Ju An was how heartbroken, Chu Yunge did not know. It would have been strange if she could think of Xie Wangze at that moment.
The onlookers and the Yan People practicing swordplay were all dumbfounded.
Princess Yongning forcibly snatching common men—they were familiar with that. She had done it before, but snatching so many at once… they had never seen that.
But no matter how incredulous they were, Chu Yunge had indeed snatched them.
Facing the leader’s inquiry, Chu Yunge nodded affirmatively. “That’s right, I want them all. It’s no fun with too few people. This Princess just wants to watch them practice swordplay and sweat.”
The selected Yan People could not accept it and tried to block her according to their agreement, but they simply could not resist Chu Yunge.
“This Princess taking a liking to you is your good fortune. Or have you stayed long enough in the Chu State to get tired of it?”
As soon as these words came out, both sides fell into a standoff.
Yan Feng arrived just in time to save the situation and plead for mercy.
Chu Yunge looked at Yan Feng who had come to the private box and held back her laughter with great effort. “Yan Feng, well done. The act was good too. But why so many people? Are they all willing?”
There were even more than she had imagined—probably three or four hundred people on site.
Yan Feng nodded. “Yes, they are all willing. Everyone knows that Your Highness possesses great wisdom, so they all scrambled to come to your side to receive instruction.”
Now it was Chu Yunge’s turn to be dumbfounded. “What great wisdom?”
Yan Feng seemed a bit embarrassed to speak. “Your Highness said I laugh well, and that I could tell the other Yan People about your previous teachings and instructions. So I promptly shared that knowledge with my junior brothers and sisters. They mentioned a couple of sentences during the sacrificial rites today and immediately drew attention.”
“The masters asked this subordinate, and this subordinate could not deceive them. Moreover, wanting to recruit the best experts, it was best if they recommended and endorsed them. In the end, I said it was Your Highness’s words.”
“The masters were greatly shocked upon hearing it and felt it made perfect sense. They said the Yan People truly needed to make changes. After the sacrificial rites ended, they selected them through martial competitions—these were the elites among this batch of Yan People, and some were chosen for their outstanding appearances as well.”
“Since it was the masters who made the decision, and it went through layers of competitions, the number ended up quite large.”
Chu Yunge: “……”
So after your sacrificial rites, you even held a beauty contest and selected them for me.
“Yan Feng, your masters have hearts that are far too bold. Delivering such fresh and appealing ones right to me—aren’t you afraid I’ll truly ruin them all?”
“This subordinate knows you won’t.” Yan Feng answered immediately, quite trusting.
Chu Yunge chuckled. “How long have you known This Princess? Don’t trust people so easily.”
Yan Feng: “Your Highness didn’t… touch this subordinate either.”
Yan Feng lowered his gaze. “Moreover… Your Highness taking a liking to them is their good fortune. It’s they who are unworthy of Your Highness—how could there be talk of Your Highness ruining them?”
Some people wished to be ruined but couldn’t even achieve that.
Chu Yunge nodded with a smile at Yan Feng’s words. “You’re right. This Princess is so beautiful, outstanding, and of good character—who wouldn’t like her? Unless he doesn’t like women.”
Yan Feng was her best spokesperson among the Yan People, and his attitude was excellent.
Yan Feng nodded seriously. “Exactly.”
Then, feeling guilty, he pleaded for forgiveness. “Please forgive this subordinate, Your Highness. This subordinate shared your words with them and had them come to learn.”
Chu Yunge: “……Your mouth sure is fast.”
She had snatched face servants with the goal of cultivating her own people, but they had other intentions—they had come to study.
The masters were people of great wisdom, but heaven knew, she was no assassin, let alone knowledgeable in assassin techniques. She had only seen assassin movies—would that do?
Whatever. Worst case, she would seriously prepare some lessons for them.
Being able to bluff was a skill too, and it would be greatly useful if they learned it.
Having her protectors improve their abilities was a good thing.
Yan Feng fell silent for a moment. “Because this subordinate doesn’t know when he might die.”
“The Yan People have lived in displacement and suffered enough from delayed message delivery in the past, even leading to the fall of our nation. Later, we were taught that any matter or news must be reported as promptly as possible.”
“The knowledge Your Highness taught is truly precious, so this subordinate wanted to pass it on immediately, thus… Please forgive this subordinate, Your Highness.”
Chu Yunge: “……Are you deliberately trying to make This Princess feel guilty? Your goal is achieved. This Princess doesn’t blame you. After all, you indirectly praised This Princess too.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Yan Feng bowed on behalf of the Yan People again. In the eyes of outsiders, it looked like Yan Feng had spoken enough good words for the Yan People, and the princess had finally shown mercy, not driving the Yan People out of the Chu State.
But the Yan People also had to know their place and not resist anymore.
To atone and to survive, the Yan People were forced to form ranks and practice swordplay again for the princess to appreciate.
The lustful princess, shamelessly, began picking again.
“The one at the far edge—was he selected just now? Add him, and that one, that one, that one… this one.”
Chu Yunge did it on purpose. They had agreed on about a hundred people originally, but these rigorously selected elites were all excellent. Selecting less than a third was not satisfying enough.
A hundred-plus would arouse the emperor’s suspicions anyway, so she might as well select even more outright.
She couldn’t escape his suspicion regardless.
While Chu Yunge held a beauty contest from the second floor, the newly appointed Jimo cleverly bought blue silk ribbons. Whenever Chu Yunge picked one, she tied the ribbon on their wrist, marking them as the princess’s exclusive.
More and more onlookers gathered, buzzing with discussion, but no one was willing to leave—it was simply too thrilling.
Some women verbally decried it as improper, but their eyes grew brighter and brighter, wishing they could sprout ten pairs of eyes. They finally got to experience a bit of the pleasure men felt when visiting brothels to select courtesans.
In the end, everyone watched the people Chu Yunge selected. Not only were they all good-looking, but people also began guessing who she would pick next. Finally, the onlookers couldn’t help but call out.
“Your Highness, the second one from the right in the fifth row.”
Without needing Chu Yunge to speak, Jimo immediately brought the second person from the right in the fifth row forward for Chu Yunge to inspect closely.
Chu Yunge glanced and nodded in satisfaction. “Not bad.”
The person was good, and Jimo was good too.
Seeing Chu Yunge satisfied, Jimo was full of vigor and immediately tied on the ribbon.
This shout, this selection, opened the doors to a new world and thoroughly ignited everyone’s enthusiasm. People’s eyes lit up, and the bold ones began to speak up on Chu Yunge’s behalf.
In the end, Chu Yunge’s conference of forcibly snatching handsome men completely turned into a beauty contest.
A real beauty contest.
Some recommended, some objected.
“He looks good, but his shoulders aren’t broad enough.”
“Your Highness, this one in the sixth row has long legs!”
With emotions running high and the safety of the crowd, hiding among the masses where one might not be noticed, they spoke freely, their words growing more direct.
“This one’s good, but his butt isn’t perky enough.”
“This one is perky!”
“But this one’s too skinny…”
Chu Yunge seemed to be enjoying the selections and didn’t mind their outbursts. “Skinny doesn’t matter. Once they’re in This Princess’s mansion, will there be any fear of not fattening them up? The important thing is a good foundation.”
In the end, with everyone actively contributing and adhering to the principle of not letting a single good one slip by, they picked out all those with solid foundations one by one.
Later, Chu Yunge’s predatory grasp even extended to half-grown boys and older men.
“This child is cute. Take him.”
“This one’s older, but not bad. Take him.”
Yan Feng said this was a grandmaster who had to go to the Princess Mansion to discipline and restrain the other Yan People.
Yan Feng was still young after all, and as Chu Yunge’s personal bodyguard, he had to stay by her side at all times and lacked the time and energy to manage them, so someone had to do it. In the end, they picked the best-looking among the grandmasters.
Finally, Chu Yunge had selected over two hundred people—more than expected.
The dark mass of people left the crowd incredulous. They thought she would pick more, but Chu Yunge waved her hand. “Take them all back.”
News of Chu Yunge spread back to the palace at the fastest speed.
At that time, the Chu Emperor was watching the bound Xie Wangze.