County Lady Jiang’s right eye was covered by a white film. When she stared at someone in anger, her gaze was sinister and made people’s skin crawl.

Lady He could no longer bear this atmosphere. She rushed forward to shield Qiao Zhao, shouting at County Lady Jiang: “County Lady, Zhaozhao is still young and doesn’t understand. If you want to punish someone, punish me!”

Standing behind Lady He, Qiao Zhao felt helpless at her stepmother’s rashness, but seeing her hands trembling slightly behind her back, she couldn’t bring herself to feel resentful.

“Lady He, your failure to strictly discipline your daughter will be addressed later. For now, step aside. If a person makes mistakes without being punished, they won’t learn to fear consequences and will continue making the same errors. You protecting her now is harming her!” County Lady Jiang spoke with righteous indignation.

“The County Lady is right. This time, I will punish this troublemaker severely.” Old Madam Deng said with a stern face.

County Lady Jiang’s sinister eyeball rolled, letting out a cold laugh: “Sister-in-law, I see you’re all too soft-hearted. This time, let me discipline Third Girl!”

After so many years together, didn’t she understand this old sister-in-law? She was extremely protective of her own, and no matter how angry she got at the younger generation, she couldn’t stand outsiders lecturing them. Today, she insisted on interfering, making this old sister-in-law feel stifled, with her anger perfectly directed at this mother-daughter pair who didn’t understand propriety.

Old Madam Deng was so choked she couldn’t catch her breath, glaring fiercely at Lady He.

Although the two residences had long since divided, she still couldn’t refuse the request. County Lady Jiang held considerable prestige in the clan. If she wanted to discipline a clan daughter, the clan leader and elders would only welcome it, especially since the two families were blood brothers.

“Great-aunt is right.” In the tense atmosphere, Qiao Zhao spoke, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.

She showed no nervousness whatsoever, her beautiful eyes looking at County Lady Jiang with complete sincerity: “If a person makes mistakes without being punished, they won’t learn to fear consequences and will continue making the same errors.”

She repeated County Lady Jiang’s words word for word, leaving everyone puzzled.

County Lady Jiang’s dark gaze enveloped Qiao Zhao as she squeezed out a cold smile: “That Third Girl can recognize this point means she’s still salvageable!”

Qiao Zhao rather wanted to laugh.

This County Lady was quite audacious, overstepping her authority based on her status.

Seeing everyone’s attention focused on her, Qiao Zhao suddenly walked around Lady He, took a few steps forward, then stopped: “I was standing right here when Second Sister reached out to hit me.”

Li Jiāo couldn’t help but sneer: “Li Zhao, even at this point, you’re still talking nonsense? I had just been helped up by Eldest Sister, my hands and feet were aching terribly—where would I have had the strength to hit you? Eldest Sister, isn’t that right?”

Li Jiāo’s aggressive tone displeased Li Jiǎo, but they had no fundamental conflict. Her dislike of Li Jiāo was merely due to personality differences, while her dislike of Li Zhao was innate.

At this moment, Li Jiǎo made her choice without hesitation: “Yes, I helped Second Sister up right here, and then Second Sister sat down.”

To increase credibility, she specifically pointed out their positions at the time.

“Eldest Sister means to say that Second Sister never came over?” Qiao Zhao asked calmly.

The young lady’s calm tone made Li Jiǎo inexplicably feel a sense of crisis, but having spoken this far, there was no possibility of turning back. She couldn’t think of what waves this girl before her could still stir up, so she steeled herself: “That’s right. After Second Sister sat down, I stayed with her the whole time. How could we have gone over there?”

Seeing the situation was settled, Li Jiāo felt satisfied and looked coldly at Qiao Zhao: “Third Sister, you’ve harmed me so badly. Is it so difficult to admit your mistake in front of the elders? How ill-mannered!”

At these words, Old Madam Deng’s face burned with pain.

Lady He, who treasured her daughter like an eyeball, flew into a rage and blurted out: “Who’s ill-mannered? Little brat speaking so unpleasantly—I think your whole family is ill-mannered!”

Qiao Zhao: “…”

Having never seen this side of Lady He before, Miss Qiao felt utterly bewildered and had mixed feelings. Even Li Jiǎo wanted to cover this stepmother’s mouth.

The whole family is ill-mannered? Wasn’t this including the County Lady in the insult? If the County Lady got angry and stopped bringing the West Residence girls to noble ladies’ gatherings in the future, what would they do?

Old Madam Deng looked at her daughter-in-law with a life-weary expression.

Cough, cough, although she felt there was a tiny bit of truth to these words, you shouldn’t say them out loud!

County Lady Jiang’s face turned green with anger.

She was ill-mannered?

How dare the daughter of a nouveau riche family speak like this?

County Lady Jiang took a deep breath: “Sister-in-law, while the child hasn’t completely gone astray, I can still discipline her. As for other matters, you handle them as you see fit.”

This was saying Lady He was beyond redemption and not even worth her attention.

Qiao Zhao, fearing her cheap mother might say something even more shocking, called out loudly: “I’ll ask one more time—did the two sisters never come over?”

Li Jiǎo felt inexplicably uneasy and remained silent.

Li Jiāo shouted: “Does having a loud voice make you right? Say it a hundred times and it’s still the same—we didn’t go over, we didn’t go over!”

Qiao Zhao suddenly smiled and stepped slightly aside, revealing a glass screen painted with blooming peonies.

In this era, the screens in young ladies’ boudoirs were mostly wooden-framed embroidered screens of various styles. Glass screens like the one in Qiao Zhao’s room were rare, especially in the Li residence where it was unique—a birthday gift from Lady He to her precious daughter.

The glass screen bloomed with vibrant, colorful flowers. Everyone couldn’t make out any clues at first and found Qiao Zhao’s action inexplicable.

Mm, these people’s observational skills were quite average, Miss Qiao thought silently.

She simply pointed it out directly: “Great-aunt, Grandmother, look—here’s half a handprint, with blood on it.”

At these words, the room fell eerily silent.

Li Jiāo suddenly looked over and finally saw the half-blurred bloody handprint among the colorful patterns of the glass screen.

Li Jiāo bit her lip hard.

Li Jiǎo’s face went completely pale.

They had insisted they never went over—so where did the bloody handprint on the screen come from?

Both girls weren’t stupid and naturally understood they had been caught with solid evidence.

Suddenly exposed in their lies, both were momentarily stunned.

Fifth Miss Li Shu, standing in the corner, stared at Qiao Zhao as if seeing her for the first time, secretly widening her eyes.

She remembered clearly that after Second Sister was injured, the scene had been chaotic throughout, with no one paying attention to a small screen. How did Third Sister discover the handprint on the screen?

She carefully recalled and suddenly remembered.

When Second Sister tried to hit Third Sister, Third Sister dodged, and Second Sister’s hand hit the screen. At that time, Third Sister had casually steadied the screen.

Heavens, did Third Sister see it with just that casual touch and then dig a pit for Eldest Sister and Second Sister to jump into voluntarily?

Li Shu’s eyes widened even more, with only one thought left in her mind: Third Sister is so formidable—I’ll never dare speak ill of Third Sister again!

After the silence, County Lady Jiang looked at her precious granddaughter Li Jiāo extremely slowly.

Li Jiāo struggled desperately: “That still can’t prove it was mine. Who knows when it was left there?”

Qiao Zhao calmly interrupted her: “Everyone’s hand patterns are different.”

She didn’t understand such common knowledge?

Miss Qiao mentally complained.