Ming Lingyi instinctively looked toward the source of the sound, while Xiao Chun shielded her, afraid the killer was the same man who had appeared in their courtyard a few nights before.

"Sounds like there’s trouble at the Chai Family Noodle House."

"Then let’s hurry and take a look."

"What’s going on? Did something happen at Granny Qiu’s shop?" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Hearing the chatter of passersby, Ming Lingyi couldn’t help but exchange a look with Xiao Chun.

’The Chai Family Noodle House... Granny Qiu’s shop... isn’t that the noodle shop run by Yao Niang?’

Ming Lingyi had never crossed paths with this Yao Niang. However, one day, while returning from an outing with Xiao Chun, she had entered the market through the front gate of Huaided Fang and passed the Chai Family Noodle House. By then, most of the shops on the street were already closed for the night, yet a candle still flickered inside the noodle house.

Ming Lingyi glanced back and saw a lone woman bustling about inside the small noodle house, tidying up tables and chairs and mopping the floor.

The woman had a slight build, but her figure was so striking that even Ming Lingyi, a woman herself, couldn’t help but take a second look.

Even dressed in coarse linen, her graceful air was impossible to hide.

Recalling the gossip Xiao Chun had picked up from Aunt Gui, Ming Lingyi had sighed.

’No wonder Granny Qiu put Yao Niang to work in the noodle house. The woman’s intentions were truly malicious.’

"Xiao Chun, let’s go take a look," Ming Lingyi said, suspecting that Yao Niang was the one in trouble.

On the way, Ming Lingyi ran into Mrs. Wei, Zhang Qi’s wife, who had presumably come out after hearing the commotion.

As it happened, Ming Lingyi and Mrs. Wei were already quite familiar with each other. Mrs. Wei was one of the many residents of Huaided Fang who, along with the Imperial College students, got up bright and early to scramble for milk tea.

Mrs. Wei had once thought that fifteen wen for a cup of milk tea was quite expensive. But after tasting it just once, she decided the milk tea from Lady Ming’s Shop was absolutely worth it. From then on, she no longer considered it pricey and eagerly joined the daily rush to buy it.

"Sigh, that Yao Niang truly married the wrong man. I wonder what on earth happened today," Mrs. Wei said to Ming Lingyi, making small talk as they walked.

"That scream just now seemed to come from Granny Qiu," Ming Lingyi said. "If that’s the case, I don’t think Miss Yao is the one who’s hurt."

’Otherwise, knowing Granny Qiu,’ she thought, ’if an outsider had hurt Yao Niang, she would have forced her to endure it and hush the whole thing up.’

’After all, in Granny Qiu’s eyes, Yao Niang was a money tree. As long as the tree didn’t die, nothing else mattered.’

Mrs. Wei twisted the handkerchief in her hand. "I hope you’re right. That poor Yao Niang’s fate is just so tragic."

By the time they finished speaking, Ming Lingyi, Mrs. Wei, and Xiao Chun had arrived at the Chai Family Noodle House.

A large crowd had already gathered outside. Xiao Chun and Mrs. Wei pulled Ming Lingyi along, weaving through the throng until, somehow, they found themselves at the very front.

She looked up. The Chai Family Noodle House, which Ming Lingyi remembered as being neat and tidy, was now in complete disarray.

Granny Qiu was outside, screaming, "Murder!" while pointing at Yao Niang, who stood inside the shop holding a noodle-slicing knife. "You lunatic! You jinx! You harbinger of doom! How did our Old Chai Family ever let a shrew like you through the door! How dare a viper like you touch my son! Viciously attacking your own brother-in-law! If I’d known you had the heart of a snake, I would’ve had my eldest son beat you out with a club and divorce your black-hearted hide!"

Only then, following the direction of Granny Qiu’s shouts, did Ming Lingyi notice a person lying on the floor.

"Tsk, that’s Second Brother Chai, Chai Yuanhao," Mrs. Wei whispered to Ming Lingyi. "He’s a rogue and a gambler. The entire Chai household, inside and out, relies on Yao Niang alone. All the silver they spend is earned by her."

Chai Yuanhao looked seriously injured; a pool of blood had formed on the floor beneath him.

But when Ming Lingyi looked up again at the woman standing in the doorway with the knife, her pupils contracted.

Before, she had only noticed the blood on the cleaver in Miss Yao’s hand. She hadn’t realized until now how utterly disheveled the woman was.

Her clothes were torn, one sleeve ripped away entirely, making it clear she had been in a violent struggle.

What struck Ming Lingyi most, however, were her eyes.

Though she stood menacingly in the doorway, seemingly having the upper hand, her eyes were devoid of light, as if a flame had been extinguished within them.

And despite Granny Qiu hurling such vile insults, the woman didn’t resist or even offer a single word in her own defense.

However, someone in the crowd could no longer stand by and watch. He must have been a customer who was eating in the noodle house earlier.

"Granny Qiu, you’re lying through your teeth! If your second son, Chai Yuanhao, hadn’t come into the back kitchen and put his hands all over Miss Yao, would she have attacked him like that? And you have the nerve to call her a jinx? Doesn’t your entire family depend on her to make a living?"

Hearing this, Granny Qiu felt her face flush with embarrassment and immediately shot back, "Bah! Since she married our eldest son, she belongs to the Old Chai Family! Name one woman in our family who doesn’t work from dawn till dusk serving her in-laws! I don’t even make her wait on me. Am I not good to her? And now she’s injured my second son this badly? How is that not a jinx? What ’put his hands all over her’? My son was just helping her up!"

"Oh, please! Chai Yuanhao has wandering hands, and he was putting them on his own sister-in-law! Granny Qiu, why don’t you scold your son for not being able to keep it in his pants? If you ask me, Yao Niang did the right thing!"

"I agree! What an animal! It’s not like we ever see Second Brother Chai helping out at the shop on a normal day."

After hearing the customer explain the whole story, Mrs. Wei also joined in, shouting down Granny Qiu.

It was at this moment that the Patrol, responding to the report, finally arrived.

"Make way, make way! Everybody, move aside!"

The onlookers parted, and Granny Qiu scurried over. "Sirs! Officials! You have to arrest that madwoman! She attacked someone with a knife—the evidence is right before your eyes! Everyone saw it! Arrest her! Throw her in jail!"

But the patrolman she had grabbed impatiently shook her off. "Are you telling the government how to conduct its business?"

That single question was enough to frighten Granny Qiu into letting go.

Chai Yuanhao had been drinking today. He had staggered into the shop, drunk, and pounced on Yao Niang the moment he saw her.

Yao Niang had slashed his arm with the knife, and he had passed out—partly from the pain, partly from the alcohol. He still hadn’t woken up.

When Yao Niang saw the government officials arrive, her eyes finally stirred.

"Are you here to arrest me?" Yao Niang didn’t lower the cleaver. Instead, as she spoke, she suddenly raised the blade and, before anyone could react, dashed out of the noodle house.

Because she was armed, the surrounding Patrols hesitated to get close, giving Yao Niang the opportunity to run straight to Chai Yuanhao’s side.

Then, in full view of the crowd, Yao Niang viciously kicked him in the groin.

"AGHH—!"

The man who had been unconscious let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Yao Niang’s action left everyone stunned—not just Granny Qiu, but even the Patrols who had come to investigate the case.

"I know I’ve injured a man today. If I’m taken to the government office, I likely won’t be coming out. But..." As she spoke, she pressed the cleaver to her own throat. "If it is at all possible, I beg you, sirs, please grant me a divorce from Chai Yuanqian! I would rather die than continue to be known as the Chai family’s wife!"

"If you officials will not grant this, then I have no choice but to die right here, right now, and end it all cleanly!"