Upon hearing Jiang Si’s voice, Jiang Zhan’s handsome face instantly darkened. He strode back to shield her, hissing in a low, exasperated voice, “Why did you come out?”

“I finished my shopping,” Jiang Si replied innocently, as if unaware of the situation outside.

“Well, well, who do we have here? Your sweetheart?” came a mocking voice.

Through her black gauze veil, Jiang Si gazed at the speaker, her eyes ice-cold.

In her previous life, these people had all been accomplices in Second Brother’s death!

Back then, she had been distant from her brother and didn’t care about his friends or enemies. Only once, when Father had beaten Second Brother severely, did she overhear some details.

Father had been furious about Second Brother associating with Yang Shengcai, the grandson of the Minister of Rites, but Second Brother had stubbornly insisted that Yang Shengcai had helped him, and he couldn’t betray a friend’s trust.

This was what puzzled Jiang Si.

Cui Yi, son of Princess Rongyang, was close friends with Yang Shengcai, yet now Second Brother had grievances with Cui Yi. How had they ended up becoming companions later?

Second Brother hadn’t wanted to betray his friend’s trust, unaware that his trusted friend would take his life.

“Don’t talk nonsense!” Jiang Zhan pulled Jiang Si behind him, watching Cui Yi’s approach like a bristling cat. “If you want to fight, we can do it another day. Any time but now, I’m ready.”

Cui Yi waved his gold-painted fan and chuckled, “What’s this? Afraid of frightening the little beauty? Never thought Second Young Master Jiang would be such a gentleman.”

“Watch your filthy mouth!” Jiang Zhan’s temple throbbed with anger, but with Jiang Si nearby, he didn’t dare act rashly.

He knew too well how despicable these people could be, capable of harassing respectable young ladies.

Though Fourth Sister was from an Earl’s family and they wouldn’t dare abduct her in broad daylight, they might still use crude language or take advantage during a fight to manhandle her.

Jiang Zhan had never felt so frustrated.

If only he had Seventh Brother Yu’s skills.

No, even that contemptible dog’s abilities would do!

“Weren’t you going to fight?” the young lady’s gentle voice spoke again.

Both sides were stunned by her words, with several people even cleaning their ears.

Had they heard correctly? What did this young lady just say?

“Fourth Sister, be quiet!” Jiang Zhan rarely spoke harshly to Jiang Si.

He couldn’t believe his sister was setting him up like this!

“Haha, Jiang Er, did you hear that? Your sister’s waiting to watch the fight!” Cui Yi laughed, tapping his fan handle while his gaze lingered on the graceful young lady.

His followers all burst into laughter.

“Jiang Er, are we fighting or not? Stop dithering like a woman!”

“Don’t say that—the young lady is still waiting to watch!”

“Right, right, Jiang Er’s worse than a woman. Since when did you learn to be such a coward? Haha—”

Jiang Zhan clenched his fists tightly, suppressing the urge to smash their foul mouths. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Say what you want, but I’m not fighting today. Get out of our way!”

“Now, now, Jiang Er, you may want to leave, but your sister doesn’t.” Cui Yi swayed his fan and flashed what he thought was a charming smile at Jiang Si. “Isn’t that right, young lady?”

“Of course not,” Jiang Si replied coolly.

Cui Yi’s smile froze, his fan stopping mid-wave.

What was happening? This girl changed her tune rather quickly!

A-Man cast a sidelong glance at Cui Yi, her lips curling in contempt.

Was this man stupid? Of course, their Young Miss would side with the Second Young Master.

The little maid swept her gaze around, silently counting heads.

Hmm, five opponents. She could handle three or four herself, leave one for Second Young Master, and as for A-Ji—well, as long as he didn’t cause trouble.

“We’re in a hurry to get home. If you’re not fighting with my Second Brother anymore, we’ll be on our way.” Jiang Si gently tugged at Jiang Zhan’s sleeve.

Jiang Zhan snapped out of his daze. “Right, we’re leaving.”

Cui Yi stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Something seemed off!

“Wait!” He thrust out his closed fan to block their path, sneering, “You almost fooled me. When did I say you could leave as you pleased?”

Since when did they have a choice in this matter? The audacity!

“Then could you hurry up with the fight? We are in a rush.” Jiang Si released Jiang Zhan’s sleeve and urged.

“Heh, I’m learning something new today!” Cui Yi stared at Jiang Si, suddenly breaking into a smile. He shouted, “What are you waiting for? Beat Jiang Er to a pulp! After that, the young lady is ours!”

“A-Ji, A-Man, protect Young Miss and run!” Jiang Zhan shoved Jiang Si back and charged forward with raised fists.

“Let’s go, Fourth Miss!” A-Ji glanced at Jiang Zhan, who was surrounded by several attackers, his voice trembling.

A-Man remained composed: “Young Miss, what should we do?”

Instead of answering A-Man, Jiang Si asked A-Ji, “How long can Second Young Master hold out with his fighting skills?”

A-Ji was on the verge of tears: “A quarter-hour at most.”

If he could help, they might last longer, but he had to protect Fourth Miss and leave quickly.

Second Young Master getting beaten up would only result in physical injuries, but if these bastards took advantage of Fourth Miss, that would be truly disastrous.

“Ten counts will be enough,” Jiang Si murmured.

“What?” A-Ji didn’t understand her words.

Jiang Si kept her eyes fixed on the familiar figure amid the brawl, silently counting: one, two, three…

When she reached “ten” in her mind, suddenly dog barks erupted from all directions.

The crowd of onlookers looked around, someone exclaiming, “Where did all these dogs come from?”

Seven or eight dogs of various sizes charged in from nowhere, causing waves of screams.

Cui Yi was standing on the curb, leisurely watching the fight, when suddenly a large dog lunged at him and bit his backside.

“Ah—” Cui Yi screamed, reflexively striking the dog’s head with his fan handle.

The dog looked at him and howled—then bit down harder.

Strangely enough, the dogs ignored the crowd and targeted only Cui Yi, surrounding him in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, Cui Yi and Jiang Zhan’s situations were oddly similar, except Jiang Zhan was surrounded by people while Cui Yi was surrounded by dogs.

Cui Yi nearly burst into tears.

His predicament was far worse than Jiang Er’s—people could be reasoned with, but dogs couldn’t!

“What are you fighting for? Quick, drive these beasts away!” Cui Yi screamed hoarsely.

Jiang Zhan’s kick missed its target, nearly throwing out his back. Looking around to find his opponents had all vanished, he gazed about in confusion.

“Second Brother, shall we head home now that the fight’s over?”

“What just happened?” Jiang Zhan stared dumbfounded at Cui Yi being chased by several dogs.

“I don’t know. Who knew there were so many stray dogs on the street.”

Jiang Zhan laughed: “Seems even the dogs couldn’t stand his arrogance. Wait a minute, one of those dogs looks familiar—”