Jiang Ling didn’t share this bit with Sister Juxiang. That woman had a loose tongue—if she said something in the morning, Section Chief Liu’s wife would know about it by the afternoon.

That was just asking to offend the entire Liu family.

She wasn’t about to get herself into trouble for no gain.

The warm sunlight bathed her body, making her drowsy, so she went back inside to take a nap.

Sundays were a rare chance to relax. On workdays, she never had the luxury of lying down for a proper rest—at most, she could nap at her desk for a little while.

When Jiang Ling went to lie down for her nap, Song Guanshu was still reading. Sometimes, she admired his persistence—his ability to study tirelessly, always striving forward, even if the reason behind his reading was for stirring things up.

Afternoon naps were a truly pleasant and indulgent thing—like floating on a cloud. But Jiang Ling had barely fallen asleep when noise from outside woke her up.

She forced her eyes open with difficulty. “What’s going on?”

Still groggy from sleep, her voice carried a soft, half-coquettish tone.

Song Guanshu looked up from his book, glanced at the small lump that was Jiang Ling wrapped in the blanket, then shifted his gaze to the window. “Sounds like someone’s spanking a kid.”

Spanking a kid? Then the noise was really something.

As the sounds grew louder and louder, there was no way Jiang Ling could fall back asleep.

She pushed open the window, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from, and happened to see Li Jun hurrying out from across the yard.

Her curiosity piqued, Jiang Ling followed her outside.

Li Jun didn’t slow down at all and headed straight for Section Chief Liu’s house in the front yard.

Next door, Juxiang and her mother-in-law and sister-in-law were all standing outside watching the commotion. Jiang Ling was on familiar terms with Juxiang, so she walked over and asked, “What happened?”

Juxiang had been watching the scene a bit longer than Jiang Ling. “Those Liu kids went to Section Chief Liu’s house to steal things and got caught by Qingzhu.”

By rights, a fight like this should have been reported to the Security Section, but no one had gone to call them.

How could they? One of the people fighting was the ex-wife of the Security Section chief, and the other was his current wife. The young men in the Security Section wouldn’t dare get involved—this was something only Section Chief Liu himself could handle.

When Li Jun saw her son and daughter being beaten unilaterally with brooms by Han Ruixue’s siblings, she panicked. She rushed over, snatched the broom from Han Ruixue’s hands, and shielded her children behind her.

The Han siblings were both skinny and frail—not much of a match in front of the burly and thickset Li Jun.

“You filthy woman raised two thieves!” Han Ruixue shouted, hands on her hips, cursing furiously. “No wonder money kept going missing in the house—it was these two little thieves all along!”

Han Ruixue ordered her younger brother, “Qingzhu, go call the Public Security Officer. Get the Security Section over here. Tell them someone broke into our house.”

Li Jun, of course, wouldn’t back down. “Liu Lei and Liu Tong are Old Liu’s children. If they eat from their father and use his things, that’s only right. You’re Old Liu’s wife now—fine, if you can’t stand me, I can accept that. But those two are his own flesh and blood. As their stepmother, how can you throw such filth on them so easily, calling them thieves? Do you have any idea what kind of psychological trauma that could cause?”

Out of sight from the others, Li Jun gave Liu Tong a hard pinch. The girl got the signal and immediately burst into loud sobs.

“My brother and I came to see our dad. We didn’t steal anything… wuwuwu…”

People naturally tend to side with the weak. The Liu siblings had grown up under everyone’s watchful eyes, and no one had ever heard of them having any habit of stealing.

Since Section Chief Liu had divorced his plain, long-suffering wife and married the younger, prettier Han Ruixue, the neighbors had never thought highly of Han Ruixue. Most of them saw her as a fox spirit who had corrupted a good comrade.

Especially now that both families lived so close—one in the front yard, the other in the back—and Section Chief Liu was supporting his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, yet neglecting his own children, it made things look even worse.

Section Chief Liu had always had a reputation as a righteous, good man. If he was ignoring his own kids while raising children that weren’t his, the only explanation people could accept was that he had been bewitched by that fox spirit.

Seeing the children cry, the neighbors around them began to feel sympathy for Liu Tong. They thought Han Ruixue’s attitude was a bit too aggressive.

“Xiao Han, maybe let it go. Tongtong’s not the type to steal. Could it be a misunderstanding?”

The onlookers were trying to give Han Ruixue a way to step down and smooth things over.

But Han Ruixue was so furious she nearly toppled over backward. “That’s nonsense! When we came in, she was holding money in her hand. Our lockbox had clearly been rummaged through. If it wasn’t those two little brats, then who else could it be?”

To get to the root of the matter, it all started about an hour earlier—when the Liu siblings had failed to get any money from Li Jun.

Liu Lei kept pestering for candy, and Liu Tong remembered seeing Han Ruixue heading to the bus stop earlier to pick up Han Qingzhu. That meant no one should’ve been home in the front yard.

So she had a wicked thought.

She wasn’t a little kid anymore, she could think things through. She knew that was her father’s house, and even if she was caught red-handed, nothing serious would happen to her.

Of course, this wasn’t Liu Tong’s first time doing such a thing. She had snuck into the house before when no one was home and taken things a few times, always without getting caught.

Even if a neighbor saw her, she could just say she was looking for Section Chief Liu.

With that habit already formed, whenever she needed money, she would sneak into the house when the Han siblings weren’t around.

But this time, luck wasn’t on her side. Han Ruixue and Han Qingzhu happened to come back at just the wrong moment and caught her red-handed with both the stolen goods and the act.

It was a rare day off, and Section Chief Liu had gone out, completely unaware that a major incident was unfolding at home. Miao Jinhui was frantically searching for him everywhere.

Miao Jinhui’s situation was particularly tricky. While the neighbors could all gather around Section Chief Liu’s house to enjoy the spectacle, he couldn’t.

He worked in the Security Section, and Section Chief Liu was his direct superior.

Now that his leader’s ex-wife and current wife were physically fighting, who was he supposed to help? Whoever he sided with, it would be the wrong choice. The best strategy was to find an excuse to stay out of it altogether.

Han Ruixue’s hair had been yanked loose by Li Jun, and she was now clawing wildly at Li Jun’s face with something like the “Nine Yin White Bone Claws.”

Han Ruixue had a slender build, and in terms of strength, she was no match for Li Jun. She did have the advantage of height and long limbs, but that wasn’t enough.

In a one-on-one fight, she was clearly on the losing side. Li Jun had pinned her down and was slapping her across the face.

Her younger siblings were quite the characters too. Her brother, Qingzhu, disregarded all notions of propriety and rushed forward to pull Li Jun off. But Liu Lei and Liu Tong, seeing their mother being attacked, clung tightly to Han Qingzhu’s legs to stop him from getting closer.

Han Qingzhu had no qualms about hitting children. Without hesitation, he kicked each of them aside—one kick per child, sending them flying.

Several of the older women present immediately objected, stepping forward to scold him. “No matter what, you can’t go around kicking children!”

Just then, Granny Liu, who had been out chatting, squeezed into the fray. The moment she stepped in, she saw her precious eldest grandson being kicked aside by Han Qingzhu.

This old lady had been a fierce fighter in her younger days. Without hesitation, she grabbed a nearby firewood stick and started whacking Han Qingzhu with it. The stick left one dark mark after another across his body.

Han Ruixue’s younger siblings were a pair of fraternal twins—Han Hongmei was the sister, Han Qingzhu the brother.

Seeing both her older sister and younger brother getting the worst of it, Han Hongmei couldn’t just stand by. But at the same time, she was terrified of getting hit herself.

So Han Hongmei turned to the surrounding neighbors, pleading, “Uncles and aunties, please help us. My older sister and younger brother are frail—they can’t take this. I’m begging you, please help separate them.”

But no one wanted to get involved in such a messy dispute where you’d be blamed no matter which side you took.

Still, one young man stepped forward. He was the second son of Juxiang’s eldest brother-in-law’s family, two years older than Han Hongmei, but also her classmate.

The look in his eyes gave him away instantly—he clearly had a crush on Han Hongmei. Everyone could tell with a single glance that he was sweet on her.

If not for this incident, they might never have noticed.

The Han siblings all had pleasant appearances, and youthful affection was perfectly natural.

However, the Han family didn’t have a good reputation in the housing compound. Han Ruixue didn’t do any housework and expected her husband to wait on her, and no family wanted a daughter-in-law like that.

The Miao family’s eldest daughter-in-law looked furious. She called out to her son twice in a row, but he didn’t budge.

When a young man wants to show off in front of the girl he likes, even his own mother can’t stop him.

Determined to stand out among the many admirers, Miao Aijun used all his strength to pull Han Ruixue and Li Jun apart.

By that point, the two women on the ground were already in terrible shape. Han Ruixue’s hair had been yanked into a bird’s nest, with large clumps torn out completely.

Li Jun’s face, meanwhile, had been scratched into a mess of red welts by Han Ruixue’s nails, like scattered snowflakes.

Since Miao Aijun had taken Han Hongmei’s side, it was inevitable that he would be biased toward Han Ruixue. As a result, Li Jun got scratched a couple more times before being pulled away.

She was furious. Furious that Miao Aijun had helped the Han siblings. He was a neighbor of hers, yet sided with the Han family. Why else would he do that? Clearly, just like old Liu, he’d been bewitched by that little fox spirit from the Han family.

Li Jun had no scruples about fighting men. She knew she didn’t have the strength to overpower one, but she had technique. She went straight for the lower body—her first move was clearly aimed at ruining him for good.

The Miao family’s eldest daughter-in-law could scold her foolish son all she wanted in her heart, but she would never allow someone to turn her son into a eunuch right under her nose.

So, without hesitation, she charged in as well.

Seeing more and more people standing on the side of those two fox-spirit siblings from the Han family, Li Jun—now clearly outnumbered—furiously shouted, “Li Erhua, what does this have to do with you? Why are you getting involved?”

And as with all arguments, the words turned nasty fast. Li Jun let her mouth run wild. “Your son’s after that little fox from the Han family, and you’ve got your eyes on the male fox!”

Now that was truly over the line. Everyone present could tell that The Miao family’s eldest daughter-in-law had only stepped in for her son, but in Li Jun’s mouth, it turned into her being infatuated with Han Qingzhu.

Han Qingzhu was about the same age as Miao Aijun. The crowd around them began shaking their heads in disapproval.

Li Jun was too busy fighting to notice the shift in attitude among the neighbors.

The Miao family’s eldest daughter-in-law, having been humiliated in front of everyone, was furious. She grabbed a handful of Li Jun’s hair and landed two loud slaps on her face.

Li Jun and the Miao family’s eldest daughter-in-law were true equals—a heavyweight match. Both were women used to climbing mountains and working in the kitchen, strong and sturdy from daily labor.

Han Ruixue, on the other hand, was a delicate beauty who didn’t even cook at home. She was slender, frail, like a decorative lamp that would topple with a breeze.

She was no match for Li Jun and had ended up being pinned down and beaten.

But when facing the Miao family’s eldest daughter-in-law, Li Jun began to falter. She had already spent a good deal of strength on Han Ruixue.

Though Han Ruixue was weak in strength, she fought viciously. Li Jun’s chest still burned with pain from her earlier scratches.

“You dare spread rumors about me?” Pa! Pa! Pa!—several slaps landed.

“You dare hit my son?” Pa! Pa! Pa!—she slapped a few more times.

This whole brawl had started with the children of the Liu family sneaking into their father’s home to steal money, but by the end, it had escalated into an all-out war between Li Jun and the Miao family’s eldest daughter-in-law.

The two women became entangled in a fierce fight, and in the chaos, the Miao family’s eldest daughter-in-law managed to pull Han Ruixue out of the fray.