Huo Yuci shuddered. Looking at the unfamiliar yet vaguely familiar face before her, she was filled with uncertainty.
After a moment of silence, Huo Yuci slowly set down her brush. "You have mistaken me for someone else, sir. I am merely the proprietress of this mountain tavern, not some princess."
"If you keep disrupting my business and interrupting my bookkeeping, I'll have someone throw you out."
The scholar kneeling before the counter refused to rise. Instead, he took half of a Jade Pendant carved with a luan bird from inside his robe.
"Your Highness, do you not remember your humble servant? I am Wen Jingzhong, formerly a reader-in-waiting at the Hanlin Academy, and the son of Wen Changtai!"
Wen Jingzhong choked back tears. "The sky has fallen over Tai'an. The treacherous chancellor slaughtered the princes and seized power, massacring the imperial clan and bringing calamity upon the people. The late emperor has already ridden his dragon into the heavens. There is no one left at court to hold matters together. We risked our lives to find Your Highness. We beg you to put the realm first and keep the common people in your heart. Come out of seclusion, take charge, and steady the people's hearts!"
The two attendants behind Wen Jingzhong also dropped to their knees and pleaded in unison.
The handful of patrons in the tavern were already too frightened to breathe loudly.
Huo Yuci's expression changed. Stunned, she instinctively glanced toward Chen Yinshan in the kitchen.
Before Huo Yuci could speak, a bang rang out. Someone kicked the tavern's wooden door off its hinges, sending it crashing inside and breaking into several pieces.
Huo Yuci had been at a loss when faced with the court's emissaries, but the moment she saw her door smashed, the tavern proprietress in