These words were true—she was about to beat the dog.

She naturally didn’t want one of her few close friends to witness such a fierce scene.

“Oh, this little lady has quite the mouth on her!” The scar-faced man leered at Jian Xiu.

However, Jian Xiu acted as if she hadn’t heard him at all. Instead, she looked straight past him.

But with just one glance, her brows immediately furrowed tightly.

She didn’t see Fenjie.

“Where is Fenjie? Where is my daughter? Where did you take my daughter? Give her back to me! Give me back my daughter…”

Hearing the commotion, Qian Hongmei hurriedly came out and asked.

“Oh, so this little lady has come out too. You want your daughter back? That’s not impossible. But you’ll have to exchange yourself for her. If that won’t do, bring your second daughter along too. You three, mother and daughters, together…”

“Shut up!” Jian Xiu snapped coldly.

As she spoke, the sharpness in her eyes was undeniable, and her face was etched with an intense severity.

Her eyes narrowed, gleaming like a panther in the dark night—cold, piercing, and as if she could tear him apart at any moment.

He knew that look too well.

He had lived by the blade long enough to recognize it—it was the look of someone with the intent to kill.

That’s right. In Jian Xiu’s eyes, he saw a strong, murderous intent.

A shiver ran down the scar-faced man’s spine.

He claimed to be a man with nothing to lose, but when it came to life and death, who wouldn’t fear for their life?

However, he quickly dismissed the fear. After all, she was just a woman—what could she possibly do to him?

Even if she had some skills, she would still have to be capable of using them against him.

With that thought, the scar-faced man forced himself to suppress his fear and raised his eyes to meet hers.

Sure enough, this time, the killing intent in her gaze was gone.

He must have imagined it earlier.

It made sense—how could a mere woman have such a chilling, deathly aura?

That kind of look, he had only ever seen in assassins. How could it appear in a woman now?

What he didn’t know was that he wasn’t the only one who had noticed.

Even Zhang Zixuan and Jian Ming felt the same way.

Zhang Zixuan wasn’t surprised—he already knew Jian Xiu’s identity.

But Jian Ming was different. In that instant, he truly felt like his sister had become an entirely different person.

This time seeing her, she was clearly not the same as before.

They hadn’t spoken much yet, but from the way she talked and acted, she was completely different from before.

Jian Xiu’s sharp reprimand truly stunned the scar-faced man for a moment.

But he quickly recovered. Besides, he was convinced that he had misread her sharp gaze earlier.

“I’m telling you all—if you don’t repay the money today, don’t just think about your eldest daughter. Even your second and third daughters won’t be spared,” the scar-faced man threatened fiercely.

As he spoke, he began walking toward Jian Xiu, his eyes fixed on the wild boar meat in her hands.

Clearly, his target was the roughly two-pound piece of wild boar meat.

“Look at that, such a big piece of meat! Doesn’t look like you’re lacking money at all. So why can’t you pay the interest?”

“This meat was given to me by Sister Jian Xiu, not Sister Hongmei. You better not try anything!” Zhang Xuemei said, sticking her neck out.

She had just politely declined Jian Xiu’s gift of the wild boar meat, but if it meant the meat would end up in the hands of the scar-faced man, she wouldn’t stand for it.

Zhang Xuemei thought that by making this clear, the scar-faced man would back off.

After all, if the meat didn’t belong to Qian Hongmei, then he had no right to take it.

But unexpectedly, after hearing her words, the scar-faced man still kept walking toward her.

“Whoever I say owns this meat, owns it. Got it?” he sneered arrogantly.

Seeing this, Jian Fuyin, afraid that someone would get hurt, whispered, “Xuemei, just give him the meat.”

“But… but this meat…” Zhang Xuemei stammered, clearly reluctant.

That was understandable.

The villagers here were poor, and buying such a big piece of pork all at once was a rare luxury.

Usually, they would just buy a little fat to render into oil, and then eat the leftover crispy pork bits.

Noticing her hesitation, the scar-faced man strode over and snatched the meat from her hands.

He weighed it in his hands and smirked, “Oh, it’s quite heavy!”

“I told you to put it down!” Jian Xiu’s voice was cold.

Her tone alone made it clear she had reached the limits of her patience.

Anyone with a bit of awareness would know to back off at this point.

But the scar-faced man acted as if he had just heard a joke.

“Oh? And what if I don’t, little lady? What can you do to me?” he sneered, looking her up and down with a lecherous grin.

Jian Xiu let out a cold snort and casually picked up a piece of firewood from the ground.

She lightly tapped it against her left palm and spoke slowly, “Whether you put it down or not is up to you. But you’ve offended me today. Begging for mercy later won’t save you.”

Her tone was still calm, without much fluctuation.

There wasn’t even the slightest bit of pressure in her voice.

Hearing that, the scar-faced man burst out laughing.

“Little lady, I grew up facing danger! If you want to attract my attention, that’s one thing. But—ahhh!”

Before he could finish his sentence, Jian Xiu swung the firewood straight into his stomach.

The pain was so sharp that he immediately doubled over, unable to react for a long moment.

When he finally did, his first instinct wasn’t to retaliate.

Instead, he looked at Jian Xiu with a scrutinizing gaze.

He wasn’t just some thug—people called him “Brother Dao” (Blade) for a reason.

He knew martial arts, and he wasn’t bad at it either.

Under normal circumstances, he should have easily dodged her strike.

But he hadn’t.

Of course, most people would dismiss it as a fluke or an accident.

But he didn’t believe in coincidences.

His smirk vanished, and his expression darkened.

“You damn woman. You know how to fight, huh? Do you think you can just hit me and get away with it?”