Seeing her elder sister turn back to signal her, Bai Jinzhi narrowed her eyes, cleanly and efficiently grasped the servant’s wrist, and kicked him down to his knees with one swift motion.
Before the other Bai family servants guarding the entrance could react, Bai Jinzhi had already drawn the long whip from behind her waist and charged into Tianxiang Restaurant with the guards.
Heart-wrenching screams came from inside Tianxiang Restaurant, attracting passing pedestrians who all stopped and craned their necks to look inside.
Soon after, the Bai family servants and several young masters from the Bai family who had come to forcibly purchase Tianxiang Restaurant were thrown out one by one, their bodies and faces covered in whip marks.
The clan leader’s grandson, Bai Qingjie, struggled to stand up and looked toward Bai Jinzhi, who stepped out of Tianxiang Restaurant, clutching her long whip, shouting: “Have you eaten a bear’s heart and leopard’s gall? How dare you lay hands on us! Do you know who I am?! I’m the grandson of the Bai clan leader! You dare to strike me… believe it or not, I’ll make sure you can’t leave Shouyang City alive?!”
Bai Jinzhi’s eyes were cold and dark. She raised her hand and delivered a vicious whip strike directly to Bai Qingjie’s mouth, instantly creating a bloody gash. Bai Qingjie’s mouth filled with the thick taste of blood as he covered half his face, feeling his teeth had loosened.
“This whip is for your arrogance and lawlessness. A mere clan leader’s grandson dares to casually threaten people’s lives!”
“Damn it…” Bai Qingxuan spat out a mouthful of bloody foam. “Don’t you know our Bai family is backed by the Zhenguo County Princess! She’s the Crown Prince’s beloved, the future Empress!”
Bai Jinzhi delivered another whip strike, this one even more vicious and heavy, knocking Bai Qingjie to the ground: “This whip is for using the Capital City Bai family’s authority to commit deeds worse than pigs and dogs, oppressing the common people!”
Without waiting for Bai Qingxuan to get up, Bai Jinzhi delivered another whip strike that sent Bai Qingjie sprawling on the ground: “This whip is for your blindness, daring to spew filth about my elder sister, sullying the honorable relationship between the Crown Prince and my elder sister!”
All the onlooking commoners were stunned. The Bai family had always run rampant in Shouyang City, lawless and tyrannical. Where on earth had this deity appeared from, actually daring to whip members of the Bai family!
Despite their shock, the people secretly cheered in their hearts.
Bai Qingjie’s eyes were bloodshot with rage: “Today, whoever can catch these people, I’ll reward them with a hundred taels of gold!”
“You try it!” Bai Jinzhi trembled with anger, furiously cracking her whip with a sharp sound that split the air, making everyone tremble with awe.
The other young masters from various branches who had come with the clan leader’s legitimate grandson Bai Qingjie to force the Tianxiang Restaurant owner to give them the restaurant for free saw the situation was wrong and looked toward the woman standing straight-backed directly under the Tianxiang Restaurant’s plaque… protected in the center by guards and that whip-wielding girl.
That woman stood with her hands behind her back, wearing an extremely simple and efficient white riding outfit. Though her features were stunningly beautiful, her eyes were as deep and calm as a windless sea stretching for thousands of miles. Her gaze made people inexplicably tense, radiating an extremely strong sense of authority.
Bai Qingyan’s fists behind her back tightened, her voice so coldly thin it made people’s spines chill: “So this is how the Bai clan has been using the Bai family’s authority to commit evil deeds in Shouyang…”
Some of the Bai family clan’s young masters reacted, widening their eyes to look at Bai Qingyan.
“Lawlessly forcing themselves on civilian women, treating human life as grass and beating good citizens to death, forcibly seizing others’ ancestral property, colluding with officials to forcibly take others’ ancestral secret medicine formulas, buying shops at low prices by force… yet not treating employees well, driving shopkeepers to death! Using the Capital City Bai family’s authority to pressure officials, leaving the people with nowhere to seek justice, your crimes are too numerous to record! Now you even invoke the Crown Prince’s authority to justify your evil deeds!”
“My grandfather, Duke Zhenguo Bai Weiting, loved the people like his own children throughout his life, sacrificing his life to wage war for the people’s sake, teaching us Bai family descendants… since we consume the people’s taxes for our support, we must treat the people as our flesh and blood, sacrificing ourselves to protect them! The sons of Duke Zhenguo’s mansion fearlessly died in battle to protect the people, yet you… Use my grandfather’s authority as your backing to casually oppress and kill the people!”
Hearing these words, how could the onlooking commoners not clearly understand the identity of the person before them?
The Tianxiang Restaurant owner, who had been hiding inside the restaurant trembling while holding his young son, how could he not know that the Shouyang Bai family was so arrogant precisely because they had the Zhenguo County Princess, who was favored by the Crown Prince, backing them!
Now that the Zhenguo County Princess had personally come and taken action to deal with these Bai family clan members, his family had escaped this disaster. The Tianxiang Restaurant owner didn’t care whether this Zhenguo County Princess was putting on an act or truly had no knowledge of what the Bai family clan had done before. But since the Zhenguo County Princess chose to make an example of these Bai family clan sons at his Tianxiang Restaurant, he would make this drama known to everyone today – perhaps he could save his family’s Tianxiang Restaurant.
Without a word, the Tianxiang Restaurant owner came out with his young son and tearfully kowtowed to Bai Qingyan.
“County Princess, please seek justice for this humble citizen! The Bai clan has colluded with officials, leaving us merchants… with no way to survive! Today they even kidnapped my youngest son, saying if I didn’t give them Tianxiang Restaurant for free, they would chop off my child’s hand!”
The Tianxiang Restaurant owner held his continuously crying young child in his arms, weeping bitterly.
“Fifth Brother!” The Bai family clan disciples hurriedly helped Bai Qingjie up, not daring to raise their heads, lowering their voices to say, “That’s the Zhenguo County Princess Bai Qingyan!”
Bai Qingjie, his mouth full of blood, was stunned and looked at Bai Qingyan with fear in his eyes.
Bai Qingyan’s gaze swept over those clan disciples, her voice cold: “Xiao Si, help the Tianxiang Restaurant owner up. Send someone to invite Magistrate Zhou over. If Magistrate Zhou cannot handle this matter impartially today, then to the Crown Prince… I will certainly impeach him for favoritism, dereliction of duty, and corruption!”
When Magistrate Zhou learned that Bai Qingyan had entered the city, he hurriedly gathered all the case files and documents and rushed toward the honored guest inn. Who knew that halfway there, he heard that Bai Qingyan had gone to Tianxiang Restaurant…
So he immediately had his sedan chair redirected to Tianxiang Restaurant.
Who knew that as soon as he arrived, he saw Bai Jinzhi wielding her whip against these Bai clan wastrel sons. Then hearing the Zhenguo County Princess call for him, Magistrate Zhou immediately felt fortunate that he had organized these case files quite timely.
Magistrate Zhou hurriedly took the case files from his subordinate official’s hands and, under the protection of his bailiffs, hastily squeezed through the crowd of onlookers, calling out loudly: “County Princess! County Princess… this official is here! This official is here!”
Magistrate Zhou squeezed out of the crowd holding the case files, adjusted his official hat that had been knocked askew by the crowd, and hurriedly bowed to Bai Qingyan: “This official pays respects to the County Princess!”
“Magistrate Zhou…” Bai Qingyan’s gaze fell on Magistrate Zhou, her voice completely emotionless. “I only just arrived in Shouyang yesterday, and today, after merely half a day of visiting, I heard from the people about many unforgivable deeds the Bai clan has committed over these years! As the people’s parent official, over these years… were you also completely blind and oblivious to all this? Have you ever sought justice for the people?”
“This official is terrified!”