The men chasing Yun Ge caught up only to see her collapse in the embrace of a white-robed man. The man wore pure white, his jet-black hair flowing loose behind him. When he raised his head, they saw a pair of tranquil eyes, deep and distant, though now carrying a faint coldness. Such a divinely handsome man was rarely seen even in major southern cities like Guangling, let alone in such a remote rural area. Everyone was stunned.

“Who are you? Put this young master’s beauty down!” The thin young master came to his senses and stepped forward, shouting. He had been watching this little beauty for half a day, and just when she was nearly in his grasp, how could he let someone steal her away? Though Guangling had always been known for beautiful women, beauties like this young lady were still rare to find.

Young Master Qingchen raised his eyes and swept them coldly over the group, saying: “Who are you? Your audacity is not small.”

The thin young master was stunned but quickly sneered: “This young master thinks your audacity is the one that’s not small. Meddling in others’ affairs requires having the ability to back it up! Listen well, this young master is the eldest son of the Huang family in Guangling City. In Guangling territory, no one dares oppose this young master!” Though initially hesitant upon seeing Xu Qingchen’s extraordinary bearing, after noting his ordinary white clothes and seeing he was just a regular person with no martial abilities, the young master’s arrogance flared up again. In Guangling, though the Huang family couldn’t be said to control everything, their influence was certainly not something a mere scholarly visitor could contend with.

Xu Qingchen bent down to pick up Yun Ge, saying coolly: “The Huang family, is it? I’ll remember that.”

Seeing Xu Qingchen about to leave with Yun Ge, Young Master Huang flew into a rage, “Such audacity! Stop! What are you all waiting for? Get them!”

Hearing their master’s order, the men naturally rushed forward together. But Xu Qingchen seemed not to notice them at all, turning to head toward Guangling.

Being ignored by someone who appeared to have no martial abilities infuriated them all. One man threw a punch at Xu Qingchen’s back. But before he could even touch Xu Qingchen’s clothes, a gust of wind passed, and the man fell to the ground clutching his fist, howling in pain.

Everyone was startled and looked around warily. At some point, several men in gray clothing had appeared on the hillsides along the road. They coldly surveyed the group, then leaped down before Xu Qingchen, saying: “Young Master.”

Xu Qingchen looked down at the sleeping Yun Ge in his arms and said calmly: “Take them back to Guangling, and have the Guangling Prefect come see me.”

“Yes, sir.” The gray-clad man responded quietly. With a wave of his hand, his companions efficiently subdued the group and tied them up. Young Master Huang stared at Xu Qingchen in shock – someone who could casually summon the Prefect to meet him was certainly no ordinary person. “Who… who are you?”

Xu Qingchen gave him a calm glance, then turned and left carrying Yun Ge. Behind him, several guards looked somewhat sympathetically at the sickly-looking Young Master Huang. Young Master Qingchen had been following Miss Shen everywhere, losing track of her several times, and was already in a bad mood. This fellow had courted death by running into Young Master Qingchen’s hands. Really… how pitiful…

In the courtyard of an unremarkable inn in Guangling City, several well-dressed people stood anxiously waiting. Near the doorway, several gray-clad guards stood expressionlessly, seemingly oblivious to these people’s unease.

The leader wore the robes of a third-rank official, his temples streaked with white hair mixed among the black, making his whole head appear gray. Though he should have been the authority figure in Guangling City, he now looked worried and anxious, as if the sky were about to fall. Beside him stood a middle-aged man dressed in rich clothes with a prosperous appearance. Behind the middle-aged man were several men and women of various ages, though he clearly couldn’t appreciate the Prefect’s worry and just anxiously frowned at the stern guards in the distance.

“Your Excellency, my son…” the man looked at the Guangling Prefect and frowned. After hearing his son had been captured, he had originally planned to send household guards to see who dared cause trouble in Guangling. But before he could leave, he received the Prefect’s message to come to this inn immediately. The special reminder to be respectful made him instantly realize his son had probably offended no ordinary person. But arriving here and seeing the Prefect’s manner made him somewhat dismissive. With the Huang family’s influence in Guangling, unless the Definitive Prince and his Consort personally arrived, who could do anything to them? As they say, even a mighty dragon can’t suppress a local snake – hadn’t this newly appointed Prefect been treating the old Guangling families with the utmost respect?

The Guangling Prefect frowned, looking displeased at Master Huang’s expression. Offending Young Master Qingchen – perhaps the Huang family had truly committed too many sins. Outsiders might think Young Master Qingchen’s refined manner meant he was a gentle, soft-hearted gentleman, but how could officials from the Definitive Prince’s residence not know better? Two years ago when the Definitive Prince and Princess Consort were constantly away campaigning, all affairs of the Prince’s residence were handled solely by Young Master Qingchen. Among the Prince’s residence’s old ministers, officials, and generals were many proud and arrogant people. How could Young Master Qingchen control such people with just wisdom and no iron hand? If it were truly the Prince and Princess Consort here, perhaps they could beg the Princess for mercy, but now having offended Young Master Qingchen… Looking at the still oblivious Master Huang, the Guangling Prefect shook his head inwardly and ignored him, silently reviewing whether there had been any oversights in his governance of Guangling these past days.

Seeing the Prefect’s expression, Master Huang instinctively felt something was wrong. But he couldn’t think of anyone in Guangling the Huang family needed to fear. Even those generals commanding large armies could be dealt with using the Huang family’s vast wealth. Moreover, the messenger had said his son was captured by a scholarly young master.

While those outside were lost in their various thoughts, Young Master Qingchen in the room paid no attention to their anxious waiting. He sat leisurely by the bed, watching the sleeping young woman’s peaceful face. The sleeping girl appeared even more beautifully serene and innocent than when awake, one hand clutching a corner of the blanket as she slept sweetly, truly like an unworldly child.

Reaching out to pinch her rosy cheek, Young Master Qingchen laughed softly with resignation: “Isn’t staying by my side good enough? Why must you run around everywhere? What would you have done this time if I weren’t here? If you’re born foolish you should be obedient – I won’t look down on you. Your face has gotten thinner, you are a little fool.”

The sleeping girl’s curved eyelashes trembled slightly. Young Master Qingchen calmly withdrew his hand and smiled: “Still pretending to sleep?”

The previously sleeping young girl immediately opened her eyes, rubbing her pinched rosy cheeks while looking at the handsome young master with an awkward smile: “Xu Qingchen… why- why are you here?”

Young Master Qingchen’s smile turned cold, “If I weren’t here, you’d be someone’s concubine by now.”

Knowing she was in the wrong and having a natural fear of him, Miss Yun Ge lowered her head and shrank her neck pitifully. Seeing her pitiful appearance, Young Master Qingchen’s heart softened. He sighed lightly and said: “Don’t run around recklessly anymore, understand? You should know how dangerous today was.”

Yun Ge didn’t even properly listen to Xu Qingchen’s words, just nodding repeatedly. Young Master Qingchen reached out to stroke her hair, saying: “The poison has just been neutralized. Rest a while. I need to handle some matters.”

“Mm-hmm.” Yun Ge nodded, blinking her big eyes at Young Master Qingchen.

Young Master Qingchen stood up and looked at Yun Ge, saying sternly: “No more running away! Otherwise… I’ll lock you up and you can copy books for the rest of your life.”

Wuu… Yun Ge’s heart trembled. She hurriedly nodded vigorously and then shook her head desperately. Seeing her like this, the coldness in Young Master Qingchen’s eyes dissipated considerably. “Be good, and I won’t punish you.” Miss Yun Ge was quite an interesting thing, Young Master Qingchen thought silently. But he couldn’t bully her too much, or the little girl would run away again.

“Mm-hmm, I’m tired, I’m going to sleep.” No longer daring to harbor rebellious thoughts, Miss Yun Ge burrowed into the blankets, covering her head to avoid facing reality. Young Master Qingchen smiled faintly, shook his head, and turned to walk outside. At the same time, his eyes, which had held a gentle warmth, were covered again with a layer of frost.

As soon as he left the room, the Guangling Prefect eagerly came forward, “Young Master…”

Xu Qingchen raised his hand to stop what he was about to say, swept a cool glance over everyone in the courtyard, and turned toward the front hall. Two of the gray-clad guards remained at the door while the rest silently followed. The Guangling Prefect hesitated for a moment, glared fiercely at the Huang family, and hurriedly followed.

In the flower hall, Young Master Qingchen sat in the head position drinking tea. The previously arrogant Young Master Huang was tied up like a dumpling and thrown in the hall. When the Huang family members arrived, a nobly dressed middle-aged woman wailed and rushed over, “Zu’er! Zu’er, what happened to you? Who bullied you?” Young Master Huang could only mumble incoherently, obviously having his mute acupoint sealed, and could only desperately make eye signals to the woman. Unfortunately, the woman was too anxious and worried to understand his meaning.

“Your humble servant, Guangling Prefect Li Jiye, pays respects to Young Master.” The Guangling Prefect straightened his clothes and bowed respectfully. Meanwhile, Master Huang was furious: “Lord Li, what is going on here? Who is this young master, by what right does he treat my son this way?”

The Guangling Prefect silently cursed “fool” in his heart, lowering his gaze to look at his nose while his nose looked at his heart as if he hadn’t heard Master Huang’s words.

“Lord Li.” Young Master Qingchen set down his teacup and said coolly.

“Yes, Young Master, please instruct me,” the Guangling Prefect quickly responded.

Xu Qingchen said: “You’ve been in Guangling for over three months. You’ve handled official matters well enough. But how do you explain these things?” A thick stack of papers was thrown into the Guangling Prefect’s arms. He hurriedly caught and opened them, his face growing increasingly pale as he read. The documents recorded all the cases of Guangling’s wealthy and powerful families bullying commoners and committing evil deeds. Some cases had been reported to the government but were suppressed by him. The Guangling Prefect had his difficulties – Guangling had been under Great Chu’s control before, then under Xiling’s for several years, but regardless of which power held it, these local old aristocratic families had remained secure. Guangling had once been the former dynasty’s capital, and these remaining aristocratic families had deep, well-established roots. He came from an ordinary family and had worked his way up to the position of Prefect through his abilities. But after arriving in Guangling, he was constrained everywhere by these aristocratic families. To smoothly take control of Guangling and restore people’s livelihoods, he had no choice but to compromise with these families, turning a blind eye to many of their actions.

“Your servant knows his wrong, please punish me, Young Master.” The Guangling Prefect knelt, not defending himself but simply requesting punishment.

Xu Qingchen looked at him and said: “I understand why you did these things. Since there were reasons, I won’t punish you, but… as a Prefect, you are the parent official to the common people. I hope your first thought is for the people rather than political balance. If you have any difficulties, report them directly, and naturally someone will help you. Even if you act first and report later, the Prince and Princess won’t blame you. But… if your political calculations cause the people to suffer, never mind the Prince and Princess – even I won’t spare you, and you need not continue as Prefect!”

Saying the people were suffering was too severe – under Li Jiye’s governance, Guangling was doing quite well in many aspects. But these aristocratic families entrenched in Guangling for so long were not something a mere Prefect like Li Jiye could handle alone.

Hearing Xu Qingchen’s words, the Guangling Prefect secretly sighed in relief and respectfully knelt and bowed: “Your servant understands. Your servant has failed the Prince and Princess’s trust and dares not offend again.”

Xu Qingchen nodded in satisfaction and said: “Very good, then let’s handle these matters first.”

Hearing this, the Guangling Prefect couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath. These documents recorded many crimes of almost all of Guangling’s aristocratic families – if truly handled according to law, they would likely offend all of Guangling’s aristocratic families. But thinking of how the Prince treated the former dynasty’s old ministers and power-holders in Li City, Young Master Qingchen’s attitude seemed reasonable. Probably both the Prince and Young Master were very dissatisfied with these people, and today’s events were just using this as an opportunity.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing his hesitation, Xu Qingchen raised an eyebrow calmly.

“No… your servant obeys!” The Guangling Prefect stood up and called out: “Come!”

Soon, the yamen runners waiting outside entered and respectfully awaited orders. The Guangling Prefect recited a long list of names, all notorious young masters from Guangling’s aristocratic families, and said sternly: “Quickly arrest these people.”

Such an order stunned even the yamen runners. They looked at the extraordinarily handsome young master sitting in the head position, then hurriedly accepted the order and withdrew.

“Lord Li, what is the meaning of this?”

Master Huang was somewhat slow to react to this sudden change, looking at the Guangling Prefect questioningly. The Guangling Prefect gave a cold laugh and said: “Since others haven’t arrived yet, why don’t we handle the matter at hand first? What does Young Master think?”

Xu Qingchen raised an eyebrow and said: “That’s fine.”

“Huang Yao Zu, relying on the Huang family’s power, you forcibly abducted women, and forced them to become concubines, causing the death of a family of three. Do you admit your crimes?”

“What?!”