Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

Xia Lanyue took the jade hairpin off her hair and handed it to Wang Cui. "Aunt Wang, thank you for taking care of me during this time. Please accept this as a small token of my appreciation."

Lin Xiu had been staring at the hairpin the whole time, and felt a little regretful when she saw that it had been given to Wang Cui.

Although Wang Cui looked embarrassed, she accepted the gift quickly. "Why are you being so polite? Don't take what Aunt Wang said earlier to heart. I didn't mean to kick you out. These two rooms are still available for you."

“Ah Yue, how can you live in the kitchen? Why don’t you come stay at my place? I have plenty of rooms,” Lin Xiu said, starting to show her “consideration.”

Xia Yao frowned upon hearing this. "Kitchen? Miss Yue, why don't you come stay with me? Since I've vouched for you, I want to know your whereabouts at all times."

Dai You said angrily, "We're not thieves, we don't need to keep an eye on things."

“Ah Yue isn’t, but you might not be,” Xia Yao said.

“You…I am her older brother,” Dai You deliberately emphasized the word “older brother.”

"That's just your side of the story. Does she remember your past?" Xia Yao said.

Dai You gave a helpless, cold laugh. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"I don't want to say anything, I just want to remind you that I just vouched for you. Now we're in the same boat. You'd better not be some strange person, or you'll drag me and A-Yue down with you," Xia Yao said.

"You!" Dai You glared angrily at Xia Yao, feeling like a fight was about to break out at any moment.

Xia Lanyue glanced at Xia Yao, then at Dai You, and quickly stepped in to stop them from arguing. "Stop arguing. Mr. Xia's suggestion is quite good. Anyway, we're not thieves, so we're not afraid of them investigating." She then turned to Xia Yao and said, "Then we'll go tomorrow. It's getting late today, so we won't bother you. Also, thank you for speaking up for us today, Mr. Xia." After saying that, Xia Lanyue even made a fist-and-palm gesture.

This action surprised everyone, and even made the square-faced cousin laugh out loud, "How come you're still like this, girl..." But before he could finish speaking, Xia Yao gave him a look and shut his mouth.

“Then let’s go back and prepare the room. Miss Riyue can come to see me anytime tomorrow,” Xia Yao said.

Xia Lanyue nodded.

With his cousin's help, Xia Yao left Tian Guang's house.

Once Xia Yao was out of sight, Dai You asked, "We're not really going to his house, are we?"

Xia Lanyue looked at him and nodded.

“I’m not going,” Dai You said angrily, turning his head away.

“I know you don’t like him, but if it weren’t for him speaking up for us just now, we would probably be in jail. I appreciate it,” Xia Lanyue said.

Dai You turned away angrily.

Lin Xiu glanced at Xia Lanyue's face and asked cautiously, "A-Yue, why didn't you tell us about your amnesia? Are you feeling better now?"

Xia Lanyue turned to her and said, "Sister Lin, don't worry, I'm fine. It's getting late, you should go back and take care of A Xiang. There was quite a commotion just now, and you have a lot to do tomorrow, so get some rest."

"Sigh," Lin Xiu knew that asking any more questions would not yield any results, so she said no more, bid farewell, and went home.

After all that commotion, Wang Cui had been worried about the situation inside the house. Now that everyone had finally left, she hurried to the kitchen. As soon as she reached the kitchen door, she started yelling, "Oh my god, what have they done to this place? It's a complete mess! Who came into this house just now? I'll have to go to their house and give them a piece of my mind another day!" After saying that, she angrily ran to the east room to check on the situation.

Xia Lanyue walked to the kitchen, lit the oil lamp, looked at the mess on the ground, and sighed.

The mattress she had just slept on was now carelessly tossed in a corner, and the neatly stacked firewood was scattered all over the floor, with a section of bamboo strips still sticking out from the corner of the wall. She walked over, picked up the firewood on top, and below it lay the flattened wooden horse.

She was a little sad. She picked up the bamboo horse, which was broken in places and could not be repaired.

"Go rest in the east room, I'll tidy up here," Dai You said as he walked in, picking up firewood as he spoke.

Xia Lanyue didn't move, just quietly looked at Dai You. She recalled the scene just now, how he still protected her under those circumstances.

When Dai You didn't get a reply, he stood up and looked at her. "Were you scared?"

Xia Lanyue was indeed frightened, but not wanting Dai You to worry, she smiled and shook her head, holding up the flattened bamboo horse in her hand, "This one is broken."

Dai You took the flattened bamboo horse and threw it into the stove. "It's okay, we can just make another one."

After throwing away the bamboo horse, he paused for a moment, seemingly stunned by something, then walked to the side of the stove, bent down, and picked up something. When he turned around, Xia Lanyue could see that what he was holding was herbs. The medicine packet had been opened, and only a few scattered powdered herbs remained on the paper.

Dai You clasped his hands together, crumpled the paper into a ball, and threw it into the stove.

Xia Lanyue could tell that Dai You was also in a bad mood, but she didn't know how to comfort him, so she just stood there without moving.

Dai You spoke first, "Didn't you notice? Xia Yao and his cousin are working together, I think they're the more suspicious ones."

Xia Lanyue glanced at Wang Cui, who was busy in the east room, and then said, "At first, I also suspected the three of them, but Xia Yao vouched for us and clarified that he should not have any ill intentions towards us. It is those two cousins ​​who are lying."

"Why don't we leave and get out of River Valley Village?"

“No, we have done nothing wrong and we have nothing to hide. If we want to leave, we should leave with dignity. Besides, if we run away, we will implicate Mr. Xia. We can’t do that.”

“They’re all together, would they be made to suffer because of us?” Dai You said.

"Then I won't leave either, my banknotes are still here."

"Money can be earned back."

"Do we have any silver to travel with? How far can we go with your thirty coins?"

Dai You fell silent and did not speak again.

Xia Lanyue noticed his less-than-ideal expression and said, "I'm not afraid of them because you're here. If they really have something going on, we'll stay at their house. We'll have their every move under our watchful eyes. What's there to be afraid of not finding evidence?"

Dai You lowered his head and thought for a while, then nodded.

Dai You didn't say another word until he finished tidying up, only saying "Rest now" as he left.

Meanwhile, at the Xia family home, A-Cheng was complaining to Xia Yao, "Why did you have to vouch for them?"

“They shouldn’t have been involved in this in the first place,” Xia Yao said calmly.

"We don't even know who they are. Have you forgotten about your third uncle's son?!"

Xia Yao remained silent.

"I hope they're alright," Acheng said.

"They don't seem to have that possibility."

"Tch~" Acheng escorted Xia Yao into the bedroom, then turned and left.

Xia Yao sat on the edge of the bed, took out a plain folding fan from under his pillow, opened it, and examined it for a long time by the light of the oil lamp.