After transmigrating, he supported his family by working at a garbage dump.

North of Qingshan Town.

A small courtyard in the back alley of the Zhou family mansion.

Cao Gu was forced to kneel on the ground by Old Lady Wang.

Wang Xiucai took a leisurely sip of tea. "According to what the wet nurse said, it was you who switched the items?"

"Isn't it her? No one else has handled this except her. This bitch has done one or two bad things, so it's better to sell her off sooner rather than later."

Old Mrs. Wang replied angrily.

"Anyway, we're not short of servants these days. Just say hello to the second young lady, and you'll have plenty of maids and servants, son..."

Before Old Lady Wang could finish speaking, Scholar Wang suddenly glared coldly at her.

Old Mrs. Wang swallowed the words she was about to say and quickly slapped herself back with a forced smile.

"Look at me, I forgot again! I deserve a beating!"

Then she changed her tune, saying, "Young master, what do you say? Why don't we find a slave trader now? I heard there's a family in the west of the city that specializes in the flesh trade..."

Grandma Wang was still chattering away, offering suggestions.

Wang Xiucai put down his teacup, gently shook his head, and said lightly, "I can't bear to part with it."

A slight smile curved his lips, but there was no genuine joy on his face. Accompanied by a dark and sinister gaze, he reached out and gently lifted Cao Gu's chin.

Cao Gu stared at Wang Xiucai without any attempt to hide her gaze. Her face had long since lost its former fear and blankness, replaced by an abyss of despair.

It was bottomless, and it seemed as if a ferocious beast capable of tearing a person to pieces could crawl out from it at any moment.

Wang Xiucai chuckled and looked at Cao Gu with admiration: "How come you've become even more principled after only half a day away?"

Cao Gu glanced at him, then turned her face away expressionlessly.

A hint of displeasure flashed in Wang Xiucai's eyes.

But he still smiled and gently stroked Cao Gu's eyebrows and eyes, saying with pity in his eyes, "Cao Gu, I once said that your eyebrows and eyes are very beautiful, so I couldn't bear to hit your face, but this time, you have made me angry again."

"Snapped!"

With a swift movement, a slap landed squarely on Cao Gu's face.

Cao Gu was so badly beaten that she staggered, bright red blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, and her face was terribly swollen.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Xiucai picked up the feather duster that was on the table with a beaming smile.

He lifted her high, using all his strength to whip Cao Gu's back, his eyes wide, a gentle smile on his lips, yet he roared almost maniacally:

"I warned you, don't make me angry! Don't make me angry!"

Old Mrs. Wang, who was standing to the side, trembled as she listened, but seeing Wang Xiucai's somewhat insane appearance, she could see through it all.

She dared not approach him, even though he had once been her son.

Cao Gu kept her lips tightly closed and didn't say a word.

Sweat poured down his forehead, his lips grew paler, and his body gradually went limp, yet his eyes remained fixed on Wang Xiucai.

But seeing this, Wang Xiucai became even more enthusiastic in his fight.

The feather duster struck Cao Gu's back again and again, leaving bloodstains on her plain clothes. Beneath the clothes, it was unclear how her skin had been torn open once more.

Even Old Mrs. Wang was horrified by what she saw, and she turned her head slightly to the side in fear.

She couldn't help but wonder, since that night, although her son had become increasingly intelligent, he had also become increasingly ruthless...

Just then, a series of urgent knocks sounded on the door.

Wang Xiucai then stopped what he was doing and calmly wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He then gave Old Lady Wang a wink, "Drag her in."

Old Mrs. Wang understood and immediately dragged the unconscious Cao Gu into the house.

Wang Xiucai, looking quite pleased with himself, went to open the door, appearing as a refined young gentleman.

The courtyard gate opened, and Constable Chen appeared in front of it with a gloomy face.

"What a rare guest, Lord Chen!" Scholar Wang greeted him with a smile.

Officer Chen didn't care about any of that; as soon as he saw Scholar Wang, he started cursing him.

"You little brat!"

"Hey Wang, what kind of lousy idea did you come up with? You call it a foolproof plan! The yamen has already lost two flowers, and Hu Da hasn't been arrested yet. They'll find out the flowers are missing in less than a day. If they find out I'm behind this, I'll never forgive you!"

Scholar Wang let Constable Chen scold him without showing any anger. He even greeted him with a smile and warmly invited Constable Chen into the house.

He poured Officer Chen another bowl of tea and calmly comforted him, "Officer Chen, haste makes waste. This matter isn't over yet! Let me explain slowly..."

He then whispered a few words in Officer Chen's ear.

To everyone's surprise, upon hearing this, Officer Chen's face scrunched up, and he immediately broke into a wide smile.

Praise replaced the curses: "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Scholar Wang is truly resourceful and wise; no wonder the Second Miss has taken a liking to him!"

Having said that, he left in a hurry, completely forgetting that he had just said he was going to cause trouble for Wang Xiucai.

Looking at Constable Chen's fat and greasy appearance, Wang Xiucai smiled disdainfully, thinking, "What a good-for-nothing!"

But the person who ruined his plans...

He wanted to personally test his skills against this so-called Xu Wenjie.

“Young master, you’ve met him before. He’s the same family from last time. He even held a knife to your neck!” Old Mrs. Wang had something to say about this.

However, Wang Xiucai didn't believe it: "Hold it on your neck?"

His eyes were deep; he wasn't that useless.

……

Let's get back to Xu Zhuzhu's family.

Because of the commotion all morning, not many dumplings were sold, but fortunately, more were sold during the afternoon market.

Despite Officer Hu's assurance, rumors didn't dissipate easily. In one day, they only sold a little over 400, falling short of their expectations.

Zhang He was still a little unhappy. Xu Zhuzhu asked her if the unsold items would be taken back.

Zhang He shook her head. There weren't that many people at this small market. It wasn't even late afternoon yet, and the market on the street had already mostly dispersed.

Seeing that business was dwindling, Xu Zhuzhu's family began to pack up their stall.

As for the remaining dumplings, Zhang He figured they wouldn't go unsold or keep for long anyway, so she asked Xu Wenjie to send some to Mr. Wu and Grandma Mi's houses, and also sent some to Hei Tie.

She decided to give some of the remaining dumplings to other street vendors as a way to gain goodwill.

"I'm so sorry that my family's affairs delayed everyone's business this morning. We don't have anything special to offer, so I'd like to share these dumplings with everyone. Please forgive me and don't mind."

"...They were all wrapped and frozen last night, they should keep for two or three days without any problem." Zhang He handed out food to the street vendors one by one.

As expected, those who accept gifts are bound to feel indebted to others; after giving Zhang He gifts, the stall owners on the street felt embarrassed when they saw her.

Some said they had been too excited earlier, while others, still feeling jealous, wouldn't directly slap Zhang He in the face. Zhang He knew what they were thinking, but she smiled and agreed.

Especially Zhang Xiaolin's steamed bun stall.

Because the framing attempt failed, Zhang Xiaolin had already disappeared without a trace, and Master Zhang, having misrepresented himself in the play, was too ashamed to stay in town and slipped back to Laoya Village early on.

Only Zhang Wangshi remained at the steamed bun stall. Unlike Zhang Xiaolin, when she saw Zhang He, she looked apologetic: "I didn't want to sell those dumplings, but I'm just a woman, and I couldn't go against my husband's wishes. I'm really sorry to your family."

Although Zhang Wangshi saw a good show, she was still able to distinguish right from wrong, but she was too soft-hearted.

Zhang He smiled and said, "It's nothing serious."

As for whether or not to forgive, she doesn't engage in the practice of collective punishment. After all, Zhang Xiaolin's matter has nothing to do with Zhang Wangshi, and she didn't even get involved...

Meanwhile, Xu Wenjie delivered dumplings to various places and also took Granny Mi's medicine bag to the pharmacy to have it checked.

Although the town doctor's medical skills weren't particularly advanced, he was still capable of identifying medicinal herbs. The herbs in the prescription were all normal, mostly for strengthening the body; as for any harmful poisons, there were none at all…

Xu Wenjie was relieved, but then he felt strange. Zhang Xiaolin had grabbed a prescription that seemed to be working perfectly for no reason. Could it really be an apology?

What about being able to bypass the Great Firewall?

Putting all that aside for now, seeing the sun setting and the air instantly turning cool, Xu Wenjie tightened his collar and headed towards his stall.

Zhang He and Xu Zhuzhu had almost finished packing.

They took the pot off again, tied a small stool to it, and let Xu Zhuzhu sit on it. The family then pushed the cart towards Laoya Village.

They were only halfway there when the wind picked up and started to get stronger. Zhang He was worried that the two children would catch a cold, so she had Xu An sit in the stroller as well. The couple pushed and pulled the stroller, speeding up their journey home.

But then they saw thick clouds gathering in the distance ahead, slowly drifting toward Qingshan Town.

Xu Zhuzhu was already very familiar with this kind of weather. She pointed to the mountaintop and exclaimed, "Brother, look, it looks like it's going to snow again over there. Does that mean it's going to get cold again?"

Xu An looked up and saw dark clouds, much like the previous snowfall, but he didn't know what they looked like, so he asked Zhang He.

Zhang He smiled and reassured him that it wouldn't happen, but she wasn't sure herself.

Xu Wenjie also looked over, his feelings complicated. He hoped it wasn't snowing.

According to Constable Hu, they won a battle before the New Year and the Tartars retreated.

After this battle, the imperial court's confidence was greatly boosted.

However, too many people fled south, and the imperial court feared that this would be detrimental to the morale of the people.

Therefore, a special order was issued that if refugees were unable to return home, they should settle nearby, but the prefectures and counties were not allowed to allow them to migrate south.

Those refugees who arrived half a month later than Xu Zhuzhu's family mostly settled down in the north of Huaiqing Prefecture or Xutong Prefecture, waiting to take root and rebuild. If it snows again, it won't be a good thing...