After quickly defeating the eight burly men, Li Qiji looked down at the man rolling on the ground with his soft sword.

The fighting was probably too loud, which caused the neighbors to go and report it to the police. Just as Li Qiji finished cleaning up and strode over to Guan Zhiyue, an official and a group of constables came running over.

"How dare you commit such a heinous act!" the official shouted.

Li Qiji turned around, looked at the eight burly men lying on the ground, then at the woman lying dead on the ground, and coldly ordered, "These people are forcibly taking women from the people. Why aren't you tying them up right now?"

The leading official looked down at the two people standing on high. They were dressed in ordinary cotton clothes, not silk, just typical common women's attire.

But what struck him was that this man spoke with an irresistible air of authority, especially with his straight back and his sacred, inviolable face. Was this really just a simple, ordinary farmer?

These two must be someone of great importance!

"Guards, take all these people back to the yamen and let the magistrate deal with them."

The Shuntian Prefecture in the capital city was specifically responsible for handling cases involving imperial relatives and nobles. Other county offices were for the common people, but if a case involved imperial relatives and nobles, even if it was handled by an ordinary county office, it would be transferred to the Shuntian Prefecture for processing.

Although Guan Zhiyue has never given birth, she had seen other people raise children in her previous life and knew how to hold, raise, and coax them.

Now she gently rocked the baby, whose voice was already hoarse from crying. The baby in the swaddling clothes was red from crying, and saliva and tears were streaming down its face.

"Look how cute this little girl is!" Guan Zhiyue tossed the swaddled baby toward Li Qiji. The baby, who had been crying just moments before, suddenly chuckled when she saw Li Qiji.

Guan Zhiyue was instantly unhappy when she saw it. Humph!

"I didn't expect you to be such a flirtatious girl! Oh! I've been trying so hard to coax you for so long, and all you do is cry and cry. Now you're laughing out loud when you see a handsome guy. You've really broken my heart." Guan Zhiyue deliberately put on a stern face and gently shook her arm.

Looking at Guan Zhiyue's overflowing maternal instincts, Li Qiji was incredibly gentle, her voice so soft it seemed to drip with water, and her smile never faded.

"Yue'er, do you like children?"

Guan Zhiyue was busy playing with the children and didn't pay attention to Li Qiji's words. Without looking up, she replied directly, "Of course I like them! Look how cute they are! How fun they are!"

"Then let's have a few kids to play with."

Guan Zhiyue blinked hard a few times after hearing Li Qiji's words. What was this guy saying?

"Pah! Who wants to have a child with you?" Guan Zhiyue's face turned red and her neck thickened. She picked up the child and ran towards the alley entrance. She saw that the yamen runners had already tied them up and were now preparing to send Li Qiji and Guan Zhiyue to the county yamen as well!

Li Qiji hurriedly chased after them, just about to ask Guan Zhiyue some questions, when the official blocked their way and said, "Gentlemen, please come with us to the county government office. We'll have to wait for the county magistrate to hear the case before we know the specifics."

The two men exchanged a glance and indicated that they could go to the county government office with them, but they needed to send someone to the residence of Marquis Ping Le to ask someone named Hua Quan to come to the county government office.

Upon hearing the name Marquis Ping Le, the official exclaimed, "Good heavens, isn't this related to the imperial family? And this man isn't one of General Guan's two children!"

This woman, this woman!

The official glanced at the person but didn't recognize him. He then nodded in agreement and had no choice but to make the trip himself. He also instructed the yamen runners to send the person to Shuntian Prefecture, as this involved a case concerning imperial relatives, and their small yamen was incapable of handling such matters.

Guan Zhiyue followed Li Qiji, holding the baby. Ahead of them was a group of yamen runners escorting eight burly men. The people along the way were shocked. What was going on? Why were there so many yamen runners? What had these people done?

"Good heavens, what happened? What's going on here?!"

"I don't know, what happened? Why don't we go and take a look?"

"Great, great, what kind of world is this? How can there be so many upsetting things?!"

The people chattered amongst themselves in twos and threes, all eagerly following behind Guan Zhiyue and her group.

Shuntian Prefecture.

Cao Cong is the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture. He is thirty-eight years old this year and is known for his incorruptibility. He has handled no fewer than three hundred cases involving members of the imperial family.

They were all trivial matters concerning young masters from wealthy families, some even involving domineering acts like abducting women, seizing land, and other petty squabbles.

The gongs and drums at the entrance pounded loudly. Cao Cong straightened his official hat and walked out from the back with a serious expression.

Below the stage, a person stood looking down at the crowd, with eight burly men kneeling beside him, and a woman gently waving her arm while holding a baby in swaddling clothes.

Cao Cong sat on his high seat, slammed his gavel, and shouted loudly, "Who is below me? Why do you not kneel before me?"

Li Qiji slowly turned around and looked down at Prefect Cao Cong, who was sitting in a chair with a backrest.

"Cao Cong, do you want me to kneel before you?"

Cao Cong recognized Li Qiji the moment he turned around. Good heavens! This was their emperor!

"Your Majesty, I was blind! Please forgive me!"

"Your humble servant greets Your Majesty the Emperor and Your Majesty the Empress!"

In an instant, everyone in the hall and the onlookers at the door all knelt on the ground, shouting loudly, "Long live the Emperor! Long live the Empress!"

After some investigation, it was finally discovered where the child came from; she was a woman from a merchant's family.

The whole family went to do business overseas, but they ran aground and died at sea. Now their huge family business has been lost. After dismissing all the servants, the old man couldn't bear the blow and passed away.

Only this woman was left, and she couldn't hold on any longer. Her husband and eldest son had both passed away one after another. How could she, a woman alone, survive in this world without any protection? It was a miracle that she had lasted this long.

After the case was closed, Guan Zhiyue and Li Qiji decided to adopt the child as their first child.

night.

"Yue'er, what name do you want for the child?" Li Qiji gently hugged Guan Zhiyue and whispered in her ear.

Guan Zhiyue thought for a moment and said, "I don't know a formal name, so I'll just choose a nickname!"

"Chang Le, I only wish her to be happy for a long, long time, and to be content with what she has!"

"Very well, then I will bestow upon her the title of Princess Chang Le. I will think about her name carefully!"

Guan Zhiyue turned and threw herself into Li Qiji's arms, wrapping her arms around his strong waist, and whispered in his ear, "Thank you!"

Li Qiji was trembling. He felt that the word of thanks was the most beautiful he had ever heard, and it made his heart surge with emotion!