Chapter 17 Did you sleep with her?

"What do you mean by that?!"

The smile on Xu Lan's face gradually faded. She stared at Lin Jiangnian, a faint glint of... murderous intent? appearing in her eyes.

What did he mean by that remark just now?

"Not into this type?"

Into what type, exactly?

Xu Lan wasn't stupid. The moment she caught Lin Jiangnian's gaze inadvertently sweeping over her, she understood instantly what he was implying.

Was she supposed to be "into this type"?

Wait, ugh... she was a woman; what was there to be into?

This damn Lin Jiangnian, he was clearly mocking her on purpose!

"It's nothing."

Seeing that she was on the verge of losing her composure, Lin Jiangnian immediately looked away.

Small chest, big temper!

Other than that face, there probably wasn't a single redeeming quality about her.

"Hmph, don't think I don't know what you're thinking!"

Xu Lan's face flushed slightly. She glared at him and instinctively covered her chest, but immediately realized with a sense of pessimism... it really was flat.

She felt a surge of teeth-gritting irritation.

"You really are incorrigible... you'll die at the hands of a woman sooner or later!" Xu Lan scoffed.

Lin Jiangnian looked indifferent, completely unbothered. "As the old saying goes, 'To die in the flowery lap of a maiden is a life well-lived; what's the harm in death?'"

"Ugh, who said that? You shameless jerk!"

"I did."

Xu Lan: "..."

"Hmph, you still haven't learned your lesson, have you?" Xu Lan sneered. "If you hadn't been so bewitched by that Chen Yingying's beauty, how could you have met with such a disaster?"

"How do you know it was Chen Yingying?"

Xu Lan crossed her arms and sneered. "It's already spread all over the city... that you, the Heir of Prince Lin, were infatuated with Chen Yingying, the star courtesan of the Qingfeng Pavilion, and nearly lost your life outside the city gates because you were blinded by lust..."

"Just yesterday, the entire Qingfeng Pavilion was raided by your Prince's Mansion... The city is in an uproar, and the common people are lashing out at you with scathing rebukes, filled with deep resentment..."

Lin Jiangnian frowned, confused. "Deeply resentful of me?"

The Heir of Prince Lin being attacked—that the commoners would gloat over his misfortune was expected, but why the public condemnation and resentment?

"What do you think?"

A hint of complexity flickered in Xu Lan's eyes as she sighed softly. "What did your Prince's Mansion do to the Qingfeng Pavilion?"

Lin Jiangnian remained silent. He recalled the events of yesterday.

"Because of... Chen Yingying?"

"It wasn't just Chen Yingying!" Xu Lan sneered. "Everyone in the entire Qingfeng Pavilion was taken into your Prince's Mansion, and not a single one was spared!"

Lin Jiangnian's eyes narrowed.

Not a single one?

What did that mean?

He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and said in a calm, low voice, "They all died?"

"What else?" Xu Lan glanced at him, her expression complex, but the sneer on her face deepened. "Once someone enters your Prince's Mansion, how could they possibly survive? That Chen Yingying almost cost you your life; there was no way she was getting out alive!"

"As for the others in the Qingfeng Pavilion... who knows how many of them were Chen Yingying's accomplices? Better to kill the wrong person than let one go—hasn't that always been the style of your Prince's Mansion?"

Xu Lan spoke lightly, yet there was a growing complexity in her eyes, and her tone had become significantly heavier.

Those were dozens of lives, after all!

And... far more than that!

From the moment the Heir of Prince Lin was assassinated, the fierce and bloody reckoning of the Prince's Mansion was inevitable. In recent days, Linjiang City had been a storm of blood and chaos, with countless hidden factions rooted out and who knows how many innocent people dragged into the mess.

Countless people had become souls under the sword!

...

A chill ran down Lin Jiangnian's spine.

They killed them all?

Who did it?

In his mind, the emotionless, cold expression of Ziyuan surfaced.

It was her!

She, who looked so cold and detached, was actually so ruthless?

Were human lives so worthless in her eyes?

Lin Jiangnian took a deep breath, hiding his emotions. "So, their deaths are being blamed on me, the Heir?"

"Exactly!" Xu Lan nodded, a hint of schadenfreude appearing in her eyes as she looked at him.

"That Chen Yingying was quite well-known in Linjiang City, and many scholars admired her. Now that she's died in your Prince's Mansion, I don't know how many people hate you to the bone..."

"Those scholars have been calling you a 'dog heir' in public for days, writing poems and essays to denounce your lack of conscience, and even threatening to join forces to petition the Imperial Court, accusing you of slaughtering the innocent and asking His Majesty to punish you..."

Lin Jiangnian was silent for a moment. "Does this have any impact on me?"

Xu Lan looked him up and down, sighing with a hint of regret. "Apart from making your reputation even worse, I suppose it has no impact..."

This was Linjiang City, Lin Province! The mountains were high and the Emperor was far away; in Lin Province, the Imperial decree of the current Emperor was not even as effective as a single word from the Prince of Lin.

That was the weight of the only prince with a different surname appointed in the hundred years since the founding of the Great Ning Dynasty!

The scholars in Linjiang City could scold all they wanted, but in the end, they were just a bunch of powerless, frustrated intellectuals.

Threatening to petition the Imperial Court?

If they actually tried, it would be a miracle if they could even leave Linjiang City alive.

The Prince's Mansion had managed Lin Province for over a decade; eyes and ears were everywhere. Any sign of trouble would reach the Mansion instantly.

Besides, the Heir of Prince Lin had long since lost his reputation in Lin Province; his early years of bullying the weak and exploiting the people had long made him a scoundrel hated by everyone!

Although so many people were implicated and killed this time, it was the Heir who was attacked first, so the retaliation of the Prince's Mansion was a matter of course. Those people couldn't stir up any real waves. In the end, they would just blame the deaths of Chen Yingying and the others on Lin Jiangnian.

They would just vent their righteous indignation by calling him a "dog heir" in private chats over tea!

Other than that, there was no real impact!

Seeming to think of something, a playful glint appeared in Xu Lan's eyes. "What? Do you want to go hear how people are scolding you?"

"Not interested."

Lin Jiangnian remained expressionless.

...

Inside Linjiang City.

At a certain teahouse.

"Miss Yingying was not only defiled by that dog heir, but she was also falsely accused of being a murderer and cruelly killed. How could that dog heir be so heartless?!"

"Poor Miss Yingying was so kind and beautiful, how could she possibly be the assassin? Slander! It must be slander..."

"It must be that the dog heir was settling a personal vendetta. When Miss Yingying refused to submit to him, that dog heir let his evil desires get the better of him..."

"Miss Yingying... wuwu, my Miss Yingying, you died so miserably..."

"I cannot swallow this anger. Everyone, that dog heir has been bullying the people for years, and now he is even more rampant, slaughtering the innocent. Today it's Yingying, tomorrow it could be any of us... Why don't we write a petition in blood and jointly go to the capital to appeal to the Emperor?"

"..."

As a young scholar in a Confucian robe stood up, full of righteous indignation and speaking angrily, the teahouse suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

The people in the teahouse looked at this young man—who dared to speak such reckless words—with strange expressions... Even the men who had been scolding loudly just a moment ago quietly moved aside, distancing themselves from him.

The young man, suddenly noticing the silence, looked bewildered... Why had everyone stopped talking?

Not long after, the sound of hurried footsteps climbing the stairs echoed, and two soldiers appeared, dragging the young man away without a word.

"What are you doing?! By what right are you arresting me? Let go... Is there no law? Is there no justice?!"

"I want to report you to the magistrate, I want to report..."

After he was dragged away, the teahouse soon returned to its lively state. People continued to chatter, and those men resumed scolding the "dog heir."

They continued to scold, but from beginning to end, no one mentioned "appealing to the Emperor" again!

...

In a window-seat corner of the teahouse.

Xu Lan rested one hand on the table and the other on her chin, listening to the noisy chatter outside, and looked at Lin Jiangnian opposite her with amusement. "See? Is everyone scolding you?"

Lin Jiangnian sneered, "Just a bunch of unruly rabble!"

Deep down, he sighed... they really were scolding him quite viciously!

Although they were scolding the Heir of Prince Lin, Lin Jiangnian was the one who had to take the blame.

"Who told you not to do anything decent all these years? Look at the things you've done!" Xu Lan narrowed her eyes and sneered. "I even feel like stabbing you a couple of times myself!"

Lin Jiangnian ignored her and looked out the window.

From the window, he could see half of Linjiang City. This was the first time Lin Jiangnian had seen the prosperity of the ancient world.

The streets were bustling with carriages and horses, antique buildings were scattered throughout the city, and the streets were packed with merchants and pedestrians. It was extremely prosperous!

Was this Linjiang City?

Xu Lan watched Lin Jiangnian quietly, staring at his face for a while. As she withdrew her gaze, she suddenly remembered something.

"Hey!"

Lin Jiangnian turned back and saw Xu Lan looking at him with a hint of curiosity. After checking left and right, she lowered her voice slightly.

"That Chen Yingying... did you really sleep with her or not?"

"..."