Just as Yin Weiyue was running halfway there, she abruptly stopped in her tracks. At the exact same time, her right cheek felt as though it had been fiercely clawed by a wild cat with untrimmed nails; half her face throbbed with a burning pain.
Of course, this was only the beginning.
Immediately after, she felt as if she were being mobbed by a pack of wild cats—hair being pulled, face scratched, and neck clawed.
“Ah!” Some bastard actually scratched her butt.
This was beyond tolerable!
“Seventh Sister-in-law, what’s wrong?” Seeing Yin Weiyue react in such a startled and peculiar way, Huo Dong couldn’t help but ask in confusion.
Grasping her rear, Yin Weiyue gritted her teeth: “Nothing. Seventh Sister-in-law is taking you to fight!”
Meanwhile, at that very same moment, a fight had already broken out inside the Old Lady’s main hall—though it was simply Huo Jun being beaten unilaterally.
The large hall was packed with people, overflowing with a chaotic din of curses and shouting. Sitting in a armchair, the Old Lady beat her walking stick forcefully, shouting “Stop! Stop!”, but her voice was completely swallowed up by the clamor, and not a single person listened to her.
“The Old Lady still thinks this is the Marquis Estate of before, where she could boss us around at will! Let me tell you, the Xingwu Marquis Estate fell long ago, and the Huo family is no longer a family! You First Branch have brought so much suffering upon the rest of our three branches! If you still have even a shred of conscience, quickly agree to split the family, then write a petition to have the guards outside hand it to the Emperor so they will release us all! The First Branch’s crimes should be borne by the First Branch alone!”
“That’s right! The family must be split today! If you don’t agree, we will use methods to make you agree until you do!”
Just as she stepped into the courtyard, Yin Weiyue heard these absurdly audacious words.
Looking inside, the Second Dowager Aunt, Small Liu-shi, and the Third Dowager Aunt, Peng-shi, were seated in order to the right of the Old Lady. It was quite a effort for their descendants to even fetch chairs for them. The contented, leisure expressions on these two women’s faces formed a stark contrast with the anxious look on the Old Lady beside them.
Small Liu-shi was the Old Lady’s concubine sister born of a concubine mother, who had originally married into the Xingwu Marquis Estate alongside the Old Lady as an escort concubine.
She had given birth to a total of one son and three daughters. The daughters had all married out long ago and were not implicated, while her son was the current Second Master, Huo Anmin, whose wife was named Du Chengru.
Huo Anmin had fathered five sons and three daughters in total. Among the five sons, three had died in infancy not long after birth, and among the three daughters, only one survived—the legitimate youngest daughter, Huo Wanmei, who was still unmarried and residing in her maiden chambers.
The eldest legitimate son, Huo Shan, ranked third among the Huo family’s grandchildren. His wife was named Jiang Liyun. The concubines Mu-shi and Wang-shi had borne many children, but all died young. Only one concubine-born son, Huo Qiu, survived, ranking fourth, born to the concubine Tang-shi, and was not yet married.
The other Dowager Aunt, Peng-shi, was a noble concubine. She was the youngest, appearing to be about the same age as First Lady Feng-shi. She had been taken as a concubine in the Old Master’s later years, so her fortune with children was not as rich, giving birth only to Fourth Master Huo Anjia. However, Huo Anjia’s fortune with children was far better; he married his primary wife, Liao Hongxu, and subsequently took seven concubines.
They successively gave birth to Sixth Brother Huo Qiang, Eighth Brother Huo Chun, Tenth Brother Huo Jing, Eleventh Brother Huo Qing, Twelfth Brother Huo Zhong, and Thirteenth Brother Huo Ting (eight months old); as well as Sixth Sister Huo Wanting, Seventh Sister Huo Wanyou, and Eighth Sister Huo Wanjun (four years old).
However, their ages were still young, and none had started families yet. The eldest, Huo Qiang, was still half a year younger than Huo Kai, while the youngest, Huo Ting, was born after their confinement and was only eight months old.
Therefore, among the grandchildren of the Fourth Branch, except for Huo Qiang, the rest had not come due to being too young.
Looking closely, Yin Weiyue discovered that today’s scene still differed from the contents of the book.
Although the Third Branch, the Second Branch’s Huo Qiu and his mother, and those who were not old enough had not come, the only ones present from the First Branch were the Old Lady, Feng-shi, Huo Jun, Huo Dong, and herself. Everyone else present was an enemy.
Huo Dong was still young and had not been assigned a separate courtyard, so he had always lived with his mother, Feng-shi. This time, since the Second and Fourth Branches wanted to make a scene to split the family, Feng-shi, as the manager, naturally had to be present. So they had gone to Feng-shi’s courtyard first to bring her to the Old Lady’s place.
Seeing that things were bad, Huo Dong had immediately gone to notify someone. However, this time, instead of notifying He-shi, Su-shi, and Huo Wanying as in the original book, he had notified Yin Weiyue first, so those three sisters-in-law still knew nothing about it.
Leading Huo Dong inside, Yin Weiyue looked over in passing, only to see Huo Jun lying on the ground, shielding Feng-shi firmly with his body. Unable to hit Feng-shi, the crowd of women directed their pulling, dragging, pounding, tearing, clutching, and scratching at Huo Jun, all of which synced and reflected right onto her body as pain.
Yin Weiyue, who was enduring the pain, was furious.
This man really had no other talents besides passively receiving blows and actively getting beaten! If this were the male lead Huo Kai, he would have long since slaughtered everyone in all directions.
At this moment, the eldest grandson of the Second Branch—ranking third among the grandchildren, Huo Shan—finally grew impatient just as written in the original book. With a fierce glint in his eyes, he suddenly charged toward the Old Lady.
Because this time the Old Lady had already been mentally prepared in advance by Yin Weiyue, angry as she was, she did not easily suffer a stroke from anger, nor did she fall off her chair.
Judging by Huo Shan’s posture, he likely wanted to do what was written in the original book: push the Old Lady down, then grab the chair to hit Huo Jun.
Yin Weiyue naturally wouldn’t let him have his way. Running up with a jog, she yanked him back, pinned his right shoulder, and without a word, dealt him twenty loud, crisp slaps across the face, specifically targeting the base of his left ear.
How could Huo Shan have known that Yin Weiyue possessed such immense strength? He was directly slapped dizzy, his left ear buzzing incessantly. Before he could make any reaction, he was thrown heavily onto the ground by Yin Weiyue with a shoulder throw.
His painful groans startled everyone in the hall. The group of women who had been scratching Huo Jun also stopped their hands, and the crisis facing him and his mother was instantly resolved.
Second Lady Du Chengru, who had been standing behind Small Liu-shi all along, saw her son being beaten and hurriedly ran forward to cradle Huo Shan’s head. Discovering that blood was trickling from his left ear, she shrieked in terror: “Blood! It’s bleeding! Shan’er!”
“My ear! Mother, I can’t hear out of my left ear! Yin-shi broke my ear!” Huo Shan covered his ear in panic.
“Husband!” Seeing this, Jiang Liyun ran over frantically. Seeing that the left side of Huo Shan’s face was swollen like a steamed bun and blood from his left ear canal had dripped onto his earlobe, she turned to accuse furiously:
“Yin-shi, relying on your maiden family’s power, how dare you beat your elder brother-in-law!” Jiang-shi accused resentfully.
“Didn’t you also beat your younger brother-in-law, and even assaulted Eldest Aunt together?” Yin Weiyue’s face and neck were still burning hot with pain at this moment, so her tone was naturally unkind.
She looked back with a sweep of her eyes. Feng-shi had been well protected by Huo Jun, only having messy clothes and hair. But Huo Jun was in terrible shape; his face and neck were covered in bloody scratch marks left by the women, every single line deep enough to bleed.
Seeing the man in such a pathetic state, one could imagine how much pain she was feeling right now. Originally, only that face of Huo Jun’s was of any use, but now even his sole “advantage” was gone.
Yin Weiyue stepped forward, yanked Jiang-shi up, delivered a fierce punch to her left ribs, followed by another shoulder throw. Then, she did not forget to give each of the female relatives who had just committed “assault” a round of continuous kicks, considering it revenge for herself.
Now, except for the two Dowager Aunts, Second Lady Du-shi, and Fourth Lady Liao-shi, all the other female relatives were wailing on the ground.
“Yin-shi, you’ve gone completely out of line!” Second Master Huo Anmin couldn’t hold face any longer. His son, daughter-in-law, and concubines had all been beaten up by Yin Weiyue. Taking off his boot, he rushed forward, intending to greet her with the sole of his shoe.
Seeing this, Yin Weiyue smiled. She just loved those who actively came to deliver their heads.
Author’s Note
Quite a few characters have made their appearances, so I will straighten them out for everyone here. Grandparent generation: The late former Marquis of Xingwu (Old Master), primary wife Big Liu-shi (Old Lady), escort concubine Small Liu-shi (Second Dowager Aunt)—Big and Small Liu-shi are half-sisters with the same father but different mothers (born of the primary wife and a concubine respectively). Noble concubine Peng-shi (Third Dowager Aunt).
1. First Branch: The current Marquis of Xingwu, Huo Anjiang (Old Master’s eldest legitimate son); wife Feng Sinuan (First Lady). The two have raised four sons and one daughter, and he has taken no concubines. Sons: ① Eldest Brother Huo Yuan; wife He Zixiao; the two have raised two sons and two daughters. Eldest daughter: Huo Zhen’er; eldest son: Huo Gan’er; a pair of fraternal twins: Huo Tian’er and Huo Guo’er. ② Second Brother Huo Jian; wife Su Junrong; raised one son: Huo Qi’er. ③ Fifth Brother Huo Jun (male lead); wife Yin Weiyue (female lead). ④ Ninth Brother Huo Dong; not yet of age. ⑤ Daughter Huo Wanying; ranked fourth among the females in the Huo clan.
2. Second Branch: Second Master Huo Anmin (Old Master’s concubine-born son, son of the escort concubine Small Liu-shi); primary wife Du Chengru (Second Lady); concubines Tang-shi, Wang-shi, and Mu-shi. Sons: Among five sons, three concubine-born sons died in infancy (those who died are not included in the ranking), leaving only one legitimate son and one concubine-born son alive. ① Third Brother Huo Shan (Huo Anmin’s eldest legitimate son); primary wife: Jiang Liyun; raised two sons—Huo Jiang’er and Huo He’er. ② Fourth Brother Huo Qiu (Huo Anmin’s concubine-born son, born of concubine Tang-shi); unmarried. Daughters: Among three daughters, two concubine-born daughters died in infancy (those who died are not included in the ranking); only the legitimate youngest daughter Huo Wanmei (ranked fifth) remains unmarried and residing in her maiden chambers.
3. Third Branch: Third Master Huo Anzong (Old Master’s second legitimate son, born of the Old Lady); primary wife Chen Feng’e (Third Lady); concubines Song-shi and Wu-shi (both concubines were administered drugs causing infertility). Son: ① Fifth Brother Huo Kai (original male lead); wife Zhang Yulin (original female lead). Daughters: ② Eldest Sister Huo Wanyu, Second Sister Huo Wanshu, Third Sister Huo Wanyan; all have had their engagements broken.
4. Fourth Branch: Fourth Master Huo Anjia (born of noble concubine Peng-shi); primary wife Liao Hongxu (Fourth Lady); seven concubines in total, among whom, except for Shao-shi, Gong-shi, and Niu-shi, all other concubines produced no offspring. Sons: Sixth Brother Huo Qiang (eldest legitimate son, half a year younger than Huo Kai), Eighth Brother Huo Chun (born of Shao-shi), Tenth Brother Huo Jing (born of Gong-shi), Eleventh Brother Huo Qing (born of Shao-shi), Twelfth Brother Huo Zhong (born of Niu-shi), Thirteenth Brother Huo Ting (born of Gong-shi). Daughters: Sixth Sister Huo Wanting (born of Niu-shi), Seventh Sister Huo Wanyou (born of Niu-shi), Eighth Sister Huo Wanjun (legitimate daughter, born of Liao-shi).
5. The third generation of the Huo family arranged in order from oldest to youngest (mixed order of male and female): Huo Yuan > Huo Jian > Huo Shan > Huo Wanyu > Huo Wanshu > Huo Qiu > Huo Wanyan > Huo Kai > Huo Qiang > Huo Jun > Huo Wanying > Huo Chun > Huo Wanmei > Huo Dong > Huo Jing > Huo Qing > Huo Wanting > Huo Zhong > Huo Wanyou > Huo Wanjun > Huo Ting