FID – Chapter 989

Chapter 989: Long Live the King

Inside the inner hall, the standoff continued.

The yamen officers and soldiers held their blades aimed at the group in the center, yet none dared to move. One wrong step, one more ounce of force from the man in purple, and the Prince of Cangzhou would die beneath his heel.

The man being surrounded, however, remained calm and unhurried, composed and steady. Such bearing made the onlooking citizens outside the hall feel a vague, rising sense of anticipation.

Perhaps today they might witness an unexpected outcome.

With all four limbs broken and his chest pinned under someone’s foot for all to see, humiliation surged again and again through Zhu Xian’s mind. He was in agony and furious beyond words.

He had run rampant in Cangzhou for so many years! When had he ever been this humiliated, this disgraced?

He would not let these people go. He would tear them into pieces, making sure they never had a grave to rest in!

“You won’t have the chance.” As if reading every thought in his mind, the man standing on him lowered his long lashes slightly, staring at Zhu Xian’s twisted, feral face as he spoke lightly.

His voice was even, steady, devoid of emotion.

A chill swept instantly through Zhu Xian’s entire body. He lifted his eyes to meet the man’s and only then realized that the gaze directed at him was the gaze one might give a dying ant.

Cold seeped from his chest into every bone of his body, for a moment even overpowering the agony of his shattered limbs. This man truly intended to kill him!

It was only now that he belatedly realized: from the moment he had led the officers to seize them, these people had displayed an unusual calm, as if they weren’t afraid at all.

Moreover, despite knowing he was the son of the Commandery Administrator, they still dared to strike him. Clearly, they hadn’t a shred of fear for his father.

People like this must have a far greater backing—power beyond even that of a local governor!

At that moment, he recalled Su Manyu’s earlier warning. Perhaps they really did have some serious connections, but at the time, he hadn’t paid it any mind.

Zhu Xian panicked. “You… who-who are you people?!”

After returning from drumming, Wei Zi stepped calmly into the inner hall. Hearing this, he said in a cool voice, “You are not worthy to know who my master is.”

Just then, footsteps echoed from the back hall of the yamen.

The citizens outside perked up—the governor has arrived!

They wanted to see how he would handle such a spectacle. Over the years, the governor and the county magistrate had colluded, turning a blind eye to many of Zhu Xian’s misdeeds. Now, under everyone’s watchful eyes, how would he justify his actions while maintaining the appearance of justice?

Sang Ping entered the hall with a grim expression. He had been informed by the officers that Zhu Xian had been injured in the main hall, so he hurried over. If anything had happened to Zhu Xian in his jurisdiction, the Commandery Administrator would hold him accountable.

The moment he stepped inside, the first thing he saw was a flash of purple, half-surrounded by officers with drawn blades. At the man’s feet lay the utterly humiliated Zhu Xian, crushed beneath the purple-clad figure.

Sang Ping’s face darkened, and he immediately roared, “How dare you! Openly injuring someone in the court and flouting the law! Come on, seize them at once and punish them severely!”

Before coming, he had only thought Zhu Xian was slightly injured. He never expected that the man would be trampled underfoot and humiliated, with his limbs even broken. If he couldn’t rescue him, how could he possibly explain it to the governor later?

That purple-clad man dared to harm someone in his yamen—he was looking for death!

Yet the man in purple refused to release him, and the officers, wary of him, dared not move forward to capture him. The standoff continued.

Thinking quickly, Sang Ping’s face darkened further as he scanned the inner hall. Aside from the man in purple, there were also two beautiful women and a black-clad attendant.

He immediately realized that Zhu Xian had encountered someone tough—a forceful counterattack.

Sitting at the judge’s bench, Sang Ping slammed the gavel heavily, “Audacious! If you do not release the hostage immediately, do not blame me for doubling your sentence!”

The sharp, crisp sound made the citizens outside the hall’s hearts jump.

“Sentence? I wonder what kind of sentence you plan to impose, Your Excellency, the governor?” The purple-clad man slowly turned to look at the person sitting behind the judge’s bench.

Just now, with his back turned, Sang Ping hadn’t clearly seen the man’s face. Now, as the man turned fully, and he got a good look at him, the gavel in his hand clattered to the floor. “Y-Y-Your Highness?!”

It was like a bucket of ice water had been poured over him—bone-chilling.

All of Sang Ping’s official authority vanished in an instant. His face drained of color as he scrambled out from the judge’s bench, falling to the ground in a kneeling bow. “Your servant Sang Ping pays respects to Your Highness! Long live the King! May you live ten thousand years, ten thousand times over!”

As the prefectural magistrate, although he spent most of his time stationed in Cangzhou, he would travel to the capital once or twice a year for court assemblies. How could he not recognize the King of Nanling?

That man was so dazzling that even seeing him once would make him unforgettable!

Inside and outside the hall, the revelation of ‘Your Highness, the King’ caused an immediate uproar.

The King! That purple-clad man was actually the King! No wonder he remained so calm and composed even in the yamen; his status was so exalted, he had no reason to fear the son of a mere prefect!

Su Manyu, standing among the crowd at the entrance, had only intended to watch how things unfolded. She hadn’t expected to hear such a shocking piece of news.

That man, with his graceful, noble bearing in every gesture, was the King!

No wonder, no wonder he was so extraordinary—standing among the crowd, he looked like a crane among chickens!

Hearing this suddenly left her both delighted and worried. Delighted that the man she had been captivated by was of such exalted status, yet worried for Zhu Xian.

Zhu Xian had gone to the inn to grab people and ended up provoking the King. This was an outcome in which she had, in some way, played a part. Her greatest concern now was that Zhu Xian might drag her into this. Matters involving the King touched the royal family; there would be no way to resolve this lightly.

Moreover, her own position as the King’s Consort was at stake. How could His Highness tolerate someone coveting his wife? 

Zhu Xian was certainly finished. And if she were implicated as well, her family would suffer alongside him. Her pupils flickered as she quietly retreated into the crowd.

The commotion the King had caused didn’t subside for a long time. Outside the hall, the crowd was noisy, gossiping excitedly, the people thrilled.

Inside the hall, however, it was the opposite—a complete, suffocating silence. The yamen guards could barely restrain themselves from swallowing their swords. The man they had just aimed their blades at was the King; if anything were to happen afterward, would any of these low-ranking officers even survive?

Zhu Xian, lying on the floor, was even more ashen-faced.

His eyes widened in disbelief. He had arrested the King? And the woman he had coveted was his consort?

The charge was tantamount to treason. The King would never forgive him!

When the man had said he had no chance earlier, it wasn’t a threat—it was real. He truly intended to execute him!

To have provoked royalty—now, even his father could not save him.

An overwhelming fear pressed from all directions. Heat surged between his legs, and a metallic, bloody stench spread through the hall. Zhu Xian’s teeth chattered as he looked up at the man in horror. “Y-Your Highness… have mercy…”

Feng Qingbai moved his foot away, led Liu Yusheng to the side, and calmly seated her in a judge’s bench, not commanding the kneeling people to rise.

“Just now, Young Master Zhu said he was the law of Cangzhou,” Feng Qingbai said, his gaze landing on the trembling Sang Ping on the floor. “If he is the law of Cangzhou, then what does that make you, the governor, in Cangzhou?”