Even in a famine, there's no panic; the eldest sister has stockpiled plenty of money and grain.

Huichuntang in the county town.

"This child is neglected and his mind is not clear. He is withdrawn, silent, and does not look. Has he suffered some kind of fright?"

Doctor Qin withdrew his hand and examined Jiang Songwen's eyes and mouth.

"He had someone lock him in the pigsty for about ten days, where he ate and slept."

Doctor Qin glanced at Jiang Songwen, who didn't react to what he said and just stared blankly ahead.

"It's nothing serious. I'll give him acupuncture for a few days, along with some herbal medicine. He should be fully recovered in a month."

"Who are you to this child?"

Doctor Qin looked at Jiang Bai, then at Jiang Lü.

"He is our younger brother."

"Okay, go get the medicine!"

"The doctor handed the prescription to Jiang Bai and had the apprentice lead Jiang Songwen into the inner room."

The room was filled with a rich aroma of herbs, and Jiang Songwen's blank eyes rolled for a moment.

"Don't be afraid."

Doctor Qin gently stroked his head, offered a comforting word, and inserted silver needles into the acupoints. Jiang Songwen quickly fell asleep.

"Take the herbal medicine three times a day, after meals. After seven days, bring him here for acupuncture."

"Thank you, doctor."

Jiang Songwen was still unconscious, so Jiang Bai simply held him in his arms.

When I got home, before I even went inside, I saw someone standing outside.

"why you?"

"What are you here for?"

Upon seeing Jiang Erlai at the door, Jiang Lü's face immediately fell.

He killed his sister, how dare he show his face here?

"Get out of here, you're not welcome in our home, get out now."

The young girl disregarded the proper boundaries between men and women and pushed Jiang Erlai directly. Jiang Erlai was caught off guard and was pushed back several steps.

"Er Ya, I need to talk to your older sister."

Mentioning her older sister, the little girl's eyes immediately reddened: "How dare you come looking for my older sister?"

My older sister is dead.

She didn't say that last sentence aloud because it was a secret known only to her and Jiang Bai.

"You killed her once, wasn't that enough? Do you want to kill her again?"

"No... no, I really have something very important to tell your older sister."

"What could you possibly have..."

"Erya."

"Sister?"

Jiang Lu looked at Jiang Bai in alarm, then realized that her older sister had been walking behind her. She quickly stood in front of Jiang Erlai, trying to block Jiang Bai's gaze from looking at him.

"Sister, he's a bad person, please don't pay any attention to him, okay?"

The little girl, with tears welling up in her eyes, pitifully tugged at Jiang Bai's sleeve.

"Er Ya, let's listen to what he has to say, okay?" Jiang Bai coaxed her patiently. After all, the original owner hanged herself because of the annulment of the engagement. Knowing the truth, how could Jiang Lu possibly forgive Jiang Er Lai?

She could disregard the harm Jiang Erlai caused to the original owner, but Jiang Lu could not.

It was already quite unexpected that she didn't go up and scratch Hua Jiang Er Lai's face.

"Okay." Facing Jiang Bai, Jiang Lu was like a docile rabbit. Although her eyes were still red and her voice was choked with sobs, she did not stop him anymore.

She stood beside Jiang Bai, refusing to leave, as if afraid that if she left, this older sister would be so provoked by Jiang Erlai that she would hang herself.

"What do you want?" In front of Jiang Lu, Jiang Bai didn't even call her Second Brother anymore, for fear of upsetting the girl's fragile heart.

After a while of commotion, Jiang Erlai regretted coming here. He knew he had let Jiang Bai down, but he never expected that Er Ya, who used to sweetly call him "Brother Erlai" whenever she saw him, would now treat him like a bad guy.

"I saw two unfamiliar people coming out of Master Jiang's house today."

"I don't know them, so I thought I'd come and remind you to be careful lately."

Strangers rarely come to the village. It is almost universally acknowledged that Jiang Bai's relationship with the old house has fallen apart. After the incident where Wang Shi wanted to sell Jiang Bai and her sister, when strangers came out of the old house, Jiang Erlai's first reaction was that they were going to harm Jiang Bai, so he rushed over to warn them.

"Can you describe what those two people look like?" Jiang Bai had long known that the old house wouldn't give up so easily, but she didn't expect it to happen so quickly. She had only taken the things back a few days ago, and they couldn't hold back anymore.

As Jiang Erlai recalled, he described the appearances of the two people.

"In short, you need to be careful."

After saying that, Jiang Erlai didn't linger any longer. Seeing that Jiang Lu wouldn't let him in, he took out the wild vegetables he had picked, dumped them on the ground, and ran away with his basket on his back.

"Hmph, what a fake kindness. Who cares about his wild vegetables?"

Jiang Lu muttered under her breath, still full of anger towards Jiang Erlai.

"Yes, we don't care. We'll just let these wild vegetables rot here."

Jiang Bai nodded in agreement, but Jiang Lu's face froze, and she stammered, "Then...then it won't be...too wasteful."

"Yes, that's true. Then let's go back inside, pack our things, and stir-fry some wild vegetables for dinner."

Jiang Bai carried Jiang Songwen into the house. Jiang Lu glared at the wild vegetables several times, but still couldn't bear to waste them, so she took out a basket and filled it with them.

While cooking, Jiang Lu rested her chin on her hand, staring ahead as if lost in thought.

Jiang Bai's heart skipped a beat, and he tentatively asked, "Er Ya, do you know the people Jiang Erlai mentioned?"

Jiang Lu shook her head, then nodded.

"He...somewhat resembles the person who came to our house that day, the one who came with...with that person."

The person she was referring to was Wang.

The little girl doesn't want to call Wang Shi Grandma anymore, so she uses that person instead.

"You mean, among the people who went to the old house today, one of them was a matchmaker?"

"It should be her."

Based on the description alone, Jiang Lu wasn't entirely sure, but Jiang Er's description did sound very similar.

Is she a matchmaker? What does the matchmaker want with Wang?

Jiang Bai seemed to be deep in thought.

"Da Ya, Da Ya."

"Third Grandmother".

Jiang Bai welcomed the sweating Liu into the room, brought her a bowl of water, and then asked, "Did it go well?"

"It's done. I found the wife of Village Chief Li from Qianshan Village and asked her to go with me."

"Before I could even persuade him, Scholar Ji agreed."

"Da Ya, I have a feeling something's off about this Scholar Ji. Could he be after your house and land?"

Liu felt no joy at the engagement being arranged; instead, she worried that Jiang Bai might have been deceived.

"So what? He's eyeing my house and land. Do you think he can just take it away without the clan's permission?"

"In my opinion, he's just too poor to find a wife, and he doesn't want the government to arrange a marriage for him, so he agreed."

Jiang Bai knew the real reason: he was after her money, no big deal.

"What you said makes sense."

Mrs. Liu nodded.

"Then, do you think it's alright for me to go and present the betrothal gifts this afternoon?"

"Afternoon? Isn't that a bit too hasty?" Liu was taken aback.

“I think it’s perfect. That Scholar Ji is getting old, he’ll be seventeen in a few days. Plus, we’re busy with farming right now, and I happen to have some time today, so let’s get it done today. Tomorrow we’ll bring him over, have an elder from the clan witness it, and then transfer his household registration to Jiangjia Village in the county. That’ll be the end of it.”