He grabbed Shen Qiyin's wrist and yelled at her, "Didn't you tell me that no one could come up with a matching couplet?"

"Look at yourself, these days you can even match up with a stinking beggar!"

"You wretch! How dare you try to fool me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and slapped the man down!

But before his slap could land on her face, she had already collapsed.

Shen Qiyin shrank back, her clear eyes filled with fear, as if she were looking at some monstrous beast. She murmured and pleaded, "Brother, please don't hit me, I know I was wrong..."

The mistake was underestimating his stupidity.

With a slight shake of her head, Chen Qiyin looked helpless: "My brother only told me to think of an absolute couplet as stunning as that of Prince Xiao, but my knowledge is limited, so I can only resort to trickery and come up with such a despicable first line. I thought no one would be able to match it."

Upon hearing this, everyone realized something was amiss.

"So it turns out that the first line of the couplet that Young Master Shen gave him wasn't something he came up with on his own, but rather something Miss Shen taught him behind the scenes?"

"Indeed! No wonder he knew nothing when faced with Dean Lin's questions. Turns out he's empty-headed and just pretending to be a scholar!"

Those who were quick-witted said, "Since this couplet wasn't his own skill, then it goes without saying that the couplet he used to answer Young Master Xiao must have been with Miss Shen's help!"

...

As Shen Yaozu listened to the discussions about him, he felt as if the blood in his body had frozen.

The reputation of a talented scholar that he painstakingly cultivated and the Qing Tong Academy that he went to great lengths to enter have now been destroyed!

He glared at Shen Qiyin, his tone chilling: "It's all your fault..."

"Brother, I didn't know it would turn out like this... I didn't know, I really didn't know..." He really didn't know! It was a completely unexpected gain.

"Brother, please calm down..."

She spoke softly, tears streaming down her face.

It is said that a beautiful woman's tears are not tears, but rather the condensation of cold dew and the falling of jade beads.

It was heartbreaking to see.

However, Shen Yaozu felt no pity or tenderness towards her. Instead, he felt the fire in his heart burning brighter and brighter, and he looked at Shen Qiyin as if he wanted to strangle her.

"You bitch! I'll beat you to death!"

He tried to go forward, but was stopped by the guards who rushed over.

In the midst of the scuffle, a vegetable basket flew out of nowhere, along with the vegetables and eggs inside, and landed on Shen Yaozu's head.

Bright yellow egg yolk dripped down his forehead, smearing his face.

Just as his vision was obstructed, someone suddenly kicked him in the butt, and he fell face-first into the mud.

He tried to get up in a disheveled state, but more and more feet landed on him.

The first person to kick his butt was a butcher. Once, while slaughtering a pig, he was accidentally gored by it, and his arm dislocated after hitting the wall. It was Shen Qiyin who put it back in place.

I was carrying a pig when I passed by and saw that "Er Ya" was being bullied. I abandoned the pig, threw it on the ground, and rushed over.

"If murder were legal, you'd be lying on my chopping block today!"

"Aren't scholars supposed to be reasonable? How could they resort to violence? Hitting someone is one thing, but it's a woman, and even worse, it's my own sister... Wait, why do I feel like I've said that before?"

"Oh, isn't that the fight between the eldest son of the Shen family and the third young lady of the Shen family at Dongyue Tower last time? We went to watch it together." His companion kicked while helping him recall.

Finally, he couldn't help but say, "Tsk, how come all the men in the Shen family are so incompetent? They're useless with outsiders, but they're all incredibly tough on their own sisters!"

"You didn't see how she was just now. Miss Shen was terrified. It must not be the first time she's been beaten by this beast."

...

The area was packed with people, and it was completely chaotic.

The two poor guards were surrounded and took quite a beating: "Hey, stop kicking me! I'm here to break up the fight! You've got the wrong person, I don't know him!"

On the main battlefield, the "front lines," most of the people are men.

"Backstage" consisted of young women, married women, and older women who were indignantly protecting Shen Qiyin and cursing Shen Yaozu incessantly.

The person in the lead was an elderly woman surnamed "Cui".

Previously, at the gate of the Marquis of Wu'an's mansion, she recognized Shen Qiyin as Er Ya from Guangrentang just by looking at her eyes.

That vegetable basket was thrown by her.

Even after the Imperial Guards arrived to stop the riot, Granny Cui still shielded Shen Qiyin behind her and asked the Imperial Guards who were questioning her, "Hitting someone? Who hit someone?"

She pointed at Shen Yaozu, who was covered in footprints: "Oh, the police officer was talking about him."

"Yes, yes, that's right! It was him, he hit someone!"

Jinwuwei glanced at Shen Yaozu, who was covered in shoe prints and vegetable leaves, with an unknown slime dripping from his hair and a faint fishy smell emanating from him. He was somewhat uncertain: "The one who hit him... was it him?!"

"Ah!" Aunt Cui looked like she thought, "How could someone my age lie?" "She went crazy and rushed over to hit our Er Ya, looking like she was going to eat her alive."

"Bullshit!" Shen Yaozu struggled to his feet. "You guys clearly ganged up on me!"

Upon hearing this, the Imperial Guard looked at Granny Cui.

Aunt Cui immediately shook her head vigorously, denying it, saying, "He charged over like a mad donkey. Everyone was scared, so they all tried to avoid him. As a result, everyone was pushing and shoving each other. He lost his balance and fell to the ground, which is why he was stepped on twice."

Everyone around nodded in agreement, confirming that what Aunt Cui said was true.

Shen Yaozu roared in fury, "It was this old hag who threw the vegetable basket at me!"

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!