Manager Qian shook his head and sighed: “It’s because the second young miss of the Chu Family came home! I don’t know how she heard about the Zhou Family matter from acquaintances in the capital, but she took the chance of visiting her family to tell Master Chu. Once he knew, he sent people to audit the accounts here. He even sent someone to take over my position. But I told him I was hired by you, the eldest young miss, so without your word, I could not hand over the books and leave. If he truly insisted on driving me out, he was welcome to take the shop’s deed and settle it at the magistrate’s office. He backed down at that, but forcibly took away the shop’s cash box — there were over eighty taels of silver notes in there from the daily takings. He also said he had already sent someone to the capital to bring you back. Once you returned, you would change the deed on the shop, and he would take it over. What a mess of unreasonable bullying! He is your father, after all — I could hardly go and report him to the authorities. Fortunately you came back yourself, otherwise I still have unpaid debts for goods, and with no money coming in, the creditors’ bill collectors would be banging on the door any day now.”

Chu Linlang listened, her fist tightening, a cold laugh escaping her.

Her father truly had a calculating mind — he had worked it out fast enough.

He had figured that now she had separated from Zhou Sui’an, she had no backing, and so he planned to first seize her two shops, then call her to account.

She had anticipated Chu Huaisheng’s reaction upon learning of the separation, but had never imagined he would rush to take over her shops. It seemed she had underestimated the depths to which her own father could sink.

But with Chu Huaisheng having flown into such a rage, the one who would suffer the worst of it was surely her mother.

Chu Linlang had planned to meet Sun Shi in secret, but that was clearly not going to work — if she did not show herself, her mother might suffer terribly at Chu Huaisheng’s hands.

With that thought, she had no heart left for the account books. She simply questioned the manager in more detail, then made up her mind.

At the Chu household, it was now dinnertime.

Because the second daughter, Chu Jinyu, had come home to visit, the dinner table was a little livelier than usual.

The son of the household, Chu Renfeng, was, as was his habit, not eating at home — no one knew which restaurant or teahouse he had gone off to enjoy himself at.

Chu Huaisheng had been in a foul temper for several days. He had heard that Chu Linlang had the audacity to arrange the separation herself without consulting her family, and the news had left him trembling with rage.

Zhou Sui’an’s career was at its height. Of all the sons from modest families who had managed by luck to pass the examinations, how many could have made it to the Ministry of Finance in the capital within just a few short years?

Men taking multiple wives was perfectly normal! Had that wretched girl not been so jealous, so barren, and so consistently refused to let her husband take a concubine — would Zhou Sui’an really have had to look elsewhere for what he needed?

She could not bear children and was unable to provide an heir — she ought to have quietly endured it. And now she had gone and separated from the Zhou man?

Did she think herself an unmarried maiden? Did she think that, once set free, there would still be men lining up to have her?

The son, Chu Renfeng, upon hearing that his half-sister had been cast aside, had slapped his thigh and declared that a salt official he had recently acquainted himself with was just looking for a concubine, and that this official had a particular fondness for experienced, attractive women.

If they sent Linlang over, it would make it easier to avoid the salt tax in the future. After all, that man was lecherous but already had plenty of children, and Linlang’s looks were just right — enough to dazzle a man’s eyes. It had to be better than being unable to remarry at all.

Chu Huaisheng thought this made a degree of sense. But the whole family knew that third daughter’s temperament — if she were made to remarry as a concubine, she would likely cause a scene.

So whether to remarry her or not could be discussed later. The priority for now was to get her back first.

It happened that the second son-in-law had been dispatched on official business to the capital, so Chu Huaisheng had him hurry to fetch her and drag this disgraceful creature back from the capital before anything else.

He had also been storming around the house cursing at his eldest daughter, Chu Jinyin, who had known about such a major event and kept it from the family, letting Chu Linlang run wild outside and bring shame on them all.

The eldest daughter naturally defended herself, and at the first disagreement, husband and wife broke into another loud quarrel.

With father and mother both taking turns lambasting the oldest and third daughters, the second daughter, Chu Jinyu, felt thoroughly satisfied.

Chu Jinyu was considered the worst-married of the three Chu sisters. Her husband appeared perfectly respectable in public, but once he had a few cups of yellow rice wine in him at home, he invariably turned to hitting his wife. This had long made the naturally competitive and proud Chu Jinyu feel she could not hold her head up before her sisters.

Yet as the saying went, fortunes turn in cycles. Her eldest sister’s husband had lost money in business and nearly lost her entire dowry in the process, while Chu Linlang had been ignominiously cast aside.

Among the three sisters, it was now evidently she who had made the best marriage.

Thinking of this, she could not help but pour herself a smug cup of wine.

Looking at his second daughter drinking with such self-satisfaction, Chu Huaisheng said irritably: “You told your husband to go and fetch her — why is there still no word?”

Chu Jinyu’s husband, Zheng Biao, had originally been a naval patrol officer and had recently been promoted to commander of a naval unit, with some fifty-odd men under his command.

Of the three sons-in-law, this second one was the only one who could stand up and speak directly before the father. Being a military man, Zheng Biao settled disagreements with his fists at the drop of a hat — which also gave Chu Jinyu a somewhat firmer footing when speaking in her father’s presence.

Hearing her father complain that her husband was taking too long, Chu Jinyu replied unhurriedly: “My husband is on official duty — he can only look for third sister in his spare time. He can hardly mobilize naval vessels just to chase down a cast-aside woman. Besides, what good does it do to bring third sister back sooner? She’s already been sent away by the Zhou Family — cursing at her won’t change that. That stubborn girl! Her ideas are so grand — she went and did all this without telling the family, without even giving father and mother a say in the matter…”

As she said this, Chu Jinyu let her gaze drift with deliberate casualness to the woman standing at the side of the table, who coughed softly from time to time.

Sun Fu, being a concubine, was not entitled to sit at the table and was attending to one side. She had caught a chill from washing clothes for the main wife at the waterside a few days earlier and had been coughing mildly ever since.

Stirred up by his second daughter’s words, Chu Huaisheng grabbed a soup bowl and hurled it at Sun Shi’s head: “Coughing and coughing! We’re trying to eat dinner, and all I hear is your coughing! Look at what you produced — a money-losing wretch! Why did I ever buy you, you foolish creature!”

The bowl’s contents were scalding hot. Sun Shi flinched from the burning, letting out a smothered cry of pain.

But Chu Huaisheng’s fury was not spent — he picked up the soup tureen on the table, looking as though he was about to hurl it at Sun Shi as well.

At that very moment, a loud shout came from outside the hall: “Stop!”

Followed immediately by an embroidered shoe flying through the air — and landing squarely on Chu Huaisheng’s face!

Struck directly, Chu Huaisheng’s raised tureen tilted sideways, and the scalding soup splashed onto his neck, burning him so that he yelped and hastily set the tureen down.

Everyone looked up. There in the doorway stood a vividly dressed young woman in a silk pink skirt, her hair piled high in an elaborate style secured with pearl hairpins, her expression blazing with fury as she strode forward with her attendant maidservants.

Sun Fu’s lips trembled, and she called out in a grieving, shaking voice: “Linlang… were you brought back?”

In these recent days, Chu Huaisheng had been cursing and raging without stop at home. On top of that, his attempt to take over Linlang’s shops had been thwarted, which made him even more vicious — he had been taking out his fury on Sun Fu in Chu Linlang’s absence.

Seeing Chu Linlang arrive so suddenly, Sun Fu assumed she had been dragged back by the second son-in-law. Thinking of what lay ahead for her daughter, her vision went dark and she sank softly to her knees on the floor.

As it turned out, when Chu Linlang had knocked at the gate, the gatekeeper recognized the third young miss and opened the door without bothering to announce her.

By the time Chu Linlang walked to the entrance of the main hall and was about to step inside, she saw Chu Huaisheng in full tempestuous fury, hurling scalding soup at her mother’s face.

There was no time to rush in and shield her. Seeing that Chu Huaisheng was about to hurl the soup at her mother again, Chu Linlang simply yanked off one of her own embroidered shoes and flung it with all her force straight into her father’s face.

As she crossed the threshold into the hall, she wore a shoe on only one foot, yet she strode in with such force and presence that she was barely recognizable.

In her days at the Zhou household, Linlang had always been weighed down by worry over their livelihood, and had inevitably grown somewhat thin and pale.

But after living together with Situ Sheng for so long, with nothing to trouble her beyond cooking three meals a day, her figure had filled out slightly and her complexion had grown finer and more luminously fair.

Moreover, Linlang had attended one of the capital’s finest women’s academies, studying the daily etiquette of noble ladies, flower arrangement, and the tea ceremony, and had been in the company of truly distinguished young ladies like Tao Yashu — her bearing, her manner, even the way she applied her makeup had all undergone a tremendous transformation.

These changes she herself might not have noticed, but to the people of her hometown who had not seen her in so long, the effect was almost like encountering a different person entirely.

Even Chu Huaisheng, who had just been struck in the face with the sole of an embroidered shoe, only registered who she was when the dignified young woman walked right up to him — this brilliantly striking woman approaching him was his own money-losing wretch of a daughter.

Chu Jinyu was also dazzled by Linlang’s radiance.

She had been jealous of Linlang’s beauty since childhood, but at least Linlang was a concubine’s daughter and dressed and provisioned less well than her as the legitimate daughter — which had always given Chu Jinyu a comfortable sense of superiority in Linlang’s presence.

Unfortunately, when it came to marriage prospects, two sisters who had started so far apart had somehow ended up in reverse. The originally eloping Chu Linlang, who had married a penniless scholar, had gone from strength to strength, becoming a proper official’s wife.

Her husband Zheng Biao, on the other hand, had remained a minor naval military officer without the smooth career advancement that Zhou Sui’an had enjoyed. Add to that Zheng Biao’s poor behavior when drinking — every time he had a few cups of wine he would smash things and curse — which left Chu Jinyu in bitterness she could barely endure. And he was also stingy, keeping a tight grip on the household money and refusing to buy her new clothes.

Chu Jinyu had long chafed with sourness at Linlang, who seemed to have the better marriage. But at least Linlang had been cast aside by Zhou Sui’an and become a pitiable discarded wife, which had allowed Chu Jinyu to feel smugly pleased for quite some time — pleased enough to eat an extra bowl of rice at every meal.

But she had not expected that third sister, rather than growing haggard and desolate after being cast aside, had appeared like this.

The clothes she wore, the ornaments in her hair — all of it was in the most fashionable style of the capital, beautiful and refined beyond any comparison, enough to make one’s eyes water with envy.

Thinking of how Chu Linlang had struck their father with the sole of a shoe, Chu Jinyu flared up at once and snapped at Chu Linlang: “Have you gone mad?! You actually dare strike Father like that!”

Chu Huaisheng, reminded by his second daughter, finally realized the embroidered shoe had come from Chu Linlang, and in fury snatched up the shoe and hurled it back at her with force.

But Dongxue caught it with one swift motion and cried out loudly: “What do you think you’re doing? Just standing by while all of you gang up and bully our young miss’s mother!”

Chu Jinyu found the form of address deeply grating and arched her brow: “Oh, who’s young miss here? She’s a concubine-born daughter of the Chu Family — calling her third young miss is already giving her face! Young miss? Putting on airs of a legitimate daughter and tricking people into thinking she has no elder sister?”

When it came to a battle of words, Dongxue had never lost a round. She gave a cold snort: “Look carefully — I’m not a maidservant the Chu Family bought with silver. Our young miss’s mother gave birth to only her. In her mother’s own household and courtyard, if she’s not the eldest young miss, then what should she be called? Should she drag in every distant cat and dog with a tenuous connection and let them play elder inside her own courtyard?”

“You…” Chu Jinyu had never encountered such a sharp-tongued maidservant, and for a moment sputtered in rage, turning furiously to the main wife: “Mother, look at this insolent creature that third sister has raised!”

Chu Huaisheng was also incensed by this audaciously defiant maidservant. He was too lazy for a war of words — he simply raised his hand to slap Chu Linlang across the face, then have that ill-mannered maidservant tied up.

But unfortunately, today Chu Huaisheng seemed to have ill fortune walking before him. The hand had not yet descended when it was seized fast by a thin, wiry old man who had been standing at Chu Linlang’s side.

Before Chu Huaisheng could even react, he felt as though his hand bones had cracked and shattered, and let out a cry, sinking to his knees beside the dinner table and striking the floor repeatedly with his other hand from the pain.

Meanwhile the young manservant Wang Wu was not to be outdone. Having received the deputy minister’s orders that when they went out, he must ensure Chu Niangzi’s safety, he stood with narrowed eyes and a stern expression, planting himself squarely in front of Chu Niangzi.

The main wife of the Chu household stared in stupefied shock and could not help but cry out: “Third girl, have you lost your mind?! Why aren’t you telling this old devil to let go?”

Chu Linlang helped up her mother, who had earlier fainted with fright, settling her into a chair, and only then said: “Qiye, let him go.”

Sui Qiye released his grip and stepped back one pace.

Looking at Chu Huaisheng’s fat, bloated wrist — already reddened in a ring and still trembling from the pain.

Sui Qiye was a man who had crawled out from a pile of corpses on battlefields, weathered by years of hardship, carrying about him the aura of a war god who had seen the depths of death. Every pore of his body seemed soaked through with the blood of countless battles. The old man did not even need to speak — a single slight narrowing of those eyes buried beneath a weathered face of deep lines was enough to make one feel like a venomous snake from the underworld had fixed its gaze on them.

Positioned in front of them without a word, he blocked the path, and even the manservants who had rushed over merely watched from where they stood, not daring to come closer.

Chu Linlang tenderly wiped the hot oily soup from her mother’s face and said coldly: “Is the Chu household so capable of making a scene that it comes to this? Even a concubine in one’s own household — if she is injured or crippled, the penalty is reduced by two degrees, but there is still the law of the land to answer for.”

Chu Huaisheng, helped back into his chair by the main wife and a maidservant, shook a furious hand and cried: “Never mind that cheap woman — it’s you, you shameless creature! Thrown out by your husband’s family and you come back here to swagger and show off your power! The Chu Family has no face left for someone like you — I’ll find a match and send you far away as soon as possible!”

Chu Linlang had no patience for his foul-mouthed tirade. She picked up a teacup and slammed it down with a crack on the floor, which finally silenced Chu Huaisheng.

She arched her brow and said: “I came here today to demand the shop’s silver from you. Taking what is not yours without asking is theft.”

The moment silver was mentioned, Chu Huaisheng’s attention shifted at once: “Isn’t your dowry the property of my Chu Family? You got married, I gave you things — now that you’ve been sent back, the dowry shops naturally revert to my Chu Family! Tomorrow you’ll go with me to the magistrate’s office, sign over the deeds to both shops, and hand them over to your brother to manage!”

Chu Linlang let out a laugh: “The dowry things you gave me didn’t amount to seven taels, did they? Just a few broken-down trunks and old quilts. But what you took from my shop was over eighty taels of daily takings. Less than seven taels for eighty — Father, how exactly did you calculate that?”

Seeing Chu Huaisheng still opening his mouth to spout something about “raising and feeding her” and the like, Chu Linlang waved him off impatiently: “Once a daughter is married, she follows her husband; if she remarries, she follows herself — you don’t need me to explain this principle to you in detail. My two shops were both earned by my own ability after I was already married. Zhou Sui’an could not keep them, and you cannot take them either. Main wife — would you be so kind as to produce the silver? I see that your evening meal is in full swing, so I’ll take the silver and bring my mother to the medical clinic to treat the burn — I won’t disturb your dinner any further.”

She knew the household money was all managed by the main wife, and so she went directly to her stepmother to demand the silver.

Chu Huaisheng slapped the table: “How dare you! Come, someone — seize this unruly wretch and everyone she brought with her, tie them up and throw them in the woodshed in the back courtyard! The Chu Family has no face left to keep someone like you — I’ll find a match and send you far away tomorrow! “

At that moment, several manservants readied themselves to seize Chu Linlang.

Sui Qiye extended his tree-bark-rough hand and, in one smooth, effortless motion, sent two throwing daggers spinning out from his palm — slashing, spinning, swirling, cutting through the air — then fixed his fierce gaze on those manservants, and with one lightning-fast flick of his wrist, the two manservants at the front felt a rush of air graze their scalps, and reaching up to feel — their topknots had been sheared clean away, their hair scattering loose around them.

Had that old man’s hand been only a few inches lower, would it not have been their throats cut, their noses sliced off? He was a true practitioner of deadly skill!

The sight made Chu Jinyu beside them clutch at the main wife in terror, shrieking and clamping both hands over her mouth.

The Chu household’s monthly wages were only a few coins of silver. These manservants normally walked around trouble to avoid it — how could they charge at a man brandishing a blade?

They stumbled back in fright, saying to Chu Huaisheng: “Old… old master, perhaps we should call the authorities! Otherwise someone is really going to die!”

Chu Huaisheng could also see that the black-faced, lean old man’s martial skill was formidable. When he had seized his own wrist earlier, the grip had been like an iron clamp.

That wretched girl — where had she hired a blade man like this? She had come home deliberately to cause trouble!

Chu Linlang was never one to seek trouble, but when it came to her, she was never the type to run from it either.

Chu Huaisheng’s reactions were all well within what she had anticipated. If she had simply come for the silver, having Sui Qiye hold a blade to his throat would have done the trick.

But her purpose in coming was not, at its heart, the silver — it was her mother Sun Shi.

So before she had come, she had already paid a visit to the county assistant’s office. Calculating the time, the official should have arrived by now.

And indeed, at that moment the local county assistant arrived in a carriage at the Chu Family’s gate and came walking in measured steps through the courtyard.

Chu Huaisheng, upon seeing him, assumed it was his own wife who had secretly sent someone to report to the authorities, and that the county assistant had come to uphold justice on his behalf.

So he hurried over and pointed at Sui Qiye: “County assistant, you have arrived at just the right moment. My concubine-born daughter has hired ruffians to come and intimidate her own father’s household! Look at my wrist — and look at what he’s carrying…”

As Chu Huaisheng pointed toward Sui Qiye, the daggers that had been spinning in his hands were somehow already nowhere to be seen.

The old man stood behind Chu Linlang, eyes drooping habitually, back slightly hunched, not speaking a word — looking every bit like a harmless, half-dead, scrawny old man.

The county assistant glanced at Sui Qiye with some puzzlement, then spoke: “Master Chu, it is your daughter, Chu Niangzi, who filed a report with this official — she states that silver was taken from her shop without permission. Is this so?”

Chu Huaisheng and the county assistant were old acquaintances through business dealings, and had shared many a feast and drink together. Chu Huaisheng treated the county assistant as one of his own and spoke frankly, washing the family’s dirty linen in public: “This household has been disgraced! I fathered this unruly wretch who, without a word, separated from her husband on her own terms. I worry she’ll do something outside that brings shame on us, so naturally I must take back the dowry and have her stay home and behave herself properly. This is all a family matter — there is no need for Your Honor to concern yourself. But she let her ruffians assault her father — that is a grave offense and a breach of filial piety, and I ask that Your Honor have these ruffians seized!”

The county assistant seemed to be in a rather poor mood today. Before the old drinking companion had finished speaking, he cut in coldly: “Under the statutes of this dynasty, there is no provision requiring a woman’s dowry to be returned to her maternal family upon separation from her husband. The dowry should travel with the woman — what does it have to do with her maternal family? Even if you are Chu Niangzi’s father, going to another person’s shop and taking things without permission is still theft!”

Chu Huaisheng was momentarily stunned. He finally sensed that the county assistant’s tone was off — it seemed he was about to take the opposing side.

But this sort of maneuvering was old hat to veterans of officialdom, and Chu Huaisheng was too seasoned not to understand the situation. He figured the county assistant was after a little squeeze, and hurriedly signaled the main wife with a glance to slip the official some going-along silver for his trouble.

But just as the silver packet was being pressed into the county assistant’s hand, this man — who had been taking and accepting things his whole career — suddenly transformed into a picture of upright righteousness, shaking his hand away violently: “Chu Huaisheng! What is the meaning of this?! This official received Chu Niangzi’s report, and now you offer me silver — would that not be taking a bribe and perverting justice?”

Chu Huaisheng was stunned again. The county assistant had never played the role of incorruptible judge before!

He had no idea how to proceed with the script now.

What followed was the county assistant delivering Chu Huaisheng a ringing dressing-down, going so far as to say things like “contemptible conduct unworthy of a father” and other such withering phrases.

It was the main wife who read the situation — seeing that the county assistant was about to haul Chu Huaisheng off to the courthouse for a hearing, she hurried back to her room, retrieved the cash box from Linlang’s shop, and handed it to Chu Linlang to count.

Chu Linlang checked the amount, confirmed neither the silver nor the bank notes were missing, and with that thanked the county official, then used the pretext of taking Sun Shi to the medical clinic to treat the burn, and pulled a not-entirely-willing Sun Shi along as they left the Chu household together.

Seeing Chu Linlang even taking her mother with her as she departed, Chu Huaisheng was furious and moved to stop them.

But Sui Qiye brought up the rear, and with one sudden flash of his hand he so frightened Chu Huaisheng that he ducked down with his head in his hands.

By the time he looked up again, Chu Linlang had already led everyone out the door and into the carriage.

Chu Huaisheng fumed, staring helplessly after them, and turned to demand of the county assistant how much silver this girl had stuffed into his palms to make him pull the strings like that so blatantly.

The county assistant looked at Chu Huaisheng with something of a meaningful expression and asked: “Did you see the fleet of ships that arrived in Jiangkou today?”

Chu Huaisheng naturally knew about it. A great procession of ships had arrived from the capital — at the head was the imperial ark of the court, with naval vessels escorting it. Word was that it was a group of female students from a prestigious women’s academy in the capital come for a leisure outing — the ships were filled with daughters of noble houses, and ordinary people were not permitted to approach. There had been tall blue cloth barriers set up along the docks and main road to block the view, and he had only glimpsed them from a distance without being able to make anything out.

When Chu Huaisheng nodded, the county assistant said with a meaningful tone: “Your household’s third young miss is one who traveled on the same imperial ark as those noble ladies!”

Chu Huaisheng was baffled.

The county assistant could not be bothered to explain further, and simply made everything plain in one go: “Your household’s third young miss is truly a remarkable person! She has actually gained admission to Ronlin Women’s Academy in the capital and become classmates with the daughters of dukes, princes, and noble houses.”