"It seemed a young nobleman was harassing a common girl."
"What are you looking at? With that girl's clothes and bearing, how could she possibly be a commoner?"
"She was probably part of another country's delegation, right? The city had been full of foreigners lately."
"So she was foreign nobility. Those spoiled rich brats were all rotten—let them tear each other apart like dogs."
Song Qingshu could not help laughing when he heard the Western Xia locals whispering nearby. No matter where one went, resentment toward the rich always existed.
"Harassing a common girl? How could we miss something this entertaining?" The moment Xue Pan and the others heard this, they were instantly interested. They had spent so long traveling that their days had become dull beyond endurance. How could young masters like them possibly pass up such excitement? Xue Baochai could not stop them even when she tried.
Back in Lin'an, this group had been the sort to bully men and oppress women. They also wanted to see how their counterparts in a foreign land did things.
Song Qingshu, meanwhile, had been dragged over with Xue Pan's arm slung around his shoulders. He had no interest in such matters, but Xue Pan feared that if he stayed behind, he would start flirting with Princess Xiu. Thus, he intended to nip every danger in the bud.
Thinking that Jia Baoyu had always been someone who enjoyed a lively scene, and that acting too detached might arouse suspicion, Song Qingshu allowed himself to be dragged along.
"Oh, I didn't expect her to actually be such a pretty little girl!"
"Judging from her clothing, she should be a Banner woman from the Great Qing Empire."
"Who's that man? His outfit looks so strange."
Xue Pan and the others discussed it animatedly,