Yang Mengchen stepped forward to support Lady Xiao, and while walking inside, he asked, "Aunty Xiao, where is Sister Wanxue?"

Yang Chengrong quietly perked up his ears. Since their engagement, it had been six days since he last saw Wan Xue. Naturally, he would be very disappointed if he couldn't see her today.

"Xue is out buying fabric to make clothes for her younger brother and sister. She'll be back soon," said Lady Xiao with affection before instructing Sister Ke to arrange lunch.

"Is it just Sister Wanxue and Zi Jin by themselves?"

"Xue doesn't like having people follow her, and since the embroidery store is not far away, I didn't have any servants accompany her."

Yang Mengchen frowned slightly, feeling an inexplicable unease in his heart. Suddenly, a sparrow landed on the eaves, chirping loudly. After listening to the sparrow's report, a chill ran through Yang Mengchen's heart, yet his face remained completely impassive, "Aunty Xiao, I'll go find Sister Wanxue. It's also a good opportunity to buy some fabric for Grandpa and Grandma's clothes."

"The sun is strong; don't stay out too long," Lady Xiao said, unsuspecting of anything amiss.

Yang Mengchen smiled and agreed, then turned and walked outside.

"What's happening?" Long Xuanmo noticed that just now, a flash of dark light swept quickly across the depths of Yang Mengchen's eyes, and now his pace had noticeably quickened, with a mixture of seriousness and fierceness creeping into his expression. It seemed that the matter was far from ordinary.

Yang Chengrong also sensed that his sister was acting very strangely. Coupling this with her ability to understand animal speech, and considering that right after the sparrow's cries, she immediately said she was going to meet Wan Xue, he surmised something might have happened to Wan Xue. His face suddenly paled, and he dashed outside, frantic with worry.

At the entrance, Yang Chengyou was directing government officials in moving sprayers, when he suddenly saw Yang Mengchen and others walking out: "Big brother, Ninth Sister, you all..."

Yang Mengchen interrupted him in a stern voice, "Fourth brother, get on the carriage!" Having said that, he got straight into the coach.

After giving instructions to Wei Lin, Yang Chengyou immediately followed.

"Big brother, follow that sparrow, quick!"

Yang Chengrong raised his whip, driving the carriage to speed along following the sparrow ahead. When they passed by the Colored Clothing Embroidery Store, Mo Yun sitting outside suddenly said in a low voice, "Prince, it's Mo Ju!"

"Inform her to follow behind the carriage!" said Yang Mengchen, his eyes slightly narrowed, his tone cold. As a hidden guard who had lost track of her protectee, she was clearly unqualified.

Seeing the mockery at the corner of Yang Mengchen's lips, Long Xuanmo's face turned grim and cold, furious beyond measure. He had been made to lose face in front of the young lady—all because of Mo Ju, who was utterly unforgivable!

After many twists and turns, the carriage finally stopped. Yang Mengchen ignored Long Xuanmo's offered hand and leapt off the carriage to find themselves in the poor northern district of the city. The small, dilapidated courtyard lay before them, surrounded by an area of about five miles with not a single household in sight.

Yang Mengchen kicked open the gate, and as it was already quite old, it fell apart completely. He and the others then entered the yard.

"Fourth brother and Mo Yun to the firewood shed, big brother with me to the main house!" commanded Yang Mengchen as they quickly headed toward the main house. He pushed open the tightly closed door and, upon seeing the scene inside, his expression turned icy, with a sharp, dark light flaring in his eyes.

Lying on a dirty, disordered bed with her eyes closed, was Xiao Wanxue clad only in a bellyband and underpants. Scattered around the edge of the bed were her ragged, torn clothes, and on top of her, in only his underwear, was a man about to commit an indecent act.

Hearing the door open, the man didn't even lift his head: "You scurvy wretch, what are you here for? If you dare ruin my good time, I'll slaughter you!" Annoyed and scolding, his right hand reached for Xiao Wanxue's neck, seemingly about to undo the band of her dudou.

Yang Chengrong's eyes were as red as blood, he charged forward and grabbed the man by the nape of his neck, yanking him down.

The interruption of his pleasure, combined with the intense pain from his heels striking the ground, made the man uncontrollably furious. He turned his head, about to curse the scurvy wretch who disrupted his deed, but his face turned deathly pale and his lips trembled with fear when he saw the faces before him: "You, you all..."

It was none other than County Lord Zhu's son, Zhu Fugui.

Yang Chengrong had long known Zhu Fugui had been lusting after Wanxue, but never expected him to resort to such contemptible means to harm her. A raging fury instantly turned into a violent storm as he beat Zhu Fugui with fists and feet until Zhu Fugui was wailing and calling for his parents, begging for mercy without end.

A flash of black, and the screams stopped suddenly. Yang Mengchen strode to the bed, pulled over the only tattered quilt to cover Xiao Wanxue, and carefully checked her over. Fortunately, Xiao Wanxue was only drugged with sleep medicine, nothing else was amiss.

"What's happened?"

Long Xuanmo's voice was low and calm, but Mo Ju knew deeply that the Prince was angry: "Reporting to the Prince, I secretly followed Ms. Xiao to the Colored Clothing Embroidery Store. I don't know what the proprietress said, but Ms. Xiao went with the proprietress to the back courtyard. After waiting outside for about a quarter of an hour without seeing Ms.

Xiao come out, I sensed something was wrong, so I revealed myself and went to check only to discover... I have failed my duties, please punish me, Your Highness!"

"Seal the embroidery store immediately, and detain everyone inside!" Long Xuanmo gave the cold command, and someone vanished in the shadows. Looking down from on high at Mo Ju kneeling on the ground, he said: "Go to the Ministry of Justice to receive your punishment!"

"As you command!" The thought of the brutal punishments at the Ministry made Mo Ju shudder with fear.

Yang Mengchen suddenly said indifferently: "Whether to punish her can be decided later, Your Highness. For now, let's deal with the matter at hand."

Long Xuanmo knew the little girl cared greatly for the people around her. With such an incident befalling Xiao Wanxue, she must be feeling awful, and he worried that she might even blame him. He hadn't expected Mo Ju to make such a grave error either, truly a miscarriage of justice.

"Big brother, go take care of Sister Wanxue," Yang Mengchen got to his feet and walked toward Yang Chengrong: "Leave this beast to me to deal with."

Yang Chengrong, not yet satisfied, kicked Zhu Fugui fiercely one last time before striding to the bed, his heart aching as he watched his beloved lying there so peacefully.

Mo Yun held Zi Jin in his arms, while Yang Chengyou dragged in a man covered in scabbed yellow ringworm on his head, the very leper Zhu Fugui mentioned.

"Ninth Sister, hurry and save Zi Jin!" Yang Chengyou said urgently: "Zi Jin must have wanted to preserve her honor with death after waking up, and thus sustained a severe head injury. But this scoundrel still attempted to defile her even after she had passed out!" His large hand gripped the leper firmly, pinning him to the ground, rendering him immovable.

With a gesture for Mo Yun to lay the person on the bed, Yang Mengchen took out a pill, fed it into her mouth, and covertly used her inner strength to help her swallow. Then, she sprinkled some antiseptic medicine on the wound, bandaged it simply, and checked her pulse to ensure there were no issues, quietly releasing a sigh of relief.

Drawing the long sword from Mo Yun's waist, Yang Mengchen stepped toward Zhu Fugui, the cold, gleaming sword tip leaving a deep furrow in the earthen floor.

Zhu Fugui lay on the ground like a dead dog, his face swollen and unrecognizable, blood still dribbling from his mouth, beads of cold sweat the size of beans on his forehead. Staring at Yang Mengchen approaching slowly, her expression cold like frost and her eyes as deep as black holes, a torrent of murderous intent began to pour forth.

Zhu Fugui felt terror and despair sweep over him in an instant, desperately wanting to flee, but his grave injuries left him unable to move an inch.

Lifting the Black Needle with her left hand to release Zhu Fugui's acupoint, Yang Mengchen's tone was very calm: "Speak, who else is involved in this affair?"

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