Not far away at a corner, Shi Fa Ke glanced at Mother Chu who was at the back of the queue, saw her realize what happened and look around searching for her, and let out a soft sigh of relief.

“Thank you for helping me out of that situation.” Shi Fa Ke looked very gratefully at the beautiful woman standing opposite her.

With Mother Chu being so unreasonable and troublesome, if this lady hadn’t stepped in to help today, it wouldn’t have been easy for her to escape.

“I just couldn’t stand seeing her bullying a young girl by relying on her age.” The beautiful woman waved her hand, then suddenly said with concern, “I saw she gripped you very hard. Don’t let it hurt your arm – let me take a look.” As she spoke, she pulled up Shi Fa Ke’s sleeve.

Shi Fa Ke was stunned, feeling that this lady’s action seemed somewhat improper, and seemingly… overly enthusiastic? But thinking that she had just helped her out of trouble, she should truly be a kindhearted good person… right?

She didn’t notice that the lady’s gaze lingered on the crystal-clear jade bracelet on her wrist for a moment before looking at her arm with a smile, then her expression turned cold. Several bright red fingerprints on her snow-white arm were quite glaring and would probably bruise.

“That old woman was really ruthless.” She said angrily.

Shi Fa Ke was amused by her, thinking this lady really knew how to hit people where it hurt. If Mother Chu knew someone called her this, she would probably be furious again.

“What are you laughing at?” The beautiful woman blinked, looking puzzled.

“She actually cares a lot about her appearance. If she knew you called her that, she would probably be very angry.” Shi Fa Ke said tactfully, as those several calls of “madam” had indeed infuriated her.

The beautiful woman also laughed – of course she did it on purpose.

Women – how many don’t care about their age and appearance?

Shi Fa Ke noticed her hands were empty and remembered that she had been focused on pulling her away from that troublesome place and hadn’t had time to buy snow crisp, so she stuffed one of her portions to her.

“This is…?” The beautiful woman looked at the snow crisp pushed into her hands, a bit confused.

“You didn’t get to buy any because you were helping me out of trouble. I happened to buy two portions, so I’m sharing one with you.” Shi Fa Ke said with a smile.

No, I wasn’t queuing to buy any damn snow crisp… I didn’t even notice what this snow crisp thing was. I just happened to pass by and saw the jade bracelet on this young girl’s wrist, which looked very familiar.

To be precise, she came to see her little daughter-in-law.

Hmm, her little daughter-in-law had such a lovely smile.

Thinking this, the beautiful woman smiled and didn’t refuse, accepting the gift from her daughter-in-law with peace of mind, only asking, “What’s your name, young lady?”

“Shi Fa Ke. Shi as in ‘square’, Fake as in ‘how to cut down’, the ‘cut down’ from ‘without a proper axe, one cannot cut down’.” Shi Fa Ke said, seeing this lady looking at her intently, suddenly had an inspiration and understood the meaning in that gaze, asking cooperatively, “And you, Madam?”

“Xu Feiqiong.” The beautiful woman said with curved eyes.

Shi Fa Ke blinked, suddenly her eyes lit up, “Ah!”

“Hmm?” The beautiful woman pretended not to understand.

“The Feiqiong from Feiqiong Stronghold on Thousand Cliff Mountain?” Shi Fa Ke asked with surprise.

The beautiful woman suppressed her excitement and approval, “Exactly.”

She had guessed her identity just like that – truly a clever girl, worthy of being her daughter-in-law.

“What a coincidence.” Shi Fa Ke laughed innocently.

“…Hmm?”

“Your name is actually the same as Feiqiong Stronghold, haha.”

The beautiful woman took back her previous words – her daughter-in-law was a bit simple… but charmingly simple and cute.

She was pleased.

As they chatted, Shi Fa Ke looked up at the sky, “Oh my, it’s already this time. Thank you so much today, Madam. I have an appointment with a friend and must go first. My family lives in Jujia District on East Street. Please come visit when you have time – just look for the Shi family.”

“Good, I will definitely come.” Xu Feiqiong said meaningfully.

Shi Fa Ke completely missed her hidden meaning, waved at this kind lady, and bounced away.

The beautiful woman stood in place, smiling and waving back at her.

At this moment, a carriage passed by Shi Fa Ke and stopped beside the beautiful woman. The driver was a middle-aged man with a full beard, tall and looking quite fierce.

“Ah Qiong!” The bearded man angrily jumped down from the carriage, glaring and saying, “Why are you running around!”

Xu Feiqiong put away her smile and looked at him coolly, “You’re glaring at me?”

“I’m not glaring at you, it’s just… we just arrived in Bronze Gong Town, and in this unfamiliar place, you suddenly disappeared without a trace. I was worried about you.” The bearded man softened immediately under that clear gaze, smiling somewhat ingratiatingly.

Xu Feiqiong snorted coldly and ignored him.

“Ah Qiong, what are you holding?” The bearded man saw her holding something and asked.

“A gift from my daughter-in-law – you don’t get any.” Xu Feiqiong said while taking a piece of snow crisp to her lips, took a bite, chewed with puffed cheeks, and smiled with squinted eyes, “Really delicious.”

“Daughter-in-law?!” The bearded man’s eyes immediately widened, saying suspiciously, “You’ve never met her before – could you have mistaken her for someone else?”

“She’s wearing my bracelet.” Xu Feiqiong said calmly.

“Ah?” The bearded man looked completely confused, “Didn’t you leave a pendant for Zhuxi’s wife?”

“But I left a bracelet for Chi’er’s wife.” Xu Feiqiong said with a smile.

“That little rascal found a wife too?!” The bearded man’s eyes widened even more.

“Making a big fuss over nothing.” Xu Feiqiong ate her snow crisp very calmly.

Indeed, it was quite delicious.

“No… didn’t we come to get Zhuxi a wife? How did that little rascal also get married in the blink of an eye?” The bearded man seemed somewhat troubled.

…And both in Bronze Gong Town.

“This Bronze Gong Town is truly a place of outstanding people and beautiful scenery.” Xu Feiqiong said with a smile while eating the delicious snow crisp.

It wasn’t outstanding people and beautiful scenery…

It was clearly supernatural! Those two brothers were more disobedient than each other. Getting them to marry was like asking for their lives. Last time he just mentioned finding Lu Chi a wife to keep him in line, and that little rascal secretly slipped down the mountain. How was it that after coming to Bronze Gong Town, they both took a fancy to wives?

“By the way, where’s Zhuxi?” Xu Feiqiong finished a piece of snow crisp, clapped her hands, and asked.

“He went to Golden Fullness Tower first to see if there’s anything suitable.” The bearded man skillfully took out a handkerchief to wipe her hands, then said, “Do you want to go pick out some things? The craftsmen there were brought back from the capital by Shen Qing – their skills are quite good.”

“You’ve seen Shen Qing? How has he been doing these years?” Xu Feiqiong asked curiously.

“Living quite well, and he has a daughter named… oh, called Shen Tongyun. You gave her that name back then.”

Xu Feiqiong’s eyes also showed some nostalgia, “Yes, it’s been so many years. When we parted, Seventh Lady was still with child, and the couple insisted I give their child a name… I said if it was a boy, call him Shen Tong, if a girl, call her Shen Tongyun.”

“You were quite efficient about it.” The bearded man laughed, then said, “Are you really not going to Golden Fullness Tower to look around? Shen Qing has quite a business mind and runs it well… Besides, you need to prepare some things for Zhuxi’s wedding.”

“You shameless old man, what do I need to prepare for Zhuxi’s wedding? We can visit the Shen couple at their home later.” Xu Feiqiong said, and finally couldn’t help but roll her eyes inelegantly, “The betrothal gifts must be prepared generously. Miss Zhu is deeply devoted to Zhuxi and determined to marry into our kind of family. This matter is already wronging her – we absolutely cannot treat her poorly.”

“What’s wrong with our kind of family? How does it wrong her?” The bearded man’s eyes hardened.

Xu Feiqiong laughed coldly and gave him a sharp look, “A young lady from a scholarly family coming to be a bandit chief’s wife for your Lu family – isn’t that wronging her?”

“I knew you’ve been feeling indignant about this all these years! You’re the one who feels wronged!” The bearded man said angrily.

“Yes.” Xu Feiqiong admitted without blinking, “I was abducted up the mountain by you back then. I feel wronged – what’s wrong with that?” She glared at him and asked.

Speaking of which… this was also a twisted fate.

Xu Feiqiong was a genuine official’s daughter. Her father served as Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief, often putting on an upright and incorruptible appearance. Though his position wasn’t high, it was prestigious. Xu Feiqiong had been clever since childhood and was a famous talented woman in the capital. She was also beautiful, and after coming of age, suitors almost trampled down the Xu family’s threshold. She never expected that her father, who always prided himself on being high-minded, would betroth her to a worthless fool who was gold and jade on the outside but rotten straw within.

She believed in parental authority at the time and didn’t know what kind of person she was marrying until her wedding day. She only knew she was marrying the eldest son of the Three Borders Governor-General’s family, that it was a distant marriage, and from then on she would be far from her parents and brothers, taking that person’s parents as her parents and that person’s home as her home…

With such melancholy, she brought her dowry and embarked on the journey of distant marriage.

Then, haha, she became the bandit chief’s wife of Feiqiong Stronghold on Thousand Cliff Mountain.