Seeing that the emperor was shocked, the envoy came forward and explained to the emperor.
"The princess and Young Master Ling met on the battlefield. At that time, the princess was injured, and General Ling couldn't bear it, so he treated her and checked on the princess's body on the way."
As he spoke, the envoy bent down.
"Your Majesty, the princess is of noble status after all, and she represents the face of our Northern Zhou. Since General Ling has seen our princess' body, he should be responsible for her. Otherwise, if the news gets out, our princess's reputation will be ruined, and how can she find a suitable husband?"
The envoy spoke for her, and Shangwu cried even harder.
She knelt on the ground, trembling all over, as if she had suffered a great injustice.
The emperor frowned, looking a little impatient.
"We, the men of Great Yue, are strong and upright. We will never take advantage of others' misfortune to bully weak women. You also said that the young general did not look at the princess' body intentionally, but saw that the princess was injured and saved her out of kindness. How can this be considered as destroying the princess's innocence?"
"This is the custom of our Northern Zhou Dynasty. The body of an unmarried woman is very precious and cannot be seen by men. If a man sees her, he must give himself to the man." The envoy spoke up to refute the emperor's words.
Unexpectedly, when the emperor heard that it was the rule of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he became furious.
"Then I want to ask you, my general from Dai Viet saw your princess injured that day. If he saved her, it would destroy your princess's innocence. If he didn't save her, he would watch your princess die on the battlefield. So did he save her or not?"
The emperor spoke with such conviction and determination that the envoy dared not speak.
"Also, the marriage was proposed by you, Northern Zhou, not by me. I definitely didn't flatter you, Northern Zhou women, to marry my Great Yue men. When you came here, you said you were pretty and that as long as the princess liked you, I would marry you, no matter if you were a royal or a beggar. Okay, I agreed, but after half a month of trouble, you told me that you didn't like any of them. Then you turned around and insisted on marrying me, the Major General of Great Yue."
"I've told you that the young general already has someone he loves and is planning to get married. You should just give up on this idea."
After the emperor finished speaking, he turned his head away coldly and no longer looked at Shang Wu.
Shang Wu knew that she could not persuade the emperor now, so she had to stand up reluctantly and leave the hall.
The emperor watched Shang Wu leave, and as she walked further and further away, he felt more and more that something was not right, as if something was about to happen.
"Someone come."
Finally, the emperor called his guards.
"Call the Seventh Prince."
His Majesty's intuition told him that Shang Wu would never give up. She would definitely do something else to marry Ling Xiao.
Sure enough, the next day, the news that Shang Wu's innocence was ruined by Ling Xiao spread throughout the capital, and the news became more and more outrageous.
"What? The prince actually had such a story with the princess of Northern Zhou."
"If it's true, then the prince is really a bastard. He ruined a girl's innocence and doesn't even want to take responsibility."
"There's no smoke without fire. This must be true. Tsk tsk, I didn't expect that the prince looked so upright and righteous, but turned out to be such a heartless man."
…
There are many other discussions like this, some of which are even more straightforward.
In an instant, Ling Xiao went from being a powerful and elegant young general of Dayue to a lecher who destroyed the innocence of women.
"I'm going to kill that crazy woman!"
Ling Xiao was so angry that he was about to die.
After learning what people were saying outside, Ling Xiao could no longer hold back. He drew out his sharp sword and angrily went to the post station to find Shang Wu to ask for clarification.
The trouble in Jinhua Garden happened just two days ago. Ling Xiao knew without thinking who spread the news.
"Where are you going!?"
As soon as Ling Xiao reached the door, he bumped into Shen Chengzhou who was coming in.
"I'm going to ask Shang Wu what she means!" Ling Xiao snorted coldly.
"Don't you understand what she means?" Shen Chengzhou gave Ling Xiao a cold look.
Ling Xiao naturally knew that Shang Wu wanted to use the pressure of public opinion to force him to marry her, but he couldn't just let her wish come true.
He had done nothing wrong and was innocent, but he had such a bad reputation. Moreover, he had just made an engagement with Gu Zhi. What if Gu Zhi really believed the rumors
"It's useless for you to look for her now. If people see you, they will blame you. Your reputation as a heartless man will be firmly established and can't be changed." Shen Chengzhou looked as if he was disappointed in his son.
"But I can't be scolded for nothing." Ling Xiao was very angry. "Besides, I don't have much experience with the eldest daughter of the Gu family. She definitely doesn't believe me."
If the marriage he had worked so hard to get was ruined by Shang Wu, Ling Xiao secretly swore that he would kill her with his own hands.
The thing he regretted most now was that he did not kill Shang Wu.
"Grandfather is right."
At this moment, Ling Qingwan approached and stood between the two of them, and the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren instantly gathered together.
"If you go now, the people will just think that what you did was exposed and get anxious. By then, you won't be charged with anything other than destroying Shangwu's innocence."
But no matter what Shen Chengzhou and Ling Qingwan said, Ling Xiao still felt uncomfortable.
He was a straightforward person to begin with, and Shang Wu had already bullied him directly.
"Well, I'll go explain this to Gu Zhi."
Ling Qingwan proposed this to the two of them.
She had a good relationship with Gu Zhi, Ling Qingwan thought, if she went to talk, Gu Zhi would surely listen. And Gu Zhi was a very kind and gentle woman, so she should be able to see something from this matter.
After getting the approval of Ling Xiao and Shen Chengzhou, Ling Qingwan immediately set off for the Grand Secretary's Mansion.
The Grand Secretary's Mansion was not peaceful at this time.
In the backyard, Gu Zhi sat at the table, frowning, listening to Liao and Gu Xin insulting and mocking her with extremely vicious words.
"You're going to be Ling Xiao's wife soon, why are you still so sad?" Gu Xin smiled softly. "Oh, I forgot, Ling Xiao hasn't even finished cleaning up his own mess, how can he care about you? Maybe Ling Xiao will marry the princess of Northern Zhou instead of you."
"The Princess of Northern Zhou is of noble status after all, and is a relative of the emperor. How can you compete with her?" Liao couldn't help laughing. She looked at Gu Zhi, as if she was watching a joke.
"You, don't dream of becoming a phoenix. A pheasant is a pheasant. Just do your duty well. Maybe my mother will show mercy and find you a concubine in a good family."
Gu Xin raised her eyebrows and looked Gu Zhi up and down.
There are four or five young ladies in the Grand Secretary's Mansion, and the one Gu Xin hates the most is Gu Zhi.
She always felt that Gu Zhi had a kind of coldness and arrogance.
But how can a concubine's daughter be so arrogant
When Ling Xiao came to propose marriage, Liao asked her to behave well, but she didn't expect that he would be attracted to Gu Zhi. Gu Xin had always been very resentful of Gu Zhi, and now that Ling Xiao had such an incident, she had the chance to add insult to injury.