Unrelated Persons, Stand Aside!

East of the city, Xianghui District.

St. Anna Church Girls' School.

This girls' school had been founded seventy years ago by the Sun Church of the Mijialun Kingdom and was one of the finest aristocratic academies in the area.

Most of its students came from upper-middle-class families in Peace City. If they were not from prominent lineages, then they were from wealthy households. A small number came from wealthy families elsewhere or from foreign noble families.

The church girls' school followed a six-day school week. Classes ended around five-thirty each day, with Zhou Day as the sole day of rest.

Besides lectures on Chen State's local classics and doctrines, the school's curriculum also included traditional courses from the Kingdom of Migallon, such as prayer, gardening, cooking, music, dance, and related subjects.

It was just after school in the afternoon. Under the blazing late-July sun, even at five or six in the evening, the fierce sunlight showed no sign of weakening.

The pendulum in the clock tower swayed, its chimes continually echoing through the girls' school.

Female students clad in indanthrene qipaos emerged from the campus in groups of three or five. Some headed together for the bookstores on the street, while others parted at the entrance and climbed into T-shaped vintage cars waiting by the roadside.

But in this day and age, apart from prominent lineages and wealthy clans, only direct descendants of certain rich households could afford automobiles.

And even among the wealthy students at the church girls' school, most were not direct descendants of their families, so they could not afford to be driven to and from school by car.

Thus, most students either went to wait for the tram at the stop across the street or headed toward the rickshaws by the roadside.

Su Wanzhi left the school gates and looked left and right along the street. She picked a rickshaw puller who looked relatively agreeable, haggled over the fare for a few words, and was just about to get in when she heard someone calling behind her.

"Qingyin! Sister Qingyin! Wait for me!"

Qingyin was Su Wanzhi's courtesy name.

Women from wealthy households and prominent lineages had many rules to follow. After their coming-of-age ceremony at fifteen, it was inconvenient to address them directly by their given names, so they took a courtesy name that reflected their virtue.

When students of the same generation interacted, they did not directly use one another's given names, instead generally calling close classmates by their courtesy names.

Su Wanzhi stopped halfway into the rickshaw, turned around, and looked at the two girls running out from the school gates. One was Qu Lanlan, with whom she was quite close. Her braided hair made her look lively and adorable as she waved brightly from where she stood.

"Yunyi, did you need something from me? Let me say this first—I don't want to go to Nanpu Bund for snacks with you today. I've already put on quite a bit of weight lately."

Su Wanzhi smiled as she greeted Qu Lanlan, using her courtesy name as well.

Qu Lanlan waved both hands repeatedly. "Sister Qingyin, I'm not going there for sweets today. Jingxi and I have recently been taking weaving lessons from Professor Vivian. We wanted to go to your family's shop and buy a few feet of silk to practice with."

Most ordinary townsfolk in Peace City used machine-woven cotton or homemade cloth to make their clothes.

Those with slightly more money used imported fine-spun foreign cloth, only wearing silk garments during major festivals or important occasions.

Yet for wealthy local households, costly silk was merely something to practice with in their daily lessons.

"About that..."

At these words, a few traces of difficulty appeared on Su Wanzhi's delicate face.

She was the daughter of the Su Family's second branch. Her grandfather had indeed allotted her household a silk cloth shop to manage.

But lately, gangs from that neighborhood had set their sights on the shop. People came to cause trouble at the entrance every now and then, obstructing normal business. Even several guards they had hired had been beaten and injured.

Her family had been wracking their brains over the matter!

Yesterday, she had heard her father say that the elders of the family had once again sought help from the Tongda Escort Agency. They did not know when the reinforcements would arrive.

"What is it? Does Sister Qingyin have something else to do later? Then Jingxi and I can go ourselves~"

Seeing her hesitation, Qu Lanlan blinked and asked with a light smile.

"There's been trouble at my family's shop. Gang members have been causing trouble at the entrance from time to time."

Su Wanzhi kept it brief, giving a simple account of her family's recent problems. Then she said, "Tell me what color silk you want, and how much length and width you need. I'll bring it to you in a few days. It's better not to go to my family's shop."

"What are you talking about!"

Qu Lanlan wrinkled her dainty nose slightly. "What are a few gang hooligans worth? I want to go pick it out myself. What can those people possibly do to us?"

As a descendant of a prominent lineage, even if she came from the Qu Household's less-favored fifth branch, she still held her head high and looked down on those lowly gang hooligans.

"Exactly, Sister Qingyin! Don't be afraid. If those hooligans dare lay a hand on us, I'll have the constables arrest them! My father knows the chief inspector at the station. I refuse to believe those people can truly act without law or heaven!"

"They actually dared bully our Sister Qingyin!"

The other girl, with neat ear-length short hair and a pale-blue headband, echoed her indignantly from the side.

Lu Zhishuang, courtesy name Jingxi, also came from a wealthy local family and was a legitimate daughter besides.

"It's better not to. A rich man's son does not sit beneath a crumbling wall. If anything happens, I won't be able to bear the responsibility."

Looking at the eager expressions on the two girls' faces, Su Wanzhi's gaze became even more helpless.

These two young misses were obviously ignorant of worldly affairs.

The reason local gangs could exist was naturally because the forces behind them had roots tangled and intertwined. Those with absolutely no backing would not survive even a Zhou. And whenever martial artists were involved, unless a whole pile of people died in the street, those foreign constables naturally turned a blind eye.

"Then how about I go home and call out a few guards?"

Lu Zhishuang waved her hand carelessly.

Qu Lanlan smiled from the side as well. They were both indignant at such things and found them novel.

"No, no, Jingxi. If we drag your family into this too, won't things only become more and more chaotic?"

"I still have things to do..."

Su Wanzhi repeatedly waved goodbye and hurriedly climbed into the nearby rickshaw.

The rickshaw puller bent over the handles, preparing to set off.

But Qu Lanlan glared at the young rickshaw puller, thoroughly displeased. "You mud-legged peasant, stop right there! Who told you to pull my Sister Qingyin?"

Scolded so arrogantly by such a young girl, the rickshaw puller merely scratched his head awkwardly and did not dare say a word.

After glancing at Su Wanzhi in the back, he hurriedly stopped.

When Qu Lanlan turned to look at the girl in the rickshaw, her pretty little face immediately changed expression. "Sister Qingyin, take us with you~ Please~"

Su Wanzhi blinked, looked at the two girls crowding close, and sighed helplessly. "You two young misses really are domineering!"

By saying that, she had effectively agreed.

"Not at all! We just want to help Sister Qingyin!"

Lu Zhishuang stuck out her tongue sheepishly. Then she pulled Qu Lanlan by the hand and boarded another rickshaw with her. The seat was just wide enough to fit two girls.

"Run steadily later and keep up with that rickshaw. Don't jostle us, or you'll regret it!"

As Qu Lanlan got in, she casually bargained with the middle-aged rickshaw puller and threw out a threat besides.

Whenever she saw these rickshaw pullers, she could not help recalling that down-and-out relative who had come to sponge off her family. Fortunately, that mud-legged peasant had already moved out of her home. He was probably dead somewhere outside by now, which served him right.

The middle-aged man had gray hair at both temples and a thin frame. Faced with the girl's contemptuous words, he merely bent his already stooped back even lower and answered in a humble voice, "All right!"

Su Wanzhi looked at the bright eyes of the two girls beside her and sighed inwardly. Then she told the rickshaw puller, "Brother, to Su Silk Cloth Shop in Jia'an District."

The two rickshaws headed one after the other toward the neighboring Jia'an District.

Jia'an District, outside Su Silk Cloth Shop.

"What are you trying to do?! I'm from the Qu Household! You pack of lackeys think you're worthy of coming near us?! Get lost, all of you!"

Qu Lanlan crouched behind Su Wanzhi, staring at the chaotic scene around Zhou as she shouted nonstop.

After Su Wanzhi failed repeatedly to dissuade them, she could only helplessly allow Qu Lanlan and Lu Zhishuang to come along.

Yet as soon as the three girls approached the shop, they saw a group of gang enforcers dressed in short jackets surrounding the entrance so tightly that not even water could pass through.

Whenever customers tried to approach, they were intimidated and driven away.

Although these people had not laid hands on anyone from beginning to end, they blocked the way at the entrance while cursing and swearing, severely disrupting the shop's normal operations.

Seeing this, Su Wanzhi had initially wanted Qu Lanlan and Lu Zhishuang to go around the shop and enter through the back door.

But before she could finish speaking, Qu Lanlan and Lu Zhishuang ran furiously to the front of the shop, trying to drive away these troublemakers.

In their eyes, gang members were all people who could not be shown in polite company, a pack of lackeys scarcely better than coolies.

The Garden Celebration Hall enforcers felt humiliated by the students' wanton insults and contempt, and a conflict immediately broke out between both sides.

Had Su Wanzhi not called out the shop assistants and guards, Qu Lanlan and Lu Zhishuang would probably have gained several slap marks on their faces.

Crack! Crack! Crack!—

The assistants and guards exchanged blows with the enforcers. But the Su Family only had a few strong men, while the other side had more than a dozen burly enforcers. They were immediately outnumbered and fell into the disadvantage.

"What's all this racket about!?"

At that moment, a deep, powerful voice rang out, and the enforcers took the initiative to make way.

Then a young man in black with dark skin and a face covered in pockmarks and bumps strode out from the crowd.

"You dared fight Garden Celebration Hall?! You're courting death!"

He glanced at the two guards fighting his brothers, his expression turning cold. He rushed forward and struck out with two palm blows.

The two guards were already hard-pressed against so many opponents. Even though they saw the young man in black coming, they had no way to dodge in time and could only be struck in the abdomen, both flying backward.

They tumbled down the steps before the shop entrance, coughing up several mouthfuls of blood. Their breaths immediately became weak.

With the young man in black joining in, after only a few breaths, the shop assistants and guards had all fallen to the ground. Only the three girls remained standing where they were.

"Young Hall Master is mighty!"

Cheers and flattering cries rose from the gang enforcers around Zhou.

The young man in black clearly enjoyed it. Though his expression remained indifferent, a trace of satisfaction showed in his eyes.

Then he looked at Su Wanzhi beside him and casually brushed dust from his shoulder. "Su Wanzhi, have you considered what I discussed with your father before? Think about it. You're merely from the second branch. This would be greatly beneficial to both you and the Su Family!"

As for Qu Lanlan and Lu Zhishuang, who were baring their fangs and brandishing their claws beside her, he ignored them completely. He did not take little girls like them seriously at all.

"...I am devoted to my studies and have no desire to marry. I ask that Young Hall Master seek another suitable woman."

Su Wanzhi shook her head and spoke with a cold expression.

"Seek another suitable woman?"

The young hall master in black merely laughed. Then he swept his gaze over the other two girls and looked at the fieriest of them, Qu Lanlan.

"Is this the suitable woman Wanzhi recommended? She's not bad. Unlike you, this iceberg, this girl is a little chili pepper. If I take her back and properly train her, she may offer a different flavor."

He strode forward several steps and, amid the girls' cries of alarm, grabbed Qu Lanlan by the arm.

"Let her go!"

"Don't touch my friend!"

Su Wanzhi and Lu Zhishuang both cried out repeatedly, trying to stop the young hall master in black.

"Take your dog paws off me! I'm from the Qu Household!"

Qu Lanlan turned pale in fright and struggled desperately.

"The Qu Household, that declining prominent family? That's not right. The current head of the Qu Household only has two young legitimate sons. He doesn't have a daughter your age!"

The young man in black considered briefly, then laughed again. "Oh! I understand. Little girl, you must be some unvalued concubine-born branch of the Qu Household, or perhaps some impoverished relative who's barely connected to them!"

"You think even relatives of prominent lineages are people you can associate with? Hahaha!"

The young hall master burst into laughter. Though Garden Celebration Hall was not large, it had patrons behind it, so it did not think much of ordinary wealthy households.

Laughing, he dodged the other two girls' attempts to pull him away and forcibly dragged the braided girl to one side.

"You... you...! You bastard!"

"Let go!"

Qu Lanlan's slender arm hurt terribly from his grip. As he forcibly dragged her several staggering steps, she nearly fell on the spot, only to be directly lifted by his thick palm. Her petite body looked utterly wretched.

Humiliated like this by him, her delicate little face had flushed bright red, filled with both fury and terror.

"Hahaha!"

"This little lady's insults were pretty fierce just now, but now that she's fallen into Young Hall Master's hands, she can't squeeze out a single word of nonsense!"

"Oh, oh! She's about to cry! Where's that arrogant swagger she had when she cursed our brothers just now?"

"Haha! This is amusing! Truly amusing!"

"The Qu Household? What Qu Household?! Borrowing the tiger's hide of a prominent lineage, are you? Does that trick work on our Young Hall Master?"

The Garden Celebration Hall men around Zhou burst into raucous laughter, kicking a person when they were down as they freely mocked Qu Lanlan, who had been the fiercest in her cursing before.

And at that moment.

The gang enforcers standing at the rear felt an enormous force slam into them. Their laughter abruptly stopped, and their entire formation swayed and toppled in disarray.

"Who the hell is shoving me?!"

Two gang enforcers turned around while swearing.

They were about to ram back into whoever it was, but before they could even clearly see the newcomer, several slaps came down with loud smacks, beating them until stars danced before their eyes and their numbed legs could barely keep them standing.

"Tongda Escort Agency conducting business."

"Unrelated persons, retreat at once!"

From the other end of the street, two burly escort runners opened the way at the front, calling out.

They began clearing the area.