ATLAS TRANSLATES

Since ancient times, civilians never fought against officials.

Chen Xiaofeng’s expression turned grim: “Miss, I’m afraid we’re in trouble — that Pang Kunbai most likely secretly borrowed soldiers from the garrison to help…”

They had already acted, would the Pang family really let them go if they surrendered?

Dou Zhao’s anger blazed hotter as she said: “Can you hold these people?”

Chen Xiaofeng hesitated: “We’re all commoners…”

In other words, they were capable of holding them, but were hesitant because of their status.

“Then hold all of them for me!” Dou Zhao decisively cut off Chen Xiaofeng’s words, “Since they’re so bold, what do we have to fear? If we can hold them all, with officials colluding with bandits, even if Wang Xingyi is the Provincial Governor of Shaanxi, he can’t cover this up!” She turned and walked outside, “I want to see who’s so daring as to mobilize garrison troops to help the Pang family with their private affairs?”

Seeing Dou Zhao’s confidence, Chen Xiaofeng felt somewhat reassured.

Perhaps to them, the Provincial Governor of Shaanxi was an unreachable high official, but the Dou family didn’t even consider him worth noticing!

Though young, the Dou family’s young miss didn’t back down from challenges. Just for this courage alone, they were willing to help fight this battle.

It’s just a pity that the Dou family’s young miss was a girl – how much better it would be if she were a young master!

Lost in these thoughts, he followed Dou Zhao out to the main hall.

In the courtyard, Uncle Duan and others stood looking at each other with grave expressions. Pang Kunbai and his followers lay sprawled on the ground, groaning in pain and unable to fight back.

Seeing Dou Zhao emerge, everyone’s eyes turned to her.

“No one needs to worry!” Dou Zhao stood straight on the steps, composed and naturally imposing. She said calmly, “Whoever comes, colluding with bandits is a crime punishable by exile of three thousand li. As I said before, whatever happens will be on the Dou family. Warriors, just focus on holding these people.”

Though she said this, Dou Zhao was still a woman, and very young. Many still showed hesitation on their faces. But Uncle Duan, seeing the situation, said: “At this point, we can only see it through. The more we hesitate, the more fearful we’ll be when fighting, and the less likely we’ll be able to hold these people. If that happens, our lives will be in danger. I ask all brothers to work together to get through this immediate crisis. Worst case, we can hide beyond the frontier for a few years.” Then he joked, “Since Young Miss Dou has already offered such a generous reward, I’m sure she won’t mind giving us a few more taels of silver for relocation expenses. Isn’t that right, Young Miss Dou?”

This Uncle Duan seemed to command a lot of respect among them. As soon as he finished speaking, everyone laughed, and their expressions relaxed.

“Of course,” Dou Zhao smiled.

Seeing that Dou Zhao valued his words, Uncle Duan voluntarily organized everyone to prepare for battle.

The sound of hooves approached like a whirlwind and stopped at the gate. With a crash, the door fell, and several guards in blue clothing burst in.

Dou Zhao was stunned.

Weren’t these Ji Yong’s attendants?

Ji Yong’s attendants were also stunned.

Weren’t they told the Dou family’s young miss had been kidnapped?

But the Dou family’s young miss was standing there perfectly fine, surrounded by strong guards, with injured people groaning in pain at her feet… This didn’t look like she had been kidnapped at all, but rather like she had used her power to beat people up…

Dou Zhao quickly shouted “Stop!”

Someone anxiously pushed through the blue-clothed attendants and rushed in: “What happened? Why are you all just standing there? Where’s Fourth Sister?” Though anxious, the voice couldn’t hide its refinement.

That was Wu Shan’s voice.

Dou Zhao suddenly felt touched.

Wu Shan, however, was thunderstruck and stood frozen: “What… what’s going on here?”

He raised his head, looking bewildered at the unharmed Dou Zhao, not understanding why she was suddenly surrounded by so many unfamiliar guards. Even less could he understand how a fragile woman could escape unharmed…

“What’s happening?” Dou Dechang and Ji Yong, who were following behind Wu Shan, also squeezed in and were dumbfounded by the scene in the courtyard!

?????

“…At that time, in the panic, I only thought about getting help quickly. Worried that Suxin wasn’t familiar with people at home and would waste time finding someone, and since her senior brother was a guard, that’s why I let her go find Guard Chen. I didn’t think much beyond that.” Dou Zhao sat facing Wu Shan and Ji Yong, with Suxin, Sulan, and Sujuan standing on her left, and Dou Dechang sitting on her right. Half an hour had passed since the incident, the courtyard had been cleaned up, and the barely alive Pang Kunbai and his followers were imprisoned in the main hall. Chen Xiaofeng led Uncle Duan and others in patrolling the courtyard. Ji Yong’s attendants had gone to fetch a doctor and hadn’t returned yet. Taking this opportunity, she explained what had happened to Dou Dechang, Wu Shan, and Ji Yong, “…I was really angry, so I ordered Guard Chen and the others to teach these bandits a lesson… Who knew Pang Kunbai was acquainted with those bandits? When he was shouting about who he was, I naturally didn’t believe him, thinking it was just some trick by the bandits. Who would have thought it was really Pang Kunbai!” She sighed: “Fortunately, Twelfth Brother, Fourth Brother Wu, and Cousin Ji arrived in time, otherwise if Pang Kunbai had been beaten to death, things would have gotten complicated.”

In her heart, though, she complained about why they hadn’t come a moment later – by then even the gods couldn’t have saved Pang Kunbai. She also blamed Uncle Duan and the others for not using more force and simply killing Pang Kunbai outright.

Outside, Uncle Duan sneezed several times while patrolling.

He wondered to himself: Who’s cursing me? It’s good that I held back when I heard Pang Kunbai shouting, and didn’t kill that bastard with one punch, otherwise we’d be in trouble now! Still, that bastard is beaten bloody, with all his bones broken. He won’t be able to walk by himself for three to five years, let alone touch women!

The thought made him somewhat proud.

Finally, he could teach such a lecherous scoundrel a lesson without worries.

He rubbed his nose and continued patrolling with his head held high.

Inside the room, Dou Dezheng and Wu Shan were speechless thinking about Pang Kunbai’s disfigured state.

Both were stunned, silent for a long while.

Finally, Ji Yong spoke: “Two bandits dead, two injured, and six of Pang Kunbai’s followers dead – I wonder what Cousin Dou plans to do?”

He looked at Dou Zhao, his eyes sparkling.

Dou Zhao found it strange.

She had caused such a big commotion, yet why wasn’t this cousin Ji thinking about how to help her deal with the aftermath? Instead, he seemed to be watching with keen interest, like someone enjoying a show!

She remembered Sixth Aunt’s words…

Could he be someone whose appearance belied his true nature?

Dou Zhao said firmly: “Naturally, we must hand this over to the authorities — there have been deaths!”

Ji Yong nodded repeatedly and said seriously: “Cousin Dou is right, such a major incident must be handled by the authorities.”

“No, no!” Wu Shan jumped up as if his tail was on fire and said sharply, “If we hand this over to the authorities, are we going to let Fourth Sister testify in court? Moreover, the Dou family is in Zhending, and the Pang family is in Lingsu. If we go through official channels, we’ll have to go to Zhending Prefecture to file a lawsuit. If this damages Fourth Sister’s reputation, it would be better to settle it privately.”

Dou Dechang also reacted, following Wu Shan’s words: “That’s right, what are they, the Pang family? Just nouveau riche! We can’t let this street rat ruin Fourth Sister’s reputation!”

“It seems my two cousins have no experience handling such disputes.” Ji Yong smiled at Dou Dechang and Wu Shan, his tone revealing a sense of superiority from abundant experience, “The Dou family has been officials for generations, and Uncle Dou is a Vice Minister in the Ministry of Personnel. The Pang family are mere commoners – how can they contend with us? Once we report this, the Prefect of Zhending will surely suppress the news first and make a decision after considering Uncle Dou’s wishes. This way, we can both escape from the homicide case and build goodwill with the Prefect — after all, we are in his jurisdiction, and even if we don’t hold him in high regard, we should still give him face. As for Cousin Dou’s reputation, we just need to insist that we were all together at the time. How can they claim that Cousin Dou was kidnapped alone? Even if the Pang family tries to frame her, can’t we defend ourselves?”

It sounded reasonable.

But why did it still feel somewhat wrong?

Dou Dechang and Wu Shan nodded, exchanging glances, both seeing doubt in each other’s eyes. They wanted to ask more questions, but Ji Yong had already waved his hand: “Just trust me! I’ll testify for Fourth Sister when the time comes.”

That’s right!

Ji Yong was a graduate of the imperial examinations.

With Ji Yong testifying, how could Prefect Lu not believe him?

Both men nodded vaguely, blindly following his status.

“Then it’s settled.” Ji Yong said, his lips curling into a pleased smile as he called out loudly to his attendant “Wang Pu”: “Take my name card and report this to the authorities.”

Only then did Dou Dechang and Wu Shan snap out of it.

They hadn’t discussed this with the elders yet!

“Wait!” Dou Dechang shouted with a somewhat dark expression, “Cousin Ji, this matter concerns the Dou family’s reputation. I think we should inform the elders before reporting to the authorities…”

“Trust me, nothing will go wrong.” Ji Yong had already waved his hand as he spoke, and Wang Pu respectfully bowed to Dou Dechang before immediately withdrawing, giving Dou Dechang no chance to continue speaking. “I used to help my grandfather handle some family affairs. This involves Fourth Sister’s reputation and the Dou family’s honor – I won’t act recklessly.” Then he joked, “If anything really goes wrong, forget my grandfather, even my aunt would skin me alive. You can rest assured!”

Really?

Dou Dechang and Wu Shan looked at Ji Yong doubtfully.

And Dou Zhao, who had calmed down after her internal complaints, looked at Ji Yong in surprise.

What was Ji Yong trying to do?

Bypassing the family elders and exposing this matter directly, forcing the Dou family to help her clean up the mess for the sake of their face, making the Pang family swallow this bitter pill even if they brought out Wang Xingyi – this was her plan. How did Ji Yong seem to know her thoughts?

Dou Zhao studied Ji Yong.

Ji Yong turned back to her with a smile.

His smile was gentle, carrying both the wisdom of a scholar and the cunning innocence of a child – like spear and shield, strange yet somehow harmonious, leaving a deep impression.