That evening.
Inside the Mysterious Cloud Martial Hall.
Xu Taiping, Lu Rushuang, Seventh Princess Chu Tiancheng, Commandery Princess Chu Xiaoxiao, Monk Chongde, and the siblings Lu Rushuang and Lu Yun gathered together.
Originally, after returning from the Golden Scale Hall, Xu Taiping had intended to seek out Commandery Princess Chu Xiaoxiao. Unexpectedly, his Communication Jade Slip had suddenly received a long-awaited message from Monk Chongde, telling him to come straight to the Mysterious Cloud Martial Hall.
And so they had all gathered together.
"So, just because that Confucian scholar Fan Zhixing performed a divination, and the signs indicated that I might become an obstacle to the Third Prince seizing the cauldron at the Golden Scale Assembly, Second Princess Chu Yudie went to such lengths to find and capture me?"
Even after hearing Little Martial Aunt and the others' full account, Xu Taiping still found it rather inconceivable. It felt like a calamity that had fallen on him out of nowhere.
"That Fan Zhixing seems to have some other purpose, but I'm not too clear on it."
Little Martial Aunt Lu Rushuang shook her head.
"Second Sister was led astray by that Old Scholar. She used to be such a good person, but now she acts with such ruthless cruelty, as though she's become someone else entirely."
Chu Tiancheng spoke with deep disappointment.
"Actually, it isn't your second sister who's changed. It's you, little girl, who hasn't changed at all. You're nothing like someone from the Imperial Clan."
Little Martial Aunt smiled and patted Chu Tiancheng's head.
"That's right, Princess Tiancheng. You're still just as you were when you were little. You haven't changed at all."
Chu Xiaoxiao nodded vigorously.
Since childhood, she had often interacted with the princes and princesses in the palace, watching them gradually turn from innocent children