Huang Shu was stunned when he saw the two-story house, with the jewelry store at the bottom and Yunyu's home on the second floor, all turned to charcoal and ashes.

Huang Shu's heart skipped for a moment, staring at the burned house in front of him.

"Yunyu…"

He looked around and found the whole district was empty, so he assumed this happened during the day. Yunyu must've been staying somewhere, alive.

'He is alive, right? Yunyu… Yunyu is alive, right?!'

The thought of Yunyu's death made Huang Shu's back went cold. At this point, he already loved Yunyu so much, he kept dreaming about Yunyu's everything. If Yunyu actually died… then he might as well die with Yunyu before he went mad.

Huang Shu searched around frantically, he shouted Yunyu's name, but nobody replied.

"YUNYU! Bai Yunyu!!"

…

Huang Shu kept screaming Yunyu's name like a madman. He was exhausted. Yet, the only thing in his mind right now was Yunyu's safety.

He was about to knock on someone's door until a man suddenly came out of their house.

He was disturbed by Huang Shu's shouts, so he yelled, "Shut up! That slut Yunyu is in Duke Xi's mansion!"

"What did you just call him?!" Huang Shu unsheathed the dagger hidden under his sleeve and jumped towards the man. He pointed the dagger at the man's neck, "Say that again," Huang Shu said.

It was dark at night, but the man shrieked when he saw the crazed glare from this man.

"AIEEEE! P—Please spare me. It's just what they call him now. This afternoon, there were so many people protesting in front of that Ger's family store. They yelled and called him Slut Ger because he had been seducing their sons and husbands."

"What!?" Huang Shu immediately knew it was slander because he stayed with Yunyu almost every day for a year. He basically knew what Yunyu did every day. He wasn't even comfortable talking with random men, let alone seducing them.

"Then, who burned his house?"

"T—Those people did. I don't know who they are because I never see them around. But they decided to burn the house down and then disappeared after that slu—I mean after Yunyu broke down in tears."

"Broke down in… tears?"

"Y—Yeah, that old man, Yunyu's father, died of a heart attack after he witnessed his house burned down to the ground—Wha!"

Huang Shu threw the man away and head straight to Duke Xu's mansion. His mind was in chaos, thinking about how heartbroken Yunyu was. He still didn't know what just happened, but knowing there was no soldier, guard, or any kind of law enforcer around when the fire burned down the house, there must be a scheme from the noble, specifically the Imperial family.

He clenched his fist, he wanted to avenge for everything that his Yunyu suffered, but first, he had to meet Yunyu. He needed to make sure that Yunyu was alright.

Huang Shu stood in front of the gate with two guards guarding it. They stared at Huang SHu in the dark, so they couldn't determine his identity.

"Who are you?" One guard asked.

"W—Where is Yunyu? I want to meet him!"

The guards were already told not to let anyone in, so they stood in front of Huang Shu and forbade him to enter, "Bai Yunyu is now safe with Young Master Xu! You can leave now!"

"No, I need to meet him!" Huang SHu was ready to unsheathe his dagger again. He was so worried about Yunyu that he couldn't think straight.

But before there was any bloodbath, the door was opened, and the small nine years old Young Master came out.

"Y—Young Master, this is dangerous!" One guard said.

"No, it's fine. I want to talk with this guy."

The guard then stared at each other. They knew that their Young Master was a lot more capable than he looked, even though he was just nine years old. Thus, they returned to their position. Huang Shu looked down at Xu Jiansheng and asked, "Where is Yunyu?"

"Inside, Yunyu Gege had a hard day today. You shouldn't meet him."

"But his house—"

"Yes, and I've also told my dad to cremate his body in two days to honor him," Xu Jiansheng explained. "The arsonist ran away because no law enforcer is present during that commotion. Go ask your Imperial Family how that could happen. Because no law enforcer stopped them from accusing Yunyu Gege as a whore, and nobody stopped them from burning the house down. Nobody also helped when Yunyu Gege's father died."

Xu Jiansheng's doe eyes leered at Huang Shu sarcastically, "You're the reason why he suffers, Seventh Prince. I won't let you meet him now, but if you insist, then I believe Emperor Jing will call Yunyu Gege tomorrow because he is definitely going to be the champion of this year. He is a special case because he is a Ger, so his win will be determined soon. That's my prediction."

Huang Shu knew there was no way for him to meet Yunyu now. He didn't want to pressure Yunyu, but at last, for now, he knew that Yunyu was in good hands.

Xu Jiansheng might be a nine years old boy, but his charisma and bearing… even Huang Shu had to admit that Xu Jiansheng was really smart.

Thus, Huang Shu returned to the Imperial Palace through the secret passage. He kept thinking about what happened with Bai Yunyu and who would be cruel enough to hurt Yunyu this badly.

He returned to his Palace and saw the same empty Palace, no guard, no servant.

It was indeed suspicious.

Huang Shu clenched his fist, 'I swear I will find out who hurt my Yunyu, and I will kill that person, no matter whom!'

**

Meanwhile, Bai Yunyu was dazed the whole night with Meilan sleeping while she still sobbed, calling the old man over and over.

Meilan was practically raised by his dad, so it must've been a hard hit for her.

Pupa materialized in front of Yunyu, "I commend you for not killing those people. If you did it, then it would be game over. There is no way you can escape from the trap leading to a death sentence."

Yunyu chuckled mirthlessly, "I know the culprit must be that old witch and her two-faced accomplice. They are always the culprit in this world."

Pupa had no answer to that because there was no way to identify the culprit of this arson.

"Everyone called me a slut now, so there is no way I can live in the capital city anymore," Yunyu said. "I'm also sick of dealing with those Imperial family's scheme. They're breeding monsters that will always create one havoc after another."

"Then what will you do next?" Pupa asked.

There was a long pause with Yunyu. He stared at the moonlight on the window and then smiled thin, "I will go to the border, to the military. I don't know where this will go and how Huang Shu will handle this. But I refuse to enter that Forbidden City."

"Even if Huang Shu kissed my feet, I will never step on that hellhole. I would rather die."