A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

Gu Xixi's face immediately darkened. "Is this some kind of fabricated rumor?"

"I advise you to stop here. After all this time, let's save some face."

Mu Nanzhao, however, persisted and blocked her path once again.

"You hit me just now, wasn't that intentional?"

Gu Xixi scoffed and said disdainfully, "Anyway, we've already fought, so think what you want."

She did it on purpose, so what?

Master Liu said that there were shadow guards secretly protecting the village.

If we let some petty thief come in and rummage through things in broad daylight, wouldn't that be incredibly useless?

So when Gu Xixi didn't notice anything unusual outside her house, she guessed that Mu Nanzhao had returned.

Using a hoe to catch thieves is just a pretense; the real purpose is to beat people up and vent one's anger.

Anqing, having run around without finding anyone, walked towards the west room. "Strange," he said, "Auntie said Xixi was at home."

Just now, when he was almost home, he ran into Aunt Zhang carrying a vegetable basket as she went out.

Aunt Zhang, beaming with joy, said she was going to pick some scallions and coriander from the field, only telling him that Xixi was at home and the door was unlocked.

When they got home, the door was open, but they couldn't find the person.

As An Qing walked, he looked around and muttered to himself, "Chen Fang is gone. Wasn't this house locked? Could Xixi be here?"

Inside the west room, Gu Xixi insisted on leaving, but Mu Nanzhao suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her right hand up.

"You did all this just to drive me away, for Anqing and that Western Region man?"

Gu Xixi winced in pain, her brows furrowing, but she stubbornly endured the pain and said, "I don't understand what nonsense you're talking about!"

"Besides..."

She said in a deep voice, "You know so much as soon as you get back. It seems your people have been keeping a close eye on me. They even have to report to you about things like my business partners staying at my house."

"And then there's Master Liu, who used his position as a schoolteacher as a cover to exploit the children in the village school."

A deep sarcasm flashed in Gu Xixi's eyes. "Did you go to such lengths to protect me with all of this?"

Mu Nanzhao's pupils suddenly contracted. "So, in your heart, I am someone who will stop at nothing to achieve anything."

Gu Xixi stared at him without flinching and sneered, "Otherwise what?"

For some reason, Mu Nanzhao's eyes dimmed slightly, and he gradually loosened his grip on Gu Xixi's hand.

Gu Xixi withdrew her hand at the opportune moment and quickly distanced herself from him.

An Qinghe walked to the door of the west room and found it open, so he immediately stepped in with a smile.

He held out a long string of rice cakes in his hand, "Ta-da! Xixi, look what this is!"

"I found your favorite forked rice cake at the market, and I specially asked the owner to cut off a piece with the most red dates!"

As soon as he finished speaking, An Qinghe moved the fork and cake aside and saw the two people standing facing each other inside the room.

"Xixi, what's wrong with you...?"

"Hey? Brother Chen, what brings you back?"

Mu Nanzhao said coldly, "What, shouldn't I have come back?"

"Or perhaps, for some people, my return was ill-timed."

An Qinghe asked, puzzled, "There's nothing wrong with it."

“Since Xixi bought you, this place is your home. You can come back anytime you want.”

He smiled and asked Gu Xixi for her opinion, "Don't you think so, Xixi?"

Although An Qinghe was delighted, he kept everything out in the open and didn't have any ulterior motives.

But the more this happened, the more Mu Nanzhao's sarcastic remarks failed, and he was even hit where it hurt.

"What did you say?" Mu Nanzhao's expression was icy and somewhat terrifying.

"You think you have the right to judge the fact that she bought me?"

Gu Xixi was shocked to see him reach for his waist with his right hand. Realizing that there was a soft sword hidden there that could be drawn and used to draw blood, she immediately stepped forward and stood in front of An Qinghe.

"Don't forget what you should really be doing!"

An Qinghe didn't know what had happened, but he could sense that the atmosphere was very strange.

"Xixi, what's wrong? Did I do something wrong and upset Brother Chen?"

Mu Nanzhao just stared intently at Gu Xixi.

After a moment of stalemate, when he lowered his eyes, Gu Xixi saw a hint of hurt in them.

She was taken aback, and before she could think further, she heard Mu Nanzhao say:

"No wonder my decision to stay or leave required the two of you to discuss it; it seems you already have a close relationship."

"You're really capable of going to such lengths to protect him."

Gu Xixi simply looked at Mu Nanzhao without saying a word.

Mu Nanzhao suddenly said coldly, "Get out."

He looked up at the two people in front of him, his eyes indifferent and empty.

"The imperial court does not return the houses of criminals who are sold into marriage. I still have some right to use this house, right?"

Gu Xixi grabbed An Qinghe's arm and dragged him away from the west room.

Inside the main room, large and small bags were laid out on the table, all of which Anqing had bought in the county town.

Gu Xixi sat at the table without saying a word, while An Qinghe circled around her with a fork of cake in his hand.

For the char gao (a type of glutinous rice cake), steamed glutinous rice is mashed until soft and then thickly spread in a mold, smoothed and pressed down. Then a layer of red dates is added, followed by more glutinous rice, and so on. Usually, three or four layers of glutinous rice are enough.

Finally, steam the dates until they are soft and tender, then take them to the market to sell.

Cut it into long triangles and thread it through with thin bamboo strips like candied hawthorn skewers. From the side, you can see thick, snow-white glutinous rice cake sandwiched with layers of reddish-brown dates.

Buy one while shopping, hold the bottom of the bamboo strip, and eat it while walking. It's very convenient and you don't have to worry about getting your hands dirty.

An Qinghe laughed and said, "Don't you like eating this? Take a bite before it hardens!"

Gu Xixi forced a smile. "Thank you, but I'm not hungry right now."

"Let's leave it here and steam it at noon so we can eat it together."

She thought that after beating up Mu Nanzhao and confronting him personally, she could finally release the pent-up frustration she had been holding in.

However, that didn't happen; she felt even more upset.

An Qinghe looked at the forked cake and said, "It is indeed a very big piece. I originally wanted to invite Brother Chen to eat with me, but he seemed to be in a bad mood and didn't want to be disturbed."

Gu Xixi was suddenly amused. "Your remarks sound so manipulative. Luckily, I know you're just naturally naive."

After An Qinghe thought he had mastered the language, he heard the "Great Cause Language" that he could hardly understand.

He frowned in confusion. "Green tea? Natural?"

"Xixi, are you thirsty? Would you like to stay here and drink green tea?"

Gu Xixi burst into laughter, tears even welling up in her eyes.

Grabbing her tools and the medicine and fertilizer she had prepared, Gu Xixi went out again.

The tea plantation at the foot of the mountain is still waiting for her.

No matter what kind of turmoil had just occurred, nothing could stop her from farming.

An Qinghe grabbed the bucket and scissors, saying he would help Gu Xixi carry these heavy things.

Seeing that he was determined to go, Gu Xixi was too lazy to say anything more and just followed him.

The two had just stepped out of the yard when the door to the west room opened.

Mu Nanzhao stared at the empty doorway, his eyes dark and unreadable.

I just heard her laughter.

Would that Anqing and his friends make her so happy?

Maybe he shouldn't have come back at all this time.

Instead, he aroused her suspicion and disgust, who thought he was spying on her every move.