Upon seeing this, the king and his ministers of the Southern Ling Kingdom immediately spoke up in unison.
"Emperor Xie, Emperor Jing, let's talk things over. Let's talk things over."
Ye Lingfeng abruptly withdrew his hand, and Feng Zixiao, caught off guard, stumbled forward two steps, looking utterly disheveled. Looking at his handsome face now, the former spirited demeanor was gone, replaced by an extremely sinister and brooding expression. He pointed at Ye Lingfeng through gritted teeth and said, "Fine, very well."
With that, he turned and darted out of the hall. Inside, Ye Lingfeng looked at Ruan Xizong at the head of the table and said calmly, "Your Majesty, did you see that I did nothing?"
Inside the main hall, the people from Nanling Kingdom all looked grim. Princess Renyue, seeing Feng Zixiao turn and leave, anxiously called out to those above.
"Brother, brother, you must stand up for Renyue!"
She had given her body to Feng Zixiao, how could he not marry her as his concubine? What if he abandoned her?
"I will demand an explanation from him for our Nanling Kingdom," said Ruan Xizong, though young, he would not back down on this matter. Feng Zixiao had taken his sister's body, and he would marry her as his concubine no matter what, otherwise the Nanling Kingdom would lose all face.
In the main hall of Chongjing Palace, everyone's face was gloomy. The Southern Ling Kingdom was truly suffering from many disasters and was becoming increasingly chaotic. At this moment, Ruan Xizong and others regretted inviting the emperors of the Northern Lu Kingdom and the Great Zhou Dynasty to the banquet, but it was too late for regrets.
Ye Lingfeng stood up and said slowly and politely, "Since there's nothing else, we should take our leave."
The rest is a matter for the Southern Ling Kingdom; it's their family affair, what business is it of theirs?
Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling bid farewell and left Zhongjing Palace, returning to Luohua Pavilion in the post station.
In the main hall of Zhongjing Palace, Nguyen Hee Thong, seeing that no one was around, no longer gave Princess Ren Yue a friendly look and directly ordered, "Someone, take Princess Ren Yue back to the palace."
“Yes,” a palace maid came and pulled the princess away. Renyue was still struggling, but she was forcibly dragged away by two of her personal maids.
Inside the main hall, Ruan Xizong looked at the assembled officials below and asked, "How should we resolve the princess's matter now, and how should we resolve the matter of the Northern Lu Kingdom?"
None of his brothers and sisters were easy to deal with, and Ruan Xizong grew angrier the more he thought about it, his eyes blazing with fury.
At the lower end, a minister stood up and said, “Originally, we wanted to win over Feng Zixiao and join forces with our Southern Ling Kingdom to deal with the Northern Lu Kingdom. But now it seems that Feng Zixiao’s character is really too bad. It would be inappropriate to join forces with him.”
As soon as he finished speaking, several others echoed him: "Yes, yes, Your Majesty, please reconsider."
After they finished speaking, Ruan Xizong's face turned extremely ugly, and he said in a gloomy tone, "Are we really going to cede Lianshui City to them as compensation?"
This excuse is incredibly offensive. What should have been a marriage alliance between the two families, a perfectly good thing, has turned into this mess. It's truly infuriating, and it's all the Emperor's fault.
In the main hall, the Prime Minister stood up and said, "Your Majesty, given the current situation, it seems that we have no choice but to cede Lianshui City. However, a gentleman's revenge is never too late. If we cede Lianshui City to the Northern Lu Kingdom, we can ask them to agree to a thirty-year non-aggression pact. It is not a bad deal to exchange a city for thirty years of peace. Once our Southern Ling Kingdom becomes strong, we can send troops to take back Lianshui City."
After the Prime Minister finished speaking, the hall fell silent. No one objected, knowing that this was the only option at the moment.
Ruan Xizong was furious that he had to cede a piece of land before even ascending the throne. He coldly ordered, "All of you, leave. We'll discuss this matter after the coronation ceremony."
"Yes, Your Majesty, we take our leave." The crowd withdrew, and inside the hall, Ruan Xizong closed his eyes. He hadn't expected being an emperor to be so tiring. If he had known, he wouldn't have fought so hard for this position. Now, the die was cast, and he had no choice but to go through with it.
Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling returned to Luohua Pavilion. Before they even arrived, they heard figures moving about and making a commotion in front of the pavilion. Hai Ling raised her eyebrows and asked curiously, "What's all this commotion about?"
In the distance, one could faintly hear a woman screaming.
"Ji Shaocheng, come out here! How dare you injure our Queen of Beilu! We will never let this go! Where is your Emperor? Where is your Empress? You must give us an explanation."
Soon, Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling arrived. They saw a crowd gathered in front of the Falling Flower Pavilion; it was the people of Feng Kingdom. Upon seeing Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling, they parted to make way for them, revealing the person at the front, supported by two maids. It was Ruan Jingyue. Ruan Jingyue had already lost one arm, and now her other good arm was also injured, slinged in a white cloth. She seemed to be seriously injured; her face was deathly pale, but her eyes were icy cold, and she spoke in a sinister tone…
"Ji Hailing, you are despicable for letting your brother Ji Shaocheng launch a night attack on me. I will not let this go."
Hai Ling's eyes were icy as she glanced coldly at Ruan Jingyue, then instructed Shi Mei, who was standing to the side, "Go and invite General Ji over."
Could it be that her brother really attacked Ruan Jingyue at night, causing her injury, and that's why he came over to make a scene so early in the morning?
Shi Mei entered Luohua Pavilion, intending to go in and summon someone, when she saw several people coming towards her. The leader was Ji Shaocheng, whose face was dark and full of murderous intent. He walked out calmly, stood in front of the entrance of Luohua Pavilion, and spoke in a sinister tone.
"That's right, I attacked you last night, so what? It was my own idea, and it has nothing to do with Her Majesty the Empress."
"Do you think I would believe that you would dare to attack me in the middle of the night without Ji Hailing's idea?"
Ji Shaocheng's face darkened as he was about to retort, but Hailing, after hearing her brother's words, knew that he had indeed ambushed Ruan Jingyue in the middle of the night. The reason he did this was simply because Ruan Jingyue had repeatedly made things difficult for her, so he was retaliating against her. Thinking this, Hailing raised her hand to stop her brother. She put her son into the arms of Shimei behind her and walked up to Ruan Jingyue herself, her lips curled into a cold sneer as she spoke slowly and deliberately.
"So what if I ordered him to raid you at night? You keep causing me trouble, so why can't I cause you trouble? Who do you think you are?"
After Hai Ling finished speaking, Ruan Jingyue was momentarily stunned. A fake iron hand pointed angrily at Hai Ling: "How dare you? How dare you admit it?"
"What's there to be ashamed of? I didn't like you, so I ordered my brother to ambush you. So what? You're just a lowly queen of a fiefdom, yet you keep making things difficult for me. Don't even mention you, queen of a fiefdom, even the people of Nanling Kingdom wouldn't dare to make things so difficult for me. Get out of my way and go back to your place. If you stay and cause trouble, I'll have you beaten to death. You deserve it if you're beaten to death. Who told you to come and cause trouble?"
"You, you?"
Ruan Jingyue couldn't utter a single word. On the contrary, everyone behind Ruan Jingyue was dumbfounded. They never expected that the Queen of Beilu Kingdom would be so arrogant, openly admitting that she had ordered people to beat their Queen and even telling them to get out.
"Ji Hailing, you are truly hateful."
After Ruan Jingyue finished speaking, she turned and left. The people behind her quickly caught up with her. Instead of heading to their residence, the group left the post station and went directly to the royal palace of Nanling Kingdom. Hai Ling glared at them coldly, then turned back and walked into Luohua Pavilion.
Ji Shaocheng obediently followed behind him and walked up into the hall. The whole group entered Luohua Pavilion.
In the main hall, Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling sat while everyone else stood. Ji Shaocheng's resolute features shone with composure. He didn't think he had done anything wrong. His younger sister was the treasure of the Ji family, and Ruan Jingyue had repeatedly made things difficult for her. He wanted to teach her a lesson and give her a warning, telling her not to provoke Ling'er again, or he wouldn't let her off the hook. He had injured one of her hands last night; next time it wouldn't just be one hand.
Ji Shaocheng spoke calmly: "This matter was caused by your subject, please punish me, Your Majesty."
He did make a mistake by acting without reporting to the Emperor, but he doesn't regret it.
Ye Lingfeng raised an eyebrow, not blaming Ji Shaocheng, but only glancing at him before slowly speaking: "General Ji, you are far too upright. If you wanted to take action, why did you let that woman know who she was? Next time, you don't have to be so upright; you can be a little more insidious."
Ji Shaocheng was taken aback, and the others in the hall were also stunned. They did not expect that the emperor would not only not blame General Ji, but also correct his thinking. It seems that the emperor also intends to teach Ruan Jingyue a lesson.
Ji Shaocheng immediately smiled and nodded: "Your Majesty's lesson will be remembered."
However, Ye Lingfeng did not forget to issue a warning: "From now on, you must report to me whatever you do."