Chapter 765 - 767: Who Wants to Harm Her?
"Bastard!" Princess Diao Bin cursed in anger, raising her hand to slap Li Yuande’s face, only to have her wrist caught by him. Not only did she fail to hit him, but she also couldn’t escape his grip.
Li Yuande sneered, "Princess, blame yourself for meddling in other’s affairs. You shouldn’t have left the banquet with only one maid."
"Let go! If you dare touch me, I will have my imperial brother exterminate your entire clan!" Princess Diao Bin was both angry and annoyed. Unable to withdraw her hand, she could only use her princely authority to intimidate him.
"Haha, with this incident, the emperor will only have to let you marry me. If you want to hate someone, then hate Bai Ruozhu," Li Yuande said.
Two guards outside the room nervously looked at each other. One of them said, "What should we do? The princess rushed in. Shall we report it to the Imperial Concubine immediately?"
"Let’s go together; otherwise, we might get implicated," said the other guard. "We are not part of Imperial Concubine Liu’s faction. We were just forced to teach Bai Ruozhu a lesson, but who knew they would resort to such dirty tactics? Fortunately, the princess arrived in time. Li Yuande deserves it."
While speaking, the two seemingly patrolled elsewhere. Most of the royal forces today were stationed at the banquet to ensure the safety of the emperor, empress dowager, empress, etc., so it wasn’t their fault that they didn’t guard there.
"I’ve heard that Bai’s husband is a ruthless character who serves in the Department of Politics. He was rewarded for his meritorious service in rescuing the emperor a while ago. Does Li Yuande dare to harm his wife without fearing death?" a guard asked.
"What is there to fear with Imperial Concubine Liu backing him?" Another guard replied with a strange smile on his face. "Moreover, I heard he is ill and he won’t live much longer. So, what wouldn’t he dare to do now? He’s eager to please Imperial Concubine Liu so that the Li family can take another step forward."
"Aren’t the Liu and Li families lofty enough? They still want to climb higher? The empress’s family isn’t as influential as theirs," the guard muttered.
The two slowly left. Unfortunately, they were unaware that Li Yuande dared to harm even the princess. Otherwise, they would not have dared to leave. This little negligence ultimately cost them their heads.
Princess Diao Bin’s dress had been torn apart by Li Yuande. She started crying due to fear. She truly regretted it now. She had overheard Imperial Concubine Liu instructing a palace maid to harm Bai Ruozhu and came to save her, but the incident happened so abruptly that she had no evidence. Fearing that bringing more people might only make Bai Ruozhu more embarrassed, she used the excuse of going to pay her respects and came here with only her personal maid.
Unfortunately, she forgot that no matter how noble her identity was, she was still just a woman and was no match for Li Yuande.
Bai Ruozhu quickly scanned the room from her hiding place. She felt more and more that Princess Diao Bin wasn’t putting on an act. If it was a decoy strategy, then the princess was sacrificing too much. Letting a man like this humiliate her was too unfair, wasn’t it?
She took out a poison pill and quietly squirreled out of her hiding place. She knew some self-defense techniques from the modern world and was practicing martial arts recently, so dealing with an average man was not a problem. But she didn’t know how skilled Li Yuande was, so she decided to be cautious.
She quietly moved behind Li Yuande. However, when Princess Diao Bin saw her, she immediately showed a hopeful look in her eyes. This alerted Li Yuande, who grabbed the princess’s throat and looked at Bai Ruozhu, saying, "So it’s you. You’re quite good at hiding. Behave and don’t move, or the princess will die because of you."
Bai Ruozhu pouted, "What’s to be feared isn’t a god-like adversary, but a pig-like teammate. Princess, can’t you pretend not to see me?" She quietly motioned with her fingers as she grumbled at Princess Diao Bin.
Princess Diao Bin’s face reddened, and as she was being choked by Li Yuande, her speech was laborious. "I...I’m sorry."
"Do as you please. If you kill the princess, it’s a capital crime. If I can’t save her, there’s nothing I can do. Who told me to be a helpless woman?" Bai Ruozhu said nonchalantly.
Li Yuande sneered, "Princess, did you hear? She wanted to save you, but she doesn’t care about your life or death."
Bai Ruozhu raised her eyebrows, "Does talking like this make you a good person? You were just about to dishonor the princess. Isn’t that enough for a beheading?"
"Hmph, after I’ve had a taste of you, it’s worth dying!" Li Yuande said with a sinister laugh.
"Do you really think I can’t escape? If I felt hopeless, why would I reveal myself?" Bai Ruozhu suddenly laughed. Li Yuande was momentarily confused, then he felt dizzy and collapsed on the ground.
When Li Yuande fell, Princess Diao Bin was dragged down with him, but she was finally freed from his control.
Bai Ruozhu rushed over and helped Princess Diao Bin up. She asked coldly, "You must know who wants to harm me, right?"
Princess Diao Bin looked astonished at the fallen Li Yuande and asked palely, "What happened? Was he hit by your hidden weapon?"
Bai Ruozhu kicked Li Yuande. "Don’t worry, he won’t wake up for a while. Tell me quickly, who is it that wants to harm me?"
"It’s Imperial Concubine Liu. I overheard her instructing a maid. It seems that her sister, Lady Liu, had prepared a performance to attract the emperor’s attention, but you went to fix the screen, resulting in Lady Liu’s performance becoming a joke that no one watched. So, she wanted to teach you a lesson. This Li Yuande is Imperial Concubine Liu’s cousin." Princess Diao Bin frowned, "Now that you know, don’t be impulsive. Imperial Concubine Liu has a strong influence in the palace, and you’re no match for her. Even... even my imperial brother feels helpless against General Liu’s family."
She had difficulty saying the last sentence; it seems that the issue was a significant loss of face for the royal family.
Bai Ruozhu had heard before that the former emperor died early and the current emperor ascended the throne at a young age with great difficulty. Many factions became uncontrollable, not only several royals watched covetously, but also some officials were too powerful and difficult to deal with. Although the emperor knew they were malignant tumors, he couldn’t remove them easily. General Liu, Imperial Concubine Liu’s father, was one of them.
"You can rest assured, I won’t make a big fuss about it. If it turns into a scandal, it won’t be beneficial to you or me. But I will remember this. I, Bai Ruozhu, am not someone to be trifled with," Bai Ruozhu spoke through gritted teeth.
Princess Diao Bin looked at her blankly, feeling a surge of envy. No wonder she couldn’t stand by her brother Yichun’s side. She wasn’t as courageous and strong as Bai Ruozhu.
Thinking of this, Princess Diao Bin felt a little depressed, but soon she was shocked by Bai Ruozhu’s actions.
Bai Ruozhu squatted down to check Li Yuande’s pulse. She soon showed a disdainful look and tossed a pill into Li Yuande’s mouth. She then ignored him and went to look at the maid knocked out by Diao Bin. After applying pressure to certain points on the maid’s body, the maid woke up.
"Princess, are you okay?" The maid was frightened and struggled to get up from the ground.
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The fifth-release is done, completing today’s task. I will try to release five Chapters tomorrow to make up for one owed Chapter. By the way, Mouka today brought his son to watch "The Return of the Monkey King" and already fell in love with the Monkey King...