Chapter 5: “Tsk tsk, turns out disciplining people is quite fun!”

At the entrance of the Fang family courtyard, two groups of people were facing off.

In the middle stood the frail Father Fang, opposite a burly, broad-shouldered woman.

That woman kept shoving Father Fang around, poking at him one finger at a time, as if toying with him.

Because of their size difference, Father Fang staggered backward repeatedly. Behind him, Aunt Xu and two or three others struggled both to shield him and hold the woman back, but they were clearly flustered and overwhelmed.

The burly woman’s side obviously had more people than Old Man Sun’s group, and their bias was blatant.

It wasn’t just a physical scuffle—both sides hurled nasty insults at each other. The crude curses made Fang Yu’s expression grow darker and darker.

Just as Father Fang was about to be shoved out of the courtyard, Fang Yu strode quickly inside.

The arrogant burly woman—Chen Shi—froze for a moment. For some reason, the instant this girl entered, Chen Shi felt a chill run down her spine. The insult that was about to leave her mouth got swallowed back abruptly.

The women behind her felt the same sudden unease. The atmosphere instantly stiffened.

That brief pause made Chen Shi feel like she had lost face.

In Willow Village, her husband ranked among the leading men, which meant she should rank among the leading women. With that thought, her confidence returned.

Sneering, she glanced at Fang Yu’s cold expression. Her finger—still rudely pointed at Father Fang—jabbed down once again without hesitation.

Fang Yu finally reached them. Without even thinking, she caught that finger, applied a bit of precise force—

A sharp crack echoed.

“Ahhh!”

Chen Shi’s shrill scream pierced the courtyard. Her face instantly went white, cold sweat beading and rolling down her temples. She clutched her finger frantically, her lips trembling as she glared venomously at Fang Yu.

But as Fang Yu took a slow step closer, the curses in her eyes melted into pleading.

Ironically, back in the cultivation world, Fang Yu had once discovered this little “punishment method” when she was bored. She found it quite amusing. She hadn’t expected to ever use it here.

From the moment she walked in, she had no intention of letting these people off. She hadn’t been in the best mood anyway, and normally she preferred not to stir up trouble—but bullying her father, on her turf? That was outright provocation.

She squatted down, grabbed Chen Shi’s hand, and one by one, she snapped each of her ten fingers—then reset them—only to snap them again.

The chilling crack-crack sounds and Chen Shi’s bloodcurdling screams filled the courtyard in waves.

Fang Yu’s expression remained cold and detached throughout. With the sunset behind her and night gradually falling, her figure seemed all the more terrifying.

Chen Shi’s pleas grew hoarse, her voice breaking. The women who had come with her had long been reduced to groaning whimpers.

Not only them—even Father Fang and the Xu mother and son standing behind were completely stunned by the scene. They didn’t dare utter a word.

When Fang Yu finally finished venting, her mood was much calmer.

She tapped Chen Shi lightly between the brows, tilted her head, and murmured almost to herself:

“Tsk tsk… turns out disciplining people is actually kind of fun.”

Chen Shi pressed herself desperately against the wall, trying her hardest to get away from that pale, slender finger.

Now she regretted it deeply—why on earth had she listened to her man and come to the Fang household to cause trouble?

The searing, bone-deep pain in her ten fingers made her break out in sweat over and over again. All of her earlier arrogance had long since vanished.

At this moment, she looked at the beautiful girl before her. Fang Yu’s delicate features were as though carved from jade, a face that could make one forget the vulgar world—yet from her eyes emanated a cold, piercing chill.

“Fang family girl, just let us go! Please, I swear we’ll never set foot in your courtyard again. We didn’t want to come here—it was our men who sent us. From now on… from now on, we’ll never appear before you again, alright?”

Fang Yu had actually already guessed this. She had been planning to confront the Chen family sooner or later. She just hadn’t expected that they would send women out first.

All she could think was—cowards.

She told them to get lost immediately, then turned to thank the Xu family mother and son. Afterward, as she gazed at the suddenly empty courtyard, her thoughts lingered.

That night, Father Fang—already frail, and now shaken with both anger and stress—fell ill again with fever. The anger that Fang Yu had just managed to quell flared right back up.

Without a sound, she slipped out. When she returned later, she had washed the bloodstains from her body. She busied herself with nursing Father Fang and stayed up through the night. It was only at dawn that she finally allowed herself to sleep.

But the night had been just as restless for the Chen family.

The Chens had lived in Willow Village for generations, and never before had they been so humiliated—slapped right across the face in public.

Even though it was the women who had gone, everyone knew: without the village chief’s consent, how could the chief’s wife have gone to wrestle with Fang Fusheng?

By striking the Chen women, Fang Yu had essentially struck the Chen family’s pride.

“Father, I can’t swallow this humiliation!” Chen Li’s face flushed red with anger, his neck stiff as he shouted at Chen Dashan, who sat beside him puffing on his dry tobacco pipe.

Inside the Chen family’s main hall, Chen Shi sat on a chair, quietly sobbing, flanked by her two daughters-in-law. The children had finally been coaxed to sleep, so the family could sit together to discuss.

Chen Dashan took several hard drags of his pipe, only to choke suddenly, coughing violently.

His younger son, Chen Ping, hurried forward to pat his back, while trying to persuade his elder brother not to be rash.

But these words only infuriated Chen Li further. “What’s wrong with you all? Today that Fang girl dared to hit Mother—tomorrow she’ll dare to shit on our Chen family’s head! Tomorrow, I’ll teach that girl a lesson she won’t forget!”

“Shut up!” Chen Dashan finally calmed his coughing, then slammed the pipe bowl down hard against the table.

The old man’s authority still carried weight. The room instantly fell silent; no one dared speak again. Only Chen Shi’s sobbing continued in the background.

“Enough! You shut up too. Can’t even win against a little girl, and you still have the face to cry?”

Chen Shi froze mid-sob and immediately stopped.

The two daughters-in-law sat quietly to the side, occasionally exchanging glances, heads lowered, saying nothing.

“That girl has already caught Lord Ma’s eye today. If it were just one day earlier, I could’ve made the Fang family bow their heads. But now that Lord Ma has set his sights on her, it’s impossible to change that. We can only endure for now. Second son’s official posting is important—once that’s settled, eldest, you’ll go manage the Li family’s shop. We’ll take it step by step, moving carefully!”

After thinking a moment, Chen Dashan turned to the women of the household and instructed:
“From today on, keep your distance from the Fang family. When Lord Ma sends a matchmaker, that’ll be your chance—stir the pot, make sure that girl gets married off quickly. Someone who won’t even survive another six months—what’s the point of butting heads with her? You have to look at the bigger picture!”

“……”

“Then… when will Lord Ma send the matchmaker?”

“Soon. He said within three days. And judging from his eagerness, I think it’ll be very soon indeed!”

“So we just let it go like this?” Chen Li was still seething. When had the Chen family ever lost so much face? They had always regarded themselves as the rulers of Willow Village, and no one had ever dared oppose them. Now, suddenly, someone had struck them back—hard—and they had to swallow their pride. Even after returning to his room, Chen Li couldn’t calm his thoughts.

“Didn’t Father say second brother’s business is important? If you mess with the Fang family and ruin that girl’s marriage, then second brother’s chances will all go to waste. Father will beat you half to death!” The eldest daughter-in-law, Madam Li, spoke casually, as though by accident.

After she spoke, she cast a sideways glance at Chen Li, whose eyes flickered, then urged him to get some sleep.

In the room next door, where the elder couple stayed, Chen Dashan tapped the ashes out of his pipe bowl against his shoe, tied the tobacco pouch, and finally let Chen Shi help him wash up.

“These next two days, keep an eye on the eldest and his wife. I’m worried they’ll do something reckless and ruin my plans!”

“…Alright.”

The night of humiliation finally gave way to morning. Perhaps because Chen Shi had spent so much strength crying the night before, she overslept. By the time she opened her eyes, daylight was already flooding in.

Remembering that she still had much to do, she didn’t dare linger in bed. She quickly got up and dressed.

The courtyard was unusually quiet; by the sound of it, she was the first one awake.

Before even stepping out the door, she was already thinking about how to scold her two lazy daughters-in-law. Back when she herself had been a daughter-in-law, she had leapt out of bed before dawn to help her mother-in-law with chores, terrified of being labeled lazy.

These days, though, things were different—women had grown shamelessly idle, she muttered to herself while wrapping up her hair with practiced hands.

She glanced at the old man still fast asleep on the bed, then quietly pulled the blanket up to cover him.

Last night’s crying had already warned her—her eyes would be swollen by morning. And sure enough, her lids were so puffed she could barely see through slits. Still, she rose and went out the door.

But the moment she opened it, something flashed across her mind—too quick to grasp. She had no time to think it through before she was struck by a shocking sight.

“Ahhh~” Chen Shi shrieked, then collapsed straight to the ground—her cry loud enough to rouse the entire village head’s family…