Did the Seventh Prince attend court today?

The night was deep, the rain was pouring down, and amidst the rumbling thunder, the sound of horses' hooves grew louder as they approached.

The eldest prince rode his horse through the heavy rain. The rain was so heavy that his clothes under his raincoat were already soaked through. The windproof lantern hanging on the saddle shook violently with the horse's hooves, and its warm yellow light cast a long line in the night.

"Xikou Village is just ahead!"

A shout came from behind; it was Xu Ruohuai reminding him.

The eldest prince cracked his whip, and the horse ran even faster.

Behind him, besides Xu Ruohuai, were more than a dozen mounted guards, including Gu Cheng.

The sound of horses' hooves mingled with the sound of rain for a while longer before finally stopping at the entrance of Xikou Village. Looking around, the village was deserted, with only three houses having their lights on and not a single person in sight.

Gu Cheng wiped the rain from his face and said with dissatisfaction, "In such heavy rain, the Seventh Prince summoned us, but he himself is nowhere to be seen. What exactly is he up to?"

Xu Ruohuai, who was closest to him, heard this and scolded, "You insisted on coming here yourself, so what are you yelling about now?"

Gu Cheng choked on his words, his face turning ashen, and said, "I'm worried about the safety of the First Prince."

Xu Ruohuai ignored him, spurred his horse and rode to the side of the First Prince. He cupped his hands and said, "The Seventh Prince said that the rocky mountain behind the village is in danger of collapsing. He has already led most of the villagers to evacuate. The rest are unwilling to leave, so we need to trouble the First Prince to send people to forcibly take them away."

The eldest prince had no doubts, nodded slightly, and said, "Someone, go and take those stranded in the village to a safe area!"

The guards behind him responded loudly, immediately dismounted nimbly, and headed straight for the three houses with lights on.

As the deer crossed the bridge from the other side of the river, the guards were forcibly dragging several people out of the village. He went up to them and said, "The safe zone is on the other side of the bridge. The other villagers are all there now."

The eldest prince looked him up and down, and seeing that he was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to order, "Take everyone to the other side."

The guards immediately escorted those people across the bridge.

"You robbers, what are you doing?! I'm a law-abiding citizen! You've broken into my house and arrested me without any reason; this is illegal!"

A young man struggled, cursing, but the guards were all tall, strong, and powerful, and he couldn't break free at all.

I remember this man; he's the one who complained that five taels of silver wasn't enough and refused to move out of the village.

Behind the man was a woman holding a child, and an elderly woman with limited mobility, who appeared to be his wife, child, and mother.

The old man cried and muttered, "I told you I would go with the village chief and the others, but you wouldn't agree. Now look what happened, I've been kicked out of my house in the rain. My poor old bones are suffering because of you."

Upon hearing this, the man immediately shouted in a gruff voice, "Shut up, you old geezer! If it weren't for people like you dragging me down, would I even bother arguing with you?!"

The child in the woman's arms was immediately terrified and burst into tears.

The eldest prince frowned and explained gently to the old man, "Old man, there's no need to be afraid. We are government officials. We predicted that a landslide might occur in the village, so we came to evacuate you."

He then instructed the guards: "Take good care of the elderly and children."

The guards agreed. One of them bent down and carried the old man on his back, while the other took the child from the woman's arms and wrapped it in a raincoat.

The old man and the woman looked relieved and said repeatedly, "So that's how it is. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir."

The two thanked the guards profusely and left.

The other family was very cooperative. Because of the rain, they had already been thinking about leaving, so as soon as the guards came to their door, they followed them out on their own.

Two of the three households were taken away, leaving only the pretty widow, who was the toughest nut to crack.

Sure enough, a guard ran over, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Highness, there's a woman who refuses to leave. Whenever I get close, she shouts 'molestation' and threatens to commit suicide. I can't do anything about her."

The eldest prince frowned deeply. "I'll go take a look."

You Lu grabbed him and said to the guards, "She can't die. Send two people to forcibly pull her out. I'll take responsibility if anything happens. Time is of the essence; the mountain could collapse at any moment. We need to be quick."

The two guards obeyed the order and quickly returned to the small courtyard with the thatched gate, where they dragged the person out.

A splash of white appeared in the rainy night; it was Meng Shi, dressed in a white dress.

Because she was forcibly dragged out of the yard, her hair was disheveled and her white skirt was covered in mud.

Upon seeing the eldest prince, a glint of light flashed in her eyes, and a hint of vulnerability appeared on her stubborn face. She choked back tears, saying, "That's the courtyard my husband and I built together. It holds our shared memories. My husband is gone now, and all I have left is this courtyard. Please, let me go back. I can't live without this home!"

The heart-wrenching cries were deeply moving, and the eldest prince felt compassion for her, gently advising, "The courtyard can be rebuilt later. The most important thing is to be alive. Your husband would certainly not want anything to happen to you."

Meng seemed to be persuaded, and sobbed softly, "But my husband's memorial tablet is still in the house..."

Upon hearing this, Pixiu spat, "[We were arguing inside for ages, and she didn't mention the memorial tablet once. Even after the guards left, she was still in the mood to put on makeup, but now she's calling me 'husband' all the time.]"

It had been staying at the Meng family's house to see what this woman was up to. Now it knew that the Meng family wanted to create a persona of deep affection in order to evoke people's pity.

The eldest prince indeed hesitated. It was just a memorial tablet; there should be enough time to retrieve it from the courtyard now.

Just as he was about to give in, a bolt of lightning exploded overhead, and a thick silver dragon ripped through the sky, illuminating the night sky as bright as day.

Everyone turned pale.

Gu Cheng swallowed hard. "Won't this lightning strike and knock down rocks?"

He was absolutely right.

Another bolt of lightning flashed, striking a large tree on the mountainside, sending chills down everyone's spines.

A deer said, "There's no time! Let's go!"

The eldest prince couldn't bring himself to ask the guards to fetch the memorial tablet.

Just as he was about to order the evacuation, Meng cried out again, stubbornly insisting, "I won't leave! If I can't even protect my husband's memorial tablet, how can I face anyone else to live!"

Xu Ruohuai couldn't help but retort, "It's just an inanimate object, is it more important than a human life?! Don't try to make trouble here!"

Even Gu Cheng said, "Why waste words with her? Just drag her away."

Meng, however, found strength from somewhere, pushed away the guards who were pulling her away, clung to a tree at the village entrance, and shouted, "I don't even want my home anymore, I just want to retrieve my husband's memorial tablet, why are you stopping me! You cold-blooded and heartless people don't deserve to live in this world!"

Meng's words were colder than rain, and the eldest prince felt as if he had been struck hard in the chest, his face showing only struggle.

Pixiu stamped its foot in frustration, "[She's obviously acting. Nobody's stopping her now. If she wanted to go, she would have gone long ago. Your Highness, please don't fall for it!]"

Youlu saw the Crown Prince's struggle and hesitation, and sighed helplessly, "It seems we still have to take the final step."

As the guards pulled Meng from the tree, she hissed as she passed the First Prince, "If you take me away now, you'll find a corpse tomorrow!"

The eldest prince finally made up his mind. He couldn't let his guards risk their lives, but he also couldn't bear to see such a devoted and pitiful woman perish. So he decided to go himself, even if something bad happened to him, he would have a clear conscience.

He gritted his teeth and said, "I..."

"I'll go get her memorial tablet."

In the wind and rain, the sound of deer echoed loudly.

On the official road leading to Nanzhang, a black figure rode past at breakneck speed.