17 Troubles

"Master, are you really going to let Xia Wen Ya go like this? Even though her image is ruined but she hasn't fallen entirely due to the General's Manor" Xiao Bai was curious, despite previously reprimanding Xiao Hong about what she was doing she just couldn't take it anymore, why is her master letting that b*tch off like this, her master has never been a soft-hearted person.

"You'll know soon" Zi Hua was reading this novel about an arrogant female who's going around slapping faces.

"Master please tell meeeee! My curiosity is killing me, please, pretty please. It feels like when you reach the last chapter of a novel that you really like and you have to wait for the next update, don't you understand my pain right now" Xiao Hong was super, super duper curious about what her master had planned, it seemed like the naive little spirit beast had found a new hobby, watching drama unfold.

But Zi Hua remained unmoved and carried on reading her novel.

A cheeky idea popped into Xiao Hong's juvenile mind.

Xiao Hong transformed into her baby state and started giving sparkly puppy eyes to Zi Hua, Xiao Bai followed after her in the same manner.

Giving a sigh, Zi Hua reluctantly relented.

"If it was just ruining her reputation, she would lose her reputation but with the General's Manor's might she won't end up in jeopardy"

"And with her personality she won't take this lying down"

"So lets wait for her next move" Though, she wouldn't let her off that easily, that day she had discreetly sprinkled some crushed poison elixir onto the two sisters' faces. As someone who studies medicine, she's obviously great with poisons too.

"What?" Even Xiao Zi lost his usual calm composure, from their understanding of their master, she would never give her enemies a chance to attack and ruthlessly beat them up without giving them a chance to evade or attack back, they personally saw some spirit beasts getting beaten until black and blue by her so swiftly that they didn't have the chance to counterattack.

"My intuition tells me so" Zi Hua understood the three's confusion, after all it was very different from her usual style of doing things.

However, she trusts her intuition that was honed through so many life-threatening missions.

The three of them no longer opened their mouths and stayed there silently, musing.

.....

For some reason, the emperor refused the Crown Prince's request, many thought of it as him giving face to General's Manor, but Zi Hua wasn't convinced, from what her subordinates had gathered the General's Manor has become weaker these few years due to the sudden loss of several experts and unpromising General Xia, this was the perfect chance for the emperor to suppress them, after all no ruler would want their subordinates to be more powerful than them in fear of being over-thrown.

The emperor's actions just further proved Zi Hua's suspicions, something must've of happened and it's most likely to do with Xia Wen Ya.

Unfortunately her subordinates, despite using their skills weren't able to find much apart from the fact that the Crown Prince's only son has disappeared, however the Crown Prince hasn't found out yet.

More accurately speaking, the Crown Prince doesn't care about that son of his anymore, that son's mother is the woman who could possibly prevent him form getting the throne, not to mention he can always have more children.

The child's disappearance caused Zi Hua's eyebrows to scrunch up, she could guess that the child wasn't in a pleasant situation.

"Master, we found leads to Xing Wu Xun's whereabouts" Anemone appeared in the room and reported her findings.

"Xia Wen Ya had lead a black-cloaked man into Xing Wu Xun's room and the boy had since disappeared"

"Oh?" Zi Hua calmly listened to the findings, she had sent someone to monitor Xia Wen Ya but it seemed that her subordinate got knocked out, she had thought that sending a Mid Staged Martial Lord would be enough but it seems not, the enemy most likely was at least and High Stage Martial Lord.

Thankfully, Zi Hua had sent a Mid Stage Martial Overlord to keep an eye on the prince, but it seemed that they had been too occupied and didn't have the chance to help the Martial Lord.

What Zi Hua didn't know was that all her subordinates had a unspoken consensus to help her, even the slightest bit, at the cost of their lives, if she knew, she would be moved to tears.

Thankfully, her subordinate didn't suffer any injuries but just fainted and had woken up already.

"Convey my thanks to the Martial Lord" If her subordinate hadn't done their job properly they wouldn't even have a single lead.

"Yes master" Anemone left the room and into the shadows silently, like a ninja.

.....

Ever since the exam you couldn't even see the shadow of the second and fourth miss of General's Manor.

In the General's Manor and Crown Prince Estate, both sisters had shut themselves in their rooms refusing any interaction since 2 days after the exam.

Unknown to the people around them, the two had become horrendous, their appearance differed little from monsters currently, Xia Hen Chun was too ashamed and with her prideful character she didn't want to let anyone see her like this, while Xia Wen Ya had just managed to retain her position and if she was found out, things would go badly. She didn't dare ask 'Great Master Dai' again since it was already a stretch when he helped her last time.

They suffered silently imprisoned their rooms.