"What are you after? Why not ask your good big brother, Xue Qinghe?"
"I have no intention of causing trouble in your Heaven Dou Empire. If you hadn't tried to abduct me by force, I wouldn't have bothered showing off my strength. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself."
Ye Yunxi looked at Xue Beng's pale face.
She couldn't help but admire this youngest prince. He wasn't even pretending anymore.
"My big brother can give you something, and so can I. Why hang yourself over a grasshopper in a tree?"
Xue Beng still kept up his changed attitude, trying to turn the stunning Ye Yunxi against his brother.
He might be the youngest, but that didn't mean he lacked ambition.
Once he took the throne as emperor, wouldn't she be empress?
"Prince Xue Beng, you really do think one scheme will make me switch sides. Too bad I don't care about the throne. If Xue Qinghe hadn't announced it to the world so quickly, do you think I'd still be here?"
The more Ye Yunxi thought about it, the angrier she became. If not for Qian Renxue, she would've left long ago. Instead, she had to play the role of an old married couple with her.
"Don't bring him up. If he weren't the Crown Prince, I'd have beaten him to a pulp already."
Ye Yunxi clenched her fist and slammed it into the wall beside Xue Beng.
The instant the force of her punch struck the wall, the whole house began to shake violently.
Xue Beng shuddered, staring at the fist just inches from him.
If that punch hit him, wouldn't his head burst open?
Was this really the Imperial Concubine who'd been so alluring at the banquet? She was a downright brawny tomboy!
"Imperial Concubine, what are you doing?"
Suddenly, a cool voice rang out, with a hint of displeased satisfaction in it.
Ye Yunxi turned and met Qian Renxue's very unhappy gaze.
"Your Highness!"
Why had she shown up now?
She hadn't heard what Ye Yunxi had just said, had she?
"On a dark and windy night, didn't you say you had business to take care of? Is this what you meant by business? Being here with Xue Beng?"
When Qian Renxue arrived and saw the scene before her, she grew angry.
Wasn't Ye Yunxi supposed to deal with Dugu Bo? Why was she here?
"Your Highness~"
Ye Yunxi immediately turned into a picture of helpless innocence. Her watery, almond-shaped eyes reddened, and she rose onto her toes and threw herself into Qian Renxue's arms.
"Your Highness, Xue Beng just tried to abduct me. He even wanted to use me to threaten you into giving up the Crown Prince's position."
"If a righteous hero hadn't happened to come along and take care of those five men in black, I might've been carried off."
"Your Highness, he's trying to cuckold you!"
Ye Yunxi pressed her cheek against Qian Renxue's chest, squeezed out a few tears, and spoke in a pitiful voice.
Naturally alluring, and now acting so helpless and dependent, she immediately made Qian Renxue forget her irritation. Qian Renxue reached out and held her.
"We'll deal with one thing at a time. When we get back, I'll have a proper talk with you about what you've been up to."
She wasn't unaware of Ye Yunxi's little tricks.
She could fool people, wouldn't accept her fate, wasn't greedy for money or lustful, but she was the best actress of them all.
If Qian Renxue hadn't seen through her tricks beforehand, she really would've been fooled.
Whether these mysterious men had been dealt with by Ye Yunfei or a real hero had come to the Imperial Tutor's aid didn't matter anymore.
What mattered was that she now had the perfect excuse to get rid of Xue Beng.
She'd been looking for an opportunity, and Xue Beng had gone and handed her one himself.
She'd have to thank the Imperial Tutor for helping her out so much.
"You tried to have Xue Beng arrested, and abducted the Imperial Tutor to threaten me. What's more, the Imperial Tutor is just a lively, playful young woman, and you still went after her like this."
Qian Renxue gestured to the Imperial Guard behind her.
"Yes, Your Highness."
At her command, the Imperial Guard seized the five men in black and Xue Beng, then sent them to prison.
After the Imperial Guard left, Ye Yunxi stopped pretending. She wiped away the fake tears at the corners of her eyes and pushed Qian Renxue away.
"Go on, get out of here. Who said you could hug me?" Ye Yunxi said with a look of disdain.
"Oh, our Imperial Concubine was quite the actress just now, but now she can't even be bothered to keep up the act. Are you really that disgusted by your husband?"
Qian Renxue folded her arms, watching this restless troublemaker.
"I never agreed to that. Besides, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gotten dirt on Xue Beng."
"Honestly, Xue Beng is so stupid. Trying to abduct me in the middle of the night—wasn't he just handing you evidence against himself?"
"And Xue Qinghe, you ought to thank me. Without me, you couldn't have caught Xue Beng so easily or gotten evidence against him. Then all you need to do is find an excuse and kill him in the dungeon."
Ye Yunxi made a convincing case. Qian Renxue couldn't find any fault in it; she'd thought the same thing. After all, Xue Beng could easily be killed in the dungeon.
"The Imperial Concubine is right."
"Right, huh? Then why don't you kneel down, kowtow to me, and call me Grandpa? I'll keep quiet then." Ye Yunxi raised her brows and teased her.
Qian Renxue's face instantly darkened. Kneel down and call her Grandpa?
How dare she?
Her grandfather was, after all, a Peerless Douluo.
Ye Yunxi was getting more and more out of line. Qian Renxue was just about to teach her a lesson when—
Ye Yunxi poured all her power into Lingbo Microsteps, tapped the tips of her toes against the ground, and leaped straight onto the roof.
"Xue Qinghe, you bastard! Once I'm stronger than you, I'll hang you from a tree and beat you!"
"Just don't let me get the chance."
After letting fly with her threat, Ye Yunxi bolted without looking back.
Qian Renxue's expression darkened, but Ye Yunxi had already escaped. There was no point chasing her now. Besides, Qian Renxue didn't know much about the things Ye Yunxi could do, and she was so fast.
"Porcupinefish!"
Porcupinefish Douluo appeared behind Qian Renxue and bowed. "Young Master, do you want me to bring her back?"
"No. Protect her in secret, or at least find out where she is. Make sure she's safe. I already told her she could have a week off, and I won't go back on my word."
Porcupinefish obeyed, though he was still somewhat surprised.
Qian Renxue was the Young Master of the Angel Clan, yet she kept getting the worst of it when it came to the girl she'd brought back. The Young Master couldn't even resist her charms.
After Porcupinefish left, Qian Renxue was still displeased.
"Where on earth did she learn those steps? She runs so fast."
Xue Beng had brought along Soul Masters at the Soul King level. If a real hero had come to her aid, that person would surely have abducted the Imperial Concubine too—unless the Imperial Concubine was a Soul King, or even a Soul Emperor.
On the other side, Ye Yunxi felt carefree as she made her escape. Just as she was about to enter the woods, she suddenly crashed into two figures.
She fell instantly, landing hard on her backside.
"Who was that? Don't you watch where you're going?"
Thanks to Cotton Candy for the tip.