Pan Chun smiled. Ideally, the entire Marquis's Residence would be dragged into this.
The Eldest Madam only needed to sit back and reap the fisherman's gains.
Wang Xia smiled and hurried off to summon people.
Sure enough.
Xie Jinzhao brought several household servants and older women to the main gate.
"Let's see who dares run wild in front of the Marquis's Residence!"
"For the Fourth Master of the Marquis's Residence to agree to marry into your Zhong Family is a blessing you earned by burning incense for eight lifetimes! How can you break off the engagement just because you say so? A pack of common rabble, going back on your word and splashing dung outside someone's gate-you deserve to remain merchants for the rest of your lives... urgh! That fucking stinks!"
Xie Jinzhao had assumed they would not dare go too far, but when he came out to look...
The stench made him vomit outright.
Not only the main gate of the Marquis's Residence, but even the steps and stone lions were covered in old dung.
One whiff was enough to tell that the Zhong Family had scooped up dung water that had been fermenting for years.
The entire street reeked.
A crowd stood outside the gate, covering their noses and wrapping cloths over their faces as they watched the spectacle.
Several fierce older women hired by the Zhong Family shouted, "Your Xie family's morals are rotten! Our young lady was engaged to your family, and before she had even married into it, Fourth Master Xie had already fathered a child with another woman he kept outside! How could our young lady endure such an indignity? We came politely to break off the engagement, but the Marquis's Residence flatly refused!"
"We were driven into a corner and forced to resort to this! Everyone, tell us-how could anyone marry a man like that?"
"A perfectly respectable young lady from our Zhong Family would have to become the mother of a mistress's child before she even entered her husband's home! How could we accept such humiliation?"
"Neighbors, search your hearts! If your own daughter suffered an insult like this, could you swallow it?"
The women shouted as they splashed dung.
The townspeople buzzed with discussion and immediately joined the Zhong Family in cursing them.
"What respectable family keeps a mistress before even marrying a proper wife? That Fourth Master Xie is no good at all!"
"Exactly! No family with any standing would let something like this happen, and this is supposed to be a marquis's household! Leading the way in disgrace, are they?"
"Then you haven't heard, have you? Years ago, Marquis Jing'an was imprisoned on suspicion of treason while fighting away from home. If he hadn't married the Minister of Rites' daughter, their Marquis's Residence would have been finished long ago. After that incident, His Majesty never entrusted him with important duties again and sent him to fight on the frontier. The Marquis's Residence is nothing but an empty shell..."
"Even if Marquis Jing'an was released, with morals like these, the Xie household is worse than a family fallen on hard times!"
Xie Jinzhao's face turned livid. Beside him, the steward Qing Da watched the spectacle and said with a smile,
"Third Master, are those even words fit for human mouths? Why not take some men out and give them all a beating?"
Xie Jinzhao glared at him. His personal servant leaned in and said, "We can't let them keep talking, or the Marquis's Residence will lose every scrap of dignity! The Zhong Family doesn't look as if they want to talk things over properly, either!"
Those fierce older women were still cursing.
"Who knows what little whore Fourth Master Xie hooked up with? He's already a sickly man, yet he still can't behave himself!"
"That little whore has no shame, either! Isn't she afraid she'll give birth to another sickly little brat with Fourth Master Xie?"
"What mistress? They're just an adulterer and a slut rutting without a matchmaker! Aren't they afraid their arses will rot?"
They hurled every vile insult imaginable.
Xie Jinzhao could not bear to listen any longer and ordered his men to rush out and seize them all.
The townspeople were instantly riled up. "The Marquis's Residence can't take it anymore!"
"You dare do it, but won't let anyone talk about it?"
"What sort of people live in the Marquis's Residence?"
Seeing the situation spiral further out of control, Xie Jinzhao ordered Qing Da and the others to fetch weapons and beat the townspeople until they scattered.
Clever Qing Da singled out an especially well-dressed young gentleman and gave him several extra blows with a club.
He knew that this was Qin Yan, the young son of Lord Qin from the Government Office.
He beat Qin Yan until he howled, shouting, "Third Master Xie, is it? Just you wait!"
The women were bound and taken into the Marquis's Residence. Xie Jinzhao then ordered the servants to clean up the frontage, which took a long time.
Only then did he come inside to question the women.
"With mouths that filthy, you deserve a beating!"
Xie Jinzhao had intended to have them all beaten, but then he remembered that Fourth Brother still had to marry into the Zhong Family.
An idea arose in his mind.
He said, "But I won't beat you. If you want to dissolve the engagement, that's possible, too. Go back and tell your young lady to come to the Emerald Mist House in person to see Fourth Brother. He will dissolve the engagement with her himself!"
The women exchanged glances.
At last, the Marquis's Residence had given them an answer.
They had only just agreed, and the servant had yet to untie them.
Then Qing Da came running in from outside, shouting urgently, "Bad news! People from the Government Office are here!"
"Are they out of their minds? This is our family's business! What blind fool reported it to the authorities?"
Xie Jinzhao stormed outside and found a young man with a filthy face glaring furiously at him.
"Father, it was him! He not only ordered his men to beat me in the street, he also kidnapped the Zhong Family women who came to demand justice! Father, kidnapping is a serious crime!"
Qin Yan rubbed his backside, looking deeply aggrieved.
Damn that Xie Jinzhao! He dared order his men to beat townspeople at will, and even had them smack my backside with a club!
One blow wasn't enough-they hit me several times! They nearly knocked my bones apart!
In all my years, even my father has never hit me.
Bastard!
As the young master of the Prefectural Yamen, don't I have any dignity to preserve?
Xie Jinzhao said coldly, "Lord Qin, you've misunderstood. I did not order anyone to beat your son in the street, nor did I kidnap the Zhong Family's women."
"You're still denying it? Everyone on the street saw you order your servants to scatter the townspeople with clubs!"
Qin Yan gritted his teeth and turned to point at Qing Da and the others. "It was you! You were the ones who beat people!"
Lord Qin's expression darkened.
He called over several townspeople, who confirmed that it was true.
Xie Jinzhao could not explain his way out of it. He said, "I merely wanted to drive the crowd away before the matter escalated. I had no intention of hurting Young Master Qin. Please accept my apology."
"We aren't unreasonable people, either. My son's back is covered in bruises, and he won't recover for eight or ten days. You think a mere apology will do? Could I kill you and then simply apologize?"
Lord Qin had always doted on his son, who had been born late in his life. He had never even struck him.
His son had merely come to watch the commotion, only to be beaten by these blind fools from the Marquis's Residence!
How could he swallow that anger?
The ingratiating smile at the corners of Xie Jinzhao's mouth froze.
"How about this? I'll send a hundred taels to your residence to cover Young Master Qin's medical expenses. If there is anything the Marquis's Residence can help you with in the future, Lord Qin, you need only ask."
Surely that showed enough sincerity.
But Lord Qin was not short of money, either. For the moment, however, he could find no grounds to arrest Xie Jinzhao.
Qin Yan said, "I don't accept your apology. I want to beat you back. And do you know that kidnapping is a serious crime?"
He had no intention of letting this bastard off!
Xie Jinzhao asked in confusion, "Kidnapping? I haven't kidnapped anyone! Hurry and bring those women out! Let his lordship see that I haven't kidnapped anyone from the Zhong Family!"
Qing Da was exceptionally eager and went off with a skip and a hop.
The women had not yet been untied. Qing Da gagged their mouths with scraps of cloth, then clapped his hands.
"Heh, perfect. Take them out!"
Before you continue