That dark red fine steed was extremely fast, and the young man riding it had clearly come with premeditation, naturally going all out.

However, Jing Zhe was highly skilled in martial arts with internal cultivation practiced to perfection. The galloping horse’s force was surely over a thousand pounds, yet with one palm strike, Jing Zhe made the horse neigh loudly, spit blood foam, and crash to the ground with a thunderous sound.

The young man on horseback wore azure brocade robes. The pleased smile on his face from galloping forward suddenly stopped, his mind went blank for an instant, and before he could react, he was thrown to the ground with his mount, his head instantly hitting the ground.

The young man only heard a buzzing in his ears before losing consciousness.

Seeing their leader so easily knocked down with a single palm, unable even to make a sound, and not knowing whether he was dead or alive, the other second-generation rich kids following behind also reined in their horses, looking worriedly at the person lying motionless on the ground.

Jing Zhe still stood at the top point of the triangular formation, looking at everyone with a face dark as water.

“Who are you people to dare race horses in the street with intent to murder our Miss!”

“What kind of thing are you—a mere servant daring to harm Young Master Cheng!” As he spoke, a young man dismounted and charged straight toward the carriage. “Just some outsider little slut, after being played with enough, you should honestly stay home like a cat. Coming out to strut around and releasing what kind of slutty aura! You don’t…”

Jing Zhe’s eyes turned fierce, raising his hand to deliver a vicious slap across the face of this foul-mouthed second-generation rich kid.

“I’ll teach you to keep your mouth clean!”

“Smack—”

“Ow!”

The young man was slapped and spun around twice on the spot, his vision darkening as he fell on his bottom.

These people were accustomed to running rampant in the capital. A few days ago, they had merely startled the Qin family’s carriage and horses by accident, yet that spineless surrendered minister Qin Huaiyuan had relentlessly pursued the matter.

The one who had fallen unconscious was indeed Cheng Yue, the only son of newly appointed Minister of War Cheng Meng. It was also Cheng Yue who had originally collided with Qin Huaiyuan’s carriage, but after Minister of War’s maneuvering, all of them were fine while the Vice Minister of Rites’ son was arrested to take the blame and suffered misfortune, being sentenced to exile.

They were all people who valued brotherhood. Having their own brother exiled for life because of Qin Huaiyuan’s pettiness—how could they let this go?

Qin Huaiyuan was an official favored by the Emperor. Even when they were at home, their fathers instructed them not to provoke Qin Huaiyuan.

But while they couldn’t afford to provoke Qin Huaiyuan, he still had a daughter who had been thoroughly enjoyed by Prince Zhongshun!

So they had always stationed people outside that small courtyard where the Qin family lived, waiting for Qin Yining to come out.

Today they finally got their chance—how could they let it slip by?

Wasn’t Qin Huaiyuan petty? Wasn’t he afraid of horses racing and colliding with carriages? They would just re-perform the act on his daughter.

Who knew that for just a woman, Qin Huaiyuan would actually be willing to arrange such formidable guards around this wilted flower!

Was Qin Huaiyuan sick in the head!

“You, you actually dare hit this young master! Do you know who this young master is!”

“Who you are isn’t important. What’s important is that you want to harm our Miss.” Jing Zhe said coldly, standing in front of the carriage and intimidating everyone who might possibly collide with it so they didn’t dare move.

The commotion here had already attracted many onlookers.

Several young masters saw the situation was wrong and wanted to flee. But Cheng Yue was still unconscious on the ground, and they didn’t dare leave him alone here.

Several who were close to Cheng Yue dismounted to check on his condition while cursing filthily at the carriage.

Others who had purely followed along to watch the excitement saw things going badly. They feared Qin Yining’s guards might act violently in the street for self-protection, and if casualties resulted, the matter would be irreparable.

So some clever ones instructed their accompanying servants to report to the Five Cities Military Commissioner’s office, while others went to report to various families.

Qin Yining had been holding Lian Xiaozhou and sitting upright in the carriage, stopping Bingtang and Ji Yun from lifting the curtain to have a shouting match with the people outside.

Her finger wearing the hibiscus warm jade ring tapped the small table surface as she said in a low voice, “These people probably came with long-premeditated plans. Their identities are all not simple. Tell Jing Zhe not to injure anyone else.”

“Yes.” Xiao Man, separated only by a curtain, responded in a lowered voice, then said through gritted teeth, “This is only because we’re in the Great Zhou now and have no options. If it were according to our brothers’ former temperament, when we acted it would be to take lives! Let’s see if these people still dare speak disrespectfully to Miss!”

The secret agents had formerly served under the emperor. Even if they poked a hole in the sky, someone would clean up after them, so they naturally acted without scruples or consideration of consequences.

Having developed this habit, their so-called restraint was merely not directly killing people.

If they were normal guards, when horses came charging at them, the first thing to do would be to subdue and redirect the horses, not kill a horse with one palm strike.

How many normal people had such ability? And who would have such audacity?

Outside the carriage, the second-generation rich kids had begun cursing with foul language.

“Miss Qin, Miss Qin, I heard you have beauty that could topple cities and nations. Since you’re no longer some chaste and virtuous woman anyway, why don’t you come out and let us brothers have a look!”

“Haha, exactly so. We’re all people of extraordinary status. Any one of us could easily afford to keep a concubine. Miss Qin, if you’re willing to be our concubine, we won’t hold your transgressions against you!”

…

“These people’s foul language is truly detestable!” Bingtang was grinding her teeth in anger.

Ji Yun had already placed her hand on the soft sword at her waist. If not for Miss’s instruction to remain calm, she would have rushed out long ago to pierce that person with a hundred holes!

The four outside the carriage—Jing Zhe, Xiao Man, Xiao Xue, and Da Han—all wished they could immediately kill all these scoundrels.

However, they hadn’t received orders and could only endure, unable to act rashly.

The chaos here attracted more and more onlooking citizens.

People had begun pointing at the carriage, and some showed disdain for the young masters’ domineering behavior of blocking carriages.

The common people had all kinds of discussions, gradually gathering in a surrounding circle with both parties involved in the center.

Some citizens who had heard of Qin Huaiyuan also pointed at the carriage.

At this time, however, Qin Yining remained composed, holding Lian Xiaozhou’s small hand and teaching her to write characters in her palm, as if there were no cursing people outside—she treated it as mere dog barking.

Just then, commotion suddenly came from outside the crowd. The crowd parted like Moses dividing the sea, and Eastern Route Commander Zheng of the Five Cities Military Commissioner’s office came bursting through with his subordinates, using human barriers to separate the two tense sides.

Commander Zheng looked at the carriage, then at the dead horse on the ground and the unconscious Cheng Yue, feeling his head grow large as a bushel.