As the twilight hour approached, puffs of smoke rose from the restaurants and taverns along the street. Although winter hadn’t yet arrived, the cold wind was already biting.

At such a time, the interiors of restaurants and taverns were warm and cozy from the heat of the kitchen fires. In contrast, outside! The long benches of street vendors, which were commonly seen during spring and summer, rarely had any diners now—most people took their food to go and ate it elsewhere.

But today, a street farce had even caused diners inside the restaurants and taverns to put down their bowls and chopsticks and run out to watch the fun.

“Are you going home or not?”

The speaker was a middle-aged official in a crimson robe. This high-ranking official, whose words carried considerable weight in the government office, now disregarded his official dignity. He anxiously pulled a young woman, dressed in elegant attire, leaping with anger as he glared at the young man behind her.

“How could you possibly choose such a money-hungry, poor-mannered man?” The official, enraged, had forgotten the saying ‘don’t air dirty laundry in public’ and raised his voice in anger. “He broke off his engagement when he was rich, but now he’s down and out, crying, making a scene, and even threatening to hang himself to get money. How can he possibly be such a good person?”

The young man in the gorgeous robe behind the pretty young lady hurriedly defended himself, “Sir Huang, that’s not the case…”

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Huang Shizhong.

“Don’t try to fool me!” Huang Shizhong glared at him, a glint of anger in his eyes, his gaze cold. “Your mother and son’s tricks couldn’t even fool the Chang family, so how could you possibly fool me? I know the answer! How could you possibly choose my youngest daughter? You’re only choosing the power held by an old man like me, who has one foot in the grave!”

“I tell you, you’re dreaming!” Huang Shizhong said harshly, snorting coldly, and turned to the pretty young lady blocking the way. Huang Shizhong, who had been stern just a moment ago, immediately turned back to being an anxious father, not caring about his crooked official hat, and pulled the young lady to speak in a much softer tone: “Ah Mo, you are being deceived by him! This despicable villain has a bad character and mediocre talent. He has taken the exam for so many years and is still only a scholar. He is absolutely useless. What’s good about such a person?”

The pretty young lady’s face froze visibly. Compared with the young man in a gorgeous robe who was cowering and hiding behind her, the pretty young lady’s eyes sparkled, and her spirit was full of spirit. Compared with the young man, she really didn’t seem like a person of the same kind.

It was a pity that things like “love between men and women” were usually confusing and irrational. The spirited young woman, oblivious to the young man’s timidity and recklessness, pondered for a moment before finally finding a good point for him: “Yang Lang is handsome, I like him!” Having said this, before Huang Shizhong could reply, she added, “Father, you don’t know, I’m just that superficial!”

A young man in an elegant robe, who had just been praised for a rare good trait, immediately straightened his back upon hearing this and instinctively touched his face. After all, it wasn’t easy to find a strong point—at last, he had gained a bit of confidence.

Seeing the young man’s smug expression, Huang Shizhong rolled his eyes. “How can he be considered handsome? Haven’t you seen any handsome young men since you were little?”

He, along with his father, grandfather, and wife, had accumulated merit and luckily been born into a powerful family. The truly outstanding talents his daughters had seen since childhood were now oblivious to her. Even without examining the inner qualities, this despicable fellow’s face was merely regular. How could it be considered handsome?

Sadly, beauty was in the eyes of the beholder! Third Miss Huang closed her eyes and declared, “I think Yang Lang is the most handsome man in the world!”

Behind her, Young Master Yang had barely time to rejoice when Huang Shizhong blurted out, “Are you blind? Are those eyes of yours useless?”

This remark immediately drew laughter from the many people who had come out to watch the scene. Lin Fei and the others, watching from a distance, saw the entire street farce, and they couldn’t help but chuckle.

While the farce was hilarious, the sudden appearance of Huang Shizhong completely thwarted Young Master Yang’s plans! Even if Third Miss Huang was truly overwhelmed by her feelings and wanted to escape, it wasn’t just Huang Shizhong who tried to stop her. Upon hearing this, the entire Huang family rushed over, and in a rare act of unity, they separated the “lovebirds”!

Before leaving, perhaps because they truly disliked Young Master Yang, First Miss Huang and Second Miss Huang couldn’t help but step forward and kick him.

Although the kick wasn’t enough to kill a man, it certainly hurt like hell!

After the commotion, Third Miss Huang was taken away by the Huang family, and Young Master Yang crouched in the street, trembling with fear, clutching his limping leg. The onlookers’ pointing and gossiping made Young Master Yang’s face scowl. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of two familiar faces gazing towards him, accompanied by a frail scholar. Looking at the scholar’s painting stall and his unchanged clothes, Young Master Yang quickly remembered: Wasn’t this the scholar who had previously given him a favor?

He saw a faint smile flash across the scholar’s delicate face. Although he was standing far away and couldn’t hear what they were saying, for some reason, he couldn’t help but feel that they were mocking him.

Suspicion welled up in his heart, but Young Master Yang remained impassive. His gaze fell on the two familiar faces beside the scholar, and he paused, nodded, and turned, limping home.

Watching Young Master Yang depart, Xun Zhou couldn’t help but sigh, “I’ve heard about the deeds of the three daughters of Huang Shizhong in the city. Now I see that their reputation is well-deserved! Being a son-in-law of the Huang family is not easy. Judging by the way those two Miss Huangs kicked, I know they have a bad temper. They might even get beaten behind closed doors!”

Two vendors nearby also lamented, but their sentiments differed from Xun Zhou’s. “Being a son-in-law of the Huang family is indeed not easy. How could a mere villain deceive such a powerful man?” Their tone was filled with disdain.

Young Master Yang had offered his fiancée for this power, and that poor young woman must be waiting to serve the owner of Linliu Manor by now. It was truly pitiful that the living parents were being blamed by Master Yang and his mother.

Glancing at Xun Zhou, who was packing up his stall and “going home to sit down” with the vendors, Lin Fei retracted his telescope and said, “I’ll visit Huang Shizhong tonight. If nothing unexpected happens, Huang Shizhong will summon Xun Zhou to the Huang Mansion tomorrow…” Huang Shizhong, already worried about his daughter’s marriage, must have become even more anxious after this. This meant he was probably even more eager to match Xun Zhou with Third Miss Huang.

“Tomorrow, arrange for someone to lead that Yang fellow to keep watch in front of the Huang residence. Once he sees Xun Zhou enter the Huang residence…” Lin Fei paused slightly at this point, then said, “That’s when we can start keeping a close eye on Yang!”

(End of Chapter)

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