Sir Song, do you want to pledge yourself to me?

After the crowd dispersed, several children gathered around excitedly.

Jin Dou'er hugged Ji Nuan's legs tightly, raised her little face and said, "Aunt, you are so amazing! I want to learn martial arts from you, the kind where you can kick someone away with one kick!"

"I want to learn too. Dudu also wants to learn how to kick!" Yin Douer also hurried over, hugged Ji Nuan's other leg, and shouted in a baby voice.

"Oh, Yindouer wants to learn martial arts at such a young age?"

Ji Nuan smiled and took Yin Dou'er into her arms, rocking him gently twice, making him laugh. She turned to look at Yuan Ge and the two sons of Housekeeper Liu and asked, "What about you? Do you want to learn too?"

The three of them nodded in unison without hesitation, their eyes shining.

The family was indeed short on manpower, and she was also interested in training these children. Now that they had this ambition, it was even better. So, she said, "Okay, I'll let He Yao teach you. However, practicing martial arts is very hard. Since you've agreed to learn, you can't complain about the hardship and fatigue later!"

It's not a good idea for a few children to just sit around and play at home all day. They still need a teacher to teach them to read. If any of them really have a talent for reading, they can't miss it and need to spend some time to cultivate it.

After sending away a few expectant children, Ji Nuan finally had time to sit opposite Manager Chen.

"I'm so sorry to have kept Manager Chen waiting for so long." Ji Nuan took the tea from Xi Que, took a sip, and then asked with a smile, "Have you finished dealing with the Wen family's affairs?"

"I would also like to thank the young lady for her help. Look, Bishui Manor was acquired from the Wen family." Manager Chen smiled, obviously in a good mood.

Ji Nuan said modestly, "I wasn't able to help at all. Uncle Chen is the master!" She looked up and saw Ji Shan and his son returning, so she said, "Could you please ask Manager Chen to run back and take me to Bishui Manor for the handover?"

Manager Chen immediately stood up and responded respectfully, "It's no trouble. It's my honor to run errands for you, young lady."

Ji Nuan didn't understand the affairs of the manor, so she simply told Ji's father about the situation of Bishui Manor. Then the father and daughter took Butler Liu and Xi Que into the carriage and went to Bishui Manor with Butler Chen.

Ji Nuan didn't know that not long after they left Taohua Village, Zhang Qinghu's parents brought Ji He to the Ji family's door.

Before his mother, Wang Lanhua, even reached the Ji family's doorstep, she burst into tears and wailed, "How heartless! You've made my son disappear! Your family's only child has been taken away from us! How are we, the two of us, going to survive?"

Her vigorous shouting quickly attracted the young and old men in the village who loved to watch the fun.

After spreading the news throughout the morning, most villagers knew about the thieves being caught last night and the three people escaping this morning.

At this point, everyone gathered together, pointing fingers and gossiping. Most people were saying that the Zhang family had produced an ungrateful bastard who had brought outsiders to steal from their relatives. Li Ergou and Fang Lai were forgotten. Of course, there were also a few jealous people who said that the Ji family was too stingy with their relatives, which was why they attracted thieves.

Wang Lanhua completely ignored the crowd, sat down on the ground, slapped her thigh, and continued to cry: "You, the Ji family, are bullying! You locked up my son and now you've even made him disappear! Poor old couple, we have no one to rely on, and my daughter-in-law has no husband! Ancestors, I'm so sorry for you. The Zhang family's incense will be cut off!"

"Sister-in-law, what are you doing? Qinghu ran away, what does that have to do with their second branch?" Uncle Ji had been upset by what Zhang Qinghu had done. He couldn't bring himself to pull Wang Lanhua away from the sobbing Wang Lanhua, so he turned to Ji He and said, "Xiao He, why are you making such a fuss? It was Qinghu who first ran to your second uncle's house to steal things, and they even injured the villagers when they escaped."

After hearing this, Ji He frowned in dissatisfaction and said to Uncle Ji in a bad mood: "Dad, can you please stop interfering! My cousin has gone to nowhere now. How are we going to live in the future? It's all because my second uncle refused to lend money to my cousin, otherwise my cousin wouldn't have gone to his house to steal things."

Sure enough, there are two different types of people sleeping under the same quilt.

Uncle Ji shook his head as he heard this, unable to believe that this was still his diligent and obedient daughter.

When the Ji family heard the noise, they all came out.

After hearing Ji He's complaints, Ji Shan's face turned pale with anger, and he wanted to slap her twice. He shouted, "Ji He, how dare you say such a thing! Zhang Qinghu isn't from our family, so why should we lend him money? He's such a loser, doing such a sneaky thing, and he still expects us to clean up his mess?"

The second sister-in-law snorted coldly, "I remember my father lent all his private money to Zhang Qinghu yesterday, right? How come you've forgotten everything after just one night? Who would dare to help your family in the future?"

Ji He's eyes flickered as he argued, "How can that little bit of money be enough to pay off the debt?"

The second sister-in-law was even more furious. She put her hands on her hips and sneered, "Oh my, you still think the money you gave me is not enough? Why should my family pay back the money your family owes? Was it me who asked Zhang Qinghu to gamble or was it me who made him owe the money? Can you guys have some shame?"

Wang Lanhua saw her daughter-in-law was at a disadvantage, so she stood up and yelled at her second sister-in-law, "Why do you care so much? My Qinghu disappeared because of you. We old couple will have no one to rely on from now on. Your family must take care of our retirement money!"

"Are you trying to blackmail our family?" Ji's mother was furious when she heard this. She pushed aside her second sister-in-law and spoke out, "Ma Jin, go harness the carriage. We'll go straight to the city to report to the authorities. I want the officials to investigate thoroughly to find out who let the knife-wielding thief go!"

When Wang Lanhua heard that she had to report the case to the police, she immediately panicked.

For ordinary people, who would dare to deal with officials so easily? Moreover, they have something to hide, so how could they dare to let others investigate?

Zhang's father, who had been silent the whole time, also forced an unpleasant smile, trying to ease the situation. "Second aunt, we are at our wit's end. Qinghu is missing, and we are worried sick! We have used all our land to pay off our debts. What will we do if the gambling den comes again?"

It's disgusting to see bad guys making pitiful expressions.

"This has nothing to do with our family!" Ji's mother was too lazy to listen to their continued arguing and turned around to ask, "Ma Jin, is the carriage ready?"

Ma Jin came out with the carriage, "Here it comes, madam, the carriage is here!"

Ji's mother made a move to get on the carriage.

Seeing this, Wang Lanhua quickly grabbed Ji's mother's arm and pleaded, "Hey, hey, hey, why are you reporting us to the police when we were all talking? Can't we just give up on the money?"

Ji's mother remained unmoved and said firmly, "No, you let Zhang Qinghu go and injured people from our village. Now you come to my house to cause trouble. I will report you to the police and have you arrested!"

When Wang Lanhua heard this, she was so scared that she quickly denied it: "No, we didn't let him go! We won't make trouble anymore, let's go, we'll leave now!" After that, she pulled Zhang's father and turned around and ran away.

Sure enough, it was Ji's mother who took action. With just one move, she could make the other party flee in panic and kill them without leaving a single soldier behind.