A palace maid stepped forward, grabbed Princess Zhi Ya, and slapped her across the face repeatedly. "Princess Zhi Ya, you'd best recognize your place. You are merely a princess sent for a political marriage. Do not treat our Eastern Jin Dynasty as your Southern Jin Dynasty."
Princess Zhi Ya felt deeply humiliated. "No matter what, I am still a princess sent by the Southern Jin Dynasty for a political marriage. If you dare treat me like this, you are humiliating the Southern Jin Dynasty!"
"Humiliating the Southern Jin Dynasty?" Sheng Lengshuang snorted. "Then I must ask the Southern Jin Dynasty if it was your intention to poison our Eastern Jin Dynasty's academy and spread rumors to ruin my reputation."
Princess Zhi Ya vehemently denied it. "You are framing me! I have never done such a thing. Sheng Lengshuang, I warn you, if you dare to frame me like this, I will not let this go."
"Framing?" Sheng Lengshuang waved for the palace maid to step aside and glared at Princess Zhi Ya with disgust. "Your personal maid has confessed everything. I also have more witnesses and evidence to prove that you poisoned the academy to ruin the royal family's reputation and sow discord among the people."
As for the rumors spread about her, it was purely because Princess Zhi Ya was jealous of her favor and good standing. Sheng Lengshuang believed the woman had no personal grudges against her.
Princess Zhi Ya's heart trembled, but she forced herself to remain calm. "Nonsense! Sheng Lengshuang, who gave you the authority to arrest my personal maid? How dare you!"
"I did!" Mo Lingxi said coldly.
Princess Zhi Ya was both frightened and angry. "Prince Ming Rui, I am a princess sent by the Southern Jin Dynasty for a political marriage. How dare you treat me like this?"
Mo Lingxi had no desire for further conversation. He clapped his hands a few times, and over a dozen palace attendants carrying various torture instruments filed in.
Without needing any orders from Mo Lingxi or Sheng Lengshuang, these attendants began to torture Princess Zhi Ya.
Princess Zhi Ya, who had been pampered since childhood, could not endure such treatment. After the first torture, the thumb screw, she could no longer bear it. "I am a princess sent by the Southern Jin Dynasty for a political marriage! You have no right to treat me like this! You have no right to treat me like this!"
Sheng Lengshuang and Mo Lingxi turned a deaf ear.
"I truly don't understand the Southern Jin Dynasty. Sending such an arrogant and presumptuous princess here, are they trying to provoke a war?" Sheng Lengshuang remarked.
Mo Lingxi replied, "Perhaps that is precisely what the Southern Jin Dynasty intends. If something were to happen to this princess, the Southern Jin Dynasty would have a pretext."
Sheng Lengshuang chuckled. "No wonder they sent Princess Zhi Ya. With such a brain... if she weren't favored in the Southern Jin Dynasty, she would have been dead eight hundred years ago."
At that moment, she heard footsteps. Turning her head, she saw the envoy from the Southern Jin Dynasty walking in, led by a palace attendant. She gestured with her eyes for Mo Lingxi to handle the situation.
Mo Lingxi glanced at the Southern Jin Dynasty envoy and said with a slightly cold tone, "Your Southern Jin Dynasty's Princess Zhi Ya poisoned the academy's ingredients, intending to harm everyone in the academy. Secondly, she spread rumors about Miss Sheng, inciting commoners and those from humble families to propose with concubines. Thirdly, she lacks respect for hierarchy. How do you propose we deal with her?"
The Southern Jin Dynasty envoy was stunned. They knew Princess Zhi Ya was somewhat thoughtless and always arrogant, but they never imagined she would do something like this.
"This... Your Highness Prince Ming Rui, might there be some misunderstanding? Princess Zhi Ya's character may not be the best, but she wouldn't do something so malicious."
"Yes, yes, there must be some misunderstanding."
Mo Lingxi stated, "We have witnesses and evidence."
The Southern Jin Dynasty envoy was speechless. They wished they could pry open Princess Zhi Ya's skull to see if it was filled with nothing but air. This was not the Southern Jin Dynasty; this was Eastern Jin Dynasty territory, and Princess Zhi Ya had committed such acts.
"Your Highness Prince Ming Rui, for the sake of the Southern Jin Dynasty, please spare Princess Zhi Ya's life."
Mo Lingxi retorted, "Your Southern Jin Dynasty seems to think too highly of yourselves."
The Southern Jin Dynasty envoy broke out in a cold sweat, their resentment towards Princess Zhi Ya growing. She was truly useless, only capable of causing trouble and bringing so much difficulty to the Southern Jin Dynasty.
"Prince Ming Rui, I am a princess of the Southern Jin Dynasty for a political marriage. You have no right to do anything to me. I advise you to release me quickly." Princess Zhi Ya shouted.
The Southern Jin Dynasty envoy felt like killing her. At a time like this, Princess Zhi Ya was still babbling nonsense, which was no different from adding fuel to the fire.
Mo Lingxi glanced at the injured Princess Zhi Ya and said calmly, "Send her to the Laundry Bureau and let the head matron teach her some manners. I do not wish for similar incidents to occur again."
The palace attendants acknowledged the order and forcibly dragged the shouting Princess Zhi Ya away.
Mo Lingxi turned with his hands behind his back and looked at the Southern Jin Dynasty envoy. "With such a major incident at the academy and Miss Sheng's reputation damaged, how will your Southern Jin Dynasty compensate?"
The Southern Jin Dynasty envoy truly hated Princess Zhi Ya. They should have advised His Majesty against letting Princess Zhi Ya marry into the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the first place, seeing the foolish things she had done.
"Your Highness Prince Ming Rui, this was the act of Princess Zhi Ya alone and has nothing to do with the Southern Jin Dynasty. We implore Your Highness Prince Ming Rui to investigate fairly."
Mo Lingxi had anticipated this. He gave an order, "Send an urgent dispatch, eight hundred li in speed, ordering the border guards to prepare to attack the Southern Jin Dynasty at any time!"
"Your Highness Prince Ming Rui, please wait, please wait!" the Southern Jin Dynasty envoy panicked. "Your Highness Prince Ming Rui, let's discuss this properly. We can talk."
Regardless of whether the Eastern Jin Dynasty truly intended to go to war, the mere presence of troops at the border was enough to unsettle the Southern Jin Dynasty, let alone the fact that the Southern Jin Dynasty was in the wrong.
Mo Lingxi presented them with two options: "You have two choices: first, comply with our Eastern Jin Dynasty's wishes; second, our Eastern Jin Dynasty will go to war!"
With that, he and Sheng Lengshuang left.
The Southern Jin Dynasty envoy exchanged glances and quickly arranged a meeting with the envoys from the Western Yue Dynasty and the Northern Yuan Dynasty.
"Gentlemen, the Eastern Jin Dynasty has intentions of war. What are your thoughts?" the Southern Jin Dynasty envoy asked.
The Western Yue Dynasty and the Northern Yuan Dynasty were unaware of the specific events, but they knew Princess Zhi Ya had been sent to the Laundry Bureau. They guessed that Princess Zhi Ya or the Southern Jin Dynasty had done something to anger the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
"Impossible, impossible. His Majesty Emperor Wen Zong once stated that he would not go to war unless we several nations initiated it. I believe there must be some misunderstanding."
"I think so too. Could it be that your Southern Jin Dynasty did something it shouldn't have?"
The Southern Jin Dynasty envoy shed tears and lamented, "To be frank, gentlemen, it's related to the marriage proposal for Miss Sheng. It's also possible that the Eastern Jin Dynasty has long intended to use this method to sow discord among us. We must discuss this carefully."
Lord Zhao waved his hand. "You can't say that. The Eastern Jin Dynasty has always been benevolent. If your Southern Jin Dynasty hadn't done something universally condemned, the Eastern Jin Dynasty would not act this way."
The old man nodded vigorously. "Do not involve our two countries in your Southern Jin Dynasty's affairs. Our two countries are sincerely negotiating with the Eastern Jin Dynasty."
The Southern Jin Dynasty envoy stated frankly, "We are all in the same boat. If something happens to our Southern Jin Dynasty, can the Northern Yuan Dynasty and the Western Yue Dynasty remain at peace?"