No sooner had Madam He finished speaking than He Jiu stood before her, exuding a murderous aura, a dagger already drawn in his hand.

In terms of strength, who is stronger?

When the menacing He Jiu stood in front of Madam He, Madam Xue lost her composure and raised her finger at the two of them, trembling with anger.

"In broad daylight, do you dare to commit violence in my residence? Where is the law?"

"Attack? Ha, Madam Xue, if you didn't want to stop me here, why would I have to do it here?" Madam He looked Madam Xue up and down.

"What? Weren't you going to use force? What are you waiting for? Let's have a go."

Madam Xue, terrified by Madam He's fierce expression and He Jiu's murderous intent, screamed, "Help! Help! Help! Someone's going to kill someone—"

As soon as Madam Xue finished speaking, Madam He stood calmly in place waiting for people to come in. After a brief moment of stagnation, a large group of thugs filed in.

They were called thugs, but they were really just servants in the Xue family mansion.

Families like theirs didn't have the money to hire thugs; they were mostly burly servants who did menial tasks.

Upon seeing the group of thugs who had stormed in, Madam Xue steadied herself, her expression softening slightly. She then pointed at Madam He and the other woman, feigning composure.

"Arrest them both immediately and send them to the authorities. They're trying to break into a house and commit violence!"

Madam He sneered, "Hmph, He Jiu."

She doesn't accept the accusation of breaking and entering to commit murder. It was clearly her Xue family who did this despicable thing, yet they still try to shift the blame.

Bai Hua has lived for so many years, she has seen all kinds of situations and all kinds of things, how could she be intimidated by a few men?

Since they're already planning to send her to the authorities, she's not going to give the Xue family any face and is really going to go to court to have a proper discussion.

This is something the Xue family is doing to embarrass themselves; they're shameless.

Six thugs rushed forward. He Jiu glanced at them and, seeing that none of them were skilled fighters, she put her dagger away. Without even using the dagger, she kicked them a few times.

Madam Xue witnessed a group of burly men being easily defeated by He Jiu, a young woman, in just a few moves.

Although He Jiu was a woman, she had always followed the He family through thick and thin, traveling all over the country. There were bandits on mountain roads and pirates on waterways. She had encountered and fought with many such bandits and pirates.

Otherwise, if bandits or pirates steal the goods, how can we do business?

The He family's business involves traveling all over the country; they don't just do small-scale business in one small place like Hongcheng.

Those are all big businesses at the border crossings.

If you didn't have some skills or tricks up your sleeve, you would have died far from home long ago after leaving the country.

The He family's business has grown to such a large scale, and they've done plenty of bloody things. Compared to them, these few servants and lackeys are nothing to worry about.

Madam He had often traveled far with He Yanshang in her earlier years, and she had encountered similar situations before. So when these servants rushed at her, she remained quite calm and didn't even blink.

She glanced at the few servants lying on the ground, groaning and moaning, then turned and said, "Madam Xue, we'll see you in court."

Madam Xue stared blankly at the people on the ground, her face pale, shocked, angry, frightened, and furious.

**

The Xue family and the He family, one a prominent family in Hongcheng and the other the wealthiest merchant family in Hongcheng, had a dispute that caused quite a stir in Hongcheng when they went to court.

In the study of the He family home, Helsin is looking at the delivery slips.

He Shuang entered the room with a frown and a hurried expression. "Master, something bad has happened. Madam and the Xue family have taken their dispute to court."

Helsin raised his eyelids, glanced at He Shuang, his expression as calm as ever, with no panic in his eyes, only some surprise.

"Weren't they going to discuss marriage? How did things end up in court?"

"It seems that the Xue family doesn't acknowledge that our He family gave a gift of two thousand taels of silver. When the eldest Madam of the Xue family refused the lady, she may have said some harsh words, which angered the lady."

Then the lady and the eldest lady of the Xue family started arguing, which escalated to the point of physical violence.

From what He Jiu said, that's how it is.

Helsing raised an eyebrow, his gaze returning to the list. He scanned the list, his voice rising slightly, "You're not admitting to giving a gift worth two thousand taels of silver? Is it about that set of jewelry?"

He Shuang nodded. "It should be, Master. You should hurry and go to the government office to take a look. Madam is in court right now, confronting the Xue family."

Many other prominent families, having heard the news, went to see what was going on.

Helsin spoke casually, downplaying the matter. He remained seated, not even lifting his buttocks. "So what? It's not my Helsen family that's being disgraced."

He Shuang paused, then said, "That makes sense. The gifts were eventually delivered to the Xue family mansion, and the Xue family members received them. It's a done deal."

No matter how much the Xue family denies it, it's an undeniable fact.

If this gets out, it will ruin the Xue family's reputation, not her He family's. Thinking of this, He Shuang was no longer in a hurry.

Meanwhile, Xue Jinluan from the Xue family was frantic with worry. She hadn't expected the matter to escalate to such a huge extent, even reaching the authorities.

If this gets out, what will happen to her—

Xue Jinluan felt a little uneasy. No, if this matter were to be revealed, she would definitely not be able to cover it up herself. She had to go find her mother.

That set of jewelry must be worth at least a thousand taels of silver; I'll probably split it with my mother at most.

Xue Jinluan braced herself and went to see the second wife of the Xue family.

Although the second wife of the Xue family was watching the show with amusement, this matter would inevitably affect their branch of the family to some extent. After all, their branch was an inseparable part of the Xue family; they shared both prosperity and adversity. She understood this principle.

Therefore, at this moment, facing what the eldest branch of the Xue family had done, they felt a mixture of anger, amusement, annoyance, and hatred.

Madam Xue was absentmindedly chewing on a candied fruit when she heard the news from the nanny beside her. Then she saw her good-for-nothing daughter come over.

"What are you doing here? How's your zither practice going? How's your embroidery practice going?"

Xue Jinluan kept her head down, not daring to look up at Madam Xue, twisting her handkerchief in her hands, and stammered, "Mother, I... I have something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it?" Upon hearing that something was wrong, Madam Xue stared at Xue Jinluan without blinking.

Stared at by Madam Xue, and feeling her mother's gaze, Xue Jinluan felt her scalp tingle and dared not look up.