Mo Li

Upon hearing the words of the Guangling Prefect, the Huang family members were momentarily stunned. Not only was the Huang family so powerful in Guangling that few dared to challenge them, but the incidents the prefect mentioned had occurred at least two or three years prior—long since suppressed by the Huangs. The Guangling Prefect had only taken office two or three months ago, making it nearly impossible for him to have investigated, let alone known about these matters.

Yet, the prefect’s words were precise down to the last detail, even specifying the exact number of deaths. Master Huang cast a shocked glance at the white-robed young master seated above, uncertain of his true identity.

Though Qingchen Gongzi had not reprimanded him, the Guangling Prefect already felt deeply ashamed. Seeing Master Huang still sizing up Xu Qingchen, his anger flared. Upon assuming office, he had not been unwilling to deal with these entrenched gentry families, but with the realm newly stabilized, the priority was maintaining public order. These families had entrenched themselves in Guangling for years—any slight provocation could spiral beyond his control, potentially destabilizing the recently pacified region. That would be his failure. But now, with Qingchen Gongzi backing him, he no longer hesitated. He was ready to act decisively, determined to restore peace to Guangling.

“Huang Shiliang, I am questioning you—what are you looking at?” the Guangling Prefect said sternly.

Master Huang’s heart skipped a beat, sensing that today’s situation was dire. Yet even knowing this, he could not simply give up—because the young master, Huang Yaozu, was the sole heir of the Huang family line.

“Lord Li, there must be some misunderstanding here. My son… my son has always been law-abiding. How could he commit such atrocities? Someone must be framing our Huang family. I beg you to investigate thoroughly.”

Prefect Li nearly laughed in exasperation. Pointing at Huang Yaozu, who was bound and immobilized on the ground, he retorted, “Law-abiding? If he’s so law-abiding, how did he end up tied up like this?”

Master Huang stole another glance at the composed white-robed young master sipping tea and muttered, “Who’s to say… they didn’t set a trap to frame my son?”

“Xu Qingchen, what are you doing?” Just as Prefect Li was about to lose his temper, a clear, melodious voice rang out from the doorway. Everyone turned in surprise to see a lovely young woman in yellow standing at the entrance, looking at them with a puzzled expression. Her peach-blossom cheeks were faintly flushed, as if she had just woken up.

Most importantly… Master Huang stiffened, his face contorted as he turned back to the white-robed young master seated at the head of the room. Trembling, he stammered, “Q-Qingchen Gongzi?!”

His vision darkened, and he nearly collapsed. He knew his son’s character all too well—one look at this rare beauty, and he could guess what had happened. But who could have imagined that his son, in the very heart of Guangling, would cross paths with Qingchen Gongzi? Within the jurisdiction of Prince Ding’s Estate, Qingchen Gongzi’s word was absolute—even Prince Ding himself deferred to him. Was this truly the heavens sealing the fate of the Huang family?

Xu Qingchen frowned slightly at Yunge and beckoned her over. “Didn’t I tell you to rest properly? Why are you out here again?”Yunge curiously glanced at the crowd in the hall before stepping inside and walking up to Xu Qingchen. "I couldn't sleep," she said. Xu Qingchen patted the chair beside him and replied, "Since you can't sleep, sit here for a while."

Nodding, Yunge sat down next to Xu Qingchen without hesitation, blinking her eyes as she looked at the person tied up like a dumpling below. "Xu Qingchen, what are you doing?" she asked.

Xu Qingchen smiled gently. "Lord Li is presiding over a case. I'm just observing. You can sit and watch too."

Yunge glared at the man lying on the ground and nodded emphatically. "Mhm! That guy is a bad person! The official should punish him severely!" Xu Qingchen affectionately ruffled her hair and chuckled. "Lord Li is fair and just. He will definitely punish him harshly."

Below, Prefect Li's lips twitched imperceptibly. Was punishing Huang Yaozu severely the only way to be fair and just? Since Qingchen Gongzi had said so, what else could he, as a subordinate, say?

"Lord Li?" Xu Qingchen calmly glanced at Prefect Li.

Prefect Li stiffened inwardly and quickly suppressed his silent complaints, adopting a solemn expression. "Huang Shiliang, do you have anything else to say?" he asked.

Master Huang's legs finally gave way, and he knelt on the ground. There were few in the world who hadn't heard of Qingchen Gongzi's reputation. Those in positions of power naturally knew more than ordinary folk, and thus understood that the name Qingchen Gongzi represented not just unparalleled intelligence and the Xu Family, but also authority formidable enough to awe the entire realm.

"Q-Qingchen Gongzi, this lowly one knows his wrongs. I beg you to spare my son's life," Master Huang pleaded, realizing that denial was futile now that he knew the identity of the man seated above. He could only beg desperately to save his son's life.

Seeing Prefect Li's questioning gaze, Xu Qingchen said evenly, "Lord Li is the one presiding over this case. Why are you looking at me?"

In other words, the law must be followed. Prefect Li understood and straightened his expression, declaring sternly, "Since the accused has confessed—Guards! Huang Yaozu has oppressed the common people, abducted women, and caused deaths. Take him into custody immediately and await execution at a later date!"

With that, Huang Yaozu's way out was sealed. In the hall, not only did Master Huang and his family turn pale, but Huang Yaozu, bound on the ground, also struggled violently, casting desperate, pleading looks toward Yunge. Yunge frowned and turned to Xu Qingchen, who murmured indifferently, "It was pure luck that I happened to save you. Think about it—if another girl had encountered him, would she have been so fortunate? Besides, he also killed an entire family of three."

Yunge's eyes widened, and she glared furiously at Huang Yaozu before turning her small face away with a disdainful huff. Bad guy! She wouldn't save him!

Seeing her reaction, Qingchen Gongzi shook his head in amusement.

Prefect Li waved his hand, ordering the guards to quickly remove Huang Yaozu.

Master Huang let out a wail and collapsed to his knees. "Qingchen Gongzi, spare him! My son knows his wrongs—please spare his life! I only have this one son! I beg you to leave the Huang family with a descendant!"Yunge frowned at Master Huang and said crisply, "You only have one son in your family, but the family he harmed has no one left." Master Huang was left speechless. When his son had driven that family of three to their deaths, how could he have imagined this retribution would come today?

"Wuwu... It's all my fault for failing to teach him properly. I beg Qingchen Gongzi to show mercy. I... I am willing to give up all my wealth, just spare my son's life."

Xu Qingchen's eyes flashed slightly as he said indifferently, "Give up all your wealth? Do you mean it?"

Master Huang was stunned for a moment before hurriedly replying, "This... of course I mean it. I beg for your mercy, Gongzi."

After a brief silence, Xu Qingchen turned to Prefect Li and said, "Send people to confiscate the Huang family's property. Give each of the Huang family's servants ten taels of silver. As for the rest... not a single tael is to be left."

Caught off guard by this unexpected move, Prefect Li was momentarily at a loss. "This... uh, yes, I will carry it out immediately. Then... what should be done with Huang Yaozu?" Xu Qingchen lowered his gaze and smiled, "Since Master Huang is willing to trade all his wealth for his son's life, sentence him to exile at the border. Never to return, with no pardon granted!"

Master Huang's face turned pale—how was this any different from death? Under normal sentencing, as long as there was life, there was always room for maneuver. Throughout one's lifetime, there would always be a few general pardons. But with Qingchen Gongzi adding this clause of "no pardon granted," all hope was lost.

"No! Master... our Huang family cannot end like this!" The Huang family members who had been pleading behind Master Huang immediately protested. Trading every last penny of the Huang family's wealth for Huang Yaozu's exile with no chance of return? No one was willing to pay such a price. Rather than this, it would be better for Master Huang to try and father another son—even adopting one would be better than this.

"Master, think twice..."

Not to mention others, even Master Huang himself hesitated. What he wanted was for his son to live on and continue the family line. How could he be willing to trade all his wealth for such an outcome?

Seeing Master Huang's expression, Qingchen Gongzi curled his lips in a mocking smile and said indifferently to Prefect Li, "It seems Master Huang is unwilling. Lord Li, proceed with the standard sentencing."

Master Huang could no longer utter any words of plea and could only watch helplessly as his son was taken away, bursting into loud, anguished sobs.

While the hall was in such an uproar, the outside was no calmer. The young scoundrels and bullies brought in by the yamen runners, along with their families, were waiting outside. Though they didn't know what had happened, hearing Master Huang's wails from inside made them exchange uneasy glances, sensing something amiss.

In the end, Master Huang did not surrender all his family's wealth, but within a few days, the Huang family could no longer hold on. The gentry and wealthy merchants of Guangling would despise him to the core. Which family didn’t have a few unfilial descendants? Which of these powerful families hadn’t done a few unspeakable deeds? Yet it was Huang Yaozu who had crossed paths with Qingchen Gongzi. Had he not been caught by Qingchen Gongzi, perhaps Qingchen Gongzi would never have intervened in Guangling’s affairs at all. Thus, those who had suffered misfortune would unanimously direct their anger toward the Huang family.On this day, in this unremarkable inn in Guangling, several notorious young scions from powerful aristocratic families who had been tyrannizing the city were arrested one after another. What awaited them might be execution, exile, or imprisonment. By the time they emerged from the inn, all of them were ashen-faced and on the verge of collapse, drawing curious onlookers from the passing crowd.

"Xu Qingchen, you're amazing!" The now-empty hall held only Xu Qingchen and Yunge. Seated in a chair with her chin propped in her hands, Yunge gazed at Qingchen Gongzi, his white robes pristine as snow, her eyes brimming with admiration. She had seen the criminal charges Xu Qingchen had presented—without saying a word, simply sitting there, he had reduced those seemingly formidable men to their knees, begging for mercy. But Yunge wouldn't plead for them. Though the sight of elderly men with white hair weeping pitifully tugged at her heart, she had witnessed too many instances of the wealthy bullying ordinary folk on her travels. Those victims were far more deserving of sympathy. Whenever she encountered such situations, she could only reprimand the offenders and give the victims some silver. Yet Xu Qingchen had effortlessly thrown all those villains into prison, ensuring they would never harm common people again!

Qingchen Gongzi was no stranger to admiring gazes, but he suddenly found Yunge's particularly gratifying. With an amused smile, he raised an eyebrow. "What's so amazing about it?"

"You punished so many bad people," Yunge said.

"That was Lord Li presiding over the trial," Xu Qingchen replied with a laugh.

"But you were the one who provided Lord Li with all the evidence," Yunge countered.

"The shadow guards gathered that," Xu Qingchen said gently. Yunge tilted her head. "But... I noticed those people were terrified of you, not Lord Li at all." Though Lord Li had done all the talking, she could clearly sense that the prisoners' frozen fear stemmed from Xu Qingchen's presence, not the stern-faced official.

"Sharp eyes," Xu Qingchen remarked with a chuckle.

"Of course!" Yunge beamed.

Xu Qingchen arched a brow, giving her a teasing look. "If your eyes are so sharp, how did you fail to recognize those swindlers? Come, tell me—how many times have you been fooled on your journey?"

Yunge's face flushed crimson. "I—I haven't been fooled that many times!"

"Oh?" Xu Qingchen smiled, retrieving several items from his sleeve and placing them on the table. "Then what are these?"

"Eh? That's my hairpin... and my jade pendant... and my purse! Why are they... with you..." Under Qingchen Gongzi's knowing gaze, Yunge's voice trailed off.

Xu Qingchen sighed softly, looking at her with affectionate exasperation. "Silly girl, you didn't even realize you'd been cheated. That 'filial daughter burying her father' you met days ago—you gave her your jade pendant. Do you know this piece alone could sustain an ordinary family for a lifetime?"

"But... her father really had died. I didn't have any loose silver left," Yunge protested weakly. As a physician, surely she could distinguish life from death better than Xu Qingchen?

"The man was dead," Xu Qingchen countered, "but how do you know he was her father?"

"Ah?" Yunge was speechless.Xu Qingchen picked up the hairpin from the table and gently pinned it back into her hair. Then he took the jade pendant and fastened it for her, saying, "Look at you after all this time. If I had found you a few days later, would you even have had money for food?"

Yunge lowered her head in embarrassment, fiddling with her fingers as she murmured, "I know medicine, and I can gather herbs." So she wouldn't starve.

Qingchen Gongzi nodded approvingly. "Indeed, you know medicine, yet you pay for patients' medicine out of your own pocket. You can gather herbs, yet you give them all away to others."

"But... but they needed help," Yunge said dejectedly. Her father—though she wasn't sure if he practiced medicine—had left behind plenty of gold and jewels, and her adoptive father was similarly wealthy. Yet here she was, having run away from home with a considerable sum, only to grow poorer by the day.

Qingchen Gongzi patted her forehead with a smile. "Now you see how foolish you've been."

Yunge puffed out her cheeks indignantly. "I'm not foolish! My adoptive father says I'm the smartest."

Xu Qingchen gave her a skeptical look, and the young girl immediately deflated, muttering sadly, "How could this happen... I helped them out of kindness, so why did they deceive me?"

Xu Qingchen softened his voice. "There are many wicked people in this world. Did you think everywhere was like Li Cheng, where no one dared to bully you? Who told you to run away from home?"

At this, Yunge suddenly grew wary, staring at Xu Qingchen. She recalled the night before her escape when he had declared her his fiancée, and a chill ran down her spine. "You... why are you here?!"

Xu Qingchen smiled faintly. "What do you think? Running off without a word—do you know how worried your family was? What if something had happened to you? How would the Xu Family explain it to Shen?"

"I... I didn't run away. I was—I was traveling to practice medicine and help people," Yunge insisted, widening her eyes to mask her guilt. Xu Qingchen said nothing, merely watching her with a calm, knowing smile that made her feel increasingly flustered. "Well... it's not my fault anyway. It's yours! I... I don't want to be your fiancée!"

Qingchen Gongzi's expression darkened slightly as he lowered his gaze. "Oh? Why not?"

Yunge bit her cherry lips, gazing at him with a pout. "I just... I just don't." She certainly wouldn't tell him she hated studying.

After a moment of silence, Qingchen Gongzi chuckled and pulled her closer. "I know. You don’t want to copy texts or memorize books, do you?" Caught, Yunge flushed with embarrassment and mumbled, "So what if I don’t? I just don’t like studying. I’m just stupid."

Qingchen Gongzi laughed, realizing he had teased her too much. In truth, Yunge wasn’t stupid at all—her progress in less than a year had earned praise from both Qin Zheng and his mother. She simply had little interest in arts like music, chess, calligraphy, or painting, preferring to devote most of her energy to medicine.

"Then... what if I never make you copy texts or memorize books again?" Xu Qingchen asked softly."Hmm?" Yunge's eyes lit up as she looked at Xu Qingchen in surprise. Xu Qingchen's gentle and refined smile was so captivating it was hard not to be drawn in. "If you never have to memorize texts, copy books, or practice handwriting again, would you be willing to become my fiancée?"

"Well..." Yunge hesitated.

Qingchen Gongzi said calmly, "Look at you—you get tricked the moment you step outside. If you go out with me in the future, no one would dare deceive you. You could save as many people as you want without worrying about money, and rescue whoever you wish. If there are medicinal herbs or medical texts you can't find, I can have Prince Ding's shadow guards search for them. Something like today wouldn’t happen again. What do you think?"

Yunge blinked, feeling a bit muddled. But what Xu Qingchen said did make a lot of sense. "Then... couldn’t we just go out together now?"

Qingchen Gongzi shook his head with a smile. "Men and women should maintain proper distance. If we go out together without any formal relationship, people might misunderstand. It wouldn’t be good for your reputation—or mine, for that matter. Look at Li'er and Zheng'er—they only go out with Prince Ding or my second brother."

"Mhm..." Sister Qin Zheng, apart from playing in Li Cheng, only ever went out with Second Brother Xu.

"Have you thought it over? If you're unwilling, we can return to Li Cheng right now. But if you're my fiancée, we could travel around freely, even for a year or two without issue." Qingchen Gongzi smiled like a spring breeze.

"Alright." Yunge replied absentmindedly as she pondered.

"..." Qingchen Gongzi, is it really proper to deceive a young girl like this? The shadow guards outside exchanged glances.

Feng's Recommendation: Check out my friend Jian Zheng's new novel Daughter of the Noble House: Renowned Physician

After crossing over, Qin Zheng becomes the neglected legitimate daughter of the Minister's household.

Unloved by her father, plotted against by her stepmother, and framed by her sisters at every turn—

She refuses to let fate dictate her life. Armed with a blank medical book, she thrives in the Western Liang dynasty.

But her biggest mistake? Saving the life of the ailing Imperial Tutor.

What she thought was a lifelong bond turns out to be nothing more than her role as a pawn in his schemes...