Jinghe knelt down with a thud, her knees hitting the ground. Qin Xiaozhou felt the pain, but she seemed not to feel it at all. "Please, shopkeeper, don't send me away. I know I was wrong."

He crawled on his knees to Zhao Fang, tugging at her trouser leg. "Shopkeeper, I was wrong, I was wrong. I'll never do it again. Please don't kick me out. I promise I'll never take things without permission again."

Gou Sheng was furious. "You surnamed Qin, you promiscuous slut, ptooey! I'm taking my wife away because I'm afraid you'll corrupt her." He pulled Jing He up. "Let's go, don't associate with this kind of slut. It's shameful. We'd rather starve than work for her."

Qin Xiaozhou laughed in anger and stepped forward to punch and kick. She was strong, and even Qian Sheng's servants couldn't hold her back, let alone Gou Sheng, this skinny man. She slapped him to the ground twice, making him howl like a banshee.

The neighbors on the street were all alarmed and came out to see what was happening. They saw Qin Xiaozhou dragging a man who was half-dead from the beating and leaving him in the middle of the street, hands on her hips: "You wouldn't listen to reason, you insisted on having to hit me. I'll say it again, if I listen to anyone gossip again, this is what will happen. If you slander me three times, then we'll see each other in court. If you can't explain yourself clearly, I will not give up. I will sue the gossips until they are bankrupt. If you're not afraid, come on, say it to my face."

The people around were trembling with fear and quickly closed the door, saying, "Don't look, don't look! Let's go, she's a shrew, don't mess with her."

"I've never seen such a shameless and fierce woman."

Another woman said, "I think Manager Qin is quite capable."

The woman was quickly pulled away by her mother-in-law, who said, "A woman hitting a man? This is outrageous! Go back home now!"

Gou Sheng huddled up in a ball, terrified of the beating. He couldn't believe this woman was acting this way. Back in the village, if he said anything inappropriate, the women would be both ashamed and angry, and would only dare to run far away. If he encountered a lone woman in the mountains, even if he went up and touched her a few times, the woman would only beg for mercy and wouldn't dare to speak up. She wouldn't dare to say a word when she got back. Therefore, he was used to being arrogant in the village, and no woman would dare to come up to him to reason with him, let alone beat him. But this woman seemed to completely disregard those words, which was really strange.

Qin Xiaozhou kicked him, "Hey, did you realize I'm not a woman who swallows her pride and is easy to bully? With your small body and little flesh, ha, you wouldn't even last me fifteen minutes. Back when I worked at the pork shop in town, I was really good at cutting bones and removing meat. Bone was bone, meat was meat, and I could do it without getting a drop of blood on my body."

Gou Sheng was a bully who preyed on the weak. Seeing Qin Xiaozhou almost wet her pants, she said, "Grandma, I was wrong. I was a smart aleck. I'll never say anything like that again."

Qin Xiaozhou threw the indenture at Jinghe and said, "Let's go. Don't ever set foot in this shop again. When I bought you, you came in all rags and empty-handed. Consider these clothes you're wearing as a gift. You don't need to take anything else with you."

With one person missing from the shop, Zhao Fang hesitated for a moment before knocking on Qin Xiaozhou's door. "Jinghe isn't entirely innocent. Fortunately, she's never kneaded dough before and doesn't know the exact ingredient ratios, but she can always figure it out. I'm just worried that she'll be taken advantage of. If another cake shop opens in the county, it won't be good for us."

"Don't worry, Mother. It's done. We'll just focus on doing our job well. Besides, I already taught Miss Zhu how to make the cake and the recipe. Now there are cake shops in Xuancheng, Wanzhou, and even the capital. The profits from those places are our main source of income. Consider this shop as something for you to enjoy, Mother-in-law, and it can be your retirement fund in the future."

Zhao Fang was shocked. How could they just give away such a big shop like that? "This won't do..."

"Mother, it's settled then." Qin Xiaozhou rubbed her temples. Looking at the accounts of other shops every day was exhausting, and she was already mentally and physically drained today. "Whether you want to hire or buy people, you can make your own decision, or discuss it with Lu Yan. She's still very sharp."

In mid-August, the shop finally had some free time after being busy for more than half a month. The shop's embroidery pavilion was closed for three days, and Qin Xiaozhou distributed mooncakes and holiday money to all employees, one hundred coins to each person.

Lu Yunfeng took his younger brother, sister-in-law, and Qin Xiaozhou home.

As soon as Zhao Fang arrived in the village, she rushed home. She scooped up Xiao Si in her arms and wouldn't let go. Xiao Si already had several teeth; he blew saliva and clapped his hands, even managing to utter words like, "Mother, Mother..."

With tears in her eyes, Zhao Fang affectionately kissed her youngest son's face, saying, "Oh, so good."

When Wang Lan saw Qin Xiaozhou again, she wished she could hold him by the side at all times. "Granddaughter-in-law, look at your room. The quilt was aired out properly yesterday. Dayun's room is next door. Don't be afraid at night. Your second sister lives with Xiaoyan. I'll take care of Xiaoshitou at night. Warm up the goat milk before bed and feed him once or twice in the middle of the night. It's just a coincidence that I'm getting old and need less sleep."

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Children need someone to take care of them regularly so they won't be timid or shy. You're busy in the county town, and Jinxiu can help out. Why don't we leave Xiaoshitou here? I'm taking care of Xiaosi anyway, and I'm taking care of Xiaoshitou too."

Qin Xiaozhou sensed Wang Lan's cautiousness. The last incident had caused quite a stir, and after thinking it over, she realized that these elders who were kind to her were still upset. Even Qin Jinxiu had become increasingly timid and fearful these days.

"Thank you, Grandma. How is Auntie's wedding going?"

No one is mentioning it anymore. No one in the Lu family has brought it up these days, and there's been no news from the Li family either.

Wang Lan sighed and shook her head, "It's better that it didn't work out after all that trouble, so that Yu Niang won't have a hard time after marrying into the family."

However, the marriage has been going poorly, and Lu Yu has become increasingly sullen and quiet. Now she doesn't go out and spends all her time at home taking care of her little nephew.

Wang Lan patted her and said, "Don't be afraid, this is not your fault. It's just that Yu Niang has a hard life."

“As long as she’s okay with it, she’s the happiest girl in the whole Wangjia Village,” Qin Xiaozhou blurted out, then thought again, “Forget it, as long as she’s alright, let her be.”

In a nearby room, Lu Yan pulled Lu Yu to show her the things they had brought back. She took out a piece of clothing from her bundle and said, "Auntie, look, this is what my sister-in-law gave you. Isn't it pretty?"

Lu Yu nodded listlessly.

Lu Yan's eyes darted around. "Auntie, let me tell you some interesting stories from the county town." Before Lu Yu could react, she vividly recounted Qian Sheng's story. "That man is really a villain. Later, I heard from my sister-in-law that he actually wanted to seduce her and take over her embroidery shop and property. But when he saw that she wasn't interested, he came up with a vicious plan to ruin her reputation."

Lu Yu listened with trepidation, "So, the people in the county believed that man's words?"

"Hey, what's there to believe or not? They're just idle talkers who can't help but say unpleasant things behind people's backs. They don't care what kind of person my sister-in-law is." Lu Yan pouted. "The most uncontrollable things in this world are people's hearts and mouths, but my sister-in-law doesn't care about those things. She'll beat up whoever she hears saying those things."

"Beating someone in the government office?" Lu Yu was almost dizzy. "What kind of reputation has my niece-in-law gained?"

Lu Yan thought for a moment, "It's alright. Anyway, the girls in the cake shop didn't stop coming because of this. In fact, several of them really like you, sister-in-law, and they all think you're amazing."