"Young Master, are you alright?!" Dou Zhi rushed over as soon as the carriage stopped, supporting Young Master Dou and checking his injuries.

Hmm, the injuries aren’t much, just a bit of scraped skin on the face, a busted lip bleeding a little.

But he’s covered in dust, his fine robe is torn by gravel, and his nice hairstyle is messed up, with bits of grass caught in his disheveled hair.

"Alright? Are you blind? Do I look alright with my hair all messed up?" Young Master Dou shouted, almost bursting with anger.

Dou Meng, the driver of the carriage and one of Young Master Dou’s Shadow Guards, seeing that the young master was fine, immediately rushed to Li Qiangzi, grabbed him, and said, "Young Master, it was them who startled our carriage."

Saying this, he kicked a stone that hit Miss Zhou, making her cry out in pain and fall back to the ground after just getting up.

"Startling my young master’s carriage and causing him injury, if you run away, the Dou Family will make you regret it for the rest of your life!" Dou Meng warned.

Li Shuzi, hearing this, cried and hugged Miss Zhou: "Boo hoo, don’t hit my mother, don’t hit my mother."

"Stop crying, shut up! Keep crying, and I’ll sell you off!" Young Master Dou, already enraged, was further irritated by Li Shuzi’s crying, and yelled, scaring Li Shuzi into quickly covering his mouth, though tears poured down even more.

Tsk, Young Master Dou shook his head at the sight: "Is this all the courage boys have nowadays? Crying like this with just one shout?"

Unlike him and the Young Marquis when they were young, they were wild.

"So, you’re the bastard who startled my carriage?" Young Master Dou approached Li Qiangzi, looking down at him from a head taller, "I’ll give you two choices: either kneel and admit your fault and compensate with five taels of silver, or we take this to court, where you might face jail time or a higher compensation. Choose."

"What? Compensate five taels of silver? Are you dreaming, young man?" Mrs. Li Qian, concerned for Li Qiangzi, returned with Elder Lin upon hearing of the incident, and shouted after hearing, "Who says your carriage got startled? Who are you trying to scam? Your carriage nearly ran over my son, and he was almost killed, it’s you who should compensate us!"

She cried and pleaded to the gathered onlookers: "Boo hoo, fellow villagers, this wealthy young master is bullying us, you must stand up for us and not let him oppress us just because he’s rich!"

Young Master Dou laughed: "Ha, I’ve been around the world, and I’ve seen many shrews who twist words and falsely accuse others like you. Do you know what happens to them?"

"What happens? You should think about your own outcome first." Mrs. Li Qian looked at Young Master Dou and said, "Judging by your accent, you’re an outsider. How dare you, an outsider, bully locals here, you must have a death wish! I warn you, pay up, a hundred taels, not a single copper less, or we from Li Family Village in Niugou Town will make you regret it!"

In the countryside, whenever there’s a call for justice, the whole village or clan gets involved, often resulting in gang fights if things go awry.

Young Master Dou has seen such things, laughed, and asked Dou Zhi, "Did you take note?"

"Yes, Young Master, word for word." Dou Zhi, having pulled out a pen and paper at some point, had already noted what Mrs. Li Qian said.

Young Master Dou nodded in satisfaction and looked at Dou Meng: "There’s a shrew here bullying me, why are you not taking action?"

Dou Meng threw Li Qiangzi to the ground, moved swiftly like the wind to Mrs. Li Qian, and with a thump, kicked her in the knee, knocking her down and almost dislocating her arms as he restrained them.

"Ah!" Mrs. Li Qian screamed, wanting to speak, but the intense pain rendered her speechless for the moment.

Young Master Dou was not satisfied: "When dealing with shrews, you should slap them directly, why kick the knee?"

Dou Meng responded, "Young Master, knees are bones, hitting the knees hurts more than slapping."

How dare you talk back!

Young Master Dou was very angry but finding no way around the earnest-looking Dou Meng, pointed at Elder Lin and asked, "Are you with them?"

Elder Lin replied, "Just acquaintances, I don’t get along with Mrs. Li Qian and her son, but I’m folks from the same hometown as Miss Zhou and her son."

"Since you know them, come to the government with us." Young Master Dou, uninterested in clarifying Elder Lin’s ties with the Zhou and Li families, demanded they all go to the government.

He then looked to the onlookers, calling out loudly, "Her son startled my carriage, one of you must have seen it clearly. Five taels of silver, just come as a witness to the government with me and you can earn five taels of reward money!"

Saying this, he took the money bag handed by Dou Zhi, opened it, and let everyone see the shining silver inside.

"Silver, there must be at least a hundred taels," the onlookers were excited. Initially, they didn’t want to involve themselves in such a troublesome issue, but upon hearing they could get five taels for being witnesses, a dozen of them immediately volunteered, "Young Master, we saw it and are willing to testify for you!"

Young Master Dou looked at the dozen people, sneered, and pointed at three: "You, you, and you, come with me to the government, the rest, get lost."

Did you think I’m a fool? Giving five taels to each of you? More than two witnesses are enough.

The other unchosen onlookers began to curse: "Why are you picking people? We all agreed to testify for you!"

"Heh, spending my own silver and I can’t choose? Get lost, or I’ll take all of you with us to the government and accuse you of withholding information, aiding the shrew and her son in harming others!"

Dou Zhi, frustrated, thought, what a mess of charges?

Nonetheless, the onlookers, intimidated, dared not curse anymore and quickly dispersed.

"Hmph, just a bunch of unruly folks. As for you shrew and her son, today, I’ll let you taste what it’s like to be strung up and beaten!" Young Master Dou pointed at Mrs. Li Qian and her son and cursed, his mood extremely foul.

Being thrown from the carriage, losing face, and they dared disturb his sleep!

Don’t they know how long it’s been since he had a good night’s sleep?

"Let’s go!" At Young Master Dou’s command, the group marched toward the government office.

...

Dong dong dong!

The gong at the government gate was hit by Dou Meng.

County Magistrate Zheng frowned upon hearing the gong: "Who’s beating the drum for grievances again? Didn’t they say the villagers have calmed down?"

After Gao Sanxiong’s group was arrested, fewer villagers had been causing disturbances at the government, and with the new bank set to open tomorrow, many had returned home to prepare their documents, planning to apply for loans at the new bank.

Only a few freeloaders still lingered outside the government gate.

"Don’t worry, sir, it shouldn’t be anything serious, I’ll go check." Steward Zheng said and exited the courtyard, running into Luo Wu who had come to report.

Luo Wu said, "Steward, Li Kuihu’s wife and son got into trouble with Young Master Dou, and they’re being brought to the government by him to file a complaint."

Steward Zheng was taken aback: "Ha, that Li Family mother and son really got themselves into trouble with Young Master Dou, that’s truly asking for it."

Steward Zheng was quite pleased and went back inside with Luo Wu to report to County Magistrate Zheng.

Upon hearing that the prestigious Young Master Dou himself was filing a complaint, County Magistrate Zheng dared not be negligent, immediately accepting the case and bringing his people to the front hall to preside over the trial.