"That's not necessary! You and Billy have been friends since childhood—his business is my business too!" Alice Clark sat upright at the head of the bed, looking poised and composed. "But the East Market is still quite a distance from here, and your nose is still bleeding. Won't you get dizzy riding on horseback? Besides, you ran all this way to get help, and going back and forth will take a lot of time. By the time Billy arrives, those troublemaking outsiders will probably have run far away!"

"Not dizzy, not dizzy." Young Master Bennett waved his hands repeatedly. "They'll definitely run, but they can't get far. The East Market is our turf—we have plenty of eyes and ears, both in the open and in secret."

"If they can't get far, why not let the authorities catch them and give them a beating? In Chang'an, are you, Young Master Bennett, really afraid to go to court against a few outsiders?" Alice Clark paused, feigning a look of pure innocence.

"Miss, you don't understand?" Young Master Bennett rubbed his hands anxiously at the question. "We all care about our reputation. Wherever we fall, that's where we get back up. How can we casually alarm the authorities? Otherwise, if word gets out, those who know us will say we're just upholding the laws of the Great Tang and don't want trouble. Those who don't know us might think we're using our connections in officialdom to bully these outsiders!"

After being stopped several times by Alice Clark, Henry Carter's anger slowly subsided. Usually, he and Edward Bennett were the ones bullying others, but now someone had come to wreck their place—this was a humiliation he simply couldn't swallow. Another crucial point was that, although he was respectfully called Young Master, in reality, he was just a young master living off his ancestors' glory. The title his forebears had earned with their lives during the founding of the dynasty had been diminished generation by generation, and by his time, it was just a viscount's hat. It was good for show, but not necessarily useful in dealing with the authorities. If he didn't personally catch the troublemakers today and instead reported them to the officials, with the county magistrate's tendency to smooth things over, the matter would likely end up unresolved.

"Second Brother!" Seeing the hesitation on Henry Carter's face, Edward Bennett dragged out his plea.

"Don't rush me, let me think!" On one side was the concerned gaze of a beauty, on the other, the expectant look of a friend—Henry Carter was a bit torn. "Anyway, no matter how fast we hurry, they've already run far by now. Don't worry, stop the bleeding first. Grace, go fetch a basin of cold water. Sister Clark, could you please find a few clean towels? Preferably those made of long-staple silk. Little Jack, don't worry, sit down and tell us slowly—how did this fight actually start? I think, no matter how bold those outsiders are, if you didn't provoke them, they wouldn't dare come to the East Market to mess with us, right?"

"Second Brother, you didn't see it—they came looking for trouble!" With his dark circles, Edward Bennett couldn't argue, so he sat back down obediently, letting Alice Clark and Little Grace help treat his wounds. "They—ow, Grace, be gentle! That hurts! If you're not careful, one day I'll ask Second Brother for you, and make you warm my bed!"

While taking advantage of the two women with his words, he haltingly recounted what had happened. The cause of the conflict was actually quite simple: Henry Carter, Edward Bennett, and a few other noble heirs jointly ran the "Chang Le Fang" cockfighting arena in the East Market, which had been doing booming business lately. Edward Bennett, with nothing better to do and always fond of excitement, was there every day betting on matches. But today, his luck was terrible—the champion rooster "General Wuwei," usually used to hold the fort, won at first but then lost. As one of the owners, Edward Bennett felt humiliated and planned to borrow another rooster, "General Anle," from his other cockfighting arena, "Baisheng Guan," to turn things around. Unexpectedly, an outsider watching the fun thought this violated the agreed-upon rules and insisted that "Chang Le Fang" should take the loss fair and square. The staff tried to invite the outsider to the back for "tea," but he refused and instead started a fight, knocking several staff members to the ground. Edward Bennett wasn't one to take a loss, so he jumped in to stand up for his men, but he was outmatched and got a good beating from the outsider. The Samuel Foster and David Foster brothers from the House of Hu, who were watching from a private room on the second floor, jumped down to help. The outsider's companions—four or five of them—immediately joined in, and a brawl broke out with the The Foster Brothers. Charles Morgan, heir of the Duke of Gaotang, came to break up the fight but was mistaken for a cheating accomplice by the outsiders and ended up with a bruised and battered face.

"If you don't help us get back at them today, Second Brother, in the future at the East Market entrance, we..." Ever the instigator, Edward Bennett kept fanning the flames.

"Enough, stop talking!" Henry Carter slammed the table hard, smashing it to pieces—teapot and teacups shattered all over the floor. If it had just been Edward Bennett getting beaten, maybe he could have swallowed his anger. Edward Bennett was always causing trouble anyway, and a little suffering might teach him a lesson. But the The Foster Family brothers from the House of Hu and Fourth Young Master Morgan from the Duke of Gaotang's family were all old family friends of the The Carter Family, and their families often looked after the The Carter Family's other businesses. Now, with them getting beaten up by a few outsiders at the "Chang Le Fang" cockfighting arena, if he, the main owner, hid and refused to step up, he might as well never face his friends again!