[Yunjian: Stop letting your thoughts wander. Tell me what he did to get the Lu girl.]
After catching the Eldest Princess's and Seventh Princess's expressions out of the corner of her eye, Yunjian immediately urged her friend on in her mind.
Judging by the reactions of those around them, the Eldest Princess and Seventh Princess could both hear her friend's thoughts. So could the emperor and most of the officials at morning court.
Only this silly girl had no idea that practically everyone was eavesdropping on her thoughts.
Yunjian had tried to warn her friend before, but once the words reached her lips, she couldn't get them out, no matter how hard she tried.
Later, she had also tried telling her through her thoughts, but she couldn't think the words either.
Apparently, this was the downside of her friend's cheat ability.
[What else? His family might not have been able to blot out the sky with one hand there, but they were certainly the richest in the area. They colluded with the local authorities to pressure the Lu Family and attack their businesses. When the Lu parents realized they couldn't stay there anymore, they decided to move away with their daughter. But that very night, their house caught fire, and most of their wealth went up in flames.]
[The Lu girl's sweetheart wanted to visit her that evening and happened to arrive just as the Lu Residence caught fire. He rushed inside and rescued her and her parents, but after daybreak, the authorities arrested him, claiming he had set the fire. In reality, Wenren Bing had arranged everything. The officials had taken his bribes, so they dumped the blame on Young Master Sun.]
[Yunjian: Didn't people in ancient times always say there were gods watching three feet above your head? How did Wenren Bing dare do that?]
[If he dared do something like that, Wenren Hongyu's family must have done plenty of similar things in the area.]
At this point, Wenren Luoshui couldn't help sighing.
[Uncle Emperor really isn't up to the job. Even a wealthy merchant like Wenren Hongyu dares collude with local officials and lord it over everyone. If he joined forces with a prince, one would have money and the other troops. Marching into the capital would be a breeze.]
The Eldest Princess: ...
Child, that's a very dangerous line of thought!
Noticing the Eldest Princess's expression, Yunjian hurriedly changed the subject. They said serving a sovereign was like keeping company with a tiger, and she certainly didn't want her best friend killed for mentally complaining about the imperial family.
Mostly because that would be such an infuriating way to die.
Was there a single working person in the world who didn't badmouth their boss in their head?
Anyone killed for that would come back as a wronged ghost!
[Yunjian: With them acting so lawlessly there, hasn't anyone come to the capital to petition the emperor?]
[They have, but those people are taken care of as soon as they leave the city. That's why none of this news ever reaches the capital.]
[Wenren Bing bankrupted the Lu Family and sent the Lu girl's sweetheart to prison, then brought people to her door to propose. He thought she would agree to marry him after that. Instead, she would rather throw herself down a well. She couldn't bear the thought that her family's ruin and her sweetheart's imprisonment were all because of her.]
The Eldest Princess and Seventh Princess: A girl with backbone. What a pity she caught the eye of such a contemptible piece of trash.
The Eldest Princess had already made up her mind. In a little while, she would send people to Lidu, have her own people pose as petitioners heading to the capital, and secretly escort two actual victims there.
She would take down Lidu's corrupt officials and seize Wenren Hongyu's family fortune!
[Yunjian: So the Lu girl didn't die when she jumped down the well?]
[No, she really did die. The Lu girl in his residence now is the family's younger daughter. This one loved swords and staffs from childhood. The Emei Sect's leader took a liking to her when she was three and accepted her as a disciple. When she returned home to visit, she discovered her entire family was dead. She and her elder sister were three years apart, but they looked almost identical.]
[After learning the truth behind her family's deaths, she assumed her sister's identity. Sure enough, all Wenren Bing loved was Eldest Miss Lu's face. When he saw Second Miss Lu, who looked so much like her, he immediately decided she was the elder daughter. He thought she had only faked her death by jumping down the well and then run away. Second Miss Lu didn't even have to seduce him before he agreed to marry her.]
[Yunjian: Don't tell me he thinks he's an absolute genius?]
[Of course. Someone that overconfident never questions his own decisions. Second Miss Lu has given everyone in Wenren Hongyu's family a slow-acting poison. It should take effect within a year or two.]
Wenren Bing noticed that the four young women before him were looking at him more and more strangely, and he frowned impatiently.
The girls in the capital were getting stranger by the day. Why did they keep staring at people for no reason?
Wenren Shuang was still putting on her act nearby. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to pay her any attention, and there was no audience for her abysmal performance.
"Guards, seize these two!"
The Eldest Princess narrowed her eyes, her voice steady and commanding.
The Ironclad Guards who had accompanied her immediately stepped forward and seized Wenren Bing and Wenren Shuang.
"Even if you're the Eldest Princess, you can't just arrest people! I'll report you to the authorities!"
Wenren Bing still didn't think he had done anything wrong. Even with his arms twisted behind his back, he stubbornly kept shouting.
[Sheesh, even three days after he dies, that mouth of his will still be stubborn!]
[Yunjian: Just forgive his final bit of squealing. Pigs squeal pretty merrily before slaughter, too.]
The Seventh Princess: These two are pretty, and their words are music to my ears.
"Hmph! You trespassed on the Imperial Farmland, and not only do you refuse to admit your wrongdoing, you even dare defy imperial authority. Report us? Even if you take your complaint before the emperor himself, no one will help you."
The corners of the Eldest Princess's eyes tilted slightly upward, revealing a trace of delighted amusement.
Even setting aside Wenren Hongyu's family throwing their weight around in Lidu, Wenren Bing's trespassing on Yunjian's Potato Experimental Field today was enough to convict him.
This was a newly discovered, high-yield crop that could fill the bellies of more than half the country's people!
Whatever your reasons, you two came here to cause trouble without giving anyone advance notice. We have every reason to suspect you came to steal seed potatoes!
Once that charge was proven, it would be little different from colluding with the enemy and betraying the country!
Unfortunately, those two idiots, Wenren Shuang and Wenren Bing, still had no idea how serious the situation was.
They merely thought the Eldest Princess's order had come out of nowhere. Instead of dealing with Wenren Luoshui, who had dug up the back garden beyond recognition, she had arrested the two of them, who were merely watching!
It had to be because those girls were close!
"Big sister~ We're family. Can you really bear to stand by and watch Brother Bing and me get thrown into prison?"
"If you can't stand me, big sister, I won't complain. But how could you drag Brother Bing into this?"
Wenren Luoshui: ...
What the hell?
Trying to hold me morally hostage, are you?
Wenren Luoshui gave Wenren Shuang a smile as sweet as honey, then dashed away at the speed of a hundred-meter sprint.
Along the way, she whistled, calling over Big Yellow, who had been sleeping in the shade of a tree.
She patted Big Yellow's head and had the tiger roar. The nearby residents all poked their heads out, wanting to see whether the tiger at the Prince of Beiping's Residence had finally gone berserk!
Once Wenren Luoshui saw that her neighbors had opened their doors, she took out an Amplification Talisman to make sure they could all hear her clearly.