“Thank you, miss! Thank you, miss!” The woman was also anxious to quickly stop her daughter’s head wound from bleeding, thanking her repeatedly.

She looked back at the government office. Now that things had escalated, if she left at this time, she feared she would have no way to seek justice for her husband.

From the corner of her eye, the woman spotted a familiar neighbor in the crowd. She hurriedly shouted at her neighbor with a hoarse voice, crying and pleading: “Auntie, auntie… please follow this lord and take my daughter to the medical hall first. I… I still need to stay here to seek justice for my husband! Auntie, for this great kindness, I’ll work like an ox or horse to repay you in this lifetime!”

“Alright, alright, alright! Don’t worry! I’ll go with them!” The auntie responded, quickly pressing down on the handkerchief the woman had placed on the little girl’s forehead, and trotted alongside the guards toward the medical hall.

“Miss!” Seeing her daughter had someone familiar to care for her, the woman knelt directly before Bai Qingyan. Not caring that her hands were covered with her daughter’s blood, she reached out to grab Bai Qingyan’s clothing hem, like someone in desperate straits who had seen a lifeline. “Miss, I can tell you have an extraordinarily noble status. Please seek justice for my husband! My husband couldn’t bear to see Prince Han’s body, who died for the people, being mistreated by Dongyi, so he wanted to go to Dongyi to steal Prince Han’s remains. But he was beaten to death in prison! Please, miss… seek justice for my husband, don’t let him die in vain!”

The woman kowtowed heavily, raising the blood-written petition with both hands.

The woman wasn’t stupid. The handsome young man who had been protecting the woman before her had angrily inquired where the county magistrate was, showing that his status was higher than the county magistrate’s. Then… this miss being protected by that handsome man must have an extremely noble status, perhaps even the Great Zhou’s Prince Regent.

“Sister-in-law, please stand up first!” Bai Qingyan bent down to help the woman up, gripping the woman’s hands and the blood-written petition in them. “Rest assured, within Great Zhou’s borders, I will absolutely not let any citizen die unjustly!”

The woman raised her tear-filled eyes to look at the woman before her, whose inner strength was evident and whose voice rang with determination. She wanted to ask about this woman’s identity, to know if she could truly seek justice for her husband, but her throat was swollen with grief, and she couldn’t make a sound.

Bai Qingyan took the blood-written petition from the woman, briefly scanned it, then looked toward those people whose chests were still heaving, their anger not yet fully subsided, and walked toward the high steps of the government office.

Bai Family guards and plainclothes imperial guards immediately stepped forward to protect Bai Qingyan as she proceeded. Though the people didn’t know who this person was, seeing her imposing manner, they knew this person’s status was extraordinary. Perhaps also subdued by the solemn whip crack earlier and the autumn frost and summer thunder authority radiating from the woman who had stridden forward, they spontaneously made way.

Bai Qingyan, protected by guards and flanked by Bai Qingjue and Bai Jinzhi, walked up the high steps of the government office, then turned to face the confused people. They secretly wondered in their hearts what this woman who had arrived with well-trained guards intended to do, and couldn’t help speculating about her identity.

“I’ve read the blood petition. Today, many citizens have gathered outside this government office to seek justice for the righteous-minded butcher, to seek justice for… Prince Han, who died fighting for the people, not to cause trouble through rioting!” Bai Qingyan’s clear, steady voice was extremely penetrating. “Attacking and smashing the government office won’t achieve justice, but will only increase misunderstandings between officials and citizens, escalating to an uncontrollable situation!”

She raised her hand, pointing toward Dongyi: “Right now, the barbarian thieves of Dongyi are watching covetously, stirring restlessly, intending to use Prince Han’s remains to provoke conflict between the coastal people and the court. At such a time, we people of Great Zhou… must not injure our hearts and lungs, or it will only bring pain to our loved ones and joy to our enemies!”

“When has the Great Zhou court ever considered us coastal lowlifes as Great Zhou citizens? The emperor simply doesn’t care about our coastal lowlifes’ lives or deaths—the emperor only cares about winning the national gamble!”

“Exactly! That’s right! Prince Han died in battle protecting us fishermen and the Great Zhou envoys! Now his body is being mistreated by Dongyi, and the Great Zhou emperor neither dares come to retrieve Prince Han’s body nor dares fight Dongyi! Could it be… he would care about us coastal lowlifes’ lives or deaths!”

“Exactly! Maybe the emperor has already sent envoys to Dongyi to seek peace! When we were all still Great Liang citizens, when did we ever suffer such humiliation? Even our own war general’s corpse is being mistreated by a small country like Dongyi!”

“What nonsense about Great Zhou being stronger than Great Liang—bah!”

Just as the hot-tempered man finished speaking, Bai Jinzhi became indignant and was about to crack her whip: “Say that again!”

Bai Qingyan pressed down on the whip at Bai Jinzhi’s waist. Before she could speak, the government office doors opened wide, and the county magistrate frantically emerged holding up his official robes. Too panicked, he tripped and fell to the ground. After glancing at Bai Qingyan holding the blood petition, he immediately recognized her identity and crawled on hands and knees to Bai Qingyan’s feet, prostrating himself humbly: “This… this official… Jin Wan County Magistrate respectfully welcomes Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty! This official didn’t know of Your Majesty’s arrival and failed to welcome you from afar—please forgive this transgression, Your Majesty!”

The coastal people who had just been stirred to passion saw the county magistrate leading numerous bailiffs kneeling and shouting long live, all staring in disbelief at the woman standing beneath the government office plaque with her sharp, distinguished bearing. For a moment, they forgot to kneel.

Though Dongyi had said the Great Zhou emperor must personally come to claim Prince Han’s body, none of the coastal people had imagined the emperor would risk coming to the coast personally.

Among the people, someone was the first to react and quickly knelt. They couldn’t hide their shock, deeply moved in their hearts. Some women and children even knelt and wept. They had all thought the emperor, focused solely on winning the national gamble, would surely abandon the coastal people. But unexpectedly, the emperor had not only not abandoned them but had… come to the coast. How could they not be surprised?

Seeing the people kneeling and kowtowing one by one, the butcher’s wife finally realized what was happening. Remembering Bai Qingyan’s earlier words that within Great Zhou’s borders she would not let any citizen die unjustly, she crawled forward on her knees, crying and kowtowing: “Your Majesty… Your Majesty, please give my husband justice, don’t let him die in vain!”

The people kneeling before the government office, because of the emperor’s sudden arrival, felt that… the emperor was not as they had speculated, not treating them as non-citizens of Great Zhou. Their emotions surged—there was gratitude, grievance, and even more hatred toward Dongyi. Especially among the people were fishermen who had been protected by Prince Han when going to sea and protected by Prince Han when safely returning home. They kowtowed to Bai Qingyan: “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we beg you to bring Prince Han back! Prince Han died in battle protecting us fishermen so we could return home safely! We cannot let the hero’s remains be stranded in foreign lands, unable to return home!”

“We beg Your Majesty to bring back Prince Han!”