A crowd of onlookers had already gathered outside the Li residence’s main gate.

A woman holding a young child was wailing loudly: “Oh heavens, the Li family has beaten someone to death! Neighbors, come see! The Li family bullies the weak, beating a defenseless woman like me into this state. Now I don’t even have the strength to walk. Poor my Goudan, not even two years old—Mother can’t cook for you anymore, you’re going to starve to death…”

The woman wailed, but noticing the child in her arms showed no signs of crying—only staring around curiously with big watery eyes—she cursed silently: This child is useless. Why won’t he cry at such a crucial moment?

Having no choice, the woman pinched the child’s arm. The child cried out in pain and finally began wailing.

Once the child started crying, the onlookers began discussing sympathetically.

“Everyone, look! How tragic that my Goudan will have no mother to care for him—”

The Li family was just an ordinary official household—small residence, uncomplicated population, and most importantly, poor, so they only had one steward to maintain appearances.

The poor old steward had never encountered such a scene and stood helplessly beside the woman: “What exactly do you want, woman?”

Families like theirs were different from noble houses—they feared these scoundrel-like people most.

The woman stopped crying, wiped her tears, and said: “What do you mean, what do I want? Your Li family beat me like this—shouldn’t you pay compensation?”

Upon hearing “compensation,” the woman holding the dirt dog’s eyes lit up.

No, they were both beaten by the Li family’s maid—she couldn’t fall behind.

“Oh my heavens—” A shrill cry suddenly rang out, startling many onlookers.

The woman holding the dirt dog was satisfied with the impact of her voice and continued crying: “I really can’t live anymore! Every part of my body hurts! Poor my Huzi is only three months old—if I can’t work, he’ll starve to death! The Li family is truly wicked, bullying a defenseless woman like me…”

While crying, the woman deftly pinched the dirt dog in her arms. Feeling pain but not daring to resist its owner, the dog weakly barked twice.

Someone who didn’t know the situation asked nearby people: “Strange, didn’t the Wang family’s youngest child already marry? Where did this three-month-old baby come from?”

The person beside them laughed: “What three-month-old baby? Huzi is that yellow dog in her arms.”

The questionnaire was dumbfounded: This is allowed?

The woman holding the dirt dog smiled proudly and provocatively raised her eyebrows at the woman holding the baby.

Fortunately, she had foresight—others had babies, she had a dog. She couldn’t fall behind others.

Seeing the dog-holding woman’s smug expression, the child-holding woman became angry and curled her lip: “How ridiculous. So what if a dirt dog starves to death? How can it compare to my child? Just watch—the Li family will compensate my family more.”

“What’s wrong with dirt dogs? My dirt dog is also my precious treasure! How can you be so cruel, cursing my Huzi to starve!”

The child-holding woman sneered: “If you’re so capable, why don’t you make that dog call you mother?”

“You!” The dog-holding woman forgot about settling accounts with the Li family and put her hands on her hips: “Even if my Huzi can’t call me mother, he’s still cleverer than your stupid son!”

“Who are you calling stupid? Who?” No mother could tolerate this. The child-holding woman immediately rushed toward the dog-holding woman.

At that moment, the dirt dog in the woman’s arms suddenly leaped out, clawing at the child-holding woman’s clothing and biting her arm.

The child-holding woman let out a scream: “Ah! The Wang family hag’s dirt dog is trying to kill someone! I’ll fight you—”

The dirt dog released its bite, nimbly jumped down, huffed twice, wagged its tail, and ran away.

Enough was enough. Making so many demands of a dirt dog—did they know how hard it was to be a dog?

Seeing her dirt dog disappear, the Wang woman fearlessly met the charging woman: “I’m the one who should fight you! You made my Huzi run away from home!”

The two women grappled together. Soon, both families joined the battle, fighting fiercely. Unknowingly, they moved away from the Li residence gate as they fought.

Looking at the now-space before the gate, the Li residence steward held up his fallen jaw and muttered: “Is this how the matter resolved itself?”

The steward, with complex feelings, went inside to report to Old Madam Deng.

Old Madam Deng was speaking with Qiao Zhao: “Third girl, that maid of yours called Binglu is a good one—simple—but you should also discipline her. Our Li residence is different from before. Many people are envious, so we must be cautious in our words and deeds when outside.”

Thinking of the heated scene outside the gate, Old Madam Deng sighed: “Especially those gossiping women—they love spreading idle chatter. Why bother arguing with such people?”

“Yes, I’ll properly discipline her when I return,” Qiao Zhao replied obediently. “I’ve caused Grandmother worry—it’s all my fault.”

At this moment, Lady Liu entered: “Old Madam, don’t worry. Two women causing trouble is nothing—at most we’ll send them away with some silver.”

It seemed these two women were going to be unlucky.

“Go outside and ask the steward about the situation,” Old Madam Deng instructed Qing Jun.

Qing Jun took the order and soon encountered the steward outside. They returned together to report.

“How is it?” Old Madam Deng asked urgently.

Having lost her husband early, she had dealt with such women who cried, made scenes, and threatened suicide. These people were much harder to handle than those pretentious ladies and madams.

The steward’s expression was strange: “Reporting to Old Madam, the current situation is somewhat… hard to describe—”

“What’s hard to describe about it? What demands did they make?”

“They started fighting before making any demands.”

Old Madam Deng was increasingly confused: “Who fought with whom?”

“Those two women. They had a verbal dispute, one woman’s dirt dog bit the other woman, then they started fighting.”

“They’re still fighting at our gate?”

The steward’s expression became even stranger: “No, they fought fiercely and both families got involved, then they left our gate to find an open area to fight.”

“This—” Even the wise Old Madam Deng was speechless. After being stunned for a while, she said, “Go check the situation again. Those people rarely get a chance to latch onto a family like ours—they won’t just let it go. Maybe after they finish fighting, they’ll come back to our door.”

The steward ran out to investigate. Soon, he returned with a complex expression: “Old Madam, our residence might not need to worry for now.”

“How so?”

“Just now, officers from the Five Cities Military Commissioner’s Office came and arrested both families on charges of causing disturbances!”

Old Madam Deng: “…”

Lady Liu raised her hand to adjust the silk flowers in her hair.