At the third quarter of the mao hour, the gilded carriage of Prince Zhenbei's Estate stopped at the side gate of the Marquis's Mansion. Jiang Wan lifted the curtain, bumping straight into a box of preserved fruit hurled by Princess Ren Yao. "Look at the filth filling the streets! Yesterday when I went to Cien Temple to pray, someone actually said I was colluding with you!"
Ren Yao was dressed in a madder-red riding outfit, the jade pendant at her waist swaying gently with her movements—the very one Jiang Wan's mother had given her years ago. Jiang Wan caught the box, her fingertips brushing against a sheet of xuan paper pressed beneath the candied fruit. On it was a dense list of twenty prominent Capital families, all of whom had stamped the "Rumor Clarification Alliance" with vermilion seals.
"Thank you for troubling yourself on my behalf." Jiang Wan shared the preserved fruits with Lüluo, her gaze falling upon the pageboy standing behind Ren Yao. The person was holding several bundles of yellow paper, the corners of which bore the words "Marquis's Mansion Notice."
Chapter 243