Madam Yuwen sneered. Even a three-year-old could guess that the attacker had deliberately disguised herself as her. How could she, a respected elder of the martial arts world, stoop to attacking a mere junior? Everyone could guess the truth, yet this unreasonable Shi Mansi insisted that she had injured her and even claimed she would come to settle scores on the fifteenth of July. Hmph, wouldn't it be laughable if the Su family of the Yuwen clan let a mere maid gain the upper hand?
This girl dared to come today, let's see how she deals with her!
In front of the Yuwen Manor's gate, the diners gathered in small groups, waiting to see what would happen. The Black Jade Goddess, Shi Mansi, was notoriously mischievous; countless leaders of various sects in the martial arts world had been tricked by her. Even the reclusive old Shaolin monk had three of his beard hairs plucked out by her and boiled with ginseng to make a drink. Everyone was curious to see what new trick Shi Mansi would pull today.
Yin Wuxiao mingled in the crowd, eagerly awaiting the arrival of her childhood sweetheart. All these years had passed, yet Mansi hadn't changed at all; she was still just as eccentric. She touched the black veil covering her face, feeling much more at ease. She had made it overnight; even Shi Mansi wouldn't recognize her in the crowd.
At 3:45 AM, the sound of gongs and drums gradually drifted from the distant street. Everyone looked towards the end of the street and was astonished to see a group of burly men, bare-chested, leading the way with gongs. These men had their faces painted with greasepaint, their short hair standing upright like steel wires, and wore furry animal skins around their waists. They carried strange large clubs or gongs, making shouting noises as they marched in unison towards the Yuwen residence.
These people had never been seen in the city before; they didn't seem to be Han Chinese, but rather native Pu people from a hundred miles to the west. The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, wondering what this was all about.
Yin Wuxiao looked into the mansion gate and saw that Old Madam Yuwen had led everyone in the mansion to set up their formation and sit in front of the mansion. When she saw this situation, she also showed a look of shock on her face.
"Who are you people?" Old Madam Yuwen shouted angrily.
The leader pounded his muscular chest with a large club, roaring like thunder: "By order of the Black Jade Goddess, I have brought a pig's head to the old lady of the Yuwen family!"
As soon as he finished speaking, several Pu people carried up a huge pig's head, with a bright gold ring hanging from its ear.
"What...what is this?" The old lady glared angrily at the pig-headed creature, whose two eyes were piercingly bright.
"The Black Jade Goddess said that by presenting this pig's head, the Pu people can drink the water from the Lixi River freely from now on, and we will no longer have to pay tribute of yams to the Yuwen family."
Whispers rippled through the crowd. They had long heard that the Yuwen family was a tyrannical force in the Hubei region, but they had no idea that Old Madam Yuwen had committed such an overbearing act of "this water is mine to control."
"For decades, the people of Xilingpu have suffered from a lack of drinking water because the Yuwen family guards all the water sources along the Lixi River, forbidding us from taking water at will. Now that the old lady has lifted the ban, we, the people of Xilingpu, will be forever grateful to the old lady Yuwen for her kindness in providing us with water!" A group of half-naked, burly men knelt down with their arms crossed.
Madam Yuwen's face alternated between pale and flushed. A large part of the Yuwen family's business consisted of pharmacies selling Pu yams. In previous years, the Yuwen family had forced the Pu people to pay tribute with yams by seizing water sources. If she agreed to the Pu people's request in front of everyone today, what would her Yuwen family eat in the future?
But if she didn't agree, wouldn't her reputation, which she had painstakingly built up in the martial arts world, plummet? The Yuwen family has always been known for its benevolence and charity, which is why it has been able to remain among the top three families even though it has not produced a single martial arts talent in more than twenty years.
A group of heroes from the martial arts world stared intently at her, waiting to see how she would handle the situation.
If Shi Mansi had come to the door directly, Old Madam Yuwen would not have been afraid at all. But to resort to such despicable and vile means... how was she supposed to deal with it?
Madam Yuwen gripped her dragon-headed cane and slammed it hard on the ground, cursing inwardly: "Shi Mansi, how are you!" But on the surface, she was all smiles and waved her hand with great poise.
"Since you are so filial, then you may use the water as you please."
The people of Xilingpu were naturally moved to tears and kowtowed repeatedly.
Madam Yuwen suppressed her anger and scanned the crowd intently. She knew that Shi Mansi was most renowned for her disguise skills, and would certainly not appear in her true form at this moment.
Yin Wuxiao chuckled inwardly.
Shi Mansi dared to do this because she was certain that Old Madam Yuwen valued her reputation and was deliberately trying to find fault with the Yuwen family.
Little did they know where Mansi was hiding, watching the show.
After this incident, everyone's faces showed a mixture of wanting to laugh and not daring to.
"Old Madam Yuwen is so compassionate! But I wonder if she has any kindness in helping this old man resolve a life-threatening matter?"
A sound of hooves parted the crowd, and a very strange little old man squeezed in.
He was considered strange because he had taken up an animal, but it wasn't a horse or a donkey; it was a sheep. The old man was thin and bony, with a snow-white goatee that curled at the end, and his eyes darted around, making him look quite comical. He held a piece of salt in one hand, dangling it in front of the sheep's head, and the sheep frantically licked it as if it had a stroke.
"Madam, your young master has bullied my little lamb. What do you think we should do?" The old man frowned and pouted.
This time, Old Madam Yuwen was mentally prepared and said coldly, "You old man, stop talking nonsense. My Xue Lan'er is in poor health and has never stepped out of the Yuwen mansion. How could she bully your little lamb?"
The old man chuckled and said, "Since you won't admit it, there's nothing I can do. Anyway, your young master knows perfectly well what's going on. Hmph, the Yuwen family, relying on their wealth and power, wants to renege on their debts. This old man can't do anything about it, there's nothing I can do..."
The old man was a master actor. He complained pitifully while stealing glances at the reactions of the crowd. As soon as he met someone's gaze, he hurriedly looked away and stammered out two tears.
Madam Yuwen had not expected to encounter such a shameless and fearless person. She was both annoyed and angry, and she sneered, "Fine, I will call Xue Lan'er out to confront you!" She was certain that this old man was related to Shi Mansi, so how could she let him off so easily?
Everyone was surprised. It seemed that Old Madam Yuwen had been so angry with Shi Mansi that she actually had to call out the young master of the Yuwen family for such a trivial matter.
Before long, Yuwen Xuelan arrived at the gate of the mansion, accompanied by her wet nurse.
"Xuelan'er, Grandma is asking you, have you ever seen this sheep?" Old Madam Yuwen asked, holding her grandson's hand with great affection.
Everyone saw Yuwen Xuelan's face turn deathly pale in an instant. He was already pale, and now he looked even more frail, like a white lotus in the wind.
After a long pause, Yuwen Xuelan stammered, "I...I just saw it by the back door yesterday, so I fed it some salt."
The old man cried out, "It's because you fed it salt that it refuses to eat anything else now, only salt. Tell me, how are you going to compensate me?"
Madam Yuwen angrily said, "You have to make such a big fuss about this in front of all the heroes of the world! You old man, you have no sense of propriety at all! Someone, give him a few taels of silver and buy the sheep!"
The old man threw a tantrum: "I don't care, you tell your young master to explain why he fed my lamb salt!"
Yuwen Xuelan, a child pampered since childhood, had never witnessed such a scene before. She immediately burst into tears: "I only saw the steward feeding the lambs we bought salt, and the lambs were drinking water like crazy, so the steward beat up the old man who sold the lambs. Waaah, I thought all lambs liked to eat salt..."
Everyone's expression suddenly changed.
There are countless instances of people buying sheep at the market, feeding them salt, and then refusing to pay for them, claiming they drank too much water and were sick. But no one expected that the steward of the Yuwen family would do such a thing, especially since it came from the mouth of the young master of the Yuwen family.
No wonder this old man slandered Yuwen Xuelan; he clearly lured Yuwen Xuelan into a trap beforehand, then deliberately provoked the old lady to bring Yuwen Xuelan out to tell the truth. If it had been said beforehand that it was to seek justice for the sheep seller, how could the old lady Yuwen have easily admitted it?
Madam Yuwen opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.
This Shi Mansi is far too ruthless. People in the martial arts world have their own ways of solving problems, but Shi Mansi went to great lengths to expose the Yuwen family's sordid affairs. Although none of them were major crimes like murder or robbery, they were enough to make Old Madam Yuwen lose face in front of the assembled heroes.
"Come here, drag the steward to the backyard and give him twenty strokes of the cane!" Old Madam Yuwen said through gritted teeth.
The old man riding the sheep was still relentless: "Hey, hey, stop hitting people, you have to give the old man who sold the sheep justice."
"I... will immediately send someone to deliver the silver to his residence." Madam Yuwen was more tolerant than ever before.
The old man was beaming with pride.
Old Madam Yuwen was a seasoned veteran; she might suffer a temporary setback, but she wouldn't let it happen forever. She stared at the old man for a long time, then suddenly smiled: "Shi Mansi, this time I recognize you!"
Chapter Nine: The Golden Bridle of Ximatai (Part Two)
The old man was both surprised and puzzled, and quickly covered his ears with his hands: "What? What did you say?"
"Shi Mansi! Don't pretend! I know you're good at disguise, but you can't fool my eyes!"
"Hey, what makes you so sure? This old man is sixty-six years old, how could he look like a young girl?"
"Hmph, just look at my eyes!"
"What if...you're mistaken?"
Madam Yuwen said smugly, "If I'm wrong, I'll gladly call you Miss Shi!"
The old man asked in surprise, "If you're mistaken, why would you call an old man like me 'girl'? What kind of logic is that?"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Madam Yuwen snorted, her old face slightly flushed.
"How about this, if you're mistaken, just call me 'old man' or 'old brother,' okay?"
"You!" Old Madam Yuwen's eyes widened in fury. Who in the world would dare to speak rudely to her? Not to mention now, even when she was young, no one had ever said such a thing and left alive!
She glanced at the old man again, confirming her suspicions. She was certain she couldn't be mistaken; the old man was undoubtedly Shi Mansi in disguise! This girl, her mask was about to be exposed, yet she still put on airs, deliberately trying to intimidate her. Hmph, who was Su Guijun? How could she be silenced by a few words?
"Fine, fine, fine! If you have the guts, then take off the mask on your face!"
Yin Wuxiao chuckled in the crowd. She hurriedly looked around and, finding that no one had noticed, felt much relieved. She knew why Old Madam Yuwen was so certain that the old man was Shi Mansi; it was because the old man had casually tossed his hair, revealing a bright red, fair earlobe with a clearly deep piercing.
Why would an ordinary elderly person get their ears pierced?
At this moment, Madam Yuwen looked as if she wished she could personally tear off the old man's mask. However, she was still somewhat mindful of her dignity, so she instructed the guards beside her to step forward and grope the old man's face.
The old man cried out pitifully, "Don't touch me! Don't touch me! I'm so embarrassed!"
After a while, the guard couldn't find anything.
Madam Yuwen laughed and said, "Your disguise skills are different from others. I heard that you don't need to use a mask at all. But I know that as long as I stick something into your Tanzhong acupoint, all your disguise skills will be completely destroyed."
Upon hearing this, the old man hurriedly hugged his chest tightly: "You old lecher, how could you stab someone in the chest?" He patted the sheep under his seat, as if he wanted to run away.
How could Old Madam Yuwen give him a chance to escape? She pulled out the hairpin from her hair, leaped up, and stabbed the old man's Tanzhong acupoint between his breasts with extreme precision.
"ah……"
The old man let out a desperate scream.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the changes in the old man's face.
Even the old man himself swallowed hard and touched his face.
“Nothing has changed.” He chuckled.
Madam Yuwen's expression changed completely.
Her face turned ashen, and she pointed a trembling finger at the old man: "How could this be? How could this be? You, you clearly have pierced ears!"
The old man smiled at her with narrowed eyes: "What, can't this old man have pierced ears?"
Just then, a series of silvery laughs came from behind the eaves across the street: "Qianqian'er, I told you long ago that just one ear piercing would make Old Madam Yuwen come and tease you. Didn't you believe me?"
A black figure leaped gracefully from behind the eaves and landed elegantly in front of the old man.
The old man, with a bitter face, patted his chest: "Miss Shi, you didn't specify that this was the kind of flirting you were referring to."
Shi Mansi was still wearing a black gauze dress, her smile as beautiful as spring flowers: "You old man are too afraid of pain. It took you all night to get that one ear pierced."
Everyone was speechless for a moment.
After a while, a low laugh was heard.
Finally, everyone burst into laughter. In everyone's mind was the scene of the old man riding a sheep around and Shi Mansi chasing after him with a needle.
Only Old Madam Yuwen couldn't manage a smile. Veins bulged on her forehead, and she slammed her dragon-headed cane on the ground twice before turning to walk back into the mansion.
"Madam!" Shi Mansi called out to her, "You still owe Qianqian'er an 'older brother'!"
The figure of Old Madam Yuwen froze.
Everyone held their breath. Old Madam Yuwen was not the type to break her word, but... but if she had to call that old man "elder brother," Old Madam Yuwen would probably rather commit suicide.
Yin Wuxiao frowned. While Old Madam Yuwen was somewhat biased in her dealings and had some shortcomings in managing her subordinates, she wasn't fundamentally a bad person. Shi Mansi's teasing was truly excessive. Her purpose in provoking Old Madam Yuwen was clearly to lure out Yin Zhangzhang, who was impersonating Old Madam Yuwen and attacking her. But how did she manage to lose sight of her priorities in the process?
She sighed. Shi Mansi had always been like this since she was a child. Right now, she was having a great time playing and was not about to let Old Madam Yuwen pass easily.
For someone as strong-willed as Madam Yuwen to lose to Shi Mansi was already a huge embarrassment. Even if she were unreasonable, she was still a highly respected senior figure in the martial arts world, and it was highly unlikely that she would take the initiative to attack a junior like Shi Mansi out of anger and humiliation.
This situation is truly difficult to resolve.