But the numbers were truly great. Every person who had been coming and going on the dock had apparently been an enemy — adding those who had blocked the way in, a rough count put them well past a hundred.

“You think dealing with one Cao Dahai made you something? That man was a stray dog not even fit to carry my shoes. Let me show you what real power looks like.”

So he knew about Cao Dahai, which was why the preparations had been this thorough. Looking at the closing crowd, Hua Zhi gave a cold smile. It was true that two fists could not beat four hands — but that also depended on just how large the gap in ability was.

She tore open the hem of her skirt to free her movements, then unclipped the hairpin from her collar and pressed it into her palm. The dark reddish-black pin looked dangerous from any angle — it was the very one Yanxi had given her. With such a fine thing as a standard, all other hairpins had ceased to interest her.

“Look after yourselves.”

Jiang Huanran, standing at the front, had already sent two men tumbling. When he heard her words, he instinctively turned — and saw the person he had thought needed protecting had already surged past him toward the front, calling out loudly, “Break through the encirclement and fall back to the west!”

To the west was a row of buildings — rest shelters for people waiting for boats or for others on ordinary days. Hua Zhi was certainly not retreating into them; that would be cutting off their own escape. Moving in that direction was the only way to avoid being attacked from both front and back. Those with lower combat ability could take shelter inside, and once they were safe, she could fight without having to worry about them.

Even as she spoke, Hua Zhi’s hairpin drove hard into an enemy’s thigh. As she pulled it free she slashed outward with force, and blood poured from the long, ragged wound. The man let out a howl. She drove it into his other thigh the same way, then slashed again — and that man would not be standing up again.

She had come from a world at peace. She could not bring herself to take lives so easily, but she could take people out of the fight.

Jiang Huanran’s eyes had gone nearly round with shock. This — this — this was truly the Hua Family’s First Young Miss? The Hua Family were civil officials. Or had he remembered it wrong? Was the Hua Family actually a family of military generals? That didn’t add up — he was quite certain the Elder Master Hua was a civil official!

A sharp pain flared in his shoulder. On instinct he sidestepped, barely avoiding what would have been a lethal strike. He dared not let his mind wander again and forced himself to focus on the battle at hand — yet his eyes kept sliding toward her on their own. He watched her put another enemy down, then another. Down. Down. Down…

The Sixth Imperial Prince found himself equally unable to control where his eyes went.

He had always thought of Hua Zhi as a strategist — the one working behind the scenes, the mind giving direction while others fought. In a battle, he had assumed she would be the one giving commands. It had never once occurred to him that Hua Zhi could fight like this!

Cultured and martial both. Able to manage a household and earn money. Knowledgeable in so many things he had never encountered. He genuinely could not think of a single thing Hua Zhi could not do.

“Focus!” Hua Zhi suddenly looked over at him.

Her ivory-white garment was now soaked through with blood, and her eyes and expression held nothing but cold steel — sharp as a blade newly honed. Set against that face of hers, Jiang Huanran suddenly understood what it meant for something to be in full bloom. This was the outermost limit of a woman’s beauty, and beside her, every woman he had ever seen faded into the ordinary.

On the dock, cries of pain and howls of agony mingled with Shao Yao’s delighted laughter — it was like being inside a killing field.

Hua Zhi turned her gaze to Zheng Bei. She felt a deep revulsion for this man. She broke through the crowd and drove straight toward him, and under his wide, terrified eyes, she drove the hairpin hard into his thigh. In an instant, Zheng Bei’s screaming wail drowned out every other sound on the dock.

“Yu Tao.” She planted her foot on top of him and raised her head.

Yu Tao was closest to her. At the sound of his name he was immediately at her side.

“Pick him up and fall back to the west.”

With Zheng Bei in their hands, those men would think twice — they could not afford to let him die, but they did not dare come near either. Some of the sharper ones turned and fled toward the dock exit. Hua Zhi let them go without a second glance. She had already wounded their men — what else did she have to fear?

Falling back to the west, Hua Zhi signaled for the injured Xu Ying and Bao Xia to take the twins inside the shelter.

Bao Xia cursed herself for not having learned more. She pushed the barely-walking Wu Dashuang into the building. Wu Xiaoshuang was in better shape — he at least could walk on his own. But before he went inside, he could not help turning back for a look. He watched the figure of the mistress — not much taller than himself, yet somehow solid and dependable as a mountain. She was his master. When danger came, she protected him rather than abandoning him or using him as a shield. Every hardship he had suffered before now felt worth it.

If he had stayed in Shuiguang Village his whole life, he would never have known that people like this existed in the world. He would never have known what it felt like to have his heart soaking in warm water.

Zheng Bei’s screaming was unbearably grating. Hua Zhi casually picked up a cloth and stuffed it into his mouth, paying no mind to him as he gagged and rolled his eyes. She looked at Jiang Huanran, who was staring at her with an expression of open fascination. “Young Master Jiang, I ask you to leave first.”

Jiang Huanran’s expression turned serious. “First Young Miss, I’ll spare the flowery words — I am a man.”

This was what made people endearing — one person might have a hundred things said against him, yet that did not mean he was without worth.

The full force of Hua Zhi’s imposing manner softened slightly. “This matter cannot be resolved peacefully. The Jingzhou Regional Governor holds authority over an entire region. Young Master Jiang involving himself may not be something Lord Jiang wishes to see.”

People in government generally guarded their reputations carefully, and no one wanted to make an unnecessary enemy of a regional power without cause. Hua Zhi had Shao Yao’s words as a foundation and the backing of the Seven Lodges Division’s leader behind her — she was confident that Yanxi would protect her to the very end. That was the ground she stood on when she dared to lay hands on Zheng Bei.

She had no desire to drag the Jiang Family into this and have them later blame the Hua Family for the resulting enmity.

But Jiang Huanran would not hear of it. “If I walked away from here today it would be my father who glared at me and gave me a lecture. I’m the youngest son in the family — I’ve never been particularly ambitious, and while I can’t do much to help the family, at least I don’t go around causing conflict between brothers. That’s already enough for my father. He only ever asks one thing of me: conduct yourself like a man in all you do. I believe what I’m doing right now is exactly what a man ought to do. If my father wants to blame anyone for that, he has only himself to blame — he’s the one who raised me this way.”

It was an outrageously, unapologetically earnest kind of nonsense, and yet there was something rather endearing about it. Hua Zhi gave a nod and stopped trying to dissuade him.

She had no right to stop a man from doing what he believed a man should do.

Wang Cheng walked over. “First Young Miss, the passenger vessel has arrived. Please allow me to escort you aboard first.”

Hua Zhi looked out at the river. The crew on board had apparently noticed something was wrong at the dock and had not pulled in to berth. “Since we’ve already started fighting, let’s finish it properly so they can’t come back and make more trouble later.”

Wang Cheng wanted to say more — no matter what, the First Young Miss’s safety came first. The Shizi had given him especially strict instructions before they set out. But one look at her expression and he pressed his lips firmly shut. This First Young Miss, right now, truly was not someone to trifle with.

“Shao Yao.”

“Here.” Shao Yao came running back cheerfully.

“Put all of them down. Then we wait for the next wave. I want to see just how much backbone the Zheng Family actually has.”

“On it! Take these first.” Shao Yao produced a handful of medicinal pills, passed them to Hua Hua, then leapt into the air with a laugh, vaulting off an enemy’s head with a high bound as medicinal powder scattered through the air like a cloud.

Almost the moment the pills were passed to her, Hua Zhi pinched one and sent it into her mouth, then extended her other hand to pass the rest along.

Jiang Huanran hesitated for just a moment before swallowing his as well. The origin of these pills was a mystery, but since everyone on Hua Zhi’s side had taken one, it was hardly likely that only his would be poisoned.