Best friends dressed up in ancient times to become mistresses? You run, I run too!

When Grandma Shen saw Shen Xu, she rushed over and took his hand, asking with concern:

"My dear grandson, what brings you here?"

Shen Xu hurriedly glanced at Shen Ningzhu and saw that she looked distressed and timidly looking at him. He quickly and subtly pulled his hand back and put on a gentle smile.

"Grandma, how could you do such a thing?"

They looked as if they knew nothing about it.

Old Lady Shen: “…”

"Grandma, please, for my sake, return the items to this young lady. Miss Shen, my grandmother is old and doesn't think things through."

I apologize to you on behalf of my grandmother. I hope you will be magnanimous and forgive her. I would be extremely grateful.

Old Mrs. Shen was stunned, and the entire Shen family was stunned.

"Xu'er, you're confused! What nonsense are you talking about? Those things are clearly..."

"Second Aunt..."

Shen Xu shouted to stop the other person from speaking, then smiled and assured Shen Ningzhu that he would have the things returned soon. Finally, he gave Shen Ningzhu a standard scholar's bow and left quickly.

Upon seeing this, the Shen family members hurriedly followed suit and left.

Now, only Shen Ningzhu, Liu Zhiyi, and Shen Dashan's family are left.

The villagers outside, having lost their spectacle, looked somewhat disappointed. The plump woman said awkwardly:

"Young Miss, regarding reporting this to the authorities..."

That's three taels of silver!

Who knew that the cooked duck would fly away before it even reached her mouth? How could she accept that?

Shen Ningzhu smiled and said, "Thank you for your help, Aunt. I didn't want to cause trouble. Now that we can turn a big problem into a small one and a small problem into nothing, let's just forget about reporting it to the authorities."

If she were to report this to the authorities and be discovered to be impersonating a government official's daughter, she would be in jail.

After thinking for a while, he added:

“I heard there’s a butcher in the village who sells pork, right? Here’s what we’d like, Erzhuang, go and give each of the people here today a pound of pork as a token of our gratitude.”

Everyone was surprised to hear that such a good thing was happening.

For a while, they would say nice things non-stop, as if they were free.

The Shen family's main branch was in an uproar.

"Xu'er, are you crazy? Do you know what you're saying? Do you know how much money these things are worth? Returning them all is asking for my life!"

"That's right, that's right. Everyone usually listens to you, but today I absolutely disagree."

"I don't agree either."

"Your mother and I also disagree."

Shen Xu looked at his foolish family and gave a cold smile.

"No matter how much money it's worth, you have to be alive to spend it. If you don't return it, are you going to wait for the yamen runners to come knocking? At that time, not only will the items have to be returned intact, but the whole family will also have to go to jail."

You can decide for yourselves how to proceed.

In the end, with tears welling up in her eyes and her heart aching, Old Mrs. Shen could only take the things out and hand them to Shen Xu.

After being persuaded by Shen Xu, he paid an extra ten taels of silver as compensation.

Shen Xu's expression softened slightly. He took Old Madam Shen's arm and patiently tried to appease her in a low voice.

“Grandma, trust your grandson. We need to think long-term. You know, that woman is the daughter of a high-ranking official. We usually can’t even see such a noble person. Now she’s right in front of us. This is a rare opportunity.”

If you can curry favor with them, why worry about your career prospects?

On the contrary, if you offend them, not only will you suffer greatly, but your grandson's life will be completely ruined.

Grandma Shen was shocked. "This...is it that serious?" Shen Xu is the only hope of the Shen family. He absolutely cannot be allowed to get into trouble.

Shen Xu nodded solemnly.

Now no one dared to have any other thoughts, and they all urged Shen Xu to hurry up and return the things.

When Shen Erzhuang finished decocting the medicine and brought it back into the house, Shen Xu finally entered the courtyard, carrying two heavy packages in his hands.

He apologized profusely before leaving.

Shen Ningzhu breathed a sigh of relief. When she turned around, she saw that everyone in the Shen family had bright eyes and were looking at her with admiration.

"You...you're so amazing! I've never seen Grandma give up something she's already got before," Shen Erzhuang said excitedly, his face flushed.

Shen Ningzhu sighed inwardly.

What's powerful isn't her, it's her power.

"Actually, I was lying to them. I was kicked out of the Shen family and I'm no longer the eldest daughter of the Shen family."

Shen Ningzhu looked embarrassed.

"I came today for two reasons: first, to check on my elder brother's injuries and see if I could do anything to remedy them; second, to find a place to stay, but I never expected..."

Forget it, let's look for somewhere else.

She just wants to retire peacefully and doesn't want to fight with awful people every day.

Their identities will be exposed sooner or later. When that happens, won't that whole Shen family of vampires devour them alive?

"By the way, let me introduce myself. I am Shen Ningzhu, your biological daughter. This is Liu Zhiyi, my best friend, who will be living with me from now on. Now I ask you, are you willing to leave here with me?"

Shen Ningzhu suddenly made the suggestion.

“You’re not having a good time here, and Shen Dazhuang isn’t getting a proper rest either. How about I buy a manor, and we can all live there together? What do you think?”

The three members of the Shen family had long been oppressed and were terrified. Upon hearing this, how could they not agree?

They were all extremely excited and knelt down to express their willingness to serve Shen Ningzhu like slaves in the future.

Shen Ningzhu: "No, no, no, you are my parents, it is my duty to be filial to you, get up quickly."

Shen Dashan shook his head and said solemnly:

"No, child, your mother is right. You saved Dazhuang and gave him a life, so it's only right that we repay you. As for you, we haven't raised you for a single day, so naturally we can't use our status as parents to ask you to do anything."

From now on, whatever you say goes, wherever you say we'll go, we'll go wherever you say we'll go, we'll listen to you.

Now that we've reached an agreement, we should act quickly and decisively to get the best deal.

Shen Ningzhu decided that the next day, under the pretext of treating Shen Dazhuang's illness, everyone would go to town, then go to the brokerage firm to buy a small estate nearby and move there directly.

As for the house, it was already destitute, and there was nothing left to clean.

To avoid alerting the enemy, we decided not to clean it up and instead buy all new ones later, which naturally drew no objections from the crowd.

By the time I finished all that, it was already dark.

There wasn't much food at home, so Zhao Meihua cooked a pot of wild vegetable and dark flour porridge. The group of people shared a bowl and went to sleep.

Shen Ningzhu and Liu Zhiyi slept in Shen Ningxue's old room, which was drafty and had a small, hard, broken bed. The two of them squeezed together all night, but neither of them could fall asleep.

The next morning, after a quick wash with dark circles under their eyes, Shen Erzhuang had already hired an oxcart from the village, and the family went to town.

The group first placed Shen Dazhuang at the clinic, leaving him in Zhao Meihua's care.

Shen Dashan took Liu Zhiyi to buy a carriage, while Shen Erzhuang and Shen Ningzhu went to the pawnshop to pawn all their valuables.

Upon seeing the jade pendant engraved with the character "晏" (Yan), Shen Ningzhu was overwhelmed with emotions. She closed her eyes and hesitated for a moment, but finally steeled herself and pushed it out.