Commander Zheng smiled and said, “Miss Qin and Young Masters Qin need not worry. Lord Qin is perfectly fine. You’ll see once you go inside.”

Qin Yining quickly expressed her thanks and entered the door behind Commander Zheng together with Qin Han and Qin Yu.

The furnishings inside the room were no different from an ordinary household’s main hall. As soon as they crossed the threshold, they saw Qin Huaiyuan sitting upright in the seat of honor with a face as dark as water. Behind him stood four attendants with ordinary faces—the kind of common faces that would be impossible to pick out if thrown into a crowd.

“Father, are you alright?” Qin Yining hurried forward. “Are you injured?”

“Yes, Uncle, we just heard that something happened to you, and we were all frightened to death,” Qin Han also said.

Seeing his own children and nephews, Qin Huaiyuan finally showed a slight smile. “I’m fine. Fortunately, the people with me caught me, otherwise if I had fallen from the sedan and been trampled by the galloping horses, you might not be seeing me alive.”

Hearing this, Qin Yining’s heart trembled.

“Father, the road from court dismissal to our residence is in the capital’s bustling commercial district. How could there be a herd of horses?”

Qin Huaiyuan said, “I was also surprised. At the foot of the Son of Heaven, there was actually a group of young masters racing horses in the street, not caring whether pedestrians would be injured. Today they collided with my sedan, but what if tomorrow they trample someone to death?”

Seeing Qin Huaiyuan sitting there brooding, Qin Yining guessed there was something fishy about this, especially since today’s horse racers were a group of officials’ children.

The Great Zhou’s laws were indeed fairly sound.

But sound laws only constrained ordinary people, while these officials’ children’s fathers, brothers, or grandfathers were the very people who created these laws.

In this era, having bad deeds covered up was nothing unusual.

Qin Han and Qin Yu’s faces also didn’t look good. After all, they had come from the Great Yan Dynasty and experienced the rule of a tyrannical emperor.

They couldn’t help but worry about this country. A nation’s corruption wasn’t formed overnight but was inevitably created through long-term erosion.

Now that the Great Zhou had been established for only a short time and such situations were already appearing, they were very worried about the future.

Just as the room fell silent, the door was pushed open and Commander Zheng walked in.

Qin Huaiyuan looked toward Commander Zheng with a calm expression and asked, “Have you found out who did this?”

Fine sweat appeared on Commander Zheng’s face. He couldn’t be bothered to use a handkerchief and wiped with his sleeve, then said with a face full of smiles, “Lord Qin, please don’t be anxious. The brothers at our Five Cities Military Commissioner’s office eat this bowl of rice for a living, and right now they’re searching throughout the city for arrests. It’s just that the capital is so large, it’s impossible to have news immediately. You see, are you perhaps…”

Qin Yining exchanged glances with Qin Han and Qin Yu, and they all understood in their hearts.

No matter how large the capital was, it was impossible that after so long they still couldn’t catch a few second-generation rich kids racing horses in the marketplace!

The only possibility was that among these people were figures that even the Five Cities Military Commissioner’s office couldn’t afford to offend, or perhaps someone behind the scenes was playing a role, wanting to protect those few unreasonable people.

Qin Yining was secretly angry in her heart. These people were just bullying father because he was an outsider! If this had been in the past, although the Great Yan Dynasty was somewhat corrupt, apart from the tyrannical emperor, there was no one who dared to bully her father!

Hearing this, Qin Huaiyuan smiled warmly and said courteously, “Commander Zheng has taken great trouble.”

“Not at all, not at all.” Seeing Qin Huaiyuan’s expression so reasonable, Commander Zheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as he was thinking of persuading Qin Huaiyuan to go home first and wait for news, Qin Huaiyuan spoke first.

“I trust in the Five Cities Military Commissioner’s abilities and believe you’ll soon apprehend the perpetrators. The Five Cities Military Commissioner manages the capital’s public security, and this type of matter should already be routine for you. Moreover, these people’s outrageous behavior is truly a safety hazard for the common people.

“Today this official encountered it, and knowing the Emperor’s sagacity, I naturally wouldn’t think much of it. But if someday the common people suffer disasters, are trampled, injured, or even worse, lose their lives, how will those below evaluate the Emperor?

“So for the sake of the Emperor’s reputation, for the sake of the Five Cities Military Commissioner brothers, and to seek justice for myself, I’ve decided to wait here.”

Commander Zheng was absolutely dumbstruck.

Being a rough man, he had to waste some brain power to understand what Qin Huaiyuan meant.

Put simply: he wasn’t leaving, he was going to wait here for them to catch the culprits, otherwise they would be disregarding the Emperor’s prestige, and he could completely go before the Emperor and impeach Old Zheng.

More sweat appeared on Commander Zheng’s head.

Qin Huaiyuan still smiled and said, “Commander Zheng, please sit and rest a while. You’ve also been working hard just now.”

“Of course, of course.” Commander Zheng sat down with a forced smile, secretly thinking that this was just a scholar with a weak body like a chicken, so why did his gaze feel so terrifying when looking at people, making one unconsciously want to submit?

Qin Yining and the nearby Qin Han and Qin Yu exchanged glances again, and their worried hearts settled down.

Qin Yining realized that as long as father was there to hold down the fort, she truly wasn’t afraid of anything. Even sitting in the Five Cities Military Commissioner’s office waiting for news in such a demonstration-like manner, she didn’t feel nervous at all.

Though they were calm and composed, Commander Zheng was about to cry.

He was just doing his regular duties—when immortals fight, what fault did he have?

He wanted to persuade this great Buddha to leave, but he also understood that Qin Huaiyuan would certainly not let this matter rest, especially since he held a high position and was quite favored by the Emperor. Adding to this, the Lu family incident had just occurred a few days ago, and now everyone knew the Qin family was a tough bone to chew—whoever had thoughts of bullying outsiders might end up being the unlucky one.

But what could he do?

He could only send people out again to investigate carefully. Even if they had to overturn other people’s rooftops, they had to find the culprits.

In such a stiff atmosphere, everyone just sitting and waiting foolishly was indeed easy to make people anxious.

Commander Zheng’s sweat had almost soaked through his clothes.

Qin Huaiyuan remained calm and unhurried. Influenced by him, Qin Yining was also very composed.

After waiting like this for more than an hour, there was finally movement outside.

People from the Five Cities Military Commissioner’s office brought in a young man wearing a light azure brocade robe.

The youth looked ordinary in appearance, with a somewhat timid quality to his bearing.

Seeing everyone’s eyes fall on him, the youth smiled awkwardly, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Commander Zheng said joyfully, “This is the person who collided with Lord Qin today. Lord Qin, how do you decide to handle this?”

The young man became even more nervous, but still tried to appear calm on the surface, raising his chin high, “Kill or cut me up as you please, this young master isn’t afraid!”

Qin Huaiyuan stood beside the young man and looked him over, not caring about his unreasonable behavior, only asking, “What relation is Minister Han to you?”