Transmigrated into a farmer's lucky charm, all the villains in the family panicked.

"You ordered twenty more?" Old Li chuckled, then took a sip of his tea and changed the subject.

After a while, a servant came up with a plate.

Several dishes of pastries were neatly arranged on the plate, some of which were Gan Yuwan's specialties: mung bean cake, yam cake, and osmanthus cake.

The colors looked especially beautiful against the white porcelain plate.

According to the rules, these pastries must be tested for poison in advance, and a sample must be kept by a designated person before they can be delivered to the young master.

Old Li personally inspected it and confirmed that there were no problems before serving it to Yan Shijin.

Before I could even put it down properly, I caught a glimpse of a figure moving out of the corner of my eye.

Yun Shengsheng was initially dizzy and staring blankly at the table full of medicinal herbs, but when she suddenly saw the delicious food being served, her eyes lit up instantly. She put down her chopsticks and reached into the dessert plate.

Old Li quickly slapped her hand on the back and whispered, "Wash your hands before you eat!"

What he really wanted to say was, "Girl, we have to wait for the young master to take it first."

Your Highness hasn't moved, so you can't move.

Rules, rules, do you understand?

But in front of Yan Shijin, he couldn't be too blunt, so he could only wink at Yun Shengsheng and shove his beard to the side.

Yun Shengsheng pouted, obediently washed her hands in the copper basin next to her, dried them, and sat back down.

She sat upright with her hands on her knees, her eyes fixed on the plate of mung bean cakes, her little tongue unconsciously licking the corner of her mouth, looking just like a kitten crouching under the table waiting to be fed.

Yan Shijin paused for a moment.

He reached out and picked up a piece of mung bean cake from the plate.

Before he could even put it to his lips, he caught Yun Shengsheng's gaze out of the corner of his eye. Her large, watery eyes were fixed on the mung bean cake in his hand, and her pupils would turn in the direction his wrist moved. She was practically about to bark.

Yan Shijin's lips twitched very slightly. He gently placed the mung bean cake on the plate in front of him, then looked up at Yun Shengsheng, his voice as calm as ever: "Shengsheng, have some too."

Yun Shengsheng almost set off fireworks on the spot.

Without saying a word, she took a piece of mung bean cake in her left hand and a piece of yam cake in her right, taking bites from both sides. Her cheeks bulged out like a hamster hibernating, and her two short legs swung happily back and forth under the stool.

Yan Shijin paused for a moment, holding the mung bean cake, after watching the way she stuffed it in her mouth, before slowly taking a bite.

The way he ate was the complete opposite of hers: one was swift and decisive, the other was gentle and refined.

However, seeing how much she enjoyed eating, Yan Shijin couldn't resist having an extra piece.

Butler Chen was so excited that he almost shed tears.

Just then, a person wearing a cloak walked in, but his face was not visible.

But Old Li and Steward Chen acted as if they hadn't seen anything.

Butler Chen said, "Young Master, you should go back to your room now."

Yan Shijin nodded, stood up gently, and was helped back to his room by Butler Chen.

Yun Shengsheng looked at the person with curiosity and soon realized that the person was actually Su Qing.

[Oh, so Mr. Su was in Taijing County to secretly give lessons to the Crown Prince!]

Yan Shijin paused for a moment as she stepped through the door, then continued walking forward.

Before the door was even closed, a man in black appeared to report.

"Master, a group of refugees is coming from the south. They number nearly a thousand and have already plundered three villages along the way. It seems a major riot is about to break out."

After the man in black finished speaking, seeing that Yan Shijin did not speak, he quickly disappeared.

Yun Shengsheng was taken aback.

Oh no! I completely forgot!

[Tonight! A group of refugees rushed to the vicinity of Ganjiacun Village, resulting in the deaths and injuries of several hundred villagers.]

[Mom and Dad, are Grandma and Grandpa in danger...?]

Yan Shijin stood inside the door. Before the door closed, he lightly raised his hand, and the man in black reappeared.

"Go and keep an eye on things."

The man in black accepted the order and left.

……

On the village road, Yun Huaikang drove his oxcart, his mind heavy with worries.

There were noticeably more refugees along the way than in the previous days. They squatted in twos and threes by the roadside, their clothes so tattered that their original color was unrecognizable. Some huddled under the roots of trees, staring blankly at the ground, not even glancing up when the oxcarts passed by.

Gan Yuwan sat on the oxcart, holding a small bundle in her arms. Fearing being robbed by refugees, they dared not bring any extra things.

She saw a woman who was so thin she was unrecognizable by the roadside, holding a child and leaning against an earthen bank. The child's face was buried in the woman's arms, and the child was motionless.

Gan Yuwan wanted to give these people some food several times, but she held back. These were extraordinary times; she couldn't afford to be overly kind here.

She clenched her teeth and turned her face to the other side.

Just then, an oxcart came towards them.

The car drove off with a swagger, occupying the very middle of the road. Yun Huaikang recognized the person inside from twenty paces away.

It was the Yun Huai'an family.

Yun Huaikang's face darkened, and he tightened his grip on the reins.

He doesn't want to argue with this person right now; he doesn't have the time or the inclination today.

He pulled the cow closer to the side of the road, intending to let the other party pass first.

However, the oxcart from Huai'an happened to stop at the intersection, neither in front nor behind, completely blocking the way.

The two cows snorted at each other from a distance of about ten feet.

Yun Huaikang held back for a moment, then finally suppressed his temper and said, "Brother, please let us through, we need to get through."

Yun Huai'an sat on the carriage shaft, slowly waving the whip in his hand, a cold smile on his lips.

He's been having a really tough time lately. Wherever he goes, people gossip about him, saying he framed Yun Huaikang, bullied his second brother, and made his own brother's family suffer terribly.

He tried to explain to people, but the villagers were convinced that he was the one who did the bad thing.

What angered him most and kept him awake at night was what Zide said to him when he returned from the county town.

The second brother's family wasn't driven away by him at all; they took five hundred taels of silver and opened a pastry shop in the county town, where they lived a very prosperous life.

Moreover, his second brother's eldest son-in-law also received guidance from a renowned Confucian scholar of the time.

Even those two little kids, Yun Ziyan and Yun Shengsheng, were studying under that great Confucian scholar.

Where was Yun Huai'an's son? Zide waited in the alley for seven or eight days but didn't even catch a glimpse of the great scholar, and returned dejectedly.

Why? Why did his second brother, whom he had suppressed for half his life, suddenly have all the good things fall on his head?

Now in the village, everyone avoids the eldest son's family when they go out, while the second son's family enjoys immense prestige.

He felt like his lungs were about to explode just thinking about it.

Yun Huai'an said coolly, "I'm going to cross there too, could you move aside? The road is a bit narrow!"

Yun Huaikang really had no time to argue about this today. Every second of delay could lead to something terrible.

He took a deep breath, and actually moved the oxcart to the side of the road again, saying, "Brother, let's go, we can definitely get through now."

Yun Huai'an gave a cold laugh and drove the oxcart forward.

They deliberately drove the oxen towards Yun Huaikang, and the wheels of the two oxcarts snapped together with a "crack," blocking each other tightly. Both oxen swayed and almost lost their balance.

Yun Huai'an looked down and immediately started cursing, "Second brother, you're really outrageous! I told you to move to the side a little, and look at you, you've blocked my car! If the axle breaks, are you going to pay for it?!"

"Your shop, which costs a hundred taels of silver, only made a few coins, and now you're starting to cheat people, huh!"

"Oh no, five hundred taels! You've made a fortune, a shop worth five hundred taels! How come you've forgotten the basic courtesy of making way for me? Do you think you've forgotten your elder brother now that you're rich?"

Upon hearing the word "five hundred taels," the refugees lining both sides of the road all turned their eyes toward Yun Huaikang...