In the middle of the courtyard, a gaudily dressed woman reeking of perfume was pointing at one of the village aunties and hurling abuse.
The woman on the receiving end was Aunt Zhang, who usually helped out in the kitchen.
Liu Shuqin stood beside Aunt Zhang, sweating with anxiety as she kept trying to calm things down.
Li Xiaoyue stood helplessly off to the side. Arguing with anyone simply wasn't in her nature.
"Are you blind, you old hag? Do you have any idea what brand this dress is? Givenchy! Over thirty thousand yuan! You couldn't pay for it even if you sold your old bones!"
The woman's voice was shrill and grating, making diners at several nearby tables turn toward her with frowns.
"I... I didn't mean to..." Aunt Zhang looked terrified, her eyes reddening with distress. "Someone... someone bumped into me, and I lost my grip on the thermos..."
She was still holding a thermos she had just filled with hot water. A small patch on the woman's white skirt was wet.
"Miss! Look, it's just a little hot water, not oil. It'll be fine after a wash... surely there's no need to get so angry!" Liu Shuqin stepped forward to smooth things over, trying to shield Aunt Zhang behind her.
The woman looked Liu Shuqin up and down. Seeing that she, too, was dressed like a plain farmwife, her expression grew even more disgusted.
"What business is it of yours? Get lost!"
Chen Lin's face darkened instantly.
He pushed through the crowd of onlookers and walked over.
His imposing presence made the noisy diners instinctively clear a path.
"What happened?"
His voice wasn't loud, yet the courtyard fell abruptly silent.
The gaudily dressed woman had been ranting so fiercely that spit flew from her mouth. Interrupted, she