Did the Seventh Prince attend court today?

Nanhe Village is nestled against the mountains and beside the river, boasting beautiful scenery. Under normal circumstances, it would be a picturesque place. Unfortunately, recent torrential rains have caused the river to surge with yellow waves, overflowing its banks and flooding the farmland on both sides, causing immense suffering to the villagers.

Because the downstream villages were hit by flash floods the night before, the mud and rocks that rolled down the mountain blocked the river channel, preventing the river water from flowing down. As a result, the water level in Nanhe Village, which is upstream, rose a few more points, and now the entire village is shrouded in dark clouds.

Led by the yamen runners, You Lu and his companions walked along the foot of the mountain, inspecting the hillside and the villages at its foot.

Along the way, you can see villagers with worried faces everywhere. Because their farmland was flooded, the villagers have lost their livelihood and can only stay at home all day sighing. Even the dogs in front of the farmhouses are listless and don't have the energy to bark at strangers.

After visiting Nanhe Village, the group went to inspect the neighboring Xikou Village. Xikou Village is located in front of Nanhe Village. Because of its higher elevation, it was not as severely affected by the disaster, and a few villagers could still be seen working in the fields.

As they passed a small courtyard with a thatched gate, a deer stopped and its gaze fell on the young woman feeding chickens in the yard, its pupils turning slightly white.

The woman in the courtyard looked to be only in her early twenties, but she was dressed in white, with a white flower in her hair, like a widow. Her gentle and beautiful face was etched with sorrow, and she looked so delicate and pitiful.

"Is it related to her and the Crown Prince's ordeal?" The Pixiu floated over and perched on his shoulder.

The deer nodded.

She would cause the eldest prince to be seriously injured and crippled, and afterwards, under the pretext of repaying a debt of gratitude, she would force him to marry her. When the eldest prince refused, she would spread rumors everywhere to defame his reputation.

Pixiu wore the expression of an old man looking at his phone on the subway, wondering, "Is she repaying a debt of gratitude or seeking revenge?"

"Who knows?" Youlu chuckled.

[In my elder brother's vision of the future, I only saw a general scene; the details were unclear, which is why I insisted on coming in person. Thankfully, I came; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to pinpoint the exact time and place.]

These are all things he just saw in this person.

Before setting off and on the way here, he had repeatedly looked at his elder brother's future, hoping to learn more about the details of disaster relief from him. However, for some reason, the future he saw was very vague, often just a single image. This was why he was worried and insisted on coming along.

At first, he suspected that he had changed his elder brother's future and revealed the secrets of heaven, which was why he could no longer see through his elder brother's new future. However, when he checked Shen Yuyao's new future before, this situation did not occur, so he guessed that someone had tampered with it.

The person who is secretly plotting everything and concealing the future may have already become aware of his existence.

This means that his abilities will be greatly limited.

Should we get rid of this person beforehand?

Pixiu's voice pulled Youlu from his reverie. He glanced at the seemingly innocent, pretty widow, frowned, and said, "Let me think about it some more. Is it better to take preventative measures, or to learn from our mistakes?"

Pixiu scratched its head, "Although I don't quite understand, I support whatever decision the boss makes."

"Good boy." A deer rubbed its big head against it.

"So the Seventh Prince insisted on coming here because he wanted to see if there were any beauties nearby."

A mocking voice rang out, and several officials from the Ministry of Works either looked disdainful or revealed knowing, lewd expressions, all of them chuckling.

The yamen runner leading the way added ingratiatingly, "This is a famously beautiful widow in the surrounding villages. She is indeed beautiful, but she has a very fiery temper."

Seeing him staring intently at the pretty widow in the courtyard, everyone assumed he was lustful.

Xu Ruohuai frowned in displeasure and tugged at You Lu's sleeve. "Little Deer, they're laughing at you!"

His fierce yet cowardly demeanor made You Luqi laugh. "I heard it, I heard it with both ears."

Having said that, he kicked the leader, the wealthy man surnamed Chu, to the ground, then stepped on the man's shoulder to grind away the mud under his feet, sneering, "I think you're a toad crawling on my foot, not biting but just disgusting! What, you think my head is full of filth just from one look? If I really said I liked someone, were you going to tie them up and offer them to me? If that's the case, I'll go back to the capital and see your whole family!"

"You, you!" Chu Tiansheng was so angry that his face turned red and his neck bulged. He struggled to get up, but slipped and rolled in the mud.

"What do you mean 'you'? Get lost!" Youlu kicked the man into the ditch.

The remaining officials of the Ministry of Works were like roosters with their necks being choked, daring not to speak out in anger, and could only hang their heads and try to retrieve Chu Tiansheng from the ditch.

Youlu patted non-existent dust off his hands and said, "You little punks, bang bang bang, you think I can't handle you?"

Xu Ruohuai clenched his fist excitedly, "This is the style, so cool!"

After reprimanding the person, Youlu turned to Cang Shuyue, raised her hand and waved it, saying smugly, "I didn't lay a hand on him."

He moved his feet.

Cang Shuyue smiled and nodded.

The boy's bright and cheerful smile was just as it had been when they first met, and it was etched into his heart at first glance. He gazed at him intently, feeling that he could never get enough of looking at him.

The Ministry of Works dared not do anything to You Lu, so they had no choice but to set their sights on Cang Shuyue.

Taking advantage of You Lu's inattention, the group crowded around Cang Shuyue, chattering amongst themselves, "The Seventh Prince is truly arrogant. He doesn't take us seriously now, and he'll definitely not take the First Prince seriously in the future. Duke, you must curb his arrogance!"

To this, Cang Shuyue had only one word: "Get lost."

The Ministry of Works officials, who had gained no advantage from either side, looked suffocated.

Madam Meng had noticed the people outside the courtyard long ago, but she didn't make a sound. She waited until they left before turning around to look outside. Seeing that it was a group of richly dressed men, she raised an eyebrow, tidied a stray strand of hair at her temple, and turned to go inside.

After inspecting all the villages at the foot of the mountain, the group returned to the Nanzhang County Government Office before lunch.

Just then, the eldest prince, who had been resettling disaster victims, returned to the county office. Seeing his disheveled appearance, Youlu asked curiously, "Elder brother, were you robbed?"

It's no exaggeration to say that the Crown Prince's jade crown was gone, as were his jade pendant and sachet. His sleeves and hem were also torn with a large hole. He looked like he had been robbed.

Yinwu said helplessly, "It wasn't thieves, it was the disaster victims who looted it."

He arrived early this morning to help the Crown Prince resettle the disaster victims. Everything was fine at first, until they entered a dilapidated temple.

"When we went to the dilapidated temple to deliver food to the disaster victims, they swarmed around us and took all the valuables from the First Prince, almost even stealing his belt wrapped in gold thread. I wanted to teach those rioters a lesson, but the First Prince was kind-hearted and didn't want to pursue the matter."

Youlu: "..."

Cang Shuyue showed no expression, but simply pulled Youlu away from the Crown Prince.

The eldest prince blushed and said, "They were forced into this situation. It's just some material possessions; it's nothing serious."

Pixiu looked completely convinced. "No wonder Cang Shuyue was implicated and ended up with his legs crippled; he truly doesn't understand the wickedness of human nature."

Youlu sighed. "I was still hesitant, but now it seems I have no choice but to take drastic measures."

The Pixiu pricked up its ears, [Let the beast hear your plan.]

"I plan to..." the deer chattered on for a while, then patted the Pixiu's head, "These next few days you need to accumulate some energy; we'll be counting on you then."

The Pixiu puffed out its chest, [It's all on the beast!]