The yard in the princess"s manor was quiet and serene.

Qing Ling was sweeping the dried leaves in the yard. She raised her head and saw Feng Ruqing, who had just walked out of the room. Qing Ling was so scared that she shook fearfully and she dropped the broom in her hands.

"Qing Ling."

Feng Ruqing smiled and walked toward Qing Ling.

Her smile was sweet, but it made Qing Ling so frightened that Qing Ling screamed, turned, and ran away. 

Feng Ruqing"s face immediately darkened.

"Why did this girl run away when she saw me? Am I that frightening?"

Liu Li appeared in front of Feng Ruqing when her face was darkened. 

"Liu Li, you…" Feng Ruqing shouted happily.

Clink!

Liu Li was so startled that she dropped the gla.s.s in her hand. She looked up anxiously and bit her lip.

"Princess… you"re awake?"

"Liu Li, what happened? Why do I feel that you"re afraid of me?"

"..."

Liu Li kept quiet.

How should she reply?

How could Qing Ling tell the princess that she tore their clothes like a beast just a few hours ago? Could Qing Ling say that she even humiliated them? Qing Ling could not bring herself to tell the truth. The truth was truly unspeakable.

Moreover, what could be done even if Qing Ling told the truth? Did they want the princess to be responsible for it? Would His Majesty not just kill them instead?

"Princess, Qing Ling and I were just frightened by the snow wolf today. We haven"t recovered from that."

"Is Little Wolfie that daring so as to bully you?" Feng Ruqing sneered and gnawed her teeth in anger. 

"Just don"t feed him the Divine-Spirit Fruit these few days. Give it a lesson."

Feng Ruqing patted Liu Li"s shoulder after this.

"The time is late. Stop cleaning up and go and rest now."

This cleanliness of the princess"s manor was always the responsibilities of these two palace maids because Feng Ruqing did not hire any more palace maids. They were exhausted these past few days. It was time for her to hire more spirit beasts.

***

The snow wolf was resting at the mountain when suddenly its nose was itchy, and it sneezed.

It used its paws to rub at its nose. It felt that there must be somebody who was talking about it.

It did not care about that much. It turned and continued to lie on the spirit herb farm. It hugged the Divine-Spirit Fruit tree, smiled in satisfaction, and continued its rest.

 ***

The next day.

The sunlight was warm and nice.

The snow wolf turned, getting ready to wake up. Suddenly, a large face appeared in front of it. The face smiled at it. The snow wolf was so scared that it woke up quickly.

Its paws were patting at its own chest to sooth the quickening heartbeat.

The snow wolf was scared and frightened. "There must be something wrong with this human. If not, why would her smile be so wicked?"

"Little Wolfie, I heard that you bullied my palace maids?" Feng Ruqing crossed her arms and looked down on the snow wolf. Her smile was bright like the sunlight. It made the snow wolf so scared that it had gooseb.u.mps. It sneezed.

"Bully people? How could I do that? I"m not so daring and brave. Moreover, they"re under the princess"s protection."

"You"re so honest to admit it. Then, I"ll just stop you from eating the Divine-Spirit Fruit for three days only."

"..."

The snow wolf was stunned.

"I admitted that I bullied the palace maids? When did I admit that?

"This vile human! How could she put words into my mouth, knowing that I cannot speak?"

The snow wolf was so angry that its fur stood on end. The spirit beasts around the place were frightened, and all of them came and stood around the snow wolf and Feng Ruqing. The spirit beasts looked at the snow wolf vigilantly. They were afraid that the snow wolf would attack Feng Ruqing.