Xie Lian asked curiously, “Is there anything you can’t give me to drink?”

The queen pinched the small jade cup, poured out a little and pressed it on the handkerchief, then dabbed it on her face a few times, saying, "A few days ago, a batch of fresh fruits were presented to us from Mount Tai Cang. I don't like cherries, but there is a recipe that says I can mash them into pulp and apply it on my face, so I squeezed some for fun, but it didn't work, so I was just about to ask someone to pour it out. How can I give it to people to drink?"

Xie Lian smiled when he heard this, but suddenly remembered what happened yesterday. Mu Qing's mother could only eat cherries a few times a year, and Mu Qing had to be poked and pointed at when picking cherries on Mount Tai Cang. It was inevitable that he felt a little emotional. Afraid that Mu Qing would feel uncomfortable, he smiled and changed the subject, saying, "Then is there anything you can give me to eat?"

The queen laughed and said, "Your words may make others think that I starved you. In fact, you have been picky about food since you were a child, and I can't fatten you up. You have been so thin after going up the mountain for so long. Today, you should eat whatever I tell you to eat, and don't be picky."

The mother and son talked for a while. The queen asked about the accident during the Heavenly Sacrifice Parade and was quite worried: "According to the Imperial Master, this seems to be a big deal. I don't know what to do. Will you be punished?"

Before Xie Lian could reply, Qi Rong said, “Humph, this is not the Crown Prince’s fault. It wasn’t him who fell from the city wall. If there is to be a punishment, it should be that little immortal.”

Xie Lian thought, "What is this little immortal?" Before he could correct Qi Rong, the Queen had already laughed. At that moment, she noticed the two people outside the palace and said, "Who is that child next to Feng Xin? This is the first time I see someone beside you."

So, Xie Lian said happily, “This is Mu Qing. He was the one who played the demon on the stage yesterday.”

Hearing this, Qi Rong's eyebrows slightly raised. The Queen said, "Huh? Let him come up and take a look. Feng Xin, come in too."

Then Feng Xin and Mu Qing came into the palace and half-knelt in front of the queen. The queen looked at Mu Qing for a while and said to Xie Lian, "I saw him fight well yesterday. He is a decent boy. Looking at his face, he looks like a gentle prime minister. I didn't expect that he would be so fierce when using a knife."

Xie Lian smiled: “Really? I think he’s pretty good too.”

At this time, Qi Rong said coldly: "Oh? Was he the demon yesterday?"

When Xie Lian heard this, he knew something was wrong. Sure enough, the next moment, Qi Rong suddenly jumped up, snatched the jade cup from the small table, and poured it over Mu Qing’s head, saying, “This is a reward for you!”

Xie Lian was quick to knock his hand away, preventing him from splashing the water on Mu Qing’s face. He picked him up and said, “Qi Rong, what are you doing!”

Qi Rong picked him up, still threatening, and said, "Cousin, I am helping you teach this restless servant a lesson! When you were not here yesterday, he was having a great time acting alone, trying to be the center of attention. What kind of person is this? Does he think he is the protagonist of the Heavenly Sacrifice Parade? He is still thinking big!"

The Queen was stunned and said, "Rong, you...what are you doing?" Mu Qing was not poured on his head, but his clothes were poured on. However, because the Queen did not ask him to get up, he continued to kneel on the ground with a gloomy face. Xie Lian handed Qi Rong to Feng Xin and said, "Don't let him hit him." Feng Xin restrained Qi Rong with one hand, but Qi Rong kicked and hit him, and spat, "Who are you? You are so bold that you dare to touch me with your hands!"

Xie Lian had a headache and said, “Qi Rong, you’ve been getting more and more naughty lately!” He then said to the Queen, “Mother, I forgot to mention one thing. Please take his golden carriage away.”

Qi Rong was shocked and shouted, "No, no! Why! That was a birthday gift from my aunt!"

Xie Lian said, “You have to take it no matter what it is. We almost got into trouble on the street just now. You’d better not touch it until you can drive properly.”

The Queen exclaimed, "It almost caused an accident? What happened?"

Xie Lian then recounted Qi Rong’s crazy driving behavior. Qi Rong was so angry that his eyes turned red. He said, “Prince cousin, you are wrongly accusing me! I clearly didn’t hit anyone!”

Xie Lian was both amused and annoyed, and said, “That’s because someone grabbed you!”

Qi Rong immediately broke free from Xie Lian’s hand and ran out of Qifeng Palace angrily. The Queen called him several times but he still didn’t come back, so she had no choice but to say, “I’ll go and tell him about the car tomorrow. Alas, this kid has wanted a car for a long time. He had his birthday a few days ago and I saw that he really wanted it, so I gave him one. Who knew it would turn out like this? I wouldn’t have given him one if I had known.”

Xie Lian asked, “Why does he need a car?”

The Queen said, "If this is the case, I can go to Mount Taicang anytime to take you back to the palace."

Thinking that he had good intentions towards him, Xie Lian remained silent. After a moment, he said, "You should find him a teacher to control his temper. If he continues like this, it will not work."

The Queen sighed, "How can any teacher cure him? He has always listened to you. Do you want him to go up to the mountain with you to cultivate himself? And the Imperial Master refuses to accept him as a disciple."

Xie Lian thought about it and found it both funny and scary. He shook his head and said, “If Qi Rong were to enter the Huangji Temple, I’m afraid the entire Taicang Mountain would be in turmoil.”

Both mother and son were troubled by this problem and could not think of a solution, so they put it aside for the time being. In the evening, after Xie Lian met with his parents and had a brief chat, he was about to leave the palace.

Everyone knows that the Crown Prince is obsessed with cultivating Taoism. Since he went to Mount Taicang and entered the Huangji Temple, he has been separated from his parents. The King did not say much about this, but the Queen was reluctant to let him go. After leaving the palace, Xie Lian walked around the imperial city and accompanied Mu Qing back home as he had said yesterday.

The rich and powerful were often separated from the poor by only an alley. Mu Qing's original home was nestled in a dark alley in the most prosperous part of the imperial city.

As soon as the three of them arrived at the entrance of the alley, five or six ragged children surrounded them and said, "Brother, Brother is back!"

Xie Lian was a little surprised at first, why would they call a stranger brother? Then he realized that the "brother" these children were calling was not him, but Mu Qing. The children called him sweetly, but Mu Qing ignored them and said, "Not this time. Don't call me that."

Although his face was wooden, his tone was not really cold. After that, he said to Xie Lian, "Don't mind, Your Highness. These are children from the neighborhood." The group of children were obviously familiar with him. They were used to playing around with him and were not afraid of him at all. They surrounded them with smiles and stretched out their dirty little hands to ask Mu Qing for food. In the end, Mu Qing took a bunch of ruby-red cherries from the bag and shared them among them.

Seeing this, Feng Xin was quite surprised, and seemed to think that it was very strange for Mu Qing to do such a thing. It was no wonder, after all, Mu Qing had a pretty face that looked extremely cold and indifferent, the kind of person who would hold on to his food even if passers-by starved to death in front of him. Xie Lian was not surprised. Originally, he also wanted to find something to give to these children, but he didn't carry candy with him all year round. Asking Feng Xin to give some silver directly seemed like sending away beggars, and he finally felt it was inappropriate. Who knew, at this moment, there was a sudden sound of clattering, a long series of horse neighing, and a scream on the street.

Several people looked stern, and Xie Lian rushed out of the alley. The streets were on both sides, people were stumbling, pedestrians were fleeing, and red apples and yellow pears were rolling all over the ground. Before he could see what was going on, he heard a young man laughing wildly, "Get out of the way, get out of the way, everyone! If anyone doesn't keep an eye on it, I won't care if they are stepped on to death!"

Feng Xin cursed and said, "It's Qi Rong again!"

As expected, Qi Rong was standing on his gorgeous golden carriage, with a murderous look on his face, waving his whip and whipping the horse wildly, making the white horse neigh. Xie Lian said, “Stop him!”

The golden carriage roared past them. Feng Xin said, "Yes!" and rushed forward. Xie Lian was about to check on the pedestrians and stalls that were knocked over by Qi Rong's car to see if anyone was injured, but suddenly he felt something was wrong. He turned around and saw a thick long hemp rope behind the tall golden carriage. At the end of the rope, there was a sack. There seemed to be something in the sack, and it was still struggling inside. It looked like there was a person inside.

For a moment, Xie Lian felt a chill run down his spine. The next moment, he rushed forward.

The white horse was whipped by Qi Rong and ran away like crazy, causing the wheels of the carriage to spin. Feng Xin went to the front to stop the horse, but he was afraid that he would not be able to stop it for a while. Xie Lian caught up with the carriage in three steps, unsheathed his long sword, and swung it down. The hemp rope was cut off, and the sack fell to the ground, rolled twice, and stopped moving.

Xie Lian leaned over to inspect it. It was unknown how long the sack had been dragged on the ground. It was worn and torn, extremely dirty, and covered in blood, as if it were a corpse bag. He used his sword again to cut the rope that tied the mouth of the sack, opened it, and took a quick look. There was indeed a person inside. Moreover, it was a child!

Xie Lian tore the sack open. The child was curled up inside, holding his head tightly. His dirty clothes were covered with either footprints that were too big for him or blood. His hair was also tangled with blood and was a mess. He had obviously been beaten up. He looked like a nobody. Judging from his body shape, he was only seven or eight years old, very small. He was shaking as if he had been skinned. I wonder how he could survive such a beating and dragging.

Xie Lian immediately reached out to feel his neck, and finding that his pulse was not too weak, he breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately picked up the little body. Turning back, he shouted angrily, “Feng Xin! Stop Qi Rong!!!”

He had never thought that such a thing could happen in Xianle Country. In broad daylight, on the street, a noble put a living person in a sack and dragged it behind a carriage! If he hadn't seen and stopped it, wouldn't this little child have been dragged to death today? !

In the distance ahead, there were bursts of neighing and angry roars. After a moment, Feng Xin shouted loudly: "Stop it!"

Xie Lian rushed forward in a few steps, just in time to hear Qi Rong screaming, and angrily said, “How dare you hurt me, you daring servant? Who gave you the courage?!!”

It turned out that Feng Xin couldn't stop him, so he tried to grab the reins of the horse. Qi Rong of course didn't give it to him, and after a lot of scrambling, Feng Xin accidentally bumped him off the carriage in a hurry. He fell to the ground and rolled a few times, scraping his knees. Seeing that there were onlookers all around, he felt angry and embarrassed. But Xie Lian said, "I gave it to him!"

Qi Rong opened his mouth and said, "Crown Prince cousin!"

Xie Lian said angrily: “Look at what you have done! Qi Rong, I really am…”

At this moment, he suddenly felt the child in his arms shrink, and seemed to slowly loosen his hands that were holding his head, and was peeking at him from between his elbows.

Xie Lian immediately suppressed his anger, lowered his head and asked softly, “How do you feel? Is there any pain anywhere?”

The child was actually still conscious, not fainting from the pain, nor was he petrified from fear, and shook his head. Xie Lian saw that the small half of his face that was exposed was covered in blood, and wanted to see if he had any head injuries, but the child tightly covered the other half of his face, refusing to let him see.