Jethro Golding summoned Wade Golding and stared at him with a grim expression. Wade was so terrified his legs went weak, his back drenched in cold sweat.

"I’m asking you, who told you to go seize the Hawthorne family’s land? Tell me the truth!"

Jethro Golding had, after all, been out and seen the world, so he quickly deduced the root of the problem. Both Bowman and Wade were damn fools. Wade, in particular, was the type of moron too lazy to even bother figuring out what one plus one equaled. How could he possibly have started worrying about whether his cousin had land to plant soybeans? And he certainly wouldn’t have been the one to suggest forcibly seizing the Hawthorne family’s land. Someone had to have put him up to this.

He had to find out who was stirring up trouble and disrupting the harmony of Millstone Peak.

Wade Golding hung his head, looking like a coward, but he didn’t dare hide anything. He confessed everything that had happened, including the full progression of his thoughts.

"No one told me to do it. I thought of it myself. I was helping Jacqueline gather firewood on the mountain and just happened to see Adrian Hawthorne tilling his field, and the idea just came to me."

Wade Golding repeated the things he had said to Adrian Hawthorne, but he was still holding some things back. He might not have been smart, but he genuinely cared for Jacqueline Spann. He knew that if he repeated what Jacqueline had said at the time, his cousin would be in for it, and his aunt, Phoenix Golding, would surely give her a beating.

Jethro Golding asked a few more questions but learned nothing new. It seemed the idiot, Wade, had simply acted on a whim. He proceeded to viciously chew out the entire family, leaving them thoroughly scolded.

"From now on, just do your work honestly and stop with these crooked schemes! Bowman is getting married next year. You all need to behave and not make a laughingstock of yourselves!"

Jethro Golding then glared at Mandy York before shouting at Sherman Golding, "You’re a grown man; you need to have a mind of your own! Don’t be so easily swayed! Stop listening to some ignorant, stupid woman. If you don’t understand something, come and ask me! If you ever pull a stupid stunt like this again, I’ll beat you to death myself!"

Mandy York lowered her head, her face filled with resentment. ’How am I an ignorant, stupid woman? I worry about every single thing in this family, big and small. If I wasn’t here holding it all together, this house would’ve fallen apart by now! Hmph! Uncle Jethro is just getting old and senile. I’m not listening to him!’

Sherman Golding meekly agreed, not daring to argue back. But only he knew what was truly on his mind.

Jethro Golding felt a headache coming on just looking at this family. He left after giving them a piece of his mind. He didn’t have the face to go and argue with Byron Thorne, either. Sherman Golding had been in the wrong first; showing up at their door would only be asking for humiliation. He had no choice but to swallow his anger.

Still, the "Model Family" award for the year would surely go to the Golding family. When that happened, they could hold their heads high again. The thought made Jethro Golding feel a little better, but he was still frustrated. Even though Sherman Golding was in the wrong, Felix Thorne had been far too ruthless. He clearly had no respect for the Golding family, and that was an insult Jethro couldn’t swallow.

But whether he could swallow it or not, he had to. After all, the Golding family had no one as capable as Felix Thorne.

The other families soon learned of the incident as well. That evening on Millstone Peak, every household was discussing it over dinner, their faces alight with gossip as they added their own colorful embellishments. In these retellings, Bowman Golding’s injuries naturally became much more severe.

"Felix broke Bowman’s arm! And crushed his family jewels, too. Apparently, it was the little Thorne girl who did the kicking. People said you could hear Bowman howling from a mile away, wailing that Mandy York will never get to hold a grandson now. Tsk, tsk, tsk... That little Thorne girl sure has a strong kick!"

After dinner, the villagers, with nothing better to do, gathered in small groups to shoot the breeze. They were all deeply concerned about Bowman Golding’s family jewels, and took the opportunity to express their admiration for the little Thorne girl!

Just as you’d expect from someone raised by the Thorne family. In a word—

Badass!