Bai Su frowned as she walked out the door and saw someone striding toward her, sleeves rolled up, hands on their hips, looking for a fight.
She recognized the person. It was the proprietress of the rice shop at the foot of the mountain. Everyone called her Xiao Mi.
Xiao Mi had a voluptuous figure, was very fertile, and was quite attractive. She was also a Level 3 Cat Beastman, known throughout the village as the famous Mi Xishi.
Several Beast Husbands trailed behind her, their faces etched with embarrassment. "Hey, just forget it, forget it."
"We're all neighbors. Making a scene would be so awkward."
Xiao Mi shot them a vicious glare. "If you say one more word for that bitch Bai Su, you can all get the hell out with nothing to your names!"
"Don't think I don't know what you're all thinking! You've all gotten bold, running up the mountain every day."
Bai Su stepped out of the orphanage, her expression perfectly calm. "What's going on?"
Bai Xiaolang's face was grim. Afraid they would bully Bai Su, he stood protectively beside her, radiating hostility.
With one hand on her hip, Xiao Mi pointed at Bai Xiaolang beside her. "You have the nerve to ask me what's wrong? Your ill-mannered brat from the orphanage came to my shop and stole rice!"
Bai Su turned to look at Bai Xiaolang. "Is that true?"
Bai Xiaolang's expression was awful. "No, I didn't steal anything!"
Xiao Mi's eyes widened in fury. "You still dare to say you didn't? Wasn't it just a couple of days ago that you overheard us gossiping about Bai Su?"
"When I got up this morning, I saw ten bags of rice missing from the warehouse! And the remaining seven or eight bags were slashed open, with rice spilled all over the floor!"
"You can go take a look right now! The cuts on those bags were clearly man-made. There's no way they were gnawed open by rats!"
"Who else could it be but this feral little wolf whelp?"
The surrounding crowd began to chatter. "I saw it this morning, too. It's true! The cuts on the bags were clean, like they were deliberately sliced with a fruit knife."
"Usually, everyone gets along. No one's kid has ever done something like this."
"Yeah, how could something like this suddenly happen?"
Xiao Mi snorted, casting a disdainful glance at Bai Su before turning to the crowd. "Isn't it obvious? It's all because I was gossiping about Bai Su with a few friends at the foot of the mountain a few days ago, and this little wolf whelp held a grudge!"
"I wasn't wrong, was I? Hasn't Bai Su been seducing men lately? It's the middle of summer, and males are already prone to going into heat."
"And her! She's so desperate for a man, I can smell her slutty scent from a mile away!"
"She's got our males running up the mountain every day for no reason. If you want to steal a man, have the guts to do it to my face! See if I don't tear your face off!"
The commotion quickly attracted the attention of the construction crew.
But Bai Su was no pushover. Her expression turned cold as she stared at Xiao Mi. "Cut the crap. You come up here accusing one of my kids of stealing. Do you have any proof?"
"There are plenty of kids at the foot of the mountain, but you single out one of mine. What is it? Are you jealous of me?"
Xiao Mi's eyes widened in disbelief as she pointed at her own nose. "Me? Jealous of you? Why don't you take a good look at yourself?"
"An exiled female whose reputation stinks worse than the village sewer. Not a single male is willing to be your Beast Husband. Me, jealous of you? Don't make me laugh!"
"Let me tell you, you have to give me an explanation for this today. Pay up! And make that little blind boy next to you apologize to me, or I'm calling the police!"
A shadow fell over Bai Xiaolang's eyes. "I didn't steal anything!"
Bai Su stepped in front of Bai Xiaolang. "He said he didn't steal anything. If you keep falsely accusing my kid, believe me, I'll rip your mouth apart."
"Falsely accusing?" Xiao Mi sneered. "Our kids down the mountain all have parents and good manners. Besides your orphanage, what other kids would do something so despicable?"
"You people never change. You've been caught red-handed, and you're still making excuses."
Her words weren't enough; she started ordering her Beast Husbands around. "Are you all dead? Grab that little whelp for me! Are you going to pay for the huge loss at the shop?"
The Beast Husbands were meek and subservient. They nodded quickly and were about to rush forward to grab him.
Bai Xiaolang instantly released his spiritual power. His expression turned ferocious as sharp wolf claws emerged from his fingertips and his canines extended, ready to attack.
Bai Su shielded him with her body and snapped in a low voice, "I'd like to see who dares! The orphanage is now under the jurisdiction of the Federation. I'm not some exiled female anymore. You dare lay a hand on me?"
Hearing this, the Beast Husbands hesitated, not daring to step forward.
Bai Su locked eyes with Xiao Mi, her gaze unflinching. "I told you, either show me some proof or stop barking like a dog. You make a move, and I'm calling the police!"
Xiao Mi was intimidated by Bai Su's aura. She hesitated, not daring to advance, a look of panic on her face.
She turned to the gossiping crowd instead. "Look at this! This is the pot calling the kettle black! It was clearly her orphanage kid who stole our rice and ruined so much of it, and now she refuses to admit it and threatens to call the police? As if anyone's afraid of her!"
"If it wasn't her orphanage kid, was it one of you neighbors?"
"We've all lived together for so many years. Everyone knows perfectly well what each other's kids are like. Our children would never do something like this. Am I right, everyone?"
With those words, she pulled all the onlookers onto her side.
"That's right! Our kids would never do something so awful!"
"I've always been strict with my kids. If my child dared to steal, I'd have beaten them to death long ago!"
"It definitely wasn't my kid! It must be one of the orphanage kids!"
"Exactly! The orphanage kids have no parents to raise them right. And everyone knows what kind of person that damn woman Bai Su is. She's a degenerate herself, always gambling and drinking. What kind of good kids could she possibly raise?"
Xiao Mi continued to add fuel to the fire. "This little wolf whelp is blind and has a broken tail. He's so gloomy all the time. You can tell just by looking at him that he's no good. Isn't it perfectly normal for him to steal?"
"He's probably stolen from people's homes before! He just stole small things, so you never noticed!"
Bai Su marched forward and slapped her right across the face, then grabbed her hair and dragged her to the ground. "You bitch! Say what you want about me, but if you talk about my kid, I'll kill you!"
"AAAH! What are you doing?" Xiao Mi grimaced in pain.
Bai Su straddled her and started slapping her with both hands. "My kid didn't steal anything!"
"How dare you frame my kid! I'll beat you to death, you gossip!"
"That's for spouting nonsense!"
"That's for running your mouth!"
Bai Xiaolang stared blankly at Bai Su's back. Suddenly, his nose stung, and his vision began to blur.
Xiao Mi's Beast Husbands wanted to help, but they were afraid of hurting Bai Su and being accused of harming a female. An offense like that could be major or minor; it could even lead to imprisonment.
The other females wanted to pull Bai Su off and rushed over, grabbing at her from all sides.
But the spiritual power of these females from the foot of the mountain was average at best—level one or two, similar to Bai Su's.
Besides, Bai Su was very heavy. With her sheer weight, the whole group of them swarmed forward but couldn't budge her an inch.
As a result, Xiao Mi took several more slaps to the face.
Lu Tingyan, who had been watching from the crowd, decided things had gone on long enough. He dispersed the people and lifted Bai Su up by the back of her collar.
Xiao Mi lay on the ground, her face swollen like a pig's head, looking half-dead from shock.
She was clearly terrified. After staring blankly at the people around her, she finally couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into tears with a loud "WAAAH."