The servants were aggressive, while Qi Ning was amused in secret. He restrained himself with effort and stated, “You must know that I have competed on the stage. The big guy was beaten down the stage by me easily. Do you want to have a try, too?”

The servants heard that and instantly realized that this young man couldn’t be defeated easily, so they felt nervous.

The burly man with a hoarse voice forced a smile. “Master Qi, Madam has something to tell you. Look, it’s still early, and you don’t need to go in a hurry. If you leave, we will have no food to eat. When we are outside, let’s help each other. Just wait a moment, and we won’t have a difficult time.”

Qi Ning knew that if he delayed, Mrs. Tian would come soon. It didn’t matter if he was tough in front of these people, and he would escape after frightening them, but Mrs. Tian was silver-tongued and he couldn’t cope with her easily, so he howled in a low voice, “Since we should help each other, just help me first.” Then he took two steps forward.

“You can’t go!” The servants got anxious, while the burly man reached out his stick to Qi Ning’s chest.

Qi Ning thought that if he didn’t show them his power, these men really didn’t know themselves. He didn’t want to fight against these servants. Seeing that the burly man’s stick came, he realized that he could attack in an indirect way and frighten them. He reached out one hand and grabbed the end of the stick. Then he pulled it with strength, seeming to snatch it.

Although the servants got the order, they couldn’t injure Qi Ning. Qi Ning grabbed the end of the stick, and the stick almost left the servant’s hand. Fortunately, the servant reacted soon and hurriedly put forth strength to grasp the stick, roaring in a low voice, “Are you really going to start a fight?”

Qi Ning just smiled faintly and exerted more strength. That servant had a strong figure and felt that his stick was pulled away gradually, so he was anxious and meanwhile reluctant, thinking that he couldn’t let the young man snatch the stick. He grabbed the stick with both hands and pulled it backward hard. Qi Ning saw that the opponent exerted enough force, so he suddenly loosened his hand. The servant was caught off guard and moved a few steps backward. Then he fell and sat on the ground.

Some of the other servants almost laughed.

That servant was furious and howled, “Qi, you…you bullied me too much. Today I can’t let you go anyway.” He got up and shouted, about to rush up.

“Stop!” Suddenly a cold and fierce voice came. All of them turned their heads, to see that a sturdy man came over. It was Duan Canghai.

Duan Canghai was standing under the moon-shaped archway at the entrance to the courtyard and looking at them coldly. Ximen Zhanying stood outside the courtyard and glanced at them. She sneered but didn’t enter the courtyard.

“What are you going to do?” Duan Canghai strode into the courtyard with a majestic gait. Seeing that six or seven servants surrounded Qi Ning and some of them held sticks, he looked terrible. “How bold you are. Do you know who he is?”

“No matter who he is, he can’t go now.” The servant had fallen on the ground, so he was furious.

At the moment, they saw that Mrs. Tian with charm walked over from the corridor. She had an oval face and slanted eyes, looking gorgeous and graceful with a fascinating and flirtatious expression. A pair of silver butterfly eardrops was on her ears, and a silver hairpin was slanted in the special bun with her hair twisted, which fixed her long black hair. She looked beautiful yet dignified.

Qi Ning had seen some women wearing such a bun with hair twisted and knew that this kind of bun was strict with a woman’s temperament and appearance. If a woman looked plain or had mediocre temperament, she would look funny when she wore such a bun, but Qi Ning was sure that if only one woman in the world was fit for this bun, it would be Mrs. Tian.

Obviously Mrs. Tian was quite clear about her advantage. The bun with hair twisted agreed with her mature and good-looking face completely and made her show the maturity and dignity that a beautiful woman should have, while her attractive face and bright eyes still looked coquettish and sly.

When this beauty walked, she twisted her waist gracefully with a flirtatious style.

“Madam…” Seeing that Mrs. Tian walked over, the servants finally sighed with relief.

Mrs. Tian walked forward and put her hands together, looking Qi Ning up and down. Then she asked with a faint smile, “What’s up? Are you leaving?”

Qi Ning smiled. “Madam, you won’t invite me to dinner, right?”

“We haven’t finished discussing. How can you leave?” Mrs. Tian’s smile was not as gentle as before. “You won the competition but will leave before you make it clear, so won’t the effort of our family be in vain?”

“The effort?”

Mrs. Tian replied, “Our family has prepared the arena for one or two months and then set up the arena. You know what? We need to pay the site use fee when an arena is set up on the street.”

“So you mean…” Qi Ning looked at Mrs. Tian’s serious expression yet felt that it was laughable. The beautiful woman even started to do accounts seemingly.

“What’s more, our family sent more than ten people to guard the arena in the past three days, and we paid for their food, drink and work.” Mrs. Tian’s voice was soft and sweet, yet she spoke quickly. “They ate, drank and got paid, so they should work for our family, but they wasted several days on the arena. Who do you think should pay for it?”

Qi Ning raised his hand and rubbed his nose, asking, “Madam, are you going to do accounts?”

“Of course I will do accounts,” Mrs. Tian answered resolutely. “Our family does business and attaches importance to faith and promises. If we break the promise, we will give double indemnity.”

Qi Ning smiled. “Madam, do you mean that if I don’t agree to marry into your family, I should pay the double price for your family’s loss?”

“Right, that’s what I mean.” Mrs. Tian looked up slightly. Her skin was fair and tender. When she raised her chin, the slender fair-skinned neck was revealed, with arrogance in beauty.

Duan Canghai was stunned. He glanced at Qi Ning and then at Mrs. Tian, thinking, “Did Marquis guess right? He can marry Mrs. Tian after winning the competition? Although she is about thirty years old, she is extremely beautiful and flirtatious. It must be many men’s dream to marry her.”

Qi Ning sighed. “How much should I pay?”

“Since you refuse to marry, it means that you break the agreement of the arena. You should return the one hundred taels of silver that you got earlier.” Mrs. Tian calculated. “We spent one or two months in preparing it and consumed energy and strength, so you should pay some money, and the fee of setting up the arena and the salaries of more than ten people. Wait a moment. I have to think it over. Hmm, moreover, the tea you drank cost some money. And, I was happy earlier, but you break the agreement, so I will be unable to eat anything or sleep well in the next few days, and it will harm my health. So…so you need to compensate for it.”

Qi Ning opened his mouth yet couldn’t speak a word.

“Anyway, if you don’t give us one thousand taels of silver, this issue will not end.” Mrs. Tian stared at Qi Ning with her bright eyes and added with a faint smile, “You should give us one thousand taels of silver now. Remember, it must be cash. Or…or you agree to marry into my family. I won’t force you. You can make a choice.”

Qi Ning thought that he was in a trap set by a group of frauds. He didn’t have five hundred tales of silver, not to mention one thousand taels. He had dozens of taels of silver in his pocket, but the amount was much smaller than what Mrs. Tian said. Moreover, it was impossible for him to take out one thousand taels of silver for something like this. He coughed and shook his head. “Madam, I…don’t have one thousand taels of silver.”

Mrs. Tian chuckled and her beautiful eyes rolled. “Then you can’t blame me.”

Duan Canghai couldn’t help but ask, “Mrs. Tian, can this problem be solved if somebody marries into your family?”

“Who are you?” Mrs. Tian glanced at Duan Canghai and asked in doubt.

“My name is Duan Canghai.” Duan Canghai straightened his clothes and cupped his hands, saying like a gentleman, “This is my…young master.”

Mrs. Tian responded, “Oh.” Then she continued, “I don’t lust for money, nor do I really want one thousand taels of silver from you. As long as he agrees to marry, we will be family, so he won’t need to compensate.”

Duan Canghai laughed. “Madam, in fact, this problem can be solved easily. Don’t you want a man? My young master…is still young, so he is not suitable to get married. Madam, can you consider somebody else replacing him?” He moved close to Qi Ning and whispered, “Don’t worry. I am here. Let me handle it.”

“Somebody else replaces him?” Mrs. Tian frowned. “What do you mean?”

Duan Canghai smiled. “Mrs. Tian, I am in my early forties and unmarried. I am decent and reliable. What do you think about me?” He looked Mrs. Tian up and down and tried to look refined. “In fact, you and my young master are not at the same age, so you are not a good match.”

Qi Ning turned his head and tried his best to hold back his laughter. It appeared that Duan Canghai fell for Mrs. Tian, but it was understandable. Any man would be attracted to such a charming and rare woman.

Mrs. Tian was astonished and soon understood what this man meant. Her pretty face got burning in an instant, and she stomped. “Where is this madman from? What nonsense are you talking about? You…somebody, come and kick him out.”

“Madam, what do you mean?” Seeing that the servants with sticks would rush to him, Duan Canghai asked anxiously, “What are you going to do? Madam, let’s discuss it. Don’t ruin our harmony. Do you have other requirements?”

Butler Tian showed up next to Mrs. Tian and said, “Our madam wants a son-in-law, not…Well, she will find a husband for our young lady.”

Duan Canghai was stunned and then understood. He felt embarrassed and blushed on his old face. Then he smiled awkwardly. “It turns out…to be like this. Madam, it’s not something bad. Let’s…have a seat and discuss it. Why did you start a fight after I said something wrong?”

“Kick him out.” Since Qi Ning and Duan Canghai misunderstood Mrs. Tian, she felt bashful.

Mrs. Tian’s order was like the imperial edict in this mansion. All the servants rushed up, while Ximen Zhanying stood under the moon-shaped archway and looked on, staying out of it.

Duan Canghai stood in front of Qi Ning to protect him. Seeing that the servants rushed to them, he knew that if they started a fight, it would probably harm both parties, so he shouted, “Who dares to beat us? Do you…know who we are?”

Mrs. Tian sneered. “You speak insolently. I don’t care who you are. Get out of here now.”

“Madam, it appears that you really don’t know who we are.” Duan Canghai was clear that if he didn’t reveal their identity, the misunderstanding would be deeper. He pointed to Qi Ning next to him and said, “This is Marquis of Honor. Do you dare to show disrespect to him?”

Among the four marquises in Chu State, the Marquis of Honor enjoyed most prestige in the folk. All people knew that the Marquis of Honor was a famous general in the empire. As soon as Duan Canghai mentioned this title, all the servants were dumbfounded, while Mrs. Tian’s charming face stiffened, and she was in a daze.