Hearing Madam Jiang’s words, Madam Gu couldn’t help but stagger back several steps, while Gu Suying’s face instantly turned deathly pale!

So Madam Jiang had known all along—so the in-laws had known about the affair too!

Madam Gu had been thinking that since Beiyue was now fine, this whole matter, however you looked at it, concerned the Gu family’s dignity, Meiting’s household, and Suying’s future too—and a man straying wasn’t exactly the end of the world.

They absolutely had to smooth this over, make it disappear. Both her daughters were her own flesh and blood, and Beiyue was the hope of the Gu family. She’d been weighing how to let this whole matter quietly fade away!

But she never expected—this Jiang family… what a Jiang family indeed!

Madam Gu was sharp enough to immediately grasp their intentions. Knowing full well their son had committed adultery with Bai Feiyao, they’d concealed it—no doubt planning to use it someday to have Meiting divorced!

If they thought they could cast off the Gu family’s daughter so easily, they had another thing coming!

Madam Gu flew into a rage at once, striding forward and pointing at Madam Jiang, her voice icy. “Jiang family, if you don’t hand Jiang Chen over to me today, this isn’t over between us.”

Madam Jiang’s cunning was, at best, the shrewdness of a marketplace haggler—nowhere near enough to withstand Madam Gu’s commanding presence. She was instantly cowed, bursting into tears. “I don’t know, I really don’t! I only know he’s not at the Gu residence, he must be at the Bai family’s, go look for him there!”

Old Master Jiang, keeping well out of the fray, didn’t dare come forward to mediate either, only calling out hastily, “That wretched boy must be at the Bai family’s. In-law, please calm down—whatever this enormous matter is, this old man will bear the weight of it. Let’s find that wretched boy first, and we can discuss everything slowly after that!”

“Go find him for me!” Madam Gu said coldly, sitting down on a nearby stone bench. “I’ll wait right here. If I don’t see him before nightfall, don’t blame me for being unkind.”

The Jiang couple found themselves in a bind—going to the Bai family to look for him themselves would be practically suicidal!

The head of the Bai family surely had no idea that Bai Feiyao and Jiang Chen were having an affair!

“In-law, you all should go instead. The Jiang family is nothing—we can’t even get through the Bai family’s front gate!” Old Master Jiang said hastily.

Madam Jiang chimed in urgently as well. “Yes, yes, in-law, with Jiang Chen having done such a shameless thing, us two old folks—the Bai family is so powerful, what could we possibly do! We’ve had our reasons for keeping quiet about it all this time!”

With that, the couple broke down weeping.

The family head stood at the gate, and seeing the scene inside, immediately felt a headache coming on, fury and frustration boiling over in equal measure.

Madam Gu was about to speak when Jun Beiyue, without any courtesy at all, slashed his blade across Madam Jiang’s face, drawing a line of blood. She screamed shrilly, the sound like metal scraping across glass.

Ziqing immediately covered her ears, her expression dark with displeasure.

“Lead the way. Don’t make me say it again,” Jun Beiyue said coldly. He truly wasn’t one for idle threats—he preferred to get straight to the point.

That single strike had been the “or else.” The Jiang couple could bear no more, scrambling out through the gate on all fours.

Jun Beiyue took Ziqing’s hand and hurried out after them. Gu Suying, filled with unease, wanted desperately to stop them but didn’t even dare speak up.

If this reached the Bai family, how could it possibly end well!

Madam Gu frowned, pressing her temples as if her head might burst at any moment. The old master hurried to support her.

“My lord, you heard—they knew Jiang Chen was having an affair! They were determined not to keep Meiting as their daughter-in-law!”

“My daughter, from the Gu family—they don’t get to decide they don’t want her just like that!”

“My lord, what should we do now, that wretched Jiang Chen!”

“Find him first, worry about the rest later!”

…

The couple had only exchanged a few words when, stepping outside, they found Jun Beiyue and Ziqing already gone! Only Gu Suying waited at the gate.

“Where did they go?” Madam Gu asked, frowning.

“They went to the Bai family. Mother, this is going to blow up even bigger—people will laugh at us!” Gu Suying urged.

“Hurry after them!” Madam Gu said, immediately moving to mount a horse in pursuit.

“Wife, let Beiyue handle this. You’re not strong enough for this—go back to the manor first,” the family head said helplessly.

Once Jiang Chen was found and confronted with Suying face to face, so long as the truth came out and Beiyue accepted Suying’s apology, that would be more than he could ask for.

However this was to be handled, better to leave it all to Beiyue.

But Madam Gu abruptly wrenched her hand free from her husband’s, blurting out, “Jun Beiyue is absolutely not someone easily satisfied—I don’t trust him!”

At this, the family head froze, and Madam Gu herself was startled, not having meant for those words to slip out.

But Madam Gu had no time to dwell on it, saying seriously, “My lord, no matter how enormous this matter is, it’s family business—it cannot be allowed to spread outside. Hurry, follow them!”

Gu Suying immediately climbed onto the carriage. “I’ll drive!”

She knew perfectly well her mother’s heart had never truly been with Jun Beiyue—especially now, after all this had happened. The more the Jiang family refused to want her elder sister, the more, given her mother’s temperament, she would insist on keeping her sister at the Gu residence. And so long as Suying herself never married, sooner or later her mother would elevate her to the family head’s seat instead.

The family rushed anxiously toward the Bai residence, not realizing that Jun Beiyue and the others had already arrived long before them.

Jun Beiyue would never take a side entrance—he stood with Ziqing right at the Bai family’s front gate, watching the Jiang couple pound frantically on the door.

The Bai family was nothing like the Gu family—their grand estate sat right in the bustling heart of the city. Not to mention the Jiang couple shouting Jiang Chen’s name at the top of their lungs, but even the mere sight of the striking pair standing at the gate immediately drew a crowd of onlookers.

“What’s going on here!”

“Isn’t that the Gu family’s poor in-laws?”

“Jiang Chen? That name sounds so familiar!”

“Oh! That’s the son-in-law, the Gu family’s son-in-law!”

…

Discussion buzzed instantly through the crowd. The Gu and Bai families had always been at odds with each other—now the Gu family’s in-laws had come to the Bai family looking for their son? What in the world was going on?

Soon, guards came swarming out from side entrances on both sides. Only then did Jun Beiyue release Ziqing’s hand, personally blocking the right side, while Ziqing, still stone-faced, blocked the left.

Several guards rushed forward, only to be dispatched in a single move by the two of them. No one else dared approach after that. The Jiang couple watched, well aware that things were only going to escalate further, yet utterly powerless to stop it.

“Who are you people, daring to make a scene at the Bai family’s gate! State your names!” the guard captain roared.

“Tell him,” Jun Beiyue said coldly.

Madam Jiang’s face still ached from her wound, but she hurried to answer. “The Jiang family—we’re looking for Jiang Chen, hurry and bring him out, tell him… his parents are here for him!”

“What nonsense is this, there’s no one by that name here—who knows which Jiang family you even are! Get out of here, or when our young master comes out, you’ll be sorry!” the captain shouted. The matter of the young master’s true gender had been causing a stir for a while now—the moment the young master had returned to the estate, he’d shut himself away with the master and mistress for secret discussions, and there was no telling whether word of this would even reach him.

“The Jiang family—we’re the Gu family’s in-laws! We’re looking for the Gu family’s son-in-law! Jiang Chen is friends with your young master—friends! He comes here all the time!” Madam Jiang said hastily.

At this, not only the guard captain but the guards standing behind him were all utterly shocked.

How… how could these two possibly have anything to do with each other?

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out with laughter from within the crowd of onlookers. “Isn’t the Bai young master a woman? What business would the Gu family’s son-in-law have visiting so often?”

Madam Jiang immediately clamped her mouth shut, while the guard captain’s face turned ashen with fury. “Where did this shrew come from, spouting such nonsense! Get out of here now, or don’t blame this young master for showing no mercy!”

With that, he moved to draw his sword, but Jun Beiyue’s blade immediately barred his way. He said coldly, “Madam Jiang, if you don’t call Jiang Chen out right now, I won’t be showing any mercy either.”

Terrified, Madam Jiang spun around and pounded on the gate frantically, shouting Jiang Chen’s name over and over.

But just then, several vines suddenly shot up violently from in front of the gate, coiling directly around the necks of the Jiang couple!