The hanging flower gate in the west wing of the Prince's Palace recently received a new, eerie plaque. Its gilded copper characters gleamed in the sunlight, bearing the inscription "School of Tricksters." Shen Weiwan stood beneath the plaque, her hands on her hips. A palm-sized leather pouch dangled from the waist of her moon-white skirt, bulging with itching powder and chili powder. Laughter and laughter echoed from the courtyard. Keng Keng was playing "trick hide-and-seek" with a dozen young nobles. Hiding behind a Taihu rock, he smeared a shimmering powder onto the wings of a bamboo dragonfly. It was Shen Weiwan's specially crafted "tracking itching powder."

"Mom!" Kenkeng rushed over holding a bamboo dragonfly, with half a fallen leaf stuck on his tiger-head hat. "Ergou smeared itching powder on the brim of my hat!" He blinked his almond eyes, which were exactly the same as Shen Weiwan's, and his hands were covered with white powder.

Shen Weiwan tapped his forehead with a flick of her finger, her fingertips stained with itching powder: "Coward! You won't stuff chili powder into his boots? Remember my mother's school motto - 'If the enemy doesn't move, I will be the first to entrap him; if the enemy entraps me, I will entrap him hard'!" She took out a wax pill from the pouch on her waist, broke it into pieces and stuffed it into Kangkang's hand, "This is an upgraded version of chili powder. One sniff of it will make you sneeze ten times."

As she was speaking, there was a sudden banging sound outside the hanging flower gate. Chuntao stumbled in, holding her skirt, the silver hairpin in her bun askew. "Madam! It's bad! Nanny Wang from the 'Ladies' College' next door has brought more than 20 maids with them, holding brooms and trying to smash our plaque!"

Chen Weiwan raised her eyebrows and slowly straightened the lotus-patterned tassels on her cuffs: "You've come just in time. Today, Mom will teach you what 'competitors are enemies' means." She clapped her hands three times, and immediately neat slogans rang out in the yard. A dozen naughty kids lined up in three rows. Kenkeng brought a half-person-high pottery jar, and Wawa carried a chipped swill bucket with rotten vegetable leaves hanging on the edge.

When Nanny Wang kicked open the hanging flower-shaped door, she saw Chen Weiwan leaning against a porch pillar, munching on sunflower seeds, a group of brats rubbing their fists behind her. Nanny Wang, nearing fifty, with wrinkles on her forehead that could kill a fly, wore a starched blue cloth jacket, pounding the bluestone slabs with her jujube wood cane. "Chen Weiwan! You're a lecherous woman who's disrupting the government! How dare you open a 'school of deception' and corrupt the imperial family? How dare you!" The maids behind her held up wooden signs that read, "A woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent." Their shouts were so loud that the parrots in the porch flapped their wings and cursed.

Chen Weiwan spat out a piece of melon seed shell and smiled like a cat stealing fish: "Wang Ma, where does your anger come from? Could it be that the 'Ladies' College' hasn't recruited any students in three months, so you come to me to steal my business?" She glanced at the few sparse servants behind Wang Ma, "Tsk tsk, with just these few people, are they enough to fill the gaps in my courtyard's teeth?"

"You!" Nanny Wang was sorely touched, her triangular eyes bulging like bells. "At our ladies' academy, we teach the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, needlework and embroidery. It's nothing like yours, where you teach children to dig traps and apply itching powder every day!" She pointed at the hole where she was tying the shoelaces for the old woman. "Look at that brat! He's actually smearing lard on the soles of my servant's shoes!"

"Hey - Ma'am, please don't wrongly accuse me." Chen Weiwan walked over to the pit, waving a round fan, and lifted the old woman's trouser legs. "This is called 'elegant wrestling', a compulsory course in our school. Look how evenly the lard is applied. It guarantees that the fall will be both beautiful and painless. What a practical life skill!"

Nanny Wang was so angry that her crutch almost pierced the ground. She pointed at Shen Weiwan's nose and cursed: "Heresy! I must smash this broken plaque today!" She waved her hand for the maids to come forward, and several burly maids rolled up their sleeves and went to move the ladder.

"Wait!" Shen Weiwan snapped her fingers, and Kengkeng immediately uncorked the pottery jar and sprinkled it towards Nanny Wang and the others. The fine, itchy powder drifted across the room on the draft, instantly covering the faces of the women in the front row. They felt like they'd been hit on the funny bone, scratching and ripping themselves, rolling on the ground, and the wooden hairpins in their hair buns fell to the ground.

"Hahaha!" Wa Wa laughed so hard that he fell backwards, picked up the slop bucket and poured it on Wang Ma. The rotten water mixed with rotten vegetable leaves poured down on her head. Wang Ma screamed miserably, and her hair was covered with pickled cabbage leaves, and her silver hairpin was twisted into a twist.

"Little bitch!" Nanny Wang was itchy and smelly. She reached out to scratch the soy beans, but she slipped on the soybeans scattered on the ground and fell on her back. Her blue cloth jacket was lifted up to reveal her patched cotton pants. The naughty children around her clapped their hands and cheered: "Nanny Wang, you farted! You fell like a lizard!"

Chen Weiwan pinched her nose and walked over, lifting Nanny Wang's chin with her round fan: "Look, Nanny, this is our 'practical defense class' - what to do if you encounter violent demolition? Itching powder + sour water combo, environmentally friendly and refreshing." She shook the small porcelain bottle in her hand, "Do you want some pepper spray to help?"

Nanny Wang struggled to her feet, a pickled carrot still hanging from her hair. "You...just wait! I'm going to the clan office to file a complaint!"

"Sue!" Chen Weiwan smiled so hard that her teeth were visible. "Do you want me to help you write a complaint? Just say, 'The dean of the Ladies College was jealous of her colleagues, so she brought people to mess up the place and ended up getting screwed.' I guarantee it will be on the front page of the Capital Gossip Newspaper tomorrow!"

Nanny Wang looked around at the servants who were convulsing with laughter and the children who were gloating over the misfortune. She then touched her soaked coat and knew that if she continued to make trouble, she would lose face. She had no choice but to hold her nose and lead the retreat. Just as she reached the hanging flower gate, Wa Wa threw another rotten egg, which hit Nanny Wang's back with a "bang". The yellow egg liquid ran down her spine.

"Mom! We won!" Kenkeng and Wawa rushed over, their bodies covered with itching powder and sour water, just like two little pigs that fell into a mud pit.

Shen Weiwan took out a handkerchief to wipe their faces, smiling so hard that the corners of her mouth curled up to the sky: "See? To deal with such an old stubborn person, you have to use the 'fight poison with poison' from the 'Thirty-Six Strategies of Deceiving People'. Remember, if anyone dares to bully you in the future, you will return it double the way you did today!"

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