In Jumei Tower, Tie Ci struck Wang Ran’s second leg with her rod, breaking it.
Everyone was too slow to react, all staring up at Tie Ci in a daze. At first glance they had thought her a dashing young man, but looking more carefully, she was truly a beauty—radiant and mellow, with broad and noble features, even wielding a rod as beautifully as a painting.
Tie Ci ignored everyone’s scrutinizing gazes, lifted one foot onto a stool, supported her elbow on her knee, and weighed the rod in her other hand, watching Wang Ran scream and clutch his leg with interest. After appreciating the scene for a while, she said: “Kill three birds with one arrow? Literary and martial excellence? Worthy to match the Crown Princess?”
Each sentence was spoken flatly, yet everyone felt mocked to their core. Now vaguely understanding her identity, they all retreated in horror. No one dared help Wang Ran up, and those who had spoken most viciously earlier exchanged glances and quietly slipped toward the stairway.
Tie Ci had her back to them, seeming not to notice. Just as those few breathed sighs of relief and were about to reach the stairway, suddenly Tie Ci raised her arm and flung without looking back.
The iron rod whooshed out, flying over everyone’s heads toward the stairway. People screamed and dodged, instinctively surging toward the stairs, but the iron rod seemed to have eyes, precisely grazing over everyone’s heads before dropping down with a thud, actually smashing through the first wooden step.
Then those stepping onto the stairs tumbled down like rolling gourds, with those behind unable to stop themselves, stepping on the bodies below and rolling down in another wave. For a moment the stairway was a chaotic mess of people falling and screaming like a boiling pot.
When that pile of bruised and battered people sprawled on the stairs looked up, they saw Tie Ci at the top of the stairway, looking down at them from above, her rod now gone, her clothes and shoes neat and her bearing nobly dignified, smiling: “Oh my, why such grand courtesy from you gentlemen?”
Then she walked down.
The stairs were full of people.
All under her feet.
Looking down, Tie Ci unexpectedly saw a face that shouldn’t be here.
It was her cousin Tie Lin, Prince Zhao’s legitimate son. Prince Zhao was Grand Consort Duanjing’s eldest son, and formerly the eldest imperial prince. Because of this, these father and son were the two with closest blood relation to her and highest imperial clan status.
Prince Zhao was a dutiful person. Fourteen-year-old Tie Lin was rarely seen, supposedly studying extremely diligently with exceptional talent. She hadn’t expected that when this group of madmen were slandering the imperial clan, he could sit calmly and listen.
Now he had fallen with a bloody nose, two deep red streams flowing down, looking up at her. In the dim stairway light, only his eyes were visible, burning bright.
Tie Ci didn’t want to deal with the little brat. Moreover, Prince Zhao’s son appearing here might be used by interested parties to make trouble. So she kicked with her toe, sending Tie Lin rolling down to land spread-eagled on the first floor with a smack. Being a tough kid, he flipped over and got up, glared fiercely at Tie Ci once, then limped away.
Tie Ci frowned at his inexplicable hostility but had no mind to investigate further. Turning around, this time she smiled very kindly.
Taking a step, she bent down halfway to look, personally helping someone up.
“This brother, truly worthy of being a man. Just took a tumble—is it necessary to cry and wail and lie there refusing to get up? What, trying to scam this lonely one?”
Walking to the next person, she reached out to help him up. That person quickly mumbled thanks, and Tie Ci withdrew her hand.
“Oh right, you don’t admire the imperial family. Accepting the Crown Princess’s assistance—wouldn’t that sully your integrity? Delay your prospects? Sin, sin.”
Bang—the fellow toppled back down again.
Tie Ci walked down another step. This time the person didn’t dare let her help, mumbling thanks while struggling to get up himself. Tie Ci watched with a smile, shaking her head and sighing: “Men, I say, are born to study literature and martial arts, to be proper people. At appropriate times they should take exams and win honors, serve the court, achieve merit and establish careers, with ambitions lasting a thousand autumns. Don’t be like you lot—besides gossiping behind backs, what else can you do? All heroic figures throughout history have said: weak yang is worse than hotpot ingredients!”
She walked down another step.
That fellow didn’t wait for her help or for her to speak—he rolled into a kneeling position and started slapping himself!
“Your Highness! Your Highness! We are crude and ignorant, speaking improperly, acting arrogantly, offending superiors. This commoner dares not trouble Your Highness—this commoner will self-punish by slapping his own mouth!”
This was the one who had earlier asked if Tie Ci being slapped “sounded good.”
Tie Ci squatted, watched him finish slapping, and laughed heartily.
“Loud! Sounds good!”
Walking down another step, her boot nudged a young master whose face was entirely red.
This was the one who had earlier called Tie Ci “standing tall like a pillar.”
“Standing tall meets three-inch nail.”
…
Walking all the way down, she returned every bit of immediate karma.
By the time she finished the stairs, everyone on the stairway was pale as death.
Tie Ci had lost her appetite for eating and turned to leave.
Suddenly someone on the stairs called: “Your Highness…”
Tie Ci turned back to see Wang Ran had struggled to the top of the stairs. Though sweating profusely from pain, his eyes burned bright as he stared at her intently. Seeing her turn back, he cupped his hands: “Your Highness, though we spoke improperly, it was merely verbal jest. Moreover, some present have official ranks and titles. Your Highness using private punishment—wouldn’t this harm national law and order…”
“Criticizing and insulting the imperial clan is considered great disrespect. Gathering adds to the crime. Your words involved the Eastern Palace, national politics, outer territories, and ancestral laws. This lonely one has reason to suspect you harbor ill intentions, gathering secretly with some plot. If you have official ranks and titles, that’s even better—this is knowing violation. Officials in position harboring resentment—crime increased by one degree. But you are still young, such statements might well be hearsay…”
Everyone listened dumbly as the Crown Princess played with national legal codes expertly. Just as they were about to sigh in relief at this sentence, they heard the Crown Princess continue with a half-smile: “…perhaps learned from your own backyards, from fathers and brothers’ words…”
Everyone’s hair instantly stood on end!
Though they were a group of wastrels, they came from noble families and understood some court taboos. A group of young people talking nonsense about the Crown Princess in a wine tower—treated lightly, it was just youthful rashness and careless speech worth a beating; treated seriously, it was great disrespect and insulting the imperial clan. But this one before them was clearly even more ruthless, directly bypassing them to implicate their fathers and brothers!
Their fathers and brothers were all court officials. Once these statements were tied to important ministers, the nature would be entirely different!
Someone immediately said: “Your Highness misunderstands! This was just us hearing market gossip, talking nonsense…”
Wang Ran gasped and said enduringly: “Your Highness, if you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext… Your wild fabrications—isn’t this the same as Liaodong’s Embroidered Guards…”
Tie Ci smiled: “Whether it’s fabrication or not, how about you young masters all meet at the Three Judicial Offices’ gates?”
The group changed color again. Tie Ci had no interest in arguing with these cowards and turned to leave again, only to be called back by Wang Ran.
She frowned and turned back. Wang Ran was covered in cold sweat, stammering as if momentarily unable to find appropriate words.
Tie Ci tilted her head and crossed her arms looking at him, suddenly smiled and said: “Young Master Wang, you broke your leg yet keep dragging this lonely one into these meaningless topics—it couldn’t be to attract this lonely one’s attention, could it?”
Wang Ran’s face suddenly flushed red. Before he could say anything, Tie Ci was already smiling: “Seeing that this lonely one isn’t actually disfigured?”
“Seeing that this lonely one isn’t actually cowardly?”
“Seeing that this lonely one is actually somewhat interesting?”
Wang Ran’s flushed face turned pale, complex emotions in his eyes as he struggled to say something.
Tie Ci laughed heartily, shook her head, and turned toward the door.
“Don’t bother. Keep despising and rejecting this lonely one for life.”
“That way, this lonely one can still respect you as a man.”
She walked forward, with Dan Shuang, Chi Xue, and Xiao Chongzi always only providing backup for her, now unceremoniously stepping on everyone as they followed.
A chorus of squeals and yelps drowned out all other sounds.
Tie Ci had reached the door and saw the main entrance was closed. This wasn’t strange—the commotion in the wine tower was too great, attracting crowds on the street. The shopkeeper feared being seen would affect future business, so he simply closed the door.
But it seemed too quiet outside.
This thought had barely flashed through her mind when Tie Ci’s hand touched the door latch, and she suddenly saw a cold gleam flash through the door crack.
Tie Ci immediately released her hand and stepped back!
But it was already too late!
A long blade with a slightly curved tip shot like lightning through the gap in the door boards, reaching Tie Ci’s heart!
Tie Ci’s gaze slowly lowered.
The blade wasn’t sharp, even somewhat dull, with a slightly curved tip, but it wasn’t a curved blade style—the arc wasn’t smooth, looking rather like it had been dulled through a hundred cuts.
The long groove on the blade body was slightly darker—the result of long-term blood saturation.
This blade was ordinary yet fierce.
The slanting setting sun cast a line of red light on the blade tip, also like blood.
The blade tip pressed against Tie Ci’s heart, slowly advancing forward as Tie Ci could only slowly retreat.
Step by step.