Chapter 914: Chapter 728: Princess Liyang, Why Do You Look Like This? (Part 2)
"Hehe... still a fiery beauty, I like it, dry wood meets fire, then it’s fun!" Guo Rong advanced instead of retreating, licking his lips, his demeanor becoming increasingly lewd.
"Don’t come over! Don’t come over!" Wang Man’s wife protected the young child, kicking over the laundry basin on the ground, water flowing everywhere. She grabbed the collar of her clothes with one hand, her face anxious.
This scene of forcibly seizing a woman from the populace was at its peak when Yuan Bao and a group of female officials from the Heavenly Palace broke in, only hearing a delicate yet stern female voice roaring with false bravado.
"Kneel! I am the Legitimate Daughter of Prince Hui, the legitimate sister of Prince Rong, the ordained Princess Liyang, and the Imperial Seal is here, dare you not respect!"
Prince Hui, the legitimate son of Emperor Zhoulin and the Empress, once contended with the Former Crown Prince, later secretly supported Prince Liang, and even advised Emperor Zhoulin to relinquish power due to his failures on the Imperial Court...
Of noble status, a direct lineage of the Zhou Imperial Clan! In terms of legitimacy, she was even slightly more noble than Zhou Mu, more rightly justified, after all, Du Ruo was the Former Noble Consort but not the legitimate Main Palace wife!
Yuan Bao froze after breaking in, wasn’t Princess Liyang dead? Three years ago, his own master, who usually cared little for affairs in the Capital City, had people investigate this shocking news...
Then before him...
"Princess Liyang... Little Sun?" Yuan Bao looked bewildered, recalling the little princess once called Little Sun during childhood talks with his aunt at Prince Bao’s palace, a nickname given by that aunt...
Guo Rong and the others were first startled by the Dragon and Phoenix Seal in Princess Liyang’s hand, then saw a group of richly dressed people suddenly breaking in, and they immediately fell to their knees in fright.
Princess Liyang heard the nickname "Little Sun" and, incredulous, turned back, looking at Yuan Bao standing not far away...
When Princess Liyang turned around, revealing her true face, not only Yuan Bao was stunned, but even the female officials following Yuan Bao were inexplicably dumbfounded on the spot!
"Yuan... Yuan Bao?" Princess Liyang looked at Yuan Bao standing plump in front of her, speaking with a hint of doubt and surprise.
Yuan Bao, Brother Mu’s personal eunuch, had attended him since childhood, a glutton like his own brother, plump from a young age... His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mu’s and the Southern Emperor’s entry into the capital was known to all, and this one before him was indeed...
"Xiao Leizi? Princess Liyang! How did you grow to look like this?" Yuan Bao, usually lively and mischievous, was also frightened at this moment, the eyebrows, the appearance clearly bore six or seven likenesses to Xiao Leizi!
Behind Yuan Bao, a group of female officials from the Southern Country nodded vigorously, affirming that they had not mistaken?
The Princess Liyang before them looked exactly like their emperor’s personal chef, Lord Xiao Leizi! No wonder they were scared!
"I... I..." Holding the Dragon and Phoenix Seal representing her status as a princess, Princess Liyang Zhou Nuanyang felt ashamed, covering her cheeks. Years of wind and sun had long lost her once creamy palace-complexion...
"Little Sun Princess! How did you grow to look like this? This isn’t right! This isn’t right!" Yuan Bao rushed over, grabbing Zhou Nuanyang’s arm, shaking her in disbelief, so much like his Xiao Leizi, so much alike!
Having left the capital with his master for over a decade, the changes over the years were unexpected, but this resemblance was too startling!
"Yuan Bao! I have left the palace for three or four years now, hiding among the people, I..." Zhou Nuanyang felt Yuan Bao was shocked by her current lack of the former splendor and explained with embarrassment.
"That can’t be! Little Sun Princess, did your Royal Mother give birth to another daughter back then?" Yuan Bao asked doubtfully.
"Ah?" Zhou Nuanyang was stunned, quickly shaking her head, "How could that be? The children of the Imperial Family are recorded, I’m the only daughter..."
"But your appearance..." Yuan Bao still gazed at her face, in disbelief.
"I look like my deceased Imperial Grandmother, also like my imperial aunt..." Zhou Nuanyang lowered her head.
"Former Empress Duanrong, Eldest Princess Jinyang..." Yuan Bao suddenly remembered the visage he had seen in his childhood within the palace, a face so distant that he almost forgot, indeed bearing some resemblance, also to Xiao Leizi...
"Someone! Take over the Little Crown Prince, Princess Liyang, proceed to the Heavenly Palace!"
Without further words, Yuan Bao took the babbling little child from Zhou Nuanyang’s back and handed it to a female official beside him, rudely pulling Zhou Nuanyang along.
"Yuan Bao, why are you so hurried? I cannot return to the palace. If I return, I will not be tolerated by the Imperial Family, I..." Zhou Nuanyang became more anxious.
At these words, Yuan Bao halted, "Little Sun Princess needn’t worry, Master has already returned to court."
"Brother Mu..." A glimmer of hope flashed in Zhou Nuanyang’s eyes, but she quickly shook her head, unwilling to return to the inner palace.
Yet Yuan Bao had no time for further explanation, turning to the trembling Guo Rong and the others kneeling, a cold look overtaking his usual irreverent smile. "I don’t want to hear a single unfavorable word about Princess Liyang, and I only trust the mouths of the dead!"
Saying this, Yuan Bao dragged Zhou Nuanyang onward, only a cold voice remaining.
"The Guo Family, for offending His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, desecrating the Crown Prince’s dignity, the entire family is guilty, executed!"
The supposedly dead Princess Liyang hid among the people, making a living as a washerwoman—this was a palace secret that must not be revealed, and the Guo Family’s attempt against Princess Liyang was intolerable, not implicating the nine familial exterminations was already Yuan Bao’s mercy.
"By Lord Yuan Bao’s decree." The female officials following Yuan Bao immediately responded, for Yuan Bao was highly regarded before their emperor and the Imperial Husband, his words must be obeyed, besides, the Imperial Husband’s household secrets were their emperor’s matters.
Hearing this, Guo Rong and the others immediately fell to the ground with ashen faces, their expressions ashen as death...