Xie Lian coaxed him, "Don't be afraid, it's okay, I just want to take a look at your injuries." But the child covered his mouth tighter and tighter, revealing only one big dark eye, which showed a panic. But this panic didn't seem like fear of being beaten by him, but rather fear of being discovered by him.

Looking at this half face and one eye, Xie Lian suddenly felt that he had seen this child before, and narrowed his eyes slightly. Seeing that his face was extremely ugly, he said with a sad face, "Brother Crown Prince, this little idiot ruined your ceremony yesterday, I will help you vent your anger. Don't worry, I will be careful, he won't die."

Sure enough, the child in his arms was the toddler who fell from the city wall during the Lantern Festival yesterday!

No wonder Xie Lian looked at him more and more familiarly. This kid didn’t even change his clothes. He was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. It was just that he was dirtier than yesterday because of the beatings and dragging. It was impossible to tell that it was the same clothes, let alone the same person. Xie Lian couldn’t stand it any longer and said, “Who told you that I wanted to vent my anger? What does this kid have to do with it? It’s not his fault!”

Qi Rong, however, argued confidently, "Of course it's his fault. If it weren't for him, how could you be scolded by the Imperial Master?"

The commotion was so bad that more and more pedestrians gathered around, whispering. Coincidentally, Mu Qing also came up at this time. Qi Rong pointed at him with a whip, looking dissatisfied and angry, and said, "And you, this servant. You can tell at a glance that this man is not law-abiding. If you don't teach him a lesson now, he will sooner or later turn the tables on you, his master. I helped you teach him a lesson, but you protected him and reported me. Now my uncle and aunt have caught me and scolded me, and they have confiscated my golden carriage. Cousin, that was my birthday gift! I have been looking forward to it for more than two years!"

Mu Qing glanced at Qi Rong with a gloomy look. Xie Lian laughed in anger and said, "I don't need you to do this for my own good. Are you venting your anger on me or yourself?"

"..." Qi Rong said: "Cousin, why do you say this to me? Then I stand by you, what have I done wrong?"

Xie Lian couldn’t convince him, so he said, “Qi Rong, listen carefully. From now on, you are not allowed to touch this child again. Not even a finger. Do you hear me?”

At this moment, Xie Lian's neck suddenly tightened. He was in a rage, and was slightly startled. He looked down and saw that the child had buried his face in his arms, with his hands tightly wrapped around his neck. Xie Lian felt that he was shaking violently, and thought that he was in pain, so he hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"

The child was covered in dirt, dust, and blood, and was extremely dirty. All of it stained Xie Lian's white clothes, but Xie Lian didn't care. He patted his back gently to comfort him and said in a deep voice, "It's okay. I'll take you to see a doctor now."

The child didn't answer, but held him tighter. He held on tightly, as if he was holding on to a life-saving straw. Qi Rong saw that Xie Lian didn't appreciate his kindness at all, and was only interested in the outsider. He also saw that the child rubbed the bloody and muddy stuff all over Xie Lian. He was furious and raised his horse whip, ready to hit the child on the back of the head. Feng Xin had been standing by, and suddenly kicked out, hitting Qi Rong's arm.

With a "crack", Qi Rong screamed, the whip fell to the ground, and his right arm was bent at an abnormal angle and drooped limply. He was still in disbelief, and after a long time he slowly raised his head, stared at Feng Xin, and said word by word: "You, actually, dared to break my arm!"

This sentence was so cold that it penetrated his bones. Feng Xin realized what he had done after he finished kicking, and his face changed slightly. Mu Qing's face changed much more than his.

How they hated Qi Rong behind his back was one thing, but when a guard accidentally broke the arm of a royal relative, that was another matter entirely!

Although Xie Lian was holding the child in his arms just now, and there were onlookers behind him, it was difficult to dodge, but if he wanted to dodge, it would be easy. However, Qi Rong was aggressive and often attacked suddenly. Feng Xin attacked too quickly and there was no time to think carefully. Now the situation was even more chaotic. He didn't catch up to stop him, and he didn't care so much. His clothes on his chest were soaked with blood. He was afraid that the child would die if he delayed any longer. Xie Lian made a prompt decision, took a deep breath, and said loudly: "Everyone, if anyone present today is involved and suffers any losses, please record them for now. I will take responsibility for them later and will never shirk my responsibility!"

Then, he said to Feng Xin and Mu Qing, "Save the child first. Take Qi Rong away and don't let him continue to mess around outside!" After saying that, he hugged the child and turned to rush towards the direction of the palace. Feng Xin received the order and his expression returned to normal. He picked up the angry Qi Rong and rushed to the palace behind him. The soldiers in front of the palace gate saw that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had only left for an hour and rushed back like a whirlwind. Although it was strange, they naturally did not dare to stop him. So, Xie Lian rushed all the way to the imperial physician's office, asked Feng Xin and Mu Qing to escort Qi Rong to guard outside, and went in himself.

It was rare for His Royal Highness to return to the palace and issue an order, so the imperial doctors had to rush over. Xie Lian put the child on a chair and said, "Thank you all. This child was just beaten by several adults, and then put into a sack and dragged on the ground. Please help me check if his head is injured. This is the most important thing."

Although the imperial doctors had never seen the royal noble rush in with a dirty wild baby to ask them to treat him, they knew that they should do whatever they were asked to do, and they agreed. One of them said, "Little friend, put your hands down first."

However, the child, who had been very well behaved all the way in Xie Lian's arms, became stubborn at this moment, tightly covering the right half of his face, refusing to put down his hand no matter what. No matter how capable the imperial physician was, he could not cure the patient if he did not cooperate. The imperial physicians looked at Xie Lian and said, "Your Highness, what is this...?"

Xie Lian raised his hand slightly and said, “Maybe he’s shy. It’s okay, I’ll do it.”

The child was sitting on a chair, and Xie Lian couldn’t look at him straight in the face, so he leaned over slightly, bent his waist, tilted his head and asked, “What’s your name?”

The child stared at him with one big eye, and a snow-white shadow was reflected in the dark pupil. If I were to describe this look, it would be just as Feng Xin said - "as if possessed by a demon or ghost", which should not appear on a child.

After a while, he lowered his head and said, "...Hong..."

His voice was low and small, a little vague, as if he didn't want to say it, and a little embarrassed. Xie Lian only roughly heard the word "red", and then asked: "How old are you?"

The child said, "Ten years old."

Xie Lian had only asked casually, intending to dispel his vigilance, but when he heard him shyly answer "ten years old", he was stunned and thought, "I thought he was only seven or eight years old, but he is actually ten years old? This child is really skinny."

After a pause, Xie Lian smiled slightly and said, “Now, the doctors will help you with your injuries. Don’t be afraid. Just put your hands down, okay?”

The child heard this and shook his head hesitantly. Xie Lian asked, “Why not?”

After a long silence, he said, "Ugly."

He only answered with this one word, and no matter how much he was coaxed, he refused to cooperate and let go to look at his head. Xie Lian swore that he was not ugly, but he refused to look, and he could not turn around. He was very stubborn despite his young age. Helplessly, the imperial doctors had to ask him a few questions and let him identify a few numbers with his hands to confirm that he was not dizzy or had a headache, and that he could see and think clearly, so they could treat his injuries first.

As the treatment went on, the imperial doctors seemed very puzzled and marveled at the result. Xie Lian had been standing by and heard the voice, and asked, “Everyone, how is it?”

An imperial physician could not help but ask, "Your Highness, was this kid really beaten up and then stuffed into a sack and dragged all the way?"

Xie Lian was speechless for a moment, then said, “That’s not true.”

The imperial physician said, "That's very...remarkable. I've never seen such a tenacious person. Five broken ribs, one leg, and various injuries, cumulatively, but he can still be conscious as usual, sit up and talk to people. Even adults can hardly do that, let alone a ten-year-old child?"

When Xie Lian heard that the injury was so serious, he became even angrier towards Qi Rong. He looked at the child again and saw that he was sitting on the chair and didn't seem to feel any pain at all. He was just looking at him secretly with his big black left eye. When he realized that he was caught by Xie Lian, he immediately turned his head away.