The final handling of the case could only be described as utter pandemonium.
Not only had the officers suddenly charged into the crowd to make arrests, but once they had caught their targets, Prefect Zou Cailiang, whom the people usually revered as an upright judge, had hastily closed the case-
Ding Woman and Beard were both thrown into prison to await sentencing.
The local thugs who had spread "false" information among the crowd received twenty strokes of the rod, administered on the spot.
Then a squad of officers rushed out of the Government Office and forcibly dispersed the onlookers. Before the now-empty entrance, only Lu Yao and the others who had come looking for Jiang Yingcheng's group remained.
Zou Cailiang looked as though the sky had fallen. Only after Lu Yao repeatedly assured him that they would not readily believe a bunch of thugs' one-sided claims did he hesitantly escort them out the gates.
Just how much his heart, which had leaped into his throat, had settled was something no outsider could know.
News of Emperor Mingze's personal visit soon spread throughout Wind Brocade Commandery, along with the revelation that the little girl who often visited the city's pastry shops was the Eleventh Princess.
That very night, the routine that shops large and small had followed for decades-closing their doors at Hai Hour-went straight out the window. Wind Brocade Commandery became a city that never slept.
Jiang Yingcheng loved having every dessert shop in the city bring out its finest pastries to entertain her. But every outing meant being surrounded and scrutinized by crowds of commoners. After enjoying a day of the "female celebrity out on the town" treatment, she chose to sprawl in her room and refuse all outings.
As it happened, news from the Capital had been