Work things out?

Was there even room to work anything out?

Everything that needed saying, Ziqing had already said. She had no intention of wasting more breath sparring with this old woman—the old woman had all the time in the world to drag things out, to wear down everyone’s patience and resolve until nothing remained!

Ziqing didn’t have that kind of time!

Jun Beiyue’s internal energy had already recovered. As for the recuperation, the herbs needed—she refused to believe the Great Zhou imperial treasury couldn’t outdo some Gu family storehouse!

“Qing’er, please, I’m begging you, calm down, calm down. Let’s talk this through properly. I’ve already agreed to make her move out of the main residence.” Madam Gu pleaded over and over, clinging to Ziqing and refusing to let go!

Ziqing was thoroughly disappointed by now. She felt not the slightest bit of admiration for this “great mother”—she looked pitiable, but wasn’t she really the root cause of all this?

“Madam Gu, I’ll say this one last time. There is no room for discussion. Either she moves out of the Gu family entirely, or we leave!”

Madam Gu was far too shrewd for that. Even sobbing as hard as she was, her words remained carefully calculated—”not letting Meiting stay in the main residence” and “making Meiting move out of the Gu family entirely” were two entirely different things!

Caught out by Ziqing, Madam Gu flushed with humiliation and anger, yet kept up her tearful, sobbing act, which made the Gu family head’s chest ache with sympathy just watching her.

“Qing’er, isn’t it enough that I’ve begged you? Even though you’re now, by rights, the proper daughter-in-law of the Gu family, you still can’t demand that my own daughter leave, can you? Can’t she simply stay as a guest? Can’t she even use the guest quarters? Must you really force me to cut ties with my own daughter?”

This was absolutely absurd!

Truly, like mother, like daughter!

“Madam Gu, I don’t wish to waste more words on you. You truly can twist black into white and make it sound pitiable. When did I ever say Gu Meiting had to cut ties with the Gu family? Wherever she wants to go is none of my concern. As long as she resides permanently within the Gu family, Beiyue and I will not be here!”

With that, Ziqing abruptly broke free of Madam Gu’s grip and moved to gather Beiyue up. The Gu family head, utterly enraged now, threw out an arm to block her. “Han Ziqing, you truly know no limits, giving no quarter even when you clearly have the upper hand! We’ve already begged you, what more do you want?”

Ziqing took a deep breath and said furiously, “Bring that coward Jiang Chen over here. He’s the crux of this entire matter! Since the two of you clearly can’t make any decisions regarding Gu family affairs, then let him take his wife and son and leave while he still can!”

“What did you say!” Gu Meiting cried out in shock. Coward? Who was Han Ziqing calling a coward!

“I said your husband is a coward. Called a live-in son-in-law and he still doesn’t dare show his face!” Ziqing scoffed coldly. Jiang Chen had been trailing her and Commander Xu the entire way here—how could she not know he was nearby? With things having escalated to this point, how could he possibly not know?

“I’ll fight you to the death, you wretch! Take those words back!” Gu Meiting went utterly mad, lunging straight at her!

Ziqing ignored her, simply flicking a hand to sweep her aside, then glared furiously at the Gu couple. “Right and wrong—the two of you surely know it in your hearts. Let me tell you this—if I walk out this door with Beiyue today, I will never set foot in it again for the rest of my life!”

With that furious declaration, she turned to gather her things, immediately reaching for Jun Beiyue’s hand to lift him. With a family like this, with elders like these, further arguing was pointless—staying was even more pointless!

Gu Meiting scrambled up from the ground and grabbed Ziqing’s shoulder. Ziqing paid it no mind, easily shoving her off with one hand—but at that very moment, Madam Gu suddenly rushed forward and threw her arms around Ziqing’s waist. “Ziqing, don’t go, you can’t leave, no matter what, I won’t let you leave!”

And in that instant, Gu Meiting seized the opportunity to yank Ziqing back hard, swinging a slap down at once. “You wretch, how dare you insult my husband!”

For a moment, Madam Gu froze in shock, her grip loosening entirely, and no one around them reacted in time—nor did anyone notice the faint flicker of murderous intent that passed across Jun Beiyue’s lips.

“Get out of here, who do you think you are, how dare you insult—”

Gu Meiting was still cursing, still about to strike again, but her words were cut off midway by Ziqing’s icy voice. “Enough!”

In the next instant, before anyone could quite make out what had happened, a sound like a fierce gale tore through the air—”whoosh”—and a savage blade of palm-force slammed straight into Gu Meiting’s face, sending her flying to the ground in an instant!

Half of Ziqing’s face was flushed red, her eyes even more alarmingly red. She didn’t move from where she stood, but the hand bearing the scorpion-shaped ring kept striking, again and again—”whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…”—wave after wave of razor-sharp wind blades, each one slamming mercilessly into Gu Meiting’s face!

No one had expected this turn of events—and even less had anyone expected that this woman’s mastery of wind-blade techniques could be so extraordinary!

Wind blades were the Gu family’s ancestral signature skill, their own original creation!

And yet this woman, without a trace of Gu family internal energy, could still unleash wind blades of her own. With talent like this, if she ever possessed even a fraction of Gu family internal energy, just how unrivaled might she become?

Gu Meiting was struck so hard she didn’t even get the chance to cry out. If this continued, her face would surely be shattered beyond recognition!

Everyone stood frozen—only Jiang Yuan let out a sudden, anguished cry. “Mother…!”

Only then did everyone snap back to their senses, rushing forward to intervene. The Gu family head, heedless of everything else, seized Ziqing’s arm in a death grip, while Madam Gu, Gu Suying, and several guards all threw themselves in front of Gu Meiting. Gu Meiting, beaten nearly senseless, her face swollen and lopsided, finally came to and burst into anguished wails. “Ah… boo hoo… ah… I don’t want to live anymore, boo hoo… I don’t want to live!”

“Then go die right now!”

Ziqing’s fury blazed like some vengeful demon. Heedless of her own burning cheek, her patience utterly spent, she wrenched her arm free of the Gu family head’s grip at once!

“Han Ziqing, enough! Enough!” The Gu family head nearly wept aloud, unable to bear it any longer, caught impossibly between both sides, with nowhere left to turn.

“This isn’t over!” Ziqing’s fury surged higher still. She swept her bare hand out sharply, and a savage wind blade lashed straight toward Madam Gu and Gu Suying, slicing clean through both their arms!

This technique of unleashing wind blades with a mere sweep of the hand—she’d worked it out while practicing the guqin. Originally, a single sweep of the hand across the strings, from the first to the last, produced a smooth, flowing tone. Through countless repetitions, using the method of training finger strength to train her arm strength instead, she had, without even realizing it, actually succeeded—and the power of it rivaled even a finger-flicked wind blade!

“Guards, with me!” The Gu family head roared with fury. His own internal energy was below thirty percent, and it would take a year or more to fully recover—but that hardly meant the Gu family had no one else!

At once, guards surged forward, swiftly surrounding Ziqing at the bedside. Ziqing threw back her head and laughed aloud, a wild, reckless laugh.

Was she truly the one going too far? Or was this entire family going too far?

The Gu couple had, in truth, already made their choice long ago—they’d resolved firmly to protect Gu Meiting, to stand on her side. What they’d hesitated over wasn’t the choice itself, only whether to show it openly!

“Shiliang, Guxi! Guard the main gate for me—no one leaves today!” Ziqing commanded coldly. Her mercenaries were still waiting outside; though few in number, each one had been personally trained by her hand—guarding a single gate was well within their ability!

“Han Ziqing, what exactly do you mean by this?” the Gu family head demanded furiously.

“And what exactly do you mean by this?” Ziqing shot back.

Madam Gu scrambled up hurriedly, once again trying to play peacemaker. “My dear, please don’t do this, please, let’s talk this through properly, properly!”

Ziqing didn’t even spare her a glance. She pulled down the silk cloth wrapped around her back, revealing the guqin she carried, holding it one-armed. When the black cloth fell away, both the Gu family head and Madam Gu sucked in a sharp breath of shock!

They recognized this instrument!

This was the Wuzheng—the demonic guqin long lost to Liuxian Island, missing for so, so long! And it was in Han Ziqing’s hands! Could it be that her wind blades were—

At last, the Gu family head’s demeanor softened. “Ziqing… please don’t do this. Calm down, let’s all calm down, all right? Whatever else, Meiting striking you was absolutely her fault. Rest assured, I will give you a proper accounting for this.”

Ziqing’s expression turned dark and sinister. Her bare hand drifted gently across the strings of the qin as she said coldly, “What kind of accounting? Tell me now.”

If before this she’d held nothing but contempt for the Gu family, wanting none of it—now, she intended to claim every last brick and tile of it.

The Gu family head found himself stumped by her words. What sort of accounting could he possibly give?

Madam Gu, watching her daughter still writhing and wailing on the ground, felt her heart shatter, tears streaming endlessly as she pleaded with Ziqing. “Please, can’t we just let this go, all of it? You struck her too earlier, you’ve already gotten your retaliation just now—please, don’t do this, please don’t!”

Ziqing treated Madam Gu as though she weren’t even there, issuing her final ultimatum to the Gu family head. “What kind of accounting?”

Throughout this entire quarrel, Ziqing had never once struck first—every blow had come because Gu Meiting had thrown herself at her, clawing and biting, bringing the suffering entirely upon herself!

And that slap just now—she had taken it defenseless, held back by Madam Gu’s grip. In her entire life, when had she ever suffered such an indignity! If she simply let it go, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself!

The Gu family head took a deep breath. “It was Meiting’s fault.”

Ziqing’s expression remained blank, waiting for him to continue. Only now admitting fault—it was already too late.

“Gu Meiting, that’s enough out of you. Come here and admit your wrongdoing!” the Gu family head finally said coldly, personally stepping forward to haul Gu Meiting up.

“I won’t!” Gu Meiting refused at once.

“Apologize, or I will absolutely not go easy on the matters Jiang Chen thought he was hiding from me. Watch yourself, and watch that Jiang family of his!” the Gu family head finally showed his authority.

How much of the Gu family’s assets had Jiang Chen secretly siphoned off, transferred to the Jiang family—could a man as shrewd as the Gu family head really not know? He’d simply chosen to turn a blind eye, telling himself it all ultimately belonged to Jiang Chen’s wife, his own daughter, anyway.

Gu Meiting understood full well what her husband had been doing. Hearing her father’s uncompromising words, she flinched violently and finally clamped her mouth shut.

She feared nothing under heaven or earth—except harming Jiang Chen, especially wounding his pride, damaging his face!

Seeing her husband so furious, Madam Gu finally didn’t dare say another word either. She understood the consequences just as clearly as Gu Meiting did!

“Apologize!” the Gu family head suddenly barked, startling Gu Meiting so badly she instinctively gripped Madam Gu’s hand tight.

“Apologize, apologize, Meiting, it was your fault, hurry and apologize, make amends with Ziqing, we can’t let this go on any longer!” Madam Gu urged hastily, offering Gu Meiting a way down from this.

Ziqing genuinely felt sick just hearing Madam Gu’s voice. She looked coldly at the lowered head of Gu Meiting and scoffed. “No need.”

Everyone startled. No need? What did Han Ziqing mean by that?

Gu Meiting couldn’t help but lift her head to look at her. But Ziqing had already turned toward the bed, gazing at Jun Beiyue lying there as peacefully as if merely asleep, and said flatly, “Gu Meiting, you struck me in front of my husband, showing my husband not the slightest respect. Striking me was an insult to my husband’s honor. I won’t hit you back—bring your husband here so I can slap him instead. Otherwise, this is far from over!”