The group immediately strode into the room dedicated to selling talismans and Magic Tools.
Inside, Daoist Ma was busy organizing his things. He had just heard the commotion outside when several sturdy men barged in. A series of crashes followed as the incense burner, wooden tablets, talismans, and various so-called consecrated Magic Tools on the table were all swept onto the floor.
“Stop!”
Daoist Ma’s face paled, and he hurriedly stood up to intervene.
“Who are you people? How dare you commit such vandalism in the City God Temple? Do you not fear being taken before the magistrate?”
“You have the gall to talk about the magistrate?”
One guard sneered, shoving over a wooden rack filled with talismans.
“You charlatan, you even dared to swindle our Second Young Miss. You must be tired of living!”
“You...”
Daoist Ma’s expression turned incredibly grim.
Only now did he realize that these people were likely at his door because of that five-tael exorcism talisman.
However, he couldn't understand it. He had been selling those talismans for years and no one had ever come back to cause trouble. How could this young lady possibly know the talisman was useless?
Could it be...
A thought suddenly flashed through Daoist Ma’s mind. Could this young lady’s household truly have provoked some malevolent entity?
Otherwise, how could an ordinary person judge whether a talisman was effective or not?
The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. But with his room already trashed and in disarray, he had no mind left for such considerations. He hurriedly ran out from the inner room and bowed deeply toward Xie Zhaofan.
“Please appease your anger, young lady! Young lady, please calm yourself! This might all be a misunderstanding. I am willing to compensate you—double compensation!”
Xie Zhaofan felt she had done enough, but when she heard the words “double compensation,” her footsteps paused.
She looked at Daoist Ma through the veil of her hat.
“What did you say?”
Daoist Ma felt a surge of relief and hurriedly said, “Double! Ten taels of silver. I will pay it to you immediately, young lady. I only ask that you stay your hand and smash no more.”
“Since you admit your fault, hand it over then.”
Xie Zhaofan agreed so briskly that Daoist Ma was caught off guard for a moment.
He had expected her to continue haggling or making things difficult, but she clearly had no intention of wasting more time on him.
Though his heart ached terribly, losing ten taels was better than continuing to offend a person of high status. He could only grit his teeth and pay.
Daoist Ma turned and went back to the inner room, retrieving a ten-tael silver ingot from a small box and handing it over with a look of extreme pain.
Chunxing took the silver, weighed it in her hand, and couldn't help but huff.
“You've got a lot of nerve to swindle my lady's money. Truly, your audacity is great.”
She couldn't resist spitting at the scraps of talisman paper on the ground before they left.
The surrounding pilgrims finally gathered enough from the exchange to understand what had happened, and they began to whisper among themselves.
“So Daoist Ma was selling fake talismans?”
“That shouldn't be right. I bought a Safety Talisman from him before and it felt quite effective.”
“Who knows? That young lady doesn't look like an ordinary person. Surely she wouldn't come all this way to make a scene over just five taels?”
“It could also be a case of the powerful bullying the weak. Who knows what goes through the minds of the nobility...”
The various murmurs blended together. Some defended Daoist Ma while others felt he deserved it, making the scene quite lively for a moment.
Xie Zhaofan completely ignored them.
She had come today primarily to vent her frustration, not to tear down the entire City God Temple.
She had maintained her sense of proportion from start to finish, only trashing the things Daoist Ma used for his scams. She hadn't touched the incense or the divine statues in the Main Hall, nor had she let the guards actually harm anyone.
Now that the things were smashed, the charlatan lectured, and the ten-tael compensation secured, the lingering annoyance in her heart had naturally vanished.
“Let’s go.”
Xie Zhaofan turned and prepared to leave in her carriage. But before the carriage had traveled far from the City God Temple, a clear and stern voice suddenly rang out from behind.
“Which family’s young lady is so unruly? To ignore the laws, smash property in broad daylight, and then try to leave as if nothing happened?”
Xie Zhaofan’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. She lifted the carriage curtain and looked forward.
Standing on the street ahead of the City God Temple was a young man who had appeared at some unknown point.
He appeared to be in his early twenties, wearing a teal brocade robe and a jade belt. He was handsome, with the upright and scholarly air of a literatus, and one could tell at a glance that he came from a noble background.
However...
Xie Zhaofan took one look and withdrew her gaze with a lack of interest.
A handsome man? She had seen plenty of those lately.
From the cold, domineering, and formidable Prince Qin to the bright, handsome, and martial Luo Qingchi, good-looking young men were no longer enough to elicit any special reaction from her.
In fact, she was a bit annoyed.
“Who are you?”
The young man clearly didn't expect her to be so direct, and his brow furrowed slightly.
Xie Zhaofan asked further, “Do you even know what happened just now? How dare you claim to represent the law?”
“I serve in the Court of Judicial Review; therefore, I naturally have the authority to question illegal acts within the capital.”
The man’s voice was steady, carrying an unquestionable sense of justice.
“Regardless of the reason, you cannot commit vandalism in the streets and show such blatant disregard for the law.”
As his words fell, some of the commoners who were just watching for entertainment began to cheer.
“Well said!”
“As expected of an official from the Court of Judicial Review!”
“Exactly! One shouldn't be lawless just because they are a lady of an official’s house!”
Listening to those voices, Xie Zhaofan felt like laughing instead.
The Court of Judicial Review?
She sized him up for a moment. He was young and certainly carried himself with official dignity, but judging by his aura, his rank was likely not very high.
She wasn't afraid of him, but she was slightly concerned about this matter reaching Xie Chongshan’s ears.
After all, she had finally managed to ease the tension with her cheap father lately. If word got out that she led people to smash up the City God Temple, Xie Chongshan might resort to Confinement or the rod again.
But then she thought better of it. In this life, the most important thing was her own comfort.
To constantly wrong herself for the sake of a sliver of unreliable fatherly love was truly unnecessary.
Thus, she pushed aside the curtain and looked at the young official without a shred of politeness.
“Looking at your age, have you even reached the Sixth Rank?”
The young official’s face immediately stiffened.
“You...”
“If you haven't even reached the Sixth Rank, how dare you meddle in my business?”
Xie Zhaofan’s tone was calm, even carrying a hint of take-it-for-granted logic.
“Even Prince Qin speaks to me with courtesy. Who the hell do you think you are?”
The moment those words came out, the surrounding area fell into a sudden silence.
No one expected that this young lady would invoke the name of Prince Qin so casually.
The young official’s expression changed visibly as well.
In the entire official circles of the capital, there was a consensus almost everyone shared: one would rather offend King Yama than ever provoke Prince Qin.
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