A master of metaphysics is farming.

The screams continued for two more nights before Xiang He finally let them go, lest they suffer a nervous breakdown.

And the nightmares of the past few days were enough to give them both a break.

That night, Xiang He went to the back mountain with a small basket, while Xiang Zhong was left at home to watch over the family and to inform her immediately if anything happened.

She went to the river, took a bath, dressed herself, and stood under a large tree with incense and candles lit in front of it and joss paper placed beside it.

With eyes slightly closed and hands clasped together in front of the abdomen, holding incense sticks, he said, "The thirteenth generation disciple of Shanqing Temple is fulfilling his promise to offer gold and silver, which will be guided to the ghost messengers of Hedu Huangquan at the hour of Zi in the month of You. Please accept this offering with a smile."

Hold the incense stick firmly with your right hand and point it downwards. Turn your left hand clockwise once, which will cause your right hand to move upwards. The incense will then ignite and produce smoke.

Xiang He inserted the incense stick into the ground, saying, "I respectfully request this incense; I hope the ghost messenger will accept it with a smile."

As soon as she finished speaking, the incense suddenly burned very quickly and was soon burned out. Xiang He chuckled silently and lit three more sticks. "Wait a minute, I have plenty more here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the incense stopped burning as quickly as before and started to burn slowly.

They had served as ghost messengers for many years, and apart from the Taoist priests who could see them, no one remembered them, let alone offered them incense and candles.

Xiang He held the joss paper over the incense and candles, squatted down, hugged her knees, and burned it little by little.

In this quiet back mountain, Xiang He's favorite time is at night, when she can finally have some peace and quiet.

Half an hour later, when the fire was completely extinguished, Xiang He walked towards home. She went straight to the top of the mountain behind the house, and Xiang Zhong appeared beside her in a flash.

"Why did it take you so long?"

"We have to wait until the fire is completely extinguished, otherwise it could easily spread and burn the mountain."

Xiang He continued meditating cross-legged. "Well, Uncle Wu still hasn't decided when to leave?"

When asked about his troubles, Xiang Zhong sighed softly, "Let's wait a little longer..."

"Row."

-

-

The following day, Xiang He asked Su to take Xiang Yang and Xiang Yun to find Xiang Fusheng.

Today was the day Xiang Fusheng was to go to the private school, and Xiang Kaixi was also heading to the prefectural city. Zhang Shi didn't want to stay any longer, so she set off with them.

It's unclear whether Zhang has mentioned the division of the family property, but Li hasn't been in good spirits these past few days, so she probably wouldn't dare to bring it up.

Xiang He's big house is nearing completion, with only the roof to be put on.

Fourth Uncle was fixing the window frame, and Xiang Dayong, after a few days of recovery, no longer needed a cane and was helping him.

Xiang He was still tending to her vegetable garden; she was determined to plant vegetables there, as she didn't want to have to spend money to buy vegetables in the winter.

Money should be spent wisely!

As the hoe slammed down heavily, Xiang Huiying, who had just run over, trembled. "Hey, He's so rough! Did the land offend you?"

She put down the hoe and brushed the mud off her clothes. "I just checked your land. It's been well-maintained. You'll have a harvest soon!"

"Thank you, Seventh Sister."

"Don't mention it. Is there anything else you need to do? I don't have much to do today, so I'm just lending a hand."

Xiang He pointed to the big pot, "Let's make everyone some soup. It seems even hotter today. I'm going to the river to wash my clothes."

"Okay, you can go ahead and get busy."

Xiang He carried two buckets to the riverbank. It was early in the morning and there were already quite a few people there. Xiang He looked around and found a good spot to squat down when he heard someone shouting something.

Looking in the direction of the sound, Xiang He saw two people struggling upstream. He squinted to see clearly, and one of them was lying on the ground, waving a stick in his hand.

Realizing something was wrong, he quickly put down the bucket and ran forward, but after only a few steps, he recognized the two people.

Xiang He stopped in his tracks, turned around and locked onto his target, shouting, "Fourth Aunt, come quick! Lianhua is being harassed!"

This shout not only alerted the elderly women who were doing laundry, but also Xiang Lianhua, who was struggling with Er Gou.

At this moment, Er Gou was holding her arm tightly, and she couldn't break free no matter how hard she tried. "You, you let go of me! People will misunderstand if they see this!"

Er Gou spat, "I don't care about you! Hurry up and give me the money!"

"I don't!"

"You promised me money, and you dare to go back on your word?!" He was seething with anger, and reached for her waist, skillfully tearing off her belt. "Since you don't have money, then give me your body! I'm not picky!"

Suddenly, her waist loosened, and she cried out in alarm to Lianhua, "Ah! No! Let go of me!"

But she was no match for Er Gou in strength. She twisted her body but couldn't break free. In her anxiety, she jumped up and down and pounded on Er Gou with both hands.

"Please, please don't! Let me go! I'll give you the silver! Wait for me to go back and get it!"

"I want it now!"

Er Gou isn't stupid. If he lets her go now, who knows when he'll be able to catch her again? He's been waiting here for days, and he finally caught her. How could he let her go so easily?

The two were struggling when Xiang He led the older women over.

As they approached, they saw that Xiang Lianhua's clothes were open, revealing her undergarment, and Er Gou, that guy with a dirty face, was pulling at her, trying to get close.

An elderly woman's eyes widened. "Ergou, what are you doing! Let her go!"

Fourth Aunt glanced at Xiang He, and seeing Xiang He nod knowingly, smiled, "Oh my goodness! You two should at least pick a place to do your filthy things!"

This startled Xiang Lianhua so much that she burst into tears. "I didn't! He's the one harassing me! Fourth Aunt, please help me!"

"Oh, you should have said so earlier!"

Fourth Aunt hurriedly ran over, and Xiang He, suppressing a laugh, followed, grabbing Er Gou's collar. "Er Gou, isn't this inappropriate in broad daylight?"

As if his fate had been seized by the neck, Er Gou let go with a forced smile, "Oh, girl, you're here too, what a coincidence..."

“Of course,” Xiang He said, easily lifting him up and pulling him aside. “What are you doing, coming here so early in the morning to offend people?”

Er Gou spread his hands innocently, "Girl, we're here to ask for people back because we can't get the money. We agreed on that beforehand."

Fourth Aunt helped Xiang Lianhua pull at her clothes, while keeping an eye on the situation, asking, "What does this mean? What did you agree on?"

The woman frantically fastening her belt shouted in terror at Lianhua, "No! Nothing at all! Don't listen to his nonsense! Nothing at all!"

She loudly denied it, which only fueled the curiosity of the older women nearby. "Nothing at all?"

Xiang He looked at Er Gou with a somewhat chilling gaze, which frightened Er Gou so much that he immediately confessed, "We agreed last time that if you didn't have money, you would give me your body... Now you've gone back on your word. What kind of deal is this?"

"Wow!" A few people exclaimed in surprise.

People around cast disgusted glances at her, and Fourth Aunt withdrew her hand, her face full of displeasure. "Oh dear~ tsk tsk tsk! This restless thing..." She hurriedly patted her sleeves as if they had been stained with something dirty.

Xiang Lianhua panicked, waving her hands and shaking her head repeatedly, "I never said that! Don't slander me, don't try to ruin my reputation!"

Everyone only believed what they saw. No matter how she tried to explain, they were already convinced that the two of them had made a pact, and that this pact had betrayed them, which was disgusting.

An elderly woman from another family exclaimed, "Oh dear, so that's why she cried for help after she saw us?"

"Of course, if we weren't here, they would have already succeeded."

Listening to their back-and-forth, Xiang Lian couldn't win the argument and could only keep shaking her head and saying no. But no one wanted to look at her anymore, and they went back to continue washing clothes in twos and threes.

Only Xiang He and Fourth Aunt remained in place. Er Gou hesitated, wanting to say something, but seeing Xiang He there, he dared not speak, as the injury on his face still throbbed faintly.

Xiang He glanced at him, "Aren't you going to get lost?"

"Got it!"

He quickly ran away, then shifted his gaze to Xiang Lianhua and said indifferently, "Now you know what it feels like to be falsely accused and exonerated? If you had succeeded a few days ago, I would be you today."