I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

The fact that the visitor didn't refuse immediately meant there was hope. Ning's mother's face lit up with joy. She helped Ning's father to sit down on a rattan chair and helped him lift his clothes to reveal the injury on his leg.

"This..." The young man squatted down, his expression grave as he massaged Ning's father's injured leg for a while, then hesitated, "Are you sure you can come up with the money later?"

"Sure!" Zhao Ningning agreed readily, saying to the young man, "Young doctor, please take a look at my dad! My family sells ice jelly, it's delicious! We've sold out for today, but I'll bring you a bowl tomorrow so you can try it!"

The young man cupped his hands in humility and said, "Young lady, you're too kind. Your father's leg needs to be treated as soon as possible, otherwise it will be harder for it to heal if left untreated."

Since it was possible to pay one copper coin at a time, Ning's mother didn't delay any longer. She placed the money bag on the table and said, "Here are all the copper coins I brought today, a total of five hundred coins. We'll pay for tomorrow's coins after we finish setting up our stall tomorrow."

"Alright." The young doctor went behind the counter, rolled up his sleeves, picked up a brush, wrote a prescription on a piece of paper, and handed it to the apprentice next to him, "Go and get the medicine."

"Dr. Cheng..." The apprentice hesitated, clutching the prescription. When he looked at Dr. Cheng, Dr. Cheng shook his head and urged him, "Go quickly."

Ning's father lowered his trousers and was led by the doctor to the backyard, which was a "ward" reserved for patients who needed daily treatment. The rooms were very small, but clean. Zhao Ningning noticed that there was still mugwort burning in the corner.

Ning's father was left behind, and Ning's mother went to the bedside to make the bed for him. Although the sheets and quilts were a bit worn, they were clean, and if you smelled them closely, you could only smell the fragrance of soap.

After making the bed, Zhao Qi helped Ning's father sit on it. Ning's mother took out thirty coins from her bosom and gave them to him. "We just spent five hundred coins of what we earned today and what we had left over from the past few days. Here are half of the remaining coins for you to use to buy food."

Ning's father agreed, then turned to ask with concern, "Do you have any money left?"

"Yes." Ning's mother put away the remaining money and sat on the edge of the bed, carefully instructing Ning's father.

Without disturbing their parents' conversation, Zhao Ningning and Zhao Qi squatted in the yard to take stock. They had successfully sold more than eighty bowls of ice jelly today, and they still had time to find a doctor for their father. Tomorrow, they would prepare about a hundred bowls to try selling. If the sales were good, they could gradually increase or decrease the amount based on customer traffic over the next few days.

Actually, there's another way. Zhao Ningning can make use of her space. She can boil water at home, let it cool, and then use it to make ice jelly. All she needs to do is find a place in the county town and she can make it in no time.

Zhao Ningning calculated that she could probably sell another 1,800 or 1,900 bowls of ice jelly. The money from selling them would probably cover her father's leg treatment costs, but she would have to find another way to cover the family's daily expenses.

After settling Ning's father in, Ning's mother went to the front to inquire about the consultation fee and treatment method. It was similar to what the first clinic had said: Ning's father could only take medicine for two days first, and after the redness and swelling subsided, the wound would be cut open to allow it to heal in its normal position.

There are practically no anesthetic options here, and thinking about that, Zhao Ningning lit a candle for her father.

As the sun was setting, the three returned to the entrance of the East Market. They thanked Madam Cao, retrieved their belongings from the stall, returned the wooden sign to the yamen runner at the street corner, and then boarded an oxcart for their return journey.

After a long day of work, the group ate a quick bite at noon. Zhao Ningning just wanted to get home early to boil some water, but as soon as she entered Old Zhao's courtyard, she saw a woman carrying a basket, cursing and swearing in the yard.

Ning's mother paused in her steps.

The courtyard gate was wide open. Sun Shi, with her back to the door, was drying wild vegetables while cursing, "They really don't know their place. We just separated the family property, and now the whole family has disappeared somewhere. They locked the gate and don't even care about the land..."

"Hey!" Ning's mother put down the basket in her hand and gestured for the two children to carry it into the house first.

Hearing voices behind her, Madam Sun was startled, nearly dropping the basket in her hands. Turning around, she saw it was the second branch of the family, and her anger flared. She retorted angrily, "What are you yelling about in broad daylight! Oh—"

She noticed the large baskets that the fifth daughter and the third son were carrying, rolled her eyes, and said, "Have you struck it rich? Buying so much stuff all at once?"

"What's it to you?" Ning's mother retorted. "The second branch of the family has separated now. Even if they find a gold nugget outside, it's none of your business."

"They just bought some broken pots and buckets, and you're treating them like treasures?" Sun put the basket on the shelf in the yard and yelled, "Just a few broken buckets! Do you really think I, Sun Mei, care about these things? Don't forget, you still owe Old Zhao's family ten taels of silver!"

Having said that, he gave Zhao Ningning a sinister look. Zhao Ningning wasn't really an eight-year-old child; she immediately threw the bucket on the ground, put her hands on her hips, and said, "What? You want to kidnap me and sell me?"

If it weren't for this brat's resistance, we would have sent her to the Sun family in town long ago. What couldn't we have done with the money? Our own Da Bao wouldn't be causing such a fuss at home these past few days without any money.

Not wanting the child to argue with the adults, Ning's mother stood in front of Zhao Ningning and squinted: "Ten taels of silver?"

Seeing her mother start rolling up her sleeves, Zhao Ningning jumped towards her brother. Her mother was about to unleash her ultimate move!

She always prefers action to words. On the morning she transmigrated, if she hadn't been thinking of taking the opportunity to get rid of this family, Ning's mother wouldn't have gone to such lengths to deal with this group of black-hearted wolves.

Ning's mother exposed her palm, glanced at it, and then swung her arm around and slapped it at Sun's face.

One slap, and he exclaimed, "Ten taels of silver!"

Two slaps. "The Sun family from town!"

After making sure the marks were symmetrical, Ning's mother stopped. Seeing the finger marks slowly appearing on Sun's face, she rushed over and slapped her twice more.

"How dare you bring that up?! I'll beat you to a pulp today, or I'm not a Zhou!"

"You! You hit me?!" Sun Mei exclaimed in disbelief. "You dare hit me?!"

"Hit you?" Ning's mother sneered. "I've been wanting to hit you to loosen my grip for a while now, but who told you to walk right into my way? Get lost! Don't get in my way again. If you dare to even lay a finger on my Ningning, don't blame me for being impolite!"

"She's just a lowly girl. Sending her to the Sun family is already a great honor for her. What right do you have...?"

Before Sun Mei could finish speaking, Ning Ma took a deep breath and slapped her hard across the face. Sun Mei was immediately knocked to the ground by this slap filled with resentment.

"Don't let me hear you making a move on Ningning again, or it won't be as simple as just slapping her twice." Ning's mother stared at the person on the ground and sighed inwardly: This body is still too weak. In the past, one slap would have knocked out two of the other person's teeth. No, I still need to find a way to fix it.

Sun Mei covered her burning face and collapsed to the ground, completely stunned.

Ignoring her, Ning's mother walked around to the backyard, got the key, and unlocked the door. Zhao Ningning put down the bucket, and Zhao Qi went to fetch water. Soon, they lit the small clay stove.

The three drank water and rested for a while. Zhao Qi was left alone at home to watch the fire and continue boiling water. Ning's mother asked Zhao Ningning to put the wooden bucket and basket into her space. The mother and daughter went to the river to fetch water together.

There were more people by the river in the evening than during the day. The reason was simply that it was too hot during the day, so the villagers could only come to fetch water in the early morning and evening. Zhao Ningning followed her mother for a long time before they found a place where they could fetch water but there were no people around at the bend in the river.

After putting the basket out, Zhao Ningning squatted down by the narrow "river" to wash the dishes, and couldn't help but complain, "Mom, there's so little water..."

"If it doesn't rain soon, the river here might dry up." Ning's mother rolled up her sleeves and pressed the wooden bucket into the river. Fortunately, the river was still about half a child's height deep, and when she pressed her arm down, the bucket couldn't reach the bottom.

Thinking back, Wangli Village, no, it can be said that the entire Fengning County has hardly had any rain in the past three years. It's alright now that the riverbed is not completely dry, but if one day the riverbed is completely dry, things will probably get chaotic.

After washing the dishes, Zhao Ningning filled each bowl with water and put them back into her space along with the buckets filled with water.

After returning home, Zhao Ningning was worried that the eldest son's family might cause trouble, since her own mother had just hit someone during the day. Unexpectedly, at night, Granny Qian screamed and the front yard started making a ruckus again.

Ning's mother even wanted to build a wall in the backyard to separate the two yards, since only they lived in the backyard anyway.

Hearing a noise in the front yard, Zhao Ningning opened the window and also strained her ears.

main room.

Granny Qian slammed the money box heavily onto the table.

Zhao Tiebao was startled. Realizing that it wasn't him who had taken his mother's money, he sat down to the side and stared at the eldest son's family.

Inside the room, Sun, whose face was still swollen, looked extremely unwell.

—Mother is here for the eldest son's family.

Thinking this, Madam Sun didn't dare to be the first to speak and invite trouble. She secretly glanced at the silent man beside her, feeling resentful, and could only carefully smile and ask, "Mother, what's wrong?"

"I'm really puzzled!" Granny Qian said, pointing to the empty money box. "I opened it the other day when we divided the family property, and there were still two taels of silver inside!"

"Looking at it today, there are only a few copper coins left!" Granny Qian was heartbroken. The two taels of silver were the ones that were on the surface, but she had also secretly lost one tael of her own money. The total of three taels of silver was gone just like that!

Hearing this, Qian Laoda, who had been sitting in the corner, couldn't sit still any longer. The sound of him getting up overturned his small stool. He said in a simple and honest voice, "Mom! Our house has been burgled!?"

"We've been robbed! Not by outsiders, but by insiders!" Granny Qian was so angry she felt dizzy. "These two taels of silver were money I'd worked so hard to save. I was planning to buy half a pound of meat for you all to nourish yourselves during the busy farming season in a few days, but who would have thought that all this hard-earned money would just disappear like that!"

"We only have a handful of people in our family who can come to the main room, and those who can even get into the east room can be counted on one hand!"

At this point, those in the room who hadn't understood before now understood: Granny Qian meant that someone in her family had stolen her silver!

Zhao Tiebao asked anxiously, "Who did this?! Who has the audacity to steal my mother's money?!"

Two taels of silver! Enough to buy meat and eat your fill! Enough to buy some cloth to make clothes, and it was just stolen and squandered by someone else?

Unable to gain any advantage, Zhao Laosan became increasingly agitated. He stopped sitting to the side and went straight to sit next to his mother. "Mother, you must find out who did this and make them cough up this silver!"

Who else could have done it! Granny Qian glanced around, seeing the thoughtful third daughter-in-law, the grim-faced eldest daughter-in-law, and the stern-looking eldest son…

Granny Qian asked, "Where did Da Sun go?"

Suddenly being reminded of Zhao Wenyuan, Zhao the eldest was puzzled. "Mother? Why are you looking for Xiaoyuan? He went to town this afternoon, saying that a former classmate invited him to admire paintings."

A classmate? Could it be the daughter of the bookstore owner? The third son's wife thought to herself, she had often seen Zhao Wenyuan running to the backyard of the bookstore when she went back to her parents' home.

He doesn't need to continue his studies now; he's already thrown away everything he learned before. What classmate would call him at this critical juncture?

"Where did this classmate come from? I've never heard of him before."

Before Mrs. Sun could think of how to answer her mother-in-law, a commotion came from outside the courtyard.

"Mom! Mom? Oh dear! Why didn't you leave me any food?! Didn't you say I'd be back for dinner tonight?!"

Seeing that the main room was still lit, Zhao Wenyuan pushed open the door, his face beaming with pride. "Why is everyone sitting in the main room? Did you just finish eating?"

"Wen Yuan, what are you holding in your hand?"

When Granny Qian asked, everyone's eyes turned to Zhao Wenyuan, who was holding a piece of paper with words faintly written on it.

Seeing others staring at what he was holding, Zhao Wenyuan quickly stuffed it into his sleeve and changed the subject, saying, "It's nothing important, Mother! Didn't you leave me any food? Didn't I say I'd be back for dinner tonight?"

Sun felt embarrassed. She was too ashamed to say that Zhao Wenyuan hadn't returned by mealtime, and her mother-in-law hadn't let her scoop any extra food. Each person was given a bowl of porridge as a base, and not even a piece of flatbread was spared.

"Xiao Yuan..." Sun wanted to persuade him to go back to his room and not get involved in this matter, but Zhao Laosan, who was sitting to the side, saw that the edge of the paper in Zhao Wenyuan's sleeve was showing. Taking advantage of Zhao Wenyuan's inattention, he rushed over and pulled it out.

After Zhao Tiebao snatched the note, he shook it, opened it, and froze on the spot.

He had attended a private school and was one of the few literate people in his family. The handwriting on the note was delicate and clearly written by a woman; it was actually a love poem!

Zhao Wenyuan's whereabouts during the day were obvious; he was clearly looking for the bookstore girl!

Upon closer inspection of the poem, Zhao Tiebao roared in fury, "So, Xiao Yuan, it was you who took the family's money and gave it back to an outsider!"

The family's money has always been allocated to the third son's family; when did it become Zhao Wenyuan's turn to squander it?

Everyone in the room was stunned by Zhao Laosan's words. Granny Qian had been suspicious, but she never expected that her eldest grandson had actually stolen all the money.

"You! Who did you give the money to!" Granny Qian was heartbroken. That was three taels of silver! Enough for a family to live on for a long time. You could say he used the money to buy some food and drink, but he actually gave the money to a stranger!

Thinking of this, Granny Qian tremblingly reached out her hand.

Seeing his grandmother raise her hand to strike him, Zhao Wenyuan quickly grabbed his former grandmother's hand and soothed her, "Grandma, don't hit me! Let me explain!"

"Because our family has been delaying giving Miss Cao a definite answer, her parents are going to betroth her to someone else. My visit today is to put Miss Cao's mind at ease! As long as our family can raise the remaining money, she can become your grandson's wife!"

After hearing this explanation, Granny Qian still slapped Zhao Wenyuan, but instead of slapping his face, she slapped his back several times.

Granny Qian: "That's the last bit of money we have left!"

No matter how much they doted on this grandson, they would only take a few coins from the money box to buy him some food, paper, and pens. How could he possibly...

Zhao Wenyuan seemed to realize his mistake, and he lowered his head and tugged at Granny Qian's hand, begging for forgiveness: "Grandma... anyway, our family will be harvesting grain soon. After the autumn harvest, our family will have enough money to marry Miss Cao. She will bring the money back as part of her dowry."

Hearing this, Granny Qian felt a little relieved. She nervously grasped her grandson's hand and asked, "What did Miss Cao say after she took the money?"

Zhao Wenyuan thought about it and realized that Miss Cao had initially refused the money, but he had forcefully given it to her, and she had no choice but to accept it.

"She said..." Zhao Wenyuan repeated, "Once she has raised the remaining silver, she will take it all out and beg her father to allow our two families to marry."

In short, the money wasn't wasted. Granny Qian was furious, but there was nothing she could do. The money was already in someone else's hands, and even if she beat her grandson severely, she wouldn't get those two taels back.

The most pressing issue now is that the family has no money left, and the autumn harvest is still quite some time away. On top of that, marrying that Miss Cao will require even more money; the family needs money for everything…

Both Granny Qian and Madam Sun thought of the same person at the same time.

Wuya.