I started out with seven husbands, and I worked hard to support my family while crying.

Xiao Cai took out a ten-tael silver ingot from the embroidered lotus-shaped brocade pouch and handed it to him.

Li Renyi didn't stand on ceremony and naturally reached out to take it.

In his eyes, accepting the kindness of others is a matter of course, and there is no need for him to feel any psychological burden.

Xiao Jiao stood beside him, her brows furrowed with adoration.

She had never seen such a handsome and intelligent man.

His words and actions left a deep impression on her.

Unfortunately, she was born into a humble family and was certainly not good enough for her husband.

"Hey……"

She couldn't help but sigh softly.

But Li Renyi noticed even this slight change.

He guessed that the other person might have something on their mind, but with his wife present, he couldn't have too much contact with him, so he took out a piece of uncut jade from his sleeve.

He bought this piece of jade when he saw it was pretty while shopping.

He handed it to Xiao Jiao and whispered.

"Ladies, as the saying goes, courtesy should be reciprocated. This piece of jade can be split in two and carved into a pair of carp, symbolizing the leap of fish over the dragon gate. I hope that one day you two will also be able to leap over the dragon gate."

Xiao Jiao accepted the uncut jade, her eyes sparkling with excitement, deeply moved.

Xiao Cai nodded to express her gratitude.

The two women then parted ways.

Li Renyi watched her disappear into the brothel.

Fang Xiaoxiao had already tidied up the stall, and came to her husband with a smile, teasing him.

"Do you like them, my husband? How about I pay for their release?"

"This...is not good!"

“Oh, what’s wrong with that? Of course, you, my husband, have to earn the money so I can afford to redeem them.”

"!"

Li Renyi waved his hand, indicating that they would discuss this matter later.

He didn't actually care about the two courtesans, but he felt that they were very strange and had a familiar look to him, as if he had seen them somewhere before.

The two men and one horse prepared to go home.

Not far down the long street, a woman, accompanied by her entourage, pointed ahead and spoke in an unfriendly tone.

"Fang Xiaoxiao, I will definitely kill you."

The reason she hated him so much was twofold: firstly, because Pei Yan refused to be with her, and secondly, because she originally liked the son of the village chief next door, but he liked Fang Xiaoxiao.

Jealousy makes people look hideous.

As Fang Xiaoxiao walked, she couldn't help but sneeze.

"Achoo! Is someone cursing at me again?"

She rubbed her sore nose, glanced at Li Renyi beside her, and thought it was probably impossible.

Could it be that Pei Yan is scolding me again?

But it seems I haven't said much to him these past few days, so it can't be that bad.

I walked and thought, considering almost everyone involved, but still couldn't come up with a reliable answer.

Could it be that she has caught a cold?

As autumn arrives, it's definitely time to be careful of catching a cold.

Fang Xiaoxiao was still carrying Li Renyi, riding the black horse home.

Today's harvest was quite fruitful; I earned about ten taels of silver in total.

Just as the two of them rode their horses to the foot of the long street archway, a fat man blocked their way.

Several men followed behind him, and then a burly woman walked out.

"Xu~~"

Seeing someone blocking his way, Li Renyi quickly pulled on the reins, barely managing to bring the black horse to a stop.

Fang Xiaoxiao looked up and saw that it was the fat chef and his cousin.

The fat cook was so frightened by the sight of the tall, black horse that his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. Luckily, the horse stopped.

He took a deep breath, patted his wildly beating heart, let out a long sigh, and spoke slowly.

"Madam Fang, you scared me to death! I was almost trampled flat by this big black horse."

"Oh, Fatty Chef, really, what are you doing standing in the middle of the road!"

"You forgot, today is the day we agreed to go to your house to build your house."

"!"

Fang Xiaoxiao then remembered that she had arranged with her cousin to come to her house to build a house.

She quickly patted Li Renyi, then dismounted and walked awkwardly to the group, smiling sheepishly.

"I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry. I've been so busy these past few days that I almost forgot about such an important thing."

The chubby chef waved his hand, indicating that it was nothing, and that it was good to have met him anyway.

His cousin also walked forward at that moment.

Fang Xiaoxiao quickly took out the pastries she had bought in advance from the bamboo basket and handed them to the group.

"Everyone, eat something first, to fill your stomachs."

……

Inside the Fang family's courtyard.

Long Jinyan was shirtless, holding an axe in both hands, his eyes filled with anger as he stared at the wooden stake in front of him.

"Drink~~"

He raised his axe and brought it down.

"Crack!"

The wooden stake, about the thickness of an adult's thigh, split in two with a snap.

Murong Changqing was squatting under the stove, starting a fire.

Now, he can be said to be very good at starting a fire; in just a few minutes, the fire in the stove will be blazing.

He patted his long gown to remove the dust.

"Brother Jinyan, how many bowls will you eat today?"

Long Jinyan exhaled a breath of stale air and held out a hand.

"Five, five bowls!"

As it was late afternoon, he had plowed a few extra acres of land for several widows in the neighboring village, and he looked quite tired, even his speech was a little stammering.

Murong Changqing chuckled.

"Let's see if you dare to help the widow plow the fields again next time. Those three acres of land at home aren't enough for you to plow every day!"

“I, I didn’t mean any harm. My family has three acres of land, and I have no one to rely on,” Widow Liu said.

"Alright, hurry up and finish chopping the firewood, otherwise if your wife comes back and sees that you haven't finished, she definitely won't bring you any more treats."

"hu~hu~"

Upon hearing this, Long Jinyan, who had been feeling extremely tired and weak, felt even more exhausted.

He was instantly filled with power, and even his wood-chopping movements became faster and faster.

"Squeak~~"

The wooden gate to the courtyard was pushed open.

Pei Yan, sitting upright at the stone table, sipping bitter tea, raised his eyelids briefly before continuing to drink.

Murong Changqing glanced at it, then went back to boiling water and preparing to cook noodles.

These noodles were kneaded entirely by hand, yet they were incredibly chewy, with each strand varying in thickness—they were definitely substandard.

However, everyone has long been used to it; as long as it's edible, that's fine.

As for Long Jinyan, he chopped wood much faster, muttering to himself, "You can't see me, you can't see me."

"Jinyan, what are you doing? Muttering to yourself, come over here and pour tea for the guests."

Fang Xiaoxiao knew herself well; she couldn't command Pei Yan and Murong Changqing, so she could only command the sunny boy with brute strength.

As for why he didn't instruct Li Renyi, it's because he spent the whole way negotiating the house repair prices with the fat chef and the others.

Originally, she planned to spend seventy taels to build two tiled houses, but later she discussed building three tiled houses.

The other party quoted 100 taels of silver for the repair of three rooms.

But Li Renyi, with his silver tongue, managed to cut the price down to eighty-eight taels and three rooms.

The chubby chef's cousin shook her head, saying she had never seen such an eloquent person.

They also stated that after completing this transaction, they would never contact each other again.

Fortunately, Fang Xiaoxiao wasn't a stingy person.