After the three women chatted for a while, Mu Qing asked with some concern, "He's not up yet, is he?"

Although they were very tired last night, Mu Qingren knew that Jing Zhe was definitely more tired than them. After all, most of the time, they were just lying down, crouching, sitting, kneeling or standing, and they all stayed in one position without moving much.

Moreover, if a battle is divided into five parts, she and Wang Yingqiu each take two parts, and Zhang Xiaoyu takes one part, so she has three-fifths of the rest time.

But Jing Zhe was different. He participated throughout the entire battle and was in top form; the fight lasted all night…

They had only just gotten up a little while ago, so it would be understandable if Jing Zhe hadn't gotten up yet.

However, Zhang Xiaoyu shook her head with a smile: "Sister underestimates her husband! He was already up this morning before Xiaoyu was even awake!"

"So early..."

Mu Qingren and Wang Yingqiu were both somewhat surprised, and their voices were tinged with heartache. Mu Qingren looked around and asked, "Since you're up, why don't we see him?"

Zhang Xiaoyu briefly recounted how Jing Zhe had exposed his identity and arrested Prefect Liu and Manager Hu, concluding with, "My husband was taken away by Miss Zhou..."

"Taken away?"

"By Zhou Ziqiong?"

The two women were stunned, especially Mu Qingren, who immediately became furious.

"When I asked her yesterday, she hesitated and stammered, and I knew it wasn't that simple!"

"How dare you hold his hand in public? Shameless!"

"Why didn't you pull him yesterday? Now that you know who he is, you're trying to bring him home. You're so vain!"

"..."

Seeing Mu Qingren's extremely jealous expression, Zhang Xiaoyu couldn't help but chuckle, because in Mu Qingren, she seemed to see herself when she first became insecure after confirming her relationship with Jing Zhe.

I can understand a woman who's just started dating!

So she smiled and said, "Sister, there's no need to be in such a hurry. It's really nothing."

Upon hearing this, Mu Qingren became even more anxious: "Xiaoyu, since he's on your side, you need to keep a close eye on him! Who knows if Zhou Ziqiong has any bad intentions?"

"Sister, it shouldn't be like that... Actually, it was I who encouraged my husband to pursue Miss Zhou. Miss Zhou is not only beautiful, but also has a good personality. When I met her, I felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, just like when I met you two sisters! Most importantly, Miss Zhou has rich business experience. If she is with my husband, she can help him a lot in the future!"

"..."

Neither Mu Qingren nor Wang Yingqiu expected that the matchmaker who brought Zhou Ziqiong and Jing Zhe together was Zhang Xiaoyu. This only shows that this woman is simple-minded and has no ill intentions.

"Xiaoyu, this is not right!"

"Sister, what's the big deal? We tried it last night, and the three of us were no match for our husband. So, bringing some more sisters will help ease the pressure on us!"

Zhang Xiaoyu said earnestly.

"Xiaoyu, you're being foolish! He's always been a womanizer. Even with all our vigilance, he might still bring someone home. And now you're making promises on your own initiative. How many people will be in your family then? He may be shrewd, but how many sisters do we have now? If there are more, who knows when it will be our turn!"

"..."

After listening to Wang Yingqiu's explanation, Zhang Xiaoyu was taken aback; she seemed to have overlooked this issue before.

At this moment, Mu Qingren couldn't wait any longer: "Let's go, let's go to Zhou's cloth shop and see what she's up to!"

After saying that, he walked towards the door.

Wang Yingqiu hurriedly said, "Master, aren't you afraid of being seen if we go through the main gate now?"

"His identity has already been exposed, so what's there to be afraid of? Besides, if we go to the Zhou family, how will outsiders know what we're going there for? Even if they do find out—so let them know, they'll find out sooner or later anyway!"

"..."

...

As it was approaching noon, Zhou Gui went down to instruct the kitchen to prepare the meal. It was Jing Zhe's first time here, and he had to eat his first meal, and it had to be a good one, so the preparation time would be quite long.

Zhou Ziqiong didn't stay in the front hall any longer. Instead, she came out of the house and led Jing Zhe to the pavilion in the back garden, ready to hear him recount what had happened before.

"Sect Master Mu! Sect Master Mu!"

At this moment, both of them heard Huaqin's anxious voice, while Jingzhe was curious as to why she was calling Mu Qingren by her name.

The next moment, he found out.

Mu Qingren and Wang Yingqiu rushed in, looking travel-worn, and arrived in front of them in a moment. Huaqin hurried over, still out of breath, and said, "Miss, Pavilion Master Mu insisted on coming to see you, and Huaqin couldn't stop him no matter what she did!"

At this moment, Jing Zhe had already stood up. He knew that Mu Qingren and the others must have come to find him.

As for Zhou Ziqiong, at first her mindset was still stuck in the past, and she also wanted to stand up. But then she thought: No, with my current status, why should I stand up?

She had just slightly bent over when she immediately sat down again, waving her hand at Huaqin to let her leave and instructing her to watch the door and not let anyone else in, because she knew the conversation that was about to begin would definitely not be simple…

Although Zhou Ziqiong was quite famous in Ruzhou City, her status was far inferior to that of Mu Qingren, so she should have stood up upon seeing Mu Qingren, both out of courtesy and reason.

But she remained seated calmly.

This infuriated Mu Qingren: What, now that the mistress has taken over, she's already challenging the authority of the wife?

Although Mu Qingren knew that Zhou Ziqiong might not be considered a mistress, and she was definitely not the legal wife, she was still very angry.

He then said coldly, "Miss Zhou, you have quite the airs!"

"Is it because you have such a high opinion of yourself?"

Zhou Ziqiong not only did not back down at all, but instead put Mu Qingren in a difficult position, and then said coldly, "Zhe'er, tell her that she shouldn't bow to me when she sees me?"

"..."

This angered not only Mu Qingren, but also Wang Yingqiu. "Zhe'er," she said, "how shameless!"

Although Mu Qingren and Wang Yingqiu were both Jing Zhe's women, they never called him Zhe'er. Zhang Xiaoyu and Su Mochen were the same, because they knew that this title was reserved for Jing Zhe's older sisters. They didn't dare to call him that, so how could she?

And... they even bowed?

What merit does she possess to deserve this?!

Even if Jing Zhe really liked her, and she eventually entered the Jing family, it would still be later than theirs. How dare she ask them to bow to her?

Unable to hold back any longer, Wang Yingqiu stepped forward and asked coldly, "Miss Zhou, what a big mouth you have! Since you know my master's identity, how dare you tell us to bow? Don't you think that's extremely rude?"

Instead of finding it wrong, Zhou Ziqiong laughed after hearing it.

"You think I'm rude because you don't know who I am. If you did, you wouldn't think so!"

"..."

————