The Wu Lengtzi that Head Zhao mentioned was indeed the burly fire brigade chief.

Seeing the people who had come outside, he suspected they were here to cause trouble.

He rushed into the backyard and shouted to the fire brigade members, either standing or sitting, “Someone’s come to smash the shop; brothers, grab your weapons!”

Jiang Yanyi noticed there wasn’t much in the backyard that could be used as a weapon, but a dozen fire brigade members directly picked up some wooden sticks and headed outside.

Wu Lengtzi’s shout was clearly heard in the kitchen.

Qiu Kui’s first reaction was that Hu Baiwan was back again.

Sitting on a small stool behind the stove, her face turned pale. “Huahua, what should we do?”

Jiang Yanyi took off her apron. “It’s okay; I’ll go take a look first.”

Chef Li called out to her, “How could someone suddenly come to smash the shop? Did you offend someone?”

Jiang Yanyi briefly explained the situation with Hu Baiwan, and Chef Li, angered, slammed a ladle against the pot’s edge, saying furiously, “A bunch of local ruffians! How dare they bully the daughter of my fire camp brigade! Master will go out with you to take a look!”

Chef Li led the way, and as Jiang Yanyi followed him into the shop, she initially wasn’t afraid of Hu Baiwan causing trouble.

However, now she felt a newfound strength supporting her and felt more confident.

Madam Hu, trembling, got off the carriage with the support of several maids.

To show her authority, she had brought more than a dozen servants with her, thinking that this show of force would intimidate the shop’s female owner.

Unexpectedly, before she could order her servants to smash things, over a dozen big men wielding wooden sticks walked out of the shop.

Anyone who could enter the barracks had to be physically fit, and each of them was tall and intimidating.

In contrast, the group of servants she had brought looked like thin monkeys wrapped in cloth.

In terms of momentum, they had already lost a significant advantage.

If it came down to a confrontation, they would certainly come off worse.

Madam Hu’s expression darkened as she thought, This little fox is quite clever, knowing I would come today to teach her a lesson and deliberately brought so many local thugs here to create a scene.

Zhao, the headman, was a shrewd person.

Even though the atmosphere was clearly tense between the two sides, he still clasped his hands and smiled, asking, “Madam, are you here to dine at our humble shop?”

Madam Hu sharply replied, “Do you think I’d want to eat soup made by that shameless woman who seduces other people’s husbands? I’m afraid it would make me sick!”

She had decided to make Jiang Yanyi lose all face on this street, so she wouldn’t be able to lift her head to do business in the future.

Though she was wary of the dozen big men in the shop, she couldn’t directly order her servants to smash the place; however, she could insult Jiang Yanyi to ruin her reputation.

Just then, Jiang Yanyi followed Chef Li into the shop.

Seeing the Hu family emblem on her carriage, Chef Li immediately guessed this plump woman’s identity and shot back, “You, woman with a sharp tongue, are truly unreasonable. Why don’t you ask the neighbors on this whole street what happened that day? Was it your husband who was pestering my daughter in front of the shop, or was it my daughter who acted improperly?”

Hearing him refer to Jiang Yanyi as “my daughter” made Madam Hu’s expression instantly turn ugly, and she shot a glare at the servant who had previously gathered information.

Didn’t they say the shopkeeper was an orphan?

But she wasn’t afraid of a sixty-year-old man and shouted angrily, “How would I know how many people have crawled under your daughter’s skirt on this street, who would speak for her? It’s ridiculous! What kind of man is my husband? If it weren’t for this little vixen seducing my husband, would he ever look at her?”

Jiang Yanyi poured a cup of cold tea and splashed it directly onto Madam Hu, forcing a smile as she said, “I noticed that you seemed to forget to rinse your mouth this morning; here’s a cup of tea to help you freshen up, no need to be polite.”

Madam Hu was wearing a new dress made from decorated silk that she treasured dearly.

Now, having been splashed with a cup of tea, she was both shocked and furious, her voice echoing down the entire street, “My new dress!”

This commotion had already attracted quite a few bystanders.

Jiang Yanyi then raised her voice, “That ‘ridiculous’ statement you made, I’ll return it to you as is. Who in Xizhou doesn’t know that your husband is a libertine who can’t resist young women? No matter how rich and powerful the Hu family is, you cannot twist the truth like this. I run a business, yet you fabricate these lies to tarnish my reputation?”

“The guards from the Duhufu were the ones who took your husband that day; feel free to go knock on the Duhufu’s door and ask why they had to take your husband to the yamen. As for how I conduct myself, the neighbors can testify.”

Because of Madam Hu’s previous outrageous words, the male neighbors remained silent, but the female neighbors chimed in.

“You shouldn’t bully others with your power; our Jiang shopkeeper is so remarkable, how could she possibly look at Hu’s useless young master?”

“This Hu couple really is a perfect match!”

“Coming to smash the shop on the very day it opens, how black-hearted can one be?”

“It’s intentional! Do you remember that little Taohong from Laifuzhuang who sang songs? It was clearly Hu Baiwan who harassed her several times, yet a group of wicked servants dragged her to the street and beat her to half consciousness. The Hu family really thinks they are the emperors of Xizhou!”

“Our Jiang shopkeeper is such a kind person, how did she get entangled with this couple…”

Initially, the onlookers were just there to watch the excitement, but as they heard the crowd’s comments, combined with Hu Baiwan’s reputation in Xizhou, they quickly grasped the situation.

Some even began to support Jiang Yanyi, and the situation was turning out entirely differently from what Madam Hu had expected.

Mrs. Hu listened to the gossiping voices of the women around her, her excess flesh shaking with anger.

In the past, if she wanted to deal with someone, she could do so with just her mouth, and with a group of wicked servants at her side, those young women she cornered could not even manage to clarify themselves against her overpowering presence.

This was the first time she had suffered in silence, and Mrs. Hu was so furious that her chest hurt.

In her anger, her mind was unclear, and she just wanted to find a way to regain her face, so she shouted, “Smash the shop!”

Usually, her group of wicked servants would have already started wreaking havoc, but today they hesitated after seeing the dozen firemen inside the shop holding firewood.

They glanced at their own sticks and felt a bit intimidated.

After Mrs. Hu shouted, her servants remained still.

She turned around and slapped the nearest servant hard across the face: “Are your ears deaf? This lady commands you to smash the shop!”

The group of wicked servants could only harden their resolve and step forward.

The firemen, afraid of damaging Jiang Yanyi’s shop, didn’t wait for the wicked servants to rush in and instead fought it out on the street.

The firemen from the barracks were naturally more skilled than a bunch of idle servants.

Soon, Mrs. Hu’s wicked servants were all left with bruises and swollen faces.

Unable to tolerate it any longer, Mrs. Hu hastily instructed a nearby maid, “You hurry to the yamen (government office) and bring people over, saying I was attacked in the street!”

The maid rushed away.

Mrs. Hu, struggling to roll up her sleeves, decided to confront Jiang Yanyi herself.

However, Jiang Yanyi wasn’t foolish and could tell from Mrs. Hu’s stature that she wouldn’t be able to confront her head-on.

Jiang Yanyi was agile, and Mrs. Hu couldn’t catch her.

Frustrated, she took her anger out on the shop’s dishes, smashing them to the ground.

As the porcelain shattered, Mrs. Hu, despite wearing embroidered shoes, put her weight down, and a shard of broken porcelain pierced through the sole of her shoe and into the sole of her foot.

Mrs. Hu let out a painful scream, lifting her foot to see where she had stepped on the shard, but due to her weight, she couldn’t bend down at all.

Instead, she lost her balance and fell onto her behind.

The place where she sat was right on the shards of porcelain she had just smashed, causing a piece to embed itself in her flesh, and Mrs. Hu let out another scream, her face turning pale from the pain.

The few maids left around her exchanged glances, afraid to approach her to help.

Jiang Yanyi didn’t expect Mrs. Hu to smash her own dishes and then suffer immediate retribution.

She quickly called out to the onlookers still gathered at the entrance, “Please, everyone, serve as witnesses. She fell by herself; it has nothing to do with my shop!”

Laughter erupted from the crowd, who clearly saw Mrs. Hu’s attempt to teach someone a lesson with her wicked servants as nothing more than a farce.

“Clear the way! Officials are handling a case; bystanders, retreat!”

A group of officials appeared on the street, led by the maid Mrs. Hu had just sent to fetch help.

When the maid returned and saw Mrs. Hu sitting on the ground, blood on her foot and soaking through her skirt, she paused for a moment before rushing over to try to help her up, her face anxious: “Madam, have you…?”

Otherwise, why was her backside all red?

Mrs. Hu, furious, wanted to slap the maid twice but sadly lacked the strength, so she could only shout with a cry, “I stepped on broken porcelain on my butt!”

“Oh, oh,” the maid hurriedly helped Mrs. Hu up, but her strength was insufficient.

With Mrs. Hu’s weight pressing down on her, the maid was unable to support her, and they both collapsed into the pile of shards, hitting the ground with a thud.

This time, Mrs. Hu’s back was also pierced by the broken pieces, and she screamed in pain again.

Jiang Yanyi stood dumbfounded, witnessing what it meant to be “bruised all over,” and it was all due to the opponent’s own actions.

The head of the officials recognized Mrs. Hu and, seeing her servants beaten black and blue and Mrs. Hu covered in shards, he maintained a serious face and gestured to the officials behind him: “The shop owner has intentionally harmed someone; seal the shop and take everyone back to the yamen!”

Jiang Yanyi realized the official was good at lying; the maid’s second attempt to help Mrs. Hu had resulted in another fall, and these officials had witnessed it all.

Not knowing the relationship between Mrs. Hu and the magistrate, she sharply sensed at that moment that the government and the Hu family must be deeply intertwined.

If she was taken into jail like this, she had no idea what awaited her.

Jiang Yanyi couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.

Several officials stepped forward to apprehend her, but the firemen, having received a subtle signal from Chef Li and Zhao, stepped up to block them.

Seeing this, the head of the officials sneered: “Do you want to rebel?”

Head Zhao, being smooth and having broader connections outside the barracks than Chef Li, clasped his hands and said, “This officer seems unfamiliar. I wonder if Captain Yuan Meng is still on duty at the yamen?”

The head of the officials shot him a glance, “Captain Yuan retired to his hometown years ago.”

Since they could not count on personal connections, Zhao had to change his approach: “We are firemen from the West Camp. Today, this woman came to provoke us first, and the injuries she has were self-inflicted. It wouldn’t be proper for the officer to take people without distinguishing right from wrong.”

The barracks and the government typically kept their distance, and the head of the officials didn’t regard a fireman’s words highly, immediately scoffing: “A dog chasing a mouse is meddling in others’ business. Am I supposed to let you cooks teach me how to handle a case?”

The firemen all wore angry expressions.

Suddenly, a cold voice rang out from the crowd, “They can’t teach, but I can teach!”