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

After the three of them went downstairs, they boarded the carriage that Li Yan had prepared and headed towards the bustling city center.

Xiao Mingyuan sat on the carriage shaft, patting the carriage floor to urge the driver to hurry up, his plump body swaying back and forth on the floor.

When the carriage was still half a street away from the bustling market, the voices of people ahead could already be heard.

The crowd was packed three or four deep, completely blocking the entrance to Chen's bra shop.

Xu Qing and the other two got off the car and squeezed inside.

I saw a simple stretcher parked on the open ground in front of the shop.

A plump woman in her thirties lay on the stretcher, her face pale and covered in sweat.

A large patch of dark red blood had seeped out from the chest area of ​​the shirt, and it was still oozing out.

Next to him squatted an old doctor with gray hair and beard, pressing a clean cloth swab against the wound. Beside him was a half-open medicine box, its contents a jumbled mess, clearly indicating that he had come in a hurry.

The old doctor's brows were furrowed into a deep frown as he muttered, "Don't move, and don't sleep."

There were two people beside the fat woman, one of whom was a tall, strong man in his forties, wearing a mud-stained shirt, who was helping the old doctor massage her.

There was also a slightly younger woman, who was equally fit.

She was shouting into the shop.

"My sister-in-law has only been wearing your bra for two days. Today, she was doing some chores and slipped, and the underwire broke and pierced her flesh. What kind of junk are you selling? If you don't give us an explanation today, you can forget about getting away with this."

The crowd watching nearby was buzzing with discussion.

Someone leaned closer to look at the blood seeping from the wound, gasped, and took two steps back.

Someone pointed at the signboard hanging high at the shop entrance and cursed, "Pah, heartless merchant."

Others were already chiming in, advising, "Don't waste your breath on them, just go to the county government and report them."

Xiao Mingyuan lowered his voice and introduced the situation to Xu Qing.

"That tall, strong man is Liu Erniu from the South Gate. His wife is also known for her loud voice in the surrounding area; she's nicknamed 'Big Mouth,' and she can talk about half the county with just one word. That young woman is his sister, Liu Dalian."

Li Yan also leaned over and whispered something.

"Logically speaking, Chen Shijin could have easily bribed his way out of this situation, so how did it escalate to this point?"

Xiao Mingyuan chuckled, lowering his voice even further.

"You don't know, Chen Shijin and the Liu family have a long-standing feud. The Chen family wanted to seize the land where the Liu family's old house was. The matter escalated significantly, but the Chen family used their position as county magistrate to suppress it. Liu Erniu has been holding back his anger for a year, and now that his wife is injured, do you think he'll easily back down?"

Xu Qing stood in the crowd, observing the situation calmly.

When the shopkeeper rushed out, his face was pale with anxiety.

He quickly walked to the stretcher, squatted down, and forced a fawning smile onto his face.

He lowered his voice and spoke to Liu Erniu.

"Brother, now is not the time to cause trouble. It's still unclear whether this matter has anything to do with our family. However, out of respect for the injured, we are willing to pay some money for your medical treatment and recovery. How about we settle this peacefully for now? Name your price."

He originally thought Liu Erniu would hesitate and try to bargain with him.

Who knew, the words had barely left his mouth when...

The woman next to him, Liu Dalian, suddenly raised her hand and slapped him across the face.

Snapped! ! !

The sound was crisp and loud.

The shopkeeper's face was slapped so hard it tilted to the side, and he stood there stunned.

Five red finger marks immediately appeared on his face.

He opened his mouth, but before he could react, Liu Dalian pointed at his nose and raised her voice even higher than before.

"Listen to this, everyone! Is this how they talk? They say this has nothing to do with their family and that it's hard to say. Isn't it obvious?"

My sister-in-law was wearing their bra when she tripped and fell, and the underwire broke and pierced through her. She's still shamelessly saying it's nothing."

As she spoke, she pointed to the blood-soaked clothes.

The onlookers were immediately in an uproar when they saw what was happening.

"What the hell is this thing? I think I can see the steel bars sticking out."

"Good heavens, if it were any deeper, wouldn't that be fatal?"

"Unscrupulous merchants only care about making money and are willing to risk their lives."

The shopkeeper was scolded until his face turned red, and half of his face burned with pain. He wanted to defend himself but dared not speak.

Seeing that he couldn't control the situation, he quickly waved to the staff behind him.

"Quickly go to the backyard and ask the young master to come out."

The waiter stumbled and ran into the back room.

Chen Shijin was in the back room, drinking alone. There were two small dishes and a pot of rice wine on the table.

He was in a pretty good mood, and the shop's sales were much better than the previous two days.

He was just thinking that he could stabilize the situation in a few days when he heard a series of noises coming from ahead.

Just as he put down his wine glass and was about to get up to look, the door to the back room was suddenly pushed open, and the waiter rushed in, shouting breathlessly.

"Young Master, something has happened. There are people causing trouble at the door."

Chen Shijin slammed the wine glass to the ground, splashing wine everywhere.

He stood up and kicked the waiter, sending him staggering.

"Damn it, what a load of rubbish! A bunch of good-for-nothings who only cause trouble, I was just looking for some peace and quiet and you guys have messed up this huge mess!"

He turned and walked out, shouting as he went.

"Go to the accounting office and get a hundred taels of silver. I refuse to believe that a hundred taels can't settle this matter."

As he walked to the door with the silver note in his hand, he suddenly stopped.

He saw the scene outside the door clearly: the fat woman lying on the stretcher, Liu Erniu's wife. His face turned pale and then red, and his heart skipped a beat.

How could it be them? The grudge from last year hasn't been settled yet, and now it has to be someone from their family who's in trouble.

He took a deep breath, steeled himself, and stepped forward, trying to make his voice sound confident.

"One hundred taels, I'll give you one hundred taels. Take your people away now, and we'll wipe the slate clean."

Liu Dalian gave him a cold look.

"One hundred taels? Are you trying to fob me off like a beggar? How much silver did we spend last year when you were scheming against our family?"

Chen Shijin gritted his teeth, his cheeks bulging as he did so.

"So what do you want to do? Ruin up my shop, if it really comes to that..."

He lowered his voice again, his tone full of threat.

"I'll make sure your whole family suffers a terrible fate."

Liu Dalian's eyes widened, and his voice almost cracked.

"Fine, so that's what you say, right? Then I'll fight you to the death today!"

She turned her head and shouted at the onlookers.

"Everyone, come and judge this! Chen Shijin's goods injured someone, and instead of offering compensation, he's threatening to wipe out the entire family. Is there no law left in the Great Liang Dynasty?"

Her shout drew even more onlookers.

The area in front of the shop was so crowded that there was hardly any room left.

Chen Shijin looked up and scanned the crowd, noticing several familiar faces.

Some people even peeked out from the teahouse across the street to watch the commotion, and his heart sank.