"But what?" Ms. Zhu anxiously leaned in again, her whole face tight with worry.

Xing Beichen hurriedly stepped back, waving the horsetail whisk in his hand again.

"First call out the other people in your household. After I’ve read each of their faces one by one, I’ll tell you everything!" Xing Beichen said.

When Ms. Zhu heard that, her expression changed a bit.

"Master, I’ll go call a few of the children over first!"

Ms. Zhu finished speaking and was about to run off, but Xing Beichen stopped her: "They don’t have to be your blood relatives. As long as they’re currently staying under your roof, they all have to be called over!"

Ms. Zhu froze. Other people?

Other than a few children, who else was there at home?

"Aiya, how can you be this stupid? I mean Ah Da, Ah Er and the others in our backyard!" Gao Tiezhu cursed Ms. Zhu.

Only then did Ms. Zhu react. Her man was talking about those hired thugs they kept at home!

"Alright, I’ll go right now! Daoist, you must not leave!"

Before leaving, Ms. Zhu still didn’t forget to remind Xing Beichen, and Xing Beichen didn’t answer, just stood where he was!

Ms. Zhu was burning with anxiety inside. She ran back home at full speed and immediately called everyone in the house out.

Just as they left, Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng slipped over the wall and into the Gao Family’s gate.

Heading straight for the backyard, the two of them went to the pigsty and chicken coop, and tossed some ground-dry mandala powder into the pig feed trough and the chicken feed trough.

After throwing it in, Lu Yuanfeng was still a bit uneasy.

"Shuangshuang, this stuff... will it actually work?"

Mu Shuangshuang wasn’t too sure either, and only said, "It should work! After all, this stuff was used on my Fifth Uncle and my Second Aunt before.

My Second Aunt had hallucinations from that Mandala flower powder and went to sleep right in the pigsty, thinking it was her own home!

The effect was that good on the two of them. Once these animals eat feed mixed with flower powder and seeds, they’re bound to make a ruckus, kicking up at least one round of ’no peace with chickens and dogs’.

Anyway, whatever happens, as long as we turn Gao Tiezhu’s household upside down, that’s good enough!"

Mu Shuangshuang said this with a completely serious face, and when she finished, she carefully checked over what she’d done!

Thinking of the bad things Shuangshuang had done in the past, Lu Yuanfeng couldn’t help his body twitching once, but in the end he held back his laughter.

The two of them headed back the way they came and left Gao Village!

Meanwhile, Xing Beichen was staring at the members of Gao Tiezhu’s household, looking them over again and again.

After a bout of head-shaking and muttered chanting,

Xing Beichen walked up to Gao Tiezhu with a solemn expression.

"Earlier I said your honored wife was born with a face that brings prosperity to her husband. I didn’t say the rest because I hadn’t yet read the faces of the others in your family!"

"So what did you see?" Gao Tiezhu asked.

"Ominous. Extremely ominous!" Xing Beichen said.

Gao Tiezhu sized up Xing Beichen and snorted. "I thought you had some real skill. Turns out you’re just another bullshit-spouting charlatan. Do you have any idea how much money our Gao Family has? Do you know how many people in the whole village depend on the Gao family?"

Xing Beichen didn’t get angry at being questioned.

He waved the horsetail whisk in his hand again and said to Gao Tiezhu, "Just wait for tonight. Your household is sure to be in total chaos, no peace for chickens and dogs alike. That will be the omen—and the beginning!"

"I fart in your mother’s face!" Gao Tiezhu roared, then bellowed at all the thugs.

"Ah Da, Ah Er, beat him to death for me!"

The few young men all clenched their fists and charged at Xing Beichen. Xing Beichen slipped aside, dodging the first wave of attacks.

And while dodging, he still didn’t forget to remind Gao Tiezhu.

"Why rush to strike now? Whether I’m telling the truth or not, make your judgment after tonight!"

Off to the side, Ms. Zhu tugged on Gao Tiezhu’s sleeve. "Master, let’s wait and see. Didn’t he say it’s our livestock that’ll be in trouble? It’s not us. We can talk after tonight. It’s not like he’s asked us for money anyway!"

Hearing that, Gao Tiezhu hesitated!

He signaled with his eyes, and the thugs immediately pulled back.

"If what you say is true, where do we find you? And if it’s false, where do we find you?" Gao Tiezhu asked.

"Same time tomorrow, I’ll appear here again."

Leaving those words behind, Xing Beichen left Gao Village.

In a patch of bushes outside the village, Lu Yuanfeng and Mu Shuangshuang had been waiting so long they were getting impatient.

Their eyes stayed fixed on the village entrance, watching it over and over.

When Xing Beichen finally came out, the two of them didn’t go straight up to him, but hid in the dark instead, to see if anyone was following Xing Beichen.

At first there was indeed no one behind Xing Beichen, but after a while, a sneaky figure appeared.

Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng exchanged a look.

They let Xing Beichen pass first, and as soon as the person trailing him showed up, Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng suddenly jumped out, knocked the man unconscious, and tossed him into the bushes!

The three of them regrouped where the carriage was parked.

Xing Beichen had a bellyful of things he was itching to tell Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng.

"Let’s get out of here first and discuss what to do next!" Mu Shuangshuang said.

The three of them got into the carriage.

After driving for a while, they found a small grove and took out the lunch they’d prepared earlier at noon to eat. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

They ate as they talked.

"According to our earlier plan, step one was me pretending to be a Taoist to catch Gao Tiezhu’s attention—that part’s done. So what’s step two?" Xing Beichen asked.

Last night Mu Shuangshuang hadn’t laid out the plan in full detail. She’d focused mainly on those thugs of the Gao Family’s. In a head-on fight, the three of them might not be able to take down those more than twenty hired fists!

"Step two is of course to wait for the Gao Family’s chickens and dogs to go crazy. Fengzi and I have already planted the drug. There’s sure to be a good show tonight!" Mu Shuangshuang said.

"As for step three, tomorrow you go tell Gao Tiezhu to drive out everyone in his household who’s born in the Year of the Dragon. I chatted with those thugs before. A few of the best fighters among them are all Dragons."

Lu Yuanfeng and Xing Beichen nodded at the same time. "So that means by then, Gao Tiezhu’s place will be short quite a few thugs?"

"That’s right. You just tell him that if he doesn’t get rid of all the Dragons, the Gao Family will have a fire! Actually no, I still have to go ask Matchmaker Sun what zodiac sign Gao Cuihua is.

We’ll throw Gao Cuihua’s zodiac in the mix too. Gao Tiezhu dotes on his daughter, so he definitely won’t send Gao Cuihua away. Then at night, we set a fire and burn all their account books and loan notes!"

Mu Shuangshuang’s first idea had been to steal the IOUs and account books.

But then she thought it over. If she really stole the IOUs and the books, it’d be way too obvious.

Even a fool would know it was the Old Mu Family up to tricks.

If she burned everyone’s, then even if Gao Tiezhu suspected, he wouldn’t pin it on the Old Mu Family!

"Hahaha, that’s great. We’ll also nab a couple silver notes to spend. It’s not like that bastard’s any kind of decent person anyway!"

Xing Beichen said, chuckling.

Mu Shuangshuang froze, looking at Xing Beichen suspiciously. "Aren’t you some rich young master from the Capital? How come you’re short of money too?"