The sound startled the kneeling figures. The young woman at the head lifted her gaze, her eyes flickering as she looked up at the plaque of the Qianjin Hall before her, a look of something between a sob and a laugh touching her lips.

"It's daybreak, take down the banner," she said.

The woman remained kneeling, blank and unresponsive, as if hearing nothing. The two small children exchanged nervous glances.

"Hurry up!" the woman snapped, turning back with a sharp glare.

The two children flinched and quickly retrieved a roll of white cloth from beside their legs.

The cloth was unfurled and held before them.

Where is the justice of Heaven?

Four stark, bright red characters, pierced by the morning sun cutting through the mist, were almost painfully visible.

Early in the morning, streams of people were rushing toward one direction on the street.

A peddler carrying his burden ran so fast he couldn't even stop for customers calling out to buy goods.

"What's wrong?" the curious asked.

"Something happened at Qianjin Hall again!" those running shouted back.

This news, like a stone tossed into water, sent ripples spreading, and even more people started running along.

The street outside Qianjin Hall was once again choked with people. The smell of food wafted out because, at this hour, most people hadn't eaten yet, making watching the spectacle and grabbing a bite a two-for-one opportunity.

"What happened? What's going on?"

Those outside pressed the people closer to the front for answers.

"It seems someone was treated to death..."

This statement caused an immediate uproar.

How could that be! Qianjin Hall has a divine doctor, how could someone die from treatment there!

"Was it because they were scared during the surgery? Are they making trouble?"

Those familiar with Qianjin Hall's methods showed looks of disdain and shook their heads.

"No, the dead body is right outside the door!"

Ah!

At this declaration, the crowd outside surged even harder, the scene becoming tumultuous. Everyone craned their necks, trying to see clearly, and those who succeeded let out gasps of shock.

Ahead of several figures dressed in mourning white, a person truly lay there—a corpse.

Qianjin Hall really had caused a death!!

Even the divine doctor could kill people!!

"It's true?" In a small side room of the magistrate's office, Wang Qingchun suddenly stood up straight.

"It's true!" A pharmacy owner, having rushed over, declared with ill-concealed excitement, "The body is displayed right at the entrance!"

Wang Qingchun desperately wanted to laugh out loud, but he managed to suppress it, remembering his current status. Good, good, you finally have your day! You were so arrogant! So brazen! So capable! The greater your fame, the higher you stood, and the harder you’ll fall with even one mistake—I will be the one to stomp you down!

"Quickly, such a matter we naturally cannot ignore," Wang Qingchun said, instantly reaching out and bellowing, "Change clothes!"

Meanwhile, outside Qianjin Hall, Liu Pucheng and others stood facing the murmuring crowd.

"Madam, I am deeply sorry about your father's condition, but truly, we are powerless to help." Liu Pucheng stated.

The family only knelt, wiping their tears, refusing to speak or move no matter what they were told. This standoff had lasted nearly half an hour.

"Miss, please rise first, everyone rise, let's talk inside," Liu Pucheng stepped forward again.

The family remained bowed, crying silently.

Hu San stamped his foot and stepped forward to pull them up.

The young woman let out a sharp scream and collapsed toward the ground, making Hu San jump back three paces.

"I didn't touch her!" he quickly protested.

The young woman lay on the ground, her cries growing louder. She said nothing else, just repeated: "Father, oh, Father..."

Her agony caused the other two children to join in with loud wails.

The wife remained in a stupor, shedding tears and nothing more.

The three-year-old child leaning against her, however, wasn't crying. Bored from being confined for half a day and with everyone else immersed in their grief, no one paid attention to him. He staggered unsteadily toward the corpse lying on the wooden plank before the door.

"Daddy, get up and hug me."

The child's sweet, milky voice cut through the air. He tried hard to pull his father up, but lost his balance and tumbled onto the man’s chest. Unaware of death, the child thought his father was playing a game and burst into giggles, pressing against the man's chest.

This laughter was jarringly discordant amid the surrounding cries.

"Oh, the heavens, how pitiful," murmured the onlookers, their eyes reddening. Many of the women raised their hands to wipe away tears. The mood at the scene was slowly shifting. No matter the circumstances, the sight of a husbandless wife and orphaned children stirred deep sympathy...

"He was the only earner in the family, and he had an eighty-year-old mother to support..." A neighbor who had accompanied them lamented to the surrounding crowd, "The woman is sickly, too. They relied entirely on him doing odd jobs to feed the whole family. Now, it’s utterly ruined..."

"If you couldn't save him, why wouldn't you let me take my father elsewhere!" the young woman cried out, looking pleadingly at Liu Pucheng.

"We truly couldn't save him; your father's injuries were too severe..." Liu Pucheng repeated.

But the woman seemed deaf to his words, only weeping relentlessly and repeating the same sentence. The children's cries, the adults' lamentations, and the body on the ground had seized everyone's attention; few were listening to Liu Pucheng.

"They really killed someone?"

"Is that still in doubt? The body is right here..."

"How pitiful..."

"But how could the divine doctor kill someone? Isn't she a miracle worker?"

"...Divine Doctor... Who knows... Maybe she isn't that divine after all."

"Why isn't the divine doctor coming out? Did she run away?"

The crowd buzzed with speculation, pointing fingers, and the way they looked at Qianjin Hall began to sour.

"Stop causing trouble here with your nonsensical chatter! Your father deserved to die, how can you blame us!" Hu San shouted, hopping mad.

But his remark only enraged the family further. The young woman slammed her head toward him.

"You deserve to die! You deserve to die! You kill people, and then say we deserved it! Is there any justice left in this world!" she shrieked amidst her tears.

Seeing their sister rush toward someone, the two older children also rushed forward, crying and hitting at Hu San.

"Bullying my sister! Bad people, bad people!"

Hu San was besieged by one woman and two children, looking utterly wretched.

Disciples from Qianjin Hall rushed forward to help him, but the woman ripped open her own clothing and threw herself on the ground, loudly crying indecency.

"Hey, you kill people, but you won't let others cause a commotion?!"

"Exactly, that's too high-handed. Regardless, their family has suffered a death, how tragic..."

"It’s an infirmary, yet they have such cold hearts..." Some onlookers spoke up, unable to watch.

"No, we didn't kill him!" a disciple cried out.

"Oh, you didn't kill him? Would they carry him here to your clinic? Why didn't they go to another clinic?" An old woman glared and scolded.

The disciple broke into a sweat from anxiety.

"That's not what I meant! He was already supposed to die; it wasn't our treatment that..." he shouted.

Before he could finish, the noise from the crowd swelled even louder.

"Does that mean we are all supposed to die when we get sick?"

"...Then what do we need doctors for! We might as well wait to die!"

The collective sentiment surged even higher.

"If you can't speak properly, don't speak!" Zhang Tong commanded. The disciple retreated, his face flushed red.

Seeing that the crowd was clearly on her side, the young woman wailed even louder.

"Where is Heaven's justice! Where is Heaven's justice! Father, how are we to live now!" Her cries caused even the soft-hearted women in the crowd to start weeping.

"Qianjin Hall, give them an explanation!" Someone began shouting. This call was echoed by many more.

"Yes, give an explanation!"

The crowd began to press forward.

"Where is the divine doctor! Make the divine doctor come out!"

"Bring her out! Give an explanation!"

"Even the divine doctor cannot treat human lives so lightly!"

Seeing the crowd surge upward, the disciples of Qianjin Hall turned pale.

"Perhaps we should call Master out?" Hu San stammered.

It was still late at night; Qi Yue had just fallen into a deep sleep.

"Call her here for this? Absolutely not!" Liu Pucheng flatly refused. "She does not need to appear for something like this!"

He then took a step forward instead of retreating, facing the increasingly agitated crowd.

"Everyone, listen to me, it wasn't us who caused the death. This man's injuries were too severe; it was truly beyond saving..." he spoke loudly.

At this moment, no one was listening to him; everyone was clamoring.

Suddenly, there was a disturbance outside, followed by the sharp crack of a whip.

"Make way!"

A flurry of chaos ensued, and people finally saw someone leading a squad of guards approaching from the rear. The path quickly cleared. It was Chang Yuncheng, who had just returned to the Marquis's manor, riding in on horseback.

The man's arrival brought a sudden quiet to the scene.

Chang Yuncheng surveyed the area. He saw the family huddled on the ground, still weeping.

"Drive them away!" he stated curtly, flicking the riding crop in his hand.

The guards behind him responded with a synchronized shout, startling the onlookers who stepped back several paces, watching these men equipped with blades with a degree of terror.

"My mother is hospitalized here. You people clear out immediately, or if you disturb my mother, I will demand your lives as compensation!" Chang Yuncheng looked down at the crowd and roared.

The guards advanced a step as he spoke. The onlookers, intimidated, quickly retreated further back.

"Your mother is human, but is my father not human?" the young woman shrieked, clutching her chest, tears streaming down her face. "Heavens, Heavens, oh Lord, why must you let us be born as humans! It would have been better to be beasts!"

"You can take that up with Heaven," Chang Yuncheng replied coldly, completely ignoring her cries. He waved his hand.

The guards stepped forward, each grabbing one person.

"...Is there any justice! Is there any justice!" The wails of the woman and the children echoed down the street.

"Who is that man?"

"How so domineering!"

"That's too much!"

"Just because their relative is staying here, they won't let anyone else pass?"

"Hush, say less. You can't afford to offend the powerful..."

The murmuring spread, and the crowd's focus shifted away from Qianjin Hall, settling instead on the arrogant man on horseback. Intimidated by his power, they dared not speak out, only watching the haughty man.

"You killed my father, and now you want to kill our whole family?" the young woman wept, struggling against the guard dragging her, glaring fiercely at Chang Yuncheng.

What? The crowd showed a flash of surprise. How did it become this man who killed her father? Wasn't it Qianjin Hall that treated him to death?

Chang Yuncheng fixed his gaze on the woman.

"That was you courting death; don't blame anyone else," he said coldly. With that, he suddenly cracked his whip. The sharp sound silenced the restless crowd once more.

Chang Yuncheng pointed the whip at the onlookers.

"All of you, get away from here! If anyone dares disturb my mother, don't blame me for being impolite!" he enunciated clearly, word by word.

Too tyrannical!

Everyone was stunned. They had forgotten their previous doubts about Qianjin Hall; all their anger now directed at this man. He was too detestable!