Chapter 323: Luo Junhe Here?

Chapter 323: Luo Junhe Is Here?

"She climbed to the position of Princess Ye by standing on my shoulders, and now these commoners are turning around to blame me, saying I'm the one at fault."

"Why don't they use their pig brains to think? The position of Princess Ye was originally mine. That bitch Ji Yuntang stole it from me. I am the biggest victim here!"

Cui Liu: "..."

She was speechless, left dumbfounded by Ji Qingqing's twisted logic.

Ji Yuntang stole her position? How about the fact that Ji Qingqing herself was afraid of dying and looked down on Prince Ye while wanting to become the Crown Princess, so she brought Ji Yuntang back to be her sacrificial lamb?

Even Cui Liu thought Ji Qingqing was so jealous of Ji Yuntang she'd lost her mind. If she had married the Prince back then and had to take care of a paralyzed, bedridden man who couldn't do anything for himself, she'd be crying and throwing a fit every day, running back to the Yongning Marquis Estate.

Ji Qingqing kept cursing nonstop, her words getting nastier and nastier.

What she didn't know was that Luo Junhe had heard every word she said.

His dark eyes narrowed dangerously, the corners of his eyes showing a hint of cold ruthlessness.

Chen Hu sensed the shift in Luo Junhe's aura. Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, he saw Luo Junhe grab three chess pieces off the table.

With one hand, he clenched his fingers and hurled the three chess pieces like shooting stars out the window.

The direction he aimed at was precisely Ji Qingqing.

"Anyone who insults my Princess is asking for death!"

Down below, Ji Qingqing was still cursing Ji Yuntang nonstop.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck. Before she could react, sharp pains struck her waist and knees. She screamed in pain, her body collapsing uncontrollably to the ground as she gasped for air.

This sudden scene terrified Cui Liu, who was right beside her. She rushed over to support Ji Qingqing.

"Second Miss! Second Miss! What's wrong? Don't scare me!"

Ji Qingqing lay on the ground, feeling like her internal organs had been rearranged. A sharp pain, like an electric current, surged through her body, making her so miserable she couldn't speak a single word.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and fainted, her eyes rolling back.

"Help! Someone help! My Young Miss has fainted! Get a doctor, quick!"

Cui Liu screamed in terror, and her voice quickly drew a large crowd.

Among them were Qingyun Hall security officials and commoners rushing over to watch the excitement.

In the blink of an eye, Ji Qingqing was surrounded by a tight crowd.

A Qingyun Hall official asked Cui Liu, "What happened to Second Miss Ji? Why did she suddenly faint?"

They couldn't see any injuries on Ji Qingqing, so everyone assumed she fainted due to poor health.

Cui Liu sobbed, "Our Miss didn't just faint. Someone hurt her. Please, sir, send for a doctor to check on her!"

The official's face darkened, and he said coldly:

"Young lady, you can't just say things like that. Canglang Poetry Talk is a serious place, heavily guarded. How could anyone knock your Miss out here?"

"I think she's just got weak health or ate something bad and fainted."

Cui Liu knew the official was just covering his own ass.

She said urgently, "It's true! I'm not lying. If you don't believe me, just call a doctor and you'll see."

Ji Zihang also walked over. Seeing Ji Qingqing on the ground, he felt both worried and angry.

He went over and patted Ji Qingqing's face, "Qingqing, Qingqing, can you hear your big brother?"

Ji Zihang called Ji Qingqing's name twice, but got no response. That told him Cui Liu was probably telling the truth.

But he wondered who Ji Qingqing could have offended so badly that someone would strike her so hard in such a crowded place as Canglang Poetry Talk.

Thankfully, Ji Qingqing was still breathing, which calmed Ji Zihang a little.

He roared, "Where's the doctor? Has the doctor come yet?"

Mu Rongyue stepped forward and said, "Isn't Princess Ye a doctor right here? Why bother calling another one?"

"Brother Zihang, why not let her examine Second Miss Ji?"

Ji Zihang's eyes went cold, and he said contemptuously, "Her? She's not worthy of treating Qingqing."

At that moment, the 'unworthy' Ji Yuntang and the carefree Xie Liuzheng were squatting about thirty feet away from Ji Qingqing, studying three piles of powder on the ground.

"Sister Yuntang, can you tell what this is?" Xie Liuzheng whispered.

Ji Yuntang dipped her fingertip in the powder, rubbed it, then brought it to her nose. A strange feeling stirred in her heart.

The smell seemed familiar.

Suppressing that strange feeling, Ji Yuntang said calmly, "It looks like amber powder, but it's colored. If I'm not mistaken, this is a chess piece made of amber."

After analyzing it, Ji Yuntang asked Xie Liuzheng, "Brother, do you know how much strength it takes to shatter an amber chess piece into powder?"

Xie Liuzheng's face turned serious. Instead of answering right away, he glanced at the crowd around them.

Seeing everyone focused on Ji Qingqing, he lowered his voice and asked, "Sister, are you thinking Ji Qingqing's injury is related to this chess piece?"

Ji Yuntang shook her head, then nodded. "I'm not sure, just guessing. There's nothing else suspicious around here anyway."

She had just accidentally noticed that Ji Qingqing's clothes also had traces of similar powder, but the onlookers hadn't noticed.

Ji Yuntang looked around and found the same powder on the ground.

So she came up with this guess.

Xie Liuzheng said solemnly, "Setting aside external forces, if it's true that someone shattered the chess piece, then that person's internal energy must be extremely high."

"He can knock someone out and shatter a chess piece without leaving a trace, so he must be a martial arts expert, definitely better than me."

Ji Yuntang was startled. Very few people in Dongchen Kingdom had martial arts skills above Xie Liuzheng's.

She involuntarily looked up and glanced at the teahouse.

With that glance, she saw that the window, just closed, had been opened again to the width of a palm.

She didn't think much of it and was about to look away, when the corner of her eye caught a familiar figure flashing past the window.

It was very fast, but Ji Yuntang still caught it!

Chen Hu!

Ji Yuntang's heart was in her throat.

Chen Hu was here—so did that mean Luo Junhe was here too?

Were those three chess pieces related to him as well?

Ji Yuntang was filled with questions, and a little voice inside her told her to go up and see—just go up and she would find out the truth.

She glanced at the time; there was still half an hour until the next round of competition began, and the examinees were free to move around in the vicinity.

For her, half an hour was more than enough to go up and take a look.

Ji Yuntang was a woman of decisive action. Once she had an idea, she decided to take the initiative.

She wanted to see whether the person upstairs really was Luo Junhe.

She quickly and neatly wiped up the amber powder from the ground with her handkerchief, tossed a quick "Brother, I'm going to the outhouse" to Xie Liuzheng, and then left!

Xie Liuzheng: "..."

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