Chen Baoxiang felt a hollow panic inside, but forced herself to hold firm: “I don’t know whose registration you looked at, but I grew up right beside Xuanwumen in Shangjing.”
“Still pretending.” Lu Qingrong grew impatient. “You probably don’t even know which direction Xuanwumen faces.”
Indeed she didn’t.
Chen Baoxiang wailed inwardly — she had never been to that place.
But in Shangjing’s noble circles, looking up to the powerful and trampling on the weak was commonplace. She had already nearly been bullied to death by Lu Qingrong for her shabby spending habits in the past. If her origins were exposed here, wouldn’t she be finished in Shangjing?
I know.
A voice rang inside her mind.
Great Immortal!
Chen Baoxiang’s eyes lit up at once.
“What’s wrong, run out of things to make up?” Lu Qingrong was still mocking her. “Parading around with deceptions and airs, all just to hook a wealthy man and climb to the top — today’s affair, I will make sure every household hears of it, and then —”
“What have I deceived anyone about.” The cowering quail suddenly rallied.
Lu Qingrong startled, and said with displeasure: “Oh? It came back to you?”
“Xuanwumen faces south — what is there to think about?” Chen Baoxiang gave a cold laugh, and even her spine straightened. “What I was actually thinking about was whether to tell you that behind that gate there is an ancestral shrine, housing the tablet of General Zhang Weining — a three-dynasty elder meritorious for pacifying rebellions — and I have even gone to offer incense to the old general.”
At these words, the laughing crowd slowly grew quiet, and Lu Qingrong’s expression shifted from contempt to bewilderment.
“You.” Her eyes were full of disbelief. “You have visited the Zhang Family ancestral shrine?”
“Yes.” Chen Baoxiang clasped her hands behind her back, chin raised high. “You haven’t?”
“Since when is the Zhang Family estate a place anyone can just walk into?” Someone in the back grew indignant at hearing this. “Claiming connections out of nowhere — aren’t you afraid it’ll cost you your life?”
“Exactly — spinning whatever lie comes to mind just to save face.”
“If she’s been to the Zhang Family shrine, then I’ve been inside the imperial palace itself.”
A torrent of jeers and insults came crashing down.
Chen Baoxiang didn’t rush. She only smiled and waited — waited until they had finished their abuse, then spoke unhurriedly: “I see it’s such an important place? Zhixu never told me. He only said he wanted to take me to pay respects to his grandfather, and so I went. Oh dear, whatever shall I do about this.”
“……”
Zhang Zhixu.
That name landed like a thunderbolt, and the little prison block erupted into chaos at once.
“She actually knows Zhang Zhixu?”
“By the sound of it, they’re quite close — why else would he take her to the ancestral shrine?”
“But how can that be? Those who associate with the Zhang Family are either powerful ministers or distinguished scholars — look at the state of her.”
The uproar grew louder and louder, and even the officials inside the interrogation room were startled by the commotion, striding over in large steps.
Lu Qingrong was still at a loss when she turned and spotted her savior, immediately waving her hand and calling out: “Lord Zhang, someone here is making false claims against the Zhang Family — please come and see!”
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