Chapter 53: Causing a Disturbance

Lu Yuanshuang brandished her saber as she spoke, slashing furiously at the group of scholars outside.

Her movements were entirely devoid of any technique or form, yet for a moment, not a single person dared to step forward to stop her.

Startled out of her wits, Shen Chabai hurried over with quick, small steps to block her path, shouting at the surrounding guards, "What are you all staring at for nothing? Why aren't you quickly taking the saber away from the Secondary Consort's hands?"

Initially, the crowd of scholars had been frightened into retreating step by step by Lu Yuanshuang's wild and chaotic slashing. But seeing her restrained by someone else, their confidence immediately revived.

"Such an absolute madwoman." One of them then bowed toward Shen Chabai with cupped hands. "Fortunately, there are still reasonable people here in the Prince of Yan's estate. You must be the Secondary Consort Shen, right? Indeed, you are incomparable to ordinary women. No wonder you have won the Prince of Yan's affection..."

"Hmph." Shen Chabai curled her lips into a cold smile. "Men, seize this person."

Two guards instantly emerged from behind Shen Chabai and pinned him to the ground. "I am a provincial imperial graduate of the Langya Wang clan! What have I done wrong? To think I even said you were not some ignorant village woman, yet you dare to arrest me? Why aren't you telling them to let me go?"

Standing upon the steps, Shen Chabai wore an indifferent expression. "The Langya Wang clan holds such a noble status, indeed. But what of the Prince of Yan's consorts and concubines? Since when is it your place to discuss them?"

Raising her gaze to look at the scholars before her, she directed her words to the guards behind her instead. "Both Secondary Consort Lu and I have our names recorded in the imperial jade tablets of the royal family. This person has shown disrespect to the royal family. According to our dynasty's laws, what is the crime?"

"Beat him to death with clubs! Beat him to death with clubs! Beat him to death with clubs!"

The guards shouted in unison, the impact of their voices causing the gazes of quite a few scholars to scatter in panic.

Shen Chabai's voice remained entirely level, yet it made everyone present shudder inwardly. "Then act according to the law."

Even as the guards were shouting, two young eunuchs hurried into the courtyard, carrying two palm-thick punishment clubs studded with metal rivets at the tips.

"Wait." Another person stepped out from the crowd. His attire was much simpler than that of the imperial graduate surnamed Wang, featuring patches sewn onto his coarse cloth robe.

He bowed to Shen Chabai with cupped hands. "Secondary Consort Shen stopped this lady from injuring the imperial graduate just now, so you must be a person who understands propriety. Since the Secondary Consort says to act according to the law, the law states that for scholars convicted based on their speech, the punishment is reduced by one degree; if they belong to the five surname clans and seven prominent families, the punishment is reduced by another degree."

"Then give him thirty strikes with the heavy staff." Shen Chabai amended her order quite accommodatingly, and a burst of cheers erupted from the crowd of scholars.

Just as the scholar in coarse cloth was about to retreat into the crowd, Shen Chabai spoke up to stop him. "Since you are so well-versed in the law, why don't you come and tell me what crime it is to gather a mob and storm a Prince's residence?"

The man froze in place, beads of cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

Leaning slightly forward, Shen Chabai said, "The crime is treason."

The scholar in coarse cloth instinctively blurted out, "We are current imperial graduates."

"Since you are imperial graduates of the current dynasty, you are all the more familiar with the dynasty's laws. To knowingly break the law is a crime of an aggravated degree." Shen Chabai shouted sternly, sweeping her gaze across the surrounding crowd. "If you disperse and leave this moment, this Secondary Consort will not pursue the matter. But if anyone remains stubbornly unrepentant, they will be executed on the spot."

The scholar in coarse cloth widened his eyes in disbelief. "You cannot do this!"

"Why can I not?" Shen Chabai cut him off, casting a cold glance at the others. "I forgot to mention—the reason I stopped Secondary Consort Lu earlier was not because I felt she ought not to kill, but because I was afraid she might hurt her hands using a saber for the very first time."

At these words, even Lu Yuanshuang looked at her with a hint of astonishment.

"If a Prince's residence were to let the likes of you barge in so lawlessly, where would the majesty of the royal family be placed?" Shen Chabai gave a subtle cue, and the young eunuchs immediately returned the guards' standard weaponry to them.

Shen Chabai had initially thought that these scholars were at the peak of their passionate fervor, and that blindly threatening them with sabers might only have further incited their bloodlust.

If human lives were truly lost in broad daylight right here at the Prince's residence—and the dead happened to be current imperial graduates—even Li Tinghan would find it difficult to provide an explanation.

Who could have known that these men were merely spineless cowards, whose courage was shattered within moments by Lu Yuanshuang's saber?

For all this time, they had done nothing but allow themselves to be led around by the nose, without ever bringing up a single proper matter. Since that was the case, Shen Chabai saw no reason to be polite with them.

As the guards unsheathed their sabers, the crowd instinctively retreated even further.

The coarse-cloth imperial graduate stepped forward once more. "We did not come here today to offend the Prince's residence, but rather for the sake of the three children left behind by that viper, Madam Feng. As the saying goes, the debts of the parents must be repaid by the children. Since Madam Feng committed such heinous deeds, her children ought to pay with their lives. Hand the children over!"

Having found their spiritual backbone once again, the group of scholars resumed chanting their slogans with earth-shattering volume: "Hand them over!"

"Hand them over!"

"Hand them over!"

Without bothering to argue further with them, Shen Chabai sneered, "I was unaware that the Prince of Yan's estate had ever become a court of law."

Shen Chabai pulled a stick of incense from behind the courtyard's incense burner, snapped it near the base, and thrust it upright into the ground. "I give you the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn. Anyone who has not left by then will be treated as a traitor and executed on the spot!"

Having said that, without giving them a chance to reply, Shen Chabai grabbed Lu Yuanshuang and turned to leave.

Amidst the crowd, Li Tinghan watched this scene unfold, the corners of his lips curling upward in an involuntary smile.

Once they were certain that the people outside could no longer see what was happening within, Lu Yuanshuang violently shook off her grip. "Don't think for a moment that I'll be grateful to you. Weren't you just trying to show off in front of outsiders?"

"So what if you gave birth to the Prince's child? That still cannot change the fact that you stem from a humble background, and the management of the inner courtyard will never be handed over to you."

Shen Chabai replied, "Believe whatever you wish."

Today, seeing Lu Yuanshuang rush to the front lines instead of handing Feng's three daughters over to that mob had already surprised her greatly.

Moreover, she simply disliked those people judging and commenting on them in the first place.

Should she be deeply grateful just because they offered a word of praise? Whose character was good and whose was bad—since when did it become their place to judge?

It was as if Lu Yuanshuang could read her thoughts, for she suddenly said, "I genuinely intended to hand those Feng family girls over in the beginning."

"The only reason I didn't do so wasn't because my heart softened toward you, but because that mob out there had no right to offend the Prince's residence."

Shen Chabai looked at her. "I will never forget for a single moment what Secondary Consort Lu has done to me in the past. You needn't explain yourself to me, nor do you need to worry that I might mistake you for a good person because of today's events."

"I cleared your name today solely for the sake of the Prince's residence. I will never consider you a friend, much less treat you like a sister of the same flesh and blood. I will find a way to settle every single score from the past."

"I'll be waiting," Lu Yuanshuang sneered.

The two of them turned around simultaneously and walked away in opposite directions.

Upon returning to Wutong Courtyard, Shen Chabai quickly took off her outer garments, fearing that the lingering chill clinging to her might pass onto A'ning.

Just as she was taking a moment to rest, Li Tinghan returned from outside.

Shen Chabai could not help a surge of suppressed anger. "The Prince has returned at a truly opportune moment."

Li Tinghan's lips twitched as he found the scene before him strangely familiar, much like the time he had seen her at a small food stall on Vermilion Bird Avenue.

The crumpled ball of paper hidden against his chest suddenly felt scorching hot, and the reprimands he had prepared beforehand could no longer find their way out of his mouth.