Dongfang Yu’er smiled and said: “I know! I was specifically waiting here for you. Yu’er also has a place at Brother Shaohuang’s banquet.”

Immediately behind them came stifled laughter from Le Song and others. Chu Li’s eyes flashed with brilliance as he stepped forward: “Since this is such a coincidence, then Miss Dongfang should travel with us. My lord, the carriages and horses are ready—let’s go.”

Dongfang Yu’er was immediately delighted, saying with a smile: “This big brother is really nice, not like them—they wouldn’t let me in.”

Qing Xia turned around and glared fiercely at Chu Li, then said to Dongfang Yu’er: “Yu’er, you should go on your own. I’m used to riding horses…”

Before she could finish, Dongfang Yu’er quickly interjected: “Yu’er also likes riding horses. Yu’er will accompany you riding together.”

Chu Li gave a look, and Le Song behind him immediately ran forward cheerfully, leading over a white horse: “Miss Yu’er, please mount.”

A governor’s outing was quite an affair. All along the way, the people of Haishi craned their necks to watch. Governor Xia Qing was young and handsome, wielding great power—truly an outstanding young hero. Dongfang Yu’er came from a prestigious family and was charming and beautiful. The two of them together made a perfect couple.

Passing by Pinxuan Studio, Dongfang Yu’er suddenly said she needed to go in to retrieve something and asked Qing Xia and the others to wait outside for her. Qing Xia had no choice but to rein in her horse and wait for this wealthy young lady to come out.

Chu Li rode his horse behind the two of them, a faint smile on his lips with the smug expression of a petty person achieving success. Qing Xia turned back and gave him a look, but seeing no reaction from him, could only sulk inwardly.

At this moment, a commotion suddenly arose from the street corner, heading toward Pinxuan Studio. Qing Xia looked up to see a young woman in tender yellow dress desperately running through the streets. Behind her, a group of men in dark clothing pursued closely, while a purple-robed man sat high on a tall horse. He suddenly raised his whip and lashed it across the woman’s back with a swish. The woman stumbled and fell to the ground, her clothes torn and bloody welts snaking across her back horribly. The purple-robed man laughed evilly: “Where else do you think you can run?”

The woman suddenly raised her head, her pretty face pale as paper, eyes red-rimmed, yet she still held back her tears and angrily said: “Just kill me!”

The purple-robed man looked down condescendingly and snorted coldly, casually flicking his whip while saying: “Kill you? I can’t bear to—you cost five hundred taels of silver. How could I kill you just like that?”

The woman bit her lower lip tightly, suddenly stumbled to her feet, and said tragically: “I’d rather die than go with you!”

The man laughed evilly: “That’s not up to you.” Then he said to his subordinates: “Tie her up and take her back!”

“Let me go!” The yellow-clothed woman struggled violently, but how could she match this group? In a few moves she was subdued. A burly man took out a rope to put over the woman’s head. In the scuffle, a display of fruits outside a grocery shop was overturned and scattered all over the ground. All the surrounding people rushed to avoid them—not one dared step forward to say a word.

Qing Xia raised an eyebrow, seeing that the purple-clothed man was the same one who had bumped into her at last night’s Jellyfish Festival and quarreled with Chu Li. Her heart cried out that this was bad. Indeed, before she could intervene, the man behind her suddenly spurred his horse forward, his sword-like brows and jade-like face stern as he said in a deep voice: “In broad daylight, to forcibly abduct a woman like this—isn’t that a bit too arrogant?”

The purple-robed man turned to look but naturally wouldn’t recognize Chu Li’s disguised face. He snorted coldly: “You dare meddle in my affairs? Tired of living?”

As soon as he finished speaking, a burly man grinned maliciously: “This pretty boy wants to play hero. Master Jin, let me teach him a lesson.” With that, he lunged forward with an arrow step.

Chu Li smiled coldly. Hearing the sound and knowing from the change in position that the opponent’s iron fist was coming, he swiftly supported himself on the saddle with one hand, his whole body spinning up like a whirlwind, and kicked heavily into the man’s chest with a thunderous sound. With a crisp crack, the man was already wailing as he fell to the ground—his ribs were clearly broken and shattered.

The purple-robed man was greatly shocked and quickly shouted to his nearby subordinates: “Attack! Beat them to death!”

The other men obeyed, drawing their swords with a swish. Chu Li didn’t even glance at them as he spurred his horse forward a few steps to the fallen woman. Bending down and extending his hand, he said: “Get up.”

The young woman raised her pale face, full of misery, and slowly shook her head: “You should leave. I don’t want to implicate you—you can’t defeat them.”

Chu Li was startled. His reason for intervening was merely disgust for that purple-clothed man, to repay last night’s offense when they had jostled Qing Xia. Otherwise, given his personality, at most he would have had his subordinates handle it—he would never have meddled in such muddy waters. Hearing the woman’s words now actually aroused his pride. The corner of his mouth curled slightly as he said: “I’d like to know who has such great ability.” With that, he pulled the young woman up from the ground, dismounted, and stood in front of her.

Qing Xia sighed inwardly—it seemed the great emperor Chu had been stirred to heroic spirit by this delicate woman and could no longer be stopped. She dismounted, and Le Song and others, seeing the opponents draw weapons, had already taken positions, secretly surrounding those men.

Seeing Qing Xia, the purple-robed man felt she looked familiar but couldn’t remember where he’d seen her. With a face full of arrogance, he said: “I advise you wise ones to quickly kowtow to this young master and release my person, or next year today will be your death anniversary.”

“Such big words! Haishi has many high officials and nobles, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone as arrogant and domineering as you.” Qing Xia in her purple-gold python robe had extraordinary bearing and temperament. Anyone with the slightest discernment would know this person’s identity was no simple matter and wouldn’t dare provoke her.

But this man was like a blind person, glaring with wide eyes and angrily saying: “Dare to meddle in the Jin family’s affairs? I see you’re really tired of living. Come on, everyone attack—cut up these bastards and feed them to the dogs!”

“Stop!” As soon as he finished speaking, a tender voice suddenly rang out. Everyone looked back to see Dongfang Yu’er with an angry expression, running forward in a few steps to the purple-clothed man: “Young Master Jin, what are you doing?”

The man seemed very familiar with Dongfang Yu’er. Seeing her, his face immediately filled with smiles: “I wondered whose voice sounded so pleasant—it’s Yu’er! How come I haven’t seen you for so long? What are you doing here—buying rouge?”

Yu’er’s delicate brows furrowed, her face flushed red with anger. She stole a glance at Qing Xia, then angrily said: “You… speak properly! Who… who gave you permission to call my personal name?”

“Yu’er, who is this gentleman?” Qing Xia suddenly said in a deep voice.

Miss Dongfang had just angrily scolded the purple-clothed man for not being allowed to call her given name, but immediately after being called by her personal name by this Lord Xia beside her, she wasn’t angry at all. Instead, like a child tattling, she turned and said: “He’s the eldest young master of the Jin family, Brother Shaohuang’s older brother. He’s the most ill-mannered—my lord must help Yu’er get revenge.”

Hearing this, Qing Xia slowly nodded: “So it’s the eldest young master of the Jin family. No wonder your arrogance is so outrageous.”

The Jin family’s eldest son frowned and angrily said: “Yu’er, who is he?”

Qing Xia couldn’t help but shake her head inwardly. Having seen that Jin Shaohuang’s transcendent and shrewd demeanor last night, who would have thought he’d have such a stupid older brother? As the Jin family’s eldest son, not being familiar with the court’s robe system was one thing, but just looking at his relationship with the Dongfang family’s young lady should tell him she had backing, yet he still spoke in such a tone—wasn’t he an idiot?

At this moment, urgent footsteps suddenly rang out in the distance. The crowd parted to reveal a district civil official in fifth-rank court dress hurrying over. He seemed to have come in such haste that even his hat wasn’t properly positioned, tilted to one side. While still far away, he was already bowing and shouting loudly to Qing Xia: “This humble official Zhang Yulan is a fifth-rank commissioner of the southern city granary, in charge of grain trade and security in the southern city. Not knowing of your lordship’s arrival, please forgive me.”

Qing Xia found his appearance quite comical and couldn’t help but smile: “Alright, no need for ceremonies. Now in your jurisdiction someone is forcibly abducting a woman—you come see how to handle this.”

Zhang Yulan quickly wiped his sweat and walked to the center of the crowd. But before he could speak, the Jin eldest son angrily shouted: “Zhang Yulan, you’ve come at just the right time! Who are these people to dare block this young master’s path? Quickly arrest them for me!”

At this, even Le Song and others couldn’t help but frown. Was this guy an idiot? Just looking at Commissioner Zhang’s attitude should tell him he didn’t have that authority, yet he still spoke so aggressively—he simply didn’t know how to spell “death.”

Commissioner Zhang stood panting in the center, with one side being a centuries-old aristocratic family that had stood firm in the southeast, and the other being the newly appointed southeastern grand governor—both were figures he wouldn’t dare offend even if it killed him. He quickly forced a bitter smile onto his face and said to that foolish Jin eldest son: “Young Master Jin, this is our southeastern province’s general governor, Governor Xia Qing. Quickly dismount and pay respects!”

“The southeastern governor? Him?” The Jin eldest son immediately widened his eyes, pointing at Qing Xia incredulously. This person was young and hadn’t even grown a beard yet—could he really be the southeastern province’s grand governor?

“Old Zhang, you’re not fooling me, are you? He’s the governor? Do you think I’m an idiot?”

Zhang Yulan nearly stumbled over. He thought to himself: You still think you’re smart? If not for having a good younger brother, you probably wouldn’t even know how you died. He quickly said with a pained expression to the Jin eldest son: “Young master, this truly is Grand Governor Xia Qing. Please dismount quickly and don’t breach etiquette.”

The Jin eldest son looked Qing Xia up and down with extremely disdainful eyes, then suddenly said: “Why should I bow to him? Even when Dongfang Li sees me, he has to be polite. He’s just a brat who hasn’t even grown all his hair yet—putting on official robes and expecting this young master to bow to him? Dream on!”