The time when Shijing Xian entered this task was not hard to identify.

In the fifth year of Ji Xuanran and Yuan Xiao’s marriage, Yuan Xiao led his troops to expel the high-level plant, the Cracked Tooth Fruit, which had long plagued Country A. For this, Country A held an incredibly grand celebration banquet in honor of Yuan Xiao. At this banquet, Yuan Xiao personally rejected the beautiful woman gifted by the king, declaring that in this life, he only wanted Ji Xuanran.

Ji Xuanran’s last line of defense was thus breached. He became deeply entangled, presenting a heart as red as fire entirely to Yuan Xiao—only to have it sliced and crushed by Yuan Xiao piece by piece.

Shijing Xian was about to attend this very celebration banquet. According to Ji Xuanran’s memories, Yuan Xiao had already entered the banquet hall at this time, and the two would soon have a direct encounter. However, before that, he had another problem to solve.

“Princess Linna, Apothecary Ji just walked this way.”

The spoiled voice grew closer, and Shijing Xian instinctively touched his empty left wrist before turning and walking toward the other end of the corridor he had already scouted. He wasn’t in a hurry, and as Linna and her guards turned into the corridor, they just caught a glimpse of his back disappearing at the end of the hallway.

“Ji Xuanran! Stop right there!”

Linna’s voice was anything but polite.

By the time she caught up, Shijing Xian was standing not far from the corner, turning to look at her.

“Your Highness.”

Above the corridor hung one plump crystal after another, and bright light spilled from the crystals, gently illuminating the young man’s hair and shoulders.

However, even though these crystals were the fiery Fire Crystals, Linna suddenly felt a chill enveloping her. The young man standing before her seemed to have been soaked in an icy spring, radiating a bone-chilling coldness.

She widened her eyes, adorned with long false eyelashes, and scrutinized Shijing Xian closely, only to find that he looked no different from usual.

…Could it have been her illusion just now?

Linna eyed Shijing Xian suspiciously until even the guards beside her couldn’t help but cast curious glances. It was only then that she suddenly realized.

No, how could she be stunned by a lowly commoner?

Linna, furious and embarrassed, doubled down on her arrogance, “Are you deaf? I called you so many times, and you just keep walking forward!”

Shijing Xian remained calm, “The banquet is about to start, Your Highness. Aren’t you going over as well?”

Linna wanted to lash out again, but upon hearing the word “banquet,” she barely managed to suppress her anger. She impatiently waved her hand at the guards, sending them away, and after confirming that no one would come down the corridor for the time being, she spoke again.

“Ji Xuanran, you haven’t forgotten who it was that gave Yuan Xiao to you back then, have you?”

Shijing Xian scoffed inwardly.

It was indeed exactly as Ji Xuanran remembered.

This spoiled Princess Linna was the indirect catalyst for Ji Xuanran and Yuan Xiao’s marriage. Linna had grown up alongside Ji Xuanran, who was adopted by the royal family, but she had never looked at him with any respect due to his commoner background. Linna was particularly sensitive to the class differences between nobles and commoners, so when the royal family wanted to marry her off to Yuan Xiao, she vehemently opposed it and even cried to her aunt, the queen, several times.

In the end, it was Yuan Xiao who, not wanting to sour relations with the royal family, took the initiative to propose marrying Ji Xuanran, who was of a similar age, to help smooth things over for the headstrong princess.

At that time, although Yuan Xiao had already begun to show his talents, attracting the royal family’s interest, he was still relatively weak in foundation and not very well-known, which made Linna look down on him.

However, five years had passed, and Yuan Xiao’s abilities had become increasingly outstanding, rising to the rank of Marshal, second only to the king. Recently, he had single-handedly expelled the Cracked Tooth Fruit that had long troubled Country A, becoming the first human on the entire continent to successfully defeat a high-level plant.

So now, before this grand celebration banquet held specifically for Yuan Xiao, Linna had changed her mind and wanted to take back the Marshal she had once given away from Ji Xuanran.

Shijing Xian had no intention of understanding where this princess got her confidence. He frowned and said seriously, “What do you mean by that, Your Highness? The Marshal is not an object to be given or taken at will. He has just returned victorious today, and such words are rather offensive to him. I hope you will choose your words carefully.”

Linna, unable to threaten him, was instead countered, and her anger flared up, “Ji Xuanran, don’t push your luck! The person the king bestowed upon was clearly me; I am the legitimate wife of Yuan Xiao!”

Shijing Xian maintained his composure and glanced at the nearby lounge, then said with a hint of struggle in his voice, “But… Your Highness, you rejected this marriage back then.”

There were three corridors leading to the side doors of the banquet hall; the other two were bustling with people, while the corridor he had deliberately chosen required a long detour due to the lounge built next to it.

In other words, this corridor was built for that lounge. With the banquet about to start, everyone was eager to head to the banquet hall, and the lounge should have been empty by now, which was why Linna was so sure that no one would come here to take the long way around.

Otherwise, she would have to forcefully drag him to her lounge to threaten him, just like she would with the real Ji Xuanran.

Linna was unaware of Shijing Xian’s true thoughts; she only saw the apparent lack of confidence he was displaying. Seeing this, Linna became even more assertive, “So what? Yuan Xiao is mine; he belongs to me alone!”

Alright. Shijing Xian was quite satisfied; he found Linna to be more straightforward than he had imagined, with every word she spoke hitting the mark.

However, on the surface, Shijing Xian still put on a disapproving expression. After so many tasks, his ability to control his expressions had been honed to perfection in real combat.

Linna huffed, “Whether you like it or not, this is the truth. Be careful at today’s banquet; if you ruin my plans, not just the king, but Yuan Xiao won’t let you off easily either.”

Shijing Xian sighed slightly, as if finding her unreasonable, “The banquet is about to start; I have things to attend to. You should head over early, Your Highness.”

Unexpectedly, Linna refused to let him go, “What could you possibly have to do? If you don’t hand Yuan Xiao over today, don’t even think about leaving!”

She was smug, “Anyway, I can enter with my aunt. Come on, let’s see who can outlast whom.”

Shijing Xian was not surprised; after all, in Ji Xuanran’s memories, Linna had also clung on like this, causing Ji Xuanran to miss the task of picking someone up.

“Sorry, but I need to go pick up the Marshal’s parents. As for what you mentioned, let’s discuss it at the banquet.”

“No way!” Linna flatly refused, frowning in disgust, “Why do you need to pick them up? Commoners are just commoners; they won’t even be able to attend the banquet.”

Shijing Xian’s voice turned cold, “Your Highness, please mind your words. They are the Marshal’s elders.”

He distractedly listened and indeed heard faint sounds coming from the lounge.

Linna, impatient, replied, “So what? Why do you care?”

She was fed up with Ji Xuanran’s preachy attitude; back then, she had looked down on Yuan Xiao himself, let alone his parents.

“I heard his parents are garbage pickers?” Linna said deliberately, exaggerating as she waved her hand in front of her nose, her face filled with disgust, “Tsk, they won’t bring garbage with them today, will they? How filthy…”

“Bang!”

The door to the lounge was suddenly pushed open with a loud crash, startling Linna, who had yet to finish her sentence. Before she could see who it was, she heard a voice sharper than her own.

“Who are you calling dirty, you little brat?!”

A middle-aged woman with a fierce expression stormed out, roughly rolling up the sleeves of her brand-new clothes, her chubby arms crossed over her ample waist.

“Try saying that again! I’ll tear your mouth apart!”

Linna, having grown up as a princess in the royal family, was momentarily taken aback by the coarse insults, and she stuttered.

“Y-You… who are you to insult me?!”

At the side, Shijing Xian feigned surprise, “Madam Yuan…?”

The middle-aged woman huffed; she clearly didn’t think much of Ji Xuanran either.

As she spoke, a dull middle-aged man also followed her out of the lounge.

Linna quickly reacted, “You are Yuan Xiao’s parents?”

Upon realizing the identity of Yuan’s mother, Linna felt a surge of embarrassment and anger. She pointed a finger at Yuan’s mother’s nose, “What right do you have to scold me?! Am I wrong? Aren’t you just a couple of garbage pickers?”

Yuan’s mother’s expression darkened as she forcefully swatted Linna’s hand away.

“Smack!”

The back of Linna’s hand immediately turned red.

“Y-You dare hit me…?!”

“I’m hitting you! Let me tell you, I hate it most when others point their fingers at me!”

“You, you…” Linna’s eyes turned red with anger as she shouted, “Guards! Where are the guards?!”

The two were embroiled in a heated argument, and the scene was chaotic. Shijing Xian pretended to mediate for a moment before turning to the anxious Yuan’s father beside him, “Uncle, we can’t persuade them here; why don’t you go get the Marshal?”

Yuan’s father was a stutterer; he couldn’t speak when nervous. He nodded blankly and hurried toward the banquet hall downstairs.

Shijing Xian continued to mediate, but his mind was on Yuan’s mother’s earlier words.

—“I hate it most when others point their fingers at me.”

At that time, Ji Xuanran had been dragged into his lounge by Linna and threatened; he couldn’t shake off her unreasonable insistence, so when Ji Xuanran arrived at the lounge, Yuan Xiao’s parents, who were supposed to accompany him, had already left.

Ji Xuanran rushed to the banquet hall and saw Yuan’s mother sternly talking to Yuan Xiao. He took a few steps forward, and before he could even apologize, he was slapped by Yuan’s mother, leaving him stunned in place.

The banquet hall was filled with the fragrance of fine food and the sound of clinking glasses. Although the most esteemed King had yet to arrive, many nobles had already gathered. This loud slap drowned out the soft music and quiet conversations in the room, making Ji Xuanran the laughingstock in front of everyone.

In the vast banquet hall, Yuan’s mother’s scolding echoed in every corner. She accused Ji Xuanran of having ulterior motives, disrespecting his elders, and deliberately leaving her and Yuan’s father waiting for so long.

Yuan Xiao was born in a poor area, and Yuan’s mother was a formidable character who could outshout an entire street. Her powerful scolding made many nobles frown. Yuan’s mother, however, took the silence and astonished expressions in the hall as proof of her victory, only stopping when Yuan Xiao finally spoke, and she didn’t forget to spit out one last insult in her dialect directed at Ji Xuanran.

Ji Xuanran understood that last phrase in the dialect. After their marriage, Yuan’s father and mother often used dialect to give him orders, and since he couldn’t understand, Yuan Xiao had him learn it specifically. That phrase was so vulgar that Ji Xuanran had never encountered it in his life, but now, he had lost count of how many times he had been scolded like that in front of his beloved.

And while Yuan’s mother scolded him, Yuan Xiao never intervened. He only said that his mother had not received a good education and asked Ji Xuanran to be more understanding of his elders.

So, the very Yuan’s mother who claimed to hate being pointed at had just pointed her finger at Ji Xuanran and scolded him for so long in public.

Shijing Xian thought for a moment and continued to mediate between the two who were almost about to come to blows, “Madam, please calm down. The princess indeed has a deep admiration for the Marshal; otherwise, she wouldn’t bring up the matter of marrying the Marshal again after five years…”

Linna looked down on commoners, and Yuan’s mother had a very poor impression of her as well. When Yuan Xiao was bestowed in marriage, Linna had refused to marry down, and this matter had always been a thorn in Yuan’s mother’s heart. Shijing Xian’s mention of five years ago was practically pouring oil on the fire.

Meanwhile, Linna was still screaming, “I will tell Yuan Xiao about this! I will never let you off!”

Yuan’s mother slapped her again, “Shameless thing! He is my son; he only listens to me!”

Hearing Linna’s cries, the guards rushed over, just in time to witness this scene. However, they were still a step too late; by the time they separated the two who were grappling, Linna’s right cheek had already swollen up.

“Arrest her! Arrest her!”

Linna covered her red and swollen right cheek, crying and shouting. Attacking a member of the royal family was a serious crime, and the guards immediately moved to detain Yuan’s mother. Just as Shijing Xian was about to intervene, he suddenly heard a voice from not far away.

“Everyone, stop!”

Upon hearing this voice, Linna couldn’t help but cry out in grievance, “Aunt!”

She pushed past the guards, ready to complain to the queen, but was left stunned.

In addition to the queen, many nobles attending the celebration banquet had followed her. A quick glance revealed that the stairs leading to the banquet hall were almost filled with people.

So many nobles, either surprised or disdainful, directly witnessed Linna’s face marked with slap prints and Yuan’s mother being forcibly restrained by the guards.

【Ding——Task repair progress, 2%】

A notification sound rang in Shijing Xian’s ears, but his expression remained unchanged as his gaze fell on the tall man to the left of the queen.

The man was handsome and tall, with a calm demeanor. Even among the crowd of nobles, he stood out remarkably.

Shijing Xian turned to the guards and whispered, “This is the Marshal’s mother; the Marshal is here too. Why aren’t you letting her go quickly?”