The Old Madam slightly jolted as she looked at Lihua. She was taken aback by Lihua's anger and she didn't understand why she seemed even more defensive than before.

Lihua glared at her. Even if Jiang Weizhe was quiet and seemed unaffected by the humiliation, she knew it must have felt hurtful anyway. Whenever she looked at him, she would always get reminded of Wei and imagining them to be the target of someone's insults short-circuited her fuse.

Fu Renshu choked and watched her in horror.

What is that dumb woman doing!?

Ruomei also had the same thoughts as Fu Renshu. She watched her in disbelief as she challenged the Old Madam, now twice.

But the most dumbstruck here was none other than Jiang Weizhe. He rapidly blinked his eyes at her and tilted his head.

Why did she suddenly get so angry?

The Old Madam's voice thundered as she spoke, "What did you say?"

Lihua looked straight into her eyes and said, "I said don't talk to him like that!"

"Are you teaching me how to talk to my son?" She threateningly took a step towards her and asked in a quiet voice laced in danger and alarm.

"I will! Because clearly, you don't know! Didn't you say that I was rude just now? Then what you are doing crosses all the limits of rudeness! How can a mother insult her son like that? How can she say that her son is an embarrassment to her and the family? Are you pausing here to think just how he must be feeling when his own mother is saying such hurtful words? Just because he isn't fighting back doesn't mean that it isn't affecting him!"

Silence.

Ruomei wanted to faint. She could only watch Lihua in horror. But she found this a good chance to be in the Old Madam's favor.

She tremblingly pointed a finger at her.

"You! Are you in your senses!? I knew it. Lowly people like you can only be mannerless and shameless! Nobody has ever dared to speak to the Old Madam like that. Who do you think you are?"

Lihua angrily laughed. "I see where the problem lies now. It's because nobody spoke to her like that which is why she has become so arrogant! I don't know what went wrong between you two. I am pretty sure that Uncle here is innocent, but maybe, just maybe even if he made some mistake that might have disappointed you, you are going too far with the humiliation."

The Old Madam gritted her teeth. In all her life, nobody has managed to get on her nerves like that.

"You-"

But Lihua cut her off. "Before teaching me how to be a proper lady, first teach yourself how to be a proper mother. A mother is a source of love and comfort to her child. But what are you doing here? This is not how mothers behave with their own children!"

The Old Madam froze.

Ruomei grabbed her arm. "Enough! Such humiliation in front of others. You are crossing all your limits!"

"Others? Hah! That's some joke. Did she bother that there are strangers standing here before saying such harsh things to her son? Are you blind? So it's okay if she is insulting her son in front of others, but it's wrong if somebody insults her? That's some hypocrisy!"

The Old Madam clenched her fingers into a tight fist as she balled up her anger. This was the first time she felt like raising her hand against someone to slap some sense into her. But that was too undignified for the Old Madam of the Jiang family.

Lihua put her hand on her waist and faced Ruomei. "And you! Can you not open your mouth and say that she is wrong? What are you doing just standing here and keeping silent when Uncle is unnecessarily getting humiliated? Don't you care about him?"

Ruomei froze. The words got stuck in her mouth. If the Old Madam was her future grandmother-in-law, then Jiang Weizhe was her father-in-law. Even if he had fallen off her graces, she couldn't act as if he meant nothing to her.

"How could you smear my name like that? Of course, I care about my father-in-law!"

Lihua sneered. "Sure. I can see that with the way you are just siding with this 'Old Madam.'"

Ruomei's face flushed in embarrassment. She didn't dare raise her head to meet Jiang Weizhe's gaze.

Lihua harrumphed and turned to look at Jiang Weizhe who was staring at her with a dumbfounded expression. In all these years after his wife, nobody had been able to crack an expression on his blank face, not even his own son, Wei.

Her gaze softened and her heart ached to see him suffer. She tip-toed on her feet and patted his head. "There there. Don't feel bad, okay? Hmph. Just ignore her words."

Jiang Weizhe froze.

Am I being...patted? Consoled?

Fu Renshu almost spat the water he drank.

Song Lihua...I don't understand if you are brave or plain stupid!

The Old Madam took a deep breath as she held in her anger. "I didn't want to stoop to your level and deal with you. But you give me no choice."

Jiang Weizhe narrowed his eyes. He coldly glanced at her. Fu Renshu straightened up and he knew that it was time to come out of his hiding. He had to do something before Lihua would get into trouble.

Lihua glared at her. "Hah! Let me see what you can do!"

"How dare you make a commotion here?"

She was shocked to see Fu Renshu stomping his way towards her. "You! How dare you speak to the Old Madam like that? You deserve punishment!"

She was speechless.

Huh? You called me here and now I am getting punished? Huhu, what is going on?

Fu Renshu bowed in front of the Old Madam. "Old Madam. Leave this woman to me. I will take care of her. You don't have to trouble yourself dealing with such a lowly woman."

"..."

The Old Madam coldly said, "I don't want to see her face in this city."

"Of course Old Madam!"

He glared at her. "Come with me, you fool! I will show you what it is to mess with the Old Madam!" He grabbed her arm and quickly dragged her away.

"Hey!"

As soon as Fu Renshu dragged her away, Ruomei looked at the Old Madam, concerned, "Are you fine? I cannot believe somebody could be so mindless. Don't take it to heart, Old Madam."

The Old Madam shot a dangerous glare at her, making her step back. "You don't have to tell me that Shi Ruomei. Do you think I am a fool to let that clouth's words get to me?"

"O-of course not. I was just worried about you."

"Worry about your position more, Miss Shi. Because it will be in danger if you disappoint me. Don't teach me what I should do and what I shouldn't."

Ruomei stiffened and lowered her head. "Apologies, Old Madam."

She gnashed her jaw and cursed Lihua. If not for her, Old Madam wouldn't have gotten into such a bad mood and scolded her.

The Old Madam glanced at Jiang Weizhe and smiled. "You don't have to be so happy by feeling defended by a pathetic woman like her. Don't let it get to your head that somebody stood up for you."

Jiang Weizhe didn't comment.

"As of this moment, I have ruined her life in this city. So, it's not like we are going to meet her again."

He slightly squinted his gaze.

Who knows if we really don't meet her again?

Jiang Weizhe turned and left without bothering to reply to her.

---

Fu Renshu forcibly dragged her into a car.

"Hey! Leave me! This is kidnapping! I refuse to leave this city! Who are you to throw me out!"

His brow twitched. "Shut up, stupid woman!"

He dumped her into the car and glared at her. "Stop talking!"

Lihua was speechless. "Why should I? I don't know what the hell is going on! You called me in this rich store out of the blue. Then a woman started picking a fight with me out of the blue. And then some old lady began to question my character out of the blue too! Now she says that she will throw me out of this city! Who does she think she is!?"

Fu Renshu sighed.

Well, it is understandable for her to be so confused.

"Oh! Oh! And I met an elderly Uncle whom I met in a supermarket before!"

She narrowed her eyes at him, making him cough. "Assistant Fu said in his message to pretend as if I didn't recognize if I met someone familiar. You meant by him, right?"

"*Ahem* Yes."

Wow, her dumb brain actually worked…

She widened her eyes. "So you know him! Who is he?"

Suddenly, the door to the other side of the car opened and Jiang Weizhe stepped in. He elegantly sat in his seat and looked at her.