Everyone was taken aback.

Minister Zhong was astonished. "What did you say? A fight? Or... a verbal argument?"

"No, they really started fighting." The servants also thought it was extremely unreliable. Not to mention the women, even the servants in the mansion were not fighting.

Huo Rang blushed and said with shame, "Your Excellency, I am truly ashamed of my incompetence in governing the country!"

Minister Zhong hurriedly said, "Lord Huo, don't blame yourself. It's common for young people to be impetuous. Go and take a look."

Bai Qingzhou was heartbroken, worried that Mianmian would be bullied, after all, Mianmian was so fragile.

"Your Excellency, I am your student... I'll go and take a look."

Minister Zhong sighed, "Go, go, go quickly."

The two of them hurried over there.

When the two men arrived at the garden, the two women had already been separated.

Objectively speaking, Chen Mianmian lost.

She lost miserably and in a very embarrassing way. She never expected that the delicate and pretty Liu Xiangning would be so good at fighting! She also never expected that her body was so weak. She had clearly tried her best to run before, so how could she still lose?

The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt, and she burst into tears.

Outsiders only thought that Aunt Shen was crying because she was beaten, but in fact she was crying because she was ashamed of losing the fight.

When Bai Qingzhou and Huo Rang arrived, this was the scene they saw: two stunningly beautiful women with disheveled hair, Liu Xiangning with her head down, seemingly ashamed of her impulsiveness; and Chen Mianmian with a bruised eye, sobbing and looking both disheveled and pitiful.

Bai Qingzhou was heartbroken, but considering there were so many people around, he couldn't appear too intimate with his concubine and risk being impolite. He could only suppress his emotions and ask Jiang Yinjin, "What exactly happened?"

Jiang Yinjin sighed, “Your Highness, please calm down. Here’s what happened. The Minister’s wife acquired the Chanxiang Zither and originally wanted me to play it. But the young mistress of the Xuanping Marquis’s mansion actually made me compete with their newly bought slender horse in terms of talent. Madam Shen felt indignant on my behalf and even suggested that I compete with Young Madam Huo. We had just finished playing when their Miss Liu hit Madam Shen.”

Jiang Yinjin spoke loudly, not only to Bai Qingzhou but also to Huo Rang.

Furthermore, he summarized the whole story and made sure everyone heard it, so that everyone could see who was rude and who was in the wrong.

Everyone had already made their judgment—it was the Marquis of Xuanping's family who first provoked and insulted Madam Bai. And it was also the Marquis of Xuanping's family who started the physical altercation; the Marquis of Xuanping's family was in the wrong throughout the entire affair!

Everyone thought of how, when their young mistress was humiliated, the thin concubine stood up and argued her case, and was later beaten black and blue. They felt both pity and admiration for the thin concubine.

Looking at the skinny woman from the Marquis of Xuanping's residence, he shook his head repeatedly—she was a skinny woman too, but not only was she not as good-looking, she was also so rude? Was this how a lady from a noble family should behave?

Huo Rang felt heartbroken seeing Shen Mianmian crying so miserably.

Zhou Miaoyin was so angry she wanted to tear that vixen's face off. She stood directly in front of Huo Rang, blocking his view, and said through gritted teeth, "Husband, Mother wants us to go back first. Are you going back?"

Huo Rang coldly replied, "I'm not going back. Why would I stay and make a fool of myself?"

Seeing the gentle and considerate interaction between Bai Shizi and Jiang Yinjin, and then looking at her husband's disdainful expression, Zhou Miaoyin felt a surge of anger and once again directed her resentment at the people of the Marquis of Anning's mansion, as well as Liu Xiangning.

...

The farce is over.

The Minister's wife tried her best to persuade the two families to stay, but they insisted on leaving. So they got into their carriages one after the other and went home.

The Marquis of Anning's residence.

The group went directly to the main courtyard.

Granny Li had someone fetch some cool well water to chill the handkerchief before applying it to Shen's swollen face.

The hall was deathly silent.

Like the calm before a storm.

Ding Shi held back her anger until Li Mama finished dealing with Shen Shi's situation before finally losing it. "A perfectly good gathering has been turned into a complete mess, and it has brought shame to our Marquis's mansion. Shen Shi, what explanation do you have for this?"

Bai Qingzhou said, "Mother..."

"Shut up!" Ding shouted sternly.

Bai Qingzhou noticed that Mianmian, using the face mask as cover, winked at him, signaling him to be quiet.

After hesitating for a long time, Bai Qingzhou didn't say anything more, but looked at the woman with concern.

Shen Mianmian got up, knelt down properly, and then said, "Madam, please calm down. It was my fault today. In fact, I knew before I started arguing with them that it would bring shame to our Marquis's mansion, but they dared to insult my young mistress by using the term 'skinny horse'. This is intolerable!"

They can scold me for my humble origins and lack of manners, but they absolutely cannot allow a young mistress from a prestigious family like us to compete in talent with a scrawny, skinny horse! Furthermore, no matter how despicable the Xuanping Marquis's mansion is, first they framed our heir, and now they've publicly insulted the young mistress. If I don't stand up for her, we'll suffer in silence!

"I am a slender horse, and I may be scolded for being unruly and ill-mannered, but the young master, the young mistress, and the Marquis's mansion must never be insulted. Therefore, after much deliberation, I went and scolded them..."

Bai Qingzhou understood the logic behind it and felt very upset—the Xuanping Marquis's Mansion had provoked them first, and it was Mianmian who risked damage to her reputation to fight back, yet her mother blamed Mianmian as soon as she returned. What kind of logic was that?

Shen Mianmian secretly prayed in her heart—she was fine as long as she was here, and she hoped that her ancestor, Fengchu, wouldn't stand up for her, otherwise the lady with her low IQ would definitely lose her temper! Once she lost her temper, she would lose her rationality, and in the end, she would be the one to suffer.

Bai Qingzhou clenched her fingers tightly, constantly reminding herself: I must endure! I can't stand up for Mianmian! I'll make it up to Mianmian later.

Just then, a calm and pleasant female voice came from the side, "Mother, you are wise. I think Sister Shen did the right thing today."

Bai Qingzhou was even more worried—would Jiang Yinjin take the opportunity to kick him while he was down?

Jiang Yinjin continued, "The Marquis's Mansion has certainly lost face due to its rudeness, but every stream has its source and every tree has its roots. The ladies and young women present are all reasonable people and can see that today's events were provoked by the Marquis's Mansion first, and we were forced to retaliate."

Furthermore, if Sister Shen speaks up, we'll be impolite and lose face; if she doesn't speak up, we'll become pushovers, easy targets, and equally shameful. Since we're going to lose face anyway, we might as well be defiant and lose face for the sake of a satisfying feeling.”

Shocked, Chen Mianmian cursed inwardly—Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! The female lead actually spoke up for her?! Has the sun risen in the west? Is it raining blood? Is the female lead being soft-hearted and want to let her go?

That would be best. There are so many cannon fodder characters; we can't possibly torture them all! The female lead should just let this cannon fodder character go!

After listening, Ms. Ding found it to be very reasonable and nodded thoughtfully.

Jiang Yinjin smiled and continued, "Besides, it's not just our Anning Marquis's Mansion that's embarrassed; the Xuanping Marquis's Mansion is the same. They're even more embarrassed than us. They provoked us but didn't gain any advantage. So, we've won."

Ding suddenly realized, "You're right! We won!"

Then she said to Shen Mianmian, "Shen, you have made a contribution today, and I will reward you later."