Amidst the paper money flying everywhere and the heartbroken cries of the common people, four coffins-three large and one small-moved forward, entering the city.

Perhaps because they had been waiting here since early morning and were already frozen stiff, one of the family servants carrying Duke Zhenguo’s coffin slipped and fell. With a loud “thud,” the coffin hit the ground, and the three coffins behind it also fell with “bang—bang—bang—” in the chaos.

The coffin wood, thin as cardboard, cracked open. The hemp rope of the smallest coffin snapped, the coffin body tilted, and the corner crashed heavily to the ground, causing the entire coffin to burst apart. The corpse of a child wearing broken armor rolled out from the coffin, and the head that had been severed by enemy forces rolled straight into a snowdrift, completely exposed!

“Little Seventeenth!” Bai Jintong threw herself forward with tears, immediately embracing Little Seventeenth’s head. Looking at her younger brother’s lifeless, tender young face, it was like a silver spear viciously piercing through Bai Jintong’s chest. She held Little Seventeenth’s head and finally could no longer restrain herself, breaking into violent sobs, crying out hoarsely: “Little Seventeenth!”

“Little Seventeenth!” Bai Jinzhi also cried out in shock.

Bai Jinxiu’s eyes widened: “Little Seventeenth!”

Bai Qingyan turned around and saw Little Seventeenth’s severed head rolling out. Her eyes split with fury, her liver and gallbladder shattered. It was as if a violent wind swept through her chest, making her hair stand on end with rage. Her mind was filled only with sharp, piercing screams, provoking her desire to immediately draw her sword and kill Prince Xin: “Uncle Ping! Stop Prince Xin’s carriage for me!”

“Ah…” Fourth Madam Wang Shi screamed and stumbled to her knees, snatching her son’s head. Like one who had lost her mind, she continuously screamed while crawling back to her son’s corpse, clinging tightly to her son’s body that was already covered with corpse spots and countless wounds, holding her son’s remains and crying in despair.

Fourth Madam Wang Shi, usually the gentlest of temperaments, now had blood-red eyes like a demon returned from hell. Incoherent and hysterical, she cursed the imperial nobility, the supremely honored imperial son Prince Xin: “Prince Xin, you murderous bastard! My son… You made my son’s body and head separate! You didn’t even give him clean clothes to change into! He was only a ten-year-old child! A ten-year-old child! You bastard!”

Fourth Madam Wang Shi looked up to the sky and let out a heart-wrenching cry, then pressed her face against her son’s body, whispering as if coaxing a child to sleep: “Little Seventeenth, don’t be afraid! Little Seventeenth, don’t be afraid… Mother is here! Mother is with you! Mother is here… Mother will keep you warm! We’re not afraid! Not afraid…”

Lu Ping, seeing the usually most adorable and lively ten-year-old child reduced to a separated corpse, already had blood-red eyes and murderous intent boiling in his heart. Before he could lead men to give chase, Dong Qingping had already leaped onto his horse… directly entering the city and reining in his horse to block Prince Xin’s carriage, which had only traveled ten meters into the city.

Traditionally, when a general died in battle and the coffin was escorted back to the city, if the body was dismembered… unless the remains and limbs could not be found, the escort would certainly order someone to sew the body back together and dress it in clean clothes and armor, so that the person could be buried with a complete corpse.

Even though the common people knew that battlefields were always cruel, nothing was as shocking as seeing the corpse of a living ten-year-old child who had been hacked to death appear before their eyes.

Dong Qingyue sat high on his horse, his eyes blood-red as he looked at the guards of Prince Xin’s mansion who had already drawn their swords. The guards of the Duke’s mansion had also drawn their swords, the two sides facing off, tensions at the breaking point!

At this moment, the Duke’s mansion guards, provoked by the sight of that ten-year-old boy’s corpse rolling out, were each filled with uncontrollable rage, wishing they could immediately fight Prince Xin to the death.

“Prince Xin! From the Duke down to all the sons of the Duke’s mansion, they are all loyal souls and heroes of the nation. When you escorted the coffins back to the city, why did you not wash and dress them? Why did you let them end up with bodies and heads separated? Killing someone is just a matter of a nod of the head – how dare Prince Xin humiliate loyal souls like this!” Dong Qingyue’s eyes were about to split with rage. He pointed his horsewhip at that luxurious four-horse carriage, showing not a trace of respect, only earth-shaking killing intent.

Lu Yuanpeng, a dissolute young man, had never witnessed such a tragic scene. He felt his blood and anger burning hot like molten lava, his chest seeming to have magma rushing through it, about to burst from his chest. He wished he could immediately step forward and fight Prince Xin.

Whether it was because even Heaven could not bear to watch, Prince Xin’s carriage axle suddenly broke. The wheels knocked away two personal guards protecting one side of the carriage, overturned to the ground. The brazier inside the carriage instantly ignited the blue fabric surrounding the carriage. Prince Xin and the beauty inside screamed as they crawled out of the carriage.

Xiao Rongyan’s guard silently returned to Xiao Rongyan’s side, lowering his voice: “Master, this subordinate is incompetent. When I acted just now, the Duke’s mansion’s head guard and that gentleman on horseback probably already noticed me.”

Xiao Rongyan remained composed, saying indifferently: “No matter.”

The guard nodded, silently lowering his gaze and standing to one side, as if he had never done anything.

The common people stared dumbfounded at the so-called “severely injured” Prince Xin, who moved freely, jumping up and down to pat out the flames on his body, with a beauty beside him who was trembling and looking around.

“Prince Xin is truly severely injured!” Bai Qingyan’s eyes were blood-red, her entire being emanating killing intent like howling wind. “So injured that… he had a beauty accompanying him in his carriage, yet had no energy to assign someone to sew up and dress my brother, who died for Kingdom and people at only ten years old!”

Prince Xin’s eyelids twitched heavily. He had never expected that the entire city’s population would see him standing there completely unharmed. His fists clenched tightly at his sides. Since he was exposed, he was not afraid to act even more ruthlessly.

He looked darkly at Bai Qingyan, who now stood outside the encirclement of his soldiers, and said coldly: “I wanted to preserve your Bai family’s dignity, which is why I claimed to be severely injured. Do you, Bai family members, really want this prince to tell, in front of all these common people… how Bai Weiting disobeyed this prince’s orders, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of our Great Jin soldiers in Nan Jiang?”

“When campaigning abroad, my grandfather was the commander. Having fought a hundred battles, why should he listen to the orders of a yellow-mouthed child like you who has never experienced blood and battle in this prosperous imperial capital!” Bai Qingyan’s tears flowed like a spring. Overwhelming fury and heart-piercing pain burned away her reason, her voice trembling with indignation. “Even if my grandfather’s military conduct was inappropriate, the sons of the Bai family… they fought bloody battles for the people and sacrificed their lives for the Kingdom! Should they end up with separated bodies and heads after death? What kind of logic is this! My brother was only ten years old! Only ten! At ten years old, he dared to go to the battlefield! He was a young hero who died for our Jin Kingdom! How can you degrade him like this!”

A surge of anger was stuck in Prince Xin’s heart. Being rendered speechless by a woman, he gritted his teeth tightly.

“Even if my brother was just a common citizen! You, Prince Xin, as a noble son of the imperial family, should still treat a child’s corpse properly! But where is your benevolent heart?! You are worse than beasts! The elite soldiers of our nation died for the people and the Kingdom! You… consorting with prostitutes in this luxurious carriage – are you worthy of being a prince?! Worthy of being supported by the taxes of all people under heaven?! If such an unbenevolent, unrighteous, shameless beast who knows only pleasure were to enter the Eastern Palace in the future, would the people of Great Jin, reduced to being your oxen and horses, have any way to survive?! You are not only unworthy of being imperial nobility – you are not even human!”