"Have you heard?"
The largest teahouse on Heyang Street was packed with people. One corner should have been noisy, yet that mysterious voice briefly silenced it.
The speaker seemed to be deliberately lowering his voice, but he was still loud enough for everyone nearby to hear clearly. "There's a grand, highborn household here in our Capital City. Not long ago, its master decided one of his concubines had grown old, her beauty faded like a yellowed pearl, so he heartlessly found an excuse to throw both her and her son out of the Mansion!"
"Hiss-"
"Whoa!"
"Tell us more!"
This was precisely where the Capital's idlers loved to gather, making it an ideal breeding ground for rumors.
At those words, the surrounding clamor subsided further.
Seeing more and more eyes turn toward him, the man spread his lips in a wicked grin. "This is firsthand news I only got this morning. Let me tell you-"
"To keep people from accusing him of loving her and then casting her aside, that high official slapped an enormous accusation on the concubine-" The man at the center of everyone's attention glanced around before leisurely continuing beneath their curious gazes. "He claimed she had been carrying on with the Mansion's Head Guard!"
Several people sucked in sharp breaths, and before anyone realized it, the entire teahouse had fallen quiet.
After a long moment, someone finally spoke hesitantly-
"So... did that concubine really, really have an affair with that Head Guard?"
"Of course not!" the man declared categorically. "Her clan was in decline. How could she dare take such a terrible risk, trading away her and her son's future for a sordid affair?!"
"Which high official?" Someone spat lightly. "That's utterly shameless!"
"This official holds a lofty position and immense power. How could insignificant commoners