I'm Going to Be a Witness!

Imperial Princess Mansion.

Li Xingluo quietly turned the pages of a book. The volume in her hands was a manuscript by a master craftsman from the previous dynasty, and it was also the book that Daoist Kongxu had borrowed most frequently since joining the Imperial Princess Mansion.

She flipped through it for a while.

She could not understand it.

But that was of no consequence.

As an Imperial Princess, she did not need to be a polymath; she only needed to have subordinates with various different talents.

Previously, she had no interest in puppet masters because she held a clear conviction: puppets were an extremely inefficient form of auxiliary support.

Perhaps the combat power they provided could exceed that of any weapon.

But their cost was inevitably several times higher than any other weapon.

To spend so much just to obtain a "humanoid" form, she felt, was a highly irrational act, which led her to harbor a prejudice against all puppet masters.

That was until she met this man who called himself Daoist Kongxu.

His miraculous method of spirit-imbuing was merely secondary; the way he returned puppet-making to the principles of weapon-crafting was the true reason she felt so amazed.

By applying the unique spirit-imbuing techniques of puppet-making to various novel armaments, the attack methods of these weapons became specialized. This not only significantly reduced the complexity of the spirit-imbuing process but also allowed the wielder to control them as easily as their own limbs.

This was the way to achieve the greatest combat power with the minimal cost.

In a one-on-one duel, perhaps they were inferior to those so-called divine weapons.

But on the battlefield, they would undoubtedly be terrifying existences.

A genius!

This man was absolutely a genius!

Just as the corners of her mouth curled upward.

Pu Mingzhu walked over quickly: "Imperial Princess, he has left!"

"Oh? How did he behave when he left?"

"Furious!"

"He is not a fool, then."

Li Xingluo smiled slightly. Although she would intervene this time, the position of the Qin Family was too delicate; she would avoid suspicion whenever possible.

The Heir to the Marquis of Southern Suppression was also sensible.

He visited through the back door.

He stood in the cold wind for a full hour.

After receiving the handkerchief, he immediately pretended to have been rebuffed and left in a rage.

Very good.

Pu Mingzhu hesitated for a moment and asked: "Imperial Princess! Are you really going to intervene this time? You also said that His Majesty does not exactly support it."

Li Xingluo said indifferently: "Not opposing it is support! Nanny, what is the situation outside now?"

Pu Mingzhu replied unhurriedly: "Those who can play dead are playing dead, but the Court of State Ceremonial does not intend to let them off so easily. Many have already been approached, and those people are already discussing how to impeach Qin Yanying at tomorrow's morning court so that she can be executed."

Li Xingluo could not help but sneer: "They think quite beautifully. If Qin Yanying is executed and Great Gan falls into internal chaos, it will completely become their vassal."

"Imperial Princess! Then tomorrow... are we going to seize the case?"

"Why would we seize it?"

"Hm?"

"Seizing the case will only lead to an endless cycle of mutual attacks. This case should belong to the Court of State Ceremonial by right; how could we seize it?"

"Then... we don't seize it?"

"We don't!"

A smile appeared on Li Xingluo's face: "They can try their case, and we will try ours!"

Pu Mingzhu pondered this sentence several times, and suddenly her eyes lit up: "The Imperial Princess is truly brilliant!"

"Nanny, I leave this matter to you!"

"I will certainly not fail the mission!"

Pu Mingzhu responded and then quickly left the Imperial Princess Mansion.

Although this plan was clever, it was also fraught with difficulties.

To try the case separately, one must first have a case to try.

Standing in the way were at least two problems.

First, how to establish the case.

Second, how to bring out the "prisoner."

Setting aside the second, more difficult question, merely establishing the case was no simple matter.

Because to file a case.

At the very least, someone must report it.

Even the powerful and noble in the capital would avoid this case like the plague.

Expecting those silenced commoners to step forward is harder than ascending to heaven.

As for complete exoneration.

That is unthinkable.

The next day.

The morning court was in an uproar.

Countless officials impeached Qin Yanying for her arrogance and for wantonly slaughtering the kin of a Demon Official.

All sorts of accusations were heaped upon Qin Yanying's head like a torrential downpour.

Some claimed she intended to tarnish the loyalty and service of the Demon Official toward the Great Gan.

Others alleged that the Qin Family wanted to drive away the Demon Official to seize the nest while the Great Gan was vulnerable.

In short, the more absurd the claim, the better.

They were determined to have the Emperor order Qin Yanying's execution.

Li Hong naturally didn't take a word of it to heart, treating it as a routine matter and handing it over to the Court of State Ceremonial for the relevant officials to adjudicate, which finally brought the chaos of the morning court to an end.

However, while this case was causing a massive stir in the imperial court.

There was not a whisper of it among the common folk, as if nothing had happened at all.

But... what happened, happened.

Covering a mouth can stop it from speaking.

But the memories etched into the mind are not so easily erased.

Those who were present yesterday could never forget that absurd scene.

Children and pregnant women being pulled in carts, preceded by a massive snake corpse, followed by a fierce, hulking man covered in scales, while the prisoner bound in ropes was none other than the renowned General Qin Yanying.

That scene gave many people nightmares.

Yet some were suffering even more.

The night was already deep.

Qingtiao tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.

Hearing the commotion, Fu Gui opened his eyes groggily: "Wife, still not sleeping?"

"How could I possibly sleep?"

Qingtiao gave a bitter smile: "General Qin was taken away after saving us, and there hasn't been a shred of news since."

Fu Gui shivered, instantly becoming much more alert, and lowered his voice to warn her: "Stop thinking about these things; this kind of major affair is not something for nobodies like us to get involved in!"

"Why not? That Demon Official wanted to eat children, can I not even testify to that?"

"If they really needed your testimony, why would they have let you come back?"

Fu Gui's expression was deadly serious: "Have you ever thought about why they only bound General Qin and not the Demon Official who wanted to harm you?"

Qingtiao replied as if it were obvious: "It's because General Qin intervened so promptly that we suffered no casualties, which is how that Demon Official found a loophole."

"How is that possible?"

Fu Gui gave a self-deprecating laugh: "Do you remember that young official's son who broke my leg? He did it in the middle of the street; did anyone arrest him? Why only bind General Qin and not the Demon Official? It's not because the Demon Official didn't have time to harm you; even if he had, he wouldn't be bound.

Because only the lives of those noble lords count as lives; our lives as commoners don't count for anything!

So General Qin has committed a crime, while the Demon Official bears no blame at all!

Let alone a Demon Official!

Even those human nobles are the same.

When the powerful kill commoners, not a single ripple is made.

But if someone kills them because they murdered a commoner, then it becomes a massive incident."

"How can there be such logic in this world?"

Qingtiao was trembling with rage: "Doesn't that mean General Qin is in the wrong even when she is in the right? No, this cannot be!"

Fu Gui was startled: "What are you planning to do?"

"I am going to be a witness for General Qin! As long as I make this matter known to everyone, I don't believe they can still convict her."

"How will you be a witness? And how will you make it known to everyone? You don't even know where General Qin is being tried."

"I will report it to the authorities!"

"Which official would dare to take your case?"

Fu Gui grew anxious. "Wife! The Great Gan would fall into chaos at the borders without the Demon Official, but if we were gone, it wouldn't make a ripple! You might not fear death, but can you not consider the child in your belly?"

Qingtiao gritted her teeth. "But if it weren't for General Qin, I would have died yesterday! And the Young General—if not for the pouch he gave us, how could I have saved enough money to treat your leg? Husband, a person cannot be without a conscience, and I don't want our child to have parents who lack one!"

"Have you even considered that if you go to report this, we might be dead before the case is even filed?"

"I..."

"And regardless of everything, that demon snake didn't manage to kill anyone. You can insist on the truth, but what about the others? What if they are threatened? What if they take hush money? Can your one mouth win against all of them?"

"But..."

"And there's more!"

Fu Gui urged desperately, "When the time comes, how will you testify? Will you stand in public and admit you took money to act as a good-luck charm for someone? How could we possibly go on living as husband and wife? And how would our child be pointed at and mocked?"

Qingtiao was stunned, her body beginning to tremble.

In the past, she had always convinced herself not to care about the strange looks of others.

But in this instant, all the scorn she had ignored in the past came rushing back tenfold.

The night was pitch black.

Yet she felt as if countless eyes were peering down from the roof.

These eyes seemed to be looking at trash, at a harlot—filled with contempt and brimming with lust.

Each gaze that landed on her felt like a sharp blade, as if they wanted to carve the flesh from her bones, one slice at a time.

She trembled...

In a single moment, she burst into uncontrollable sobs.

But just as the sound of her crying began, a voice that belonged to neither of the couple suddenly echoed through the room.

"There is no need to cry quite so soon!"

"!!!"