At this moment, the First Madam and Jiang Feixue belatedly realized that Hongyun's matter was clearly Jiang Hailing's counterattack, giving them a hard slap in the face.
Their eyes were bloodshot. They hadn't expected to be utterly defeated. They had thought that tonight they could put on a good show and destroy Jiang Hailing's identity, leaving her with no chance to recover.
But now, watching their own people being killed right before their eyes, Madam Liu and Jiang Feixue felt as if their hearts were being squeezed tightly, making it hard to breathe.
In the darkness, the intermittent cries of pain within the Jiang residence quickly ceased.
Everyone witnessed Jiang Batian's ruthlessness. It was already very late at night, and the dew was heavy. The ladies and young misses of the officials were so frightened that they could no longer stay and had already bid farewell and left the mansion.
A perfectly good banquet ended in failure once again. Jiang Ba was so angry that his face was contorted. Moreover, by tomorrow, everyone in the capital would probably know that he was ruthless in his actions. Although people had said so before, no one had ever seen it with their own eyes. But tonight, he had witnessed it firsthand. However, if he did not punish these people in front of everyone, he would give them something to talk about.
All of today's troubles were caused by Madam Liu, so Jiang Batian glared fiercely at her before leaving with his two sons and his men.
Liu had no time to think about scheming against Hailing anymore, and quickly led her daughter and a group of servants to follow.
The courtyard quickly became quiet, and everyone except a few people who lagged behind left one after another.
Young General Bai Ye was accompanied by Jiang Feiyu, the second young lady of the General's Mansion. Jiang Feiyu was filled with resentment as she thought about what had happened that night. She pointed at Hai Ling and said, "Jiang Hai Ling?"
She was about to scold Hai Ling when she suddenly remembered something. Hai Ling was now the Crown Princess. Given her personality, if she scolded her, she would probably get beaten up. Even if Bai Ye protected her, she wouldn't gain the upper hand. So the woman immediately stopped, glared at Hai Ling, and dared not say anything more.
Bai Ye didn't say anything from beginning to end, only a dark light flashed in his deep eyes before he walked out...
Chapter 24 Perilous Situation
Behind Bai Ye followed the Seventh Prince, Feng Zihe. After everyone else had left, Feng Zihe came over to comfort Hai Ling: "Third Miss, it's late. You should get some rest."
"Thank you, Seventh Prince."
Hai Ling bowed to thank Feng Zihe, who nodded and walked out.
Seeing that everyone had left, Hailing breathed a sigh of relief and straightened up. But then a chilling glint fell upon her. Hailing quickly looked up and saw a figure standing silently in the darkness, elegant and noble. Although his face was ordinary, he exuded an extraordinary aura. More importantly, his eyes emitted a faint blue light, like the shimmering light of a lake, large swaths of vibrant color, yet it was impossible to discern his thoughts. His eyes seemed as beautiful and dazzling as the finest glass. In an instant, the atmosphere shifted, becoming cold and icy, like the coldest ice in winter, sending chills down one's spine. Those eyes seemed to easily pierce through one's soul.
Such perfect eyes on an ordinary face—this shows that no one is perfect.
As Hai Ling was thinking, the person walked up to her and spoke in a soft voice.
"Don't judge a book by its cover."
She casually tossed out a sentence and turned to leave, her back view as graceful and elegant as pine and bamboo, yet exuding a deep, suppressed melancholy.
Who is this person? Hai Ling thought for a moment, and then suddenly a legendary figure came to mind: the Left Prime Minister Xi Lingfeng. Could he be the young and promising Left Prime Minister Xi Lingfeng of the Great Zhou Dynasty?
The rumors were indeed true. It is said that although the Left Prime Minister Xi Lingfeng has an ordinary appearance, he is elegant and noble. Although he is not an outstanding man, his radiance and aura are second to none. He is another man that women in the capital want to marry. Unfortunately, so far, there has been no news that this young and promising Left Prime Minister has shown any special regard for anyone.
Hailing was lost in thought when Rouge spoke softly beside her.
"This person's eyes are terrifying; once you look into them, you can't look away."
After Yanzhi finished speaking, Hailing shivered. She couldn't help but recall the pair of eyes she had seen on the West City Bridge that night. They were so cold and unsettling. They were clearly beautiful eyes, yet they made people feel scared and uneasy. It was as if he could see through everything. Moreover, what he said just now clearly showed that he knew about tonight's events and that they had set a trap for him. That's why there's a saying that you can't judge a book by its cover.
Hai Ling was lost in thought when Du Caiyue walked over.
"Ling'er, don't overthink it. It's late, let's go to sleep."
"Yes, Mother," Hai Ling came back to her senses, smiled, and reached out to help Du Caiyue walk up the stone steps. She was indeed quite tired, and they could talk about it later.
The group entered the room. Hailing remembered that Hongyun and that man had lain in the guest room earlier, so she instructed Yanzhi to change all the rooms. This reminded her of the dozen or so people who had been beaten to death that night, and she couldn't help but feel uneasy. She had thought that after what happened tonight, at most the men would be beaten and the women would be sold, but who knew that Jiang Batian would be so ruthless as to kill everyone. He did this simply to prevent those people from saying anything they shouldn't have.
Although these guys were determined to deal with her and scheme against her, Hai Ling felt uneasy when she thought about the lives of more than a dozen people involved. In her previous life, she was a doctor who saved lives, so her habit in this life was still not to kill. She could punish them severely, but at least spare their lives, because they were not so heinous as to need to be killed, especially some of them.
However, through this incident, Hailin also realized something.
Jiang Batian was so ruthless, so what did she, his daughter, mean to him? The Emperor's bestowal of marriage had filled him with resentment from beginning to end. He wondered if Jiang Batian would do something to her. Thinking of this, he was terrified and couldn't sleep. His face was pale and flushed. He had long forgotten to pity those dozen or so people. Even she was probably in danger, let alone those people.
"Miss, why do you look so pale?"
Under the lamplight, Rouge was helping her wash up. Seeing her pale face, she couldn't help but worry.
Hailing wasn't sure if her guess was right, so she didn't want to disturb Yanzhi and shook her head: "It's nothing, she's probably just tired. Let's get some rest."
However, as soon as she finished speaking, she heard two knocks on the window, as if someone was knocking on it.
Rouge glanced back at Hailing, then asked in a low voice, "Who?"
No one answered. She quickly walked over and opened the window. With a whoosh, before Rouge could see clearly, a figure flashed in.
Under the lamplight, General Bai Ye sat solemnly in a chair in the room, his whole body shrouded in coldness, his eyes dark and unfathomable, staring fixedly at Hai Ling.
Upon seeing him, Hai Ling's face changed, and she coldly asked, "Bai Ye, what are you trying to do by barging into my boudoir in the middle of the night?"
Upon hearing Hai Ling's words, Bai Ye curled his lips into a forced smile and replied, "What do you think I want to do?"
"Speak, what is it?"
Hai Ling was too lazy to pay him any attention. To be honest, she and Bai Ye were not strangers. He was the sweetheart of her second young lady. She had met him a few times. Although she was not very familiar with him, she was not unfamiliar with him either. Moreover, she believed that Bai Ye was not the kind of person who would be bored. Since he had appeared, there must be something he wanted to do.
As expected, as soon as Hailin finished speaking, Baiye's resolute features darkened, and he slowly said, "You turned the tables on me tonight, and you've brought trouble upon yourself."
Hai Ling was quite surprised by Bai Ye's words. In fact, she had already thought of this matter. She had set up this as a counterattack against Liu Shi, but she did not expect that Jiang Batian would be so ruthless as to not care about her daughter at all. So it was too late to say anything now. However, she was surprised that Bai Ye would come to remind her.
Hailin was at a loss for words, while Yanzhi, who was standing to the side, was already getting anxious.
"What does General Bai mean by this?"
"What do you mean?" Bai Ye looked at Hai Ling and saw that she understood what he meant. Perhaps she had already thought of it. With that thought, Bai Ye stood up and said, "Ask your master."
He slipped out of the room and disappeared into the night.