“Excellent, excellent.” Shi Fa Ke clapped her hands and said to the person standing at the door, “Reassured now?”

Jiao Jiao stiffened, slowly turning her head toward the door. She saw a tall man standing there, grinning at her.

Jiao Jiao instinctively raised a smile in return, but tears fell first.

She thought to herself that she had really stepped in dog shit luck.

Eldest Brother Shi and Jiao Jiao’s marriage was settled with lightning speed. When Duan family’s A’Shao was once again instigated to tell his stepmother to get lost, Jiao Jiao packed up her belongings and efficiently rolled out of the Duan family.

A’Shao was stunned. He seemed not to have expected that the woman he had always been calling on to get lost but who had never been willing to leave would actually be willing to leave.

Jiao Jiao took nothing else, just carried her own things out the door under everyone’s watchful eyes.

Even so, she was still stopped. The man who was supposedly A’Shao’s uncle threatened to search her body to prevent her from stealing the Duan family’s property, as if all that property belonged to him, completely forgetting that he wasn’t surnamed Duan either.

What kind of temper did Jiao Jiao have? If you respected her one foot, she’d respect you ten feet, but if you bullied her even a little, she could pluck you bare!

So she simply stopped leaving, turned around and rushed to the kitchen to grab a gleaming kitchen knife, then sneered, “Come on, let’s go to court and ask the county magistrate where an outsider like you gets the face to meddle in the Duan family’s affairs. I was the wife properly married into the Duan family, and I dutifully kept vigil for him for three years. Now I want to take half of the Duan family’s property!”

“What a joke! Who doesn’t know you were bought back by Master Duan for a hundred taels of silver? Now you’re not only being unfaithful by remarrying, but you dare to covet half of the Duan family’s property. You’re daydreaming!” A’Shao’s uncle cautiously stepped back to avoid her suddenly coming at him with the knife, while continuing to shout.

But Jiao Jiao ignored him and actually went to court with the kitchen knife, producing a written document personally written by Master Duan. The document stated that if he died first and Jiao Jiao kept vigil for him for three full years, she could be granted half his property.

Everyone was in uproar.

With the written document as proof, the county magistrate made the decision, and Jiao Jiao legitimately took half of the Duan family’s wealth, then turned around and married Shi family’s eldest son.

Jiao Jiao had nowhere to go and didn’t care about auspicious dates. She just sat in the yamen holding her bundle of belongings. When Eldest Brother Shi heard the news and came looking for her, she stood up and looked at him, saying, “I moved out of the Duan family. I have nowhere to go. Can I come home with you?”

Thus, the Shi family had another joyous occasion.

Though Eldest Brother Shi’s wedding was arranged hastily, he didn’t shortchange Jiao Jiao on anything that should be provided.

Eldest Brother Shi and Jiao Jiao’s marriage quickly became the latest gossip topic in Bronze Gong Town. Some said Jiao Jiao was fortunate – not only did Master Duan leave her half his property, but her second marriage was also to a satisfactory husband, truly gaining both person and wealth. Others said Shi family’s eldest son was the one who gained both person and wealth – getting a beautiful and charming wife plus half the Duan family’s wealth.

Of course, there were also sour and unpleasant words, but regardless of how outsiders slandered them, as long as they were happy in their own lives, that was enough.

In any case, Jiao Jiao was quite happy now.

The troublesome natal family members no longer dared to bother her after she married into the Shi family. Her younger brother had tried to block her path once, but was rewarded with a thorough beating from Eldest Brother Shi. Ever since then, he would avoid her whenever he saw her.

For this, Eldest Brother Shi had once asked uneasily, “Was I too heavy-handed?”

After all, he was also a brother-in-law.

Jiao Jiao’s response was to plant a loud “smack” on his face, her eyes bright and sparkling, “Well done!”

After Shi Fa Ke finished with her eldest brother’s wedding, she received a large matchmaker’s red envelope. The success of this marriage brought Shi Fa Ke great satisfaction, and over there, Miss Zhou and Scholar Li’s marriage was also settled, with the wedding date set for March of the following year. Therefore, Shi Fa Ke recently walked with a spring in her step.

Calculating the time, today should be Second Brother Lu’s rest day. The now wealthy Shi Fa Ke excitedly brought wine brewed by her eldest sister-in-law and delicious dishes made by her third sister-in-law’s cook to Willow Leaf Lane.

Second Brother Lu was alone and away from home, so she still needed to show some care on behalf of Aunt Lu. After all, she had eaten the cured meat Aunt Lu sent – when you eat someone’s food, you owe them a favor, and that cured meat was truly delicious… ahem, getting off topic. Remembering how Second Brother Lu seemed to be in low spirits when he left last time, Shi Fa Ke planned to comfort him well after seeing him. His marriage troubles were just temporary difficulties – he would find a wife eventually.

Shi Fa Ke pondered all the way how to comfort Second Brother Lu, but ended up with nothing.

The door was tightly locked, and Lu Chi wasn’t home.

Shi Fa Ke looked at the locked door, then at the wine and dishes in her hands. After struggling for a while, she turned and went to the school.

As soon as Zhu Keji finished school, he saw Shi Fa Ke standing at the door with wine and dishes. His conditioned reflex was to hide.

“Keji! Third Young Master Zhu!” Shi Fa Ke clearly saw Zhu Keji, but the guy was pretending not to see her, so she quickly called out to stop him.

Hearing that call of “Third Young Master Zhu,” Zhu Keji shivered and quickly returned with an ingratiating smile, trotting over to Shi Fa Ke and calling out flatteringly, “Sister Shi.”

“Why did you run when you saw me?” Shi Fa Ke raised an eyebrow.

“How could that be… I just didn’t see you. I’ve been practicing calligraphy lately and my eyes are strained. Please forgive me, Sister Shi.” Zhu Keji smiled apologetically and even cupped his hands comically.

Shi Fa Ke let him off and asked, “Where’s your teacher?”

“Teacher, he…” Zhu Keji’s eyes darted around.

“Isn’t today his rest day? I just came from his place on Willow Leaf Lane, and he wasn’t home.” Seeing his look of wanting to lie, Shi Fa Ke got straight to the point.

Zhu Keji immediately became honest.

“Teacher took leave,” he said, scratching his head and adding, “He hasn’t come to school for several days.”

“Took leave?” Shi Fa Ke was stunned, then asked with some worry, “Is there something wrong?”

Zhu Keji’s eyes dodged and his expression became somewhat unnatural as he stammered, “Teacher… teacher said he was going to the prefectural capital.”

“The prefectural capital? What’s he doing there?” Shi Fa Ke frowned, feeling that Zhu Keji’s expression had a guilty, cover-up quality to it. She pressed further, “What’s wrong? Are you hiding something from me?”

After much hesitation, Zhu Keji finally made up his mind and pulled Shi Fa Ke aside, saying in a low voice, “Sister Shi, I’m telling you this but please don’t get angry…”

“What exactly is it?” Seeing his mysterious manner, Shi Fa Ke felt uneasy and urged him on.

“Teacher went to the prefectural capital… it seems to be for a girl named Yun Ge at Fengyue House…” Zhu Keji said while carefully observing Shi Fa Ke’s expression.

“Fengyue House?” Shi Fa Ke blinked, not understanding what kind of place this was or why Zhu Keji looked so secretive.

“…It’s the largest brothel in the prefectural capital.”

Shi Fa Ke’s eyes widened immediately, then her face darkened.

“Sister Shi, don’t be angry… maybe it’s nothing…” Zhu Keji said hastily, though his words had no persuasive power and seemed to add fuel to the fire.

“I’m not angry. Why would I be angry?” Shi Fa Ke said through gritted teeth.

No… Sister Shi, look at yourself in a mirror! Your expression is very scary!

“I’m giving you this wine and food. Take it for the teachers at your school to eat.” Shi Fa Ke shoved the wine and dishes into Zhu Keji’s arms and turned to leave.

Zhu Keji stood there with wine in one hand and food in the other, watching Shi Fa Ke’s departing figure with great internal conflict. If Teacher knew he had tattled to Sister Shi, he definitely wouldn’t forgive him, but… he was also tormented inside! Thinking carefully, it was better to offend Teacher than to watch him go astray!

Teacher had voluntarily told him about going to the prefectural capital, and before leaving, he had left a pile of coursework for him, saying he was going to Fengyue House in the prefectural capital to visit an old friend.

Bah! What kind of old friend could be in a brothel?

Only girls!

He had later secretly noticed that Teacher was asking others if there was a girl named Yun Ge in the prefectural capital… Teacher had indeed gone bad! He couldn’t just watch Teacher go astray. He hoped Sister Shi could pull Teacher back and help him return to the right path. He had really broken his heart worrying about Teacher!

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