Only when they heard the maids and servants outside calm down and repeatedly call out “Miss Bai” did they relax and tidy their appearances. By the time the maid entered to report that Miss Bai had arrived, Marquis Zhongyong’s wife, Jiang Shi, was already sitting upright, while the two young misses of the marquis’s mansion had disheveled hair and were still sniffling as they dabbed at their tears with handkerchiefs.

“Please invite Miss Bai in.” Marquis Zhongyong’s wife, Jiang Shi, took up a hand warmer to hold, a trace of dark depth flashing in her eyes.

The Duke’s mansion had been rampant in the capital for too many years since the founding of Great Jin, to the point where even a mere fourth miss of the Bai family dared to wield a whip against her daughters in Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion!

However, fortune turns like a wheel. Half a month ago, Jiang Shi had heard a secret from Marquis Zhongyong – she knew that soon the century-old noble family Duke’s mansion would be destroyed along with the Duke. In the future, their Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion would be the foremost among the capital’s great families.

Even if her Qin Lang had married a daughter of the Duke’s mansion, so what? When the Duke’s mansion fell in the future, the Duke’s daughter would become his burden, and the heir’s position would eventually belong to her son.

Seeing Bai Qingyan enter and perform her greeting, Marquis’s wife Jiang Shi no longer felt any apprehension toward the Bai family in her heart. She put on her airs and spoke: “Miss Bai does understand propriety. The Bai and Qin families are related by marriage, and this madam, taking liberties, could be considered your elder. Today I shall say a word or two. Even if young ladies have some disagreements, there is no reason for a younger generation to wield a whip in front of elders. How was Fourth Miss Bai raised to be so insolent? Such behavior – what difference is there from a marketplace shrew?”

Thinking of the whip marks on her two daughters, Jiang Shi’s heart ached so much that she wanted to have someone give Bai Jinzhi two slaps across the face.

“Your daughter injured my second sister and pushed her into the lake – now her life hangs in the balance! Your Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion truly has a fine upbringing for plotting against people’s lives!” Fourth Miss Bai Jinzhi was not at all intimidated by Jiang Shi’s maternal authority.

Fourth Miss Bai Jinzhi of the capital’s Duke mansion was most narrow-hearted with a strong sense of justice. She had once wielded a whip against dissolute young men who rode horses through the streets and injured elderly people. Today, to seek justice for Bai Jinxiu, she cared even less about her reputation.

But while Bai Jinzhi didn’t care, Bai Qingyan did.

If today Jiang Shi were allowed to pin these accusations on Bai Jinzhi’s head, Bai Jinzhi’s reputation would likely be stained.

Before Jiang Shi could speak again, Bai Qingyan had already straightened up. Her clear, cold, stern eyes looked at Jiang Shi as she questioned: “Since Marquis’s wife understands propriety and礼 so well, taking the position of an elder to criticize our Duke mansion’s family education, how is it that you’ve raised the marquis mansion’s two young misses to be so malicious? For a sister-in-law to plot against her own sister-in-law’s life – such behavior, what difference is there from beasts?!”

“You!” Jiang Shi had originally intended to vent her anger, but instead found herself choked with rage. She gripped the edge of the kang table tightly, her gaze growing increasingly hostile as she forced down her fury: “My daughters were merely playing with their sister-in-law. The accusation of plotting against one’s sister-in-law, Miss Bai, shouldn’t make such empty accusations against my Marquis Zhongyong mansion’s daughters.”

Bai Jinzhi was about to explode in anger, but was held back by Bai Qingyan. Her eyes darkened as she forcibly suppressed the urge to flay Jiang Shi alive, though the murderous intent in her eyes was already showing.

Jiang Shi felt somewhat afraid under Bai Qingyan’s gaze and uncomfortably adjusted her collar.

Bai Qingyan smiled coldly, speaking in a measured tone: “My second sister has such a large bloody hole in her head and her life hangs in the balance, yet Marquis’s wife calls it sisters-in-law playing! Now your Marquis Zhongyong mansion’s two young misses have merely broken their skin, yet Marquis’s wife pins labels like ‘lacking propriety,’ ‘poorly raised,’ and ‘marketplace shrew’ on my fourth sister’s head. Does Marquis’s wife think we’re young and easy to bully?! Why don’t I have someone invite my grandmother, the Grand Princess?”

At the mention of the Bai family’s ancestor, the Grand Princess, Jiang Shi realized she had lost her composure. Even if the Bai family’s men were all dead, there was still a reigning Grand Princess.

Jiang Shi suppressed her emotions, dabbing at the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief, unable to contain her fire as she needled Bai Qingyan: “Miss Bai truly has a silver tongue, but loose tongues easily breed trouble. Miss Bai is already nineteen, yet no matchmakers have come to arrange a marriage. Miss Bai already has difficulty with offspring, and if a reputation for a sharp tongue spreads as well, which family would dare seek Miss Bai’s hand? Miss Bai, these words are all for your good!”

Bai Qingyan had long since stopped caring about reputation, but Bai Jinzhi’s face flushed red with anger: “You…”

Only to hear Bai Qingyan’s voice turn ice-cold as she spoke without haste or anger: “Marquis’s wife should save such kindness… and think more about your two daughters and one son! My second sister married into Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion only three days ago – first, your mansion’s two young misses plotted against her life, then Marquis’s wife interfered with my second sister’s dowry. If word spreads… who knows which family would dare take a Qin family daughter, or who would dare marry a Qin family son?!”

Jiang Shi broke out in cold sweat. She had borne two daughters before getting one son, whom she treasured like the apple of her eye.

To protect her two daughters, she had listened to Nanny Wu’s advice and sold off the maids by Bai Jinxiu’s side, but in her urgency, she had forgotten that those maids were all part of Bai Jinxiu’s dowry.

If this were truly pursued, her son’s future marriage prospects would be difficult.

“I forgot to mention to Marquis’s wife – your Nanny Wu personally said… that your mansion’s second miss had a quarrel with my second sister and injured her. I’ve already had someone tie her up and send her to my second aunt. Nanny Jiang has also returned to the Duke’s mansion to consult with the grandmother. Marquis’s wife… take care of yourself.”

After speaking, Bai Qingyan performed a courtesy to Jiang Shi and walked toward the door with Bai Jinzhi.

“Mother!” The eldest miss who had injured someone trembled like chaff, panic-stricken as she called to Marquis Zhongyong’s wife Jiang Shi, “What are we to do?”

“Mother!” The second miss was so frightened she burst into tears.

Although it was the second miss who had quarreled with Bai Jinxiu, the blow that injured Bai Jinxiu’s head was dealt by the eldest miss, and the second miss had pushed her into the water.

Jiang Shi knew she still had to endure for now. The current Duke’s mansion Bai family, was still the most powerful noble family in the capital. To settle this matter peacefully, she still had to swallow her pride and humble herself: “Quickly go fetch the Marquis!”

But before Jiang Shi could rush over to humble herself, the Bai family’s Second Madam had already ordered people to carry Bai Jinxiu out of Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion. Nanny Jiang had even brought the Grand Princess’s carriage in a grand procession to take Bai Jinxiu back to the mansion.

Hearing this, Jiang Shi’s heart pounded violently. She truly hadn’t expected that Second Madam Liu Shi would care so little about Bai Jinxiu’s future circumstances, taking such a confrontational stance and abandoning all regard for reputation.

That day, when the Duke mansion’s second miss had married with a ten-li red dowry procession, and Marquis Zhongyong mansion’s heir was elegant and refined, this well-matched, talented couple was still the talk of the town. Who would have thought that today’s homecoming visit would result in news that the Bai family’s second miss’s life hung by a thread.

Outside Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion, crowds of spectators had already gathered, discussing animatedly.

Marquis Zhongyong’s wife, Jiang Shi, surrounded by maids and servants, hurriedly chased after them. In front of everyone, she adopted a humble attitude, weeping as she cried: “Second Madam! Second Madam… moving Jinxiu back to the Duke’s mansion in this heavy snow will likely be detrimental to Jinxiu’s condition. Just now, Fourth Miss also severely whipped my two daughters with her whip – they know their mistake… and will never dare play with sister-in-law by the lakeside again! If there are still areas where my care has been lacking, Second Madam can point them out! You absolutely cannot do this!”