After being separated from my family, I became a darling of the military region thanks to my medical

"Zhao Dahai, don't you have a conscience?!"

A loud, aged yet powerful shout interrupted Zhao Dahai's shameless performance.

The crowd parted, and the old principal, Li Xuewen, walked out shakily, leaning on his cane. He pointed at the group of teenagers from Dahe Village who were watching the commotion behind Zhao Dahai, his beard trembling with anger.

"Look at these kids behind you! How old are they? They should be in school, and instead you're leading them out to fight, block roads, and rob people? You're destroying the very foundation of Dahe Village!"

Zhao Dahai was feeling smug when the old principal suddenly pointed his finger at him and berated him, instantly diminishing his arrogance. He shrank back, his eyes darting around, then hardened his old face and retorted, "Principal Li, you're an educated man, it's easy for you to talk like that! Studying? What good will studying do to fill your stomach? Dahe Village is starving. If you starve to death, no matter how well you study, you'll just be a literate starving ghost!"

"You...you're just being unreasonable!" The old headmaster was furious, his face turning ashen, clutching his chest and coughing violently. "Ignorant! Incomprehensible!"

"I don't care about ignorance or anything like that. All I know is that I'm the village head, and I have to keep the villagers alive!" Zhao Dahai pulled his shiny old sheepskin coat tighter around himself, plopped back down on the millstone, and swung his legs around, displaying a shameless, roguish attitude. "This matter is non-negotiable! Either we split the money, or nobody gets to cross this road! Unless you can fly over!"

Gu Zheng, who was still sitting in that lazy posture, suddenly made a cracking sound with his knuckles on his knees when he heard this.

His eyes, usually fixed on enemies, narrowed slightly. He leaned forward, and an aura of menace, forged in piles of corpses, instantly filled the air. Since reasoning with this kind of ruthless person was pointless, he would have to teach him a lesson with his fists.

Just as he was about to get up, a slightly cool little hand gently covered the back of his hand.

"Don't get your hands dirty."

Ye Zhen's voice was soft, yet it carried an air of calm confidence. She shook her head at Gu Zheng: "A beating won't help with this kind of stubborn person; he can just lie in front of our house and extort money for the rest of his life."

Gu Zheng paused, looked into his wife's clear eyes, the coldness at the corner of his mouth melted away, he pinched her fingertips with his other hand, sat back down, and put on a docile look of "listening to his wife".

Ye Zhen turned around, ignoring Zhao Dahai who was still putting on a "tragic show" and "acting like a scoundrel," and walked straight towards Zhao Xiuxiu.

"How old are you this year?" Ye Zhen asked abruptly, as if making a casual conversation.

Zhao Xiuxiu paused for a moment, then glanced instinctively at her father, and then at her brother who was clutching his wrist and wincing in pain. She answered softly, "Twenty-two."

"Have you been to school?"

"I went to primary school... but then my family got poor, so I stopped going." Zhao Xiuxiu lowered her head, twisting the hem of her clothes with her fingers. "But I can read and write, and I can do accounting."

Ye Zhen nodded, her gaze shifting back and forth between Zhao Xiuxiu and Ye Cheng, who was looking at her with a worried expression.

In the chaos just now, Zhao Xiuxiu used her slender body to block the pickaxe handle in order to protect Ye Cheng.

Looking at Ye Cheng, that simpleton's eyes hadn't left the girl ever since Zhao Xiuxiu stepped forward; his tenderness for her was practically overflowing from his eyes.

Having made up her mind, Ye Zhen turned around and walked to Ye Cheng's side.

"Big brother," Ye Zhen glanced at Zhao Xiuxiu, who was keeping her head down but occasionally glancing over, and asked in a low voice, "I saw that girl rush out to protect you just now. I just want to ask you one question: do you like this girl?"

Ye Cheng, a man over six feet tall, who hadn't even blinked when facing the sticks just moments before, now blushed instantly, his dark red face resembling a large red cloth. He stammered for a long time, scratching his head, "Xiuxiu... Xiuxiu is a good girl, kind-hearted, it's just... it's just that she has a scoundrel of a father and brother..."

"As long as the person is good, Dad and my brother are outsiders." Ye Zhen felt reassured and patted her older brother on the shoulder. "Alright, leave this to me."

After speaking, Ye Zhen turned around and her gaze precisely locked onto her second aunt Liu Fen, who was eating melon seeds and watching the show in the crowd.

"Second Aunt, could you please come over here for a moment?"

Liu Fen was watching the show while spitting out sunflower seed shells when she was suddenly called out, which startled her. She now both feared and respected Ye Zhen, after all, this niece was a ruthless person who could send her to jail, not to mention that there was a living devil sitting next to her.

"Hey, Zhen, what's up?" Liu Fen approached with a smile, secretly slipping the handful of uneaten sunflower seeds into her pocket, afraid of upsetting this big shot. "Well... Second Aunt wasn't just making a fuss, I was just standing here watching."

Ye Zhen smiled, a smile that sent chills down Liu Fen's spine: "Second Aunt, I remember you're known throughout our village as a 'know-it-all,' there's nothing you don't know about things for miles around. You must be quite familiar with matchmaking, right?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Fen immediately straightened her back, which had been hunched over; this was her area of ​​expertise. She patted her hands, which were covered in sunflower seed crumbs: "Of course! That lame son of Old Wang in the next village, and that divorced daughter of Little Li in the next village—I was the one who brought them together! As long as the bride price is right, I'd dare to propose to anyone, not just ordinary people, but even the daughter of the Jade Emperor!"

"Alright then." Ye Zhen pointed at Zhao Xiuxiu. "What do you think of this girl?"

Liu Fen followed the finger's gaze, her beady eyes scanning the area up and down like searchlights. She clicked her tongue twice and said, "That girl from the Zhao family? Big butt, good for childbearing, and a good worker too. I heard she does all the work in the fields and at home. It's just that she's unlucky, stuck with a bloodsucking father like Zhao Dahai and a spendthrift brother like Zhao Shanhe. A couple of years ago, some young men came to propose marriage, but they were all scared away by the dowry."

"What if we told our eldest brother?" Ye Zhen lowered her voice and dropped a bombshell.

"What?!" Liu Fen's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. She looked at the honest-looking Ye Cheng, then at Zhao Xiuxiu, and suddenly slapped her thigh. "Oh my god! How come I didn't think of that! These two standing together are a perfect match... ugh! They're a perfect couple! If they get together... then Dahe Village and our Heishan Village will be in-laws! And that old geezer Zhao Dahai can bring people to block his son-in-law's way?"

Although Liu Fen was greedy and opportunistic, she was incredibly quick-witted. She immediately grasped the underlying strategy—they wanted to turn that old scoundrel into one of their own, even if only nominally!

"But Zhen..." Liu Fen's eyes darted around, and she rubbed her hands together with some difficulty, "That old man from the Zhao family is insatiable, and he's probably going to ask for an exorbitant dowry."

"Money is not a problem." Ye Zhen's tone was calm, but it exuded an air of confidence that left no room for doubt. "As long as things can be done, how to handle it in a way that is both respectable and leaves that old scoundrel Zhao Dahai speechless is up to your skills, Second Aunt."