saint Dynasty can compete with her!”

A fleeting smile showed in Li Yun's face. This man was much more pleasing than the Fourth Prince.

“Ye Qingran!” The Crown Prince couldn't hold back his anger addressed Qingran's name directly in a low and deep voice, “though the ancestral emperor did not require the Empress be legitimate daughter, there are never illegitimate girls with low status entering the palace and ent.i.tled the Empress! You are simply talking nonsense."

“Really? I believe brother Crown Prince are clear about this – all these present people more or less have carried several or hundreds of lives on their shoulder. As far as I know, these years, many young n.o.bles like to play such a game – releasing the most inferior servants into the racecourse, then asking them to run to escape the arrows shot by those n.o.bles at the same time; who shoot down most people will be the winner. That scene cannot be more b.l.o.o.d.y, and the blood even flows like streams. Although I have not been in the imperial city for seven years, I am still informed about that. While you, brother Crown Prince, haven't heard about that? It's too ignorant of you to miss such an event." After that sigh, Ye Qingran's voice rose up again.

The Crown Prince suddenly choked up by his words and didn't know how to refute.

Li Yun's eyes darkened when she was a.n.a.lyzing the information she just got. It was only then that she realized she was truly reincarnated in ancient times, where human life was regarded as weed compared with the supreme imperial power. Originally, she thought that it was unforgivable for the original owner to burn hundreds of people to death. But now concerning the game among those young n.o.bles, her deed was simply insignificant. She couldn't help chilling when she imagined that b.l.o.o.d.y scene.

“Those n.o.bles regard life as weed, by contrast, sister Yue simply did a great deed. I don't believe that uncle Majesty and Her Highness do not know about their game. Since these years, all of you have never stopped this cruel game, then why punish sister Yue for her good deed today? That just doesn't make sense!” Ye Qingran continued, and his face put up an imperceptible trace of mocking.

Li Yun observed Ye Qingran's every move, so she didn't miss his mocking expression. It seemed that this young Lord Ran was saving her, but he was also making use of her case to complain about that cruel game. If she got punished today, then those young n.o.bles were all guilty. In this way, the situation would be much more serious.

Thinking this way, she felt much better about this person – he didn't waste seven years spending outside for studying and experiencing. Though his behavior was unruly, he looked much better than those sitting here.

The Crown Prince's face became more and more gloomy, and his eyes looking at Ye Qingran were even duller. He didn't expect Qingran would discuss this matter in public.

“Well, if sister Yue is guilty for burning w.a.n.gchun Tower, then those men of n.o.ble birth who play that cruel game are guilty as well. It doesn't make sense to punish sister Yue but free those men.” After chipping in, the Fourth Prince, who had been silent for a long while, took a meaningful glance at Ye Qingran and Li Yun, a dim light was flas.h.i.+ng in his eyes.

The Crown Prince remained silent and turned his dull and unpredictable sight to Li Yun.

“And Qingran is right, the founding ancestral emperor did not say that the Yun Royal family must send a legitimate daughter to be the Empress, there are so many girls in the Yun Royal family, will it be innocuous for sister Yue alone be anarchic? Only about a hundred people died and were wounded in the case of w.a.n.gchun Tower, but every year, there are countless people died in that b.l.o.o.d.y game. How to deal with that heavy toll? Brother Crown Prince have not told fuw.a.n.g to deal with it, right? Then why aim at sister Yue today? Just because she likes you?" The Fourth Prince leaves no chance for the Crown Prince to refute, and he would seize every opportunity to blow the latter. After that, he turned to Li Yun and smiled, "If so, sister Yue, you have to think about that carefully. This is the person you have admired for so many years! You really love the wrong person; what's worse, if you are imprisoned, we, those who care about you with hearts, will be extremely sad…”

The last sentence was meaningful and full of ambiguity.

Li Yun's corners of the mouth slightly twitched, thinking this Fourth Prince was really shameless. Did he really treat her sincerely? Not necessarily!

“Yeah, those who care about you with hearts will be extremely sad! Hehe…” Ye Qingran chuckled when looking at Li Yun. His c.o.c.ky tone changed into a soft one, accordingly, the atmosphere of the viewing garden became as warm and smooth as a spring breeze and drizzle. Even the gloomy face of the Crown Prince seemed hazy.

Li Yun perceived the delight of his sparkling eyes, combined with his voice and tone, she suddenly got gooseb.u.mps. She had almost figured out why the original owner was not lovable, but now from their talks, she was actually popular instead. She lowered her head and gave a rare eye-rolling.

Ye Qingran was looking at Li Yun. Seeing her eye-rolling, he suddenly went blank, and then grinned freely.

The Fourth Prince kept observing Li Yun and Ye Qingran, frowned, wondering at Ye Qingran's movements.

Not only the Fourth Prince didn't know why, but the Empress and the Crown Prince also didn't understand why this person who had just returned from the seven-year journey would be interested in Yun Qianyue. Besides helping her go against them, he even revealed the scandal inside the royal family in the Heavenly Saint Dynasty, which was the most complicated and unpleasant issue. He just returned and got no power back, but he dared to be so unscrupulous and antagonize so many people. In other words, what he had done was much more excessive than he did seven years ago. Everyone got really confused.

After being silent for a long time, the dim light of the Crown Prince's eyes faded. He looked at Li Yun and Ye Qingran with his phoenix eyes like two deep pools, speaking, "Qingran and brother Fourth Prince are indeed right, but those n.o.bles play the game simply with their house slaves, fuw.a.n.g and I have heard about that but find it inappropriate to inquire about their household affairs. While those hundreds of people who died in w.a.n.gchun Tower because of sister Yue are not slaves of the Yun Royal family. This issue has now widespread across the imperial city, people are dissatisfied with her acts, both civil and military officials have complained about that as well. If sister Yue doesn't get a punishment, I am afraid that the ma.s.ses will riot over that. By the time the situation will get troublesome. Therefore, we have to do something to comfort the officials and our people.”

Hearing that, Li Yun turned pale, she did not expect this Crown Prince was so determined to press her to die, how hateful!

Ye Qingran didn't predict the Crown Prince would say so and insist on teaching Yun Qianyue a lesson, besides, he evaded all the responsibilities easily by saying "find it inappropriate to inquire about their household affairs", even the cruel slaughter game sounded reasonable. Qingran found that he had underestimated Ye Tianqing, the Crown Prince, who was quite different from seven years ago.

After saying that, Ye Tianqing did not wait for Ye Qingran to continue. With a color of sneering in his deep eyes, he ordered in a resolute way, “Come over, put Yun Qianyue into the jail of the Punishment Ministry and watch her strictly, no visitors. Let fuw.a.n.g handle her.”

Translator's notes:

“throwing fruits to fill the carriage”: 擲果盈車;

Pan'an in Western Jin (a dynasty in ancient China) was ent.i.tled “The most handsome man in ancient times”. Once he drove down the street, even the old women were fascinated by him. To express their admirations, those women threw fruits to fill Pan'an's carriage.

Join our discord to explore more~