I just wrote a love poem, how did that make me so powerful?

The servant quickly spoke.

"Young master, it's that guy surnamed Zhou. He came to our door and insisted on taking the young lady back with him."

Xiao Mingyuan slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

"That beast surnamed Zhou still has the nerve to show his face? Let's go back and see."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing immediately understood that they were referring to Xiao Mingyuan's brother-in-law.

He stood up too. "Let's go, I'll go with you and see what kind of trouble he's up to."

……

……

When the two rushed back to the Xiao family home, Zhou Shi'an, Xiao Mingyuan's brother-in-law, was still cursing and swearing at the gate.

"Xiao Lanzhi, you're a daughter-in-law of the Zhou family. What's the meaning of you staying at your parents' house all day? Come back with me right now!"

Even late at night, there were still some onlookers at the courtyard gate, chattering amongst themselves.

"Tsk tsk tsk, what's wrong with Xiao Lanzhi? She's married, why is she still living at her parents' house all the time?"

"That's right, the Zhou family at least have employees in the county government."

"I hadn't heard anything about it before, how did it suddenly turn out like this?"

"Haven't you seen how much money the Xiao family has been making lately? When it comes to the Xiao family selling bras, Xiao Lanzhi really has to take the lead."

"Oh dear, the Xiao family is really something. They're breaking up a couple for the sake of their own business. That's not good, not good at all."

Hearing them say that, Xiao Mingyuan's large chest heaved with anger.

These people are completely clueless and are blatantly lying. But now is not the time to get entangled with them.

Xiao Mingyuan stood in front of his sister and spoke to Zhou Shi'an.

"You, surnamed Zhou, know perfectly well what you've done. You beat up my sister after drinking, and now you're pretending to be a good guy."

Zhou Shi'an snorted coldly: "You just open your mouth and say whatever comes to mind, but where's the evidence? I'm asking you, where's the evidence?"

Xiao Mingyuan really wanted to roll up his sister's sleeves and let everyone see.

But that's definitely not acceptable. If you roll up your sleeves to your shoulders, these people will surely say it's indecent.

Moreover, even if the marks on the surface were to be revealed, Zhou Shi'an, with his cunning nature, would definitely find an excuse to deny it.

Xiao Mingyuan snorted coldly in return, "You know perfectly well whether there's any evidence or not. I'm not going to let you take your sister back to get beaten up today."

Zhou Shi'an glared at him. "Who do you think you are? Let me tell you, I'm taking this person with me today."

Seeing that they were arguing and unable to reach an agreement, Xu Qing cleared his throat and spoke.

"Since there's a dispute on this issue, why don't we have Brother-in-law Zhou write a contract promising not to beat or scold Sister Lanzhi and the two children anymore, okay?"

Zhou Shi'an glanced at him sideways, "My wife and children, I can hit them if I want."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Mingyuan became so angry that he raised his fist.

Zhou Shi'an stretched his face forward.

"Come on, slap me in the face, slap me here. I'm a government employee, you try hitting me."

Xiao Mingyuan was caught in a dilemma: to fight or not to fight.

Zhou Shi'an continued to provoke him, "What? Not going to hit me? With your meager courage, you think you can hit me! Hahaha, that's hilarious!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Mingyuan actually threw a punch.

Xiao Lanzhi grabbed her younger brother's hand.

"Mingyuan, no, I'll go with him, please don't make things difficult for me."

Zhou Shi'an laughed loudly, "Hahaha! Xiao Lanzhi, you know what's good for you! Come on! Let's go home!"

He stepped forward, smugly reaching for Xiao Lanzhi's arm.

Unexpectedly, Xu Qing blocked their way at this moment.

Xu Qing said solemnly, "According to the laws of the Great Liang Dynasty, husbands and wives should treat each other with respect. It is illegal to beat one's wife and children without any fault on one's part. As a member of the government, your crime is aggravated."

Zhou Shi'an frowned. "Who do you think you are, daring to interfere in our affairs?"

Xu Qing cupped his hands in a gesture of respect towards Songlin Academy.

"I am Xu Qing, a student at Songlin Academy. These legal knowledge were taught to me by my teacher. If you think I am wrong, then come to the academy to reason with me. If I am right, even though you are an official, you cannot come to my door and beat me without reason. If you insist on taking people away, I want to see if the grievance drum in the county government can be sounded."

Zhou Shi'an pointed at him angrily: "You!"

Zhou Shi'an clenched his fists in anger, but then relaxed them and sneered.

"Fine, Xiao Lanzhi, you're not coming with me, are you? Give me the money. I won't interfere with you anymore. We're still family. I'll get a share of your money too, a thousand taels a year. I won't interfere with you either. Go find another man if you want."

Xiao Lanzhi: "You're spouting nonsense! Who's been seeing men!"

Zhou Shi'an scoffed, "You can say I'm seeing women, but I can't say you're seeing men?"

Xiao Mingyuan calmed down a bit; arguing with him about this would be pointless.

"It's only right that my sister works for the Xiao family and gets paid, but she's a married daughter now, like water spilled from a cup. She only gets the treatment of a regular shopkeeper, ten taels a month. You want a thousand taels? Dream on."

Zhou Shi'an scoffed, "You're talking nonsense! How could your father be so petty?"

Xiao Mingyuan continued, "Hey Zhou, what are you thinking? My father has me as his son. Why should he give my sister so much money, only for you, you ungrateful wretch, to take it all away?"

Zhou Shi'an's eyes darted around. "Fine, you're trying to trick me, aren't you? Tomorrow I'll go to the yamen to check the contract you signed and see how many taels she actually earned. As for ten taels, I'll have to take five of them."

Xiao Mingyuan angrily said, "You're shameless! You won't contribute to raising the child, yet you want half? How can you be so brazen?"

Zhou Shi'an snorted coldly, "Who said I don't raise children? It's your family that insisted on bringing them over. Call them over and see if they listen to you or me. Go ahead."

Xiao Mingyuan rolled up his sleeves. "I don't believe it."

As he spoke, he was about to call out to someone.

As a result, Xiao Lanzhi, who was standing to the side, threw out ten taels of silver.

"Take it away, this is for two months, don't come back and cause trouble."

Zhou Shi'an took the money. "Hmph, dream on. I'll return it after I've checked the contract."

Even after he left, the onlookers continued to whisper among themselves.

Xu Qing stepped forward and cupped his hands in greeting to the murmuring crowd.

"Everyone, the truth about what happened today will come to light in a couple of days. We will naturally have an explanation for what happened then, and we welcome all of you to tell the truth."

But if anyone spreads rumors these days, the Xiao family isn't going to take it lying down. Once they find out who's behind the gossip, they won't let him off easily.

After Xu Qing finished speaking, he cupped his hands in a respectful gesture.

Those people dispersed.

After the crowd dispersed, Xiao Mingyuan complained, "Sister, you shouldn't have given him even ten taels."

Xiao Lanzhi shook her head. "I'd rather give him ten taels than have him scare the two children and give them nightmares."

Xiao Mingyuan then nodded.

"That's true. He's really not human. He'd scare his own child for a little money."

He tilted his head and looked at Xu Qing.

"Brother Qing, do you have any ideas?"