"Fifth Sister, I'm fine. My magic power just went awry!"
"This Xiao Qi—when will she ever learn to be more careful?
The one who tied the knot must untie it. Thank goodness it's only a bad-luck curse."
The Red-Clad Woman stamped her foot anxiously, then vanished in an instant.
"Ah Fan, what's gotten into you today?"
Dazhuang looked at Chen Fan suspiciously. The Chen Fan he knew wasn't exactly a saint.
But at most, he just liked looking for a bit of fun.
He was still an honest person, most of the time.
Otherwise, Chen Fan couldn't have fit into the village so quickly.
Chen Fan looked at Dazhuang, who was still clueless, and sighed, shaking his head.
"Dazhuang, you've been following me for ages. How come you haven't gotten any smarter?
Think about it. If you were walking down the road and One-Eyed Wolf and four of his thugs stopped you, what would you do?"
"I'd fight him, of course!"
Dazhuang stood up, his neck stiff, and shouted.
Chen Fan covered his face with a hand, speechless at Dazhuang's intelligence, and continued to prompt him.
"Right, right. You could certainly fight them.
But let me ask you this: before you started fighting, would you be scared?"
Dazhuang raised his chin, looking full of bravado, and was about to answer.
"Tell the truth, or I won't take you to the county town next time!"
At Chen Fan's threat, the muscles in Dazhuang's face twitched.
In the end, he gritted his teeth and gave up pretending, muttering quietly,
"Well, there are more of them. Is it so wrong to be a little scared?"
Clap!
Chen Fan clapped his hands and said cheerfully,
"Exactly! Even a burly man like you knows One-Eyed Wolf is trouble.
But those two beauties weren't the least bit afraid, even when facing five hooligans.
What does that tell you?"
"It tells me those two ladies are disabled but determined!"
Admiration appeared in Dazhuang's eyes as he answered firmly.
Chen Fan's mouth twitched. He sprang up and smacked Dazhuang on the back of the head, gritting his teeth.
"You idiot! It tells you they have nothing to fear—they're not afraid of a few useless thugs like One-Eyed Wolf.
And is that really how you use 'disabled but determined'? You mean they're strong-willed!
Most importantly, don't you think there's something strange about One-Eyed Wolf and his men?"
Dazhuang scratched his head, his eyes clouded with confusion.
A flash of red light passed behind Chen Fan.
"What's strange about them?"
"What's strange about them? You really haven't got a brain in your head!
One-Eyed Wolf didn't get to throw his weight around in Qingshi Town through ruthless tactics alone.
Hooligans who manage to stick around for long are never completely blind to their surroundings."
Chen Fan furrowed his brows, suddenly sensing that something was off.
But when he saw Dazhuang looking at him, his mouth twitched, and he said,
"Take another good look at what those two women are wearing.
The sheen of that dye is something even few county officials could afford to wear.
Those two ladies must come from powerful families. Why would they be someone a little gang could afford to offend?
Besides, this is the main road outside Qingshi Town. Even at noon, plenty of people pass through.
One-Eyed Wolf would have to be out of his mind to ambush two ladies from powerful families here."
"Oh! So One-Eyed Wolf's got something wrong with his head!"
Dazhuang suddenly understood. Chen Fan was so angry he nearly kicked the fool to death.
So after all that, you didn't understand a single word!
"Are you saying someone's plotting against my Fifth Sister and Seventh Sister?"
"That's right. You got it right for once..."
Chen Fan had just begun to nod when he froze.
Besides the tea-stall owner, there was only Scholar Dong, Dazhuang, and himself in the tea shed.
Where had that sudden, mature woman's voice come from?
Chen Fan and Dazhuang turned around at the same time.
A spirited woman in a red outfit sat behind them, looking bold and dashing.
She rested her chin on one hand and watched Chen Fan with interest.
Her stunning looks were in no way inferior to those of the two beauties outside the tea stall.
Chen Fan also noticed a long sword beside her.
It was still in its sheath, but its sharpness was unmistakable.
She was a master!
Don't ask how Chen Fan, who couldn't even truss a chicken, knew she was a master.
Obviously, anyone who could sneak up behind them without making a sound was a master in the eyes of two ordinary men who knew no martial arts.
Most importantly, the woman before him was beautiful!
Chen Fan made no effort to hide his admiration.
"May I ask your name, heroine?"
Chen Fan's eyes shifted as he clasped his hands and asked the Red-Clad Woman.
The Red-Clad Woman gave her palm a light tap, and the long sword immediately fell into her hand.
Her bright eyes gleamed with wisdom and intelligence as she clasped her hands toward Chen Fan.
"My surname is Zhang. You may call me First Madam."
Although the Great Tang was relatively open-minded, women did not reveal their given names casually.
And "Madam" was how women in the Great Tang who had yet to marry were addressed—
"Your surname is Zhang?"
Chen Fan blinked and thought for a moment.
In this era, the most prominent Zhang family was the Zhang Clan of Qinghe.
Li Shimin had ordered people to compile a genealogy of the great clans across the land.
The Zhang Clan of Qinghe had been ranked first among the Ten Great Surnames, hailed as pillars of the nation.
It was true that Li Shimin had also wanted to undermine the prestige of the Five Surnames and Seven Clans.
He had pushed the most powerful of them down the list.
But the Zhang Clan of Qinghe was still a massive family in the first rank beneath the Five Surnames and Seven Clans.
"Are you a daughter of the Zhang Clan of Qinghe, my lady?"
"That's right!"
Zhang Tianshou nodded and replied with a smile.
However, in her heart, Zhang Tianshou added that she wasn't a woman of the current generation of the Zhang Clan of Qinghe. She was an ancestor of an older generation.
Just as the Li Clan of the Great Tang regarded the sage incarnate Laozi, Li Er, as their ancestor.
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